A busy first week back!
This week has been really busy!
We made Rangoli patterns and Diwas to celebrate Diwali.
The children are really enjoying their roleplay area which we have turned into an Indian restaurant!
This week’s learning
Phonics
We are continuing to learn letters and their sounds. This week’s letters are e,u,r and we are learning the ‘tricky words’ to and the.
Most children are now bringing home a book with words. The children will be able to read these books as they only contain words with the phonemes we have learnt. They also have a word book containing words to blend. We will send new words home to add to the book each week.
Please read with your child and practise blending each day. Keep the reading book and reading record book in your child’s bookbag so we can read with your child and change their book.
Please ask if you have any questions about reading and phonics.
Maths
This week we will be learning all about the number 5 and building on their understanding of composition by decomposing numbers by investigating the composition of 3, 4 and 5. Composing and de-composing numbers involves the children investigating part–part–whole relations, e.g. seeing that 3 can be composed of 1 and 2. Through practical experience, they will consolidate their understanding of a whole being made up of smaller parts. They will begin to recognise that numbers can be made by combining parts in different ways.
Don’t forget our Maths Presentation on Tuesday. This session will give you some guidance on how we teach Maths in Reception and how you can support your child at home.
The session starts at 6pm and will last around 20-25 minutes. There will be a question and answer session at the end of around 5-10 minutes.
Please ask if you have not received the details of the meeting.
Cross country
We are pleased to invite KS2 children to compete in an upcoming cross country race as part of the Leeds Schools Athletics Association cross country programme of Saturday morning races. Children will compete against pupils from other Leeds schools.
The race will take place at 10am on Saturday 20 November at Prince Henry’s Grammar School, Otley.
There are opportunities for Year 3 and 4 girls and boys (under 9) to race 900m and Year 5 and 6 girls and boys (under 11) to race 1500m. Once your child has completed their race, you are free to leave the event.
Please note, parents/carers are responsible for taking and supervising their child/children.
If your child is interested in taking part, please respond to the the message recently sent out.
We look forward to pupils representing our school at this event.
There will be one more Saturday morning race this year – Saturday 6 March 2022 at Middleton Park.
If you are unable to take part, you may want to join the free Sunday morning junior parkruns held locally at Roundhay Park, Temple Newsam and Boddington.
Bonfire safety
Today, two PCSO officers came into school. Year 2 thoroughly enjoyed listening to them both and asking lots of questions. The officers came into school to discuss the importance of staying safe this bonfire weekend. We hope you all have a wonderful weekend watching fireworks, holding sparklers and visiting bonfires but make sure you stay safe by following the advise from today.
Welcome back!
We hope you had a great half-term break!
This term our themes will be ‘Light and Dark’ and ‘It’s magic’.
Phonics
We are continuing to learn letters and their sounds. This week’s letters are e, u,r,h. We will also learn the first ‘tricky words'(words that are not phonetic)- the, to.
Please keep practising these phonemes and using them to blend(read) and segment(spell).
Maths
The session will start at 6 pm and last around 20-25 minutes, plus there will be a question and answer session at the end of around 5-10 minutes.
The link to this zoom session will be emailed to all parents and carers after the half term break. If you do not receive a link, please contact the school office before Tuesday 09 November.
Living and Learning: mental health
Our recent Living and Learning focus has been all about mental health. Teaching about mental health and emotional wellbeing is now statutory as part of Health Education.
In Year 2, our learning has included:
- we all have feelings
- solving friendship problems
- managing difficult emotions
Emotions are feelings. They can change all the time. We all experience a whole range of emotions, from anger to happiness to fear. We even managed to create an A-Z of emotions.
Feelings can be shown on people’s faces and bodies. For example:
• Can you show a happy face?
• What does an angry face look like?
• How do we look when we are excited?
• Can you show a happy body?
• What does an angry body look like?
• How does our body look when we are excited?
We discussed which feelings these characters might be experiencing and whether they might need help with their feelings.
Next, we thought about a story about friends using a ball of string as the friendship chain.
The friendship chain is passed between friends to show how the friendship could have started. One day, there might be an argument between the friends (the string would get tangled). The argument got worse and the friends fell out (the string was cut between the friends). The friends decided to try and make the friendship again (tie a knot in the string).
This was a very visual way of looking at friendships. The children thought about what sort of things can cause friendships to break and what can make friendships stronger.
Self care techniques can also help us to look after our own mental health.
Here’s a reminder of the wellbeing bingo we looked at in Year 1. These are all great ways to support our mental health and hopefully some of these can be ticked off during half term.
Finally, further information about mental health can be found on the Public Health England (PHE) ‘Every Mind Matters’ website providing NHS-endorsed tips and advice to help children and young people’s mental wellbeing and equip parents and carers with knowledge to support them.
Living and Learning: Mental Health
For the last three weeks, Year 5 have been learning about the importance of mental health in Living and Learning. I’ve been so impressed with how mature and understanding the whole class have been whilst listening and sharing personal experiences with their friends!
We have been learning about the difference between ‘little feelings’ and ‘big feelings’. Ask your child to explain what the difference is!
We have also been learning about self-care and how self-care is crucial to ensure we have good mental health. We can practise self-care in lots of different ways, including spending time with friends and family, having a bath and getting a good nights sleep.
Make sure that you and your child make time for some self-care this half term!
We are constantly referring back to the importance of talking to someone you trust and how this can really help children manage their emotions. Whether they talk to a grown up at school, at home or online – a problem shared is a problem halved!
The Childline website has lots of interactive games to help children explore their emotions even further – https://www.childline.org.uk/ – have a look at home!
Rugby roadshow
As part of our partnership with White Rose Rugby and Moortown Rugby Club, here is an invite to a free rugby event, just for our pupils, taking place after half term on Wednesday 3rd November. White Rose Rugby have been working with classes for curriculum PE and also delivering the Thursday after-school club.
We hope you can take up this opportunity for a fun evening at Moortown Rugby Club.
This week in Reception
I can’t believe we have reached the end of the first half term in Reception.
The children have settled well and made new friends. They are enjoying learning and particularly look forward to PE and phonics!
Phonics
This week we will be learning the next set of phonemes g,o,c,k and practising blending and reading words, including the high frequency word and.
Maths
In maths, we are continuing to investigate small numbers 1,2 and 3 and subitising (say the amount, don’t count).
The children will compare sets of objects and say which has more and which has fewer. They will be encouraged to answer in a full sentence.
____has more/fewer than______.
Remember to send any questions and ‘wow’ moments to moortownreception@spherefederation.org
Have a great half-term break!
Library
Due to a change in the timetable, we will now visit the library on Fridays instead of Mondays.
The children will choose a book to keep for a week (or longer if they wish). Children should take responsibility to return their library book to school after this time to be ready to choose a new book.
Have you visited local libraries nearby at Moor Allerton or Chapel Allerton?
Reading books will continue to be changed on Tuesdays and Fridays. Daily reading at home is very important to support your child’s reading fluency and understanding. Please comment in your child’s reading record book to show they have finished their book.
Living and Learning: mental health and wellbeing
In a recent Living and Learning session, we talked all about our emotions.
We talked about different emotions we sometimes feel and we also looked at some techniques to help deal with emotions.
We practised mindfulness listening and breathing as a technique to help us when we might get angry or want to calm down.
After that, we all played a game to consolidate this learning. Each player rolled a dice and whichever number they rolled landed them on a particular emotion. Depending on the colour of the emotion, each child would have to tell their partner about a time they felt that emotion, act the emotion out or draw an emoji to express the emotion.
