Cashes Green Primary School and Children's Centre

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Year 6

To contact Miss Jordan please email mjordan@cashesgreen-pri.gloucs.sch.uk 

Reminders:

P.E. - Our P.E. lessons are every Wednesday this term (term 5).  If they are in school, children need to come to school dressed in their P.E. kit with suitable footwear on this day.

Swimming - Our swimming dates are Wednesday 22nd May, 5th June and 12th June.  Children will need to come to school in their P.E. kit with their swimming kit in a bag.  Long hair must be tied back. 

Reading Records - signatures will be counted each Thursday.  Children can read to themselves but the record must be signed by an adult. 

Forest School - Forest School will start again for Year 6 in the final term of the year (term 6) and will be on Tuesdays.  Sessions will take place from Tuesday 11th June - Tuesday 9th July. 

Term 4 and 5 - Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone - J.K. Rowling

This term our topic is based around the book Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone by J.K. Rowling.  Many of you are probably familiar with the book (or film) already but there is a synopsis of the story below for those of you who may be new to the story.  There is also an overview of what we will be learning in each subject over the next two terms.  

Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone Synopsis 

Harry Potter has never even heard of Hogwarts when the letters start dropping on the doormat at number four, Privet Drive.  Addressed in green ink on yellowish parchment paper with a purple seal, they are swiftly confiscated by his grisly aunt and uncle.  Then, on Harry's eleventh birthday, a great beetle-eyed giant of a man called Rubeus Hagrid bursts in with some astonishing news: Harry is a wizard, and he has a place at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry.  An incredible adventure is about to begin...

Class News

Friday 19th April 2024

We have had a very busy first two weeks back after Easter.  Whilst we are preparing for our upcoming SATs tests we have also been very busy in other lessons too.  In English we have written a part of a story based on a Harry Potteresque creature that we created.  We rewrote the part of the original story where Hagrid's dragon egg hatches.  We have produced some fantastic pieces of writing from this.  Last week in Maths we were revisiting our previous work on calculating with fractions.  This week we have been learning about how to find the area of composite rectilinear shapes, triangles and parallelograms.  In Science, in small groups, we carried out investigations of our choosing.  Before half term we explored what happened to sugar when it was added to water and found that it dissolved and created a sugar-water solution.  Following on from this, we came up with several other investigations that we could carry out, exploring variables such as temperature, type of sugar, type of water and amount of sugar.  We choose which of the four we wanted to do, planned it and carried out the investigations this week.  Next week we will be analysing our results and to see what they show us.  In P.E. with Mr W, we are currently participating in athletics based lessons.  We are really pushing ourselves to keep going even when tired.  

Friday 1st March 2024

What a jam-packed first two weeks back we've had!  We dived straight into our new book on the first day back and managed to read an incredible 93 pages of the book in less than a day!  We then used what we had read so far to write a setting description of Diagon Alley.  We used our senses to imagine what it would be like to be there and tried our best to include these in our writing to help build up a picture in the reader's mind.  In Maths we have been busy revisiting some methods of written calculation - long multiplication and short/long division.  It is really important that we are able to use these methods confidently and accurately.  We're doing really well and most of us are confident with using these methods now.  In Science we have starting our unit for the term, Properties and the Changes of Materials.  We have started off by recapping some prior learning from previous year groups predominately around the states of matter.  We have also carried out a mini-investigation to see what happens when you add Unicorn Poo (raisins) to three different liquids; Dragon's Spit (still water), Hippogriff Juice (lemonade) and Troll's Blood (sparkling water).  We found that when adding the Unicorn Poo to a fizzy liquid, the bubbles form on it and cause them to rise to the top and then fall back down once the bubbles popped.  We had lots of fun carrying this investigation out - check out the photographs of what it looked like below.  After we'd finished we then went on to make some suggestions for other, similar investigations we could carry out.  We then tried one of these suggestions out by looking at if there was a difference between normal and diet lemonade.  In P.E. we are having a go at something new - dance!  We had our first lesson and managed to learn and perform a whole routine in one session!  We had lots of fun!  

Term 3 - Virginia Wolf - Kyo Maclear

This term our topic is based around the book Virginia Wolf by Kyo Maclear.  Please see below for a synopsis of the story and an overview of what we will be learning in each subject this term.  

