Author: Mr Roundtree

Class assembly

Thank you to those of you who could make it to class assembly today. We really enjoyed preparing for it and, from my point of view, it was made an easy task because of the children’s concentration and naturally clear voices.

  • ‘Lovely assembly – liked the communal story at the end.’
  • ‘Great story, loved the fire props and well remembered lines.’
  • ‘Really enjoyable as always. The audience participation was a nice touch and the humour that was included.’
  • ‘First time at school assembly. Could see the kids enjoy it by the number of children joining in. Well done.’

…and a well done from me too!

06 March 2015

This week’s homework is Talk Time and is due on Wednesday 11 March.

Everybody has the right to have a house. Discuss.

Talk about your and other people’s opinions and write a couple of sentences to help you join in the discussion in class.

From our Homework Policy:

Talk Time homework

This involves a discussion topic eg ‘Should animals be kept in zoos?’ Children should make notes (even pictures, diagrams etc) ready to participate in a class / group discussion on the topic. Please make sure you write a comment about the Talk Time discussions in the homework books.

Top Tips: Turn the telly off! Sit around the dining table! Have a chat and share opinions and ideas! Children should talk with family, friends and each other. (Your child should write some notes in their Homework Books.)

Lotherton Hall detectives

With a visitor from Lotherton Hall, we became history detectives again today. We started the lesson by looking at the building and thinking about what it is and when it might have been built.

Then, we each had a box of clues. We began by looking, feeling, touching and talking about what we had. Everyone really enjoyed thinking about what the artefacts were and how they were used.

Gradually we started getting more information by matching uses to the objects helping us to understand what sort of person might have used them.

 

Finally, the people of the house were revealed and we had to use all of the information have learnt to decide who each set of objects belonged to. There were some great discussions while we tried to explain our reasons and opinions to each other.

We had objects belonging to the Lord and Lady of the house and their maid and cook. There was a real difference between the rich and poor people of the house and (not surprisingly) most of  us decided we’d want to be one of the rich people of the house if we’d been alive then.

Time to learn your times tables

Practising times tables at home is really important. Knowing times tables facts really helps your child to feel confident in Maths, and enables them to make progress in areas such as calculating, fractions… even shape work can involve times tables – when we think about angles, for example.

The National Curriculum sets out expectations for times tables knowledge:

  • Year 2: recall and use multiplication and division facts for the 2, 5 and 10 multiplication tables, including recognising odd and even numbers
  • Year 3: recall and use multiplication and division facts for the 3, 4 and 8 multiplication tables
  • Year 4: recall multiplication and division facts for multiplication tables up to 12 × 12

If your child is in Year 5 or 6, they need to know all the tables facts so they can start thinking about prime numbers, factors etc. Knowing the tables facts (including division) means having rapid recall – being able to say the answer within about five seconds, not counting through the times tables to work it out.

Each week, your child is asked to learn a particular times table. We might also work on a pair of tables which are related, such as x4s and x8.

Please make sure your child practises as home: in the car, in the bath, on the way to school, straight after school as a matter of routine. Your child needs to know that something like this involves effort and there aren’t any easy solutions!

It’s really helpful to test them two or three times during the week to make sure their ‘score’ improves, and also try to build in some multiplication and division games and references:

  • play ‘tables ping-pong‘, where you and your child counts through a times tables forwards and backwards, alternating the counting: 0, 4,8, 12, 16, 20…
  • look out for arrays, where you see a grid of something: eggs in a carton is a simple 2 x 3 or 3 x 2 array, and there are arrays on your mobile phone (to log on to mobile phones, you might see a 3 x 3 array – a square number), on buildings (the window panes of a block of flats are useful for larger numbers), tiles in your bathroom, chocolate and other food products…
  • download an app to practise on a phone or tablet (there are loads of free ones)
  • talk about when you use times tables knowledge

Times Tables

From now on, Year 2 will be given a times table to focus on each week. By the end of the year, children are expected to know the 2, 5, and 10 times table with quick recall. This week we will be focussing on the 5 times table – here are the type of questions your child can expect.

  • 1 x 5 is 5
  • 2 lots of 5 are 10
  • 3 groups of 5 are 15
  • 4 times 5 is 20
  • 5 multiplied by 5 is 25
  • 6 groups of 5 are 30
  • 7 lots of 5 are 35
  • 8 x 5 is 40
  • 9 multiplied by 5 is 45
  • 10 times 5 is 50
  • 11 lots of 5 are 55
  • 12 groups of 5 are 60

They will also be expected to then know the related division facts. For example, if 6 times 5 is 30… 30 divided by 5 is 6. There will be a couple of questions relating to division facts each week.

