Smoothie Ingredients to Promote Tooth Health
Over the last few weeks, Year 4 have learnt that practicing good dental hygiene, flossing and brushing regularly, seeing a dentist for check-ups and cleanings, go a long way toward keeping our teeth and gums in good health. But, hygiene is not the only factor in your dental health. What we eat and drink can cause damage to our teeth.
Everything we put in our mouths has to get past our teeth and gums, and therefore impacts their health. We have spent some time looking at smoothie recipes, with ingredients, that do not harm our teeth. There are many that have healing and strengthening qualities.
Great For A Beautiful, Bright Smile
3 apples (kill bacteria to make your smile whiter and brighter)
2 kiwis
1 avocado (contains calcium for strong teeth) and 1 orange
A few mint leaves for extra flavor (and fresh breath!)
We discussed that, not all smoothies are created equally. It is very easy to make a smoothie that is loaded with sugar, and while it may taste good, can contribute to tooth decay, cavities, gum disease, and an array of other health problems.
To find out more about sugars in food, the children studied a leaflet.
“I can’t believe how much sugar is in a can of coke!” stated Jasraj.
The children were fascinated to find out, that white, refined sugar is not the only source of sugar that you might be putting into your smoothies. Fruit juices are high in sugar. “I never realised that some fruit juices have so much sugar in them! I thought the ‘low sugar’ ones were OK!” commented Priya.
Honey and maple syrup, although natural and with other health benefits, are both sugars.
“Yogurts can also be very high in sugar, so read the labels before you choose one to put in your next smoothie recipe,” recommended Year 4.
“Not only do these sugary ingredients promote tooth decay, they add extra calories that you probably don’t need!” added Mrs Freeman.
Great For Strong Teeth 
2 kiwis
1 cup of strawberries
1 and 1/2 cups of milk (contains calcium to make the teeth and bones strong)
2 tablespoons of mint (great for fresh breath!)
1 cup of crushed ice cubes
Great For Fighting Oral Bacteria And Strengthening The Teeth
1 cup of plain Greek yogurt (plenty of healthy bacteria known as probiotics to attack bad oral bacteria) and 1 cup of fruit of your choice (Strawberries, bananas, and blueberries are great options.) 1/4 cup of milk (calcium for strong teeth)
Question your child about this learning.
Can you describe the taste of the smoothie?
Which ingredient is full of calcium?
True or false? Apples help to kill bacteria to make your smile whiter and brighter?
Why did we chooses to drink the smoothies through paper straws?
What are the oral health benefits of mint? 
More creative homeworks
The homeworks were excellent again this week. We loved looking at them. Here are a few of our favourites:
https://www.moortown.leeds.sch.uk/wp-content/uploads/2019/05/img_3297.mov
Living and Learning
This week’s Living and Learning statement is: I recognise mental health is important. We started the session by discussing what physical and mental health are and how they’re different.
We talked about how our emotions are important and how we can all have an impact on one anothers’ emotions day to day. This includes put downs – unfair criticism or a negative remark about a person (sometimes said as a joke). We then talked how we feel when we receive one.
“I feel sad.” Explained Tanvi.
“Let down,” said Amrit
“Slightly depressed.” Saahir added
We then talked about strategies to deal with a put down such as ‘your hair is too blonde’.
“We could defend ourselves!” Leah explained.
Other options included:
- giving ourselves a ‘put up’
- use humor in the situation
- change the subject
- express your feelings
- ask for help
“I like it this way as this is my natural colour.” Demonstrated Sukhmani.
“You said you liked my hair yesterday. You said it was your favorite colour!” responded Edris.
Can your child think of any situations where it’s easier or more difficult to decide on how to deal with a put down?
We were really impressed with your ability to empathise with each others’ feelings in this session, Year Three. Well done!
Homework Heroes
At risk of repeating myself again, this week’s homework in Y5 was ace!
There were some presentations and video submissions…
… lots of artwork …
… interactive games …
… some baking and some making!
Top effort, Y5.
Drama in Reading
This week, Year 5 have been reading a short story about an alien landing!
We have used lots of inference skills earlier in the week. For example, we completed a feelings graph to map the characters’ emotions and did some hotseating to really put ourselves in their shoes.
On Wednesday, Y5 created a piece of drama based around the story and performed it to the class. We needed to be confident, remember our lines and project our voices.
Solar System Bread
Year 5 made some space-themed bread! They sketched a doughy design before bringing their cosmic creation to life.
Ask your child – how did we cook safely and hygienically?
Poetry in maths
Year 4 have been learning to tell the time. By the end of the school year, the age related expectations require children to be able to:
- read, write and convert time between analogue and digital 12- and 24-hour clocks
- solve problems involving converting from hours to minutes; minutes to seconds; years to months; weeks to days
Yesterday, the class focused on seconds, minutes, hours, days, weeks, months, years, centuries and a millennium. We converted different units of time and solved a few problems. We would like to encourage the children to practise telling the time as often as possible. Test your child on questions such as:
How many seconds in 4 minutes?
How many hours in 5 days?
Which months of the year have 30 days?
Which is the longest amount of time? 360 minutes or 5 hours
Harry takes part in a sponsored silence.
He says, “If I am silent for five hours at 10p per minute, I will raise 50 pounds.”
Do you agree with Harry? Explain why.
Sally is 7 years and 2 months old. Macey is 85 months old. Who is the oldest? Explain your answer.
True or false
3 days is >than 72 hours
2 and a half years =29 months
11 weeks 4 days <10 weeks 14 day
To help with this learning, the class rehearsed a poem that involved knuckles!
Make a fist.
If the month is on a knuckle, it has 31 days. Otherwise is has 30 or less days.
Starting with the 1st knuckle as January,
The space between knuckles as February,
2nd Knuckle is March… etc.
Once you get to the fourth knuckle, July, start over at the first knuckle for August.
Below is an activity that was completed in class. It is a short RIC starter that was used within a maths lesson. RIC stands for Retrieve, Interpret and Choice. These activities require children to read, watch, observe or listen to a stimulus and then answer some questions.
LO: RIC
After-school clubs summer term
Our summer term after-school clubs are now available to be booked for your child/children. Some of the clubs are open to Reception class.
Scientific observation skills
It has been two weeks since our initial planting of tomato, pea and cress seeds.
Each child used their scientific observation skills to see how their plant had grown and also how the other types of plants were growing. We used our maths skills to measure the height of the plants too.
‘My tomato plants are growing and each plant has two leaves. They are 3cm tall.’
‘The pea stem is thicker and stronger than the tomato and cress plants.’
‘My cress plants are growing and my tallest cress plant is about 9cm tall.’
‘The tomato and pea plants are growing slower than the cress.’
Does your child need to use a car seat?
In maths, we are currently learning about measurement (height and length). We wanted to check what the height requirement was for the use of car seats for children to keep safe while travelling in a car. We considered what question we would ask to find out this information on the internet.
‘What height do you have to be to not need a car seat?’
Children must normally use a child car seat until they’re 12 years old or 135 centimetres tall, whichever comes first. Children over 12 or more than 135cm tall must wear a seat belt. You can choose a child car seat based on your child’s height or weight.
Using different rulers (metre stick and 30cm ruler), we tested this out.
‘I am 122cm tall so I do need to use a car seat.’