Virginia Wolf Synopsis

Vanessa's sister, Virginia, is in a 'wolfish' mood - growling, howling and acting very strange.  It's a funk so fierce, the whole household feels topsy-turvy.  Vanessa tries everything she can think of to cheer her up, but nothing seems to work.  The Virginia tells Vanessa about an imaginary, perfect place called Bloomsberry.  Armed with an idea, Vanessa begins to paint Bloomsberry on the bedroom walls, transforming them into a beautiful garden complete with a ladder and swing so what was down could climb up.  Before long, Virginia joins her sister and undergoes a surprising transformation of her own.  

Class News

Friday 2nd February 2024

This term is absolutely flying by - one week to go!  We have been very busy in class over the last few weeks.  In English we have written our own versions of our class text Virginia Wolf.  We followed the structure of the original story but developed our own characters and settings.  In Maths we have completed our unit on ratio and have moved onto algebra!  In Science we have been learning all about the human body.  We learnt about the circulatory system and can explain its part and how it works.  We have also learnt about the functions of the human heart.  In Computing we have been busy programming.  Our main focus within this unit is upon variable in games.  We have experimented with introducing a score variable to a game and the different ways in which we can set it up.  We will eventually be creating our own games which include variables.  In Art over the last few weeks we've been learning about the artist Romero Britto.  We have explored his work and have this week created our own pieces of art in the same style as his.  These are going to be used as our Topic Book covers.  

Thank you to everyone who was able to come and watch our FINAL sharing assembly this morning.  We hope you enjoyed it.  

Term 2 - The Last Bear - Hannah Gold

Our second topic for this year is based around the book The Last Bear by Hannah Gold.  Please see below for a synopsis of the story and an overview of what we will be learning in each subject this term. 

The Last Bear Synopsis

There are no polar bears left on Bear Island. At least, that's what April's father tells her when his scientific research takes them to this remote Arctic outpost for six months. But one endless summer night, April meets one. He is starving, lonely and a long way from home. Determined to save him, April begins the most important journey of her life...

Term 1 - Who Let the God's Out - Maz Evans

It has been so lovely to welcome Year 6 back to school ready for a new year.  We've really been able to hit the ground running as we are already familiar with each other.  They've settled back in really well and are off to a great start at being super role models as they are now the oldest children in the school.  I am really looking forward to working with them (and you) all again this year and watching them grow and prepare for their transition into secondary education at the end of the year.

Our first topic this term is based around the book Who Let the God's Out by Maz Evans and our primary focus is Ancient Greece.  Please see below for a synopsis of the story and an overview of what we will be learning in each subject this term. 

 Who Let the God's Out Synopsis

When a shooting star crashes to earth, it lands Elliot smack bang in the path of Virgo - a young Zodiac goddess on a mission. But when the pair accidentally release Thanatos, a wicked death daemon imprisoned beneath Stonehenge, they’ve got nowhere to turn for help but to the old Olympian gods.

These gods are used to getting their own way and they’re more than capable of creating a little chaos themselves. After centuries of cushy retirement on earth, are Zeus and his crew up to the task of saving the world - and solving Elliot's problems too?

Class News

Friday 27th October 2023

What a fantastic final two weeks of term we had to finish off our Ancient Greeks topic.  We have loved our class text Who Let the Gods Out, so much so we have started reading the next book in the series, Simply the Quest.  In English last week we wrote past tense reports about the city states in Ancient Greece.  We were able to use the knowledge we had learnt in History to help us write these.  In Maths we have finished off our calculation unit and are looking forward to getting stuck into fractions when we're back after half term!  This week in Art, we made our Topic Book covers.  For this, we learnt all about Greek pottery and had a go at designing our own pots.  Greek pottery is a fantastic record of history as they often told a story or showed an aspect of life on them.  For ours, we used the stories we wrote a few weeks ago and drew the scene where the monster is being killed by our hero.  Check out the photos of our finished work below.  In Geography this week we have carried out a comparison between the United Kingdom and Greece looking at aspects such as climate, population, islands, coastlines, etc.  We have finished off our Evolution and Inheritance topic in Science by exploring fossils about what they can tell us about the past.  We looked at a fossil (picture) of a plant and a species of fish and compared them to a living relative today.  We had to note down the similarities and differences between them.  

