More adventures for Katie
Throughout our big topic, Katie and…, we’ve been reading many different ‘Katie’ books and finding out about her adventures when she visits art galleries with her grandma.
This time, it is our turn to create an adventure for Katie and we are basing it on one of our favourite Katie books, Katie and the dinosaurs.
Before we write our story, we’ve been focusing on using lots of description just like James Mayhew did.
We used drama to help generate our ideas to describe dinosaur world. Ask your child to tell you some of the adjectives we have used and what noun they are describing.
We’re looking forward to planning the rest of the story this week.
Creative Homework
We enjoyed our homework review today because there were some fantastically creative pieces to share.
Here are some of our favourites:
This week’s standard of homework was brilliant to see – keep it up, Year 6.
Living and Learning – body image guide for parents and carers
Our focus in Living and Learning, for the rest of this half term, is body image.
What is body image?
Body image describes our idea of how our body looks and how we think it is perceived by others. This can include our thoughts and feelings about our height, weight, shape, skin colour, and our appearance and attractiveness more broadly.
This parent and carer guide has been designed to give practical ideas to support your child in building their emotional resilience in this area.
Homework Heroes
Year 5 have, yet again, completed their homework to a very high – and very creative – quality!
I can present a summary of our class novel so far.
Byron nominated Arundeep: “It’s an amazing drawing and it looks like he put loads of effort in.”
Eve nominated Darien: “Even though it wasn’t a big model, she drew a story map with lots of the parts of the story like when we threw the cheese at the painting.”
Ben nominated Gurnoor: “It seemed like she put lots of effort into moulding the clay into the words and her idea of a game was brilliant in general.”
Alexander nominated Omar for his story map.
Enas nominated Eve: “She made a big picture and cut out the eyes to make it look like a person like in the story.”
Kirsten nominated Evie: “She put loads of effort in because she made her own music.”
Sam nominated Finlay: “It looked like he put a lot of time and effort into it and it was a really good map.”
Rabiya nominated Nayaab for her poster.
Others used ICT…
… or used drawing and colouring to represent their summary!
Well done, everyone!
PE and Sport Premium – how this is invested at Moortown Primary
We are required to publish details of how we invest our PE and Sport Premium funding.
What is the Primary PE and Sport Premium?
The government provides funding to improve provision of physical education and sport in primary schools. This funding is ring-fenced and therefore can only be spent on provision of PE and sport in school.
For 2018/19, our grant allocation is £17,800.
How will we invest this at Moortown Primary School?
At Moortown we have developed a provision plan to ensure this funding is invested (rather than ‘spent’) to maximise the long term impact of our PE provision for pupils and staff. The funding is invested in various ways and the impact of these initiatives is closely monitored through assessment of children’s skills, staff and pupil feedback, uptake of clubs etc. At Moortown Primary, we pride ourselves on being a happy and healthy place to learn.
Our 2017/18 PE provision plan is now fully evaluated with impact from last year’s investment.
Our 2018/19 PE provision plan detailing proposed investment is also published.
Active Blasts
In Year 4, we are starting to incorporate more physical activity into our day by taking part in some ‘active blasts.’
The science behind active learning is that activity promotes better learning and behaviour, whilst improving physical health and mental well-being. Just 20 minutes of exercise increases brain processes and enhances cognitive control for up to 1 hour. Active children develop strong self-esteem and become happier learners.
Our session today was a muscle based activity incorporating a chair. We began with a shoulder squeeze, followed by some bicep curls, shoulder presses, elbow squeezes, seated abs curls, spine twists, standing up and sitting down slowly and controlled, standing up hamstring curls, calve raises and side leg lifts. After each exercise, we had a twenty second rest period.
Question your child about this new regime. Do they enjoy it? Does it help them to concentrate for longer? How do they feel afterwards? Which has been their favourite ‘active blast’ so far?
Leeds Art Gallery
Year 1 and 2 have enjoyed an art filled day at the Leeds Art Gallery to link with our current big topic, Katie and… There were no stepping in paintings for us today though.
First of all, we took part in a workshop session based on Leonardo da Vinci’s drawings which are currently being exhibited in the gallery.
We thought about the following.
- What could we see?
- How did it make us feel?
- What made Leonardo a great artist?
Based on his drawings, here were some of the reasons why we thought Leonardo was a great artist. Then, each group had a challenge to find another piece of art in the gallery that showed the same property.
We presented our findings to the rest of the class.
We enjoyed our lunch in the art studio.
After lunch, it was time to explore the galleries and sketch our own versions of some of the art on display.
Finally, it was time to leave the gallery to return to school. We wondered which paintings Katie would have stepped into and which bench Grandma would have taken a rest.
‘I learnt about Leonardo’s life.’
‘We saw that Leonardo da Vinci drew lots of horses and parts of the body.’
‘I learnt how old the pictures and sculptures were.’
‘I know there are lots of different types of art.’
‘I used to think that painting was easy but now I know the artists have to try really hard.’
‘I was amazed by the size of some of the paintings.’
Safety Week Summary
We have come to the end of our ‘Safety’ themed week. Year 4 have had many visitors relating to different aspects of staying safe. We would like to thank Mrs Taylor who works hard to organise the events during a themed week. She has provided us all with many interesting and exciting safety workshops.
Below are a few snippets from some of the sessions.
Canals and rivers – be safe!
There are lots of dangerous situations when near a river or canal. Luckily, Year 3 had an expert from the Canals and Rivers Trust to fill us in on how to be safe.
We learnt:
- We can’t stand on lily pads. We are too heavy and will fall in!
- We can’t walk on ice – we’re too heavy and that will break too.
- We can’t swim against the current in the river. It’s too strong and we can get lost.
- Say yes to life jackets.
- For emergencies at a canal or river the operator will send a fire engine.
Always:
- “Wear a life jacket when near water. Even if you’re a good swimmer!”Sasha.
- Tell the person in the water that you’re going to get someone to help them.
- Lie down on the floor when pulling someone out of the water.
- Call 999 in an emergency.
- Calm the person in trouble down by talking to them:
“Can you swim?” Evie.
“Calm down, someone is coming to help you.” Edris.
“Use a life buoy!” Aadil.
Remember – always throw the buoy near the person so you don’t hurt them.
Never:
- Sit on the side of a river or canal. Water levels rise and fall, boats go past and you could fall in.
- Swing on ropes from trees over a river. You could fall in.
- Throw things into water. This is dangerous and could kill wildlife.
- Go on a boat without a life jacket.
- Jump into the water to save someone.
- Use a life buoy like a hoop ring game. You could knock someone unconscious.
Living and Learning: Staying Safe at home
I can stay safe at home is one of our main areas of learning this week.
We used this interactive story to consider different dangers that could be found in the home.
Tiger the Cat sees Poppy being taken off to hospital in an ambulance and learns that she has been hurt at home. He is determined to go through the house and find out how she might have hurt herself, in order to make the house safer for the family. The story shows different rooms or areas around the house (kitchen, lounge, hall, landing, bedroom, bathroom, garden, garden shed) – each has a number of potential dangers.
Can your child remember the dangers found in the kitchen below?
Here is a summary of the Year 2 learning about keeping safe at home.
