Autumn 1
Autumn 1 – World War II
Welcome back and welcome to the final year of primary school! Here is an overview of all the learning that we will be doing this term.
Unit of Learning : WWII
We will be studying WWII and our focus for this half-term will be Britain. Over the half-term, we will learn about the outbreak of war, evacuation, the Blitz, rationing, propaganda and the key roles that women played. For each aspect of our learning we will delve deep and create real experiences for the children to gain an insight into what life was like during this period in time. We are hoping to create some wartime recipes based on locally available, seasonal produce. This learning will take place as part of our English lessons and is separate to our History topic, which you can find further down the page. Our class reading book will be My Secret War Diary, by Flossie Albright.
Click here for further Fiction texts with a WWII Theme
Vocabulary: war, bomb, army, Neville Chamberlain, Adolf Hitler, Blitz, radio, Spitfire, barrage balloon, gas mask box, evacuee, Winston Churchill, Air raid shelter, ration book, Anderson shelter
Click here for BBC Bitesize WWII Video Clips
Click here for DK Find Out WWII
Click here for Primary Homework Help
English: Writing
During our writing this term we will develop key skills linked to expanding sentences, varying our sentence starters and improving vocabulary choices. In addition to this, the children will learn how to use VCOP to highlight key aspects of their writing in order to edit and improve it (Vocabulary - orange, Connectives - green, Openings - yellow, Punctuation – pink.) These skills will be used to produce a character and setting description as well as exploring the key features of diary writing in order to write in role.
Alongside these lessons, pupils will take part in regular Grammar and Spelling lessons in order to build up their confidence and personal word banks. Our focus for the first half of the Autumn Term will be on word classes (noun, adjective, verb, adverb, synonym) simple punctuation, expanded word phrases and conjunctions.
To support this at home, try these following links:
https://www.topmarks.co.uk/english-games/7-11-years/spelling-and-grammar
Click here for creative writing guides
Click here for BBC Bitesize Grammar
Vocabulary: Noun, adjective, verb, adverb, preposition, determiner, full stop, comma, colon, hyphen, apostrophe, sentence opener, sentence structure, embedded clause, conjunction, fronted adverbial, relative clause, conjunctions
Guided Reading/Reading for Inference
Within our guided reading and Reading for Inference sessions, we will begin to revisit and practise each Reading for Inference skill that we learnt last year across a range of fiction, non-fiction and poetry texts. This will begin with making connections with the text, asking questions of the text and making predictions. We will also explore a range of comprehension techniques such as retrieval, figurative language and author’s choices.
To support with their reading at home, pupils should access Bedrock and Read Theory.
https://app.bedrocklearning.org/
Vocabulary: Visualise, Background knowledge, Breakdown, VIP words, GIST, Thinking like a detective, inference, retrieval, language, author
Click here for the top 100 books for Y6 children to read
Maths
This half-term, we will be learning about place value, addition, subtraction, multiplication and division. This will involve a mix of recapping and consolidating learning from last year as well as introducing new concepts. As part of this learning, we will also be developing our reasoning and problem-solving skills. We will be using White Rose Hub to explore a range of concrete, pictorial and abstract concepts within our learning.
In addition to this, the children will continue to take part in weekly Number and Lightning learning to develop our speed and accuracy in arithmetic.
In order to support with this at home, please use the following links:
Click here for Nrich reasoning and problem solving
Click here for Maths is Fun games and puzzles
https://www.topmarks.co.uk/maths-games/7-11-years/mental-maths
https://www.bbc.co.uk/bitesize/subjects/z826n39
Vocabulary: place value, million, hundred thousand, ten thousand, thousand, hundred, ten, one, add, subtract, difference, more than, less than, greater than, divide, share, multiply, array, product, factor
Science: Living things and their habitats
As part of our science topic, we will be exploring how living things are classified into groups based on similarities and differences, including microorganisms, plants and animals. We will also look at how we can independently plan and carry out an investigation that is linked to Living things and their habitats.
Vocabulary: microorganism, plant, animal, similarity, difference, classify, characteristic, habitat, subdivide, vertebrate, invertebrate
Click here for BBC Bitesize Science
Other Curriculum Areas
Computing – Computing systems and networks: Bletchley Park
Bletchley Park is considered the home of modern computing. We will discover the history of Bletchley and learn about code breaking and password hacking. We will also have the opportunity to demonstrate some of our digital literacy skills by creating presentations about historical figures.
