Castle Bromwich Junior School
Autumn term
The year 6 team are so impressed with how well the children have settled into the start of their final year at CBJS. Please see below to take a closer look at what the children have been learning.
English
Writing – In Autumn 1, Year 6 children look at the book called ‘Matilda’ written by Roald Dahl. The children will write diary entries, instructions and newspaper articles.
In Autumn 2, we will look at the book ‘The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe,’ written by C. S Lewis. The children will be learning how to write arguments, biographies and understand characters’ feelings to enable them to write their own narrative.
Reading – We have been following the text ‘Matilda’ by Roald Dahl for our shared reading lessons and have been using this to develop our understanding of the reading VIPER (Vocabulary, Inference, Prediction, Explain, Retrieve and Summarise).
We will then continue to develop our Reading VIPERS while reading ‘The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe,’ written by C. S Lewis. We have had a particular focus on inference throughout this half term.
Maths
Throughout the Autumn Term, we have been learning about number and place value, addition and subtraction, multiplication and division and developing our understanding of fractions. Starting with number and place value is a key part of your child’s learning as it links to all other areas of mathematics and is something for children to be secure in before finishing year 6.
Pioneer Centre
At the very start of the Autumn term, the year 6 children visited The Pioneer Centre in Cleobury Mortimer. This was a superb opportunity for the children to develop their collaboration, teamwork and resiliency skills. The children participated in many different activities, including: archery, high ropes, team building games, abseiling, rock climbing and zip wiring. Great fun was had by all and many happy memories were made.
Geography
Our Autumn term topic is Africa. The children have developed many different geographical skills and learned lots of new knowledge along the way, including:
- Locating the continent of Africa and African countries on a map
- Identifying rivers and mountains within the African continent
- Challenging stereotypes that exist about Africa
- Exploring different types of settlement within the African continent
- Understanding the different types of land use in Africa
- Identifying different types of biomes that exist in Africa.
Did you know that there are 54 countries in Africa?
Did you know that Africa is the second largest continent in the world?
Did you know that the longest river in the world (The Nile) is located in Africa?
Art
In Art, the children will be creating their own animal drawings, developing their sketching skills. They have learnt how to hatch, cross-hatch, contour and use circulism to create textures for skin and fur. They have experimented with different grades of pencil also.
Science
Our first Science unit of Year 6 is Classification. The children have learned about the history of classification of plants, insects and animals, understand what microorganisms are and have had the opportunity to go pond dipping in the school wildlife area. The children have then built on their knowledge of Light from Year 4 in the second half of the autumn term.
Design Technology
In D.T, Year 6 children will use their knowledge to create a Christmas Wall hanging. They have worked hard to develop their sewing skills learning to use cross-stich, back-stitch and running-stitch.
History
Our first History unit of the year is all about Crime and Punishment. The children have journeyed through time to see how both crime and punishment has changed in Britain. From the brutal punishments of the Saxons and Tudors; to the developments of Modern Policing.
Music
In Year 6, the children have developed their understanding of pitch, dynamics and texture throughout the autumn term and have studied Baroque music, including learning about different composers and even had a go at creating a piece of music themselves.
French
In French, the children have learned how to ask ‘What do you want?’ and have applied this to food and drink. They learnt different types of food and drink and created their own Café to role play placing orders.
Physical Education
Our indoor PE units this term, have been focusing on gymnastics and developing balance and coordination skills in small groupings to produce a routine. Our outdoor units, have been Orienteering (which has been great fun) and developing the different skills needed to play Netball in competitive games.
Computing
In computing, Year 6 children learn how to code a Micro:bit using MakeCode, a programme that introduces children to what coding is. They then use this to design and programme a toy.
Religious Education
Throughout the Autumn Term, the children have learned how Muslims show commitment to their faith, learning about prayer, charity and pilgrimage. In the second half of the autumn term, year 6 have focus on incarnation and understanding what this means to different religions.
Personal Social and Health Education
Our first PSHE unit of the year is ‘Being Me in My World’. Throughout this unit of work, the children learn what it means to be part of a class team and work together to create a Class Charter to follow for the rest of the year.
In Autumn 2, we move onto ‘Celebrating Differences’, which allows the children to learn how to celebrate their own uniqueness and accept others for who they are. This links with our school value of ‘Adapt’.
