Drop Down Morning
Today, we have had a topic drop down morning. In these mornings, we recap previous learning; this time, we recapped Geography (volcanoes), Computing (Scratch) and History (Carnivals and the Atlantic Slave Trade).
In our Geography learning, Year 5 looked at the relationship between the location of volcanoes and the location of tectonic plate borders.
They then had to label the different pictures which related to volcanoes and add any extra facts they could remember.
In our Computing lesson, the children had to identify the key vocabulary from the definitions and pictures. We also discussed computer over use and spotted signs from our body and environment that showed us we need to take a break from screens.
To finish the session, Year 5 could spend some time on scratch, revisiting their learning from Year 3 and 4.
In our History session, we matched out key vocabulary to their definitions. We then went on to discuss what a carnival was and recalled who started the Leeds West Indian Carnival: Arthur France. Arthur France immigrated to England at the age of 21.
As well as being a celebration of West Indian culture, the carnival is a celebration of the end of slavery. We looked at what the Atlantic Slave Trade was.
In the 16th Century, Britain had started new settlements (called colonies) in the West Indies and North America. The British needed lots of people to work on the huge sugar, cotton and tobacco farms (plantations) there.
Britain used slaves taken from Africa to do this work. This forced movement of slaves from Africa to the West Indies and America was called the Atlantic Slave Trade.
Help at home: Ask your child how they worked as a geographer, computer programmer or historian today.
Reminder: stay and learn session
Fine Motor Skills and coffee morning – 03.02.25 9-10am
Writing: Flooded
Year 2 have thoroughly enjoyed reading a beautifully illustrated book called ‘Flooded‘ by Mariajo Ilustrajo. We surmised that the book had two key themes: the flood and teamwork. We used our reading skills to summarise, sequence and infer from the story. This week, we have started using our writing skills to retell and orally compose the story along with story mapping to aid us with our own story writing.
Help at home by retelling the story and talking about the main themes in the story. If you could change where the story was set, where would you choose?
Topic: Our locality – Fieldwork
Over the past few weeks we have been studying out locality – Moortown. On Friday, we went to visit our local area. We plotted our route on a map and visited five different locations around school. During our fieldwork, we assessed each location against different criteria.
The children stayed safe by listening to all the instructions, walking sensibly with their partner and wearing high-vis vests to be visible.
Help at home by discussing our local area. Are there any areas for improvement in Moortown?
Magna Trip!
Today, Year 3 and 4 visited Magna Science Adventure Centre. The main focus for Year 3 was their Topic learning about volcanoes and Science about rocks. We had a fantastic day exploring and learning!
There are four main areas to Magna (plus the playground!)…
Air
We explored the effect of air on movement.
Water
The children saw how water goes through the water cycle.
Earth
Here we saw the different layers of the Earth and how they interact.
Fire
The fire section displayed how fire acts and what happens to things that catch on fire.
and of course, we explored the playground!
Our workshop focused on volcanoes and rocks.
Help at home by exploring the Magna website to see if there are more workshops that are worth visiting for! They often have free workshops too! https://www.visitmagna.co.uk/
Our school trip to Magna!
Today, we were lucky enough to visit Magna on our second school trip of the year! Magna is a science adventure centre but this trip also linked brilliantly to our current geography topic: volcanoes.
Living and Learning: Speak Out, Stay Safe
This week, the children learnt all about speaking out to stay safe with NSPCC.
We discussed children’s rights and the importance of the NSPCCs message of ‘speak out, stay safe’.
As part of this session, they identified their trusted adults that they could talk to if they needed or wanted. It’s so important to have these trusted adults and why we should always speak out rather than keeping our worries in.
Adults that we can talk to include:
- parents/carers
- grandparents
- older siblings
- teachers/headteacher
- club leaders
- friend’s parents
- Alternatively, Childline is always there to call or visit their website for help. https://www.nspcc.org.uk/
We watched this video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HRSJ0U3xWM4
Help at home: discuss who your child can talk to if they need help. If they don’t feel comfortable using their words, how else can they communicate? Write a note? Record their voice? Draw a picture?
Writing: Persuasive letters
This week, we’ve starting looking at our next piece of writing. We are going to be writing a persuasive letter. To persuade means to cause someone to do something through reasoning and argument.
We’re going to persuade the Minister for the Environment for the UK, Steve Reed, to tackle climate change more effectively. In our persuasion letters, we’ll have to make him aware of the devastating effects climate change is having around the world and what he can do to combat these effects!
Once we’ve written our letters, we’ll go and post them and await a response!
So far, we have looked at good examples and identified features.
In today’s lesson, we picked out phrases that we can use in our own writing.
Help at home: Have a discussion about how climate change is affecting our world. Is there anything we can personally do to stop it?
Yorkshire Air Ambulance
This year, our Junior Leadership Team democratically selected Yorkshire Air Ambulance as our new school charity to support.
Yorkshire Air Ambulance is an independent charity providing a lifesaving rapid response emergency service to 5 million people across the whole of Yorkshire. Money raised keeps both of their air ambulance helicopters maintained and in the air.
This week, we welcomed representatives from Yorkshire Air Ambulance for an assembly to hear first hand about the excellent work they do and how our donations will help the charity.
Did you know it costs £21,000 per day to keep the Yorkshire Air Ambulance running.
It’s great to hear the children have already got ideas of how we can raise money for YAA. They are encouraged to put these ideas into our class Living and learning boxes for the Junior Leadership Team to consider.
Living & Learning: Speak Out, Stay Safe
This week is our second week on being safe in L&L. Today, your children learnt all about speaking out to stay safe with NSPCC.
We discussed children’s rights and the importance of the NSPCCs message of ‘speak out, stay safe’.
As part of this lesson, your children identified their trusted adults (over 18) that they could confidently ask anything. We discussed the importance of having these trusted adults and why we should always speak out rather than bottling things up.
Alongside this, we spoke about how our trusted adults make us feel. Your children were really confident and comfortable speaking to their trusted adults about any worries or concerns.
Our Living and Learning box, in the classroom, is another way the children can speak out and write down any worries.
Help at home: visit the Childline website with your children (https://www.childline.org.uk/kids). Explore the games, interactive tools and age-appropriate advice.
