Deer Class (Y6)

Welcome to Deer Class

My name is Mrs Lawrence and I am so lucky to be the Deer Class teacher this year.  As well as being a class teacher, I am also leading English, PE and PSHE across the school. I have lots of exciting ideas to try and make the last year of primary school exciting and memorable for everyone. 

Our PE days this year are Monday and Wednesday afternoons.

PPA will be on a Monday afternoon. This will be covered by Mike and another member of staff. 

Library books will be changed on a Monday. 

Week 3

On Monday, we got our parts that we auditioned for Jill and Fred's Hysterical Historical Adventures. Everyone was so pleased with them. We started doing angles in maths and we have learnt how to use a protractor. In the afternoon, we did a proper run through ours lines. On Tuesday, we helped the reception children and most of the children from Pandemonium do a sports day. We also practised our play and our songs with year five. On Wednesday, we did our first RSE lesson as well as more play practice. On Thursday, we did more to Connie's corner and Bikeability. We also did singing with Nigel and more of our song play practice. On Friday, we continued our maths learning about angles and had our class photo. We then carried on with our learning in RSE and did a Science experiment in the afternoon about Darwin's finches using different tools and foods. Some of our class helped the Year 1s and Year 5s practise for sports day.

Week 2

This week has flown! We have been focussing on our topic about the Galapagos Islands where we have been thinking about inherited traits. We thought about how dogs are breed to have particular traits and created our own crossbreeds using Top Trump cards. We also began looking at the countries that Charles Darwin (who is famous for his theory of evolution) travelled to on his journey to the Galapagos Islands. This was challenging because we had to use grid references to locate the countries. In English, we have been practising using a variety of figurative language techniques to describe a rainforest and iguanas-which can only be found on the Galapagos Islands. While some of the class had fun learning how to ride safely on a road in Bikeability, the rest of the class continued working on ‘Connie’s Corner’ by filling the spray painted tyres with soil so they are ready for planting next week.

Summer term 2

Week 1

This week has been Arts week where we have been focussing on the Queen’s Platinum Jubilee. Our class were focussing on 1952-`962 which was the beginning of her reign. To begin with, we learnt about the event that lead to the Queen taking the throne and looked at her coronation. We then learnt about the key events that happened during her first ten years of reign. From there, we designed a square to represent these key events and then began sewing. We worked incredibly hard and persevered when we were in the challenge zone but were pleased with the results of our wall hanging (have a look at the photos to see what you think).

As well as sewing, we also created a dance to portray the Queen during her coronation and then the people celebrating the event. We worked in groups and it was a lot of fun. To finish off the week, our parents came in for a picnic on the field and even the Queen dropped by!

Week 5

This week we have been busy in our English lessons where we began the week finishing off our myths based on Theseus and the Minotaur. After this, we have been writing a persuasive leaflet to share with Year 5 to persuade them to attend next year's trip to France! In maths, we have been practising converting between different units of measure and applying these skills to worded problems. In the afternoons, have begun to learn about inheritance and we enjoyed creating our own Little Miss and Master Man characters showing traits inherited from both parents. On Wednesday, we had a visitor who ran a resilience lab workshop which was fun but also allowed us to talk about worries we might have about secondary school. 

Week 4

This week was the Year 6 residential to France. It started with an incredibly early alarm clock because we had to arrive at school at 3.30am! Luckily, most of us fell back to sleep on the coach. When we got to the ferry, we had to get off the coach and enter on foot. We were given a room to sit in which we shared with another school. On board, we played lots of games, looked out the window to try and spot dolphins and even when out on deck where we almost lost two hats! After a long journey, we arrived at the chateau and settled into our rooms. 
On the Tuesday, we had a very busy day making bread in the morning at a bakery. After, we ate our lunch which we had made ourselves. When we returned to the chateau, we had an afternoon of activites which included a blindfold trail where the teachers soaked us with sponges- luckily it was hot so we did not mind. 
On the Wednesday, we went into Bayeux where we had to buy our own lunch and practise speaking some French. Before leaving, we had a look at the cathedral. We then headed to the British Cemetry. There we walked around and looked at the graves. We all placed a rose on a grave. Some of us found graves with our surname. In the afternoon, we drove to the beach to eat our lunch before heading to William the Conqueror's Castle. When we got back to the chateau, we had our a chance to sample some snails and frog's legs as a starter before our dinner. We finished off the day with some wacky races.  
On Thursday, we had another busy day which started off by visiting the Overload museum which was really interesting with lots of things to look at. We then headed to the American Cemetry which ws very different to the British cemetry but still a beautiful place. After stopping at Omaha Beach for a picnic, we drove to the German cemetry which was completely different to the previous two. We then headed to another museum where we learnt all about the harbours the British and American constructed to get supplies onto French soil. At the chateau, we finished the day with a disco. 
On Friday, we were all a little sad packing up and saying goodbye to the chateau. On our way home, we visited Longues-sur-Mer where we got to see the artillery battery which was created by the Germans. After another ferry crossing, we arrived back in England but we will remember all the great memories we had during our trip. 

