Welcome to Primary Six!
New shoes, new uniform, new books and new opportunities! We hope that you had an enjoyable summer and are back, refreshed and ready to start the busy and exciting year ahead.
This term our topic is The Human Body. We will be investigating how our body works and how we can best take care of it. We will also be examining how smoking, drugs and alcohol can affect our system.
In literacy we hope to improve our study and research skills as we will be reading many non- fiction texts, focusing on skimming, scanning, note making and summarising skills. There will be many opportunities for talking and listening activities - as we love to talk in P6!
We will continue to work towards our AR targets. There is a new and updated AR website where we will quiz and collect those points!
https://global-zone61.renaissance-go.com/welcomeportal/2232336
Our writing cycle is focusing on the genre of non chronological report writing. Our modelled, shared and guided writing projects will all be centred around our topic work.
In maths we are investigating large numbers and revising some basic skills taught in P5, before we tackle long multiplication and number patterns. There will be lots of fun maths investigations and puzzles along the way!
Every Monday we will play games outside and each Friday we will be going swimming.
Primary Six is often said to be a "big" year, we hope to make it a big year of great work and lots and lots of fun!
What’s coming up in P6 this term?
As ever, we have a busy term full of exciting events planned for our hard working Primary Six pupils.
We will be embarking upon brand new World Around Us topics this term.
We will be on an intergalactic adventure as we boldly go where no P6 pupils have gone before. Our new topic this term is Space. We will be studying the sun, moon and stars. The children will be invited to independently research the various planets and we will be investigating space travel. We may even be constructing our own rockets…when we get clearance from NASA!
In Communication, we will be using the knowledge gained from our Space project to create interesting and original science fiction narrative stories. We will continue to use digital media and our whole class novels to develop our reciprocal reading skills of predicting, clarifying, questioning, summarising and making connections beyond the text.
In Using Mathematics, we will be moving into time travel by exploring the 12 and 24 hour clock and will encounter some of the problems which we may face using time in every day life. Additionally, we will explore negative numbers then length and weight as we calculate speeds and distances on planet Earth and beyond!
Like all astronauts, an understanding of measurement and control is required! , Using ICT, we will develop these skills with the use of Probots and Black Cat Logo software.
To ensure our P6 trainee astronauts are fit and able for their space adventures, training will be included. Weekly athletic activities will train our recruits in speed and agility. Watch this “space” for our musical and artistic compositions.
10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1…….BLAST OFF P6!
Useful websites:
Thursday Activities
Primary Six and Seven pupils have the fantastic opportunity to engage in a diverse range of activities every Thursday afternoon.
This term we can offer pupils the following:
Summer Sports Try Sports Nature Detectives
Art Forest School Badminton
Drama Games and Quizzes
As you can see there is something for everyone!
What is happening in P6 in January/February?
This term P6 will be finding out about all aspects of maps and as they look forward to orienteering on our residential trip to Greenhill YMCA they will have the opportunity to apply these skills. Pupils will study OS symbols, 4 figure grid references, contour lines and will learn to follow routes accurately. Our topic concludes with the children using the key features and places mentioned in our fictional village/town from the class novel to design a realistic map to scale.
What’s happening in Primary Six in November/December?
Primary Six are to embark on an historical adventure this term. We are stepping back in time to experience the world of the Vikings!
We commence our journey with a fact finding day out at the “Viking Festival of Fire” in Navan. We listen to a “real” Viking in his traditional home and hear what life was like for his family and how it differs from our lifestyles now. We investigate the contents of a Viking time capsule and get hands on with some archives. Finally, we experience the Viking invasion from another perspective- as we don robes and pretend to be monks, working in their scriptorium before their peaceful world was shattered.
We use this knowledge to write empathetic recount stories, war songs and to create authentic looking Viking crafts and weapons. In groups we research one aspect of Viking life. We create power point presentations to share our findings and educate the rest of the class.
Our writing focus this term also looks to the past, as we investigate recount writing. We examine personal recounts of trips, diaries, newspapers, but most specifically look at biographies (of the famous) and autobiographies (of our P6 pupils who are yet to be famous!)
We continue to practise our comprehension skills by using our reciprocal reading books. Specifically this term, we will become text detectives as we learn to read between the lines and become masters of inference.
In Mathematics, this half term we will be wholly enthusiastic about fractions! We find equivalent fractions, fractions in their lowest terms, fractional parts and many more fun activities! We use the knowledge gained so that Mr Oliver, Miss Bingham and Mrs Wilson can have an equal share of a chocolate cake for our Friday treat!