Year Six Curriculum - Spring 2018

It's Christmaaaaaas!

The end of term has finally arrived! After 14 weeks of hard work, Year Six have been enjoying the wide range of Christmas activities that CJS has had to offer. Below is a poem detailing some of the activities we have done.


Hundreds of presents bought at the Christmas shop;

When Year Three performed their Nativity we didn't want it to stop.

The pantomime had everyone dancing and singing;

At the Carol Service we could hear the sleigh bells ringing.

A challenge to draw a snowflake with the largest perimeter,

Had everyone silent, no sound of a whisper.

Presents have been gifted;

Spirits have been lifted;

At the Christmas Disco, everybody twisted!

And when the staff performed their Christmas dance,

They raised the roof along with a chorus of laughs.

Bellies are rumbling as we look forward to Christmas dinner;

Games are being played - who will be the winner?

6CC's Secret Santa - all gifts handmade from recycled goods. Merry Christmas!

How flexible are your feet?

Over the past two weeks, Year Six been investigating the flexibility of their feet. 

Foot flexibility is a measurement of how much your feet change when you move and varies from person to person. It is controlled by lots of things, such as how old you are and what sports you play. Scientists at the University of Kent think what kind of ground you play on can also affect how flexible your foot is.

Working in small groups, the pupils came up with their own hypothesis as to why foot flexibility may differ in their class. Some ideas were: the type of sport people play; whether people walk to school or not and how many hours people spend sitting down.

Once the hypotheses had been decided, the pupils got to work on collecting the foot flexibility data by taking careful measurements and following a series of calculations. 

A class list of foot flexibility was then produced on Excel and shared with the pupils on Google Drive. The hypotheses were added to the spreadsheet and the pupils input their answers to a series of questions to support the testing of hypotheses (for example, which sports they played and if they walked to school or not). 

Each of the groups then used the information on the spreadsheet to collate their chosen data set and analyse the data by calculating averages.

 A lower score indicates a greater foot flexibility. Below are some of the findings from 6JE:

The pupils then presented their findings using a graph.

I think it's fair to say that Year Six definitely weren't dragging their feet with this investigation - good work!

G&T Recycling Movie

Picasso Art

The more you read...

... the more things you will know, the more that you learn, the more places you'll go!

Year Six love reading!

In 6CC, the class librarians are responsible for updating their classroom reading table every few weeks. Mrs Cleghorn kick-started the reading table with a selection of books taken from the list '100 fiction books all children should read before leaving primary school' and their current class book, Stig of the Dump, is also from this list. Check out the website below for the full list of books:

https://www.tes.com/news/school-news/breaking-news/100-fiction-books-all-children-should-read-leaving-primary-school-–

So far, we have had a Goosebumps display, created by Livvie and Annabel.

Yasmin, Sophia, Georgia and Heather created a display about a Series of Unfortunate Events and our current display (created by Bradley, Livvie and Maxwell) is an interview with Bradley about his favourite series of books: Beast Quest.

We're looking forward to seeing what the next group of librarians come up with!

For more information about the importance of reading, follow the link below:

https://www.pearson.com/uk/learners/primary-parents/learn-at-home/help-your-child-to-enjoy-reading/why-is-reading-so-important.html

Charlie and Lola stories

Over the past few weeks, Year Six have been busy planning, drafting and editing their very own 
Charlie and Lola stories.

Designed to be read for a younger audience, they needed to choose a realistic storyline that involved Lola learning a hard lesson. From spilling nail varnish on a posh lady's coat to getting stuck up a tree, Lola has been through the works in the 118 stories that have been written!

Here are some photographs of a few of our brave pupils reading their stories to a Year Three class:

Anti-bullying week and World Hello Day

Last week was Anti-bullying Week. Across the school, teachers led class discussions and activities focusing on understanding what bullying is and how we can tackle it.

In Year Six, there were class debates and discussions on various statements made about bullying. Some of these statements are listed below:

• Bullying only happens in schools.
• If you report the bullying to a teacher then you are a ‘snitch’.
• It’s ok to hit someone who is bullying you, it will stop it.
• There is no such thing as an innocent bystander.
• Online bullying is just banter, having a laugh and totally harmless.
• Online bullying doesn't involve physical harm.
• It is not bullying if someone deletes a comment or post.
• Online bullying can only affect someone if they are online and have an account too.
• It is easy to spot the signs of bullying.
• Children grow out of bullying.

Other activities included creating posters about anti-bullying:

The Creativity board in the Year Six corridor was also drawn on by pupils with tips on how to tackle bullying:

Following on from anti-bullying week, Tuesday 21st November was World Hello Day. 

World Hello Day was first created in 1973 in order to show people, especially the people of the Middle East, that conflicts can and should be resolved through communication, and not violence. 

The challenge - set by the founders of World Hello Day - is to say hello to at least 10 people during the day. This can be achieved in a number of ways. 6CC discussed a few possibilities this morning:

Will you join us in our mission?

Llamas and alpacas

Over the past few weeks, Year Six have been learning all about fractions. Adding and subtracting, simplifying and converting - if there's a question involving fractions, Year Six know what to do! The poster below was created by Joshua in 6CC to help other children to remember how to do certain methods (one of his Future Me pledges).

Reasoning is an extremely important skill to master in Year Six and is worth two thirds of the total marks in the Year Six SAT papers. The bar method is a brilliant tool to help develop this skill, which uses a bar to visually represent what we know and what we need to find out.

