Positive about negative numbers
In maths, we’ve been counting forwards and backwards with positive and negative whole numbers (including through zero).
To practise, we’ve been playing a couple of games, including…
… using a number line …
… dice and counters.
You had to roll the dice, predict where your counter would end up, and move along the number line.
The person to get to their end first won!
Next up was Negative Numbers Connect Three.
The object of the game was to roll two dice and decide whether to add them together or subtract one from the other. 
The numbers on the grid ranged from -5 to 12 and were randomly placed.
It was challenging working out whether to add or subtract depending on which numbers you needed to cover!
Living and Learning – Y5 are resilient
This week, we’ve been focusing on our fifth and sixth of the 8Rs for learning: resourcefulness and resilience.
As we’re already pretty resourceful (we go and get resources when we need them or we use our surroundings to help us), this week’s Living and Learning session revolved around resilience – something we’re always keen to work on.
In small groups, we had to build towers using really tiny blocks. It was very fiddly and, of course, they kept falling down. It was very frustrating at times. In order to build the biggest tower, we had to work well as a team, keep calm and never give up.
We discussed our emotions throughout:
It’s important to recognise your own emotions and manage them effectively so that you persist with your task. This includes keeping giddy, happy emotions to an optimum level and angry, frustrated ones under control.
We’ve also looked at some maths that required resilience in order to solve the problem. Even if we didn’t get all the answers correct, or even finish, we never gave up trying. Here are some of our celebratory poses:
Maths
So far this term, Year 3 have been investigating place value. The class have been learning about the changing value of a digit, depending on where it is placed within a number. We have done lots of practice with saying three digit numbers out loud, careful to say ‘and’ exactly where it is needed.
During Thursday’s lesson, the children had to apply their resilience to a short maths challenge – see below.
The class came up with lots of interesting ideas to solve the challenge and enjoyed explaining to their partners how they approached the question. We had a really good discussion about finding more than one solution to a question and the importance of being resilient if we found it tricky. There was lots of talk about the value of apples and bananas too!
See some of the children’s workings out, answers and challenges they have written, below:
Time Travellers
In Year 3, we have officially launched our new topic – Time Travel.
During this topic, we’ll specifically focus on transport through the ages.
Wednesday afternoon kicked off with reflecting on our school trip, sharing what we could remember, and looking at some pictures, from our trip to the Transport Museum and Hull and East Riding Museum.
The class then worked together to jot down some questions that they would like to investigate throughout our Time Travel topic. Have a look at some of the questions the class had, below:
- Lewis: ‘What did the first hot air balloon look like?’
- Vedant & Jai: ‘When was the submarine invented?’
- Hashim & Christina: ‘How long would it take to travel to the moon?’
- Sukhmani & Harpreet: ‘Who was the first person to travel into space?’
- Sam & Evie: ‘Who was the first woman to travel into space?’
- Madison & Aadil: ‘Where did the inventors get their ideas from?’
- Sasha & Klara: ‘How much money did the first chariot cost?’
After-school clubs
Places are filling up for our after-school clubs starting next week.
We do have some places available on the following physical activity clubs. These clubs are subsidised using our PE Premium funding costing just £1 per week.
Monday
Volleyball
Have a try at a new sport. Led by Elaine Brown, Leeds Volleyball Club coach, come along to learn skills, develop team work and play competitive games on our volleyball court in the MUGA. This club finishes at 4.15pm. There is no session on Monday 22 October 2018. Open to Y3, Y4, Y5, Y6 Cost £7
Tuesday
Multi skills
Come and take part in a range of fun sporting games, challenges, matches and activities which include key motor skills such as throwing, catching, kicking, running, jumping, striking, Organised by Five Star Sports. This club finishes at 4.15pm. There is no session on Tuesday 23 October 2018 or Tuesday 27 November 2018. Open to Y1, Y2, Y3 Cost £6
Wednesday
Gymnastics
A fun way to keep fit while learning new skills. Organised by Leeds Gymnastics Club. This club finishes at 4.15pm. Open to Y1, Y2, Y3, Y4, Y5 Cost £8
Thursday
Wake Up Shake Up
Be ready to Wake it and Shake it at Mrs Charlesworth’s club. You’ll be swinging, shaking, moving and grooving your way to pop, rock, R’n’B and dance. This club finishes at 4.15pm. Open to Y3, Y4, Y5, Y6 Cost £8
How can I book a club?
Booking for after-school clubs is via School Gateway. Please contact the office if you need any assistance making a booking. Payment is due at the time of booking.
National Fitness Day
Some of our Key Stage 2 children enjoyed an active morning taking part in a range of activities for National Fitness Day:
- ‘I loved the dodgeball.’
- ‘I enjoyed all the activities.’
- ‘It was fun to do the different games.’
Living and Learning: Being resilient
This week, resilience and resourcefulness are the two ‘Rs’ we are focusing on in Living and Learning.
Resilience is a key characteristic of learning behaviour and we considered when we might need to be resilient and how to help others to be resilient.
We welcomed some visitors to our class yesterday who came to see how we use the 8Rs for learning in school.
Here’s resilience in action!
‘I asked my team to keep trying, be positive, to keep going and be resilient.’
We’re ready to travel back in time
We’re excited to start our new history themed topic, Time Travel. In Year 1 and 2, we’ll be focusing this learning on houses and homes in the past to the current day.
First, we considered what we want to find out.
‘I would like to learn about where rich and poor people lived in the Victorian times.’ Eleanor
‘What did people live in back in time?’ Sameeksha
‘I would like to learn about bungalows and other houses.’ Kirtan
‘What did Stone Age houses look like?’ Jack
‘How many houses are there in the United Kingdom?’ (Nice link to our Where in the world? topic, Junior!)
‘How would people afford houses in the past?’ Zain
‘I would like to learn how you make a house.’ Isla
‘I want to learn about how dark the houses were.’ Lily
‘I would like to know how houses were built in the olden times.’ Jake
‘I would like to learn about what beds used to be like.’ Bridget
Where in the world?
This week, we have begun our new history themed topic, Time Travel. Before that we reflected (one of 8Rs for learning) on our geography topic, Where in the world?
‘I learnt there are five oceans in the world.’ Inam
‘Australasia is a continent.’ Noah G
‘I learnt that North America is joined up to South America.’ Gabrielle H
‘I learnt the North Pole and the South Pole are the coldest places.’ Shasmeen
‘I learnt there are four countries in the United Kingdom.’ Soloman
‘I learnt that all countries need a capital letter.’ Olivia
‘I learnt all the oceans and continents in our topic.’ Rizwan
Living and Learning
This week’s 8Rs we’re focusing on are resourcefulness and resilience.
To be resourceful at school, we can make sure we’re bringing anything we need from home (PE kits, reading books, homework); we can make sure everything we need is always in our trays; and we can use the displays and equipment around the classroom to help our learning. Discuss with your child whether there are ways they can be resourceful at home.
All of Year 6 know what it means to be resilient. We discussed when we might need to be resilient and how we might feel at the time. See whether your child can share any of our discussion with you.
We had a bit of fun while thinking about resilience too. Each group was challenged to build the tallest tower they could but, every now and again, someone (definitely not Miss Rushbrooke) came and knocked some of it down. This helped us to experience those feelings we might have at a time we need to be resilient.
