Easter Excitement!
Thanks to everyone who entered the Easter cake competition. There were some fantastic entries and it was great to see that the children had done lots of the hard work. It was “eggstremely” hard to decide on the winners but we got there in the end.
Here are the winners…
Thank you for supporting your children in the competition and also thanks to everyone who helped at the bun sale and to those of you who spent lots of money!
Have a great holiday. See you on Monday 16 April.
Ice Skating
On Wednesday 22 February, eight children were taken to the Ice Cube in Leeds. They’ve been working on a project in school called “Leading the Way”; they have worked over a long period of time with Mrs Wilson and Mrs Taylor and have set up a project with Reception children. They were taken ice skating as a reward for all their hard work; they had a brilliant time, although very wet, and were excellent role models for the school. A lot of time was spent falling over and some very soggy clothes were taken home! No doubt there will be some bruises as evidence of the visit!
Hobby Half Day
On the last day of the half-term, children enjoyed another successful Hobby Half Day with all sorts of activities going on! From i-jamming on iPads to fitness circuits, all of the children had a very busy afternoon. All ages of children were working together and learning from each other and every classroom was a hive of activity. Here are just a few photos to show you what was going on.
Bones are us!
You might be interested to know about a free Science lecture, ‘Bones are us‘, at Leeds Metropolitan University coming soon: “A fun and interactive exploration for children and parents”. It’s aimed at 7 – 11 year olds, although siblings may also attend.
The lecture is on Saturday 17 March 2012 from 10:15am to 12:00noon (this includes a break). It will be held in the James Graham Building, Headingley Campus, Beckett Park. Parking is free and a map will be provided on request, or visit http://www.leedsmet.ac.uk/about/files/campusmaps.pdf
All children must be accompanied by a parent/carer.
If you’d like to book places, contact Leeds Met directly:
- phone: 0113 812 5907 / 5473
- email: y.rayner@leedsmet.ac.uk
A class poem
Year Six had a very successful afternoon on Tuesday when they wrote a class poem based on a randomly chosen theme: the family.
The input from the children was excellent and we worked very hard to keep the rhyming and pace of the poem consistent, as well as the humour and fun.
We hope you like it!
The Family
Brothers, sisters, uncles, aunts,
Grandpa Joe in his baggy pants,
Cousin Jim and Grandma Ann,
Mum and Dad and baby Dan.
Live together in a great big house,
Nephew Max and his small pet mouse,
Rabbits, fish, cats galore,
Sleeping curled up on the floor.
Children’s toys lay here and there,
People tripping everywhere,
Bang! Crash! There they go,
Grandpa yells, “That hurt my toe!”
Baby Dan in his high chair,
Smearing food in his own hair,
“Oh no!” cried Mum, “Not again!
Get back into your play pen.”
It’s bath time now in our family home,
Bubbles, soap and lots of foam,
Dry yourself and off to bed,
“Peace and quiet!” the parents said.
Children gone to the land of dreams,
Adults have tea and a custard cream,
The day is over, the day is done,
A family day jam-packed with fun.
Our homework policy
Our Homework Policy was written to support and engage as many learners as we can, and to provide opportunities for others – family, friends – to support in a positive, constructive way. It’s great to see more and more children are putting more and more effort into their homework. Recently, a few parents have asked about expectations. I hope the following will clarify what we can expect and what you can expect:
Talk Time
Teachers have noticed that, in some instances, a lot of time has been taken on the presentation of the Talk Time homework. Children are welcome to do this although it is not necessary. The purpose of Talk Time homework is to encourage a conversation around their current learning. Any notes made in their homework book should simply be there to aid them as a prompt when it is discussed in class the following week. For this reason, teachers tend to give verbal feedback during their talk time session in class. We want our children to be expert talkers, using a variety of sentences and expressions, and able to back up their points or disagree with others in a polite way – this is more important than written notes for Talk Time. Simply: it’s hard to be a good writer if you’re not a good speaker, so Talk Times using ambitious words, useful phrases, interesting sentences is the best way to support your child.
Creative
This is where your child’s creative juices can flow! Creative homework is an opportunity for your child to choose whatever they want to demonstrate some learning. For example, the Y3 and Y4 homework this week is Creative: I can show what I know about food chains. Your child could present all their learning in so many different ways, from a diagram with notes to a story or comic strip. Parents’ and carers’ role is to support, encourage, help but (obviously) never to take over and do the homework! Teachers always look forward to seeing how creative children can be. If you notice the work has not been marked, please don’t worry. Teachers will have looked at and celebrated the homework in another way – the work might have been viewed by the whole class using a visualiser which allows the work to be projected to the whole class and a discussion of ‘stars and steps’ will happen. Peer assessment is also effective – children are very able to share what’s good and what needs improving! These sorts of verbal feedback strategies are often more effective than a written comment because it’s more instant and it makes sure the child understands (and their work is praised publicly!).
Practice makes Perfect
This is similar to what you might consider traditional homework: it may be a worksheet or a writing task (such as Y5’s current homework: I can write instructions). Practice Makes Perfect is useful homework when something has been taught in school but needs consolidation. The work should be fairly straightforward for the child as there should be no need for new learning, so just some encouragement from you is needed. However, it would be a great time to get your child to teach you – they should be able to explain the key points or processes! We use this type of homework less often because usually the best practice is where a teacher can keep feeding back and presenting new challenges when they see it as appropriate. Teachers mark these activities in line with our marking policy.
As always, please ask if you’ve any questions or concerns.
What a great week!
Year Six should be congratulated this week on the amount of learning that has gone on in class.
Children have been working with new maths partners. Bronwen and Angel have achieved great success, as have Bradley and Adam. Matthew has worked extremely hard: so hard he received a cerificate in assembly, with Mr Roundtree also noticing his progress in reading. SEAL has been all about having the right to learn and taking responsibility for our own learning; Lauren‘s suggestions in this lesson were outstanding.
I’d also like to say well done for the excellent homework produced by the class and the amazingly sensible, mature and informed discussion we had about charities afterwards.
Here’s to another great week next week!
Animation at Allerton Grange
Year Six were lucky enough to have the opportunity to go to the City Learning Centre at Allerton Grange to try their hand at animating. Their work included making models, backgrounds and using ‘I Can Animate’ to create Mini Movies about Greek Myths.
The work they completed was excellent. Here are some pictures to give you an idea of how great their marvellous models were.
Hobby Half Day
Check out our fantastic photos of our first Hobby Half Day!
Children from Year 1 to Year 6 had the opportunity to participate in an afternoon of learning something new. The activities ranged from everyday baking and cooking to the unusual: creating their own carbon footprint.
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!
