Year 6
Welcome to our Year 6 page!
We are so glad that you are joining us in our learning adventure this year.
On this page you will find everything you need to know about what we have done and achieved, what we are currently doing and where our journey is taking us next.
Year 6 are taught together in Wrens by Mrs Cronshaw, supported by Mrs Esson.
Key Information
Homework
Homework will normally be set on a Friday and will be expected to be returned by the following Wednesday.
Spellings will be given on a Friday and taught throughout the week, with a test on the following Friday.
Reading
We are very enthusiastic about reading at St. Leonard's and we encourage the children to read in school as well as at home. We are lucky to have a wide selection of exciting and engaging children's literature in our classroom and there are books for everyone. Children will be also be able to access our school library to select a book for their reading pleasure.
As well as becoming fluent readers, it is important that children's comprehension and understanding of texts is developed too - it would be wonderful if children could share their books at home and discuss what they are reading with parents and carers.
Labels
There will inevitably be times when children mislay an item of uniform - it is much easier to reunite uniform with the rightful owner if everything is named. Please ensure that all clothing and shoes are labelled to avoid items becoming lost.
PE
In Spring 2, Wrens PE days are TUESDAY and FRIDAY.
Swimming lessons will also take place on Fridays. Details to follow.
Children should come to school dressed in their PE kit.
Dates for your diary
We have many exciting events taking place this year, so here are important events taking place in the Autumn Term (this will be updated if any new events occur):
Monday 23rd September - Individual Photographs
Monday 3rd October - Learning Engagement Session at 3pm
This will be at 3.00pm in Wrens classroom and will give parents and carers the opportunity to celebrate children's learning with them and find out what they have been learning in the term so far.
Thursday 28th November - Panto!
All of KS2 will be attending Jack and the Beanstalk at the Empire Theatre, Blackburn for the morning - oh yes we are!
Year Group Trips
We have planned great experiences for our year group that we are sure they will gain much from.
Autumn
As mentioned above, all of KS2 will be attending Jack and the Beanstalk at the Empire Theatre, Blackburn for the morning.
Thursday 17th October
To support our learning in History on World War II, Year 6 will be visiting the Manchester Jewish Museum and the Manchester Imperial War Museum. A letter has been sent home with all the details.
Friday 13th December
Year 6 and the school choir will have the fabulous experience of singing carols as they lead the lunchtime carol service at Blackburn Cathedral. All parents and carers are warmly invited to support the children - details to be confirmed nearer the time.
Spring
Friday 7th February
Year 6 will be singing at the Young Voices concert at the Co-op Live Arena in Manchester.
Summer
June 30th - July 2nd
Residential Trip to Robinwood Activity Centre
Class Timetable
Timetables are created for each half term and ensure that we provide the coverage and time allocation for each subject.
We adhere to these timetables unless there is an exciting reason not to such as a trip or visitor.
Year 6 Curriculum Overview
Curriculum Overviews are written as a whole school to ensure that all pupils gain the breadth and depth of knowldgew which the National Curriculum requires.
Homework for the Week
Friday 25th April
Reading - The Perfect Paradise reading comprehension
SPAG - Test 9
Reasoning - Test 9
There are no spellings.
What have we been doing in class this week?
Friday 25th April
It has been lovely to welcome back the children to school for their final term in primary school ! The children have been working hard this week on SATs preparation and have demonstrated great determination and perseverance in tackling some very tricky maths reasoning questions and SATs smasher reading questions. We are really impressed by their commitment to learning. On Friday in Church, the children sang as the rest of the children were returning to school - I have to say that their voices were so beautiful, they made us very proud. As a reward for their hard work, the children enjoyed an extra long PE lesson in the sunshine. Well done Wrens - not long to go now !
Friday 4th April
The term may be drawing to a close but in Wrens the hard work has continued! We have completed yet another full set of SATS papers and continued to review the areas we find the trickiest. We have completed a huge amount of practice maths questions on a variety of topics. We have finished reading our class novel 'Who Let 'The Gods Out' and we have really enjoyed this hilarious tale. In Geography, we found out about different types of mountains and how they are formed. We have also found time to enjoy the lovely spring sunshine and even had some extra football practice as a reward for our hard work. We hope all our Wrens have a wonderful, restful Easter break and we look forward to welcoming you all back for the final push!