Help at home by counting in fives as you go up the stairs or walk down the street. Ask quick fire questions while driving in the car and make it a competition to see who can write the whole table the fastest – you or your child?

27 February 2015

This week’s homework is Creative and is due on Wednesday 04 March.

I can present my favourite book.

Whether it’s fiction or non-fiction, lots of us have a favourite book or at least a book we have enjoyed recently. Discuss what books your child has enjoyed recently and think about how they can present this to the rest of the class.

Here are a few suggestions…

  • Prepare a speech.
  • Write a book review.
  • Create a poster.
  • Interview the characters.
  • Make a story board to retell from.
  • Create a fact flap page.

Of course, this homework is creative so any of their own ideas would be great too!

Taken from our Homework Policy:

Creative homework

This involves a creative piece of open-ended work based around an ‘I can…’ statement eg ‘I can use research skills to find out about a country.’ ‘I know how instructions are used’ Only one rule: don’t use more than one page of A4 (unless your teacher says otherwise!). Content will be a balanced mix of subjects.

Top Tips: Be as creative as you like! Chat about ideas with your child: Could the homework be in the form of a poster, a letter, a comic strip, some writing, a PowerPoint…? Could it use photos, drawings, foldout ‘extras’ on the page…?

Value of houses – Maths

There’s all sorts of maths to explore through our Time Travel topic. Today, we tackled the big numbers by looking at the cost of houses today. By the end of the lesson, we were all comfortable reading tens of thousands, hundreds of thousands and millions numbers. We ordered house from cheapest to most expensive and discussed what it was that affected how much houses are worth.

Encourage your child to keep up this practice by searching on Right Move and estate agent websites and asking how much the houses are. You could also discuss how house prices have changed, not  only in the last 2000 years, but the last 20!

Welcome back!

It’s been a great couple of days back at school and we’ve been very busy.

Year 1 and 2 spent yesterday working with SPLATS – a drama company who helped us to create a performance about the Romans taking over Britain. We took the roll of prop designers in the morning with the whole class chipping in to make leaves for our chase scene through the forest.

Our afternoon was then spent rehearsing for our two scenes before the big performance at the end of the day.

Everybody tried their best and showed that we have some budding actors and actresses in the making.

BBC Radio Leeds Thank You Teacher Awards 2015

Our teachers do a fab job – here’s a chance to thank them in a slightly different way…

BBC Radio Leeds is launching its Thank You Teacher Awards inviting people from across West Yorkshire to nominate their most inspirational teacher. From pre-school to primary, secondary, FE and extra-curricular, this is a fantastic opportunity to celebrate the work of teachers across the region.

They’re asking for a 250-word submission and for those aged 16 and under there’s a special category which means they can submit a short film about the teacher who most inspires them.

Closing date is Tuesday 31 March 2015.

The winners, runners up and nominators will be invited to a special Awards Ceremony at the West Yorkshire Playhouse on the evening of Monday 15 June 2015.

Visit the BBC Leeds website for the application form and terms and conditions.

Attendance matters!

Research based on pupil absence and exam results data reveals the link between attendance and achievement.

Put simply: taking a term-time absence will affect your child’s attainment – this conclusion is based on data over the past five school years. Research shows:

  • the higher the percentage of sessions missed across Key Stage 2, the lower the likely level of attainment at the end of Year 6
  • there is a gradual decrease in achievement as overall absence rates increase
  • pupils with no absence are 1.6 times more likely to achieve level 4 or above, and 4.7 times more likely to achieve level 5 or above, than pupils that missed 15-20 per cent of all sessions
  • pupils with the lowest five per cent of overall absence rates are 1.4 times more likely to achieve level 4 or above in reading and maths tests and 3.3 times more likely to achieve level 5 or above in reading and maths tests than pupils with the highest five per cent of overall absence rates

This research is based on national data. At Moortown, the picture is similar:

  • children with high attendance (97% or more) make better progress – our own assessment data shows this
  • children who have been absent for long periods tend to make slower progress in the classroom, and the social and emotional aspects of school life are adversely affected in many cases, too

Read the full story from the Department for Education here.

Read the research here.