Thinking blocks is an app used at CJS to practise using the bar method - it is also downloadable at home. Year Six have been enjoying working their way through the large bank of questions that it has to offer.

November was renamed Barvember at CJS (courtesy of White Rose Maths Hub) and one question that has had Mrs Cleghorn and Mr Murphy stumped is pictured below. 

Are you up for a challenge? Post your solution as a comment under this blog!

Year 6 weekly news update

CJS attempts whole school world record!

On Friday afternoon, CJS students were all in the school hall drawing pudsey bear. We attempted to set the world record for the most children drawing the same picture at the same time: it was the biggest art lesson EVER! Plus, it lasted all afternoon!

Also, everyone dressed up in the spottiest clothes they could find because it was Children in Need. It has been soooooooooooooooooo fun. Everyone was as noisy as ever, and as funny as ever!

It has also been anti-bullying week and there has been a lot of talking about it.

There has been a change of display in 6CC. The history board has changed to being a 6CC board. It has little strips of paper on it, saying what our favourite things are. It also has ideas for our morning meetings!

Written by Marianne

The slippery feet of fake aliens

Our eyes tell us about colour. But what if you are blind? Can you still know colours? 6JH have been considering this, using The Black Book of Colours (by Menena Cottin and illustrated by Rosanna Faria). Using simple language and beautiful textured art, the book shows readers how to see without their eyes. The pages are black, but by readers using their imagination and senses they can hear, smell, touch and taste colours.

After exploring the book, 6JH wrote their own sentences to explain their experience of a particular colour and what it meant to them. Some examples are written below: 

How would you describe a colour?

Brrr!

Last week, Year Six fell silent for one hour as they completed their first 'Cold Write' of the year. Having written their Mo Farah biographies, it was now time for the children to choose a significant event/memory from their lives and write these into an autobiographical account. Days out, new pets, football matches and sporting feats - it was clear to the Year Six teachers that their pupils have had some great adventures. 

Success Criteria now in hand and input from their teachers - our fantastic authors are working hard to rewrite and improve their autobiographies to a higher standard.

Get ready to sit back with a cup of tea and read high quality, exciting extracts from some of our Year Six authors soon!

Hold on tight!

Following their trip to Legoland in September, Year Six's D.T project is now officially underway.

Over the course of the Autumn term, all four classes will be planning, building and programming (!) their own lego fairground rides.

6JH were the first class to construct theirs and they have set the bar high with their innovative creations. Take a look:

6CC are next in line, I wonder what rides they will create?

Mayan masks

6SD have been extremely busy this half term creating their fantastic, colourful Mayan masks.

The Maya wore masks for a variety of occasions. Some Mayan masks were worn in battle and were usually carved from wood or stone. They were worn for one of two reasons: to protect the wearer during battle and to intimidate the enemy.

Other masks were designed to be worn during important events, such as weddings and birth ceremonies. These masks often depicted gods or animals and used amazing designs with bright, vibrant colours painted onto wooden surfaces.

Death masks were the most sacred and elaborate. These masks used a mosaic pattern of the Jade stone. The funeral masks protected the individual while descending into the underworld "Xibalba".

Have a look at the photograph below and see if you can work out the ceremony that each mask has been designed for. Post your answers below!

Weekly news - Open day

Open day

By Joshua and Heather 6CC

This week, our school was overflowing with parents that were coming in for the open day. On Friday morning, many students from our class were going away as they showed their carer around the school grounds. A few days before, the Macmillan coffee morning was going on in the hall. Many parents were coming in to accompany their child whilst having a cake, trying the raffle and making their own cookie whilst donating money to one of Britain's most popular charities.

Weekly news update

Mo Farah Biography

By Heather and Josh 6CC

Over the past two weeks, for their English topic, Year Six have been learning about Mo Farah and his international achievements . Earlier this year, Mo Farah retired his track racing career but is continuing his running career on the road.

Year Six also had a visit from Wood Green, learning about how to take care of rabbits. Everyone loved meeting the gerbils and we all hope they find a home soon.

Weekly news report from 6CC

 

New history topic begins!

             

By Joshua R

New day, new week, new history topic. 6CC have been learning about the ancient Maya tribe, that inhabited Mexico and Central America from 2600 BC to 1800 BC. Firstly, the class kick-started their topic by doing some guided writing (that somehow led to the creation of black fire) that is on the blog now! Now, after the phenomenal writing was completed, the class split up into small groups and started

creating their own own play of the Spanish Conquistadors (that came way after the Mayan age) discovering a Mayan ruin. Some of these are starting to look really good.                  

International Peace Day

For International Peace Day, 6CC have been reflecting on what peace means to them. On a post-it note, the pupils finished the sentence 'Peace is...' and stuck these on the whiteboard. Here are some of their responses:

Following the whole school assembly on Monday, Ms Eardley asked pupils to consider what their personal pledges to promote peace would be. Here are some of 6CC's:

It was not enough to just write this on a piece of paper; 6CC wanted to share their pledges with the rest of the school. Yasmin came up with a brilliant idea of drawing a big peace sign on the playground for everyone to write their personal pledges inside. Take a look:

To continue to promote this message of peace, 6CC's Peace Lily acts as a growing symbol of peace and reflection. Next time you're outside Year 6, see if you can spot the Peace Lily!