Friday 28th March
SATS are fast approaching and we are working hard to complete our preparations. In maths, we have focussed on geometry; calculating angles in triangles and quadrilaterals as well as identifying the radius, circumference and diameter of a circle. We have also plotted coordinates on grid and practised reflecting and translating shapes. We have been honing our reading comprehension skills in English; finding and copying words and phrases, skimming and scanning and summarising short extracts, We have done lots of SPAG practice and identified any areas we would like to revisit. In Geography, we learned all about earthquakes, where and why they occur and the damage caused by earthquakes of different magnitudes. Finally, we found out all about Easter around the world in our RE lesson, in particular in Mexico, Germany and Greece. we reflected on which celebrations were cultural and which were religious.
Friday 21st March
This has been another hard-working week in Wrens! During maths, we have been interpreting and creating bar charts, line graphs and pie charts. We have continued to enjoy our class novel Who Let the Gods out? - Thanatos and Hypnos are now hunting down our hero, Elliot. Meanwhile, the gods and goddesses continue to cause chaos in the mortal realm. In English, we have been describing scene settings and working on our understanding of tenses. In RE, we reflected on Jesus the Messiah, looking at Old Testament prophecies and whether we believed that Jesus had fulfilled them. Our geography lesson focussed on plate tectonics and what happens when two plates meet. We enjoyed finding out about the volcanoes and earthquakes around the Ring of Fire.
Friday 14th March
We have had an incredibly industrious week in Wrens once again; completing another full set of past SATS papers as May fast approaches! Meanwhile in our maths lessons, we have been calculating the area and perimeter of both rectilinear shapes and triangles. In English, we have begun to study the spooky short film 'Alma', writing a chilling description of the eerie shop's front. We are continuing to enjoy reading Who Let the Gods out? We particularly enjoyed reading the chaotic wedding scene in which Zeus had to escape from two brides on the back of Pegasus. Science concentrated on the connection between our digestive system and our circulatory system. We also debated which of these two systems is the most vital to life.
Friday 7th March
Wrens have been working very hard this week as usual ! In Maths, the children have been consolidating their knowledge of decimals; involving rounding, multiplying and dividing decimal numbers. In writing, the children have produced some super explanation reports on the Galapagos Islands making sure to incorporate the grammatical features we have been practising for example passive voice, colons and cohesive devices. The children continue to enjoy our whole class guided reading novel - Who Let the Gods Out? - and have been practising answering inference and explanation questions based on the chapters as we read them. In Science, the children created presentations of the work we have done on the circulation system and in Geography, the focus was on understanding the location of the Earth's tectonic plates. In RE, we have continued our work on 'Who was Jesus?' - this week considering the viewpoints of various different individuals - including Bear Grylls. Well done Wrens - a great week of learning !
Friday 28th February
We have had an extremely busy start to this half term. In Maths, we have been converting measurements and honing our reasoning skills. We have started a new class novel 'Who Let The Gods Out?' and we particularly like hearing about the amusing characters such as Mrs Porshley-Plum and Call Me Graham. In writing, we have begin to look at 'The Island' and find out all about the Galapagos Islands. We wrote sentences using colons about the formation of the islands. This links to our new Geography topic, volcanoes, earthquakes and mountains. In RE this week we began to consider 'Who Is Jesus?' and thought about the different names he is known by. Our science lesson concentrated on the optimum nutrients for good health.
Friday 14th February
This week we have finished reading 'The Hobbit' and written summaries of Bilbo's epic adventure with Gandalf and the dwarves. In English, we have revised word classes and also written DADWAVERS sentences inspired by an illustration of an enchanted tree. In maths, we have been tackling some tricky algebra equations. We studied William Harvey's theory of circulation in science whilst in history we found out about the industrial revolution and its positive and negative effects. We were very interested to learn about the mills in Langho and Billington. Finally in RE this week we learned about the Eucharist and compared the differences in how Anglicans and Catholics celebrate Holy Communion.
