Vanuatu Class Year 6
Vanuatu Class – 04.10.23
Vanuatu class have adapted really well to life in Year Six. In English, we have been writing stories about the Dream Giver and we loved using a video stimulus for this piece of writing. Our maths lessons have been all about number and we have explored square, cube and prime numbers in particular. We really enjoyed learning how to identify prime numbers in a hundred square using the ‘Sieve of Eratosthenes’. In science, we have started to look at electricity, why it is important to us and how to draw circuit diagrams. We have spent time in history learning about the ‘Industrial Revolution’, what this was and what it meant for the people of Britain at the time. Our first art project of the year was to design a year six title page. We had a go at using bubble writing for the word ‘year’ and, with the help of a tutorial, managed to draw a three-dimensional number six ourselves. We have recently started our class reader – Street Child. We are really looking forward to finding out what happens to Jim Jarvis! Finally, we were lucky enough to have award-winning author, Hannah Gold, visit Milford to talk to us about her new book. Many of us ordered the book and were fortunate enough to speak with Hannah and have her sign our own copies of the book!
MARCH 2023
This half-term has been a really exciting one for Vanuatu Class. We all had the opportunity to go to Paignton Zoo on a school trip to celebrate their centenary year. We managed to see all of the animals and the last ones we saw were the red pandas – they really put on a show for us!
In English, we have been learning how to write diary entries. Our diaries were linked to our class reader – War Horse by Michael Morpurgo. We had to get into character by writing as both Emilie (a young girl whose horses were taken away from her by German soliders) and Trooper Warren (the protagonist’s new rider after Captain Nicholls – his original rider – was killed in the first battle).
In maths, we have started to learn about shape. We have spent time learning how to work out the area and perimeter of different shapes and we are now beginning to explore the different types and angles and how they are measured.
Last week was British Science Week. In year six, this meant that Friday 17th March 2023 was dedicated to science. Some of us went to represent the school in a STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Maths) event at Yeovil College, whereas other stayed at school and had the opportunity to take part in fingerprint and biscuit related investigations.
In geography, we have been learning about trade and which countries we import goods from and export goods to. It was really interesting to see which countries export different goods – some of the imports/exports left us quite surprised!
In PE, we have started our new unit – cricket. So far, we have focussed on fielding. We are all looking forward to having the opportunity to practise our batting skills!
07.02.23 – Vanuatu Class
This half-term has been a really busy one in Vanuatu class – we have all really enjoyed being back together again and having the opportunity to share break and lunch times with other year groups.
In English, we have been learning how to write non-chronological reports. We started by creating our own ‘Mischievians’. Mischievians are made up creatures who do their utmost to cause as much trouble in every day life as possible! Once we had written about our own, made-up creatures, we learnt all about horses and how they were used in the First World War. This linked brilliantly with our class reader, War Horse by Michael Morpurgo, and allowed us to record everything we had learnt about horses in World War One in a non-chronological report format.
In maths, we have predominantly focussed on fractions, decimals and percentages. We are all becoming much more confident when it comes working in this area of maths and we are starting to realise the relationships between fractions, decimals and percentages.
In science, we have been learning all about light. First, we learnt all about how light travels in straight lines by conducting the experiment shown below. We also learnt about how shadows are formed and how they change dependent on how close to, or far away from, a light source the opaque object blocking the light happens to be.
We have been learning all about chocolate and where in the world it comes from in geography this half-term. We were shocked to learn how little cocoa farmers in Ghana earn and how different their lives in Western Africa are to the lives we live in Europe.
In PE, we have been making the most of our new school hall during gymnastics sessions. We have been collaborating really successfully with our partners in order to come up with a gymnastics routine to perform together to the rest of the class.
12.12.22 – Vanuatu Class
This half-term has been a really busy one in Vanuatu class – we have had plenty of fun and are all really looking forward to being back with the other year groups at Milford after Christmas.
In English, we have been working on our persuasive writing skills. First, we wrote a letter to Bristol Zoo. Our job was to persuade the owners to either keep the zoo open, or close the zoo based on our persuasive arguments. We then spent time writing in character as Rosie from Street Child. We needed to convince ‘Grimy Nick’ to release Jim Jarvis from his life of torture on the Lily.
We have continued to work on fractions in maths and are now much more confident when it comes to multiplying and dividing fractions. It was tricky to begin with, but we were able to apply our knowledge using practical examples and this really helped.
We were incredibly lucky as we had a visiting artist, Darrell Wakelam, work with us on a class project. We created a War Horse piece of artwork using basic materials. It fitted in really nicely with Remembrance Day and Darrell was incredibly talented. He showed us the techniques and then allowed us to experiment so we could put our own spin on it to ensure the artwork was fully created by Vanuatu class!
8.11.22 – Vanuatu Class
In the last week before half term, we completed our first round of practice SATs papers. They were tricky, but we all showed real resilience in order to complete the papers and we tried our best.
In English, we have met ‘Shrimps’ in our class reader, Street Child. We spent last week writing a character description about him. We then had the opportunity to edit and improve our work to ensure that it was the best piece of writing we could produce.
Since half term, we have been focussing on fractions in maths. It was difficult to begin with, but with the help of pictorial representations, we have managed to begin finding equivalent fractions as well as adding and subtracting fractions.
We were lucky enough to have a visitor to talk to us in the hall about parliament. He was really engaging and it was interesting to ask him questions in order to improve our understanding of parliament.
Finally, in science, we have really enjoyed conducting our mould experiment. We look forward to checking the slices of bread each morning to see whether mould has formed. Some slices of bread have grown mould much faster than others. At the moment, it would appear that the slices of bread which were damp prior to the experiment have grown the most mould.
18 OCTOBER 2022
During the last couple of weeks, Vanuatu class have been learning about the ‘Industrial Revolution’ in more detail. We have learned all about how a steam engine works, as well as researching ‘Navvies’, who they were and what they did.
In English, we have been using our class reader, Street Child, as our stimulus. We have acted out ‘freeze frames’ from the book, written setting descriptions of Jim Jarvis’ room in Mr Spink’s house and even written a workhouse diary.
We have been exploring BODMAS in maths, discussing why it is important and breaking calculations down to show them as visual representations in order to aid our understanding of the concept.
In art, we have been learning about William Morris - a Victorian artist. We have had a go at replicating some of his pieces of artwork, mixed our own Victorian watercolours and also tried to sketch some of our own designs in the style of William Morris.
Finally, we are all looking forward to seeing what happens next in Street Child, particularly now that Jim Jarvis has been reunited with his mother’s friend, Rosie.
AUTUMN 2022
Vanuatu class have settled in really well to life at our temporary Buckler’s Mead home. In English, we have been writing our stories about the Dream Giver and we liked using a video stimulus for this piece of writing. Our maths lessons have revolved around number and we have explored square, cube and prime numbers in particular. We really enjoyed learning how to identify prime numbers in a hundred square using the ‘Sieve of Eratosthenes’. In science, we began looking at electricity, why it is important to us and how to draw circuit diagrams. We have spent time in history learning about the ‘Industrial Revolution’, what this was and what it meant for the people of Britain at the time. Our first art project of the year was to design a year six title page. We had a go at using bubble writing for the word ‘year’ and, with the help of a tutorial, managed to draw a three-dimensional number six ourselves. We have just started our new class reader, Street Child, and we are looking forward to finding out what happens to Jim Jarvis.
