Spring 1: Week 5
This week, we’ve been learning all about the Lunar New Year. Our focus story was The Magic Paintbrush by Julia Donaldson. We used our imaginations to think about what we would paint if we were given a magic paintbrush.
Teddy – I would paint a Ferrari.
Gurjeevan – I would paint a Lamborghini.
Bryher – I would paint a princess.
Gurshaan – I would paint rainbow water.
Ivy – I would paint a unicorn.
On Wednesday, we watched a video about how people prepare and celebrate the Lunar New Year.
Ayah – They clean and decorate their house.
Edie – They cook nice food.
Yesterday, we read The Great Race and learnt about how the Chinese Zodiac started. We had a go at putting the animals in order.
Help at home: Can you remember to order of the Zodiac animals? You could draw a picture or write them in a list.
Here are some of this week’s chilli challenges in action…
Finally, thank you to all who attended the parent-teacher meetings this week. It was lovely to talk about the children’s learning and their fantastic progress.
As always, I hope you all have a happy and healthy half-term break. Don’t forget to KEEP READING and send me an email of what you get up to. I look forward to seeing you all again on Monday 19 February.
Living and Learning: Safer Internet Day
This week, it was Safer Internet Day and we spent the day focusing on these two key areas of online safety.
- I know that some things online may not be true (people and information).
- I know that I shouldn’t share personal information online.
We read Chicken Clicking, a cautionary tale about a chicken not using the internet safely. We thought about how Chicken Clicking could have done things differently and what advice we would give him to keep him safe.
This video also reinforced key messages about sharing personal information online like your password, name, age or address.
Throughout this learning, we reinforced the message that if the children were unsure or something didn’t feel right they should always Start Telling Other People and let a trusted adult know.
We talked through this sequence of seeking help.
Help at home: Can your child tell you the key messages from the texts we read?
Also, our online safety section has further support available for parents.
Reading refresh!
Every half term we have a refresh of the books in our reading corner. The children are given time to look through and browse the books on their table. After they have had a chance to look through them all they choose one to put in the the box. It was so lovely to see how engaged the children were with the new books and how much they love stories! We had time to read a couple of the new stories too. I can’t wait to read more of them when we come back after half term.
!
Help at home by reading the books your child brings home from the library or visiting the library over the half term
Living and Learning: Safer Internet Day
This week, it was Safer Internet Day and we spent the day focusing on these two key areas of online safety.
- I know that some things online may not be true (people and information).
- I know that I shouldn’t share personal information online.
We used a few different texts to support this learning and our daily poem too.
Hot seating the characters helped to think about their feelings and actions.
This video also reinforced key messages about not everything online is true (this could be people or information) and the importance of not sharing any of your personal information.
Throughout this learning, we reinforced the message that if the children were unsure or something didn’t feel right they should always Start Telling Other People and let a trusted adult know.
We talked through this sequence of seeking help.
Help at home: Can your child tell you the key messages from the texts we read?
Also, our online safety section has further support available for parents.
Living and Learning: Safer internet day
On Tuesday 6th February, we celebrated safer internet day. It was a chance to think about any worries we might have about using technology and the internet, but it’s also about celebrating all the fantastic things technology can help us with.
In one of our lessons, we discussed why it’s important to check with a trusted adult before sharing personal information online. Personal information is any information that is about who you are and what you do.
Websites and apps can collect our personal information and data and use it to provide services to us.
We need to keep this information safe whilst online and not give it to just anyone! We must always speak to a trusted adult before sharing any information online.
In another lesson, we focused on how to have a healthy balance of online and offline activity. The children were able to give lots of different activities to do whilst being offline:
- playing outside
- arts and crafts
- reading a book
- spend time with family
Help at home: Discuss how to help Greg, Jess, Brian and Haya in these scenarios.
Yorkshire Museum
Last Friday, Year 3 and 4 visited York to go to the Yorkshire Museum and to see the flood defences.
Yorkshire Museum had exhibitions that were perfect for us to link to our History learning about the Romans and Anglo-Saxons.
Here’s some pictures of us exploring and learning about the artefacts!
We also walked down to the river Ouse to look at York’s flood defences. York After periods of heavy rainfall, York floods so there are flood defences around the river to keep the houses and buildings safe. We’ll be learning about this in our Geography topic after Easter.
A wonderful day had by all!
Help at home by asking your child one new fact that they learnt while at the museum!
Living and learning: Safer Internet Day
Hi. This is Amelia, Hafsa B, Cate and Parnita ( Y6 journalists).
On the 6th of February it was Safer Internet Day so every classes schedule was replaced with activities and linked lessons to the subject .Throughout the many sessions that were held: visitors came in; special assemblies; and lots of fun lessons. It was quite like a whole day of living and learning!
We asked for some feedback from the students. Here are a few:
“I loved finding out what the different apps were rated so I can help myself and others to only use apps that is suitable for our age!”-Olivia
“I found out it is very important to learn about mental health!”- Avneet
“I feel safer going online today than before the Safer Internet Day!” – Mr Wilks
“I liked learning about lots of different topics and taking part in group activities!”-Hannah
We learnt about age restrictions, how to be a critical users on the Internet and to turn your locations off.
Living and Learning – Speak Out, Stay Safe
In Living and Learning, we’ve been discussing the ways we can make safe choices.
Seeking help is a very important skill. Every child in class knows exactly who they would tell if they didn’t feel safe, happy or healthy.
It’s really important that you tell a trusted adult if you feel anxious, worried, hurt, unsafe, sad or frightened. It is never your fault. If the situation doesn’t change, it is very important to keep speaking out and telling a trusted adult until it changes.
Help at home by discussing what this trusted adult could look like in different places: at school, home or out and about.
Buddy is a speech bubble – he represents the right of all children to speak out and be safe.
Childline’s number is 0800 1111 and they can listen if you ever need to talk.
Living and learning: I know what a drug is.
In Living and Learning, Year 4 have learnt about what a drug is and how to handle medicine and other household products safely.
We know that drugs are substances that have an effect on our mind or body.
We had a visit from D-Side Dave who taught us about alcohol. We spoke about how to identify if something has alcohol in it and why is it important that children do not consume alcohol until the legal age.
We learnt about how alcohol is measured and discussed why adults might choose to drink it.
We ended our lesson by trying on a pair of glasses that made us feel like we had drunk alcohol. It was funny to see how Year 4 reacted but provided us with a clear take home message, too.
Writing: Were the early Islamic civilisation an advanced society?
In writing, we have been looking at discussions. The purpose of a discussion is to think about different sides of an argument. The question we are discussing is ‘Were the early Islamic civilisation an advanced society?’.
This question links to our history topic where we’ve been learning about the innovations of the early Islamic civilisation – a golden age. The children have started to write their discussions: introduction and for point. Tomorrow, we will be moving on to write the against point and conclusion.
Help at home: Discuss if the early Islamic civilisation were an advanced society. Use examples of why they were or why they were not.
