Year 6 Curriculum Newsletter DISCOVERY – The Maya! We will be launching a new topic this term, all about the ancient civilization of the Maya, who lived in Central America. We will discover where and when the Maya built their magnificent civilisation and develop a range of skills across the curriculum. We will investigate how they lived, their culture and their legacy. Specifically, we will learn about: Writing, using logograms and hieroglyphs Maths and calendar systems of the Maya Buildings of this very early civilisation How the Maya transported goods and what did they traded The legends of the Maya people. through exploring the famous creation story of the Hero Twins and the Lords of the Underworld Tool technology of the Maya The family-orientated society of the Maya The methods of farming practised by the Maya and some of the foods they farmed We will be inviting the parents and carers to attend a Mayan Making Morning on Thursday 8th December. More details to follow… Year 6 Curriculum Newsletter Autumn Term 2 English In Guided Reading and English, we will all be reading the book Holes, by Louis Sachar. We will learn reading skills on a rotational system. Once we have read much of this book, we will use the story to inspire our own narrative writing, building up the skills of planning and drafting. As well as the skills we have already learned this year (semi-colons, colons, hyphens, passive/active voice, modals verbs, and prepositional phrases, we will learn new skills to add to our repertoire of skills! These will be: Creating atmosphere and integrating dialogue and using Inverted commas accurately, commas for clarity, using dashes, and looking at how different clause structures affect our writing. We will then consolidate all the skills we have learned so far in a short story about he Maya Creation Myth. This unit will focus heavily on editing and redrafting to improve. Maths - We will continue to practise calculations of the four operations (+ - x ÷) on an almost-daily basis, building up the children’s fluency and accuracy. The children will also learn the following units: Multiplying decimals by 10, 100 and 1000 Comparing, ordering and simplifying fractions Written methods for multiplication and division Problem solving Ordering of operations BODMAS ALGEBRA Fractions and Percentages 2D and 3D shapes Remember to use the Study Guides on loan to you to support your learning at home! PSHE, Circle Time and Values In PHSE we will explore how to cope ‘getting on & falling out’ with our friends. In Circle Time, in Year 6, we address issues that arise according to the needs of the children. We will continue to learn about our school Value of the Month, which for November and December will be Humility and TRUST, so please talk with your children about these qualities. RE: we will be learning about the Christmas Story and how it came to be believed. Computing - In this unit you will: 1 Think about and plan the type of game 2 Create backgrounds and sprites 3 Start programming your game. 4 De-bug your game. 5 Test your game and receive feedback on it. PE The children will be learning skills to play a game of netball (their outside session), as well as having an indoor PE session where they will be learning gymnastic skills. Forces: In Science, we’ll be finding out: • How a ball flies through the air • How different objects fall • What gravity is and how it pulls on objects • How air resistance affects moving objects • How water pushes up on floating objects • Why some objects float and others sink In Technology, we’ll be finding out: How to make a sailing boat or flying paper plane  In Music, we’ll be finding out: • How to play our homemade instruments In International, we’ll be finding out: • About sound and light pollution