Year 6 Topic Letter

Summer Term2017

Dear Parents

Welcome back to the new term. Below is some information about the learning we will cover this term in the lead up to SATS, we hope it will be of help to you.

Topic /

Suggestions on how you can help

R.E. – The children will be covering an aspect of Journey in Love, this is a continuation of work in Year 5. This will be completed alongside the Come and See topics (Witnesses – investigating the resurrection of Christ, Healing – investigating the sacrament of the sick and Common Good - investigate the work of the worldwide Christian family). We will be visiting Our Lady of Lourdes Church for prayer and the School Chapel over the summer term for prayer and reflection. / Please see separate the R.E. topic letter on the school website for key dates and how to support your child/children at home.
English–We will continue to revise a wide range of genres, by identifying their features and writing in a similar style. We will look at both formal and informal writing e.g. newspaper articles, non-chronological reports and diary entries. The children will be encouraged to review their work, identify areas for improvements and edit their writing accordingly. / We will continue to use First News as a resource in school to keep up with current events and support reading comprehension. As in previous terms, make sure your child reads regularly, and even if your child is happy to read alone, we recommend you still hear them read every so often so you can talk to them about what they have been reading.
Mathematics- We will revise all areas of maths in the coming weeks before SATS. It is important that the children focus on their maths targets at home, as this greatly supports the revision that takes place in the classroom. We will continue to set arithmetic homework alongside other pieces of homework. / We will continue to use Mathletics as an online homework resourceto support and consolidate the pupils learning.
Please remember to encourage your child to revise their times tables at home.
We also encourage you to revise the following topics at home with your children: Roman numerals, prime numbers and multiples/factors.
History - Our topic during the Summer Term is ‘Vikings & Saxons’. Throughout the term we will be looking at the impact made by the arrival of the Vikings and how they survived in Great Britain. Other subject areas will be linked to this topic across the term to promote cross curricular learning, such as English and Art. / Investigate Alfred the Great using online resources or your local library. Research the style of boat the Vikings used and their armour. Research towns that were impacted by the arrival of Vikings in Britain. The British Museum has an exhibition that relates to our topic.
Science – The children will learn about Electricity and Evolution this term. Through discussions and investigations about fossils as evidence of life millions of years ago, the children will develop their understanding of the topic. Children will recognise living things produce offspring of the same kind. We will revise circuits and compare, giving reasons for, variations in how components function. / Discuss and research how animals and plants are adapted to suit different environments. BBC Bitesize provide educational clips that are available online. We also recommend watching David Attenborough documentaries. There are also exhibitions in the Science Museum and Natural History Museum that would be of interest to the children as we discover about these subjects this term.
Computing- The children will participate in a computing lesson weekly, which focuses on designing applications to be used on a range of devices. Through this, the children will begin to understand computer networks and begin to use simple coding for developing software and applications.
P.E. – PE will be taking place on Tuesday and Wednesday afternoons, focusing on team and net games. Please remind your child to bring in the correct PE kit and ensure all items are labelled. Year 6 children are allowed to wear their own trainers. Please ensure they are sensible and provide support.
SATS -We will be preparing the children for SATS which begin Monday8th May. Children will be sitting their tests in Maths, English and SPAG during this week. Continued supportin preparing your children for these important assessments would be appreciated. It is essential that all children are in school every day of this week or they will not be able to gain an assessment for each subject. If your child is ill, or you think they may have to miss school for any reason, please ring us as soon as possible to discuss this. Please ensure that any appointments are made outside of school hours for this week. Please encourage your child to focus on their personal targets they received during the recent parents evening.
We understand some of the worries the children face in transferring to secondary school and therefore take part in a number of activities to help reassure them. This includes visits from a range of secondary schools, drama work on the social aspects of moving to a new school, and we invite a panel of past pupils, who are now in Y7, to relate their experiences and answer any questions.
As is traditional in Year 6, we will also be preparing the children for an end of year production, with a performance to parents in July. We will end our term together with an end of year mass, led by the children to celebrate their time here at Our Lady of Lourdes.
Home Learning for Y6
Home learning is issued on a Friday and due in the following Wednesday.
  • Mathletics weekly tasks
  • Maths activities
  • SPAG activities – grammar and punctuation activities
  • Reading comprehension activities
  • Reading journal daily and a weekly reading task
  • Short writing activities
  • There may by additional research into our topic and/or science topics

As in previous terms, we offer help with homework during Monday and/or Tuesdaylunchtimeswhen laptops and Ipads will be available for those children who require them. This is a voluntary session for those children who would like some clarification on the homework.

Thank-you for your support,

Miss O’Bryan and Miss Fanning