 

Week 3

After a week of early mornings, we have completed our SATs. The breakfast club, where we had bacon sandwiches cooked by Archie's mum and Mrs Harris, was great way to start the day. We particularly enjoyed our 'Just Dance' sessions with Miss Tilson. In the afternoons, we ceated our own projects about Ancient Greece. Some of us had a go at making models from clay; this was harder than we thought. We also had a forest school session run by Mrs Davidson where we made smores on the open fire however this wind made this more challenging. To finish off the week, we got to wear our own clothes on Friday. We also learnt about the Battle of Marathon and got to act it out on the field which was good fun. The week ended with a game of rounders which we really enjoyed. 

Week 1

After coming back from our Easter holidays, we did PE which was fun because we did football and athletics. Also on Monday, we drew the layout out of our newspaper reports which we have been continuing with for the rest of the week. Our newspaper reports are intresting because they are about the book we have been focusing on: Who Let The Gods Out written by Maz Evans. 

We have been learning about Ancient Greece and how their democracy worked. Did you know that women and slaves were not allowed to vote? The Ancient Greeks invented the Olympics; only men could compete. They competed in lots of different events: running, chariot racing, wrestling, javelin and discuss.

In maths we have been revising and recapping skills for SATs that are coming up soon. The skills we have been practicing are multiplication, division, fractions, subtraction and addition. 

In French, we learned to say if we liked/ disliked different celebrities houses.

Week 5

On Monday, we started our mock SATS (tests) ready for our upcoming SATs in May. 

We went swimming again. In one group, we practiced different skills and used flippers for butterfly and dolphin kick which was a very exiting, new experience. We also did breaststroke, frontcrawl and diving. In middle group, we started learning breaststroke starting with practicing the legs in a circular motion. In the third group, we jumped in, practiced using our arms, and practiced breathing. We learnt how to do push and glide. 

Week 4

On Monday, we went for our first lesson at swimming in Longwell Green with the whole class for the week. Everyone had a go at swimming a width of the swimming pool and was tested to see what group they would be in. This week in maths, we have been finding percentages of amounts. We have been planning and writing a narrative about Prisoner 42 in the book we have been reading 'Who Let the Gods Out'.

Week 3

On Monday, we practised how to bowl in cricket which was good fun. This week in English, we spent time thinking aboout how to create an eerie atmosphere using figerative language to describe a cave and Prisoner 42.  We also spent 20-25 minutes this week in the libary reading some amazing books of our choice. In Forest School, we thought about the sports the Ancient Greeks might have taken part in during the Olympics. Because of this, we made bow and arrows. We had to carefully select a tree branch and Mrs Davidson explained that, when done correctly, it actually helps the tree to cut off occasional branches. We also spent some time publish our work for our display. 

Week 2

This week, in PE, Year 6 have been playing cricket practising our fielding, catching and batting skills. We have been learning how to turn fractions into a decimal and decimals into a fractions during our maths lessons. We have a new reading book called 'Who Let the Gods Out' linked to our new topic of Ancient Greece which is quite funny in parts. In Forest School, some students went out onto the field and gathered sticks and made a maze linked to the Greek myth. In our PE on Wednesday, we played a game similar to dodgeball and benchball. In ICT, we had learnt how to use excell which uses spreadsheets page. We had to add the sum function to some of the boxes. On Thursday, in our curriculum books, we created a topic page for Ancient Greece and enjoyed looking at the map of Europe. We thought about the geographical similarities and differences of the UK and Greece. In English today, we were thought about how to describe a fictional cave underneath Stonehenge.

