After-school clubs – it’s not too late to sign up
Our Autumn term after-school clubs start next week for 8 weeks.
We do have some spaces available so please contact the office if you would like your child/children to take part.
Clubs on offer include hockey, multi-sports, multi-skills, dance, gymnastics, cookery, Lego Club and Code Club.
Marvellous Maths
This week, we’ve shifted our mathematical focus to the first of the four operations – addition and subtraction. On Monday, we sorted some calculations into ones we could do mentally, ones that we’d need to make jottings for and ones that we’d need to use a formal method for (column addition or subtraction).
After we’d sorted the calculations, we had a go at each one using a range of mental methods. We even had the chance to create a story for some of them.
Yesterday, we reminded ourselves about column addition. We used concrete manipulatives (like Base 10 and counters) to check we understood the process and then played a game in pairs that meant we got loads of practice in. Some of us made posters that explained the method. Children will use these if they get stuck during our lesson today.
It’s really easy to practise addition and subtraction at home. Simply create two (or three) random numbers and add or subtract them (using both formal and mental methods were necessary). You can check your answer using a calculator. For an added challenge, create a story for the calculation.
Traffic survey
Following our local area walk last week, we decided to focus on traffic around school and find out just how much traffic passes our school (hopefully following the new 20mph speed limit).
This enabled us to include some maths skills while we were recording and afterwards to discuss the results.
We are looking forward to comparing this data with the surveys completed by children at Scholes (Elmet) Primary and St James’ CE Primary.
Afternoon relaxation
Year 2 are now becoming familiar with their post-lunch relaxation sessions to prepare them for their afternoon learning.
Children choose from different relaxation techniques such as hook ups, laying down, listening to the calming music, starfish meditation or any other way to help them to relax.
Hopefully, this will give the children some methods for relaxation to use at home or at other times when they may need it.
Reading with expression
We’re learning a number of reading skills from the same text this week and today we spent our reading lesson familiarising ourselves with it. In pairs, we took a section of the text and prepared to perform it for the rest of the class. There were some great performances!
Now we’re all ready to take on some fact finding and inference questions tomorrow and Wednesday.
School Savings Club dates for paying in
The School Savings Club paying in sessions for this year are at 3.15-3.45pm on the following dates (the penultimate Thursday of each half term).
- 12 October
- 07 December
- 01 February
- 22 March
- 17 May
- 12 July
If you’re unable to attend in person, please hand in any money to be deposited to the office in a sealed envelope addressed to Mrs Tiffany.
Information will shortly be sent home about the accounts and if your child would like to open account, please enquire at the office. There is an extra incentive for pupils in Year 3 as Leeds City Council will add £10 to your child’s account.
Maths in Reception
What is two?
In order to give children a deeper understanding of number we are investigating small numbers in our maths learning. This week, we’ll focus on the number 2 and what ‘two’ means.
Here are some ideas to help your child understand the ‘twoness of two’:
- Explore body parts which come in pairs, eyes, legs, nostrils etc
- Look at 2 x 1p, look at 2p, a £2 coin
- Cut fruit in half: one apple, 2 pieces of apple.
- Look at pairs of shoes, socks and boots
Investigating in Science
Each week, Year 6 are taking on a Science investigation. For the last two weeks, we’ve been discussing whether we can find out the answer to this question:
How long does it take for a 10/11 year old to run 100m?
Last week, we prepared for the investigation by finding out how far 100m would be in our playground, discussing how we would organise ourselves as a class, and preparing data recording sheets.
On Friday, we carried out the investigation which actually tired us out quite a lot.
We decided that each person should run three times which would then allow us to create an average time for that person. So that we didn’t skew our results, each person in the team ran before taking on their second go; this meant each person had the same rest time between runs.
Data was recorded for each person and all groups made very good choices in recording their data in a sensible and organised manner.
This week, we managed to calculate an average for each person. Next week, we’ll create a group average which we’ll then use to create a class average and decide whether this information can be used to answer our original question.
Explorers
Year 2 launched into the whole-school Explorers topic this week by becoming explorers in our local area.
We looked out for physical and human features as we explored.
After our visit, we discussed what we liked and disliked about our local area. A lot of the children had noticed litter on the ground, sometimes very close to a bin, and that was something they didn’t like. Because of this, we are planning some litter picking in the coming weeks.
Traffic was also something that was commented on.
We will be using our maths skills this week to record just how much traffic there is around school. This traffic survey will be exchanged with Scholes (Elmet) Primary and St James (CE) Primary to make comparisons.
We’ve had a great start to the big topic so far and are looking forward to lots more exploring. Below is an overview of the topic.
In this Big Topic, your child will become an intrepid explorer, embarking on an amazing adventure of discovery. Children will compare the physical and human geography of different localities. They’ll use maps, atlases and globes to help them plan journeys into the unknown! Geography learning will be key in this whole-school topic, thought the children will also enjoy other subjects, too. Maths skills, for example, will be used – children might look at positional language, coordinates, or statistics. Your child will also be encouraged to explore and learn about their own locality. Why not involve your child when planning a trip to explore some local attractions like Leeds Art Gallery or the Yorkshire Sculpture Park?
Explorers
This week, we’ve become explorers as part of our new big topic. Explorers is a geography driven topic that will see us embark on a journey round the world. Year 4 are all aboard and we have set sail on our adventure. Along the way, we are likely to encounter a few tricky situations! Luckily, as a group, we decided on the necessary items required to survive.
Let our journey begin.
First of all, navigation was at the top of our list.
We set to work looking at atlases, maps, compasses, globes and directions. In class, we studied paper maps and compared them to how we navigate our way today. Ask your child how they remember the points on a compass.
It was fascinating to find a location on a map and then on Google Earth. Year 4 navigated their way around the world looking at places of interest.
Working with a partner, the children could identify and name such things as: rivers, mountains, settlements, famous landmarks, continents and more.
A few children also set to work on a jigsaw of the United Kingdom. Working with Mrs Charlesworth, they looked at the names of regions and counties within our country. Sadly, one piece was missing!
After all that travelling, we were exhausted!
Time to relax in our very own dinghy.
Stay posted for the next part of our exploration.
It may get bumpy!