Living and Learning: I know that people shout treat others respectfully when online
On Tuesday this week, it was internet safety day. This is where we had a day to learn about how to be safe online and how important it is to treat others respectfully online.
In the morning, we had some very, very special visitors; the NSPCC team and Buddy made an appearance. This workshop was a follow up from our learning earlier in this half term (I know how to seek help). We revisited how and who we could speak to if we needed help (trusted adults).
Later on in the day, we discussed why it is important to check with a trusted adult before sharing personal information online; the potential consequences for bad online behaviour and how it is okay to step away.
Help at home: Discuss at home what advice Tunji’s friends should give, who they can get help from and how will this make the situation better.
‘Tunji tells his friends that he made a joke about someone’s gaming avatar. Tunji didn’t think it would be a big deal, but the person has been very upset by his comments. Two of their friends have started sending Tunji mean messages because of what he said.’
Living and learning: online safety and safer internet day
Over the last two weeks, Year 1 have been learning about four main areas of online safety (plus lots of other online safety tips too).
- I know that there are sometimes age restrictions online.
- I know that passwords are important.
- I know that some things online may not be true.
- I know that I shouldn’t share personal information online.
We welcomed Dave from d:side last week to support this learning and this week was Safer Internet Day.
We’ve had lots of discussions about staying safe online. We read the book Chicken Clicking by Tony Ross. In the story a chick gets access to the farmer’s computer and makes a chick friend online. He goes to meet his new friend in the woods… I’ll let your children tell you what happens next.
The children wrote some speech bubbles giving Chicken Clicking some superb advice about how he should have acted differently.
We learnt that the padlock next to the web address tells us this is a secure and trusted site.
We also watched some videos starring Jessie and her friends. In the first video Jessie shares some personal information whilst playing a game with a person who is pretending to be kind. We spoke about how we should always keep our personal information private.
On Thursday, we recapped our learning from Safer Internet Day and wrote some excellent reports about what we had learnt. Well done Year 1.
Help at home by reinforcing the important messages above but also that if anything worries or upsets your child they should tell a trusted adult straight away.
We are scientists
This term, Year 1 have been learning all about different materials. We have looked at what materials different things are made from and what properties those materials have. Last week, we tested different types of paper to see which was the most absorbent. It was lots of fun and we did a brilliant job taking turns as well as carefully observing and discussing the results.
This week, we tested the same types of paper but this time we investigated whether you could write on the paper. The results were very different! We discussed how different properties of materials make them suitable for different jobs.
Help at home by discussing what different materials things are made from and why that material is suitable for that object. Also, ask what would be an unsuitable material? Why?
Real-life superheroes, length and more
This week, we’ve been learning all about real-life superheroes. We read non-fiction texts about police officers, firefighters, dentists, paramedics, doctors, vets and more. Our focus story was The Great Fairies of the World. We designed our own fairies and wrote sentences about their jobs.
This morning, we had a real-life superhero come to visit us! We listened carefully and asked lots of questions. We were so excited when we saw the police van pull into our playground.
In maths, we explored length. We cut a piece of ribbon as long as our arm and explored finding things in the environment that are longer, shorter or the same length.
We also used different objects of equal length to find out how long we are. We made sensible predictions and then checked to see if we were right by counting them.
Yesterday, we made a height chart to see who is the tallest.
We carried out a colouring mixing experiment and watched the primary colours (red, blue, yellow) travel up the kitchen roll to make a secondary colour.
The Bee-Bots have been a big hit this week! We’ve loved programming them and watching them move around our classroom.
Reminders
- Class assembly – Wednesday 22 February, 2:40pm – 3:00pm
- World Book Day stay & learn session – Thursday 02 March, 8.50am – 9.30am
- Comic Relief: Red Nose Day – Friday 17 March
Your child can come to school in non-uniform. - Learning Journey Drop In’s – Tuesday 28 March – 8.50 – 9.30am or 3.15 – 3.45pm & Thursday 30 March – 8.50 – 9.30am or 3.15 – 3.45pm
Lexia
To login into the Lexia app, please use moortowneyfs@spherefederation.
Once you’ve done this, you should be able to login into your child’s account using their login details.
