New to Year 6... or not!

[BarbaraBitchFace]

Anyone fancy a new (or old!) to year 6 support thread?

I'm excited but terrified. Help!

[PicInAttic]

I'm in Y6 again this year - for about the fifteenth year in my 20 years of teaching so not new but ...
I love Y6 despite SATs and all the associated stresses. The kids are brill at this age, I work with supportive colleagues and have a great headteacher but any other support gratefully received - and hopefully I have something to offer too.

[BarbaraBitchFace]

Wow! I hope I love it as much as you do. I taught Year 6 for half a term when I came back from mat leave and loved it. I'm just worried about getting my subject knowledge up to scratch.
Any top tips for success?

[PicInAttic]

Accept good enough from yourself and the kids! The job can be all consuming in any year group and - in some schools - even worse in Y6 but you can't do your best if you're exhausted.
Don't try to reinvent everything. Use published schemes and external resources and put your time into personalising them for you and your class. There's some good stuff on WRH, Twinkl, PlanBee, Literacy Shed etc that gives a perfectly good enough starting point. I've found CGP stuff quite good for not much money too. They'll help you feel confident about your subject knowledge too -although I'm sure it's fine. Get school to subscribe/buy wherever possible!
Depending on your school policies and own preferences, try to do whole class reading rather than carousel. Do lots of modelling of strategies and vocab understanding. Vocab Ninja and Word of the Day are worth a look. Focus on spelling rules, patterns and investigations rather than lists as spelling has such a limiting effect on writing if the ITAF stays for another year. Choose writing genres that let the kids show off their skills rather than trying to cover all the text types. If you're likely to be moderated for writing (in our LA it's automatic if there are new Y6 teachers) leave some good writing opps for Feb onwards.
Plan carefully so you don't end up with ridiculous amount ts of marking on staff meeting days or for every weekends.
Get on Twitter and follow some of the popular ed-tweeters. I don't always (often) agree with them but they make you think and often flag up Y6 info before it hits official channels.
Make sure you have a life outside of school too so you can enjoy Y6 properly. I'm sure you'll love it (most of the time)

[BarbaraBitchFace]

Thank you for that! Very wise words.