de Vere Primary School

Welcome to Year 6- Anne Frank Class!

Our class is taught by Miss Wong and is supported by Mr Mooney.

Year 6 marks the children’s last year at de Vere Primary School and is filled with: excitement, plenty of opportunities in being stretched and challenged, new experiences with an adventure filled residential and a magnificent end of year production.

Furthermore, there are numerous additional exciting responsibilities for children in Thunberg Class to undertake, such as assembly monitors, librarians and play leaders. These jobs all play a crucial role in the smooth running of the school.

Undoubtedly, your last year at de Vere is going to be the best!

Our topics this year include:

Autumn 1 - World War II
Autumn 2 - Energy
Spring 1 – Incredible India
Spring 2 - The Making of Modern Britain
Summer 1 - Our Planet
Summer 2 - Lights, Camera, Action

Homework

Each week, the children will be set homework on Friday. They are required to complete the following tasks: read at least four times with it recorded and signed by an adult in their reading records; practice their times tables on TTRS for a minimum of 10 minutes; complete any assigned activities on Freckle; and study their spellings. All homework and spelling tests will be reviewed or conducted on the following Wednesday.

PE

Our PE days are Thursday and Friday.

If there is anything you would like to talk to us about, please get in touch via email or telephone via the school office.

e.wong@devere.essex.sch.uk

21st March

This week, Class 6 has been busy with a variety of exciting learning activities!

In Maths, we have been exploring how to calculate the area and perimeter of different shapes, including parallelograms and triangles. We have also been learning about angles—how to measure them and how to find missing angles in different shapes.

In English, the children have been developing their journalistic skills by writing newspaper articles. They focused on an exciting event from Percy Jackson and the Lightning Thief, reporting on Percy’s dramatic fall from the Gateway Arch!

Our new Geography topic, Incredible India, has begun. The children used atlases to locate India on the map and explored its human and physical features. They were fascinated by the country’s diverse landscapes and cultures.

In Computing, the children have been enjoying our 3D modelling unit. They learned how to create holes in 3D shapes and used this skill to design their own models. Their creativity shone through as they made a variety of objects, including pen pots, swimming pools, cups, flower pots, and even a toilet!

It has been a fantastic week of learning, and we look forward to seeing what the children create and discover next!

7th March 2025

Frank class have had a fantastic start back after the half-term break, and the class have already earned all the ticks on their reward board—well done to them!

In English, we have been using our creativity and writing skills to imagine what happens next in Percy Jackson and the Lightning Thief. We have been writing short scenes, focusing on using dialogue to move the story forward and show what the characters are like.

We’ve also started exploring the features of newspaper articles. We are working towards writing our own article about the dramatic events at the Gateway Arch in St. Louis—where Percy is thrown from the monument!

In Maths, we’ve been applying our understanding of ratios to solve different real-world problems.

In RE, we’ve been discussing whether happiness is the greatest purpose in life and exploring what truly makes us happy.

Finally, in Computing, we have begun an exciting new unit on 3D modelling. The children have had lots of fun using Tinkercad to combine and modify different shapes to design their dream house!

31st January 2025

Class 6 have been working incredibly hard this term. In maths, the children have made fantastic progress with their arithmetic skills—many have achieved higher scores thanks to their dedication. We’ve focused on understanding how fractions, decimals and percentages are connected, and played fun games like bingo to help reinforce these concepts. This week, we’ve moved on to learning how to convert between different units of measurement.

In English, the class has been getting creative by designing their own magical items, inspired by Percy Jackson and the Lightning Thief. They’ve also been learning to write formal information texts, using parenthesis to add extra details.

In history, we’ve started exploring our new topic, The Making of Modern Britain. We’ve learned how the Welfare State was created after the war and discussed the significant impact of the Windrush generation.

