Yr6 teachers- ideas please!

[QueenofLouisiana]

I’m assuming that we won’t see these children again, to be honest, but clearly I am trying to prepare them for going to secondary school: both socially and academically.

So, I’m setting work daily and giving feedback through our learning platform. However, feedback from parents has lead to the head asking that we set work with the following criteria: no printing out, not to much reliance on on-line work, try to avoid downloads or technical stuff and too much challenging content (hmmm- difficult with the yr6 curriculum to be honest).

I’ve set work on measures- replies come back that there are no rulers in the houses, I know that some house contain no books so reading/ research is a challenge...

I’m struggling a bit about what to set next. I sent home packs before we finished but they won’t last forever. What are you setting? Have you found any way of setting practical tasks with few resources? I’m open to suggestions as I would like to get this right.

Ask them to divise their own measuring system.
A thumb, a hand spread, arm's length.
The to measure parts of the house.

Also point out A4 paper is roughly 21cm by 29 cm.

Blimey that doesn’t leave much does it?!
I don’t teach yr 6 but have a yr 6 child.
Could the school afford to send out some CGP books for the children to work through? Not the most exciting but should cover the content in an accessible way.
WRT transition-assuming the secondary schools are open you could ask them to send out maps & virtual tours and some ‘getting to know you’ activities from the teachers there.
Audible has some free content-could they all listen to the same book and answer some comprehension questions you set?

I like the idea of pointing out the size of an A4 piece of paper- I had hoped the measures work would lead to scale drawings. That fell flat with the lack of rulers issue.
@Flipreverseit no it doesn’t leave much! The lovely practical stuff with leaves and seeds doesn’t cover much of what we do at this point- especially if you know that homes lack a lot of resources. Sadly no money for books to send home, we’d looked at that before we closed. 😩 Apparently the phones they all have don’t access the VLE (although mine does, but it isn’t ideal).
I have set a listen and respond task today, based on a free to listen BBC story, I’ll see what the response was like to that and see if I can do the same through audible. That would be good!
Thank you for sharing some ideas, much appreciated.

Year 6 kids have loads to deal with as you well know. They have been gearing up all year for SATS, followed by chill time, followed by leavers celebrations. My heart breaks for my daughter in year 6. I wouldn’t worry too much. Us parents just want our kids to be safe and as happy as they can be. Tough on the teachers too. Take cafe.

Care not cafe!

I realise my reply has given no practical answers. I would set absolute minimum work to just keep them ticking over. Everyone is in the same boat and some kids will be doing nothing at all.

Not year 6, but secondary maths - thinking about the measures. Look at imperial units? The history of systems of measurement? Why did we need them? What did people use before ruler? (This is why the imperial system is largely based on parts of the body, even still called by that unit today) body parts: inch is tip of thumb, hand (used today to measure horses height), feet (obviously still used), span, cubit, pace. They could measure things in their body units, get an adult to measure the same things and then discuss why it was important to get a standardised system. Make their own ruler in 'inches', using their thumb. Could look at divine proportion too, measuring how different parts of the body are the same size (forearm is the same as your foot).

And some converting between units of measurement? That's tricky stuff, but doesn't need a ruler.

Maybe some letter writing/emailing activities. They could write to people they admire and see if they get a response.
I’m trying (-fairly unsuccessfully!) to encourage my dd to keep a diary to show children/grandchildren what it was like to live through this time.
Hit the button is free and pretty accessible on any phone or tablet and still useful to keep maths fluency going.
listen to different genres of music on YouTube
DT-evaluating household objects and designing their own. I guess cooking opportunities might be limited for some of them if even rulers are in short supply .
There’s loads of documentaries on YouTube and Netflix that could be interesting for science, history and geography
Maybe they could all contribute towards a leavers project? Self portraits/recorded messages /lines of a song /jokes.
It’s so sad they miss out on all the fun end of year 6 rituals

My yr 6 has been doing online stuff set by the teacher, purple mash. Times table grids, time yourself like they do in school. Times table rock stars. A few pages out of SATS workbooks they already had from school.

Yesterday they were emailed the 1st real 'school like' work. A link to a short video to watch. Then they have to rewrite the story in their best creative writing. They can type it or handwrite it then take a photo and email it to the teacher.

They have also had a class Zoom meeting with the teacher. Whole class (almost) mostly muted. Each child got to speak then they did a couple of kahoot quizzes. Took about an hour and looked like they all enjoyed it. Hopefully will be a weekly thing.

