18 May 2018
Our whole school homework this week is creative and should be returned to class by Thursday 24 May.
I am aware of my route to school.
- Points of interest – houses, buildings, gardens, street furniture, historical landmarks, street names and local amenities such as your favourite shops, doctors and cafes.
- Nature – what trees, flowers, animals or birds do you see?
- Points of improvement – spot things that make the walk unpleasant. This may include obstacles on the routes (pavements blocked with cars & bins), litter (where are the bins and whether littering is a problem) and difficult crossings (is there anywhere where it feels unsafe to cross?).
- Potential new features – what would you like to see on your route?
Children are invited, but not required, to use the initial version of the map below and add details of any of the above features in a creative way.
27 April 2018
This week’s homework is Creative and is due in on Thursday 10th May.
I can show what I know about 2D shapes.
In class, the children have studied lots of 2D shapes and their properties. We have also learnt about symmetry and rotation. There are so many ways in which the children can show us how much they have learnt in a creative way.
Below are a few ideas. Have fun!
16 March 2018
This week, our homework is Talk Time: What is beauty?
Children should discuss this question with someone at home.
In class this week, we’ve had a lesson about body image. We discussed that:
- beauty has different meanings
- there are different ways the media changes beauty
Talk about how beauty is in the ‘eye of the beholder’ and that what is beautiful to one person may be very different for another. Can your child explain what ‘media’ is and why physical appearance is altered for advertising purposes? Are children aware of the negative consequences that photo shopping or air brushing may have on young people?
We’ll discuss this as a class as part of our homework review.
19 January 2018
The homework this week is Talk Time and will be discussed in class on Thursday 25 January.
What is a safe risk?
This is in preparation for next week’s Living and Learning theme: I am aware of risks. Being aware of risks and being able to assess the degree of risk is a crucial skill for living independently and safely.
05 January 2018
This week’s homework is Practice Makes Perfect and is due in on Thursday 11 January:
I can describe my ideal imaginary friend.
Your task is to write a description of your dream imaginary friend, inspired by our current class picture book, Imaginary Fred. Our ideas in class were to describe:
- their personality
- their appearance
- their hobbies
- how they act
- what they might wear
You could make your description interesting by using:
- varied punctuation
- exciting vocabulary
- conjunctions
- different sentence openers
- varied sentence lengths
If you need any help, come in and see us before the due date!
08 December 2017
The homework this week is creative and should be returned to class by Thursday 14 December.
The children are invited to respond to something from either a cultural or spiritual perspective.
I can show what I know and think about something cultural.
We’d like children to present their responses about a recent book they’ve read, film they’ve watched, piece of art they’ve looked at, piece of music they’ve listened to – anything cultural in fact.
We’re interested to read some sort of description (a summary, for example) and then your child’s opinions. This review might include pictures, an interview (your child could write a fictional script between himself/herself and the artist, for example), a letter (eg to or from a character, or perhaps even the author) – anything which might include your child’s responses!
However, your child might prefer to do the following:
I can show what I know about a festival.
Over the course of this term, some children in school will have celebrated a religious festival of some sort. This might have been
- the Muslim festival of Eid ul Adha
- the Sikh and Hindu festival Diwali
- the Jewish festival of Hanukkah, coming up in December
- the Christian festival (of course, celebrated by many non-Christians) of Christmas
- and the Chinese New Year festival which next year will be in February
There are lots of other festivals and celebrations which you and your child together might want to reflect on. You can research more festivals.
We invite children to respond to the sentence above – they might include a recount (like a diary entry), pictures, an interview (perhaps in a script). Your child might also choose to research a completely unknown festival, or they might even think about creating a brand new festival, one that everyone will celebrate.
24 November 2017
For all children in Year 1 – Year 6, the homework this week is creative and is due in on Thursday 30 November.
Following our whole school themed week this week, Who do you think you are?, children should consider the following statement by showing what they have learnt.