17th January 2025

Class 6 have had a fantastic start to the new year! In English, the children completed and beautifully presented their creative diary entries, written from the perspective of a red blood cell. Their use of scientific knowledge in these diaries was so impressive that we just had to share them with Mrs. Westrop and Mrs. Marsh!

This week, they’ve also been working hard on writing renga poems about renewable energy, tying into our Geography lessons. The children collaborated brilliantly with their partners, carefully counting syllables for each line, and their creativity as poets has truly shone through.

In Maths, our focus has been on decimals—learning how to multiply and divide them. The children have shown great determination in mastering these skills.

Finally, they took part in a resilience workshop led by Kids Inspire, which encouraged them to develop strategies to overcome challenges.

13th December 2024

Class 6 have been busy with exciting learning activities across different subjects!

• English: The children have been getting creative by writing instructions for their own magical spells and potions. Some of the ingredients they came up with are quite unusual! After drafting their work, they spent time editing and improving their writing to make it even better.
• Science: We've been exploring the circulatory system, focusing on the components of blood and why maintaining a healthy lifestyle is so important.
• Design Technology (DT): We’ve started an exciting project to create upcycled bags! The class has conducted market research to understand what consumers want in a bag, and we’ve also been practicing our sewing skills to get ready for the making phase.

It's been a busy and productive time, and the children have been fully engaged in their learning.

29th November 2024

In English, we’ve started reading Percy Jackson and the Lightning Thief and are now planning our own magical spell instructions—lots of creativity is involved!

In Computing, the children have been working on designing and building their own websites using Google Sites. They’ve come up with some fantastic and imaginative business ideas for their websites.

In Geography, we wrapped up our topic on Energy by exploring sustainability. The children had fun designing their own sustainable towns or islands, thinking about how to make them eco-friendly and self-sufficient.

15th November 2024

Class 6 have come back from the half-term break ready to learn! Here’s a quick look at what we’ve been up to:

In English, the children have been working on writing biographies. Everyone has chosen to write about either Winston Churchill, Anne Frank, or Alan Turing. After researching their chosen figure, we have been learning how to use colons and we are now in the process of writing these biographies.

In Maths, our focus has been on solving problems involving multiplication and division. We have also practiced using the order of operations to help answer more complex questions.

Finally, in Geography, we kicked off our new topic on Energy. The children created collages showing different ways we use energy in our daily lives. We also explored how electricity travels from its source all the way to our sockets at home.

It's been a busy and productive start to the term!

24th October 2024

Class 6 has had a productive and eventful final two weeks leading up to the half-term break. The students participated in a residential trip, completed their Bikeability training, and finished writing their diary entries inspired by the book When the Sky Falls by Phil Earle. Additionally, they have been engaged in their Art topic, which focuses on textiles. The children have demonstrated their sewing skills by decorating their initials with various embellishments, such as buttons and sequins.

11th October 2024

This week in Maths, Class 6 have been diligently working to master the method of long multiplication. Their perseverance has been commendable and we also extended our learning by looking at how to multiply decimals.

In English, as part of finishing studying Rose Blanche, the children wrote diary entries from the perspective of various characters, including Rose, a boy taken to a concentration camp, or a soldier.

Finally, in Science, we have been exploring the topic of Light, investigating how we perceive objects and how we can alter the size of shadows. We learnt that light travels in straight lines and we can see non-light sources as a result of light being reflected into our eyes.

27th September 2024

In English, the children have diligently crafted their own endings to the story ‘Rose Blanche.’ Working in pairs, they then collaborated to edit and improve each other’s writing.

In Maths, we moved on from Place Value to look at the Four Operations. Our focus this week has been on identifying common factors and multiples, as well as exploring divisibility rules.

We also had our World War II Experience Day, during which the children followed a WWII recipe to bake ginger and honey biscuits. They also had the opportunity to examine various WWII artefacts, thanks to Mr. Hitchcock's generous contribution of time and resources. A particular highlight of the day was when they had the opportunity to sit in the WWII jeep.