Book week

This week, Year 6 have been working on multiplying decimals by 10s,100s and 1000s in maths. We have been writing our own poems about the Jabberwocky from Alice in wonderland and we used portmanteau which is when you put two words together to make a new made-up word.  We also performed the original poem in groups thinking about using our voices to add more drama.

Because it was World  Book Day this week, many of our class dressed up as a character from Alice in wonderland. In assembly, each class came up to the front of the hall and showed off their costumes and got a round of applause. One student from each year was awarded for the best effort for their costume. Students from each class handed in a book and helped us organise a book sale for the school. On Wednesday, everyone had brought in their favourite books from home and we went down to Doormouse Class (reception) and read their books to them. On Friday,  we made our own tea party which included pizzas, brownies, pastas, salads and jam tarts. At the end of the day, we had a Madhatter tea party with all of our foods and drinks.

Pig Heart Boy 

Week 6

On Monday, it was the start of mental health week so we watched a video on how to improve our mental health. We drew a star and balloon and wrote what we thought would improve our mental health. In English, we are writing a narrative about Cameron from Pig Heart Boy which is the book we are reading. 

On Tuesday, it was Internet Safety Day and we had a discussion on how to be safe on the internet and use app safely. We learnt that cyber bullying was just as bad as normal bullying because you can't hurt people physically but you can hurt people's emotions. 

On Wednesday, we did PE with Mrs Chapman where we played benchball-one of our favourite games . In the afternoon, we planned our narrative from Marlon's perspective (one of the characters from our book). In maths, we learnt how to find fractions of an amount.

On Thursday, a student was pulled in by one of our teachers during lunch and they hid the student in the school for the firedrill. None of the teachers had known except from the people in the office. Mrs Lawrence was successful at keeping us save because she noticed one of her students were missing but they were save in the office.

On Friday, every studunt of the school was allowed to wear what ever they wanted because of Mental  Health Week. Today we wrote the first parargh of our narrative and we also did a maths test. 

Week 5

This week, on Monday, we had a vote to decide what type of sale we should run in order to raise money for a charity as part of our Jigsaw learning and the most votes was a bake sell. In English, we started a new report about our class book 'Pig Heart Boy'. In science, we did two experiments with skittles and gummy worms about the digestive system. With the gummy worms, we measured them and then put them in water for the night to see how much they grow showing how water gets absorbed. With the skittles, we put them in water to see them loose all there colour. This showed how the nutrients transfer into the blood from the food. Also in science, we started a double page spread of an explanation text explaining how our digestive system works and the journey it takes. It also explains the different food groups and what foods are best to eat, how the villi absorb the nutrients.

Week 4

This week, in science, we learnt about the lungs and to help us understand how they work we made lungs out of bottles, balloons and straws. In our curriculum books, we have drawn diagrams of the heart and lungs and we labelled the different parts then explained how they work. We have been learning how to use semicolons (;) in English and have written part of a narrative. We have also learned how to convert add and subtract fraction with differrent denominators in Maths. On Wednesday morning, we did an experiment during our road safety workshop which involved dropping boiled eggs. We had 3 eggs, one had a polestyrine helmet, one had plastic wrapped around it and the other one was unprotected. It represented what would happen if we didn't wear helmets whilst riding bikes/scooters.

Week 3

This week, we have been learning about the features of the heart so we used red and blue playdough to represent the parts of the heart that deoxygenated and oxygenated blood travel through. In PE, we played a game called ‘Seaweed’ where you have to avoid the person in the middle of the playground. We also had fun playing bench ball. In English, we challenged ourselves to write balanced arguments debating whether animal organs should be used for human transplants. We also learnt how to use semicolons to join two main clauses. On Friday, some of our class were able to train and support KS1 children with their athletics testing which we really enjoyed.

Week 2

This week, Deer Class dissected four pig hearts to see the inside of it and learn how they work. On Tuesday some of the children went to an athletics event at Mangotsfield School where children competed in a variety of events. This week the class have been writing a diary entry as Cameron from ‘Pig Heart Boy’ using brackets and dashes to show parenthesis.

