Year 6 has been learning that all living things (animals and plants) are made of cells which are the building blocks of life.

To help us get to grips with the scientific vocabulary (complex and advanced) and to assist with our understanding, we gathered an array of candies and jelly. The candies were used to create our very own edible animal cell with the best candies illustrating a different aspect of the cell and its purpose.

We discovered that most cells are very small and that they are invisible without using a microscope. Cells are covered by a cell membrane and come in different shapes.

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All of us here at Provo Primary School are immensely proud of our Year 6 students and their attainments in external examinations this year.

*  Top 8 positions in the TCI Middle School Entrance Examination and 10 of the 12 available places.

*  We scooped 6 of the top 10 positions in the British West Indies Collegiate Entrance Examination, including 2nd, 3rd and 4th positions.

*  In total, 12 of our Year 6 students have accepted offers from the British West Indies Collegiate for entry into their Year 7.

At Provo Primary, we firmly believe that our creative, hands on approach to learning, makes learning meaningful, develops curious learners, and helps to develop higher academic attainment.

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Year six students have been studying the work of Van Gogh. We paid particular attention to his famous still life: Sunflowers. Using this as stimulus, the students got busy creating their own flower still life using a variety of flowers. Look closely at our photos and you will discover some very exotic ones!

Focusing on line, space, tone and shade the students sketched carefully to achieve the same style as Van Gogh, but with different flower creations. Coloured pastels were then introduced to enable different shades and tones to be created within the colouring stage. The vase was decorated and some individuals decided to use colours to enhance the background of their work.

This was quite a lengthy process and the students worked meticulously in order to produce their final version.

We hope you like them and that they inspire you to create your own Van Gogh-like masterpiece.

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Writing to entertain: Horror Stories

Year 6 recently studied Roald Dahl’s short story: The Landlady. A story filled with mystery, intrigue and suspense. The story ends on a cliff-hanger and the reader is left wondering what will or could happen next. In Year 6 we considered how the story might continue. Planning out our ideas we got busy writing the sequel to this tale.

Please look out for the following features in our writing:

• Structure: start, middle and conclusion;
• Paragraphing;
• Short sentences to build suspense;
• Demanding vocabulary;
• Characterisation;
• Figurative language features.

We dare you to read a selection of our stories! Click on ‘read more’ below to  see them – we hope you enjoy them!

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Year 6 students have enjoyed studying the human body; which has been the main focus of our learning in science this term. They made an impressive start to this topic by relaying facts that they already knew about the human body and the questions that they wanted to explore about bodily functions as the topic progressed.

They have carried out a number of investigations such as monitoring our BPM during various activities; breathing rates during different activities and how different fluids increase the rate of tooth decay. They have been able to apply their understanding of the human body to these experiments in order to draw conclusions.

The students examined in great detail: the digestive system; the respiratory system; the circulatory system; the skeletal system and healthy lifestyles.

The students were exposed to extensive scientific vocabulary throughout this topic and worked extremely hard in gaining an increased understanding of how the main organ systems work.

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Year 6 has made an impressive start to their new topic Natural Disasters.  ‘Board blasting’ natural and man-made disasters kick started our thinking into this area.  The children were then able to define the differences between such disasters and realised that our planet can become angry at times.

Wearing our geologist hats we were able to observe the structure of the earth and examine the Tectonic Plate Theory in order to understand how natural disasters can occur.

Working in pairs the children used traditional and digital resources to capture relevant information and interesting facts on a number of natural disasters.  Please come and check out some of our information posters as you might discover something that you did not know before…

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Throughout the term Year 6 students have engaged with rainforest study. This topic has been taught thematically across the differing areas of learning. This approach to teaching and learning has enabled the students to build upon their knowledge and understanding of rainforests, within other curriculum capacities other than geography and science.

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In their literacy lessons, Year 6 has explored the concept of how the big books are used in teaching younger children literacy skills. They examined the features of these books carefully in order to ascertain what theirs would need to include in order to fulfill the requirements of a big book. Such features included the use of illustrations which complement the written text; engaging characters; short stories which are easy to follow; language devices such as rhyme, alliteration and so on.

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Year 6 have been exploring variation in their science lessons.  The pupils have been looking closely at the animal kingdom and in particular the different subcategories of the vertebrate group.  They put their research skills to the test and used both traditional and digital resources to find as much information as possible on a fish, reptiles, birds, mammals and amphibians.

Read on and see one of the books that was created…

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Year 6 have been studying the novel ‘Flour Babies’ by Anne Fine. The students decided that they would like to experiment with their own flour babies project just like the children in the novel. Getting to work fast they soon created a classroom filled with new members.

The students have to care for their flour babies for over a two week period and ensure that they are not damaged, left unsupervised or neglected in any way. All activities completed have to be recorded in their flour baby journal.

An excellent project that develops the skills of responsibility and caring for others.

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Year Six recently created photo stories based upon the theme of bullying.  Students worked in small groups and storyboarded short sketches that highlighted a typical bullying scenario.  The students came up with sound ideas that focused on potential bullying during unstructured times at school, within their local community and through modern technology (cyber bullying).

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Over the last number of weeks, Year 6 have adopted the role of the historian to investigate the era of World War 2.  Placing events in chronological order kick-started our study of this significant time in history and allowed us to select specific areas to focus on in greater detail.  The Year 6 were then able to carry out research using both digital and traditional resources to gather relevant facts and information on their chosen topic.  Getting to work quickly, they then were required to present this information in the form of an Information Poster that would illustrate their research in an easy to understand manner.  The final results were fantastic and Year 6 enjoyed learning from one another on areas such as the Blitz, The Holocaust, The Role of Women, Pearl Harbor, Gas Masks, Rationing of Food and Clothing and The Evacuation of Children.

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Year 6 carried out an investigation to observe exactly how air resistance slows down a moving object.

We have discovered that objects which move through the air experience the force of friction. This is called air resistance. Air resistance acts against gravity on falling objects making them slow down as they fall.

Parachutes are used to slow down the speed of the person or object suspended from the parachute. The parachute is affected by gravity and air resistance.

With this in mind, we got to work making a variety of parachutes. Using different materials cut to different sizes we worked enthusiastically to create a range of different parachutes. When the devising process was complete we headed outside to put the theories to the test.

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