Practice that feels like play!
Practice that feels like play! Does this sound beneficial for your child? Have a look at IXL. It’s an online tool where you can access different activities to help your child practise basic skills.
It’s split into year groups, specifically looking at English and Maths, then each subject is broken down into sections. You can get a flavour of the activities by hovering over the title and can have a go at some of them – it looks great fun and very child friendly. The questions are all interactive and there are detailed explanations for new concepts.
There is a small monthly fee if you wish to sign up. Take a look – it might be something you want to explore.
From constellation art to Mr Fluffy – Year 3’s weekly round-up
This week, the children were extremely excited to make their monsters. As you can see from their facial expressions, they came up with some terrifying creatures! Challenge your child to describe their monster using interesting adjectives!
We discussed vocabulary and their impact upon readers with ‘shades of meaning’. Children worked in groups and talked about what each word meant and where an author might use it.
We had a go at acting out each word, from creeping to marching, from worried to petrified:
Great drama skills!
In maths, we have been working on missing number patterns, using detective skills to figure out which numbers complete the sequence. Not only have we been practising our 5s this week, but also counting in 50s with our ‘First to 1000’ game!
We used iPads and books to research the question: ‘What is a constellation?’, and presented our results back to the class…
We drew known constellations, but designed and named our own creations, too!
We have also been inspired to make some constellation art, using different paints and glitter. Hopefully we’ll have some clear evenings this weekend so you can go stargazing, something a lot of children have been very enthusiastic about. See if you can spot any of the constellations we’ve talked about this week!
Sadly, this week brings the end of our time with Orion and the Dark, but children have been writing their own version of the story. With some fantastically creative ideas from the class, we turned the story on its head and entitled ours ‘Orion and the Sun’. A boy who is afraid to go outside goes on an adventure with his new friend Sunny to find out if there’s more to life than his video games! I’m looking forward to reading the results!
A warm welcome to our new class pet, Mr Fluffy…
…who helped us discuss our Living and Learning theme for this week which was “I show I am ready to learn and I respond to feedback”. Congratulations to Jessica, who won this week’s Living and Learning certificate, for our brilliant conversations about her work and for always being one of the first ready to learn. Congratulations to Adam, this week’s Star of the Week, for his enthusiasm, contribution and all round hard work.
Another great week in Y3! Well done everyone!
Key Stage 2 tuck shop
Our fruit tuck shop returns next Tuesday, 19 September. The tuck shop is available for Years 3 – 6 at playtime every Tuesday and we regularly sell over 100 portions of fruit every week.
The cost per portion of 20p remains the same this year and children can either pay weekly by bringing money on the day or take advantage of our pre-payment offer of one free week per term.
Please return the prepayment reply slip by the end of the week if you would like your child to have that option.
Here are some quotes about our tuck shop from the recent pupil health questionnaires.
- ‘It is excellent as you get a range of different fruits.’
- ‘I think tuck shop has yummy fruits.’
- ‘You are selling healthy stuff which is good for us.’
- ‘You don’t feel hungry during lesson time.’
- ‘I really like it as it is a nice healthy snack.’
- ‘It’s very good and keeps our school healthy.’
- ‘You get to have fruit at a low price and it helps you to have one of your 5 a day.’
Welcome back to Y3!
What a fantastic first week of this Autumn term! I have thoroughly enjoyed listening to your children recount their summer adventures and getting to know them a little better.
This week, in Maths, we’ve been working on counting and place value using hundreds, tens and ones. I have been so impressed with the children’s ability to explain their reasoning, which is very tricky!
Our class novel for the first two weeks is Orion and the Dark, a book about a boy who explores his greatest fear on an adventure. We were inspired to write our own descriptions of monsters:
We have also been designing our own real life monsters using our descriptive plans…
… and our sketch books!
We’ll make our monsters out of clay next week, so watch this space!
This week’s Living and Learning theme has been “I greet someone politely”. We discussed what this means and the different ways you can achieve this in our first circle time:
A highlight of ours this week has got to be this humongous courgette brought in for show and tell. The children (and I!) had lots of questions!
