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Year 6 - Miss Milnes

SPRING 

INUIT

Knowledge Organiser

FROZEN KINGDOMS

Knowledge Organiser

EVOLUTION AND INHERITANCE

Knowledge Organiser

Week 1

05.01.23- ENGLISH

We're back and straight into our next narrative unit! Before boxing up our text, we split into groups and each performed a paragraph from our narrative. We thought about how the setting affected our mood and then altered our tone as a result. We discussed the rich vocabulary, taking care to clarify this unfamiliar language before placing emphasis on its impact as we performed. 

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05.01.23- GEOGRAPHY

Our exciting new topic has begun: Frozen Kingdoms! Before we dive into our learning, we recapped the significance of lines of latitude and longitude which will help us in understanding the unusual daylight hours in both the Antarctic and Arctic circles. Using wool, we represented our 4 key lines of latitude and the Prime Meridian. 

Week 2

13.01.23- SCIENCE

We love edible science here at St Joseph's! We became classification connoisseurs today as we created dichotomous keys to isolate each 'species' of confectionery! Unfortunately, Miss Milnes did remind us that not every classification session will be as tasty- particularly when we start to classify fossils next week...!

Week 3

16.01.23- ART

We've been fascinated by our new Inuit art topic today. We started by looking at five different artists and having conversations about how the style differed from previous topics we might have looked at. We noticed that the Inuit culture played a huge part in most of the artwork, and discussed how different materials had been incorporated based on what was available; for example, some sculptors had used whalebone or caribou antlers for their 3D creations. After a lengthy discussion, we made collages for each artist we had studied.  

17.01.23- COME AND SEE

As part of our Local Church topic, we have been looking at religious sources- particularly the significance of the Bible. After discussing the many different genres that are employed within the Bible, we ordered some key scripture into chronological order. Then, we worked as a group to decide whether we thought this scripture was a poem, a letter, some good news, a historical account or a wise saying. 

19.01.23 GEOGRAPHY

It was an Arctic vs Antarctic relay race today! Each team raced to find as many facts as they could from around the room, before memorising them and bringing them back to their scribes- all while racing against the clock (and the other team). Next week, team Arctic will present team Antarctica's findings, whereas team Antarctica will present team Arctic's findings! 

Week 4

27.01.23- P.E.

Not only have our gymnastics sessions taught us about core strength and balance, but we have been fostering the skills of teamwork and communication to ensure that our formations succeed. Our Real P.E. lessons focus on creativity and cooperation in addition to the physical skills themselves. This week, we teamed up with Year 5 to have a go at practising these key skills together. 

Week 5

02.02.23- ART

Our study of Inuit art continues; this time, we are using soap to replicate traditional Inuit soapstone carvings. We took inspiration from artists such as David Ruben Piqtoukun and Lucy Tasseor Tutsweetak, and attempted to carve our own arctic animal using soap. First, we practised drawing a simple outline in our sketchbook to become familiar with the shape of each animal. Then it was time to carve. The challenge of this activity really put into perspective the artists' talent- it was very difficult to create such accurate representations using only one material! We had lots of fun, and the classroom smelt beautiful as a result!

Week 6

09.02.23- SCIENCE

To introduce the concept of evolution, we used Isabel Thomas' Moth: An Evolution Story to learn all about how peppered moths have adapted to their ever-changing environment. Each child was given the freedom to retell the story and explain the concept of evolution in whichever way they chose. Look at the fantastic monochrome masterpieces we produced! 

We even got a reply from Isabel Thomas herself on our school twitter page!

SPRING 2

Week 1

20.02.23- ART

As well as soapstone carving, Inuit artists have been known to use stencilling within their work. We practised this technique today and discussed how stencilling allowed us to create more accurate repeated patterns. We cut out our own stencils of Arctic animals before using sponges to paint some fantastic colourful prints!

24.02.23- MATHS

Love is in the air! We've been 'speed dating' in maths today, trying to our find our perfect match. Some of us were fractions and some of us were decimals. Against the clock, we had to find our matching pair. It only seemed right to play the perfect background music too- particularly as we <3 maths!! 

Week 2

27.02.23- FOREST SCHOOL

Mock SATs week is upon us which means that we certainly deserve an afternoon of outdoor fun and creativity. Our Forest School session produced some fantastic creations: bug hotels, dens, 'natural chess boards' and even a fashion show! 

28.02.23- READING

In preparation for our reading paper today, we've been marking Miss Milnes' attempt... needless to say, she did not do as well as she had hoped! The sassy comments should help us to recognise the key mistakes that we could make on our reading paper! 

03.03.23- WORLD BOOK DAY!

It's St Joseph's favourite day of the year! Year 6 certainly stood out with their fantastic book-themed costumes this year- it was so hard to choose the winners in our whole school parade. We've had a lovely day playing book character Top Trumps, receiving a special story from our mystery reader, and becoming reading buddies for our FS2 children. 

Week 3

10.03.23- SNOW DAY!

Woohoo- a snow day! Miss Milnes loved receiving all of your wonderful snowy pictures- it looks as though you all really made the most of it! What a brilliant end to the week.  

Week 4

14.03.23- MATHS 

We've been exploring the relationship between ratio and fractions today. We discovered that by adding our two ratio parts together, we can work out the denominator of our fraction. Starbursts helped us to visualise the process before easily transferring our knowledge into pictorial bar models. 

14.03.23- GEOGRAPHY (DANCE)

With the help of Mrs Holden, we have been choreographing a dance routine as part of our Geography topic. Our Frozen Kingdoms unit has helped us to understand how climate change is affecting our polar regions, as well as the world at large. We aim to perform this in our whole school assembly at the end of our term- watch this space for a link to our routine!

16.03.23- GEOGRAPHY 

In addition to our Climate Change dance, we have also been studying the early exploration of Antarctica. Due to its harsh conditions, Antarctica was notoriously difficult to discover- with lots of unsuccessful or partially successful attempts recorded. Today, we embarked on our own exploration around school to follow the timeline of Antarctic expeditions.

Week 5

20.03.23- GEOGRAPHY/DT

One of the most significant figures of Antarctic exploration was Ernest Shackleton. We have been learning lots about his attempts to reach the South Pole, and were even more fascinated to discover that the wreckage of his ship, The Endurance, was discovered only a year ago! Here are some of our fantastic replicas of his ship- although we think it might have taken more than just paper plates and straws to create the real vessel!

23.03.23- WORLD MATHS DAY

In order to properly celebrate, St Joseph's postponed our World Maths Day activities to this week. Here in Year 6, we are all huge maths fans, so today's activities got plenty of cheers and excitement! We started the day with our algebra lesson, learning all about how to solve trickier 2-step equations. Then, we completed a maths scavenger hunt around the school; we had to find imperfect circles, symmetrical patterns and hidden triangles- all before coming up with our own categories. There were some great examples of hidden maths around school: things that require a formula, examples of capacity, a ratio of items and hidden quadrilaterals.

 

Finally, we were given a head-scratching maths challenge: Can you create a curved line using only straight lines? We had a lengthy investigation before Miss Milnes showed us how to create a parabolic curve. To finish the day, we created some brilliant mathematical art using our parabolas.     

23.03.23- A MOMENT FOR ST JOSEPH'S HISTORY!

They've done it!! Our brilliant KS2 team are proud owners of the Brian Hyde Cup- the first time a St Joseph's team have achieved a final victory in over a century! What a historic moment for our school; a huge well done to all of our lovely Y6s who contributed to the win. Not only was their footwork fantastic, but they were praised for phenomenal sportsmanship too. We could not be prouder!

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