Friday 13th October 2023

In English last week we wrote instructions for how to kill the mythical monsters from our story.  This week we've moved on to Past Tense Reports.  We have been exploring some examples and looking at the structure and the features of this text type.  We are going to be writing a report next week about the City States of Ancient Greece.  In Maths this week and last week we've been working really hard on our written methods of multiplication and division.  We're been trying really hard to grasp the method of long division!  In our basic skills work we are still working on multiplication facts and this week our focus has been multiplying by 3 and 4.  In D.T. we used a sewing machine to sew our drawstring bags togethers and are currently in the process of adding the cord.  Check out the pictures of us on the sewing machine below.  Linked to our work in English, in our History lessons we've been learning about the City States of Ancient Greece.  We have focus on three main ones - Athens, Sparta and Corinth. We explored their attitudes towards governance, education, military and women.  Once we'd done this we then had to write which state we'd rather live and explain why based on what we had learnt.  In Computing we have been learning about data packets and how computers send data across networks.  We simulated this ourselves by creating data packets and passing them around the room.  In Science we have learnt about adaptation.  We have looked at a selection of different living things and thought about how they are adapted to live in their habitats.  

Friday 29th September 2023

Over the last two weeks in English we've been working really hard on writing our own Greek myths and they are finally finished.  We used the story of Theseus and the Minotaur as a basis for our stories but made them our own by developing our own characters and monsters.  Next week, we are going to be moving on to instructional writing.  In Maths we have finished our place value unit and have started working on addition, subtraction, multiplication and division.  In Science we have been learning about characteristics.  We learnt that some characteristics are either inherited (cannot be changed and are passed on from our parents) or environmental (you have choice or has happened because of experiences).  We then put this into practice using Mr Men and Little Miss.  We picked our parents and then drew what their offspring would possibly look like based on inherited characteristics.  This was good fun and we got some very peculiar looking characters!  In our last History lesson we learnt about democracy.  We learnt that democracy originated in Ancient Greece and because of them, it still exists today.  We spent some time comparing democracy in Ancient Greece to democracy in the UK today.  Our D.T. project is still rapidly moving forward.  Since our last update we've done a little more hand sewing and have learnt about pattern pieces.  We then created the pattern piece for the drawstring bags we're going to be making.  As the material we're using to make the bags is white, we have also had a go at tie-dying this week.  Over the next few weeks we are going to begin sewing our bags together using sewing machines (with adult supervision!).  

Friday 15th September 2023

What a brilliant start to the new year we've had so far.  We have got stuck straight into our new topic, Ancient Greece.  We are really enjoying our class text and are already about a third of the way through the book!  In English last week, we did our first piece of writing.  We wrote a diary entry as if we were Elliot after yet another bad day at school.  Considering it had been our first extended piece of writing in six weeks, we produced some super work!  This week in English we have started exploring Greek myths.  So far we've explored three different myths (Daedalus and Icarus, Theseus and the Minotaur and Perseus and Medusa) and have discussed the common themes among these stories.  Next week we are going to be writing our own Greek myths and will develop our own mythical monster and quest that our hero has to go on to defeat the monster.  In Maths, we've started our unit on place value and are exploring numbers up to 10,000,000.  In History, we began by looking at where Ancient Greece fits in among a wide historical context as well as the chronology of some key events.  Over the coming weeks we will look to answer the question 'What legacy have the Ancient Greeks left for the modern world?'  To start off our Science unit, Evolution and Inheritance, we were very lucky on Monday to have an virtual workshop with the Natural History Museum.  They talked to use about evolution and by the end of the session we were able to explain, what evolution is and why and how evolution happens.  In our second Science lesson this week we've started learning about inheritance.  We discussed characteristics that were inherited and those that were environmental.  We collected data from the whole class to see if we could spot any patterns linked to physical characteristics we had.  From analysing our results we found that the majority of children with blonde hair also had blue eyes and that those children with black hair all had brown eyes.  We concluded that there didn't seem to be a link between hair and eye colour for those with brown hair as the eye colour was varied and spread out.   In D.T. we have started a textiles unit of work.  Last week we explored different textiles and looked at types of stitches, how bits of clothing are joined together and what materials are used for specific types of clothing.  This week we have had a go at a number of hand stitches - after we managed to thread our own needles!  Our aim is to design and make our own drawstring bags by the end of this term.