Finally…
I can’t believe we’re half-way through the year! The children are thriving with their learning. They are becoming confident independent learners.
Thank you to all who attended the parent-teacher meetings this week. It was lovely to share the children’s wonderful achievements.
As always, I hope you all have a happy and healthy half-term break. Don’t forget to send me an email of what you get up to. I look forward to seeing you all again on Monday 20 February.
Have fun and keep reading!
Science: Moon studies
Over this past month, Year 5 have been taking photos of Earth’s moon. We have been looking at the different phases the moon exhibits. This scientific enquiry type is observation over time. Have a look at their amazing photography:
Special shout out to Cate who took this fantastic photograph!
World Book Day themed menu 2023
Catering Agency, our school meal provider, will be running a special themed menu for World Book Day on Thursday 02 March 2023. See the menu here.
Please contact the office, in the next few days, if your child would like a school dinner on this day (no action needed if your child normally has a school meal on this day).
Living and Learning: online safety and Safer Internet Day
Over the last two weeks, Year 2 have been learning about four main areas of online safety (plus lots of other online safety tips too).
- I know that there are sometimes age restrictions online.
- I know that passwords are important.
- I know that some things online may not be true.
- I know that I shouldn’t share personal information online.
We welcomed Dave from d:side last week to support this learning and this week was Safer Internet Day.
We thought about how and why we might use the internet. Here’s some of the class’ favourite things to do online.
We’ve had lots of discussions about staying safe online. Here the children are sorting websites into those we would trust (eg our school website, well known websites such as the BBC website) and those we wouldn’t trust (eg a pop up telling you that you have won something).
We learnt that the padlock next to the web address tells us this is a secure and trusted site.
This video reinforced key messages about not everything online is true (this could be people or information) and the importance of not sharing any of your personal information.
These texts all have important online safety messages and our daily poem this week is this online safety rhyme.
Throughout this learning, we reinforced the message that if the children were unsure or something didn’t feel right they should always Start Telling Other People and let a trust adult know.
We even got to meet Buddy (NSPCC mascot), who was visiting Year 5 and 6, and it was great that the children all remembered him from our recent Speak out Stay safe NSPCC assembly.
Help at home: here are the PEGI age ratings. Ask your child what they are for and why they are important.
Food technology!
Last Friday, Year 3 learnt how to make bruschetta in Food Technology.
They learnt lots of practical skills, such as how to chop ingredients safely, while also learning how to make an easy, tasty snack!
Check out our little chefs below!
Living and Learning: I know how to seek help
In Living and Learning, Year 3 have been learning about how to seek help. We discussed how it could be something smaller like asking for help during a lesson or something bigger like asking for help with friendships or family.
The children watched the NSPCC assembly where it highlighted children’s rights and gave the clear message of ‘Speak out, Stay safe’.
The children then identified who their own trusted adults are and the places and things that make them feel safe. See some examples below (posted with consent).
Help at home: Visit the Childline website, which has age-appropriate advice for children on topics such as bullying. It also has games and other interactive tools.
We are scientists
This half term, we have been learning all about materials and their properties.
Firstly, we identified and described lots of different materials all around us making sure we knew the difference between the object and the material.
For example, this is a table. The material it is made from is wood. Hard, smooth and opaque are some of its properties.
Here’s the vocabulary we have been learning and using in this topic.
Are all objects made out of the same material?
We thought about an object (spoons) that can be made out of different materials – wooden spoon, metal spoon and plastic spoon. We discussed the properties and uses of each spoon and why that material had been used. This made us think about other objects that can be made from different materials – chairs, clothes, bags, shoes and lots more!
Is all paper absorbent?
After an initial prediction, this comparative investigation involved dropping water onto different types of paper to see how much water was absorbed by the paper.
The children made some great observations reflecting back to their predictions.
Alongside this learning about materials, we are using our working scientifically skills to observe over time. Every week, we measure the temperature using a thermometer and record the weather and later in the year we will use this data to look for any patterns.
This deciduous tree is in our front playground and we are taking weekly photos to observe how the tree changes over time across the different seasons.
Help at home: ask your child how they think the tree will change and when those changes might happen.
