In English this term, the children will be looking at The Rain Player, written by David Wisniewski.

Premise of the book:

The ancient Mayan tale of boy who must defeat the Rain God in a game of pok-a-tok to save his village from a terrible drought.

As part of their writing, children will develop their skills at writing in the progressive tenses, using different verbs and adverbs for greater impact, as well as integrating dialogue to convey information and move on into the narrative.

Using their developing skills, the children will aim towards writing their own short stories based on the Island. The children will take part in drama activities, exploring the themes of the book.

The children are continuing their maths learning journey, focusing on place value and number bonds. They will also develop their 4-operations (addition, subtraction, multiplication and division), using maths mastery to break down the problems pictorially, as well as using formal methods of calculation. We will also be developing their fluency and arithmetic skills regularly, using a combination of short e-learning and shorter sessions in the afternoons. 

This is an important year for Year 6, and so we will be spending a great deal of time reinforcing and consolidating prior learning, as well as moving forward with greater mathematical challenges. 

In our Discovery Learning unit this term, Kittiwakes will be exploring Central and South America in our Georgraphy and exploring the history of The Mayans as part of our History studies 

As part of our learning, we'll be exploring much of Central and South America's rich history, as well as fantastic natural biomes.

In our Science studies this term, we'll be exploring Electricity. 

Within each science lesson, children will be challenged with working scientifically, exploring and researching with a clear purpose. This unit will focus on how electricity works in a circuit, as well as how it is produced and stored. 

As part of Science and STEAM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Art and Maths), the Kittiwake class will be learning about robotics using the Lego Spike Prime kits, working towards the computing STEM competition later this term.

In our Religious Education, we'll be asking ourselves the big question, “How and why does religion bring peace and conflict?" 

As part of looking into the 'Big question', the children will engage in a range of debate and discussion-based lessons, which involve looking at the Bible stories  that discuss the resurrection. We'll also look at wider philosophical questions as we discuss (in child-friendly terms), the different perspectives philosophers have put forward over the centuries regarding the belief in God and Jesus.

Much of the discussion and debate will follow the recommendation put forward by the Diocese of Norwich. 

This term, we'll be exploring our bodies and our feelings as the Year 5 and 6 classes continue to learn and recognise our own feelings and those of others and how we all change over time.  We'll also be discussing, 'My Feelings'.

 Much of our PSE lessons will be linked with Emotion Coaching, with children given strategies for how to moderate and understand different emotions and feelings, as well as recognising when they may be heightened and practising our mindfulness.

Children will be encouraged to use the emotional coaching stations around the school, with further emphasis put on looking after ourselves and those around us.

In Art and Design this term, children will be exploring different features of printing, looking at how we can create artistic pieces using sketching and drawing techniques. The children will learn a variety of techniques, using a range of tools to achieve their printing pieces.

They will also be creating some Mayan themed foods and drinks

As part of our music unit, the children will be exploring 'Sea Shanties'. Using their chorus and rhythm keeping skills, the children will explore and develop their melody skills, whilst decoding and analysing further examples of sea shanties. 

In our computing unit this term, the children will be looking at E-safety and internet safety. This will involve learning about GDPR, fake news and how to work and be aware of A.I.

We'll also be making a range of short films as part of the film club and English, which will be linked with history this term as we look at local area.

We'll be continuing our weekly Spanish lessons, as we look at greetings and conversational key phrases that will continue to support their growing understanding of Spanish. Much of the learning will be conversation based, with children recording their learning in their own Spanish notebooks. Children are encouraged to speak Spanish and practise key phrases around the chol, as well as memorise Spanish nouns and verbs and sentence structure. The learning will be supported by El Senor Williams (Mr Williams) and utilising online learning apps such as DuoLingo. 

In P.E. this term will involve Tag Rugby and Outdoor pursuits and problem-solving. 

Tag rugby will involve passing, and movement skills, as well as competitive game play. 

They will also be developing their team skills, developing their strategy and rugby-based movements, through game play and mini-activities.

The outdoor pursits will challenge the children to think and work as a team.

P.E. lessons will continue to take place twice a week, with Wednesday morning sessions led by Mrs Morrell and the Friday afternoon sessions being led by an external coach and Mr Williams.

As the seasons change, it's now a wonderful opportunity to explore nature in a safe and educational way. Alongside developing our love of nature, our woodland sessions will be linked with our English as well as with our science-based learning.

Outdoor learning will take place on a Thursday. It is important your child comes dressed in long sleeves and trousers and has a change of footwear. Wellies would be most suitable from October onwards. 

Class Dojo is our main form of communication with parents. If you have not yet signed up for Class Dojo and would like to, please do not hesitate to come and see us.  We are more than happy to help if you are having difficulty accessing this.  It's a great space where you can view photos, videos and information about all the amazing things that are happening in our classroom and around the school. It gives you the chance to see what your children have been learning in school each week, giving you the opportunity to talk to them at home about what they have been doing.

We also use the Kittiwakes Google Classroom for our digital learning in school.

There will be a few home learning tasks to complete each week. These include: weekly spellings (set on a Monday), Local History Study tasks and SAT revision (only for Year 6).

The Local area-themed home learning opportunities involve a range of skills that can be completed at home. 

Year 6 children are also expected to complete the following work each week as part of their home learning to support them in their journey towards SATs:

1. One test from their Maths SATs Practice Book

2. One test from their English SATs Practice Book

3. One test from their GPS SATs Practise Book

4. Practise and learn their individual spellings

As part of Child Net Film Competition 2023, the Kittiwakes class were tasked with making a film all about how to talk about how to stay safe online.

After a class discussion, the group began planning a few ideas and solutions of how to talk about online safety. From this, they came up with three clear actions: Tell - Block - Report

Then using their amazing film planning and making skills, the group worked on animations, props and a script, before putting together this short film.

Check out the film below:

The film has now won the Into Film 'Film of the Month' award in January 2024! Who knows what's next!