Year 6 Curriculum outline Autumn 2021
Year 6 Curriculum Outline Autumn 2021 A World of Difference ~ Sticks and Stones Humanities - Social Understanding In Humanities using their geographical skills, pupils will study a variety of maps and familiarise themselves with continents, countries and biomes around the globe, becoming more aware of global issues occurring within countries around the world in which we live. After half term the focus is on history skills and, through the study of conflict, pupils will develop a chronologically secure knowledge and understanding of some British, local and
world history. They will understand the difference between causes and consequences of conflict and how these can be intended and unintended. This will be closely linked to the UN Sustainable Development Goals, especially goal 16 - peace, justice and strong institutions. Throughout the term, pupils will use critical thinking and collaboration to complete a variety of topic related tasks. In RS, pupils will learn about individuals who were inspired by their faith and by their commitment to their religious beliefs. They will learn how people can make brave decisions to challenge what is wrong in the world around them and make lasting changes to the lives of others. Pupils will also learn about Judaism, and the Jewish concept of the one God. They will learn about the covenant entered into between God and Abraham, and later, Moses, and why Jews may consider themselves God’s ‘chosen people’.
Language and Communication In English, Year 6 pupils will participate in a variety of activities each week that will allow the children to develop all aspects of their English skills. Weekly spellings will be given and tested the following week. Grammar and punctuation skills will generally be taught in context as part of our lessons, although certain topics may be taught discretely as necessary. Text types this term include stories from other cultures, diaries, poetry and contemporary fiction. How to help at home: ● Encourage your child to read and share their reading with them when you can. Foster a love of reading. ● Encourage your children to write in their own words and proofread their work. Pupils will complete independent writing tasks each half term to identify next steps in their learning. In Modern Languages, developing good oral communication skills remains at the core of our lessons with the use of written clues to help with pronunciation, comprehension and the consolidation of vocabulary. Linking to the thematic topics, pupils will explore the language, discovering patterns in words and structures, noticing where adjectives go in the sentence or what sounds letter combinations create and then spotting them in new words, noticing pronouns and basic verbs in reading and written passages. In French this term, pupils will follow the topics for the textbook Encore Tricolore 1. They will revise and extend their understanding and knowledge of meeting and greeting people, basic questions and answers about oneself, talking about where one lives, understanding simple classroom instructions and talking about things in the classroom. The pupils will learn about pronouns and how regular ER verbs are formed, with a focus on the gender and plurals of nouns and verb patterns. In Spanish, pupils will revise previously seen areas such as numbers, greetings and classroom vocabulary and then we will focus on the weather and climate and some grammatical structures. They will also be studying a poem by the Spanish poet Gloria Fuertes and they will write their own version of it.
Mathematical Understanding This term pupils will begin by looking at place value up to 10 million. They will compare and order numbers, build on their prior knowledge of rounding and continue their work on negative numbers from Year 5 by counting forward and backwards through zero. Our next topic is the four operations when pupils will solve multi-step problems in context, deciding which operations and methods to use before moving on to studying fractions. This will involve comparing and ordering fractions, addition and subtraction of fractions, looking at improper fractions and mixed numbers, using the concept of equivalent fractions, simplifying and multiplying fractions. They will then study geometry, looking at properties of shapes, drawing 2-D shapes using given dimensions and angles, comparing and classifying geometric shapes based on their properties and sizes and finding unknown angles in any triangles, quadrilaterals and regular polygons.
Physical Education and Well-being In PE this term the pupils will be taking part in gymnastics, football and badminton. For their games session the girls will be participating in hockey in preparation for Autumn fixtures. Please ensure that all girls have mouthguards, shin pads and long socks. The boys in games at Rosedale House will play football and some touch rugby while at Dame Bradbury’s the boys will play contact rugby. All pupils will need a mouthguard and boots. More information about fixtures can be found at www.stephenpersesport.com or www.damebradburyssport.com For PSHEE, the pupils will consider roles and responsibilities and what makes a good leader. They will look at ‘Networks of Support’, strengths and skills and children’s rights. Laws and rules will be studied and the pupils will consider how democracy works in our community. They will learn about how parliament works. Then they will look at definitions of bullying, how to respond to it and ways of preventing it in school and in the wider community. The pupils will also discuss online safety and know what to do if they are worried about anything online. Financial capability will also be covered this term and a weekly wellbeing focus in form time will allow the pupils to develop an understanding of how our British Values apply to their life, to learn from their own and others’ actions, have a greater understanding of empathy and the benefits of being kind to ourselves and others.
