What is WWII?
We’ve started our new topic for this half term – history! We’ve been very excited about it and the children know lots already.
Before we got started, we looked at our new history vocabulary and rated our confidence as a class: red is never heard it before, orange is heard it but not confident and green is I am fully confident.
Today, we learnt about what WWII was and how it began.
We made a lot of great notes before we recorded a report to announce the outbreak of war.
Help at home by discussing how this lesson links with the following historical concepts:
- invasion
- power
The other concepts we learn about are trade, inequality and innovation.
PE: netball
This half-term in PE, we’re doing netball!
Netball is a fantastic sport for your children to practise a variety of different skills (e.g., passing, catching, shooting, defending etc.).
This week, we began exploring some different ways we can pass the ball in netball – chest pass and bounce pass. We recapped our ‘pass and point‘ technique which we used in rugby. When you release a ball during a pass, your fingers should end pointing towards where you are aiming. This is a great technique to ensure an accurate pass.
Help at home: if you have a ball at home (any ball will do) practise some chest and bounce passes with your child. Remember, you must not move with the ball!
Year 3 and 4 footballers
Today, ten of our year 3 and 4 footballers took part in the Leeds Well School Partnership Year 3/4 football competition at Goals.
We had a great day of back to back matches and all the children were determined, resilient, focussed and worked together as a team supporting each other.
The team fought to secure second place in their first round league and put in some brilliant performances across the day.
A special mention to our goalkeeper who made some amazing saves throughout the day.
Well done to all the children for representing our school so well.
History – Heroes (Nelson Mandela and Leonora Cohen)
We have started out new history topic all about real life heroes. The first important person we’re learning about it Nelson Mandela. You can find more about him here. He believed that everyone should be treated the same. We will be learning about equality, apartheid and the suffragettes.
Next week, on Friday 2nd May, we have invited all children to come to school dressed as a real life hero.
The vocabulary below links to the two heroes we will be learning about this half term.
Help at home by discussing real life heroes in History that have been important in your family.
Living and Learning: allergies
As part of our health and prevention focus in L&L, today Year 4 learnt all about allergies.
We began by answering the question: What is an allergy?
An allergic reaction happens when a person comes in contact with something that their body thinks will be harmful to them (called an allergen).
We discussed how all our bodies are different and something that may not harm us could make somebody else very poorly.
There are 14 main food allergens:
It’s important to remember that even though we might not see an allergen in our food, doesn’t mean it isn’t in there. To make sure we’re being careful and only eating foods which are safe for us, we must always look at the packaging. The main allergens are always in bold so it’s clear for us to see.
Your children then had the challenge of reading through some recipes and highlighting any allergens that appear.
Then, we discussed some signs of allergic reactions and what we should do if we suspect somebody is having an allergic reaction.
Mild/moderate signs:
- itchy skin rash
- tummy ache or being sick
- puffy eyes or lips
- itchy/tingling mouth
Serious signs:
- difficulty breathing or noisy breathing
- difficulty swallowing
- feeling dizzy, floppy or sleepy
Help at home: watch this video (until 3.22) and discuss these questions with your child. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GFAbgaHg26U
- What happened?
- How did Max feel?
- What was the hospital worried about?
- Why did Max’s body react this way?
We met a famous author!
It was Dermot O’Leary! We walked to a different primary school to hear about his new book.
He answered lots of questions – including Ryan’s!
We even did a draw along with his illustrator! It was really fun and we were all able to draw his main character Agent Feathers.
He was really nice and even signed some of our sketch books!
Luca said, “It was really inspiring.”
Rayhan said, “He had such great ideas and imagination.”
Raheem said, “It was really fun going to see a different school and of course meeting Dermot O’Leary.”
Maths: length and perimeter
Hello!
I hope you had a restful and enjoyable 2 weeks off and are ready for our final term!
This week in Maths, we’re learning about length and perimeter…
We’ve been measuring in metres, centimetres and millimetres and have measured things like our heights and the length of objects in our trays.
Here are our R2s for measuring with a ruler:
- Decide if you are measuring with centimetres or millimetres.
- Line the first measuring line on the ruler up to the line or object that you are measuring.
- Make sure the ruler is running parallel to the line or object.
- Take your time!
These tips have helped us be successful with this learning! Help at home by discussing these 5 questions…
Next up is perimeter.
The perimeter is the distance around the outside of a 2D shape.
Check back here to see how we get on with measuring the perimeter!
D&T: pasta bake
We were very excited to do some D&T: cooking this week! We made a delicious pasta bake. There were some very clean bowls at the end – including the spinach!
Don’t adjust your device – Y6 really were washing up!!!
The finished article…
We practise so many skills! Like the bridge and claw method for chopping, weighing, measuring, grating and stirring.
Help at home by discussing the very many ways that we stayed safe. See if you can get at least five. (We managed 16 in class!)
Spring 2: Week 6
Hello! I’ve had a wonderful second week back in Reception. I’m really looking forward to supporting them in their last term in Reception.
This week, we’ve been super busy doing the new chilli challenges in the areas of provision. Lots of children have amazed me with their fantastic independent learning – well done Reception!
On Monday, the children had lots of fun looking drawing self-portraits. Check out our new gallery! Can you spot your self-portrait?
Poetry picnic
This week’s poem was called The Tiny Seed. Every week, we learn a new video. To help us remember the poem, we organise the daily sessions like this:
Session 1: Enjoyment Listen to the poem for enjoyment.
Session 2 : Vocabulary Pick out focus vocabulary and discuss definition.
Session 3: learning words and actions Practise saying the poem.
Session 4 : prosody/ rhythm/rhyme · Discuss how some poem have a rhythm.
Session 5 : Perform Perform the poem as a whole class or in groups.
Help at home: Practise reading the phase 2 and 3 tricky words.
Upcoming dates
- Monday 21 April – Easter Monday
- Monday 05 May – Bank Holiday
- Friday 23 May – School closed: training day
I hope you all have a happy and healthy half-term break. Don’t forget to email me any pictures of what you get up to in the holidays.
moortowneyfs@spherefederation.org
I look forward to seeing you all again on Tuesday 22 April.
Pedometers in computing
This half term, we’ve been building up to making our own pedometers!
And we pulled it off!
As always, we had to use logical reasoning as a team.
We measured how effective they were by counting our steps and comparing it to how many had been recorded on the micro:bit.
Help at home by linking this learning to our computing vocabulary:
- simulation
- repetition
- decomposition
- computer network
- internet
- variable
- selection
- world wide web