Curriculum Newsletter Summer Term 2008

Year 6

Numeracy:  Children will be reinforcing and developing their understanding of place value in number work, particularly larger numbers to a million.  They will be revising subtraction with decomposition, addition, long multiplication and long division and will be applying these to real life problems.  In fractions, decimals and percentages children will be revising equivalent fractions, finding a fraction, simplifying fractions, changing an improper fraction to a mixed number and vice versa.  They will be revising the links between fractions, decimals and percentages.  We will also be revising length, weight, area, volume, perimeter, time, angles, 2D and 3D shape, handling data and probability.    

Literacy:  In Literacy children will be revising fiction and non-fiction writing.  In fiction writing they will be revising the rules for horror stories, adventure stories, fables, mystery stories, stories with a dilemma and stories with a twist.  In non-fiction they will be revising the rules for writing reports, letters, adverts, diaries, arguments, recounts, biographies, newsletters, instructions, descriptions and explanations.  They will be practising reading comprehension suing past SATS papers and revising spelling rules.

Science:  During the summer term children will be revising physical processes – forces and motion, light and sound, the earth and beyond. They will be doing many experiments based on these topics which will help them with their understanding.  They will also be completing past papers in practice for the SATS.

R.E.:

Holidays and Holydays – The children will explore the purpose of holidays – times of rest, recreation and renewal. They hear about Pentecost celebrating the beginning of the church and the power of the Holy Spirit to make every day a Holy day.

Building Bridges – Children will explore their experience of people in school whom they scarcely know and how they can try to befriend them. They will hear about how Jesus befriended the rejected and about his teaching of the importance of this.

Difference – Children will explore how difference can make some people prejudice while for others difference is welcomed as enriching life. The children will hear about how the church family all over the world, in heaven and on earth, is known as the Communion of Saints, all different but all part of God’s family.

P.E.:       In P.E. children will be improving their batting and fielding skills in cricket and getting involved in game situations. This will be followed by a unit of athletics. They will have swimming lessons to build up their confidence and develop basic strokes. The children will also be taking part in after-school clubs such as football, cricket, dance.

History:   World War II.  In this unit children will find out about the effects of the Second World War on children in their local area, nationally and internationally.  Children use a range of sources, including the recollections of people alive at the time.  They consider the reasons for and results of key aspects of the war.

I.C.T.:    Children will create a multimedia presentation using text, images and sounds all about themselves – to be passed on to the secondary schools.  They will be taught to create links between pages and show sensitivity to the needs of their audience.

Design Technology: Shelters – children will link this topic to History and look at shelters used during the war. In this unit, children learn about structures. They learn that structures can fail when loaded, and the use of techniques for reinforcing and strengthening structures. They are shown the strength of tubes as a construction material and textiles as a suitable cover for a framework. The main outcome of this unit will be the design and construction of a framework-type shelter for an identified purpose. This can be a model or full-size structure.

Music:  “We’ll Meet Again” BBC music programme.  Children will be following this programme and will be finding out about pitch, tempo, timbre, structure, duration and texture. They will experience performing in rounds, canons and take part in a variety of accompaniments. They shall then be performing some of the songs learned to the rest of the school in assembly. Children will also be learning the songs for the Oliver production.