Friday 7th February
We have had an extremely busy and exciting week putting the finishing touches to our Young Voices songs ready for our concert this evening with 8000 other children! We have even learned British Sign Language for the chorus of 'Little Blue'. We have also completed a full set of SATS practice papers as well as continuing to work on our class novel 'The Hobbit'. In history, we learned about Queen Victoria and the British Empire. Finally, we wrote imaginative stories based on spooky pictures.
Friday 31st January
We are extremely excited about our Young Voices trip next week and we have been practising all of the songs and dance moves every day. We have finished our writing unit on 'The Selfish Giant' by retelling the story from the giant's viewpoint. In guided reading, we have continued reading 'The Hobbit' and illustrated the spider battle to demonstrate our understanding of the events. In history, we found out all about the life of Charles II and why he was known as 'The Merry Monarch'. During our science lesson, we found out more about the heart and investigated which animals have the fastest heartbeats. Finally, we have been working hard to hone our percentage, fractions and decimals skills in maths.
Friday 24th January
In English we have written descriptions of the Giant's garden using semi-colons and the passive voice. We are continuing to enjoy reading 'The Hobbit' and we are eager to see if Bilbo and the dwarves make it safely through Mirkwood. Our maths lessons this week have been all about ratio and we have also been recapping adding and subtracting fractions. In history, we learned about Elizabeth I and her privateers. we found out all about the circulatory system in science and the parts of the heart. Our RE lesson focussed on Passover and the Seder plate, which we remembered finding out about in the Jewish Museum in October. We have also been excitedly practising all of the songs for the Young Voices concert in two weeks!
Friday 17th January
This week in English we have looked at passive and active voice as well as the subjunctive form. We then used formal language to write a letter protesting about the closure of the giant's garden. We have continued 'The Hobbit' and enjoyed reading about Bilbo and Gollum's riddle battle. In Maths, we have continued to focus on percentages and decimals. We enjoyed learning about Henry VIII and his many wives in our history lesson. Our science lesson was all about the digestive system and how our body gets nutrients from our food. In RE, we studied the story of Exodus and the journey to the promised land. Art was all about noses this week as we found out how to accurately draw a nose on our self portrait.
Friday 10th January
We have had an extremely busy first week back in Wrens. In maths, we have begun work on decimals and percentages. We have begun reading our new class 'The Hobbit' and we are keen to find out more about Bilbo's adventure. In English, we have begun to look at 'The Selfish Giant' by Oscar Wilde and we wrote beautiful descriptive poems about English gardens. Science involved finding out about the composition of blood and in history we learned about William the Conqueror and the Battle of Hastings. Our new RE topic is The Exodus and we began this week by considering significant world events throughout history. Finally, in art we drew some amazingly realistic eyes and we learned about the proportions of the face.
Friday 20th December
We have rounded off the Autumn term by producing a Christmas Video for you all to enjoy. It can be viewed on the school Facebook page or the main page of this website. We have particularly enjoyed reading Christmas short stories in guided reading and writing festive DADWAVERS sentences in English. We also enjoyed solving some tricky festive maths challenges. In science we completed our unit on light by looking at refraction. In geography we compared and contrasted the three areas we have studied this half term: The Tatra Mountains in Poland, the Blue Mountains in Jamaica and the Lake District.
Friday 13th December
We have had an incredibly busy week in Wrens. In English, we have written letters home from the trenches giving a first hand account of the Christmas Truce. We watched a Sainsbury's Christmas advert 'Christmas is for Sharing' to help up imagine the events fully. We have also read some Christmas short stories in guided reading. In maths, we have been consolidating our long division and multiplication knowledge. Today, we were very excited to finally perform our Christmas concert at Blackburn Cathedral. We hope any of you that came to watch enjoyed our singing. We have also been working on a special Christmas project. All will be revealed next week!
Friday 6th December
Rehearsals are well under way for our lunch time carol concert at the Cathedral and we would like to welcome everyone to come and watch at 1pm. This week we have continued to work hard, completing a full set of practice SATS papers. We have also started to look at a short story entitled 'Balaclava' in guided reading. In science, we looked at colour filters and how the eye sees different colours according tho the pigment of the material. In Geography, we found out about the Blue mountains in Jamaica. In RE we reflected on Advent as a season of hope and wrote about our own hopes and dreams for the future. We celebrated Victorian Day on Friday by writing on easels, reading about workhouses and making Victorian Christmas Crackers.
