Language
The language programme in Year Six creates a supportive classroom environment that nurtures a community of writers, readers and presenters.
The language programme offers many opportunities for students to experiment with language and to write for a range of purposes including:
- Writing to persuade an audience and present their ideas and opinions with well-developed arguments that include specific details and examples.
- Planning and writing detailed and organised expository texts such as reports, review, arguments, narratives and personal recounts.
- Using language to arouse a range of responses including humour or caution.
- Writing to entertain an audience with text that contains interesting and effective language and voice to ensure that the audience’s interest is maintained. This area is emphasised in the poetry unit.
In reading, students are encouraged to discuss how the ideas of the text and the author combine to create an interpretation of the text. This is done through a range of reading resources including novel studies. These novel studies are designed to synthesise information from texts with varying perspectives, to draw conclusions and analyse the use of literary devices such as rhetoric, wit, irony and cynicism.
Speaking and Listening offers a range of opportunities to speak confidently and appropriately in a variety of situations. These include activities such as reporting formally to an audience, exploring ideas in a group, debating issues and interviewing peers.
Mathematics
The Mathematics programme in Year six strives to encourage students to investigate, interpret and reason about patterns in number, space, measurement and data. Students explain and justify their conclusions in a variety of activities. Students interpret diagrams that represent fractions and mixed number, rewrite mixed number as improper fractions and vice versa. They continue to explore shape and space by classifying, representing and manipulating geometric shapes. They are provided with a range of opportunities to develop their knowledge and understanding of number and number sense that includes a range of computation. The students manipulate a range of measurement tools to develop their understanding of such concepts as length, volume, mass and time.
Integrated Studies
Conflict and WW2
This unit provides the students with the opportunity to explore the nature of conflict and how it can radically change society. Students investigate the need for non-violent conflict as a means for evoking change. They explore Hong Kong’s’ involvement in World War II and the impact the war had on Hong Kong. They note the difficult circumstances in which people were forced to live and what life was like for ordinary people in Hong Kong during WWII. They also investigate the role and impact of Canadian and Indian forces stationed in Hong Kong to protect the colony.
Continent Study
This unit provides the students with the opportunity to explore each continent and present their findings. Their presentation includes aspects of food, housing, language, culture, belief systems and religion. Students also explore different viewpoints and perspectives on the same information. During the “One hundred Voices” project, students use technology to research and present what they have found out about what it is like to be a child somewhere else in the world.
Flight
During this unit students are provided with the opportunity to explore the concept of Flight. They plan, predict, record, and observe their own investigation in lift and thrust. They inquire into how both gravity and air resistance are important to flight. They design and make their own parachute to demonstrate how gravity pulls the parachute down towards the centre of the earth while air resists its movements.
Growing Up Healthy and the Changes in our Lives
During this unit students explore the variety of changes their bodies and minds undergo through the various stages of puberty. They identify and discuss the reproductive systems in both men and women. Students recognise and discuss the physical, emotional and interpersonal changes associated with adolescence. They have opportunities to discuss problem-solving models they can use to form better relationships with friends, peers and family. As part of our LEAP programme students discuss associated problems with alcohol and how to make responsible decisions.
Micro-organisms
This unit is designed to nurture curiosity and captivate students’ interest in Science by providing opportunity for hands on activities. During this unit student summarise, represent and plan their observations. They also plan and conduct investigations. They explore the role of micro-organisms in the discovery and development of the antibiotic penicillin. This unit provides opportunity for students to understand how micro-organisms can be both harmful and beneficial to us, eg how bacteria and yeast are vital to the production of food and drinks like yoghurt and bread, beer and wine.
Global Warming
During this unit students have the opportunity to explore the global warming debate and discuss why our planet is slowly getting warmer. They inquire into the causes of the greenhouse effect and its impact on our climate and global weather patterns. Students identify the human activities that have lead to global warming and explore ways in which both individuals and governments can contribute to finding a solution.
Interdependence and Adaptation
During this unit students build upon their previous knowledge of habitats introduced in Year Four. They inquire into the roles and interaction of producers, consumers and decomposers within an eco system. They describe the structural adaptation that allows plants and animals to survive in specific habitats and investigate adaptation and methods of survival. Students inquire into how animals adapt to their environment in ways they live and how they can be identified by means of a key. They consider the threats posed by industry to a fragile ecosystem.
Music
The German Swiss International School Hong Kong offers a comprehensive and varied music programme which is two-fold:
1. Classroom Programme
Every class has two music lessons per week with a specialist music teacher. These lessons are a balance of LISTENING, COMPOSING, PERFORMING (singing, playing and moving) and cover a wide variety of musical styles. The focus is always on the concepts of music.
The programme aims to extend the child’s musical experience, knowledge and understanding of a wide variety of musical styles from all over the world. At the same time opportunity is given for children to draw on their own musical experience and knowledge and use these skills to enhance their learning.
Year 6
- Focus is on concepts of beat, rhythm and pitch, harmony and structure.
- Children use tuned and untuned percussion as well as the instruments they learn privately to consolidate the concepts and create their own music.
- Introduction of Chords II, III and VI.
- Word setting leading to song writing – linked with the class poetry unit.
- Songs and listening works are chosen to reflect or relate to General Studies.