Finally, the children earned their first reward, which was a trip to the park, by completing their reward board.

13th September 2024

Class 6 has had an excellent start to the term. The children have settled in well, and many have already volunteered to take on additional responsibilities, such as serving as Play Leaders, librarians, managing the tuck shop, and assisting with assembly preparations. In addition to these duties, the children have already been hard at work with their learning.

In Maths, they have been diligently practicing their times table recall through Tackling Tables and we have been working on reading and writing numbers up to 10,000,000.

In English, we have been looking at the book Rose Blanche and we have been focusing on how speech can be used to convey character.

Furthermore, we have begun our History topic on World War II. The children have impressed me with their knowledge, particularly their understanding of when and why Britain declared war on Germany, as well as how the war concluded.

12th July 2024

Class 6 have had a busy week with making their moving vehicles using pulleys in DT. First, they explored how the size of the pulley can affect the speed before they designed their vehicles in groups. Everyone showed great determination and perseverance in fixing their vehicles and ensuring that they worked. Afterwards, they had to code their vehicles using a Crumble microcontroller. Great job, Class 6!

28th June 2024

Class 6 had a wonderful day looking at the different exhibits at the Natural History Museum. They also took part in the LEGO Build the Change: Save Our Planet Workshop where they thought creatively about the solutions and skills that are needed to tackle climate change. In groups, they built a solution to help protect different habitats before presenting their ideas to the class.

The class also enjoyed a day out at Writtle Agriculture College for the Food and Farming Day. They got to see different machines involved in farming, taste different foods and they also saw some cows, pigs, alpacas, goats and turkeys. The children also got the opportunity to watch a sheep show!

14th June 2024

Thunberg class had an amazing time with Tennis Nick in PE. We were then lucky enough to visit Castle Hedingham Tennis Club where we played lots of fun games and learned a bunch of new tennis skills on the courts.

For Healthy Eating Week, we got to choose from a starchy base, a variety of vegetables, some protein and some different toppings to make a super salad. We even had some children challenging themselves to try a new vegetable that they haven’t had before. For example, some children tried and loved radishes grown in our very own vegetable patch.

24th May 2024

Thunberg class have had an eventful few weeks! After finishing our SATs, we went to the park to celebrate and then we went to the Woods to do some cooking. The children made bread and roasted marshmallows as well!

In English, we watched the film Holes in preparation for our next writing topic. The class have been working hard at writing an informal letter to their parents whilst imagining they are Stanley who has been sent to Camp Green Lake. 

Finally, in P.E the children showed great patience and encouragement skills when we joined up with Reception to help them with maneuvering through different obstacle courses. 

10th May 2024

Thunberg class have had a busy couple of weeks. In Maths, the children have been practicing lots of reasoning questions in preparation for SATs. With a partner, they went on a hunt for different questions and helped each other to answer them. The children showed great teamwork and communication skills.

In English, the class had a lot of fun creating our own hybrid creatures and they have worked extremely hard to write a formal non-chronological report about their creatures.

Finally, in Art the children got creative and created their own sculptures to represent themselves. Some made abstract sculptures while others made literal sculptures.

8th March 2024

Thunberg class have had a wonderful start to our new Science topic of Electricity. The children demonstrated excellent knowledge of how to construct circuits and we learnt how to draw circuits using the correct scientific symbols to represent the electrical components.

In Maths, we finished our Algebra topic and have moved onto finding the area and perimeter of shapes including triangles.

In English, the children showed great perseverance and teamwork in editing and rewriting parts of their newspaper article about Percy Jackson falling off the Gateway Arch before going onto publishing them using their best handwriting. We then moved onto collecting information to write a diary entry about Dharavi, linking in with our Geography topic of India. The children were fascinated by how different it was to live in the slums and we can’t wait to use the information we’ve collected in our writing.

Finally, in Computing, we have started our new topic of 3D Modelling and the children have been exploring how to combine shapes to create different designs on Tinkercad.

