Introduction to Reception – Zoom session
We’d like to welcome new Reception parents to our school by inviting you to a short Zoom session on Wednesday 15 September at 6pm. This session will be a 30 minute introduction to Reception at our Sphere Federation schools.
The sessions will outline the recent changes to the EY’s Framework and the introduction of a Reception Baseline Assessment. It’ll also offer you a few top tips on how you can support your child at home.
The session starts at 6pm. It will last around 20-25 minutes, plus there will be a questions and answer session at the end of around 5-10 minutes.
If you’re interested in attending this Zoom session, please either send us a message on the School Gateway app or email the school office. We’ll then email the Zoom joining details out to all those who have expressed an interest.
Watch out for further workshops relating to both English and Maths on your child’s class website page in the coming weeks.
Reading Record
Hi everyone,
On Friday 10th September, your child was sent home with a brand new reading record. Now you might be thinking, ‘Hang on! My child came home with their reading record earlier this week!’. Although this is the case, we’d like you to use the new reading records that were sent home on Friday.
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
This week, the activity your child should complete based on their reading is…
Vocabulary Ninja
You can find more details about this in the activities section of the reading record.
Any questions, please ask!
Happy reading!
First week back!
We’ve had a brilliant first week back at school in Year 1 and the children have shown a wonderful attitude to learning. They have been really eager to learn new things and I am sure they will be very tired this Friday!
This week we have introduced our topic for the half term all about British Geography, Where in the world am I? We have updated the maps in the playground so have a look at them with your child as you arrive at school.
In maths, we have been using the 100 square to practise counting forwards and backwards. Help at home by practising counting different objects around the house. You will also have received a log in for Numbots today which is a great way to support their maths learning too.
In reading, we have been developing our reading fluency by reading our weekly fluency text based on the book Lost and Found by Oliver Jeffers. The children will also have sent home with a new reading book this Friday. Help at home by reading daily with your child and choose some of the reading activities from this guide. Books will be changed every Tuesday and Friday.
In phonics, we will be recapping the Phase 4 learning from the end of Reception before moving onto Phase 5. Help at home by playing some of the games on Phonics Play, accessed through their website not an app, choosing Phase 4 games (Login Sphere Password Sphere3)
In Living and Learning we have been working on this week’s target, ‘I greet someone politely’. They have done a brilliant job and we practised in small groups how we would greet each other politely.
Homework books will be sent home on Friday and they can be kept at home and used for the children to practise their weekly spellings and to record any brief notes from their talk time homework.
Please do let me know if there is anything we can help with.
Mr McGriffiths
Our first week of Year Three…
In our first week back of Year Three, we have been settling in, getting into routines and doing lots of different learning!
In writing…
We’ve been leanring all about Must Dos. These are the things we absolutely must remember to do in our writing. This includes: capital letters at the start of a sentence and for proper nouns (like Moortown), full stops/punctuation at the end of sentences and making sure that our writing makes sense! Next week, we will be looking at squashed sentences! This is when two sentences that make sense on their own are squashed together without either a full stop or a conjunction.
For example:
I went to the park it was fun.
This is a squashed sentence.
It should read…
I went to the park. It was fun.
or
I went to the park and it was fun.
Ask your child if they can remember our learning from this week!
In geography…
We’ve been learning about ‘Where in the world am I?’
This is our new geography topic where we’re finding out about where Moortown is in relation to the city, county, country and continent!
We recapped all seven continents at the start of the week. See if your child can remember!
In maths…
We’ve been recapping our number facts within and across ten. We’ve also been practising our 10x tables as well!
We’ve done lots of learning in other areas, too. We’ve been practising our ‘ai’ sound in spelling, doing daily reading fluency and much more.
Finally…
We’ve been reminding ourselves of what we need to do on 3, 2, 1 STOP. This is empty hands, silent voices and eyes on the speaker. It’s really important that we are all ready by STOP so that we are ready to learn as much as possible! See if your child can tell you what to do on 3,2,1 STOP.
Here’s to another great week next week, Y3!
First week back!
Hello everyone,
After our first week back at school, I just wanted to thank everyone (children and parents!) for being so great and making everything go so smoothly. We’ve had a lovely week getting to know each other and getting stuck into our new topics!
We’ve begun our Geography topic unit called ‘Where in the world am I?’. The children have been fascinated by exploring Google Earth and finding out exactly where we are in comparison to other cities and counties.
We have also begun our class novel for this first half term – The Legend of Podkin One-Ear! The class were making some fabulous predictions based on the name and front cover which we are now finding out to be true…
Settling back in
We’ve had a great, hot, few days and it has been lovely to see all the children back together with their friends and ready for their new learning in Year 2. Here’s some information about some of the Year 2 routines and the upcoming learning.
Firstly, thank you for the postcards you have sent us – they are displayed on our topic board which this half term is all about British geography, Where in the world am I? We have updated the maps in the playground so have a look at them with your child as you arrive at school.
In science this half term, we will be chemists learning all about materials and their properties. This will include some practical science too.
In maths, we’ll be focusing on place value and some basic number facts with numbers up to 100. Help at home by counting forwards and backwards in 2s, 5s and 10s. Numbots and Hit the Button (the website is free compared to the app) will support this learning too.
In reading, we’ll be continuing to develop the children’s reading fluency by having a weekly fluency text. We’re also working on their retrieval and interpreting skills based on different fiction and non fiction texts – our first one being Lost and Found by Oliver Jeffers. Help at home by reading daily with your child, new books will be sent home next week, and choose some of the reading activities from this guide. Ten/fifteen minutes of Lexia daily will also help.