Friday 29th November
In Wrens this week we have been beginning our Christmas preparations. Rehearsals are well under way for our Carol Concert at Blackburn Cathedral in two weeks. In RE, we focussed on Mary's visit by the Angel Gabriel and considered her feelings when she was told she was chosen to be the mother of God. In English, we wrote non-chronological reports about endangered species. We have learned to multiply fractions in maths and in science we conducted an experiment to see which materials are the best at reflecting light. In Geography, we found out about the Tatra mountains in Poland and the flora and fauna of the region. We finished our week working on a creative Christmas project.
Friday 22nd November
What a busy and productive week we have had in Wrens! We were excited to read the conclusion to 'Armistice Runner' and we have very much enjoyed this story set both in the battlefields of WW1 and the Cumbrian fells. In Geography, we began to learn about Poland and compared it to the United Kingdom. We also thought about the advantages and disadvantages of mountainous borders. We thought about the role of John The Baptist in RE and reflected on what his message would be in today's world. In maths, we have continued our fractions focus, learning to add and subtract mixed numbers. In English, we wrote an information leaflet about Kakapo birds from New Zealand. We have also conducted an investigation in science to find out how we could use two mirrors to see a picture on our own back and learned about how light and images are reflected.
Friday 15th November
This week in English, we have written paragraphs and sentences about endangered animals(tigers and rhinos), adding extra information using parenthesis. Our class novel is reaching a climax as the main character faces a moral dilemma at the end of the war. Should he kill the young German soldier? In maths, we have concentrated on adding and subtracting fractions, including mixed numbers. In Geography we continued to study the Lake District and learned about how the region was formed through orogeny and glaciation. Science focussed on the light spectrum and we made Newton's colour wheels. In RE, we studied the Old Testament prophets and how they predicted the birth of Jesus. Finally, we are excited to have started learning Christmas carols ready for our Christmas concert at Blackburn Cathedral next month.
Friday 8th November
In maths this week, we have been really getting stuck into our Fractions unit, learning to find common denominators, compare fractions and order them. In English we have started our writing unit based on 'Can we save the tiger?'. This has included writing sentences about tigers using modal verbs as well as creating a tiger list poem using ambitious vocabulary. Our class novel 'Armistice Runner' has become tense as we learned Ernest's brother has been killed in action on the front and Ernest is planning to secretly join up. Geography was all about the Lake District and the positives and negatives of tourism for its residents. In science we studied light and conducted an experiment to prove that light travel in a straight line. We rounded off the week with a dance based PE lesson as well as learning about healthy eating in Spanish.
Friday 1st November
Although we have only had three days in school this week, we have packed in plenty of learning! In English we created blackout poems about the Blitz as well as writing our own war poetry. We have started out new class novel 'Armistice Runner' by Tom Palmer and we are looking forward to hearing more about Lily and her grandmother. We have started working on fractions in maths, concentrating on simplifying fractions this week. In Geography, we focussed on map skills, looking at world maps and creating our own maps of the local area labelling physical and manmade features. In art, we enjoyed creating our own still life paintings of fruit.We rounded off the week with another exciting lesson with Key PE.
Friday 18th October
We have had an incredibly busy week in Wrens. We have completed our class novel 'The Explorer' and we are loved the nail-biting climax! In art, we earned about the impressionists and mixed colours to match those used by Cezanne in his still life work. In history, we considered the impact of WW2 on post war society, in particular the role of women. We had a lively music lesson composing melodies on glockenspiels. We also had a computing morning learning about data packaging and working collaboratively online. The highlight of our week was our trip to the Manchester Jewish Museum and Imperial War Museum on Thursday. As well as seeing artefacts from World War Two at the War Museum, we had the chance to make challah bread and sample Passover food at the Jewish Museum.