We haven't had to do any printing out. But I think it's a bit much to ask you to avoid too much online stuff or rely on tech. It's kinda what we have to do right now.

BBC start there own education channel 20/4 with each year group covered

Not sure what it might contain

Could you look for an audio book Oxford Owl is free with just an email address needed

Can you set challenges

Tie shoe laces
Make tea
Cook a simple meal or baking
Research food prices/portions/nutrition/
Can they design something?
Create word searches
Write a poem of how they are feeling and record it how they want video/audio/ written etc
Keep a diary of their experiences
Create a PE session using only a ball or pen
Build a den indoors

I'm not currently teaching Y6 but have done for years and have a Y6 child of my own. Her teacher has set a weekly timetable of things that largely mirrors the usual school timetable but all the English, SPAG and maths are scanned in textbooks so need to be accessed via computer. For various reasons, not least that DH and I both need to be able to access our school networks and our wifi is ropey, I did contact the school and ask if they'd mind if I looked at the maths and SPAG LO then set work from some textbooks I have at home. I was told that was absolutely fine and it's made a huge difference to DD's motivation and work speed.

Has your headteacher given any examples of learning that fits his/her restrictive criteria? I know you've said there's no money for work books but given the Y6s are unlikely to make it back to school and aren't going to use up glue sticks and other consumables, I think the head is going to have to accept that some money needs to be thrown at this. It's £5 to buy a CGP pack containing a KS2 English and Maths book. Ask parents to contribute to/fund a set for their child (to reduce printing and online reliance), suggest others donate extra if they're in a position to and use pupil premium money to fund them for those who need them provided by school. Put them, a maths exercise book, a lined one and a plain one in a pack with the CGP books. Provide a ruler, pencils, colouring pencils, scissors, coloured paper etc for families that don't have them and ask families to collect the packs at scheduled times after Easter.

For the foundation subjects, set up weekly themed independent learning projects with clear objectives and a Friday deadline. Go for things that can involve as much or as little online stuff/parental supervision/extra materials as desired. Tasks along the lines of:

1. Invent a game that can be played by two people. The finished product must include written instructions, at least one labelled diagram and if possible, a demonstration of the game or photographs of the game pieces.
2. Conduct an observation survey in your area. You will need to choose one thing to observe for five days e.g number and type of different travel methods, wild animals (birds, foxes, squirrels), clouds. Find an interesting way to present a summary of your observations e.g. Prezi, a TikTok dance*, a poster or a scientific report.

I've done projects like this with Y6s in the past, usually as groups and we've had the head or deputy come in to judge the end products in line with the success criteria. They've been good for practising time management and organisation but have also given an opportunity for the children to choose subjects that interest them whether revisiting a Y2 topic or wanting to learn about the history of a particular sport. You'd need to find a way for the children to share their work with you as well as potentially posting things out to families who have no means of accessing information or large pieces of sugar paper but at least something like this would tick most of your head's boxes.

Ask them to research a theme / topic / interest / hobby and prepare a 10 min talk about it . It could include pics , props , a PowerPoint presentation if they’re really keen . They have to write and edit it . They could record themselves reading it if they wanted or submit it to you .

Could you get a copy of some of the activities the scouts / cubs set for their homemaker badges and set those ?
They could write them out and then tick them off when they do them
Eg sew on a button
Prepare breakfast
Change your duvet cover

I had completed all the year 6 maths curriculum before leaving to allow time for revision, but as you are more or less on track you could use White Rose? They have slides and questions and your children don't need to download it, just view it and send you the answers in an email.

A lot of my class don't have sufficient tech so I am setting revision on google classroom and they mostly view it on phones, write the answers on paper and send me pictures.

I'm also getting them to listen to Neil Gaiman read a chapter of Coraline a day and we are discussing it on google classroom. I've put questions up and if they can

For science i've used bbc clips and set practical tasks like making sun dials or observing habitats.

I'm in the same boat with equipment. Lots of mine have nothing at home. Measurement is hard without equipment. Maybe move to statistics?

I'ts very hard when you are dealing with kids without much . I'm very anxious for some of them.

My school are creating packs of work for those without access to a printer/internet/computer to pick up at specified times (so there’s social distancing) at fortnightly intervals I think. Although only a quarter of the people who asked for said packs actually came to collect them. School also lent out laptops to those really in need I think. Could your school not do similar with printed work packs? And maybe give/lend out rulers with the packs?