Vocabulary: acrostic code, brute force hacking, Caesar cipher, chip and pin system, cipher, date shift cipher, encrypt, invention, Nth letter cipher, password, pigpen cipher, secure, technological advancement, trial and error
Religion and World Views Y6: Why does religion look different around the world?
We will be learning about the religion of Judaism and how Jewish people live, including objects that you may find in their house and place of worship. We will explore different questions that children come up with during lessons.
Vocabulary: Genesis, hijab, Israelites, kippah, kippot, liberal, melacha, melachot, mitzvah, mitzvoth, monotheism, mitzvah, niqab, omnibenevolent, omnipotent, omnipresent, omniscient, Orthodox, Reform, Sephardi, Shabbat, tabernacle, Tenak, Torah
MFL - French - Actions
We will be exploring how to describe people in French culminating in writing a character description. The children will revisit colours and learn additional words such as blonde, ginger etc.
Vocabulary: Given the range of language being taught in this unit, it is impractical to list it all!
Music - Songs of WW2
We will be exploring songs of World War 2 to develop greater accuracy in pitch and control. We will be identifying pitches within an octave when singing and using knowledge of pitch to develop confidence when singing in parts.
Vocabulary: morale, Britain, troops, frontline, Vera Lynn, contrast, musical terms, tempo
PSHE - Families and relationships
Learning to resolve conflict, through negotiation and compromise. Exploring respect, understanding that everyone deserves to be respected. Learning about the process of grief and the associated emotions relating to grief.
Vocabulary: authority, grief, conflict, earn, expectation, grieving resolve, respect
History – Vikings
In History we will be learning about Vikings. We will learn about how the Vikings first came to Britain and the fall of Mercia. In addition, the children will study how the Vikings were able to conquer the whole of the Anglo-Saxon kingdom apart from Wessex.
Vocabulary: Chapter 1 - flanks furrows chasms seeping ploughshare Norsemen Vikings wintered launch ingots spindle whorl daring seat of royal power crypt abandon Anglo-Saxon Chronicle
Vocabulary: - Chapter 2 - according to encounter tremble illuminated pace widespread martyrdom claiming
Vocabulary: Chapter 3 - campaigns prowled at bay to and fro ferociously in a good light decisive learned depicts re -enacting threatening warlord occupied sought
Vocabulary: Chapter 4 - ancestral residence triumphantly commotion forage ransacked shires ealdorman grave war -bands hilt font triumphed
Vocabulary: Chapter 5 - shore up fortify wary fortifications burhs fortified prosperous wilderness priory
Vocabulary: Chapter 6 - boulders vividly reputation
Geography – Migration
In Geography this term we will be learning about how and why people migrate, the journeys they take and the changes to people’s lives these migrations cause. As part of the topic we will use real life cases studies of migrants to help us understand.
Chapter 1Vocabulary - populated descended migrants inlet Mourne Mountains Newry remote
Chapter 2Vocabulary - enquiry internal migration international migration border controls pull factors push factors voluntary commute involuntary forced abandon
Chapter 3Vocabulary - enquiries check in passport control adjust self-reliant emigrated immigrant
Chapter 4 Vocabulary - engulfing temporary United Nations High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR) displaced permanent flee persecution refugees official officially asylum-seeker
Chapter 5 Vocabulary - mechanisation expansion demand Fens family tree depopulation
Chapter 6 Vocabulary - identity scale neighbourhood dual nationality belonging
PE - Hockey and Gymnastics
In hockey, we will be playing competitive games, working on tactics and analysing our performances.
Vocabulary: Dribble, pass, shoot, defend, attack, mark, evade, space, angle, lift,
In gymnastics, we will be exploring balance and control whilst evaluating performances.
Vocabulary: Balance, point of contact, control, apparatus, transition
Art - Drawing 'Making my Voice Heard'
In this unit we will learn to use a systematic and independent approach to research, test and develop ideas and plans using sketchbooks. They will draw upon their experience of creative work and their research to develop their own starting points for creative outcomes.
This will all happen alongside learning to combine materials and techniques appropriate to fit with ideas in a sustained way over several sessions to complete a piece incorporating the formal elements of art.
Vocabulary: observe, hatching, cross-hatching, scale, proportion, shape, line, form, tone, technique
Key Dates for this Half Term
Staff training day (School closed to pupils) - Friday 1st September 2023
School opens for Autumn term - Monday 4th September 2023
Y6 Kingswood Residential visit – Friday to Monday 15th-18th September 2023
Y6 Basketball festival at AMVC – Tuesday 3rd October 2023 1.30-3.00pm
Half-term - Monday 23rd - Friday 27th October 2023
Year 6 Parent/Carer event – Date and time TBC