World Book Day
We’re very excited to be celebrating World Book Day next Thursday in school!
If your child would like to, they can come to school dressed as their favourite book character or in something book-related. Please don’t feel any pressure to go out and buy a costume.
Throughout the day, we’ll be taking part in a range of challenges inspired by different books. One of our creative activities will be making a milk bottle Elmer. To help with this activity, we would really appreciate it if you could send your child in with an empty milk bottle (rinsed out, please!).
Love of Reading Stay & Learn
At 2:45pm, you are more than welcome to join us for our Love of Reading Stay & Learn session. This is a wonderful opportunity for you to watch one of our daily Poetry Basket sessions and share and enjoy lots of stories with your child.
We look forward to celebrating our love of books together!
Writing: Francis
This week, Year 6 have started their new writing topic. Over the next three weeks, the children will write a short narrative which creates tension and suspense. We used an animated video as our stimulus which was sourced from the Literacy Shed.
This film is perfect at building tension: the narrator uses pauses and varies the speed at which he speaks in order to build the suspense. As well as speech used to create tension, the music also plays a key part in creating suspense.
Help at home: Watch the video with and without music. How does this alter the tension created?
This Green Moon
Today was a very special day for our Reception class as we went on our very first school trip to This Green Moon! As soon as I opened the Reception gate this morning, the children were buzzing with excitement.
When we arrived at Green Moon, we were warmly greeted by the two leaders, Paul and Matt, as well as the Reception class from St James’, one of our other Federation schools. It was lovely to come together and share the experience.
From the moment we stepped onto the coach to the minute we arrived back at school, the children were exceptional – what a credit they were to our school! Their behaviour, listening skills and enthusiasm were wonderful to see.
We thoroughly enjoyed spending the day outdoors, exploring the natural world around us. The children took part in so many exciting activities: making a fire, creating sculptures using potatoes, designing bracelets with pieces of coloured wool we found in the forest, and even working together to create a giant piece of artwork. It was fantastic to see their creativity and curiosity shining through.
What a fantastic day full of learning, laughter and adventure. Well done, Reception – we’re so proud of you all!
English: Nothing
This half term, we’ve started reading Nothing by Mick Inkpen. We’re already thoroughly enjoying the story and are very eager to find out what happens to Nothing next.
We began by making predictions about what — or who — Nothing might be:
I think it’s because they’ve left nothing behind.
I think it’s the teddy bear’s name.
We also explored how Nothing might be feeling after being trapped in the attic for many years. The children suggested a wide range of emotions, including frightened, scared, lonely and apprehensive.
Today, we brought the story to life through role play, using a strategy called “thought tracking.” The children imagined they were Nothing’s inner thoughts and described how they would feel after finally escaping the attic. They used the sentence stem:
“I would feel… because…”
It was wonderful to see such thoughtful and imaginative responses as the children deepened their understanding of the character’s emotions.
Y3/4 production – Sir David Hattenscarf
Hello!
We hope you’ve had a great half term. This half term, we’re going to begin rehearsing for our production – Sir David Hattenscarf!
If your child has a part in the production that has lines, please help at home by supporting them to learn their lines. We’ll be rehearsing at least once a day at school so any extra practice would be greatly appreciated.
Here are some strategies that might help…
- Repetition & “Line-by-Line” Method: Take it one line at a time. Read a line, cover it, and try to recite it without looking. When mastered, move to the next, then combine them.
- Write It Down: Write your lines out by hand, as this strengthens memory retention.
- First-Letter Mnemonics: Write down the first letter of every word in a sentence. Use this sheet to prompt your memory.
- Record and Playback: Record the other characters’ lines on your phone, leaving pauses for your lines. Play it back and speak your lines.
- Move While Memorising: Walk around or act out actions while reciting. Connecting physical movement to words helps solidify them in your memory.
Here’s a link to one of the songs to practise at home too: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KuSBLQ0igsE
Any questions, please ask!
Living & Learning: I know what a drug is.
In L&L this term, we’re looking at drugs, alcohol and tobacco. In Year 4, we discussed what a drug is:
A substance that changes the way the body or mind works.
To begin this topic, we looked at a range of medicines and household products and spoke about their benefits.
Medicines can make us better when we’re ill.
Bleach is good for cleaning the toilet so we can be more hygienic.
Soap is really important so we can wash our hands and body properly.
Calpol can help if you’re feeling unwell or in pain.
We then discussed the importance of staying safe when using these products. We identified the risks of these items and how we can reduce these. I was really impressed to hear so many brilliant suggestions for how we can always stay safe when using these products.
Always put medicines and cleaning products up high or locked up so children can’t touch them.
Never take medicine that isn’t given to you by a doctor or a trusted adult.
Wear gloves when using bleach.
Always read the label on medicine to make sure you’re using it safely.
Help at home: talk about some household products or medicines you have at home and how you make sure you’re always using these safely.
Let’s grow
Foot tech Y5/6 event
This week, thirteen of our Year 5 and 6 children took part in the Leeds Well Schools Partnership Foot tech 3v3 football event at Bishop Young Academy.
Our teams played lots of games against other schools during a very active morning. 3v3 matches allow the children to get more touches, passes, dribbles and tackling in a very fast paced environment.
Well done to all of the children who worked hard in their teams and represented our school so well.
Foot tech currently run two of our after-school clubs and offer football training locally.
Change in PE day
Next half term Year 5 will change their PE days from Tuesday and Wednesday to Monday and Wednesday.
Therefore, the first day back at school (23rd February) will be a PE day.
Thank you and have a lovely half term break.
Living and Learning: Safer Internet Day
On Tuesday it was Safer Internet Day. The theme for this year’s national Safer Internet Day is ‘Smart tech, safe choices – Exploring the safe and responsible use of AI.’
Our first lesson was about misinformation, disinformation and hoaxes. The children were given 3 news articles to analyse and summarise. They then had to share this information with their friends over message. What they didn’t know is that these articles were hoaxes (false information made to deceive people). I shared this information with them on purpose (disinformation) and they had then shared it by accident (misinformation).
Year 5 discussed how we must be critical users of the internet to make sure false information is not spread to affect others.
I would check different websites to see if the information was correct.
I would check for spelling mistakes and other errors.
I would look at the URL to see if it is a safe and reliable website.
It’s really important to always speak to a trusted adult if you’re unsure about something you read online.
We spoke about our conduct online as well. We know that we need to be respectful, responsible and kind in all our online interactions. Essentially, we need to treat people online with the same respect we would to their face. If we hear or read anything that upsets us we need to report it to a trusted adult.
Help at home: Can you think of at least 4 pieces of personal information that we should keep private? How can you be critical users of the internet?