Our letters are on their way!
Today, we finally were able to venture out to our local post box to post our letters to Steve Reed, the environment minister, about stopping climate change. It was very exciting!
There were big cheers as the letter went in!
You’re never too small to create a big change. All it starts with is a single step! (Or quite a few to the nearest post box.)
“The atmosphere was electric! Everybody had loads of fun,” Vivienne described.
“I hope our letters can persuade Steve Reed to do something about climate change and if it does, this is great example of small things, big changes,” beamed Grace.
Jack said: “Everybody was so enthusiastic about writing their letters. We finished them so fast because we were so excited!”
“We had a great time posting the letters. Miss Wilson gave us a motivational message about it not mattering how small you are, you can always change the world a little bit,” said Hidayah.
Raheem explained, “We had a democratic vote about who should put the letter in the post box.”
Leeds Rhinos healthy lifestyle assembly and ticket offer
This week, we welcomed Luke from Leeds Rhinos to deliver a healthy lifestyle assembly.
We thought about different aspects of keeping a healthy lifestyle including food and nutrition, sleep, exercise, hydration and hygiene.
Luke also spoke about the ticket offer available for families for one of the upcoming Leeds Rhinos home games.
As part of our partnership, and as a reward for all the great work that the children have been doing this year, Leeds Rhinos would like to offer children and their families an amazing opportunity to attend a match at AMT Headingley Stadium (LS6 3BR) at a special discounted schools rate.
Date – Saturday 22nd March 2025
Kick off – 5:30pm
Opposition – Wigan Warriors
Standing tickets can be booked now through the school via School Gateway. Please note that tickets will be on sale until 10am on Tuesday 18th March.
World Book Day
This Thursday is World Book Day where we celebrate books and reading.
Today, we joined an online talk from the illustrator, David O’Connell.
First, we learnt some bugs facts based on the living things in his books.
Then, David showed us how to draw three of his characters, Dribble, Dash and Nettie, taken from his latest book, The Beastie Bros. The children’s illustrations were excellent.
Finally, there was chance to think about what questions we’d like to ask David.
How many books have you wrote?
What was your first book called?
Why did you want to become an illustrator and author?
Help at home: have a look at some illustrations in books at home. How are they similar or different to the characters David draws?
Term 2.2 – group reading!
Hello!
Last week, we began group reading!
The class have been divided into groups and each group has been given a book to read at home. This will last for this half term.
During our Book Club sessions each Friday, each group will discuss what they have read so far and share their reading record activities related to their book. This will be a fantastic opportunity for the children to explore characters and storylines more than they might do normally!
Every Friday during Book Club, each group will be given a new page to read to for the next Friday.
What to remember:
- Your child has a book that they need to read every week (up to a chosen point marked with a post-it notes).
- The reading record activity needs to be completed using their new book.
- A comment from a grown up needs to be written in their reading record.
- Group reading books and reading records need to be brought in every Friday.
Help at home by listening to your child read their new book and asking them questions about the book to help prepare them for class discussions.
I look forward to hearing the children’s discussions next week!
Thanks, Miss Birch
Reminder: World Book Day
World Book Day- 06.03.24
Living and Learning: MindMate
This half term our Living and Learning lessons are based around the MindMate learning themes of emotions and friendships.
Our first lesson was based around strong emotions and exploring and describing how it feels to be sad/unhappy.
We thought about how others might express feelings of unhappiness and if they did feel unhappy, to practise asking, and listening to, others about what makes them unhappy.
We reinforced that everyone feels sad or unhappy at times and that’s natural.
In our circle time, on the same theme, the children suggested some things to do if they were feeling sad.
Would it help if…
- you walked away from the situation making you sad
- you talked to a friend or a trusted adult
- you wrote down how you felt
- you read a book
- you went for a walk
- you did some exercise like dancing
As part of this lesson, we did two of the mindfulness exercises taken from this website – mindful hearing and mindful breathing.
Help at home – ask your child what they might do if they were feeling unhappy or if a friend was feeling unhappy.
Computing – Scratch Jnr
This week we started our new topic – computing! We have started to explore the app Scratch Jnr on the iPads. We worked really well with our partner to change the sprite, change the background and then make the sprite move. We learnt that we needed both a start block and a stop block as well as a movement block. We also looked at how to change how much the sprite moves by adjusting the numbers on each block. We will continue to use the iPads and Scratch Jnr to develop the children’s computing skills across the term.
Help at home by looking at the Scratch Jnr on any devices you may have at home. There is also a new BBC programme all about coding and computing in the same style as Numberblocks called Wonderblocks.
Group Reading
This half term is group reading and Year 4 have been given their group reading books which they must read at home.
During our Book Club sessions each Friday, each group will discuss what they have read so far and share their reading record activities. All reading record activities should relate to the book your children have been given. It allows your children to delve deeper into their book and have meaningful discussions with their peers about this in our sessions.
During Book Club, each group will be given a new page to read to for the following session on the next Friday. This will be marked with a post-it note.
What to remember:
- Your child has a book that they need to read by Friday every week (up to a chosen point marked with a post-it note).
- The reading record activity needs to be completed using their new book.
- A grown up must sign and comment in their reading record.
- Group reading books and reading records must be brought into school every Friday.
Help at home: listen to your child read their new book daily and ask them questions about the book. This will help them in their book club sessions.
Grammar Kahoots
This week, alongside introducing our new unit of suspenseful writing, we’ve been practising our grammar skills.
We created some Kahoots, an online quiz, to test each other. It was a lot of fun as well as being a great way to remember our learning.
We also found some awesome new game modes which made things even more interesting!
Help at home by asking your child which areas of grammar they feel most confident with and which they need help with.
Guided Reading Week 1
Here are the target pages for this week’s guided reading. These need to be read by Friday 7th March.
Extra Time: up to chapter 5/page 20.
Flood and Fang: up to chapter 4/page 57.
Rooftoppers: up to chapter 4/page 28.
The Girl of Ink and Stars: up to chapter 6/page 45.
Kensuke’s Kingdom: up to chapter 2/page 17.