QHYear6 – Page 8 – Queen's Hill Primary School

Year 6 Historians

5th November 20224th November 2022

As part of The City of Norwich Aviation Museum’s outreach, Year 6 were able to explore World War Two primary and secondary sources by handling some interesting artefacts today!

When you do research, you gather information from a variety of resources. These can be defined as primary and secondary sources.

Primary sources give you direct access to the subject that you’re researching or learning about. They can provide you with a first-hand account of an event or time-period, represent original thinking and give you new information.

Secondary sources provide second-hand information and often offer explanations for primary sources. They analyse, interpret and restate information from primary sources.

Children looked at gas masks, a warden’s steel helmet and even a German incendiary bomb!

Romeo & Juliet: A Prologue!

4th November 20223rd November 2022

We have started studying Romeo & Juliet this half term. We watched a performance of the Prologue and dissected Shakespearean language and translated it into modern day English. We also looked at all the fun phrases we still use that come directly from Shakespeare; ever “worn your heart on your sleeve” or “been in a pickle”?

As part of the first week, we re-enacted parts of the prologue in small groups and created tableaux stills (“living pictures”). The children did amazingly at learning the lines and dramatising them for their peers. Watch this space for more theatrical fun!

African Drumming and Dance workshop

14th October 202214th October 2022

Year 6 were treated this afternoon to a bespoke session of African dancing and drumming with the PanAfro Band in honour of Black History Month. Every single child had an incredible time learning the patterns and rhythms, and the smiles were so huge they lit up the room! It was a joy to see everyone moving and enjoying themselves and experiencing this wonderful style of music and dance. Feel free to look them up online to enjoy some more at home!

We also did research projects where we looked at influential Black people; Chadwick Boseman, Kadeena Cox, Ashley Banjo, Oti Mabuse, Mo Farah and John Boyega. We looked into their achievements and contributions and why they have inspired people across the world with their work and their amazing approaches to life.

Throughout our school year, we are committed to celebrating diversity across our curriculum and in all of our learning and so this is just an opportunity to extend the already wonderfully diverse curriculum we have here at Queens Hill.

Avid Year 6 Readers!

12th October 202210th October 2022

Year 6 have been reading enthusiastically using our new digital library ‘myON’. It has been fantastic to see the children engaging with the platform so brilliantly. The children have been reading a wide range of texts including some informative digital books about World War Two. There really is something for everyone to enjoy, keep it up, Year 6!

Compassion

15th October 20227th October 2022

Across our afternoons in Year 6 we have been learning about a plethora of things! In RE, we have been learning about ‘non violence’ and what this means in Hinduism; non violence is known as ‘ahimsa’ and refers to the idea that all violence against any living creature is prohibited because all living creatures have souls. Within Hinduism, there is the belief that if one causes suffering, that person will then have suffering in their own life later on.

“True ahimsa should mean a complete freedom from ill will and anger and hate and an overflowing love for all!” Ghandi.

Maybe this week you can spend some time thinking about the compassion that you cultivate in your own lives – how do you help those around you feel loved? How do you like to feel loved and appreciated? What can you do as an act of kindness this week for family, friends, a stranger?

Helicopter seeds!

15th October 202225th September 2022

Year 6 had great fun in their outdoor learning lesson testing out paper helicopter seed models!

Third time is a charm…

12th October 202223rd September 2022

It’s the end of week three and Year 6 has settled into their new routines. They have already achieved so much in a short space of time. We finished our Creative Arts Week in which we made from amazing rag rugs in a Make Do and Mend style. We have started learning about WW2 in History and English, where we are reading an all time favourite Goodnight Mister Tom.

In Science, we have created glossary pages to aid us in our new Living Things and Their Habitats unit, and the classes played a spirited game of Guess Who but with a twist! We have finished this week with a thoughtful lesson on Peace and what that means to us individually and what it means to different religions around the globe. The children came up with brilliant ideas about how we can create peaceful spaces, maybe you’d like to try a few this weekend!

Ideas of creating peaceful spaces and relationships: Walking in nature, listening/ singing to music, meditation, rocking out, snuggle up in some blankets with candles and a hot chocolate, drawing, kindness, taking deep breaths, and concentrating on the good things that bring us together.

Year 6 – Creative Arts

12th October 202220th September 2022

Year 6 have had a fabulous start to the term! As part of our Creative Arts project, children have produced wonderful ‘no-sew’ rag rugs. In the spirit of wartime Britain and inspired by the ‘Make Do and Mend’ initiative, children thought carefully about how items could be repaired, reused and reimagined. All have shown a huge amount of grit and determination during the process as well as reflecting on their end results in order to evaluate their efforts. Their wonderful rag rugs will be on display in the UKS2 corridor for all to see! Well done, Year 6!

English in Year 6

12th October 202220th September 2022

Year 6 have had a brilliant start to their reading and writing unit on Goodnight Mister Tom by Michelle Magorian. It tells the story of a young boy, William Beech, who is evacuated to the countryside to the care of an elderly recluse, Mister Tom, in the wake of WW2.

In Reading Masters, children have started to develop their retrieval and inference skills through answering a range of question types as well as understanding new and complex vocabulary. We discussed the word ‘colloquial’ in relation to the portrayal of accents throughout the book.

Exploring character thoughts and emotions through drama and role play, children have embraced the text fully and made excellent links to our History unit too. Children will be writing diary entries from the perspective of the central character over the coming weeks – we look forward to seeing the work they produce!

Imagine A Story Writing Project!

15th October 202229th June 2022

Congratulations to the Year 5 and 6 writers who are now officially published authors! A group of our UKS2 children participated in a project in collaboration with The Southbank Centre, in London, to write a chapter of a novel called ‘Mayhem At The Museum!’ alongside author Alexandra Sheppard, illustrator Allen Fatimaharan and children from other schools in the county. The story included interesting characters including those from Greek Mythology! Today their achievements were celebrated at the Norwich regional performance at St Andrews Hall. Children all received a copy of the finished book and quickly found their names in the list of contributors! As well as this, they were able to ask both Alex and Allen questions and had an illustrating masterclass! We even have a school signed copy which will take pride of place in our main entrance area. A huge well done to all for your efforts – lots of grit and determination was shown throughout the writing process!