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.
Guided Reading Information
Year 5 have been given their guided reading books.
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. This information will be posted every week on our class news.
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 note).
- 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: listen to your child read their new book and ask questions about the book to help prepare them for class discussions.
I look forward to hearing the children’s discussions next week!
Spring 2: week 1
Math
This week we have been comparing weight using the language heavier and lighter. The children have enjoyed using the scales to compare a variety of objects.
English
This week our focus book has been The Train Ride. The children enjoyed discussing where they would like to go on a train ride and what they might see.
Living and Learning
This week’s statement has been about recognising emotions in both themselves and others. The children worked together to portray and identify different emotions.
We have been talking about the sunshine coming out more and the flowers growing this week – the start of spring.
Help at home: by discussing the seasonal changes that are taking place.
Reminder: next week is a busy week.
Tuesday 4th is our trip. Please send a packed lunch for your child.
Thursday 6th is World Book Day. We are NOT dressing up this year but would like to invite you into our class 9-9:30 to share a book with your child.
Science – What are soils made of?
In science, we have been learning about what soils are made of.
Soils are everywhere and they’re very useful. They are amazing in helping plants grow and provide homes to lots of little organisms.
We made careful observations when finding our own soil samples from different areas of the school.
We looked for the 3 main parts of soil:
1. small rocks
2. organic matter (dead and rotting plants and animals – humus)
3. water
We then compared our soils to sandy, chalk and loam soil and decided our soil was most like the loam soil.
Help at home by searching for the 3 main ingredients in soil you can find outside! What does the soil look like? Is it dark in colour?
North East Youth Summit 2025
Today, the Year 5 and 6 junior leaders visited the Leeds Civic Hall to attend the North East Youth Summit. It was a great day where the children had the opportunity to meet and hear from councillors, ask questions and give their say when thinking about things we would like to change and improve about our local area.
We suggested our ideas for activities that we would love to see in our locality. Here were our choices.
We were in a room with lots of other junior leaders from around our locality so it was great to meet them as well!
We discussed climate change in the official chambers where the MPs and Leeds’ Mayor meet to discuss their plans.
