We are geographers!
This half-term, Year 2 are becoming geographers. As part of our Explorers topic, we’re comparing a place in the United Kingdom with a place in another country. This week, we started to compare Kenya to the United Kingdom and Nairobi to London. We focussed on the physical and human geography of these two places and noted the similarities between the two capital cities. Ask your child to tell you all about Nairobi.
As well as visiting Kenya, we have been learning about the seven continents, five oceans and about how the equator splits the earth into two hemispheres.
We have really enjoyed learning the continents and oceans by listening to and singing along to the great songs.
How can you help?
Google Earth is a brilliant tool to help develop children’s understanding of space, place, scale and interdependence. Zoom right in on your home and then zoom out to reveal the area of Leeds that you live in. Zoom further out to see what city you live. Zoom further for the county. A little further and you might start to spot some national parks. Further still and you can see the country that we live in. Keep zooming and you’ll see the continent we live in (though this isn’t labelled).
Quizzing your children about some locational knowledge will help them to remember important information.
- Which continent do we live in?
- Which country do we live in?
- In which hemisphere is our country located?
- Which county do we live in?
- Which city do we live in?
- Which part of Leeds do we live in?
- Which four countries make up the United Kingdom?
Junior Leadership Team
Congratulations to our newly elected Junior Leadership Team representatives and well done to all the children who took part. The speeches were amazing!
This week we will be learning about different habitats and reading the book, ‘Walking through the jungle’. The children will look at atlases and maps and find out about different habitats and the animals that live there.
Our caterpillars are growing fast and we are waiting for them to form a chrysalis.
Maths
This week, the children will continue to develop their understanding of the composition of numbers to 10 using different representations. They will deepen their understanding of a ‘whole’ being made up of smaller parts through games and practical experiences, such as investigating different ways to represent 10 sausages from the counting rhyme, ‘10 Fat Sausages’. The children will also use their fingers and 10-frames to explore ‘5 and a bit’ numbers to 10. Composing and de-composing numbers involves the children investigating part–part–whole relations, e.g. seeing that 7 can be made of 5 and 2 more. Using these structures, and making links between them, will provide practical and visual experiences to further consolidate their understanding of the composition of numbers between 6 and 10.
Living and Learning: Democracy
In our second Living and Learning session this half term, we learnt all about democracy.
We learnt about the origin of the word – It combines two shorter, Latin words: ‘demos’ meaning whole citizen living within a particular city-state and ‘kratos’ meaning power or rule.
We learned that our country is a democracy because people have the power to vote and make change in the country.
We also took part in our own democratic decision: voting for our reading champion.
First we decided what makes a reading champion – someone who shares what they’ve read with others enthusiastically, someone who recommends things to read, someone who completes the tasks in their reading record and records what they’ve read and more.
After that, we held a blind vote to determine our class reading champion.
The results were counted and our winner was… AVNEET!
Thoroughly deserved winner, Avneet, had this to say to help others who might struggle with being motivated to read…
Persevere with your book – if you start it and aren’t enjoying it straight away, don’t give up. Keep on reading because you might end up absolutely loving it!
Well done everyone!
Summer term after-school clubs
Edit: places can still be booked for after-school clubs.
We have spaces available on:
Tuesday – basketball Y4-6 now open to Y3
Tuesday – rugby Y1-3 now open to reception
Thursday – multi-games Y4-6 now open to Y3
After-school clubs will be restarting next week and they will run for eight weeks until week commencing 4th July. Places can be booked via Gateway.
Our physical activity clubs continue to be heavily subsidised through the investment of our PE and Sport Premium.
Each club has a limit on the maximum number of children who can attend. As numbers are limited we ask that you limit your child to one club initially. If there are clubs with remaining places, we will then offer these as a second club.
Please contact the office if you have any queries about the clubs or the booking system.
Living and learning: mindfulness
As a happy and healthy school, we encourage pupils to look after their mental health as well as their physical health. Read our mindfulness newsletter for ideas and techniques to try to support this.
As part of Mental Health Awareness Week, Chirpy, in Chapel Allerton, are hosting FREE after school Mindfulness Moments For Minis workshops. A time for children to reconnect and calm their minds.
