Yr6 Curriculum Update – 26/10/18

Working together to achieve success for every child

The Year 6 Team

  

Welcome to the 5th edition of our Year 6 Curriculum Update!

There were two highlights of this week. Firstly, some of our Year 6 students joined the teachers during the planning meeting and they brought the students’ voice to the planning table to help plan our new unit. Secondly, a new team of student photographers and editors have taken the charge and this is their first curriculum update. We are proud of our Year 6 students who have been showing leadership skills and commitment in various learning situations.

In each update, you will be able to see glimpses of the learning journey that our students have been involved in over the previous two weeks. Our Learning Journey is written by teachers and students.

As part of our Who We Are unit and in line with our PSE curriculum, the year 5 and 6 students will begin discussions linked with social, emotional and physical changes that occur during puberty and adolescence.

In general, puberty starts for girls between the ages of eight and 13 and boys between nine and 14 and research indicates that it is better to learn about changes they will go through before they actually go through them, which is why we begin our discussions in year 5 and continue them through to year 6. We wanted to share with the parent community the key ideas we will be discussing, beginning this week and continuing on at various times throughout the academic year. Understanding what conversations are happening in the classroom will enable you and your child to open up conversations at home as well.

 

Key Ideas Addressed In Year 6:

• Puberty signals changes in a person’s reproductive capability
• During puberty, hygiene is important to keep one’s sexual and reproductive anatomy clean and healthy
• Menstruation is a normal and natural part of a girls’ physical development and should not be treated with secrecy or stigma
• During puberty, adolescents may experience a variety of physical responses
• There is wide variation in what people find attractive when it comes to a person’s physical appearance

 

Transdisciplinary Learning – It’s all connected!

In our last unit, children learned how people collaborate to make a big difference (small action) X (a lot of people) = big change. This week we have started our Who We Are Unit. Through the concept of Change, we embarked our journey to unpack puberty and body changes in our classes. Some of the students explored hormones and physical changes that boys and girls both go through. Next week the students are starting the third unit “Where We Are In Place And Time”, where they will be learning about the concepts of heritage and conservation.

In Writing, some classes are learning how to use P.E.E.L to write persuasive writing. P.E.E.L stands for point, evaluation, elaboration, and link. We have also been learning about emotive vocabulary. Some classes were creating calligrams using emotive vocabulary in the shape of a global goal. Others were creating long pieces of persuasive writing to persuade Mr. O Reilly to let them have their own Chromebooks/computers. We have also been learning how to self-assess our writing using a co-constructed rubric.

In Maths, Students have inquired into different bases such as base 2,  60 and base 20. They have been busy making their own bases and inquiring into it. Some other classes are now working on multiplying complex decimal numbers. They have also been learning about adding and subtracting integers. In 6A kids made a landfill site with all of the plastic they used in 1 term. In 6P, the students have been learning about rounding and estimation. In 6L, students have been learning integers and negative numbers. In 6G students have been learning about decimals.

In Physical Education,students have been doing an exercise dance on the beat of Nutbush City Limits by Tina Turner and Ike. Here is the following link:   https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ipOz_k9zvzo   They have also been using obstacles to do their freeze frames. It was really enjoyable and fun. They had to make a piece of movement composition with others to make it look good and entertaining. Their piece had to be around 3 minutes long. We have been making progress and using effort as the key to success.

During Music, students learned the history of music and how instruments work. They explored the 16th century Renaissance music and it connects to our next unit’s learning.They also played differently sized recorders including sopranino, soprano, alto, tenor, and bass.

In Mandarin, some classes were studying about Chung Yeung Festival and stories and discuss this on the carpet. Some other classes watched Chinese myths on the interactive whiteboard. The other classes played Chinese games and doing activity rotations. The different rotation activities were personal inquiry, reading, and self/group-learning.

Library news: During the mid-term break, children were allowed to borrow one extra book. Ms. Lau and the library monitors all encourage your children to read more! You can only borrow books if you bring a book bag. Please make sure that your children bring their book bags, so they are allowed to borrow. In other news, Ms. Lau now allows students to come to the library every day for returning and borrowing books. Now, when you go to the library in lunch play, students are requested to put their hat around their wrists.

Special News: Students have already received their own Chromebook at school for learning use!

 

Special Events:

• 29 October to 1 November   Photo Days
• Thursday 25 October 3-Way Conference
• Thursday 1 November   3-Way Conference (after school)
• Monday 3 December to Friday 7 December Camp

How you can help at home?

• Let your child know that you are aware of the curriculum they are involved in and that you’re always happy to answer any questions they have.
• Try to avoid making it a formal, daunting process. Keep the conversation light and short in a relaxed, comfortable environment. A quick 10 minute chat about what happens to your body as you grow older is a good start.
• Remind yourself that puberty is normal, natural, and good. Try very hard to convey that attitude to your child while talking about this topic.  No shame, no embarrassment—it’s a natural part of life that everyone goes through.

We are always available if you have any questions or concerns so please do not hesitate to email your child’s teacher.

 

Kind regards,

Year 6 Teachers and Students Editors and Photographers

(Jayden 6E, Audrey 6E, David 6G, Sahaana 6G, Anabelle 6A, Kyla 6A, Oliver 6L, Dhyana 6L, Alyssa 6P, Shrishti 6P)