Magnificent Maths
There was a buzz about the Y6 classroom today where children were practising multiplication.
I was so impressed with their resilience, especially when I set them this tricky challenge:
Find a four digit x two digit calculation that gets an answer of 394,800.
Check out these brilliant – and totally different – approaches to finding the closest answer.
I also liked Sam’s answer to the true or false question before. He knew he didn’t need to work out each answer because he recognised that both numbers on the right hand side were greater than the left.
Living and Learning: 8Rs for learning
The Eight Rs for Learning promote good learning behaviour.
They include being resilient, responsible, reflective, ready, resourceful, risk taking, responsive and there is one more.
Can your child remember the last one?
Although these eight attributes have been our current focus in Living and Learning, we refer to the 8Rs throughout the year. We thought about some ways the children can show these 8Rs for learning in school or at home and here are some top tips they thought of.
Read more about the Eight Rs in our guide for parents and carers.
Reading Records
Hi guys!
Just a quick note regarding reading records.
- Book Club is on a Friday
- Parents need to comment in reading records in preparation for Book Club
- A comment should give an insight to how your child has got on with their reading at home that week
- Children must engage with the weekly activity and complete it so that it can be reviewed on a Friday in Book Club
- Children will be sent home with a Library book on a Monday (our Library session) unless they’re still reading the same book from the week before
- Children can read a range of texts (not just their library books) and these can include:
– newspapers
– non-fiction books
– novels
– picture books
– poetry
– magazines
– comics
– recipes
– manuals
– and many more!
Top tip: If your child is watching television or a film, stick the subtitles on! This can improve your child’s comprehension, help your child maintain concentration for longer periods and according to a small study, children who watched TV with the subtitles on were more proficient readers!
Happy reading!
Times Tables Rock Stars!
Hello to all of you times tables rock stars out there!
Starting soon, we will be hosting our weekly TTRS competitions across all four classes in KS2.
The winning class each week will receive the coveted guitar and the three players with the top average score in each competition will get a certificate in assembly to celebrate their achievements and effort!
What you need to do:
Make sure your child has plenty of opportunities to practise their times tables at home. A rapid recall of times tables supports children understanding other mathematical concepts and can also help their understanding of new learning, too!
Practising regularly in short, sharp bursts is most effective!
Good luck!
Bike to School week and Let’s ride
Biking and scooting are one of the ways we encourage children to actively travel to and from school and next week we’ll be taking part in Bike to School Week (with Sustrans and the Bikeability Trust). We are pleased to be part of this UK-wide event, encouraging families to cycle, or scoot, to school. It’s a great opportunity to celebrate active school journeys and the positive impact it has on children’s health and wellbeing – as well as the environment.
Bike and scooter storage facilities are available by the side of the Year 4 classroom.
Also, taking place this weekend is the free Let’s Ride session held locally at the Brownlee Centre.
This free family community event is ideal for the whole family to enjoy cycling in a safe and friendly space. At the Leeds Brownlee Centre, Bodington Playing Fields, you can ride at your own pace as many times as you like with volunteers on hand to chat all things cycling.
Sign up for the event here.
Reading challenges…
Check out this photo of some Year 5s completing the reading record challenge ‘read in an unusual place’…
Can you think of a more peculiar place to read a book?
Reading records
Last Friday, your child was sent home with a brand new reading record. This is an exciting new scheme that has been introduced this year for KS2.
The new reading records offer the following benefits:
- it is a place for children to record the books/texts they’ve read and rate them out of five stars
- there are a range of activities your child will accomplish throughout the year based on what they’ve read (each week, details of this task will be posted on class news)
- it gives children a chance to enhance their love of reading during our weekly book club sessions in school
- it gives children ownership and responsibility of their reading
- it allows children to practise their oracy skills during book club sessions when they share what they’ve been reading
- it can be a place for parents to share with teachers the wonderful reading their child has been doing at home
If your child would like to complete a reading activity for this week – please feel free! We will decide on our whole class reading activity for next week, tomorrow.
You can find more details about this in the activities section of the reading record.
Any questions, please ask!
Happy reading!
Living and Learning: 8Rs for learning
Last week, Year 5 were focussing on the Eight Rs for learning. The Eight 8rs for learning are good learning behaviours that we aim to demonstrate during every lesson.
Challenge your child to name the Eight Rs for learning as fast as they can!
During our Living and Learning lesson, we were challenged to order the Eight Rs in order of importance. This was a particularly difficult task as all the children recognised the importance of each R. We engaged in a thoughtful and interesting debate where children were able to argue why they thought a particular learning behaviour was of paramount importance.
A fantastic start!
We have had a fantastic start to the year with all the children settling really well into their new school. There have been lots of smiles and laughter and very few tears!
Thank you for helping with this and preparing your child for this exciting time.
Workshops
Thank you to everyone who has attended our recent Zoom sessions to help you support your child at home. Watch the phonics session and the Early Years introduction. (And apologies for the distracting cursor in the latter – maybe that’s a nervous habit of Mr Roundtree!
The next workshop will be on Tuesday 28 September at 6pm. This reading workshop will explain how we teach reading in Reception and how you can help at home.
PE
PE will begin the week beginning 20 September. Your child should come to school in their PE kit on Wednesday and Friday.
Isolation learning
This will be emailed to you each week and is only for those children who are having to isolate because of COVID.
A few other things
Please make sure your child brings a water bottle and bookbag to school every day. You may want to send a change of clothes for your child which can be left at school.
If you have any questions or concerns please let us know. We are also keen to hear of any ‘wow’ moments, achievements and interests your child has.
moortownreception@spherefederation.org
Fantastic week!
Year 1 have had another excellent week at school and have shown great learning and listening skills. They were given their first class treat this afternoon for their wonderful learning behaviour, some time out in the sun playing on the front playground equipment. Well done everyone!
In writing we have been looking at the book Lost and Found more and we thought about how we would feel if a penguin knocked on our door! The children produced some wonderful sentences, making sure they used a capital letter and full stop.
In maths, we have been continuing to practise counting backwards and forwards to 100. We even counted how long it would take someone to deliver a message to Mrs Weekes and come back (we got to 97!). Keep using Numbots at home to continue to support your child’s learning.
Thank you for sending all your children’s reading books back this Friday, they have all been changed and are due back in on Tuesday.
Have a great weekend,
Mr McGriffiths