Class News

An Amazing Assembly

Last Thursday, Year 1 shared their learning in “a really fab assembly”. The children have been learning about the people in our community and showed this through drama and singing.

“What a wonderful show. Excellent theme for them to appreciate all the people that help us.”

As you can see from the quotes, our parents thought the children did really well.  Thank you to all the parents for your support.

“What a fantastic performance – such confidence from all of the children.”

Green Fingers in Y5

On Monday 17 October, a group of Y5 children did some fantastic work in our local community.  We have created a partnership with Moortown in Bloom and over the past few months we have been helping them develop a patch of land at the end of Stonegate Road and Scothall Road.  Here are some of the children in action!

Vote Bronwen for Leeds Mayor!

We’re very proud that Bronwen, a Year 6 pupil here at Moortown Primary, has been selected as one of ten finalists for the Leeds Children’s Mayor competition. All the Year 6 children completed a manifesto of what they would like to change if they could become Mayor for the day and Bronwen was chosen as our entrant for the competition.  Her manifesto is brilliant, meeting all the criteria set (see below).

Vote for Bronwen! Voting has now opened for the finalists and anyone with a Leeds Learning account can vote. If you know of anyone who has one, please encourage them to vote. 

Voting will remain open until midday on Friday 04 November.

Representatives of Leeds Children’s Services and Leeds Council undertook the difficult task of short listing the twenty Children’s Mayor entries they received down to a final ten. In order to make the short listing a fair and transparent process, they used score cards and scored the manifestos individually against four criteria: 

• How clear and focused the manifesto idea was
• How practical, achievable and affordable the manifesto idea was
• The number of children and young people who would benefit from the manifesto idea
• The extent to which children would work alongside adults to make the idea a reality

As well as Moortown Primary, the schools whose entrants made the final this year are Allerton Bywater Primary School, Bramley St Peters Primary School, Calverley C of E Primary School, Hill Top Primary School, Kippax North Junior & Infant School, Queensway Primary School, Shire Oak Primary School, Strawberry Fields Primary School and Whinmoor St Paul’s Primary School

This whole programme is about encouraging children to show an interest in democracy and to get them into the habit of voting on issues that affect them. 

We know children at Moortown Primary already make a positive contribution to the school and their community through the School Council, litter-picking, raising money for charity etc. It’s great individuals like Bronwen want to go the extra mile to have their views heard!

Parents Evening Times

Phonics – How to say the different phonemes

It is very important when children are beginning to read and spell that the phonemes (sounds) are said correctly.

This is a list of the phonemes in the order that they are taught.

(Don’t forget to avoid saying an ‘uh’ sound after some letter sounds – this might be how you remember the sounds, but it’s not helpful to spell a word like ‘dog’ with each letter pronounced ‘duh-o-guh’ – instead, try to just say the very initial, pure sound: ‘d-o-g’.)

1. s Weave your hand in an s shape, like a snake, and say ssssss
2. a Wiggle fingers above elbow as if ants are crawling on you and say a, a, a
3. t Turn your head from side to side as if watching tennis and say t, t, t
4. i Pretend to be a mouse by wriggling your fingers at the end of your nose and squeak i, i, i
5. p Pretend to puff out candles on a cake and say p, p, p
6. n Make a noise as if you are a plane.  Hold your arms out and say nnnnnn
7. e Pretend to tap an egg on the side of a pan and crack it into the pan, saying eh, eh, eh
8. h Hold your hand in front of your mouth and pant as if you are out of breath and say h, h, h
9. r Pretend to be a puppy holding a piece of rag. Shake your head from side to side and say rrrrrr
10. m Rub your tummy as if seeing tasty food and say mmmmmm
11. d Beat your hands up and down as if playing a drum and say d, d, d
12. g Spiral your hand down as if water is going down the drain and say g, g, g
13. o Pretend to turn a light switch on and off and say o, o, o
14. c k Raise your hands and snap your fingers as if playing castanets and say ck, ck, ck
15. u Pretend you are putting up an umbrella and say u, u, u
16. l Pretend to lick a lollipop and say lllllll
17. f Let hands gently come together as if toy fish deflating, and say fffff
18. b Pretend to hit a ball with a bat and say b, b, b
19. j Pretend to wobble on a plate and say j, j, j
20. w Blow on to your open hand as if you are the wind and say wh, wh, wh
21. v Pretend to be holding the steering wheel of a van and say vvvvvv
22. z Put your arms out at your sides and pretend to be a bee saying zzzzzz
23. y Pretend to be eating a yogurt and say y, y, y
24. x Pretend to take an x-ray of someone  and say ks, ks, ks
25. ch Move arms at sides as if you are a train and say ch, ch, ch
26. sh Place index finger over lips and say sh, sh, sh
27. th th Pretend to be naughty clowns and stick out tongue a little for the th and further for the th sound (this and thumb)
28. qu Make a duck’s beak with your hands and say qu, qu, qu
29. ng Imagine you are a weightlifter and pretend to lift a heavy weight above your head saying ng…
30. ai Cup hand over ear and say ai, ai, ai
31. ee or Put your hands on your head as if ears on a donkey and say eeyore, eeyore
32. oa Bring your hand over your mouth as if you have done something wrong and say oh!
33. ie Stand to attention and salute, saying  ie ie
34. oo oo Move head back and forth as if it is the cuckoo in a cuckoo clock saying u, oo,u, oo (little and long oo.)
35. ou Pretend your finger is a needle and prick thumb saying ou, ou, ou
36. oi Cup hands around mouth and shout to another boat saying oi, oi ship ahoy!
37. ue Point to people around you and say you, you, you
38. er Roll hands over each other like a mixer and say er,er,er
39. ar Open mouth wide and say ah. Flap hands as if a seal and say ar, ar, ar

