Uncategorised

09 October 2015

This week’s spellings follow the rule drop the e for ing.

Leeds Children’s Mayor

Every year, year six pupils in primary schools are invited to enter the Leeds Children’s Mayor programme. Pupils write a short manifesto saying how they would improve Leeds if they were the Children’s Mayor. The manifesto must be based on one of the 12 wishes for a more child friendly Leeds.

Our entry this year, titled safe and independent, is by Ahmed.  Here’s his manifesto.  Good luck Ahmed!

If I was Children’s Mayor of Leeds, I would like to create a system which would mean certain shops have a poster on their window that shows the child walking past that it is safe in there. This means that if the child is scared about someone following them or doesn’t want to be out alone they can go in there and know that they are safe. This also follows one of the ‘12 Wishes for a more child friendly Leeds.’ This wish says that all Children and young people can make safe journeys and easily travel around the city.’ This is what would happen if I was Children’s Mayor.

To continue this manifesto, I would like to highlight that I am a strong leader and, as an observant member of year 6, I can listen and see problems. Furthermore, I can use my supportive fellow students, friends, and family to find solutions to problems. Plus, I would like to think I am a kind and caring person. Also, my older brother is part of a group for children and young people who deal with issues regarding children for the whole of England so I have learnt a lot from him and have gained experience about how to deal with problems like child poverty and unhappy children.

I would also like to put in place a special council made up completely by children and chosen by children. I think this is important because, as kids, we know what is best for us and what we really need.  We should be able to make or at least have a say in the important decisions that concern us. Like my other point, this also supports the statement, ‘Children and young people express their views, feel heard and are actively involved in decisions that affect their lives’ and the fact that we will be allowed to participate and shape our lives according to decisions that we as children have made agrees with this wish. It also would mean the wish ‘Children and young people are treated fairly and respected’ is also fulfilled.

I hope I have the chance to become a candidate for Children’s Mayor for Leeds and I hope I am able to make a difference.

What’s on the menu in Brazil?

As part of the whole school Holidays topic, Year 5 and 6 have been ‘visiting’ Brazil.  Following some research about popular foods in this South American country , we’ve recreated our own Brazilian dish. This was taken from a recipe book donated by the Brazilian restaurant Cabana.  There is even a branch in Leeds if you’d like to try some more traditional Brazilian dishes.  Our dish was a vegetarian version of moqueca (fish stew).

Take a look at our food preparation and tasting.  Ask your child what skills they were using.  Maybe you’ll get chance to try this at home as a few children were motivated to cook this for their family at home.

• ‘I love it and my favourite part is the courgette.’
• ‘I really like it, especially the coconut milk.’
• ‘I really like the sauce.  This is new to me.’
• ‘It’s amazing – the best stew I’ve ever tasted.’

09 October 2015

This week’s spellings will be tested on Friday 16 October. They all end in ‘cious‘. Children can practise on their own using their red Learning Lists book but it is also great to practise writing the words into sentences to check that they understand the meaning.

• vicious
• precious
• conscious
• delicious
• malicious
• suspicious
• ferocious
• gracious
• spacious
• atrocious

09 October 2015

Year 5 also have a Practice Makes Perfect each week. This week you have been assigned three tasks on Mathletics to be completed by Wednesday 14 October.

• Comparing decimals
• Decimal order
• Rounding decimals

Don’t forget to press the ? if you’re struggling. We have just been learning about decimals in class so you should be able to complete this on your own.

Let’s keep happy and healthy at school!

Every so often, we receive a health and safety bulletin from Leeds Health, Safety and Wellbeing Team. The most recent one has some useful advice that you can follow at home, and encourage your child to follow everywhere. Below is an extract…

The winter is nearly here and with it will inevitably come Norovirus, more commonly known as the ‘winter vomiting bug’. This bug thrives in warm atmospheres where there are a lot of people concentrated in one place – like schools, which are the perfect breeding grounds and are often some of the worst hit places with staff and pupils becoming ill. The illness itself often comes on quite quickly and can last a few days.

Although it cannot be eradicated completely, there are some ways schools can attempt to reduce numbers and hopefully avoid a full outbreak.

This is some of the guidance from Public Health England to reduce the risk of contamination / outbreaks:

• Regular thorough handwashing – use soap and warm water, rubbing front and back of hands and between fingers, rinse carefully with water and then dry hands thoroughly. Washing your hands properly should take at least 15 seconds – or about the length of time it takes to sing ‘Happy birthday to you’ twice through!
• Hand-washing is especially important after going to the toilet and before touching any food.
• Children need to be encouraged to wash their hands by being shown how to do it properly and having a good example set for them by adults.
• If you have a cold, use tissues to cover your mouth and nose when you cough or sneeze, throw used tissues away as soon as possible and wash your hands. Try not to cough and sneeze directly into your hands and wash them immediately if this is unavoidable.

At Moortown, we encourage the ‘vampire method‘ if we’ve no tissues nearby!

Reading Workshop

Just a small number of people attended the Reading Workshop this afternoon.

“An enjoyable and very helpful workshop. I’m leaving with some good ideas and new ways of helping my son with his reading.” (Year 3 parent)

In the 2015 Annual Survey, 82% of you agree that adults in school explain how to support your child’s reading at home. We want this to be higher and have arranged for more workshops this year than ever before. Please try to come. To help, Mr Owen and Miss Rushbrooke are arranging some repeat sessions to start at 6pm – we hope this means more of you can attend.

Workshops coming up…

• Grammar and writing (2.30pm on Monday 12 October 2015)
• Maths (2.30pm on Monday 19 October 2015)
• Learning in Reception and Year 1 (2.30pm on Tuesday 10 November 2015)
• What is mastery? (2.30pm on Monday 16 November 2015)

…and look out for the evening workshops, too!

02 October 2015

This week’s spellings follow the “drop the e for an ing” rule. Your child will be tested on the words in bold.

1. centre centring
2. believe circling
3. continue continuing
4. increase increasing
5. minute minuting
6. pressure pressuring
7. promise promising
8. separate separating
9. suppose supposing
10. surprise surprising

Playground fun

02 October 2015

The homework this week is practice makes perfect and is due in on Wednesday 07 September.

I can rapidly recall my number bonds to 10.

Number bonds to 10 are two numbers which add up to 10: 3 + 7 = 10, 4 + 6 = 10, etc. These number facts should be instant rather than worked out.

We have been doing a lot of practice on number bonds to 10 this week. We have been looking at why numbers make 10 so that children have a deep understanding of this rather than just memorising facts. Hopefully, many of the number bonds have been remembered due to lots of repetitive practice, but if your child is struggling to rapidly recall the numbers which make 10, use physical objects to demonstrate it. Lots of practice doing so should embed the facts into your child’s memory!  Take a look at Class News on the website to see the ways we’ve been using in class, too!

Thank you for your support in your child’s learning.