Living and Learning: anti-bullying day and odd socks day
On Monday, all children will be learning about bullying and how to STOP bullying as part of the national antibullying week.
Our Junior Leadership Team have recently reviewed our bullying definition. As part of this, we use two STOP acronyms: Several Times On Purpose Start Telling Other People – one’s a definition of bullying and the other’s a solution.
On Monday, we will also be taking part in Odd Socks Day which celebrates that we’re all unique. Children are invited to wear odd socks to school, marking the fact we’re all different in some way.
Odd socks day sends an important message to pupils that they should be allowed to be themselves, free from bullying. It helps us celebrate anti-bullying day in a fun and positive way.
Help at home: Talk about our school definition of bullying and the differences between falling out and bullying, and between a one-off situation and something that’s happened more than once.
Group reading information!
Hello!
This week, Year 3 are beginning their group reading!
The class have been divided into groups and each group has been given a book to read at home. This will last for this half term.
During our Book Club sessions each Friday, each group will discuss what they have read so far and share their reading record activities related to their book. This will be a fantastic opportunity for the children to explore characters and storylines more than they might do normally!
Every Friday during Book Club, each group will be given a new page to read to for the next Friday.
What to remember:
- Your child has a book that they need to read every week (up to a chosen point marked with a post-it notes).
- The reading record activity needs to be completed using their new book.
- A comment from a grown up needs to be written in their reading record.
- Group reading books and reading records need to be brought in every Friday.
Help at home by listening to your child read their new book and ask questions about the book to help prepare them for class discussions.
I look forward to hearing the children’s discussions next week!
Thank you,
Miss Birch
Living and Learning: rights and responsibilities
In Year 3, we know that we have many different rights and with these rights, comes responsibilities.
Here are just some of the rights that we’ve discussed:
- We have the right to think and say what we think so we have the responsibility to be respectful to other’s thoughts and beliefs.
- We have the right to an education therefore we have the responsibility to come to school and engage with our learning.
- We have the right to have food and therefore we have the responsibility to make our own healthy choices.
- We have the right to feel safe at home and at school and have a responsibility to make other people feel safe. For example, play safely and sensibly with our friends and family.
Help at home by asking your child to think of their rights and therefore what responsibilities come with these rights.
Living and Learning: Democracy
At the end of last half term, Year 3 learnt about what is democracy and how we can become involved in democratic decisions.
Democracy, one of the British Values, means ‘rule by the people‘. It comes from the Greek words dêmos (people) and krátos (rule or strength). Latin is everywhere!
We learnt about how democracy works in this country. This included learning about central and local government, what services government provide for the people and the role of political parties.
After that, we had our own democratic vote to elect our new JLT members for this year.
Congratulations to our two new JLT members and well done to everyone who took part! All the speeches were great!
Me and My Money week – school charity donations
Donating money is one choice people might make when using their money.
As part of our Me and My Money themed week, we welcomed visitors from St Gemma’s Hospice, our current school charity, to hear how they have been using our donations over this year.
We have raised a staggering £1500 across the year so thank you for all of these donations. St Gemma’s Hospice are very grateful for this support.
There is one more way we can donate money this week and this is by bringing any spare 1ps or 2ps into class to deposit in each class’ saving jar.
On Friday, we shall be having a money trail with all the coins donated so please bring any spare change before then.
Here are Year 2 counting their coins so far.
We are readers!
This half term, teachers have been keeping an eye out for children impressing them with their reading.
In KS2, teachers were looking out for Reading Records where the weekly activity had been completed with time and care, book reviews had been done or challenges ticked off!
In KS1, teachers were looking for children who were putting the most effort into learning to read fluently.
Well done to our winners for this half term and welcome to the Library Team! They’ll meet with Miss Wilson occasionally to share their ideas and help make decisions about our library.
Take a look at some of their fantastic efforts:
Did you know?
Those who read for pleasure…
- Know more words
- Are better writers
- Have more empathy
- Have better general knowledge
- Have a better understanding of other cultures
- Are better at making decisions
- Do better in school generally!
Keep up the fantastic reading, everyone. There were so many people to choose from and you never know – it could be you next time!
Geography – I can investigate land-use in my locality. Part 2!
Last week, during Geography, we planned a walk in our locality so that we could investigate what the land is used for. This week, we walked the walked!
Here are the types of land-use we saw:
- residential – flats and houses
- commercial – shops and restaurants
- recreational – Moortown Park
- transport – roads
We really enjoyed getting our steps in while being geographers! We stayed safe by wearing high-visibility jackets, walking in pairs and taking care when crossing the roads.
Yorkshire Dance School Trip!
Yesterday, Year 3 went on their trip to Carriageworks Theatre to join Yorkshire Dance School in a day full of great activities!
Our first task of the day was to rehearse our performance on stage with lighting and music. The children were a bit nervous after seeing how many seats there were in the audience but they did a fantastic job!
Then, we had a talk from Northern School of Contemporary Dance and Phoenix Dance about a career in dance. They spoke about dancing at all different stages of life and how inclusive dance is! They also discussed how dance can be just a hobbie as well. Both these schools run clubs during the holidays, after school and in schools!
Before lunch, the children experienced an amazing workshop where they learnt and performed Afro dance which originates from Africa and countries like Nigeria! The children got stuck in and created a choreographed dance from their six moves.
Finally, the day ended with our final performance! We performed a dance to the song, Believer by the Imagine Dragons. We chose this as we thought it linked well to the theme of ‘dreaming’ – that we can dream to achieve great things and if we believe in ourselves then we will achieve them. Year 3 were the youngest there and they had the whole audience cheering and clapping along so a big well done to all of them! Our hard work paid off!
Tom Palmer local events
This year, some children at school attended an online workshop with author Tom Palmer. Tom Palmer has been in touch to let us know about some local events he is attending in half term.
Message from Tom
For children and families – I am also coming to Leeds on Thursday 2 November
2023 :
* Farsley Book Festival – 10am-11am more here
https://trumanbooks.co.uk/event/flf-kids-day
* Chapel Allerton Library – 2pm
* Pudsey Community Hub and Library – 4pm
Wednesday 18th – Yorkshire Dance at Carriageworks Theatre!
Hello!
As you will know, Year 3 have their school trip this Wednesday 18th to the Carriageworks Theatre.
During this trip, Year 3 will have two workshops and experiences that Yorkshire Dance are leading. These will be active and engaging! In the afternoon is the performances where each school with perform their dance that they have been practising at school.
In between these sessions, will be lunch time where we will eat, drink and relax. Please make sure your child has a packed lunch and a water bottle. They should also be wearing PE kit so that they are comfortable to move throughout the activities.
Reminder that they won’t need swimming kits as we are out all day!
We’re looking forward to it!
Miss Birch
