Safety Week – Friday at Yeadon Tarn
Thanks to Mrs Taylor’s organising and fantastic weather, Year 6 had a brilliant day at Yeadon Tarn on Friday of Safety Week, getting to put their safety learning into practice.
Throughout the day, we kayaked, took part in team-building problem-solving tasks and set out on some orienteering. Although they were very much looking forward to the kayaking, the children really enjoyed all three activities.
Problem Solving
Orienteering
Kayaking
Capacity finding
We’ve been making a mess this morning in our maths lesson. Children had to find the capacity of different containers in litres. First they estimated the capacity and then used a litre measuring jug to find how close their estimates were.
Measuring, comparing and observing
As part of the Year 2 learning on capacity/volume, we’ve been measuring and comparing today. Hopefully, your child has been looking at labels at home to compare volumes of everyday household things.
By the end of Year 2, this is what the children should be able to do.
Choose and use appropriate standard units to estimate and measure length/height in any direction (m/cm); mass (kg/g); temperature (°C); capacity (litres/ml) to the nearest appropriate unit, using rulers, scales, thermometers and measuring vessels.
Compare and order lengths, mass, volume/capacity and record the results using >, < and =.
Concert in Year 2
We had a short concert in the classroom this afternoon showcasing the guitar skills of one of our classmates.
The playing was almost as impressive as the understanding of how to read music.
SEAL theme – Changes
We start this half term with a focus on manners.
Our SEAL statement is I cover my mouth (when I yawn, cough, sneeze).
For coughing and sneezing we have referred to the vampire method of sneezing into your elbow rather than a hand. After introducing this method a few years ago, it is great to see children now doing this without reminders.
During this half term, we start to think about changes the children will experience in school in terms of moving class, key stage and even school.
This SEAL theme tackles the issue of change and aims to equip children with an understanding of different types of change, positive and negative, and common responses to change. The key ideas and concepts behind this theme are:
- Change can be uncomfortable, because it can threaten our basic needs to feel safe and to belong
- Change can also be stimulating and welcome
- Both adults and children can experience a range of powerful and conflicting emotions as a result of change – for example, excitement, anxiety, uncertainty, loss, anger, resentment
- Worries about change can be made worse by uncertainty, lack of information, or misinformation and lack of support from others
- People’s responses to and ability to cope with change are very variable, and might be influenced by individual temperament, previous experience of change, and the nature of the change – chosen or imposed, expected or unexpected, within our control or out of our control
Some children may welcome most forms of change and dislike routine and predictability. Other children may find even small changes very difficult.
Perhaps you can support your child’s learning by discussing at home any current and future changes, too.
Safety Week – Thursday
Year 6 were very busy on Thursday of Safety Week. We had a visit from Dogs Trust which was very informative: cross your arms over your chest if a dog jumps up at you and, if one knocks you over, curl up into a ball with your hands over your face. They also brought Megan with them who was a fab addition to the class for half an hour.
We then worked on a short production which informed us and our audience on top tips for how to stay safe online. We warmed up with some great drama activities about displaying emotions. Can you guess what emotions we were working on here?
Safety week in Year 6 – Tuesday and Wednesday
Still having a great time during Safety Week. We finished off the carousel lessons with KS2 teachers on Tuesday and not only were the children really positive about the sessions, they could recall all sorts of information about staying safe.
The NSPCC visited Year 6 on Tuesday afternoon, discussing a number of scenarios children may find themselves in, whether they were ok and what to do if they found themselves in such situations.
Tuesday also involved learning about how to keep our bikes and scooters in a good (and therefore safe) conditions. Many children returned to class with bike grease on their hands, having got stuck in.
On Wednesday, we had a visit from d:side which gave us the opportunity to learn more and ask questions about drugs. This was a great session and Dave, our d:side visitor, made sure the children understood that any question was ok and it didn’t matter how much you did or didn’t know already – I learnt a few new things myself, too!
We finished the day going out onto the road in small groups to do a traffic survey. Working with the council’s road safety team, we set up a speed camera and monitored how fast cars were travelling, whether drivers were wearing seat belts, how many people were in the vehicles and what distractions people allowed themselves to have while driving. The results were quite shocking: 47mph was the highest speed recorded (on 30mph Shadwell Lane) and a number of drivers were spotted not wearing a seat belt.
Half term highlights
Yet another half term has passed and what a busy one it has been!
Year 4 has been full of learning with lots of fun along the way. Here are some of the highlights from the past few weeks.
In English, we have been planning and writing our own descriptive settings. The standard of writing has greatly improved across the class. Children who have previously found writing quite a challenge were inspired and motivated by the creative way in which we prepared our work.
- “Gazing through the gaps in the leafless trees, shafts of sunlight hurt my eyes.”
- “As I stumbled along the narrow, rocky path, a tiny, yellow bird fluttered past me.”
- “Raging like a lion, water cascaded down the battered rocks and into the deep,blue pond below.”
Our new topic, ‘Natural Disasters’, is proving to be a popular one. The children have so far learnt about the Earth’s layers, volcanoes and the impact they can have on an environment. Our recent trip to Magna was a big success and full of fascinating facts. We even got to see a ‘fire tornado’! Some children have managed to carry their descriptive writing in topic lessons: “Boiling, hot lava charged down the rocky sides of the volcano like soldiers running into battle.”
Safety Week was jam-packed with activities and visitors: Dogs Trust, E-Safety workshop, safety awareness in various settings and bike safety to name but a few. There are a few photos below.
Here are some recent quotes from the children:
- “I love our ‘Reading For Pleasure’ sessions. They are so calm and we can just enjoy reading.”
- “I love school. It’s great fun with all the teachers.”
- “Playtime is great because lots of people play with me.”
- “My favourite subject is Art. I like being creative. Also, I like our SEAL sessions as they are calm and you can share your emotions.”
- “I like writing and you can get some really good ideas from other people.”
Below are a selection of photos from the last half term. Take a look.
Enjoy the half term break and we look forward to seeing you all for the final term of Year 4!
Dogs Trust
We had a visit from the Dogs Trust yesterday who taught us how to stay safe around dogs.
Scooter safety training
Thank you to Anne from Leeds City Council road safety department who provided lots of safety advice for riding a scooter today.
The first job was to make sure we were safe to scoot by checking safety helmets were fitted correctly and listening carefully to the instructions for the training. Children then followed the playground course making sure they were keeping a safe distance between scooters.
We look forward to some of the children developing these skills in the scooter after-school club starting after half term.