2nd February 2024

This week Thunberg Class have been busy continuing with their writing based on Percy Jackson and the Lightning Thief. We published our information texts and moved onto writing a short narrative based on the scene when Medusa appears. The children were extremely proud of their writing with lots of them requesting to display their work on the Proud Wall.

In Geography, we started our new topic of India and we located different physical and human features on a map of India. The children have also been researching about the country and are working towards presenting their findings in a format of their choosing.

Finally, the class got to enjoy an afternoon at the Woods building dens and practicing their sawing skills.

19th January 2024

Class 6 have had an amazing start to the year! In Maths, the children have tackled our new topic of ratio with great enthusiasm, despite it being completely new learning. We looked at how to write ratios using a colon and how use the multiplicative relationship to work out missing information.

In English, the children have been drawing from the magical items in Percy Jackson to help them to write an information about their own creation. After writing their first drafts, they spent time with different editing partners to improve their writing before publishing them using their best handwriting.

15th December 2023

In D&T, we have been evaluating existing bags, in particular looking at the materials they are made from to see whether or not if they are sustainable. To inform us about our designs, we formulated different questions and then went around to different classes to carry out our market research. It was great to see the children use their findings to influence their design decisions.

In Maths, the children have worked incredibly hard on multiplying fractions by another fraction and dividing fractions by an integer.

We wish you a happy Christmas and we look forward to seeing you in the new year.

1st December 2023

In Science, we have been looking at the different crucial parts of the circulatory system and the children really impressed with their recall of key facts about the heart, blood vessels and blood.

The children have also been working together to explore sustainable energy options for a fictional island in Geography. After choosing a suitable way to present their decisions, they presented their proposed renewable energy options to the class.

Also, in My Happy Mind, the children have been discovering and working on understanding their unique character strengths.

3rd November 2023

Thunberg class have had a busy week back to school. In Maths, we have been using our multiplication and division skills to solve tricky multi-step problems and we have been looking how the order of operations affects which part of a question we tackle first.

In Art, we have using textiles and different techniques including stitching, layering and painting to tell a story. We all chose our favourite books and recreated a scene from this book on our fabric piece.

Finally, in English we have started a new text called ‘Percy Jackson and the Lightning Thief’ by Rick Riordan. We have been working on how to punctuate bullet points in order to write a set of instructions for a magical spell.

13th October 2023

Thunberg Class had an amazing time for their WW2 Experience day. In the morning, we followed a war time recipe and made honey and ginger biscuits. We then learned about life during the Blitz and made our own Anderson shelter models whilst working together collaboratively.

In Computing, we have been looking at the different ways people work together online. The children had the challenge of making a group PowerPoint about evacuation whilst working with other children on different tables and not being able to communicate with them using their voices. They could only use the functions available on Google Slides to help them to communicate.

 Finally, we also adapted other people’s projects on Scratch and made them our own.

29th September 2023

This week in Thunberg Class, we have been learning about the different divisibility rules and the children have shown great determination and perseverance in trying to apply their knowledge to use the digits 0-9 to create a ten-digit number where the first two digits are divisible by two, then the first three digits are divisible by three and so on.

In Science, we have been investigating how light travels and how we see objects. We found out that light travels in straight lines and that we see non-luminous objects when light from a light source is reflected.

Finally, in English the children have been writing short stories based on the book ‘Rose Blanche.’  

15th September 2023

Thunberg Class have had a fantastic start to the year. They have settled in well and have been extremely enthusiastic about undertaking all the different roles and responsibilities around the school.

We have started our WW2 topic, thinking about why the war started and who was Adolf Hitler and what were the Nazis Parties views. The children went on a question hunt around the school and practised their retrieval skills by carefully selecting information from a text.

We have also been exploring place value in Maths and we have been practising reading and writing numbers to ten million. We then had fun playing against a partner practising how to multiply and divide by powers of 10.

