Welcome to Base 4

We are the Year 6 class at Randlay Primary School. Our class teacher is Miss Parry and our teaching assistant is Mrs Jones.

This webpage will be updated regularly with images and news from our Year. We have lots to look forward to in Year 6, particularly our upcoming topics of 'The Jungle Book', 'Polar Explorers', 'A Child's War' and 'Allotments'.

General Information

The National Curriculum

If you would like to know what your child will be learning whilst in Base 4, then the following document details all of the topics taught in Year 6.

Homework

Our homework is set every Friday and needs to be returned by the following Thursday. This is to ensure that the homework can be marked in time for the next week of homework to be set.

Homework set in Base 4 is of a spelling, Maths and reading focus. It is imperative that this work be completed, as it ensures practice in key skills that will help our Year 6 in their SATs test's.

Spelling

Spelling is an important part of both the curriculum and the SATs paper. For this reason, they need to be practiced at home as well as in school.  

Attached is a copy of the Year 5 and Year 6 statutory spellings to help students practice these at home.

Maths

Maths homework will include a variety of topics. Arithmetic is a key focus for the year, and their is a specific Maths SATs paper based on this. By Year 6, students need to know their times tables to 12. We do work on this in class but any additional support is greatly appreciated!

Children should also know the corresponding division facts for each of these Times Tables too please, so if they know that 5 x 5 = 25, then they should also know 25 divided by 5 = 5. This is important for our work on fractions, decimals and percentages.

Below is a link to a website containing lots of SATs-style questions. Students can answer these for extra Maths homework and practice. It is also helpful, as students can get a feel for the layout of these questions 

Reading activities

Reading activities will focus upon improving the students reading comprehension, such as building vocabulary, text retrieval and inference skills. In school, the students read everyday, however any extra reading completed at home would be greatly appreciated.

P.E.

Our P.E. days are Tuesdays (indoor) and Thursday (outdoor). The school uniform for P.E. is a white polo top, black shorts and black pumps. It would be greatly appreciated if all students could bring the correct uniform. It may be advisable for students to leave their uniform in school, as these P.E. days may change.  

Parent and student zone

This section of the class page has been created for parents to work alongside their children. We are sure that you understand that Year 6 is an important time in the education of your child, and we want to help guide you to work and resources that will benefit and supplement your child's learning. Any extra help that the students receive is greatly appreciated.

Useful websites

Learning guides

English

In English, we have been studying 'The Jungle Book', and working on our knowledge of narrative. In this topic, we have developed our understanding of expanded noun phrases, adverbials and setting descriptions.

For our introductory lesson in the new topic of 'The Jungle Book', we identified some of the key features from one of the opening extracts of the book. Then, we participated in a discussion about the characters, setting and use of language.

In the next lesson, we used or sequencing skills to put the events from one chapter in chronological order. As well as sequencing these events, we detailed what happened during each of these with an extended piece of writing.

See an example of this work below;

The next day, we developed our understanding of written language. As a stimulus for our description of setting, we watched a short clip from 'The Jungle Book', and devised a bank of expanded noun phrases using the senses that describe setting. After this, we compiled examples of adjectives, relative clauses, prepositions, similes and personification to create a vivid image for the reader.

Our focus for this English lesson was to develop cohesion in our writing by using a range of conjunctions and fronted adverbials. In order to achieve this, we collated examples from the text and then completed an extended piece of our own writing using these examples.

In this Spelling, Punctuation and Grammar lesson, we focused upon how we punctuate speech. We took an extract from the text and edited the work to show we must correctly punctuate dialogue when writing.

In this English lesson, we considered how the author has developed character and setting. We tracked through the text and found synonyms for the word 'said', for some of the characters. Then, we composed a piece of writing that included dialogue from the lesson before and the synonyms we developed today.

This session was dedicated to planning. We assessed how authors plan their writing and the importance of this. Then, we created our own plans that included events from the text and some of the important features and language devices that we have developed in other lessons.

The next day, we completed our independent piece of writing which included a range of features that we had covered in some of the other lessons in the topic.