Creative and Performing Arts In Drama pupils will begin to draw together skills of mime, movement, tableaux and body language to convey different groups of people. They will devise scenes using drama techniques to mark specific moments. In characterisation, pupils will make deliberate choices about how a character travels, reacts and freezes in context. Pupils will confidently use terminology of stage blocking and begin to adapt blocking for deliberate effect. Vocal work will include modifying vocal tones to suit different characters and experimenting with
different levels of vocal power, such as a stage whisper. Students will also explore different styles and genres of theatre and how historical context can have an impact on their characters. In Create Design and Engineer, as a way of investigating some great artisans and their masterpieces, pupils will look at the work of individual artists and the impact their changes of direction within their art movement had on the art world. E.g. Rembrandt and Monet using new techniques. They will study Aboriginal Art and learn about the impact of new settlers on the Aboriginal tribes and their methods of working, before creating work inspired by the style and colouring of the art itself. Pupils will consider UN Sustainability Goal 2 and link the idea of symbolism within art. Painting skills that explore the elements of art will guide us through our artwork, encouraging us to plot and plan before we take creative risks and express ourselves! In Music pupils will study aspects of musical evolution, considering the key features of the Renaissance and Baroque periods. Through exploring some key works in the musical canon for these periods, the pupils will start to explore more complex musical aspects such as harmony, texture and tonality. Pupils will explore the Renaissance and Baroque periods of music through ensemble performances and compositional projects with the opportunity to use their own instruments in these projects, where appropriate. Pupils will regularly improvise and develop an increasingly broad and mature bank of music terminology. Each week, the pupils will develop their instrumental technique and ensemble performance skills. Throughout the year the pupils will experience holistic ensemble experiences and opportunities to explore a variety of instruments and musical genres. The pupils will build their confidence and fluency with reading staff notation and learn how to convey expression and more detailed musical markings. Towards the end of the term, pupils will develop their vocal performance skills in rehearsals towards our formal Carol Service.
Scientific Understanding In Year 6 the pupils experience the three disciplines of Science, Biology, Physics and Chemistry, separately for the first time. This allows for a greater focus on specific scientific skills and subject knowledge, and for the pupils to benefit from the specialist experience of a range of teachers. This term, in Biology they will learn about how microscopy and other scientific methods allow us to study microorganisms and how our visual system enables us to see the world around us. In Physics, they will study the nature of light itself, including light sources, reflection and refraction. In Chemistry, they will look at the different kinds of changes that materials can undergo and how they can be separated from each other.
How you can help: Visit local museums, such as the Sedgwick Museum of Earth Sciences, Saffron Walden Museum and Cambridge Science Centre. These institutions have extended their online resources during lockdown, as has BBC Bitesize Science. Look out also for science programmes on TV or YouTube.
Digital
The Inner Wheel With the Google apps at the heart of digital curation our pupils use Google Classroom to complete work digitally and hand in work that is produced in a variety of ways. We have identified 7 main apps, our EverGreen apps, that help to showcase our pupils’ learning. An animation, movie or annotated piece of work provides richer feedback for the teacher and ultimately helps to make greater progress. Explain Everything www.explaineverything.com Green Screen www.doink.com Stop Motion www.cateater.com Strip Design www.vividapps.com/Strip_Designer/ Notability www.gingerlabs.com Book Creator www.bookcreator.com Puppet Pals www.polishedplay.com The Outer Wheel We have a number of apps that we use consistently throughout our curriculum that lend themselves to our creative approach. We avoid apps that are specific to a particular outcome, preferring content free apps that can help to enhance our pupils work and understanding. Some examples are: Minecraft, iMovie, KeyNote, Pages and Padlet.
Coding Another aspect of our digital curriculum is the coding/programming skills that are embedded in all subjects or taught discretely in Years 5 and 6.
We have identified a progression of apps that help to develop our pupils ability to code. The apps provide variety and challenge and help to develop the computation skills that are crucial learning in our digital work. We combine the coding experiences with physical output. Using Spheros, BBC Micro:Bits and Ozobots provides visual outcomes that bring our code to life. As our pupils develop further they transition on to written code.
Thinking Toolkit Alongside and underpinning our curriculum we ensure that our pupils are developing as active learners and active thinkers. Throughout each subject area pupils are encouraged to use their range of thinking tools and reflect on when and how they are using them. Pupils are encouraged to reflect on how their thinking tools underpin all aspects of their learning and not just in the more obvious ways. How are they creative in maths? How do they enquire in English? How are they critical in Music? How do they think computationally in PE?
Inclusion This curriculum map outlines the core curriculum for each year group each term but at the heart of our wheel is the individual learner. Each subject area has a progression of skills which enables staff to stretch or support individuals as and when they need a little help, a bit of a push or a just a different way in. Within our classrooms through planning, teacher knowledge and interactions work is differentiated to suit the needs of each individual.