Thank you to all the children for working extremely hard to make our first week so amazing. I am very excited for the journey ahead.
Living and Learning
Living and Learning is our new name for SEAL (Social and Emotional Aspects of Learning).
Living and Learning will continue to cover SEAL learning but will also incorporate other aspects of PSHE (Personal, Social and Health Education) such as keeping safe, identity, drug education, physical health, rights and responsibilities and healthy minds.
We begin our Living and Learning learning this week with a focus on manners: I can greet someone politely.
For the rest of this half-term, we’re thinking about the ‘8 Rs for learning’. This theme is about promoting good learning behaviour for your child.
Each week, we’ll focus on two different ‘Rs’. We use an animal to symbolise each ‘R’, which might help your child remember all eight – can your child remember which animal matches the correct ‘R’?
You can support your child at home – we’ve listed a few ideas to help you below. Ask us if you’ve any questions or comments.
Download top tips for promoting the 8Rs for good learning behaviour.
I can show I am ready to learn.
Make sure your child is at school for a prompt start of 08:50.
Make sure your child has had plenty of sleep so they are alert and ready to learn at all times.
Encourage your child to ask lots of questions – that shows they want to learn!
I respond to feedback.
Ask your child if they remember their ‘stars’ and ‘steps’ in English and Maths.
I take a safe risk.
Talk about the difference between a safe and unsafe risk. At school, we want your child to take a safe risk by having a go at answering, even if unsure; trying something new and attempting harder learning.
I take responsibility for my own learning.
Provide time and space at home so your child is able to organise themselves: their PE kit, reading book, homework, spellings and tables… Don’t organise everything for them!
Make a link between rights and responsibilities: your child has the right to a great education, but needs to be responsible for their own learning.
I am resourceful.
Encourage your child to be organised so they can play with a range of different toys.
Encourage your child to try new ways to solve a tricky problem.
I am resilient.
Encourage your child to keep going! Set a tricky challenge or puzzle for your child to do.
Encourage your child to think of different ways of doing things.
Don’t let your child win when they play a game – they need to experience losing, too!
Celebrate mistakes as opportunities to learn – be happy that your child found some learning hard and encourage them to ‘bounce back’ and learn from the experience.
I remember.
Make sure they have time to learn spellings, number bonds and times tables – a little practice daily is best.
Play memory games:
Kim’s game: show them objects for 30 seconds… can they remember all the objects?
Can they build up the sequence, ‘I went to the shop and I bought an apple’… ‘I went to the shop and I bought an apple and a bike.’… ‘I went to the shop and I bought an apple, a bike and a cucumber.’ etc … Take turns!
I reflect about my learning.
Talk with your child about what they’ve learnt, asking questions about:
how they learnt
why they learnt it
when they’ll use their learning
how they would teach this to someone else
what learning might link with what they’ve learnt today etc
School meals
Following feedback from parents and pupils (School Council and pupil health questionnaires), and a successful trial of children selecting their main meal on Fridays, we will be extending this to every day from next week. Children will select their main meal choice at registration.
Please share the menu with your child so they are aware of the choices for each day.
Leeds Children’s Mayor voting
Congratulations to Pippa who was selected as our school entry and submitted her manifesto to be considered as the new Leeds Children’s Mayor.
Out of 48 entries, unfortunately Pippa wasn’t selected as one of the finalists.
Children are invited to vote for their two favourite manifestos from the twelve candidates.
The finalist who has the most votes when voting closes on 15 September will be elected as the new Children’s Mayor of Leeds.
Thank you and goodbye!
It’s the end of the year and I would like to say a huge thank you. It has been a real pleasure teaching Year 3 this year. I am incredibly proud of all the children and their fantastic achievements this year – from swimming to the class production, all the children have challenged themselves and excelled.
Thanks to parents for all your support throughout the year and for your extremely kind gifts.
I am going to miss teaching at Moortown and all the children, teachers and parents. I couldn’t have wished for a better class to teach in my short time at Moortown.
Here is a short snippet of how I will remember each child in Year 3.
Year Three – ABC
A is for artist. Finlay has a fantastic artistic talent.
