Uncategorised

Marble Run Mayhem

Yesterday, we were finally able to get our hands on the marble runs we made a few weeks back as part of our big Time Travel topic – we’ve been waiting for the glue to set properly!

After a little ‘free play’, and after making a few alterations, we evaluated our finished products against the criteria we decided on during the design process. It was really impressive that each group managed to make marble runs that fulfilled the initial criteria: fun to play, works, correct level of challenge, clear start and end point and structurally sound. 

Finally, we thought about what we’d do differently next time. Most groups agreed that they could have planned their marble runs with a little more precision (it’s hard not to get carried away during the design phase).

Help others take part in the Big Pedal

Do you have any bikes or scooters that you no longer use?

If you’d like to donate them, please bring them to school any morning this week and provided they are in a working condition, we’ll offer them to people who don’t have one to use in the upcoming Big Pedal event. Please hand them to Dom Jacques who will be in the playground to take receipt.

Any that aren’t roadworthy or are unwanted will be donated to local recycling charities such as the Yorkshire Bank Bike Library. The nearest Bike Library is at Moor Allerton Library (near Sainsburys) and they offer loan bikes to families for up to 14 days for free.

Three days to go

The Big Pedal starts on Monday 20th March for two weeks and we’re looking forward to seeing as many people as possible take to two wheels for their journey (or final part of their journey) to school. There are two lots of prizes up for grabs:

Big Pedal national prizes for all participating schools

Drawn daily for schools who achieve a minimum 15% participation (roughly 31 children for Moortown Primary) each day.

Details of the national prizes on offer are shown below.

• DAY 1 – BMX World Champ Visit & Show
• DAY 2 – Bespoke Travel Map For School
• DAY 3 – Three Brand New Islabikes
• DAY 4 – Superheroes/Moves Sample Pack
• DAY 5 – Alastair Humphreys Visit + Books
• DAY 6 – Three Brand New Islabikes
• DAY 7 – £100 Sustrans Voucher
• DAY 8 – Cyclepods Cycle Storage
• DAY 9 – Three Brand New Islabikes
• DAY 10 – Extreme Mountain Bike Show Visit

Individual prizes for pupils and supporters (parents/carers) at Moortown Primary

The more days you take part, the more entry tickets you’ll have in the prize draw.

Pupil prizes include two stunt scooters, an action camera, a bike pump, a copy of ‘The Boy who Biked the World’ by Alastair Humphreys and a Gruffalo Easter egg. Supporter prizes include two £5 M&S vouchers, a ‘hot drink and cake for two’ at Filmore & Union and a Lindt chocolate bunny.

Winners will be drawn during assembly on 31 March, the final Big Pedal day and last day of term.

How to win – pupils

Please fill in the tickets on the letter sent home, cut them out and put them in your school bag.  Each morning you scoot or cycle, put your ticket in THE BIG PEDAL CONTAINER in your classroom.

How to win – parents/carers/supporters

Wherever possible, please take part and join your children on their rides to school.  It’s a bit of fun, helps to reduce congestion and you could even win a prize.  Each day you scoot or cycle, simply pick up a ticket from the school playground, write your name on it and pop it into the Big Pedal container.  The more days you join in, the more chances you have of winning a prize.

Thank you in advance for your support.  Please get in touch if you have any questions. Enjoy the ride!

Share your photos or stories: moortownoffice@spherefederation.org

Reasoning in maths

We’ve been thinking recently about what we can do to explain our maths. Yesterday, we got out some physical resources and had to prove our answers using the resources, images, pictorial representations, words and mathematical strategies.

It can be tricky to understand what a multi-step question is actually asking you do calculate and thinking of the problem like this is one way we can help ourselves. It also helps us to improve our reasoning skills: one of the three key areas in the National Curriculum alongside fluency and problem solving. 

Big Pedal

Get set… we’re taking part in The Big Pedal 2017, the UK’s largest inter-school cycling and scooting challenge that inspires pupils, staff and parents to choose two wheels for their journey to school. The challenge runs from 20th to 31st March. It’s free to enter and we would love everyone to be involved.

Why we’re taking part and prizes available

Active travel to school is proven to improve the health of children by preventing obesity, reducing congestion and carbon emissions around schools and increasing concentration in the classroom.

By taking part, the school will compete for a national Big Pedal 2017 Trophy and will be in with a chance to win some fantastic national prizes including world champion BMX and mountain bike stunt shows, a visit from world famous explorer Alastair Humphreys, 9 brand new Islabikes and much more!

We also have prizes just for pupils (and parents and carers) at Moortown Primary School including two new stunt scooters, a scooter action camera, a track pump (donated by Edinburgh Bicycle Cooperative), M&S and Filmore & Union vouchers (both donated).

How you can help to increase our chances of winning?

On each day of the challenge schools compete to see who can record the greatest number of pupils, staff and parents cycling or scooting to school. Each day that at least 15% of pupils at Moortown Primary register a bike or scooter journey, the school will go into a daily draw for fantastic national prizes. Our best 5 days (based on % participation) will determine our final position in the challenge and if we clock up the most bike and scooter journeys nationally we’ll win a Big Pedal 2017 Trophy! Moortown Primary School prizes will be drawn separately by the school.

What’s next?

All you need to do is encourage your child(ren) to cycle or scoot to school every day during the event, and join them on their way – parent/carer and sibling journeys are counted too and you might even win a prize!

Some children tell us they can’t take part in these events because they live too far away from school and have to come by car.  We encourage these families to park further away and complete the final part of the journey by scooter or bike. These journeys can be included in our school total.

Bikes and scooters should be stored as safely as possible in our storage area beside the Year 3 and 4 classrooms.

Finally, if you have any Big Pedal success stories or photos to share, please send them to moortownoffice@spherefederation.org so we can use them to encourage others.

Yorkshire Wildlife Park

We had a great (and exhausting) day at the wildlife park!

10 March 2017

The homework this week is talk time.

I keep calm or help others to calm down. 

In class we’ve been talking about strategies used to help calm down. Talk to people at home about what you can do to help yourself calm down or how you can spot when people are not feeling calm and how you can help them.

10 March 2017

The spellings this week all have a double up for a short vowel sound. They also all end with the suffix ed or ing. The root word (eg pat, hop, etc) is also included in the list.

Roller Coaster Engineers

Yesterday morning, we were joined by some students from Leeds University who helped us become roller coaster engineers.

We were given some basic equipment and had to make a marble rollercoaster that involved twists, loop-the-loops and it had to end with the marble landing in a plastic cup.

We had a great time designing and making our roller coasters and would like to thank Leeds University for sharing their expertise with us.

Allerton Grange

This morning, we were lucky enough to go to Allerton Grange for a PE lesson. We enjoyed practising our hockey, football and netball skills under the guidance of the Year 11 junior sports leaders.

Here’s a few pictures of us in action…