Hello and welcome to our Year 6 class page! We are lucky to have 2 members of staff in with Year 6 this year including Mr Oakley & Mrs Owen.

Please have a little explore below to see some useful websites, general information, achievements or updates on our learning journey!

Homework will be set on Thursday/Friday each week and is due in by Tuesday the following week. 

Due to quaranteening of books, reading books will be changed on a Thursday afternoon if the children want to.

PE will be completed on a Friday and we ask that the children come to school in their PE kits (including warm clothes) ready to complete PE in all weathers!

Any questions, please just send me a message on Class Dojo or the school Facebook page - Mr O

World Book Day 2021 - Thursday 11th March

I cannot believe it has been a whole year already since we all dressed up as Alice in Wonderland characters to celebrate that book! Well this year, as we will still be learning from home, we are going to be celebrating in a slightly different way. 
 

Do not panic - we will still be dressing as book characters! However this year we are asking everyone to dress as any character from any book. Why not make the most of being at home and include your pets, toys or other home objects! You could be Hiccup from How to train your dragon, then create a fearsome costume for your dog to go with your outfit!

There will also be a Virtual Book Fair running this week - details will be on the school Facebook page.

Wellbeing Wednesdays

A message from Mrs Hodgetts:

Dear families,

As mentioned in our latest newsletter, Wellbeing Wednesdays will begin this week. Whilst learning activities will continue to be fully provided for the day, these activities will be non-screen based to allow children the opportunity to spend time learning in a different way, taking account of their mental health and wellbeing. 

Of course, engagement in learning is as important as ever and teachers will still look forward to seeing photographs of the day's activities so, please continue to send these via Class Dojo as you would normally. Please also continue to notify the class teacher of your child's attendance for the day with a text or Dojo message. If your child is unable to take part in home learning for any reason, their absence should be notified in the usual manner. 

We hope you enjoy this time away from digital devices, engaging with learning in other ways.

Take good care...

Walsall Music Hub Online Competition

Walsall Music Hub have released a music competition for all ages that will be taking place over the next couple of months - give you plenty of time to practise. Below is the website with all the details of how to enter along with the flyer. If you are interested in winning a £100 cash equivalent prize read on!

Online Learning - January 2021

Good morning all, we find ourselves on another adventure into online learning and I am confident in saying I know you will all do a super job as you have done in the past.

Today is the day that you will have to set yourself up again at home, please make sure you have somewhere comfortable to sit when you are working, you have all the equipment needed – a pencil or pen, rubber and ruler and your work space is in a quiet but central location in the house where an adult is accessible should you need their help; most of this equipment will be in your pack that came home yesterday.

Our online learning will start tomorrow (Wednesday 6^th). I will be in touch with our schedule: we will be using Google Classroom as we have been in school over December. For those of you that were in school yesterday, can you please spend some time today to check your Google login on your own computer/laptop/tablet/phone and let me know through Class Dojo if you have any problems with it.

For those of you that are receiving your packs today, once you receive them, can you type into your internet search bar – Google Classroom – select the first link that appears and click on the sign in box for Google Classroom on the top right of your screen. Use the login card you have in your pack to login, accept the new user agreement (if you have not logged in before) and click on ‘I’m a student’. Once you have done this a grey box will appear named ‘6O’. Click on this link. That is all you need to do for today, I will provide more information on this once a schedule has been arranged for tomorrow’s lessons. This is a great platform for communication and creating work, your child can send me a message on there to do with any of the work that we are doing and I can liase directly with them, hopefully taking a burden off of you! The children who were in have used this function with me before and I know they can confidently use it.

Also spend some time today helping around the house – Have you made your bed this morning? Could you make lunch for your parents/carers who you are going to be spending a lot more time with? Have you put your socks in the laundry basket? Could you hang the washing up or even something as simple as making them a cup of tea, coffee or hot chocolate? (Please be careful with that last one!)

Please at this point do NOT touch your books as you do NOT need them today. Feel free to do any extra-curricular activities such as some art/craft based activities, sports in the garden, or reading etc.

Any queries please contact me via Class Dojo, School’s Facebook or the school text messaging service.

The Year 6 Team

Useful websites for SPaG:

BBC Bitesize - https://www.bbc.co.uk/bitesize/topics/zhrrd2p

The School Run (SPaG Sats explained - https://www.theschoolrun.com/y6-spelling-punctuation-and-grammar-test

Glossary of SPaG terms - https://primarysite-prod-sorted.s3.amazonaws.com/old-bank-junior-infant-and-nursery-school/UploadedDocument/c2beeb204dee4035b4e702d4f2b5a4ef/definitions-of-spag-words-used-in-the-tests.pdf

Useful websites for Maths:

BBC Bitesize - https://www.bbc.co.uk/bitesize/subjects/z826n39

The School Run (Maths Sats explained) - https://www.theschoolrun.com/sats-revision-your-ks2-sats-maths-helper

The School Run (KS2 Curriculum explained) - https://www.theschoolrun.com/what-your-child-learns-key-stage-2-maths

Glossary of Maths terms - https://primarysite-prod-sorted.s3.amazonaws.com/old-bank-junior-infant-and-nursery-school/UploadedDocument/56d99f9071154e999f9e266bff5521f9/definitions-of-maths-words-used-in-the-tests.pdf

Topic specific websites:

The Vikings - BBC Bitesize - https://www.bbc.co.uk/bitesize/topics/ztyr9j6

The Vikings - DK Find Out Fun Facts - https://www.dkfindout.com/uk/history/vikings/

The Vikings - Every School - https://www.everyschool.co.uk/history-key-stage-2-vikings.html

Google Expeditions App

In our work on digestion, we have used the app Google Expedition to see in virtual reality our digestive system. It is a completely free app to use so feel free to download and use it at home on any tablet or smart phone.

Grace Academy Q&A Teams Meeting

Sarah Giles (head of transition at Grace Academy) has organised a video meeting for any parents who have questions, need help with applications or have any general enquiries.

This will take place at 4.30pm on Monday 19th October online.

If you are interested in joining, please send an email to sarahgiles@darlaston.graceacademy.org.uk for her to add you to the invitiation list.

Any questions, just ask.

Secondary School Applications

Please see the following bits of information about secondary school applications. 

The deadline to complete your online application is 31st October 2020. If you are unsure about anything or need a hand with anything, please send me a message on Dojo/Facebook/ring the school office and we will do what we can to help!

Grace Academy Video Visit

Yesterday (16th September), we were lucky enough to have a visit via video from Grace Academy. They explained how they were going to be showcasing their school to our pupils during the current national situation.

They will not be holding an "Open Evening" as would have been done previously, however, all parents can phone up the school and book a tour by phoning the school reception. 

The Grace Academy website (link here) will have a range of frequently asked questions and videos that will be updated. At the top of their website, there is a link saying "JOIN US!". By clicking on this link, you can access this information.

The deadline for appling for secondary school places is 31st October 2020 - all parents need to apply for a school place at your chosen secondary school. Any questions, just send me a message on Dojo.