Grammar Games 2025
This week, Y6 have been embroiled in the hotly anticipated Grammar Games 2025. Each day has seen the children take part in a variety of tasks all related to grammar.
We’ve looked at punctuation such as apostrophes, commas and hyphens and we’ve recapped grammatical terms such as conjunctions, tenses and Standard English.
Each round, they totalled their points and worked out their table’s mean average to add to the leaderboard.
As we know, punctuation saves lives…
By the end of the week, we could crown our winners!
Help at home by asking your child which areas of grammar they’re confident with and which they need help with.
VE Day
Yesterday was VE Day which means that WWII ended in Europe 80 years ago.
Y6 took part in a webinar that was all about VE Day, why we should celebrate peace and our British Values.
You can remember the British Values (Individual Liberty, Rule of Law, Democracy and Mutual Respect and Tolerance) with the following memory aid: I Really Do Matter.
The British Values link to VE Day because people had fewer choices for food due to rationing and shortages, people were fighting to have our voices heard, people were sadly treated extremely badly and weren’t following laws.
Help at home by matching the four reasons above to each of the four British Values.
Latin: Roman Numerals
In each of our Latin lessons, we have a section called ‘Living Latin’. In this part of the session, we look at how Latin has impacted our lives today (for example, the derivatives of words).
Take a look at some of the way it has affected us:
Help at home: Take a look at the slides above, can you think of any other words that derive from ‘port’ or ‘form’?
The children have LOVED when we learnt about Roman numerals. Whilst they know each of these numbers would not be commonly represented like this, they have really enjoy trying to create different ways to make the numbers.
Help at home: Can you represent the numbers 301, 482, 792, and 148 in Roman numerals?
Summer 1: Week 3
Literacy
We’ve been reading Walking Through the Jungle by Julie Lacome.
This repeating story was great for retelling. We talked about what a verb is and looked for them in the story: walking, running, leaping, swinging, creeping and wading.
Help at home: Can you retell the story to an adult or sibling at home?
We had a go at writing our own sentences.
Phonics
This week, we focused on reading and writing longer words and compound words. We learnt 4 new tricky words: were, here, little, says.
Help at home: Go on a tricky word hunt around your house. Ask an adult to write some tricky words on scrap pieces of paper and stick them up around your house. How many tricky words can you find and read?
Maths
This week, we consolidated our understanding of the composition of 5 and practised recalling the parts of 5 when 1 part is not visible. We used our fingers on 1 hand to help with the composition of 5. We looked at how many fingers are ‘up’ and and how many are ‘folded down’. We used a rhyme about 5 kittens jumping ‘down’ from the bed to help us with this.
Help at home: Play a game the kittens game with an adult. You need 5 objects (kittens) and a piece of material or paper (bed) Take turns to hide some kittens under the bed. Use the below stem sentence to explain what you can see.
5 is made up of…
… and … makes 5
Poetry Picnic
This week the poem was the classic nursery rhyme, Sing a song of sixpence. We have been watching this video to help us remember it. Click here to watch us.
Living & Learning
Yesterday, we talked about the importance of a healthy diet. We worked with a partner to design a healthy plate. We thought of lots of different healthy foods.
Diary dates
- Monday 23 May – School closed: training day
- Monday 26 May – Friday 30 June – Half-term holiday
- Thursday 19 June – Class photos
- Summer learning journey drop in dates
Tuesday 08 July – 8.45m – 9.15am & 3.15pm-3.45pm
Thursday 10 July – 8.45m – 9.15am & 3.15pm-3.45pm
A sign up letter will be sent out nearer the time.
Topic: Heroes
Our topic this half term, Heroes, focuses on significant people throigh history that have made a difference to others and inspired people. We have been looking real life heroes in particular-Nelson Mandela and Leonora Cohen.
The children are learning about their lives and beliefs.
They have been using vocabulary such as apartheid and suffragette to describe what these two historic people stood up for and the difference they made to others.
Last week, it was wonderful to see the children dress up as their real-life heroes. From footballers and teachers to members of the emergency services and soldiers, the variety was fantastic. Some children also chose to honour historical figures who have made a lasting impact, including Florence Nightingale, Alan Turing, Ole Kirk Kristiansen, and a suffragette.
Science: Which materials make the best shadows?
Which materials make the best shadows?
I predict that opaque objects will be the best at creating shadows because they block all the light.
We then tested different materials: tissue paper, cardboard, glass, wood
Our predictions were correct! The objects that were opaque were the best at making shadows.
The translucent materials did create a shadow but the shadow wasn’t as dark (strong) as the other shadows.
Help at home by having a go at this quiz!
Reading: I can infer a character’s feelings.
Last week, we were reading the story called Orion and the Dark by Emma Yarlett. 
It’s a great picture book that depicts Orion having a huge fear of the dark. The children really enjoyed reading this as there’s loads of little bits to pick a part.
We inferred Orion’s feelings as different points in the story by using clues and hints either in the text or pictures!
“We inferred that Orion was feeling anxious because he had never met Dark before and it’s his biggest fear.”
“I can infer that Orion was feeling content because he’s got a huge smile on her face.”
Help at home by showing an emotion through acting and facial expressions. Can you infer what emotion is being portrayed?
Living and Learning: Health and Prevention
In Year 5, we have been focusing on vaccinations. We learnt how different vaccinations impact/prevent different diseases and illnesses. The children read about Edward Jenner. He was an English doctor who created the first vaccine in 1796. Did you know Jenner’s discovery came to be known as vaccination from the Latin word for a cow: vacca?
Take a look at his story:
Netball
The weather has been really helping us to enjoy our new PE topic this week. We’ve started a unit of netball which we’re really enjoying so far.
This week, we’ve focused on throwing but mainly catching, using a ready position and sticky feet.
Help at home by asking what sticky feet means!
Netball is a fantastic sport which teaches so many crucial skills like hand-eye coordination, using space and communication.
Living and Learning: health and prevention
As part of our learning about health and prevention, we’ve been thinking about the importance of sleep.
Sleep helps your body work and can help you get better if you don’t feel well.
If you don’t have enough sleep, you feel grumpy, you can’t focus and you can’t control yourself.
If you have a busy brain it can be hard to get to sleep.
We read a story about Mia who had trouble sleeping.
Sometimes, things can stop you getting to sleep.
- loud noises
- lights
- nightmares
- being on a screen close to bedtime
- staying up too late
- being too active before bedtime
- if you are scared
- if you have a worry
To help Mia, we thought about the things that can help you get to sleep.
- calm music
- relaxation and mindfulness
- yoga
- reading a book
- counting sheep
- drinking some warm milk
- thinking of something nice that you want to dream about
- being in a dark room
- tidy away your things to have a tidy bedroom
- having a teddy or toy with you
- stop using a screen an hour before bed
As always, we encourage the children to talk to a trusted adult if they are worried about anything we cover in Living and Learning or write down a worry if they prefer.
Help at home: ask your child what they are going to try and do at home to help them with getting to sleep. We’d love to hear what helps. Have a look together at these sleep tips for children.