Living & Learning: Staying safe online
In Staying safe week, our visitor, Sarah from Go Wise Online, shared some great tips for staying safe online. The internet is a great resource but we need to stay safe when using it.
In class, we considered how the children use the internet and some of the online games that are popular. For each game, we checked the PEGI rating. Fortnite, for example, has a PEGI rating of 12 meaning the game is suitable for children age 12 and up.
To link with our current science learning, seasonal changes, we used iPads to find out answers to some of the questions we had.
When searching on the internet, we need to be aware what to do if something comes on the screen that makes us scared or sad. We also learnt about the padlock that can be found at the start of some web addresses (URL).
Discuss these questions with your child.
Here’s some pictures of our safe searches.
Finally, we watched some videos to give us some more advice about staying safe online. Watch them again and discuss the key safety messages with your child.
Fire Safety
This week, we were joined by four firefighters from Moortown Fire Station. They came in to educate us about fire safety. It was incredibly useful and we learnt lots about how to stay safe. We were also very lucky to see the fire engine and ask lots of questions.
We learnt what fires need to get started: the Triangle of Fire. Ask your child if they can remember what this means.
Abbey House Museum
Today, we had a great day at Abbey House Museum. We were all impressed with how well behaved, enthusiastic and engaged the children were. Today, was a wonderful opportunity to cement our learning from topic lessons. We learnt more about how shopping has changed and what life was like in Victorian Britain.
Living and Learning: Staying safe week – safety around dogs
The visitor from our current school charity, Dog’s Trust, taught us all about keeping safe around dogs. Again, the children were excellent listeners and asked some great questions.
There were five main things to remember. Ask your child to talk about these and to show the action that goes with each one.
1.When a dog is sleeping, we leave them alone.
2. When a dog is eating, we leave them alone.
3. Remember to be quiet around dogs.
4. Dogs don’t like hugs. They like gentle strokes.
5.We never take. We always swop.
Living and Learning: Staying safe week – road safety
We had a great morning with Harriet, our visitor from Leeds City Council’s road safety team, learning all about keeping safe while crossing the road. It was lovely to hear Harriet’s positive comments about the behaviour and listening from the class.
Here are the actions to help to remember the four steps of the green cross code.
Finally, when thinking about staying safe in a car, we looked at what height children need to be to not need a car seat. The height is 135cm so all the class should still be using these while travelling in a car.
Active maths
As we are starting to learn the two, five and ten times table, these Super Movers active songs are ones we use in class to help with our maths learning and for a brain break too.
Living and Learning: Identity
Identity forms part of our Living and Learning curriculum where children learn about similarities and differences and how we should respect ourselves and others too.
There are things that are the same or different that are immediately obvious (physical features) as well as things you cannot see such as things you like doing, your religion or your family.
There are lots of things the same about us all but everyone is different too – nobody is exactly the same, everyone is unique.
No-one is good at everything but everyone is good at something.
We listened to the story, It’s ok to be different by Todd Parr.
Then, we did an activity to create our own imaginary creatures. Maybe you could have a go at this at home too? First, we had to draw the head and fold over the paper. Then, after swapping it with a friend we added the imaginary creature’s body. We folded the paper again and finally we swapped it with another friend to add the legs and feet. These were our finished creatures!
On Identity Day, we enjoyed sharing our differences and what makes us unique.
Maths fluency
Mastering number, or maths fluency, has been a new addition to our timetable this year. In case you missed it, Mrs Allaway, who leads on Maths across Sphere Federation, explained more about this in last weeks’ weekly message.
This year, Sphere schools are taking part in a new national programme for Reception, Year 1 and Year 2: ‘Mastering Number’. The programme aims to secure firm foundations in the development of good number sense for all children. The aim over time is that everyone leaves Key Stage 1 with fluency in calculation and a confidence and flexibility with number.
Why is fluency with number facts so important?
We want all children to develop fluency with number facts because we know this makes a huge difference to their progress in maths. For children who find maths difficult, it’s often the case that their only strategy is to count. They don’t see the relationships or make the connections that make maths easier. For example, if five and two is seven, seven minus two must be five – that’s the relationship within the maths.
An over-reliance on counting not only makes maths more difficult, it also inhibits flexibility, thinking and the development of problem-solving strategies. It doesn’t just affect calculating, it affects maths much more widely. We need children to have stopped counting by the time they move into Key Stage 2.
What is number sense?
Alongside fluency in number facts, we want our children to develop ‘number sense’: a flexibility with number where they reason; they see relationships; they see mathematical structures; and they see such things as if six and three is nine, then nine minus three is equal to six. These relationships won’t change in Key Stage 2 and beyond, the numbers just become bigger and more complex.
We want to support all children to think mathematically, make connections and see relationships because we know these are the characteristics that make maths learning successful.
Mastering Number sessions
In our short focused sessions for children in Reception, Year 1 and Year 2, we give children opportunities to think deeply about mathematical relationships and time to practise and really embed fluency with number facts. These 10 minute sessions are in addition to our main daily maths lesson.
In some sessions, we focus on deepening children’s understand of the composition of number: inside numbers there are other numbers. For example, inside eight there’s five and three, there’s six and two. Knowing that inside numbers are other numbers enables children to develop fluency skills.
We’re also developing skills in subitising. This is the ability to look at a small number of objects (often a maximum of about five) and instantly recognise how many there are without needing to count them one by one. This plays a key role in helping children see how numbers are made up, avoiding an over-reliance on counting.
One of the key resources children use in Mastering Number sessions is a rekenrek – a type of abacus or number rack. It supports children to feel and visualise numbers as well as noticing how numbers relate to each other. Children begin to build up strong visual images by first doing, seeing and noticing the maths.
How can I help at home?
Regularly accessing NumBots will support children to practise and really embed and develop crucial number facts. If you need help accessing this, please contact your child’s class teacher.
Learning phonics and practising early reading skills Zoom session
On Monday, there is a Zoom session about our updated provision for learning phonics and practising early reading skills. This is aimed at parents/carers with a child in Early Years and Key Stage 1.
The session is on Zoom at 6pm on Monday 31 January. Contact the office for the Zoom details in case you missed them.
Please get in touch if you’ve any questions, about how this affects your child, after the session.
Spring term after-school clubs
After-school clubs will be restarting next week and they will run for eight weeks until the Easter break. Places can be booked via Gateway.
Our physical activity clubs continue to be heavily subsidised through the investment of our PE and Sport Premium.
Please contact the office if you have any queries about the clubs or the booking system.