20th July 2023

These last couple of weeks have marked an incredible year for Thunberg Class. The children wowed with their fantastic performance in their end-of-year play, Alice the Musical, with incredible acting, singing, and wonderful costumes that brought the characters to life. The class also received their SATs results, which was a moment of celebration for each student. Finally, the children enjoyed their final trip to the woods where they showed off their culinary skills in making bread and cooking bacon, whilst having lots of fun!

16th June 2023

This week, Thunberg Class have been creating moving vehicles utilising pulleys. To kickstart the project, they explored the speed of different-sized pulleys before proceeding to design and make their own vehicles. Afterwards, Eli, Christian, and Oakley did a wonderful job in teaching the class how to use a crumble microcontroller. We all successfully managed to program our vehicles to move in various directions and speeds, including forwards, reverse, and stop.

Additionally, the class had the opportunity to watch the film adaptation of "Holes.” Building on this inspiration, we have crafted letters home, adopting Stanley's perspective, to express our experiences and emotions whilst at Camp Green Lake.

25th May 2023

Thunberg Class have had an eventful two weeks. The most exciting would be the immersive WW1 Aviation Day organised by the WW1 Aviation Heritage Trust. We penned heartfelt poems on biodegradable poppy seed cards, paying tribute to the brave aviators of World War I. These poems will be taken via plane to France and dropped in a field in Normandy to create a field of reconciliation for the local children to enjoy. We also got to take to the skies through the exciting experience of a flight simulator and a VR headset.

In Art, we have been expressing our concerns about the consequences of climate change through some thought-provoking artwork, depicting melting ice caps, endangered species, and polluted landscapes. The children have taken immense care and pride with their work.

Thunberg Class have had a fantastic term so far and we have more exciting projects to come!

12th May 2023

Thunberg class have had a busy two weeks. In Maths, we decided to revise our reasoning skills in a different way: a treasure hunt around the school grounds. Working in pairs, the children had a competition to see how many questions they could answer correctly.

The class have also taken on an exciting new venture at school - they have opened a tuck shop! The tuck shop was kindly donated and crafted by Mr Wilson (a parent in Reception) and the children have had a wonderful time making sure everything is in order, taking turns serving and handling money.

Everyone in class has also worked extremely hard with completing their SATS and we celebrated with a well-deserved trip to the park. We are all extremely proud of the effort they have put in!

28th April 2023

Thunberg class have been working incredibly hard revising for their upcoming exams. We have made flashcards and have been quizzing each other to help with recall crucial facts in Maths and Grammar.

In Science, we have been learning how to draw circuits using the correct symbols and we have been investigating how the brightness of a bulb changes with the use of different components in a circuit.

Finally, in English, we have been writing short stories based on the clip ‘Francis’ and we have been working on how to build tension and suspense.

31st March 2023

Thunberg Class have enjoyed using 3D modelling in computing and have been working on designing their ideal house. Some children tried to predict what houses would look like in the future and created a model to demonstrate this.

We have also been learning about ‘The Making of Modern Britain’ in our History topic. We looked at the development of the NHS and the Welfare State and then plotted on a timeline some of the different events which has led to Britain becoming a multicultural society.

17th March 2023

In Thunberg class, we have been writing spooky setting descriptions and we have really focused on our editing skills. The children have really impressed me with their careful language choices and their attentiveness in ensuring their work is cohesive.

We’ve also been designing dioramas for Science Week to represent a scientist and their discoveries. We’ve got dioramas showcasing William Harvey (the first man to describe the circulatory system), Mae Jemison (the first African-American women engineer to travel into space) and many more.

3rd March 2023

In Thunberg Class, the children have impressed me with their place value knowledge involving decimals and we have worked on multiplying and dividing decimals by whole numbers. We then went onto applying these skills and used them to help us to solve trickier and more challenging problems.

In Computing, we had our first lesson on exploring how to use ‘Tinkercad’ with the aim to design 3D models in further lessons. The class extremely enjoyed using the program and we investigated how to move, resize and stack different objects.

