Over the past two weeks Year 6 have been learning about butterflies. They all had some great questions and wanted to learn more about different species of butterflies! Children had a trail quiz to complete and were challenged to find out the answers to their questions. Upon their trail, they found a peacock butterfly in the grass. They were able to get really close up to it and see the beautiful colours of its wings. Some children even got to hold it!
This week in Art, Year 6 created brilliant Mayan prints. Inspired by the geometric shapes and repeating patterns used by the Maya people, children first made cardboard tiles and glued on their designs using string. They then painted the string on the tile and pressed down onto their piece of paper using a variety of colours. We were impressed by their creativity and concentration during this process!
Yesterday we welcomed visitors from a range of companies to help host our annual careers fair. Year 6 pupils got to ask questions to different professionals including: a nurse, a midwife and an engineer, to name but a few! Thank you so much to everyone who gave up their time to help our pupils find out more about future career options.
Year 6 demonstrated fantastic teamwork and communication when peer teaching in their English lesson. This lesson was all about working together and generating vocabulary for our suspense narrative based on ‘The Curse of the Maya’. Children also came up with lots of figurative language for the main character’s senses. Each group moved around the room and added ideas or improved what was already there. The ‘Pupil Paparazzi’ then went and collected excellent examples that they wanted everyone to notice. Well done Year 6!
This week, Year 6 launched their new topic, the Ancient Maya civilisation, and participated in different practical activities to begin this unit’s learning. Children made and tasted spicy hot chocolate and discovered that the Maya thought cacao beans were so valuable that they were even used as currency. They explored Mayan temples and had a go at drawing their own and constructing them with marshmallows and spaghetti. They even made Mayan medallions out of clay with imprints of animals on them to show the importance of animals to this incredible civilisation. We were impressed with Year 6’s curiosity and teamwork throughout and look forward to seeing how they get on discovering lots more over the course of the half term!
Year 6 had a great time visiting the Time and Tide Museum to round off their topic work on World War Two. They travelled back in time to 1941 when Great Yarmouth was in the thick of the action as a ‘front line town’. They Discovered how the war affected people on the home front and met an ARP warden where they experienced an air raid and quickly had to get into a Morrison shelter. They learnt how to make-do-and-mend with a 1940s housewife and took a look in her home. They visited a shopkeeper who had the children rationing food and even making and trying powdered mayonnaise and carrot sandwiches. And to top it all off, they had bayonet training with a Home Guard soldier. We were so impressed by their curiosity, knowledge and how well they represented QH. Take a look at how brilliant their evacuee costumes were too!
This week, Year 6 have conducted a shadow investigation to explore whether the distance between an object and a light source will affect the size of the shadow. Firstly, children created shadow puppets and gathered the apparatus they needed for the experiment: a meter stick, a ruler, a torch and their results table. They measured the size of the shadow when their torch was at different intervals from the object and, to keep it a fair test, made sure the shadow puppet remained in the same place for each measurement. Children then reported on their results and found that the closer the light source was to the object, the greater the shadow because more light was blocked. We have been impressed by Year 6’s curiosity and teamwork when working scientifically this week!
This week in Science, Year 6 have started their new unit on light. Children revisited prior learning using a concept cartoon to start their discussions. Then they explored subject-specific vocabulary which they will use and develop their understanding of through investigation and enquiry over the course of this half term.
Year 6 have had fun exploring the beginning of Romeo & Juliet through drama this week. They used freeze frames to capture parts of The Prologue in Shakespeare’s tragic play and even had a go at translating the tricky language into the modern day. Children will be reporting on the action of Act 1 Scene 1 over the coming weeks and producing informative newspaper reports.
October is Black History Month, and Year 6 have enjoyed researching key individuals for this year’s theme ‘Saluting Our Sisters’ which honours the achievements of black women. Children created brilliant presentations showcasing the notable achievements and contributions made by some incredible black British women such as: Betty Campbell, Kadeena Cox and Malorie Blackman. As well as this, children had lots of fun following along to an African dance tutorial!
