WELCOME TO YEAR 6 SYCAMORE CLASS
On this page, you can read about the staff working with your children, find out what topics are being covered and find useful information for supporting your child at home. These pages will be updated regularly. You will also find photographs of your children at work!
September 2024
Welcome to your new class- we hope you had a lovely break and we are looking forward to a great first term with you all.
Term 3
Our class text for this term is Goodnight Mister Tom by Michelle Magorian.
Tom tucked a blanket round him, drew up a chair by the fire and watched Willie fall asleep. The tales he had heard about evacuees didn't seem to fit Willie. 'Ungrateful' and 'wild' were the adjectives he had heard used, or just plain 'homesick'. He was quite unprepared for this timid, sickly little specimen.
Britain, 1940. With World War Two raging all around, young children are being sent from their homes in the city to the countryside for safety. When eight-year-old Willie Beech first arrives on Tom Oakley's doorstep, neither are quite sure what to make of each another.
Brought up in terrible poverty, Willie is terribly shy, and totally unprepared for village life - but the gruff-but-gentle 'Mister Tom' quickly takes him under his wing. Neither he nor Willie could ever have predicted the journey they will go on together - nor the unbreakable bond that will be formed.
Winner of the Guardian Children's Fiction Award, and rightly hailed as a true classic of children's literature, Goodnight Mister Tom is a beautifully told, deeply moving story about the power of friendship, kindness, hope - and love.
'Everyone's idea of a smash-hit novel: full-blown characters to love and hate, moments of grief and joy, and a marvellous story that knows just how to grab the emotions' - Guardian
Term 2
Is it better to have a pig's heart that works … than a human heart that doesn't?
Cameron is thirteen, and all he wants is to be normal – have friends, go to school, and dive to the bottom of his local swimming pool. But he desperately needs a heart transplant and time is running out. When he’s finally offered a new heart, Cameron must choose how far he’ll go to get his life back.
Malorie Blackman has written over seventy books for children and young adults, including the Noughts & Crosses series, Thief and a science-fiction thriller, Chasing the Stars. Many of her books have also been adapted for stage and television, including a BAFTA-award-winning BBC production of Pig-Heart Boy.
PLEASE CHECK AGE RATINGS BEFORE READING OTHER BOOKS BY MALORIE BLACKMAN AS SOME ARE AIMED AT TEENAGERS AND ADULTS.
Term 1
Frank is being bullied - for what, she's not sure. Being smart? Being different, perhaps. One day, after the bullies throw her bag in the middle of a huge patch of stinging nettles, Nick Underbridge comes to her aid - a strange boy that everyone makes fun of at school for his hugeness and odd, unidentifiable smell.
As Frank and Nick become friends, Frank discovers something strange and wonderful in Nick's basement - and an explanation for what holds him apart from the others at school.
A sometimes sad and sometimes wry tale of bullying and fitting in, The Song From Somewhere Else is also a magical tale about how - sometimes - people might feel alien to us, but that families are universal, whoever you are.
Levi Pinfold's stunning, intricate and moody illustrations add an extra layer of atmosphere to this heartfelt and beautifully strange story.
Winner of the Kate Greenaway Amnesty CLIP Honour in 2018.
Term 3
This term our English lessons will focus on writing linked to World War 2.
We will start by writing evacuee recounts using Letters from the Lighthouse by Emma Carroll as a stimulus.
We also use our class text "Goodnight Mr Tom" to write from the point of view of characters and we will hopefully get some very emotive narrative writing.
Continuing our evacuee work, we will be learning about the experiences of Anne Frank and writing diary entries. During this learning we will touch upon the treatment of the Jews during the war in an age appropriate way.
Term 2
For the first part of term 2 we will be using our class text Pig Heart Boy to write diary entries, focus on points of view and write letters.
We will also be able to have conversations in character and write and present monologues- look out for these on Seesaw!
We will then be using our learning about Charles Darwin to write biographies and autobiographies. The children then get a chance to interview members of staff and write their biographies!
We will finish the term by studying a variety of styles of poetry. After our very successful Whole School Experience week, Sycamore Class have proved they are master poets!