In phonics, we will be recapping the Phase 5 learning from the end of Year 1 before moving onto some other spelling rules. Help at home by playing some of the games on Phonics Play, accessed through their website not an app, choosing Phase 5 games (Login Sphere Password Sphere3).
In writing, we’ll be starting with lots of sentence work to ensure we remember the basics of capital letters, full stops, finger spaces and making sure our sentences make sense. Help at home by practising spellings in silly sentences. We will continue to work on our handwriting too. This guide shows the cursive letter formation that we use.
Living and Learning will include getting the children settled back at school and talking about how they are feeling as they start a new year. We will also be thinking about the 8Rs for learning and how they can help us at school and at home. We will end the half term with learning about mental health.
The children always look forward to their PE sessions (Tuesdays and Fridays). It’s great to have more space now to get active. We also aim for our active 30 minutes a day throughout the school day with lots of brain breaks. Run the red carpet is one of our favourites.
Homework books will be sent home on Friday and they can be kept at home and used for the children to practise their weekly spellings and to record any brief notes from their talk time homework.
Lexia and Numbots logins remain the same. These will be stuck inside your child’s homework book for reference. For Lexia, the children should aim to achieve their Level 9 certificate by the end of Year 2 and for Numbots, the children are aiming to reach Diamond level.
The children continue to receive free fruit for playtimes in Year 2 and they continue to receive free school meals too. The children have enjoyed returning to a more normal lunch service and trying some new meals from our current menu. If your child has a packed lunch, they can do a combination of school meals and packed lunches if they want to give them a try.
We will be visiting the library on Mondays so if the children have finished reading their book and they would like to change it, please bring it to school on Mondays.
Please do let us know if there is anything we can help with.
Mrs Taylor and Mrs Lake
Y3/4 Swimming & P.E.
Hi everybody!
Hope you’ve all had a great first day back.
Swimming this year will be every Wednesday other than the first and last Wednesday of each term.
So, this term…
The first swimming session this term will take place on Wednesday 15th September and will run to the final session which is on Wednesday 8th December. Your child should come to school in their P.E. kit on this day with their swimming kit in their bag.
Your child should also come to school wearing their P.E. kit every Thursday, too. This is our P.E. day.
On Wednesday 8th September, your child should come to school in their school uniform.
If you’ve any questions, please ask your class teacher.
Thanks!
Welcome back!
Welcome to year six – your last ever year of primary school!
Today has been a lovely day. It’s been great to get stuck in, especially with a more “normal” break and lunch time.
In the half term ahead, we’ve got lots of exciting things to look forward to…
In maths, we’ll be focusing on place value and some basic number facts eg adding and subtracting two and one digit numbers. Help at home by practising calculations such as 23 – 7 or 16 + 8. Remember… no counting on fingers allowed!
In reading, we’ll be recapping our basic skills of retrieval, interpret and choice. Very excitingly, this half term’s class novel is Survivors – one of my all time favourite books. Ask your child about the girl who fell from the sky…
In writing, we’ll be looking at must dos which are really basic writing skills that are absolutely vital to get right. This includes avoiding squashed sentences and making sure we have capital letters and full stops.
This half term is all about geography. It’s an interesting one where we will take a look at the benefit of green urban spaces and how cities have changed over time. Check out this tool on Google Maps to see how school has changed over time. You could see how your own front garden has changed, too!
Some useful reminders:
- PE is on a Monday and Wednesday.
- No earrings are allowed in PE and hair should be tied back.
- Our library slot is on a Thursday.
- Reading Records need to be completed weekly (more info to follow).
- Every child needs a water bottle in school every day.
- There is a gate now available from Moortown Park.
- The school uniform policy is on our website. Please check if you are unsure about any items of clothing or footwear.
Please don’t hesitate to get in touch with me at any time if you need any help.
Miss Wilson
Welcome back new Y3s!
Hi everyone!
I hope you’ve all had a lovely summer and are all as excited as I am for the start of the new school year! I’m really looking forward to getting to know you all and becoming a great team. Life in Year Three will be based upon being kind, trying our best and having fun.
A few things to note:
- Mrs Charlesworth and Mrs Potter will be working with us this year.
- School times are back to normal. The school day will start at 8:50 and end at 3:15.
- We will be going swimming on a Wednesday afternoon so please make sure your child has their swimming stuff on this day.
- PE is on a Thursday. Your child should come to school in their PE kit on this day.
- The school uniform policy is on our website. Please check if you are unsure about any items of clothing or footwear.
- If you have come across any reading books or library books please bring them into school.
- Our library slot is on a Monday. We will be going tomorrow!
Please do ask if you have any questions or concerns.
See you tomorrow!
Mr Wain
Welcome back!
Hello Year 5!
I hope you’ve had a happy and healthy holiday and are looking forward to coming back to school. I am really excited to have you as my first class (as a teacher!) at Moortown. I know we are going to make a great team!
A few things to note:
- Mrs Russell and Ms Canning will be working with us this year.
- School times are back to normal. The school day will start at 8:50 and end at 3:15.
- PE is on a Monday and a Thursday. Your child should come to school in their PE kit on those days. We will be doing PE as normal tomorrow.
- The school uniform policy is on our website. Please check if you are unsure about any items of clothing or footwear.
- If you have come across any reading books or library books please bring them into school.
Please do ask if you have any questions or concerns.
See you tomorrow!
Miss Needham