Toucans 2023 - 2024

Welcome to Toucans' Class Page

Our class teacher is Mrs Evans and our teaching assistant is Mrs Hulse. 

Miss Beattie will be teaching the Class on Mondays, Mr Beswick will support on some afternoons and Mr Ault will teach PE.

We are going to have an incredible final year together at Lostock Gralam Primary School.

Look what we learn about in Year 6:

Phase 1 2023 (September -February Half Term)

Writing

This term we will be focusing on two inspirational texts to support our writing. First, we will be focusing on writing a story with a flashback based on the book ‘Star of Fear, Star of Hope’ by . During this unit of work we will: Use expanded noun phrases to convey complicated information concisely (recap from Y5). Use passive verbs. • Link ideas across paragraphs using a wider range of cohesive devices.  Integrate dialogue to convey character and advance the action.

Reading

Our Pathways to Read texts go hand in hand with the writing texts to support us to build our understanding of the theme, develop our vocabulary and develop our inference and deduction skills in order to answer a range of reading response questions.  

We begin with a collection of 3 short stories in the book 'When we were Warriers' by Emma Carroll.

After half term we will use the book 'Can we Save the Tiger' by Martin Jenkins. Through this beautiful book we will develop our report writing about amazing animals through developing an independent booklet including information, explanation and persuasion. We will learn to:  Enhance meaning through selecting appropriate grammar and vocabulary.  Use modal verbs and adverbs to indicate degrees of possibility.  Use brackets, dashes or commas to indicate parenthesis.

Our shared reading text is 'Jungle Book' by Rudyard Kipling.

In our final half term of Phase 1 we will use the book 'The Selfish Giant' by Oscar Wilde and Ritva Voutila to inspire our ability to write in the 1st and 3rd person and from another character's point of view. This will help us develop the skills to: Distinguish between the language of speech and writing.  Recognise vocabulary and structures for formal speech and writing, including subjunctive forms. Use passive verbs.  Use semi-colons to mark boundaries between independent clauses.

Our shared reading text is 'Martha's Suitcase' by The Literacy Company

Maths

During the Autumn Term will be working to consolidate our maths learning from Year 5 and introduce new Year 6 concepts. We will be focusing on Place Value of numbers within 10,000,000, addition, subtraction and multiplication and division of up to 4 digits by 1 and 2 digit numbers. We will also develop our understanding of fractions and geometry.

During our arithmetic lessons we will rehearse a range of mental strategies for all four operations, fractions and decimals to answer accurately and efficiently.

History and Geography

During the Autumn Term we will explore our class theme ‘Conflict’. We will be developing our inquiry skills by asking and answering historical questions about the similarities and differences in wars over the ages including The Battle of Hastings, The Wars of the Roses, World War 1 and World War 2.  We will use physical and online maps to locate the countries involved. We will visit the Imperial War Museum to further enhance our understanding of World War 1 and 2. Both the Writing and Reading texts we study first will also enhance an understanding of World War 2.

Science 

We will explore the topic 'Light' first and then follow on by developing our understanding of electricity and circuits from our earlier learning in Year 4. 

DT

DT will go alongside our WW1 and WW2 theme to recap and build on our skills in designing and building structures in order to make a stable and robust shelter. We will build on our science knowledge of circuits to tinker with different ways of constructing series and parallel circuits.

Music

For the first half term, Year 6 will be developing their Ukulele skills. Later in the term we will focus on singing and performing for the Christmas performance. In January we will develop our use of pulse, rhythm and pitch through the Charanga scheme and the song 'Happy' by Pharell Williams. 

PE

Please note that PE for your child will be on Wednesdays and every other Friday. (These dates are listed in your child's Home School Diary). There may be an occasional extra PE session on a Monday which you will be notified about via e-mail.

Your child should come to school dressed in their PE kit on PE days.

Homework

Maths

Children in Toucans Class will be set a weekly maths homework to further support their understanding of the mathematical concepts we have covered in school. This homework will be set on a Friday and should be completed, marked and returned to school the following Friday. Your child will record the page number in the homework diary each week. 

If for any reason your child is unable to complete their homework at home, please encourage them to speak to Myself or Mrs Hulseas we would be happy to set aside some time to go through this with them. 

Times Tables

Times Tables must continue to be a  focus for us this year as fluency in the multiplication facts supports so many areas of understanding within the maths curriculum. I will set a weekly focus times table to practice alongside their maths homework.

These are a few popular games to play to support fluency in times tables:

https://www.topmarks.co.uk/maths-games/hit-the-button 

https://www.timestables.com/multiplication-games/

https://www.topmarks.co.uk/times-tables/coconut-multiples

Reading and Spellings

Over the year I will encourage your child to choose from a wide range of both fiction and non-fiction books from school to enjoy reading at home. When your child reads at home, either independently or with you, they should record this in their homework diary and have it signed by an adult. Children should spend 20 minutes reading each evening. 

Spellings will be stuck into homework diaries on a Friday and tested the following Friday. Please spend 5 minutes daily practicing your child’s spellings with them. 

If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to get in contact. 

Mrs Evans x