Term 1
For the first part of term one, Sycamore Class are going to be learning about how to write journalistically. We will be learning about how to use correct language, the difference between direct and reported speech, how to use exaggerated language and how to interview members of the public. We will then write our own newspaper report using all that we have learned.
For the second part of the term, we will be learning about the story of Macbeth, doing some drama around it, writing scripts and creating characters.
gps
In spellings we are using the Read Write Inc spelling scheme. The children will bring home some words in their homework diaries which I will also publish on Seesaw. Please practise these with your child and add suffixes/prefixes as needed.
In GPS we will be learning about different sentence clauses and active and passive voice. We will also be learning about bullet points and colons/semi-colons. Our homework will be mostly based on these topics.
Term 2 includes finding the difference between synonyms and antonyms, then we will be looking at standard English and formal and informal writing.
In year 6, we are mainly following the White Rose order of topics, which allows the children to build on their previous learning in small steps.
We are currently learning about Place Value. This includes using larger numbers up to 10,000,000; multiplying and dividing numbers by 10, 100 and 1,000; rounding; and using negative numbers.
Once we have completed this unit, we will be moving on to Four Operations which includes many of the skills the children will use in later life: addition, subtraction, multiplication and division. We will be learning how to do this with increasingly large numbers, using formal written methods (including long division) and beginning to think about the early stages of algebra.
Term 2 learning will mostly be based on fractions. We will be leaning to add, subtract, multiply and divide them, compare and order and solve fraction problems. We will then learn how to convert units of measure using our knowledge of place value.
In term 3 we will be using our fractions knowledge to learn about ratio. We will then move on to algebra. This is an area that the children believe is going to be too hard- convincing them that they can do it is the first challenge! However, they will be experts in algebra before they know it! Finally, we will use our place value and fractions knowledge to link to decimals.
Brush up on your "Order of operations" knowledge here:
Homework will be based on skills we have been learning that week in school. If you feel your child needs more practice, please go to TT Rockstars and enter their login (found in their homework diary).
.png?width=239&height=134&mode=max)
Term 3
Once we have completed our learning about evolution and inheritance, we will move on to studying electricity. We will create circuits, test variables and create circuit diagrams.
Explore these resources from BBC Bitesize
Term 2's science learning will focus on Evolution and Inheritance. We will be trying to answer the big question: What happened when Charles Darwin visited the Galapagos Islands? The children will be learning about fossils, variations between species and how species have adapted to their environment. We will look at how offspring have inherited characteristics from their parents and finally compare how plants in the local area have adapted where we will be able to build on our learning form last term.
In term 1, we will be learning about classification. We have talked about the different characteristics that plants and animals have, how Carl Linnaeus created a classification system for them and how they could be grouped by these characteristics. We have begun to design our own creatures that we are classifying.
Later on this term, we will be learning about micro-organisms and how they can help us in our everyday lives.
Brush up on you knowledge and complete a quiz here!Quiz
Term 3
Our historical enquiry for this term begins our WW2 learning. We will be finding out how the war started and why evacuation was so important. We will use evacuees own stories to learn about their experiences and explore what rationing was. We will then use this importation to help us plan wartime meals using rationed foods and then create these as part of our DT learning.
In RE, we will be think about "What does religion say to us when life gets hard?" During this enquiry, we do focus on beliefs surrounding death. We appreciate that this can be a sensitive subject and we offer the children any support they need.
TERM 2
Geography
This term we will be continuing to look at Farming and factories: where does our food come from? We will be leaning about how some of our food is made, world food supplies depending on region, how climate changes affects the food grown and what the future looks like for farms.
RE
To coincide with our science learning this term, we will look at the controversy surrounding Charles Darwin's theory of Evolution and how it was at odds with the Christian teaching about the creation story. We will try to answer the question Is Charles Darwin's theory of evolution compatible with Christianity?
Term 1
Year 6 will start with an RE enquiry, thinking about whether it is better to express religion through arts and architecture or charity and generosity. We will be learning about the beliefs of Christians and Muslims through this big question and will stage a debate.
Later on in the term will will start our brand new geographical enquiry. We are going to be learning about farming and food production both in the UK and across the world. There will be opportunities to consider environmental issues and some ethical questions. There are lots of resources here if you want to start your learning.