Week 1

This week, we began to learn about our new topic 'Pig Heart Boy' which we are really excited about. We have started to read the book ‘Pig Heart Boy’ written by Malorie Blackman and had a discussion about transplants and illnesses. We also thought of some questions we would like to find out during this topic. In our English lessons, we have been using the book to inspire us and have begun to write a letter in the role of Cameron. As part of our science lesson, we made a blood smoothie to help us understand the different components of blood. We used raspberries to represent red blood cells, marshmallows for the white blood cells, sprinkles for platelets and orange squash for plasma.

Week 7

In Deer class this week, we are feeling proud of our finished non-chronological reports about the Bristol Blitz.  We thought that it must have been a worrying time for families living in Bristol.  We have published our reports about the different types of air shelters that people used during to stay safe during the Second World War.  We applied our knowledge of how to punctuate direct speech when we retold an argument between Esther and Olive from Letters from the Lighthouse by Emma Carroll.  We are delighted to be able to use long multiplication to solve tricky maths problems.

Week 6

This week we have continued learning about the Blitz. We had to research the Bristol Blitz and we have begun to write non-chronological reports using the information we found. In forest school, we enjoyed making Anderson shelters using sticks, leaves, grass and pallets with Mrs Harris. We have almost finished making our WWII planes which we have painted in camouflage by mixing different shades of green and brown. In maths, we have begun learning about multiplication and have practised using long multiplication. During our PE lesson, we used lacrosse sticks to play Endball which was incredibly challenging but we persevered! 

Week 5

We have continued learning about the Battle of Britain and are having lots of fun modrocking our planes and painting them. We are really pleased with how they are looking. We have also been applying our skills of addition and subtraction to multi-step word problems. These have been challenging but we have used our Growth Mindset to overcome them. We have also begun writing our lighthouse stories using a range of figurative devices and we look forward to sharing them. As part of our WW2 learning, we have begun to compare the different types of air-raid shelters thinking about the positives and negatives of each one. 

Week 4

We have had a very busy week in Deer Class which included a trip to the Lifeskills Centre. All us had fun learning about being safe in all the different scenarios and even had a go at making a 999 call so we would know what to do in an emergency. During forest school, we made some cakes using a WW2 recipe which replaced some of the sugar with carrots. We all thought they tasted delicious. We also go to use steel and flints to make sparks in preparation for lighting fires and had a go at learning different knots. In DT, we have begun to make our Battle of Britain planes. We found this a little challenging at first but they are beginning to take shape and look like the designs we have chosen. 

Week 3

This week we had lots of fun during Forest School where we practised our peeling and chopping skills to make vegetable soup. Some of us thought it was delcious whereas others had a taste but decided it was not for them. We also practised our lashing skills and created planes out of sticks. We then launched them from the top of the slide- some of them flew quite well! We also had to use our independent learning skills to research the Battle of Britain. In history, we learnt more about the job roles people had during this. We then acted out the different roles. 
In English, using inspiration from our class book, we wrote missing posters to help Olive find her sister Sukie. We also thought about how to use fronted adverbials to our sentences. 
 

Week 2

This week, we have been learning about the Battle of Britain so in forest school we created aeroplanes using natural resources such as sticks, grass, leaves and pine cones. We enjoyed working as a team and had to use our resilience when things didn't quite go to plan. We have worked hard in English this week writing diaries and narratives about an air-raid. We are really proud of our artwork where we drew a spitfire which was a plane used during the Battle of Britain. 

On Friday, we had a special treat! Mrs Hudson kindly came into our class and made pizzas with us. This is because she promised to make them last term but unfortunately we had to isolate. They were delicious and we enjoyed making them. 

Week 1

This week we have been introduced to our new topic which is WW2. We have read some of 'Machine Gunners' and 'Letters from a lighthouse' which are both set duing WW2. In music, we learnt how to sing the song 'Happy' and we sang it in two groups where the boys sang the main melody and the girls sang backing vocals. As well as this, we learnt about cyber bully and how to respond to different scenarios online. We have also practised how to respond to a fire drill. Mrs Harris said we walked really sensibly out of the building and lined up.