Unit of Learning : WWII

We will continue studying WWII and our focus for this half-term will be the events of The Holocaust. We will complete a case study of the people it affected. This will support our writing units. 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 Rose Blanche by Christoph Gallaz and Roberto Innocenti.

Click here for further Fiction texts with a WWII Theme

Vocabulary: holocaust, persecution, final solution, concentration camps, genocide, racism, humanity, liberation

Click here for BBC Bitesize WWII Video Clips

Click here for DK Find Out WWII

Click here for Primary Homework Help

English: Writing

Chronological reports – Holocaust and Diary Writing

During our writing this term, the children will learn to use a range of devices to build cohesion within and across paragraphs with a focus on conjunctions and connectives to extend sentences and add detail. Within this unit, they will also select vocabulary and grammatical structures that reflect what the writing requires – this will include the use of modal verbs and active/passive voice.  Through both units, an additional focus will be formality of language.

Narrative

Within our narrative writing, the children will build upon the skills they developed last half-term where our focus was setting the scene and character descriptions. The focus for this unit will be to vary sentence openers and use a balance of short, compound, complex sentences and clauses. They will also begin to successfully integrate dialogue in the narrative to convey character and advance the action using the range of punctuation taught at KS2 – “”,,()—‘;!?’

In addition to this, the children will continue to develop their use VCOP to highlight key aspects of their writing in order to edit and improve it (Vocabulary - orange, Connectives - green, Openings - yellow, Punctuation – pink.) 

Alongside these lessons, pupils will take part in regular Grammar and Spelling lessons in order to build up their confidence and personal word banks. 

To support this at home, try the following links below:

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:  full stop, comma, colon, hyphen, apostrophe, sentence opener, sentence structure, embedded clause, conjunction, fronted adverbial, relative clause, connective, formal/informal, modal verbs, omissions/contractions, coordinating conjunction, subordinating conjunction

Guided Reading/Reading for Inference

Within our guided reading and Reading for Inference sessions, we will further develop and practise each Reading for Inference skill that we learnt last half-term across a range of fiction, non-fiction and poetry texts. The focus will be on identifying when the meaning breaks down and exploring techniques and strategies to fix the break-down. We will also look closely at inferring meaning from the text about specific characters and their feelings and motivations through exploring their speech and actions.

To support their reading at home, pupils should access Bedrock and Read Theory.

https://app.bedrocklearning.org/

https://readtheory.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 fractions and measures. This will involve a mix of recapping and consolidating learning from last year as well as introducing new concepts for Year 6. This will include exploring and finding equivalent fractions, comparing and ordering fractions and calculating with fractions. Having mastered these skills, the children will then learn how to calculate with mixed numbers and integers.

Within measure, the children will build on their knowledge of different units of measure and how to convert them.

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 their speed and accuracy in arithmetic.

In order to support this at home, please use the following links:

Click here for TT Rockstars

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: numerator, denominator, mixed number, improper fraction, the lowest common denominator, product, factor, multiple, compare, order, ascending, descending, integer, equivalent, metric, imperial, volume, capacity, length, mass

Science: Light

Through this topic, the children will learn that light appears to travel in straight lines and use this idea to explain that objects are seen because they give out or reflect light into the eye. They will use this knowledge to explain that we see things because light travels from light sources to our eyes or from light sources to objects and then to our eyes. We will experiment with light to learn and explain why shadows have the same shape as the objects that cast them and how the size of a shadow changes in relation to the distance and angle between the light source and the object. The children will also look at the different properties of light and experiment with whether objects are transparent, translucent or opaque and how these properties can be useful.

Vocabulary: light, source, manmade, natural, travel, refection, absorb, transparent, translucent, opaque, fair test, shadow

Click here for BBC Bitesize Science

Other Curriculum Areas

Computing – Online Safety

In this unit, children will discuss various issues online that can leave pupils feeling sad, frightened, worried or uncomfortable and can describe numerous ways to get help. They will be aware of how to seek consent from others before sharing material online and describe how content can still be shared online even if it is set to private, explain what a digital reputation is and what it can consist of. They will learn the importance of capturing evidence of online bullying and demonstrate some of these methods on the devices used at school. Lastly, they will be able to explain ways to increase their privacy settings and understand why it is important to keep their software updated.

Vocabulary: anonymity antivirus biometrics block consent digital footprint digital personality financial information hacking inappropriate malware online bullying online reputation password personal information phishing privacy settings private reliable source report respect scammers screen grab screenshot secure selfie software updates two-factor authentication URL username

MFL - French - Clothes

We will be exploring how to describe different clothing and getting dressed.

Music – Songs of World War II

We will be continuing to explore 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 - Health and Wellbeing

Children will learn to describe the importance of relaxation and suggest different strategies in order to explain how they take care of their physical wellbeing. As part of this, they will learn that technology can have an impact on physical and mental health and know some strategies they can use to overcome this and describe what resilience is, why it is important and some useful resilience strategies. In addition, we will look at how vaccinations work and why it is important to individuals and understand that habits can be good or bad for our health. They will understand that changes in their body, including mood, could indicate illness and know what to do if they notice them.

PE - Basketball and Dance

In basketball, 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 Dance, we will be exploring and learning about Modern Dance.

Design and Technology – Come Dine with Me

In Design and Technology, children will learn about the different flavours we can taste and identify foods that taste this way. Using this knowledge, they will find a suitable recipe for their chosen course of a three-course meal. They will record the relevant ingredients and equipment needed, follow a recipe, including using the correct quantities of each ingredient to produce their course. In addition, they will write a recipe, explaining the process taken and explain where certain key foods come from before they appear on the supermarket shelf.

Vocabulary: hygiene, nutrition, healthy eating, varied, diet, recipe, utensils, equipment, accurate, measure, combine