Welcome to Kestrels 6

Teacher: Mrs Booth

Teaching Assistant: Mrs Hameed 

Welcome to Year 6 – Autumn Term Adventure!

Welcome back! We hope everyone had a lovely break and is ready for another exciting half term of learning in Year 6. This half term, we will continue to explore our World War Two theme across a range of subjects, deepening our historical understanding while developing our reading, writing and analytical skills. In Geography, we will be discovering the wonders of the world’s mountains, exploring how they are formed and the impact of tourism on these incredible landscapes. In Maths, we will be building our confidence and understanding of fractions before moving on to converting units of measure. As always, we will encourage the children to challenge themselves, work collaboratively and develop the independence and resilience they need as they continue their journey through Year 6.

This half term is also our class assembly on Thursday 19th November.

English

The Piano

In English, we will continue to explore our World War Two theme through a film unit based on the short film The Piano. The children will develop their inference skills by exploring the thoughts, feelings and emotions of the character, using clues from the film to deepen their understanding. They will then write a detailed character description of the man playing the piano, focusing on their use of descriptive language and vocabulary choices to bring their writing to life. We will then move on to non-fiction writing, where the children will research and explore the key events of World War Two before producing their own non-chronological reports, using formal language, clear organisation and factual information to inform the reader.

Guided reading

In Guided Reading, we will be reading When the Sky Falls by Phil Earle, a powerful and moving story set during World War Two. Through this novel, the children will explore themes of friendship, courage, resilience and compassion, while developing their reading comprehension skills. We will focus on retrieving information, making inferences about characters’ thoughts and feelings, exploring the author’s language choices and discussing how the historical setting influences the events of the story. The children will also have opportunities to share their opinions, support their ideas with evidence from the text and deepen their understanding of the experiences of people living during wartime.

Maths

In Maths, we will be focusing on fractions for the majority of this half term. The children will build on their previous knowledge to develop their understanding of equivalent fractions, simplifying fractions, comparing and ordering fractions, and adding, subtracting, multiplying and dividing fractions. We will then move on to converting units of measure, where the children will practise converting between different metric units of length, mass and capacity, applying their skills to solve a range of mathematical problems.

Geography -Marvellous mountains

In Geography, our topic this half-term is Marvellous Mountains. The children will explore some of the world’s most famous mountains and mountain ranges, discovering where they are located and how they are formed. We will investigate the physical features of mountain environments and learn why they attract tourists from across the globe. The children will also consider the positive and negative impacts of tourism on mountain regions, including the effects on local communities, wildlife and the environment. Through our learning, they will develop their geographical knowledge and understanding of how human activity can affect these incredible natural landscapes.

Art

In Art, we will be exploring the work of artist Kara Walker, who is well known for her striking silhouette artwork. The children will investigate how silhouettes can be used to tell stories, convey emotions and explore important themes. Taking inspiration from Walker’s work, they will develop their own ideas and experiment with shapes, figures and composition to create a visual story using silhouettes. This project will encourage the children to think creatively, communicate meaning through art and develop their skills in storytelling and visual expression.