Y6 – Climate Change Warriors

Project Overview

This half term, Y6 have dived into their learning about global warming and climate change. They have enjoyed learning about real life issues and have used these to inspire their writing.  

We began our learning by becoming experts on the causes of climate change and what we can do to stop global warming. We listened to Greta Thunberg’s speeches and devised our own list of features to include in order to persuade the listener to care.

We held our very own COP 26 where pupils took on the roles of some of the world’s leaders and debated how we can make a positive difference. 

Following all our learning about persuasive writing, Y6 then wrote their own persuasive speeches about a subject matter that they are passionate about. These ranged from issues such as deforestation and animal rights to racism in football and sexism in sports.

What The Student Says

“I found making the posters really fun.” Y6 Child

“I liked writing my own speech about racism in football.” Y6 Child

“I feel really bad about how we’re treating our world but I loved making the posters to spread awareness.” Y6 Child

“It was really helpful when we held our own press conference and gathered quotes for our magazine articles.” Y6 Child 

What skills were developed?

The children have developed their ability to write and perform in order to persuade. Below are some of the objectives that were met:

  • articulate and justify answers, arguments and opinions
  • maintain attention and participate actively in collaborative conversations, staying on topic and initiating and responding to comments
  • participate in discussions, presentations, performances, role play/improvisations and debates
  • gain, maintain and monitor the interest of the listener(s)
  • select and use appropriate registers for effective communication
  •  include persuasive features such as metaphors, alliteration, repetition and rhetorical questions

What The Teacher Says

“The children’s care for the world around them has been evident during our learning this half term. They were so shocked by some of the statistics we discovered through our research and were genuinely angry about the fact that not enough has been done to fix the situation. It was amazing to watch their passion spill onto the pages as they wrote their own speeches. 

I was particularly impressed by the use of modal verbs (such as must, should, will) that the children used to persuade the listener in order to encourage the audience to act on what they were hearing. Some of the metaphors were incredible and I can honestly say, we have some real climate warriors in year 6. 

My favourite moment from this unit has to be the development in spoken language skills. Everyone has developed their confidence and engaged their audience when they read their speeches aloud. I am one very proud teacher.”

– Miss Jessop