I know what community is.
As a guide, children could think about these aspects.
- What is community?
- Where is their community? Children could consider their school community to local community to wider community. Moortown Community Group has lots of information about our local community.
- Who is in their community? Children could consider visits/visitors during our themed week.
- Why is community important? Children could consider the terms ‘identity’ and ‘diversity’ discussed during our themed week.
- How can we be a good citizen in our community?
This could be done in any creative way.
- A story
- A poem
- A map
- A comic strip
- An advert
- An interview
- A game
- A model
…or any other creative ideas!
17 November 2017
For all children in Year 1 to Year 6, the homework this week is Talk Time and will be discussed in class on Thursday 23 November:
Which charity should our school support?
Next week, we will focus on identity, diversity and community in our Who do you think you are? themed week. As part of this week, children will think about our school charity. Currently, we support Yorkshire Air Ambulance and Leeds Mind. A previous School Council selected these because they wanted to help people, support a mental health charity and wanted to help local and regional charities. They were chosen because pupils passed on to School Councillors very clear and strong arguments.
We’ve helped these charities for two years now, so it’s time for a change. We need you to have a discussion at home about which charity would be best for us to support. We will now support one charity for one year. Each class will discuss this and then the councillors will bring the views and ideas together to decide on the charities.
Once your child has decided on a charity, make sure they have clear, powerful reasons to support their views.
You might want to discuss whether we support…
- a local charity
- a children’s charity
- a charity which helps a vulnerable group in our community
- should we ensure the new charities are very different to the current ones or previous ones?
- should we need to have charities at all?
- if your child was to set up a new charity, what would (s)he choose, and (as always) why?
It’s the half-term holidays…
…and so there’s no specific homework next week. This is in-line with our Homework Policy.
During the half-term, please encourage your child to read each day, even if just for 15 minutes. As well as their current book, reading comics, newspapers, websites are all good – and why not take a trip to the library!
It would also be really helpful to help your child brush up on their times tables. Children in Year 2 should know x2, x5 and x10 (and the related division facts) by the end of the year – so give them a head start now! By the end of Year 4, children should know all their tables up to 12 x 12 (and the related division facts).
And make sure they enjoy the break, too: perhaps an autumn walk, a day out, a trip to the cinema… There are lots of things going on in Leeds – check them out.
Whatever you get up to, we’re looking forward to seeing you again on Monday 30 October.
13 October 2017
For all children in Year 1 – Year 6, the homework this week is talk time and is due in on Wednesday 18 October. There are two options:
- I can prepare a speech (School Council elections).
- I know the importance of voting.
It’s time for children to consider if they would like to stand for election for our new School Council. With two representatives from each class, chosen democratically by their peers, all children at Moortown Primary are encouraged to take an active part in pupil voice.
Elections for our new school council will take place on Thursday 19 October with our polling station and ballot boxes at the ready. Candidates will have the opportunity to give their election speech to their class on Wednesday 18 October or Thursday 19 October.
What makes a good school councillor has been considered by our current school council.
- ‘use all the 8 Rs for learning’
- ‘be respectful’
- ‘help others’
- ‘be a good speaker and listener (to members of your class and in the meetings)’
- ‘tell the truth’
- ‘be confident with your ideas’
- ‘accept the views of others even if you don’t agree’
- ‘be friendly and approachable’
- ‘make good choices in class and around school’
Hints for your speech include:
- What skills and abilities would a good school councillor have?
- What are you particularly good at that would help you to be a great school councillor?
- What do you think would make the school better?
- What could you do that people would really like?
- Think of things that are realistic, maybe that you could do yourself, rather than having to ask other people to do
Thank you to our current school councillors for all their ideas and contributions. We hope you have enjoyed this role and responsibility. You’re welcome to stand again for election.
Good luck to all children who decide to stand in the elections.
If you choose not to stand in the election then you should consider the importance of voting.