Finally, every Tuesday, we have been joining up with Wonder Class for reading. The children have been thoroughly amazed by their reading buddies reading skills and enthusiasm.

10th February 2023

In Maths, Thunberg class have been tackling algebra and have shown great discussion skills in articulating how they would solve an equation. We have also been working hard with editing and improving our newspaper articles about Percy Jackson. After correcting our writing, we then took great care with using our best handwriting to publish our final pieces. The children were extremely proud of their work and numerous pieces have made it onto the Proud Wall!

27th January 2023

In Thunberg Class, the children have been showcasing their knowledge about how the circulatory system works. First, we practised being skilled communicators by articulating the process using the correct scientific vocabulary before producing some informative posters to explain the process. We also looked at the different components that make up blood and in groups we made our own models by choosing different items to represent each component.

13th January 2023

In Thunberg Class, the children have impressed with their ability to apply their learning about converting different metric measures in solving some tricky problems. We have also used Learning by Questions to practise converting between miles and kilometres.

In English, we have been exploring the features of newspaper articles in preparation to write our own about an upcoming event in Percy Jackson and the lightning Thief. 

Finally, we have started our new topic in Science – The Circulatory System. We took notes about the main parts of the circulatory system and then in groups, we tested our knowledge by choosing a keyword and describing it for the rest of the group to guess.   

9th December 2022

This week, in Thunberg class, we have been investigating the difference between renewable and non-renewable energy sources. We read about the advantages and disadvantages of many energy sources such as solar energy, geothermal energy and fossil fuels and recorded our findings in a table. Working in groups, we had to decide on the most suitable renewable energy options for an island with no electricity. Linking in with our geography learning, the class have also worked hard at making their own web pages using Google Sites to showcase all their learning. 

25th November 2022

In Thunberg Class, the children have shown great perseverance with their learning on fractions. The class have worked hard to add and subtract mixed numbers.

While a group of children had an amazing time learning how to ride their bikes safely on the road in Bikeability, the children in class, really impressed me with their writing based on Percy Jackson and the Lightning Thief. They made interesting vocabulary choices and wrote each sentence carefully.

Finally, for Christmas Decoration Day, we have been making decorations using clay. We can’t wait for them to dry and paint them.   

11th November 2022

This week in Thunberg Class, we have been working hard with applying our addition, subtraction, multiplication and division skills in solving multi-step problems.

In English, we have written formal letters to express our appreciation towards the PGL staff from Bawdsey Manor for our wonderful time during the Year 6 residential. We will be posting these letters and hopefully we will get a response.

Finally, in Art the children have been learning how to do different stitches including a: running stitch, back stitch and over stitch.

7th October 2022

Thunberg Class looked absolutely amazing dressed up as someone from WW2! As part of our learning about daily life during WW2, we experienced being evacuees and learned about rationing. We made rationing leaflets and baked a war time recipe of honey and ginger biscuits. In the afternoon, we were creative and worked collaboratively to make Anderson Shelter models. We also shared our endings to Rose Blanche with Attenborough Class.

Friday 23rd September 2022

Thunberg Class have started learning about World War II and we went on a fact hunt to find out about how the war started and the different countries involved. Moreover, we have been debating about if children should have been evacuated during World War II. Whilst sharing and explaining our thoughts in groups, we arranged different reasons in a ‘Diamond Nine’ and went onto explain our ideas behind our choices to other groups. We then prepared arguments and counter arguments before holding a class debate.

In Maths, we reviewed our learning on place value by playing a game called ‘Grudgeball.’ The children were all extremely kind and didn’t steal too points off many groups when they answered the questions correctly. One group especially demonstrated great perseverance and a positive attitude towards their learning despite not winning the game.

We have been having great fun in our multi-skills P.E sessions, where we have been working in teams to developing our agility and ball control skills.