Friday 11th October
In English we have continued to look at 'Star of Fear, Star of Hope'. We have written third person narratives about the young Jewish girl's realisation her family was in serious danger. Our class novel 'The Explorer' is reaching an exciting climax with the smallest of the small children seriously injured! We are looking forward to finding out if he survives! In maths this week w.e have focused on honing our skills in the four operations and the order of operations. We had a thought-provoking RE lesson about Muslim pilgrimages and the Hajj. It was lovely to hear first hand information about Islam from some of our class members. In Spanish, we have been describing our school timetable in Spanish. Finally we learned about the Home Front in history and we were very interested to find out about Morrison and Anderson Shelters.
Friday 4th October
This week in English we have started to look at the book 'Star of Fear, Star of Hope' about young girls living in France during the Nazi occupation. We wrote descriptions of the sights, sounds and atmosphere of a French café during the occupation. We are continuing to read 'The Explorer' in guided reading and we have finally found out the fate of the mysterious explorer's family. In history we enjoyed learning about the Battle of Britain and listened to one of Winston Churchill's most rousing speeches. Science focussed on how to classify unfamiliar invertebrates and we studied the example of the sea sponge. In RE this week we found out about Christian pilgrimages and learned about Holy sites such as Lourdes and Westminster Abbey. We rounded off a busy week by learning to give our opinions of school subjects in Spanish.
Friday 27th September
In maths this week we have consolidated our addition and subtraction skills and progressed onto long multiplication. We have reached an exciting part of our class novel 'The Explorer' as the children have met a mysterious stranger in the jungle! In writing we have researched and written a non-chronological report about sloths, inspired by 'Baca' the sloth in our novel. We had an intriguing history lesson focussed on evacuation during World War 2. We used our school log book to study the effect an influx of evacuees from Crumpsall in Manchester had on our own school. In science we looked at the characteristics of invertebrates. In RE we looked for Bible stories which taught Christians how to live and thought about what we could learn from them. We rounded off the week with gymnastics in PE and creating negative images of still life in art.
Friday 20th September
This week in English, Wrens have been writing a first person narrative about the jungle fire in our exciting class novel 'The Explorer'. We have also been honing our grammar skills by working on a variety of tenses. In Maths, we have successfully completed our unit on place value and we are moving on to study addition and subtraction. In RE we are continuing to consider the idea of life as a journey and this week we reflected on what we would take with us on our journey, as well as how a Christian's life journey is characterised by their beliefs. Science this week focussed on categorising different types of vertebrates by considering their characteristics. Wrens have also studied rationing during World War II and watched first hand accounts from people who lived through that time. Finally, in art we have enjoyed using charcoal to create still life drawings of classroom objects.
Friday 13th September
Wrens have been continuing to work on place value in maths and have been writing and ordering numbers up to ten million. In guided reading, we have continued to enjoy our class novel - 'The Explorer' - and the children have been answering a variety of questions based on the text. Wrens have also been improving their English skills as we have become experts in spotting different types of nouns. We began our science unit of work this week and the children learned about the taxonomy of species, they enjoyed finding the taxonomy of a red fox, donkey and lion. The children were excellent critics in art and enjoyed analysing still life art by Ben Nicholson and Jaromir Funke before having a go at sketching still life themselves. We were very proud of Wrens on Friday morning as they led worship in church and did a splendid job - everyone took part and spoke clearly and confidently. It was lovely to see so many parents and carers to support the children. The children enjoyed the PE lesson on Friday afternoon when they enjoyed practising their gymnastic skills. Well done Wrens - a super week of learning !
Friday 6th September
It has been lovely to welcome the children back into school this week. The children have enjoyed our new class novel in guided reading 'The Explorer' and we have had some super discussions based on life in the rainforest. In English, the chidlren have been honing their grammar skills and have been indentifying the various different types of nouns. In Maths, we have started work on place value and the children have beeen busy identifying the value of digits in numbers up to one million. Our History topic of work this half term focusses on Word War II and we began by discovering what led up to the outbreak of war including the rise of Hitler. In R.E. we discussed how life is a journey and that everyone has a different path to tread The week was rounded off with a critique of a still life painting by Cezanne and a super P.E. lesson in the sunshine. Well done Wrens -what a great start to the year.