Newsletter 29.09

Broad and Balanced...
Year 6
Year 6 has had a very fast start to September and their final year in primary
school. We have been writing playscripts based on the Rosa Parks bus boycott
event, and developing the use of writing skills such as parenthesis for stage
directions and colons to separate a character from the dialogue of characters.
We then wrote a neat version on Google Docs using the word processing skills
explored within computing.
In maths, we have been looking at Place Value. As part of this learning, we’ve
discussed how important our knowledge of this area is in order to build a solid
foundation for all other learning that we will encounter this year. We’ve been
understanding the value of digits within numbers from 100 to 1,000,000,
writing numerals into words, comparing numbers using symbols of
inequality and also exploring multiplying and dividing large numbers by 10,
100, and 1,000.
In science, our focus has been on the circulatory system and looking at how
our blood travels through our bodies. We dissected a lamb’s heart in order to
identify features of our hearts, such as the atrium and ventricles.
Our PSHE this term has involved learning about families and relationships;
discussing the meaning of respect, how it is earnt and lost by our words, gestures
and actions towards others. We looked at occupations in adult life and
discussed reasons that each one might have our respect, based on their
important roles within the community. We moved our learning into stereotypes
and how our perception of someone is naturally prejudiced by our prior
understanding based on appearances and behaviours. But those initial thoughts
might not be a true reflection about others as we are all unique and individual.
History has been a very impactful area and one that will relate to black history
month, in October. We are studying the events that led up to the Montgomery
bus boycott and how this event inspired the significant changes made by Martin
Luther King Jr, for racial equality. The children have all been very engaged in
this topic and are beginning to show real empathy for the hardship experienced
by members of the black community in recent decades.