Helping your child with phonics

This week the children will begin to blend (read) and segment (spell) words orally. We call this ‘sound talk’.

For example,  c-a-t = cat. The separate sounds (phonemes) are spoken aloud, in order, all through the word, and are then merged together into the whole word. The merging together is called blending – it is a vital skill for reading.

Children will also learn to do this the other way around: cat = c-a-t. The whole word is spoken aloud, and then broken up into its sounds (phonemes) in order, all through the word. This is called segmenting – a vital skill for spelling.

An important point to remember is to avoid saying the ‘uh’ sound that you might remember from school. Think of ‘b’, ‘c’ without the ‘uh’ – make the sound as short and ‘pure’ as possible for these sounds.  For others, like ‘f’ and ‘l’, the sound should also not have an ‘uh’ sound, but these letters can be more continuous.

At the moment, blending and segmenting is all oral (spoken). Your child will not be expected to match the letter to the sound at this stage. The emphasis is on helping children to hear the separate sounds in words and to create spoken sounds.

Try this at home:

Find real objects around your home which have three phonemes (sounds) and practise ‘sound talk’ – first just let them listen, then see if they will join in, eg:

• ‘I spy a p-e-g – peg’
• ‘I spy a c-u-p – cup’
• ‘Where’s your other s-o-ck – sock?’
• ‘Simon says – put your hands on your h-ea-d’
• ‘Simon says – touch your ch-i-n’
• ‘Simon says – pick up your b-a-g’

Play other phonic games at home, too!

Staying Safe Week

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yOKVqOtUVdA”>Safety Week

Subtracting using a number line

Using a number line to find the difference between two numbers (to subtract) is a mental maths strategy that many of us do without realising.  To help children get used to the mental strategy, we teach them to draw the line to visualise the difference, and then make jumps (the fewer, the better).

If you’re not convinced, think about how you might calculate 2003 – 1995 or 180 – 95… Very few people would be able to use a traditional column method to get the answer quickly and accurately.  We do teach the column method as a written maths strategy, too – but that’s better for bigger and more complicated numbers!

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NHEng-jRWlQ’ >Subtracting using a number line

We are happy learning in Reception!

Learning to rhyme

In Reception this week, we’re listening to rhymes and poems and identifying rhyming words. Hearing and saying rhymes is great for learning to read. Sharing rhymes with young children helps them listen to the patterns of language. Children first begin to notice that certain words have the same sounds at the end (rhyme). Later, they notice that many words share a pattern in the way they are spelt. Understanding these links makes learning to read much easier. You can help by making sure that children hear a lot of rhymes. The rhythm found in poetry is also helpful as there is a rhythm to reading.

You can help your child to “tune in” to rhyme by:

• Sharing nursery rhymes, making them fun by adding actions and body movements
• Reading rhyming stories
• Play games such as ‘I spy with my little eye something that rhymes with …’