RE: Drop Down Morning
In this RE Drop Down Morning, we were learning about Christianity. We had three sessions: when and where did Christianity begin and where do Christians live today; what do Christians believe; and what festivals do Christians celebrate.
In our first session, the children created a fact file about Christianity. This fact file was different though as we linked our learning to maths because we used a net of a cube.
Did you know an Abrahamic religion is a religion whose followers believe in the prophet Abraham? They believe Abraham and his sons/grandsons hold an important role in human spiritual development. The best known Abrahamic religions are Judaism, Christianity and Islam.
In our second session, we learnt about the different denominations of Christianity. Denominations are different groups within Christianity. The different denominations have different ideas about how to worship God.
The children linked this learning to their reading skills and answered a RIC.
In our third and final session, we focused on Holy Week and Easter.
Help at home: Which day do you think is the most important in Holy Week and why?
Guided Reading Week 2
Here are the target pages for this week’s guided reading. These need to be read by Friday 21st November.
Divine Freaks: up to page 95
Spirit Walker: up to page 102
How to Train your Dragon: up to page 103
The Considine Curse: up to page 78
The Switch: up to page 99
Guided Reading Week 2
Here are the target pages for this week’s guided reading. These need to be read by Friday 21st November.
The Girl of Ink and Stars – up to page 83 (Chapter 10)
Kensuke’s Kingdom – up to page 85 (Chapter 6)
Extra time – up to page 80 (Chapter 18)
Flood and Fang – up to page 99 (Chapter 7)
Rooftoppers – up to page 118 (Chapter 14)
RE drop down morning
This morning Year 5 looked back over our RE learning that we have done in KS2 so far. We first discussed what are the main world religions and when they originated. We discussed which religions were monotheistic and which are polytheistic.
Then we focussed on Christianity for the rest of the morning. We made fact files about Christianity on cubes. We found the making of the cubes a little tricky but we showed great perseverance.
Afterwards, we discussed different denominations of Christianity focussing particularly on Catholics and Protestants. We completed a RIC and was able to confidently discuss the differences.
Finally, we looked at Christian festivals, focussing on Holy Week. This is the most important week for Christians. We completed a table describing each day and which significant events happened on each day.
I was very impressed with how much information the children had retained.
Help at home by discussing different religions and what they have learnt. The BBC bitesize website has some excellent videos.
Anti-bullying day – Monday 10 November
Today was anti-bullying day. This year’s theme is ‘power for good’. Year 5 thinks that we can use our power for good by:
- not being a bystander
- standing up for ourselves
- being brave and standing up for others
- telling a trusted adult
- blocking and reporting online
We watched a BBC live lesson which had a range of challenges to help us think about how to stop bullying.
We looked at the definition of bullying which our JLT members created:
“Bullying is when you hurt someone physically or emotionally (including online), Several Times On Purpose”
Whilst we hope this would never be the case in our school, we also discussed what you can do if you were to experience bullying at Moortown Primary School:
“Start Telling Other People. You could use the Living and Learning box, the worry box, tell a trusted adult, email stayingsafe@spherefederation.org or even call Childline (0800 1111).”
The school came in odd socks today to show that we are all unique but should still all respect each other.
In class we discussed how to be respectful and safe online. The children suggested making sure to send kind messages to each other and only playing with people they know. We also discussed what to do if someone is mean online; Year 5 said you could step away and ignore, you could report or block and you can tell an adult or even the police if it is a serious incident.
Help at home: Discuss with your child what to do if they witnessed bullying either in person or online.
Autumn 2: Week 2
Nursery Rhyme Week
This week, we celebrated Nursery Rhyme Week! In Literacy, we read Each Peach, Pear Plum by Allan Ahlberg and Janet Ahlberg. We had so much fun carefully exploring the illustrations to spot all the different nursery rhyme characters hidden on each page.
On Wednesday, we looked at household objects from the past and the present. We talked about how they are similar and different.
This week’s chilli challenges were all linked to our nursery rhyme theme. Take a look at some of the wonderful learning in action…
Phonics
This week, we learnt four new graphemes: v, w, x, and y. The children are really enjoying their daily phonics sessions and are becoming super readers!
Help at home:
Practise reading the tricky words we’ve learnt so far. You could make it fun by playing a Tricky Word Hunt around your home. Hide the words and see how quickly your child can find and read them!
Living and Learning
Our Living and Learning statement this week is: I follow our school rules: We’re ready.
We have been exploring what it means to be ready – showing good looking, good listening, good sitting and good body language. The children are fantastic at being ready to learn – well done, Reception!
Help at home: Talk together about what being ready looks like at home. For example, being ready to help or being ready for school.
Reminder
Next Tuesday is our Maths Stay & Learn session for parents. Once the children are settled on the carpet, we’ll invite you into the classroom to watch a short maths session. After that, there’ll be a variety of maths challenges for you to enjoy with your child. To finish the session, I’ll deliver a short presentation all about maths in Reception. We look forward to seeing you there!
Art: Figurative vs Abstract
To start off this topic, we looked at our featured artists: Henry Moore, Barbara Hepworth and Thomas J Price. We were able to see their work on our trip to the Yorkshire Sculpture Park.
We’ve then continued our history of art journey by analysing whether art is figurative or abstract.
Help at home: Asking your child to define these terms. Is there another piece of art around your home that you could place on the table above and why? Or, discuss the key vocabulary for this topic. Can you use it in a sentence?
Reading: performing Varjak Paw
This week, Year 4 have been reading the start of Varjak Paw by S.F Said. This is a narrative all about a special cat who is locked in a house and dreams of escaping and exploring the outside world.
Today, we became actors and performed the first chapter of the novel. Our R2s (remember tos) for this performance were…
- show clearly who the character is
- showing the events of the extract
- project voice
- voice intonation
Year 4 did a brilliant job! I was so impressed by their acting skills and voice projection.
Help at home: read with your child at home and ask them to summarise the chapter they’ve read. You could even act a little bit out together!
PE: Gymnastics
This half term, we become gymnasts!
Travelling as been our focus for this week, where we’ve practised moving around the space in different ways: high, low, wide, narrow, with many points of contact and few. We also has a lesson today using the equipment; we explored the apparatus with controlled and balanced movements.
Next week, we will perform sequences of travelling using benches!
Book club – group reading
Hello!
This week, we are beginning 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 ask questions about the book to help prepare them for class discussions.
I look forward to hearing the children’s discussions next week.
Any questions – please ask. Thank you!