Supporting your child’s learning
Thanks to everyone who attended the learning workshop last week. We hope that we were able to answer any questions that you had and that you feel able to support your child’s learning at home.
Remember, short chunks of time will work best to keep your child focused and interested. Try learning a few spellings or times table facts a night rather than looking at them all at the same time; listen to your child read for 10 minutes but then read to them too; and make sure they see you read for pleasure, even if it is a newspaper or magazine.
Here is the powerpoint that was used for the workshop. Please come and ask if you have any questions.
The learning journey
Thanks to everyone who came to the learning workshop that Mrs Burke led. Early literacy skills are so important, including speaking, to give your child a good start on their learning journey.
We appreciate that it is hard for everyone to attend workshops due to other commitments but if you have any questions, please pop in and see Mrs Burke. The powerpoint is too large to attach but if you would like a copy, please ask.
There is another workshop on 18 November at 2.15pm or 6.00pm which will look at how you can support your child with their maths skills.
Cool Class Cup Winners!
Cool Class Tokens are given for good behaviour and attitude around school and can only be awarded by teachers from other classes.
This week, Year 5 accumulated the most ‘cool class tokens’ out of any class in the whole school!
As a result, they were awarded the Cool Class Cup in Friday’s assembly.
The cup has settled into its new home in our classroom for all to see.
Keep it up Year 5!
Design and Technology: treehouse building
We’ve researched. We’ve designed. We’ve planned. Now, it’s time to make.
Starting with our three main criteria, we have moved into the making stage of our design process. Our platform, entry/exit and team flag were the criteria that every group had to include in their design and all groups have added these to their trees this week. Some groups have moved on to their other criteria too.
We’ve found it really tricky to attach things to our trees and are having to develop our knotting skills and analyse whether what we’re attaching is sturdy enough.
There’s been some great teamwork throughout the whole design process. Now, we’re having to work together to decide what the best materials are for the different parts of our plan and weigh up the cost of these materials too.
At home, ask us what we’ve achieved on our treehouse so far and what obstacles we’ve had to overcome.
Living and Learning: 8Rs
Having reflected on all eight Rs for learning, Year 4 decided they learnt most about resilience this term in our tower building lesson.
As a team, we had to try and build the tallest tower but it kept getting knocked down. Despite our frustrations, we had to encourage each other to carry on and start again. We talked about situations that make us feel like this and strategies we had to help us to keep going.
At home, see if we can tell you what the 8Rs are and ways we can showing we’re using them in our learning.
World Mental Health Day
Yesterday was World Mental Health Day, and Y6 did some research to find out more.
First, we learnt what makes efficient search terms. Challenge your child to explain! Take a look at this RIC:
For example, to find out the answer to this question: “What is the population of people living in Leeds, West Yorkshire, this year?” you would use much more efficient search terms. Ask your child what they would enter into the search engine.
Next, we focussed on being safe online by discussing bias (ie paid advertising vs factual content), quality of life (ie were these web pages contributing positively to our lives?) and protecting ourselves (ie not entering passwords/email addresses, avoiding pop ups). We researched some questions about World Mental Health Day using effective search terms, a variety of search engines and trusted websites.
Some important information we found out is that mental health can affect everyone. To look after yourself you need to:
- know you’re not alone
- understand it will pass
- talk about your worries
- keep active
- get enough sleep
Living and Learning: 8Rs
Since the start of the year, Year 6 have been discussing how the 8 Rs for learning contribute to a positive classroom. To round off this section of Living and Learning, teams of four were tasked with creating and presenting a poster to describe each 8 R and how it helps us learn.
Shapes
This week we have been exploring shape. The children have been playing with shapes and finding different shapes in the classroom and around school.
Why not go on a shape hunt at home and see how many shapes your child can identify?
Maths
Today, Year 3 have been subtracting a 1 digit number from a 3 digit number.
We started by using concrete resources and understanding that we can’t just flip the question around. For instance, 567-9= ? Is not the same as 9-567. Make sure your child is secure on this by questioning them at home.
“Is 568-9 the same as 9-568?”
Have a look at our work below:
Subtracting a 1 digit number from a 3 digit number.
1. Set the calculation out – make sure it’s the correct way around:
2. Starting in the 1s column, do an exchange if you need to. Mark it on the question. I couldn’t do 1-6 so I exchanged one 10 for ten 1s:
11-6= 5:
2. Subtract the 10s:
3. Subtract the 100s:
4. Finally, answer the question:
481-6=475
Practise at home with your child so they’re secure on this key concept of exchanging to reorganise a number. This will be important when we go on to subtract larger numbers from one another.
Maths
This week in Maths, Year 3 have been adding or subtracting a 1 digit number from a 3 digit number where an exchange is necessary. This seems easy, and many children can do this in their heads, but it’s practise for when we need to use the column methods where multiple exchange are needed for trickier numbers.
Adding a 1 digit number to a 3 digit number with an exchange.
We used resources to build the calculation. We then moved on to formal, written methods.
1. First, set the calculation out:
2. Start by adding the ones column and mark your exchange of ten 1s for one 10. 7+8=15 which is one 10 and five 1s:
3. Add your 10s column, including the 10 you’ve carried over and cross it off:
3. Then, add your 100s column:
4. Finally, answer the question.
267+8= 275
Practise at home with your child to make sure they are secure on this skill.