See an example of this independent task below;  

Reading

As part of our English lessons, we often complete reading activities that develop reading comprehension skills. These are vital for the students SATs assessment. The students are given an extract from an unseen article and are asked questions based on the text. Alongside this, they also complete word work, in which they develop their understanding of words and their knowledge of synonyms to improve writing.

Spellings

In Base 4, we practice our spellings daily. In these sessions, students have the choice which spelling activity they would like to complete. A list of these activities can be seen below. 

Students are assessed on their spellings weekly.

Maths

In our maths lessons, we do lots of reasoning and problem solving questions. This helps us to practice skills that are required for our SATs assessments and the wider development of our maths knowledge.

See examples of these types of questions below;

We also complete a 'Big Maths', activity at the start of most lessons to help develop our arithmetic.

See an example of this 'Big Maths', below;  

Properties of shapes

In Maths, our current topic is Properties of Shapes. For this topic, we need to be able to do the following;

'Recognise angles where they meet at a point, are on a straight line, or are vertically opposite, and find missing angles'.

For this lesson, we looked at how to find missing angles from a shape using our knowledge of shape properties. We used our problem solving skills to prove statements true or false, and were able to apply this knowledge to a reasoning question.

For more information on this lesson, see the links and documents below;

'Compare and classify geometric shapes based on their properties and sizes and find unknown angles in any triangle'.

For this lesson, we were identifying the different types of triangles so that we could find their missing angles. An important part of this knowledge is that angles in a triangle add up to 180 degrees. We completed an activity that helped remind us that these angles add up to 180 degrees and then we completed a worksheet to assess this knowledge. We applied our understanding of this to reasoning and problem solving questions.

'To understand how to identify equal sides and find unknown angles in triangles'.

Continuing our work on triangles, we extended our knowledge of the different triangles by using symbols to show equal sides. Then, we developed this by showing which triangles have equal sides. This gave us the opportunity to develop our understanding of the topic key words, such as acute and obtuse.

'Recognise angles in triangles where they meet at a point, are on a straight line, or are vertically opposite, and find missing angles'

For this lesson, we recapped our understanding of missing angles in a triangle. We also developed our knowledge by extending this to calculating internal angles of a triangle to find the external angle. This knowledge was then applied to reasoning and problem solving questions.

'To find missing angles in quadrilaterals and draw them using given instructions'

This lesson focused upon finding missing angles in quadrilaterals. To do this, we conducted a short quiz to remind ourselves of the properties of a quadrilateral and how we can identify these. Then, we learnt how to find the missing angles using the value of the angles presented. Finally, we used our understanding of this and some information presented to draw the quadrilateral.

'To find unknown angles in regular and irregular polygons'

Progressing from our work on quadrilaterals, we began to work on angles in regular and irregular polygons. We developed a method for working out the interior and exterior angles of a polygon.

'To recognise and build simple 3-D shapes, including making nets'

We began this lesson by describing simple 3-D shapes. After assessing our knowledge of 3-D shapes, we began to construct maps of these shapes based om their properties and sizes. In order to then extended our knowledge, we began to apply this to a problem solving context.

'To illustrate and name parts of circles, including radius, diameter and circumference'

In this concluding lesson in the topic, we looked at the different features of a circle. We gave definitions for each of the features and applied this knowledge in a problem solving context

The Explorers Club project

In this project, students used a range of skills developed from a variety of curriculum subjects to learn about the harsh conditions of Antarctic.

See the booklet of our work below;

Computing

For our Computing work, we have mostly focused on staying safe online. For Safer Internet Day, we looked at how to keep personal data safe and the importance of asking for permission.  

Assembly

In Base 4, our assembly focus was staying safe online in accordance with Safer Internet Day. We created internet safety scenarios that we proposed to the rest of school. After we heard their responses, we demonstrated the best way to handle the scenarios together as a school.

History

In History, we have completed a variety of work on Polar Explorers and The Tudors. We have ordered significant events using timelines, explored artefacts and analysed portraits.

Below are examples of our work;

Art and Design

In our Art and Design lessons, we have been making observations and expressing our opinions of portraits. The portraits we have been assessing are linked to our English topic of 'The Jungle Book'.

PSHE

In PSHE, we have been looking at personal growth and development. We have been honest with our fears and worries, we have assessed our own strength and areas for development and have created our own learning goals.