Years 5 & 6

Years 5 and 6 Curriculum Overview

Welcome back after the summer break. We have been so impressed with how the children have settled into the new school year and their enthusiasm for our new topic: A Child’s War.

The children will be learning about the Second World War and why the different nations were fighting. They will read about the experiences of evacuees; consider what is was like to be evacuated and use their knowledge to write letters. They will learn about how the Jews were treated and write diary entries in the style of Anne Frank. The children will research rationing and have the opportunity to make some wartime foods. They will evaluate the impact of propaganda and learn how people kept themselves safe during the Blitz. Finally, they will plan and hold their own street party to celebrate the end of the War and their topic.

We will continue to ensure that the children have a good understanding of the non-negotiables – the building blocks that support their maths learning. We will be developing the children’s reasoning skills and their ability to use and apply the mathematics they have been taught when problem solving. Please encourage them to learn their multiplication tables and their division facts as these are used in many areas of the maths curriculum. All pupils have access to Times Table Rockstars and this is a fun way to learn the multiplication tables.

The children will be set some project homework do this half term along with their regular maths homework. Homework will be set on a Thursday and the children will receive spellings to learn each week.

In the Year 5 and 6 team we have the following teachers: Miss Parker-Routh, Miss Stankowski, Miss Pollendine and Mrs McGarragh. To help the children with their learning we have: Mrs Brown, Mrs Launn, Mrs Briggs, Mrs Wickham, Mrs Smith and Mr Marshall.

Ideas for home learning

• Talk to friends or family about their wartime or post-war memories or experiences. Write down or record their responses.
• Make a scrapbook of Second World War images and write captions for each one. Consider how the people in the photographs may be feeling.
• Make do and mend! Can you revamp some of your old clothes to make new clothes? Maybe you could ‘upcycle’ some unwanted household items and make them useful in a whole new way! Bring them into school to show your classmates and share your ideas.
• Find out what happened in your local area during the War. Were any children evacuated or did your local area host evacuees?
• Record your own wartime radio broadcast. If possible, use an audio editing package to add sound effects, such as air raid sirens or overhead aircraft.
• Dig for Victory! Find out about the types of vegetables people were encouraged to grow during the War and have a go at growing or cooking some!