B is for biker Byron. Byron is a great athlete and a brilliant team player.
C is for challenges. Ben always challenges himself in every lesson.
D is for dancer. Laila has great rhythm and leads wake up, shake up with fantastic enthusiasm.
E is for energetic. Ahmad if full of energy, a keen sportsman and a great team player.
F is for football. Zidaan is football mad and super talented.
G is for going for goals. Kismat is always ready for the next challenge; she has made great progress this year!
H is for homework. Maggie’s creative homework never failed to impress. Creative, imaginative… Wow!
I is for imaginative. Zakariya has a wonderful imagination and writes adventurous, humorous stories.
J is for joker. William always puts a smile on everyone’s faces with his great sense of humour.
K is for knowledge. Alexander has a fountain of knowledge for a plethora of subjects.
L is for lovely. Gurnoor always has a smile on her face, come rain or shine.
M is for making new friends. Milo has grown in confidence and now has many new friends in the class.
N is for numbers. Sam always is the first to put his hand up with any calculation question. His progress in maths has been incredible.
O is for outstanding. Oliver is an outstanding pupil with impeccable behaviour.
P is for polite. Nayaab is a conscientious, polite and friendly member of the class.
Q is for questions. Evie always asks insightful questions and joins in with class discussions.
R is for rays of sunshine. Manpreet, Eve and Rabiya are always smiling, always happy, always giving 100%.
S is for swimming. Zara comes to life at swimming, laughing and joking with a great big smile on her face. Aisha has conquered her fears in the swimming pool and is now so much more confident.
T is for talkative. Arundeep always contributes to class discussions and talks enthusiastically in a group.
U is for ugly sisters. The brilliant and talented actresses and soloists, Poppy and Eliza.
V is for vibrant. Darien always has colourful bows in her hair and a lovely smile and personality to accompany them.
W is for wonderful reader. I love listening to Kirsten read. She reads fluently, with great expression and tone.
X is for X Factor. We will see Enas and her great singing voice on the television show in the future.
Y if for Year 3. Daniel has had a fantastic year and has grown into a confident, friendly, intelligent member of the class.
Z is for zesty. Eleni is active and full of energy.
School Games Mark
At the end of each year, schools are invited to apply for their School Games Mark. The School Games Mark rewards schools for their commitment to and development of competition, school sport and physical education.
We are very proud to announce that our application has been verified and we have been awarded Gold award for the third year running.
In an attempt to engage as many children as possible in physical activity, we track children’s participation over the year.
68 children in KS2 and 52 children in KS1 and Reception have taken part in at least one after-school club since September. This is 57% of the total number of pupils.
81 children (68%) in KS2 have represented the school in a competition or participation event.
Children tell us they enjoy taking part in a variety of activitie:
- ‘In scooter club, I had fun on my scooter.’
- ‘I enjoyed Wake Up Shake Up club because I got to spend time with my friends and DANCE!’
- ‘I liked basketball. We learnt how to play the game, basketball skills and working as a team.’
- ‘I enjoyed cricket because it helped me with my skills of bowling and batting.’
- ‘I enjoyed the aqua festival. Everyone took part and nobody was left out. Everybody tried their best.’
- ‘The Brownlee Triathlon was fun and got people involved who don’t especially like sport but they did it. It wasn’t competitive.’
- ‘I enjoyed the Sportshall athletics competition because there were lots of events to choose from and do.’
Thank you to staff who have accompanied children to these events or run after-school clubs this year. Thank you also to Mrs Russell who provides excellent administration of our clubs and sporting events and competitions.
Thank you as well to all parents/carers who have helped with transport and supported at our events this year. Finally, thank you to all pupils who have tried out a new physical activity either at an after-school club or as part of a competition or participation event and to those children who have represented our school so well this year.
Lighthouse Art
As part of our seeing mini-topic, today Year 3 followed a set of instructions to sketch a lighthouse. They then decided how they would collage it using different materials. The children used watercolours to create a sea and sky background. Have a look at their wonderful masterpieces!
The art was displayed in the hall so that the children could review each others work.
