Summer : Year 6
We are all working really hard getting ready for our SATS tests in May.
As we get closer, it’s important that we remember the things that will really help us to get ready and the things to remember:
SATs focus on what children know about Maths and English.
They will not reflect how talented they are at science, geography, art, PE…, and they certainly won’t highlight all their amazing personal characteristics.
SATs don’t tell the whole story.
Their results will say if they did or did not meet a certain standard but not necessarily by what margin. These thresholds change each year according to the overall national performance, so what was classed as ‘meeting the expected standard’ this year might not be the same as last year. Your school may be able to provide you with more detailed feedback.
SATs are only four days out of a whole Primary School career.
In reality, there’s one or two papers each day that last 30 to 60 minutes.
As long as we try our best, everyone will be proud of us!
Advice for the tests:
- Listen to your teacher.
- The adults you work with all want you to do your best.
- Get plenty of sleep and eat well, this will help your brain.
- Read all the questions carefully. This can help you to avoid silly mistakes.
- Don’t panic. There may be questions you think you can’t answer. Take a deep breath. Read it again. You can always move on and go back to it later. It’s often better to write something rather than nothing.
Topic: We are covering two topics this half term, We will be looking at Climate change and how this affects our local area. We will then move on to study the amazing Ancient Greeks! Although Climate change is only a short topic for us we will study in detail how the area of Haughton Green and Denton is affected. We will also make weather vanes to study the wind. During our Ancient Greece topic we will also complete lots of art work and use clay to try and recreate some of the beautiful vases and sculptures they created.
English: This term we will be looking at a range of writing styles. Firstly, we will be writing a balanced argument then we will be writing spy stories!
In SPaG lessons we will be revising all areas of punctuation and continuing to work on all the aspects of grammar to make your written work better. Remember the children have weekly spellings to learn, using Spelling Shed.
Maths: In our maths lessons we will be covering the Year 6 objectives from the maths Curriculum. You will be continuing to work hard to achieve your targets in a variety of aspects of maths, trying to become more fluent and developing your reasoning and problem solving skills. We will be focussing on the using and applying aspect of maths through problem solving, reasoning, explaining and investigating. You will also be continuing to learn all your times tables so that you know all the multiplication and division facts to 12 x 12 to become and taking part in the Battle of the Bands.
Science:
Classifying Living Things: In this unit children will learn how to classify living things using the major classification kingdoms. They will identify and describe the observable characteristics of a range of classification groups including micro-organisms, plants and animals. Children will make careful observations to identify the characteristics that help scientists classify all living things, such as whether a living thing has a backbone and how they reproduce. Children will also be able to use their observations to construct classification keys of increasing complexity. They will use evidence from their investigation to predict and investigate how to accelerate the rate of decay. We will complete this unit in the summer term.
Evolution and Inheritance: In this unit children will have worked towards answering the Quest question ‘How do living things evolve?’ They will have investigated how living things have changed over time and that fossils provide information about living things that inhabited the Earth millions of years ago. They will have had the opportunity to make a visit (real or virtual) to a Natural History museum and they will have constructed a geological timeline. Children will have identified how animals and plants are adapted to suit their environment in different ways and that adaptation may lead to evolution. They will have explored the principal of inheritance, recognising that living things produce offspring of the same kind, but that normally such offspring vary and are not identical to their parents. Children will have researched how plants and animals are adapted to suit their environment in different ways and they will have identified some beneficial adaptations that may lead to evolution. They will have explored natural selection through drama and designed their own species.
Homework
The children will continue to get English and maths homework every week. We will always set the homework on a Friday and it must be brought back into school by the following Wednesday. This can either be set on googleclassroom or paper copies are available. The children will also be bringing home their reading books every day and it is vitally important that they read every day. We are really working on the children’s comprehension skills so it would be great if you could ask them questions about their books every time you read with them.
We keep track of the homework and reading on charts in the classroom that are linked to the assertive mentoring scheme that we use in school. In order to achieve a green mark their homework MUST be completed and handed in on WEDNESDAY.
We will be doing P.E. on Mondays, so the children need their kits in school on these days. Just a reminder that school P.E. kit comprises of a white t-shirt, black shorts and pumps and if P.E. is taking place outside and the weather is cold, the children are allowed to wear dark jogging bottoms and trainers. All jewellery must be removed for P.E.
Amongst all of this, we also have a really exciting end to our time at Corrie planned, with the Year 6 show, Sports and Health week, Corrie’s Got Talent, Leavers Assembly and Go Ape trip, so there is lots to keep us busy and happy!