2. Extra Curricular Activities
There are three performance groups that function as Extra Curricular Activities. All are open to the children from the English stream.
- Senior Choir – Open to any child from Years 5 – 6. This does not require an audition and meets once a week.
- Recorder Ensembles – There are two ensembles: advanced and intermediate. They are open to all children from Years 3 – 6. These do not require an audition and meet once a week.
- Orchestra – Open to any child from Years 3 – 6. This does not require an audition but the children must play an orchestral instrument and be of an advanced enough level to cope with the music. The Orchestra meets once a week.
All the Music ECA groups work towards a programme of public performances. They are featured in some or all of the concerts throughout the year: Christmas Concerts, Spring Concert, Assemblies, and Special Celebrations.
Library
The library programme aims to: develop a deep understanding and appreciation of literature and to equip our students with information literacy skills for the 21st Century. Learning is more powerful when skills are contextualised and not taught in isolation. Both strands offer opportunities for collaborating with class teachers, to target specific outcomes related to units of work being studied in class. Students learn new ways to think about, critically analyse texts and develop a range of transferable skills, strategies and understandings. Information Literacy is often taught cooperatively with the ICT teacher, to integrate 21st Century skills and learning technologies.
Briefly, the aim of the Information Literacy program is enabling and empowering students to:
Plan an investigation, locate information from a range of sources, including digital media, critically analyse the information and form conclusions supported by evidence, present new knowledge and reflect on their learning process.
The Literature Skills programme exposes students to a wide range of high quality texts across a variety of genres, to broaden their experience with literature. They develop language and abilities to distinguish between realism and fantasy and discuss elements of plot, setting, character, theme, voice and the relationship between text and illustrations.
Each weekly session builds on skills mastered from previous years and complements the development of literacy, by incorporating reading, writing, viewing and listening with a focused task to complete. There is also time for browsing and home borrowing.
Learning Technology
Learning Technology is a digital tool which supports cognitive development, problem solving and thinking skills; it enables students to construct, represent and remix their own and others knowledge from the vast amounts of information available to them.
Learning Technology is represented by a combination of hardware and software solutions. In the EPD students are exposed to a range of hardware solutions such as laptops, video recorders, data-loggers, sound recorders and GPS. The majority of software solutions used will be Free and Open Source and browser based – examples can be seen in the Learning Technology room on LEO.
The main purpose of Learning Technology is to support learning skills such as enquiry, reflection and communication. It enhances our students’ learning capacity by making them more independent and creative learners. Learning Technology give students more choice and enables them to be more creative about how they represent and express their ideas and understandings. Particular emphasis is placed on developing Information and Digital Literacy skills.
Inquiring with Learning Technology
Students use Learning Technology for inquiry and research. They identify information needs, locate and access information. They organise, use and interpret information to improve their understanding.
Creating with Learning Technology
Students use Learning Technology to be creative in the way they extend and represent their thinking skills. They use Learning Technology to analyse problems and information needs, develop strategies and evaluate solutions. They make decisions about appropriate use of Learning Technology solutions. They use Learning Technology to generate ideas and plans and to monitor and reflect on their learning.
Communicating with Learning Technology
Students use Learning Technology to enhance communication. They learn to communicate and apply Learning Technology to present information, engage with diverse audiences and collaborate. They communicate face-to-face and remotely with individuals and networks. Students experience and share alternate views, construct new understanding and develop empathy with others.
Operating Learning Technology
Students gain an understanding of the systems they are operating. Skills in operating one system can be transferred and built upon when operating other systems. They learn to apply Learning Technology standards and conventions. They apply preventative strategies to protect systems and data and solve basic Learning Technology-related problems.
Year Six Programme Outline
In Year 6 the issues of Cyber-safety and Smart Searching (Global Warming) are revisited – with the emphasis on become a good digital citizen. Digital Portfolios are upgraded to reflect their achievements during the year ready for transition into Year 7. They learn how to use additional features in Word and Excel to support communication and data manipulation. Increasingly their use of learning technology is integrated into schemes of work; for example in Science children create a presentation about Animal Eyes and Ears for an audience of Year 1 children, choosing the application themselves from Photostory, MovieMaker, Animoto or Prezi. One of their major projects – 100 Voices – is built around teamwork and use of Web 2.0 applications to support information finding, communication and collaboration skills. By the end of Year 6, students should be confident in a range of media – text, sound, video and images and be able to create presentations to meet the needs of different audiences. They are also able to use learning technologies to review and reflect on their work.
Physical Education
In Year Six the students participate in a wide spectrum of sports, developing their ability to understand, perform, teach and evaluate them. They are also encouraged to referee where appropriate. Sports covered in Year Six are: athletics, swimming, dance, gymnastics, hockey, netball, basketball, football, rounders, initiative games, badminton, volleyball and cricket. Year Six dance and gymnastics culminate in small group performances in front of their year group. Year Six students also have the experience of leadership through responsibilities such as sports team captains, inter-house sports team captains, house captains and Sports Council members.
The sports programme is also backed up by a wide variety of school coaching sessions and a vast number of inter-school sports sessions. These sports include: athletics, baseball, football, netball, cross-country, swimming, hockey, baseball, cricket and rounders.