Wednesday 11th May 4:30pm – 5:15pm Age 5-10
Thursday 12th May 4:30pm – 5:15pm Age 5-10
Friday 13th May 10am -10:30am pre school
Bookings can be made here.
By teaching mindfulness to children they learn the skills they need to build self-awareness, confidence and cope with stress. Mindfulness can help children deal with tough emotions and help them learn ways to relax and calm the mind and the body.
Living and learning – democracy
Last week, Y6 took part in a democratic vote in order to decide who was our Reading Champion.
First, we learnt about what democracy means, how our government is arranged and what they’re responsible for.
We also learnt about some of the political parties in the UK.
Next, we learnt about how laws are made.
We need laws for lots of different reasons: to keep us safe, make sure things are fair and to ensure those in power are regulated.
Finally, our Reading Champion was voted on! Congratulations, Harman!
Living and Learning – Democracy
Last week, Year 4 delved deeper into the topic of ‘democracy’.
Democracy comes from two Greek words:
Dêmos means people and Krátos means rule or strength.
So, democracy means ‘rule by the people’.
We learned:
- How a general election works.
- The role of an MP, and the Prime Minister.
- What political parties are.
- How I can find out about the views of politicians, and why this is important.
The important part of this learning is that democracy is about more than just voting. There are lots of ways that people can participate and make their voice heard! You can email your MP, campaign for what you believe is right and petition your government.
In Year 4, we participate in voting for our rewards, what books we read and who we believe has been most successful.
Mini-beasts!
We hope you all enjoyed the long weekend.
This week we will be continuing our mini-topic on minibeasts and the children will be going on a bug-hunt outside.
Phonics
The children will be learning to read longer words including compound words such as; laptop, marching, popcorn.
We are really noticing a difference in the children’s reading and there is a great deal of enthusiasm for our reading practise sessions.
Please continue to read the ebooks your child has been assigned.
Maths
This week, the children will continue to develop their subitising skills (seeing the quantity without counting) in increasingly complex arrangements. Subitising is an essential feature when developing number sense. It can support the children’s understanding of cardinality (the idea that the last number in the count tells us how many things there are altogether), and it will also help them to identify groups and units in a repeating pattern.
Don’t forget to use Numbots at home!
Junior Leadership Team
This week we are holding elections for the Junior Leadership Team. Two representatives from each class are chosen democratically by their peers, but Reception are not yet represented this year.
It’s time for children to consider if they would like to stand for election for the Junior Leadership Team(JLT)
Elections will take place on Thursday 5 May. Candidates will have the opportunity to give their election speech to their class on Tuesday 3 May and Wednesday 4 May.
If your child would like to be a junior leader, please help them to prepare a short speech.
What makes a good junior leader has been considered by our current Junior Leadership Team.
‘use all the 8 Rs for learning’
‘be respectful’
‘help others’
‘be a good speaker and listener (to members of your class and in the meetings)’
‘tell the truth’
‘be confident with your ideas’
‘accept the views of others even if you don’t agree’
‘be friendly and approachable’
‘make good choices in class and around school’
Hints for your speech include:
What skills and abilities would a good school councillor have?
What are you particularly good at that would help you to be a great school councillor?
What do you think would make the school better?
What could you do that people would really like?
Think of things that are realistic, maybe that you could do yourself, rather than having to ask other people to do
Good luck to all children who decide to stand in the elections.
Living and Learning: democracy
This week we are looking at democracy and making democratic decisions. We discussed the importance of democratic decisions and everybody having a say. We understood that some people might be disappointed in the result of the vote but it is the fairest way to decide. We talked about how important a secret ballot is so that everyone has the freedom to decide themselves.
We learnt a little about how adults use their vote to decide who runs the country. Our JLT in school is also decided by a vote and we discussed why this was fair system for everyone.
Finally, we held our own secret vote to decide which book we should read at home time. The three choices are below and the result was:
Specs for Rex – 6 votes
Are you the Pirate Captain? – 13 votes
Rosie is my best friend – 9 votes
A clear winner! We all enjoyed the story no matter how we voted!
Leeds Fun Run 8th May
The Arena Group Leeds Fun Run is back for 2022, taking place on Sunday 8th May.
It offers a great opportunity to get families together, while staying and active and healthy at the same time.
Children of all abilities are encouraged to take part as they wheel, walk, jog or run the 1.3 km route around the city centre.