Living and Learning: odd socks day
On Tuesday this week it was Odd Socks Day! This was all in order to celebrate our differences and uniqueness. It was also part of Anti-Bullying Week. We spoke about how we use the acronym STOP at Moortown Primary School to help understand what bullying is as well as how to stop it.
We talked who we could tell if we saw or experienced bullying in order to make it stop. We knew lots of people we could tell and I was very impressed by the children’s knowledge, kindness and maturity.
Living and Learning: Me and My Community Week
This week has been Me and My Community Week at Moortown. We have had lots of visitors from our local community come to school to talk about themselves and how they make up part of the community. We have also spoken about what communities we are part of, culminating in a fabulous identity day on Friday.
We talked to Grandad Wheels about life in a wheelchair and we heard him read one of his fabulous stories. We even got to design a futuristic wheelchair for him!
We visited Moortown Park with Pat who runs Friends of Moortown Park. We learnt about how they look after the park and we thought carefully about how we could look after the park too.
We also had a visit from the RNIB. We listened very carefully and learnt lots about things that help people who are blind. We even got to meet a guide dog.
We also had a visit from Mrs Gledhill who is a teacher of the deaf. She taught us some things we can do to help people who are deaf to hear us. She then taught us some sign language, we loved it!
All week we were also thinking about what makes us unique and celebrating the differences we all have, whether that is the way we look, what we like to do or our families. We read the book Odd Dog Out to help us understand this further. We even made our very own sausage dogs that reflected our personality!
What a week it has been! Well done everyone!
Guided Reading Week 2
Here are the target pages for this week’s guided reading. These need to be read by Friday 22nd November.
Extra Time: up to chapter half-time/page 45.
Divine Freaks: up to chapter 5/pg 55.
Mr Gum: up to chapter 6/pg 86.
How To Train Your Dragon: up to chapter 4/pg 60.
Kensuke’s Kingdom: up to chapter 5/page 69.
Autumn 2: Week2
Thank you to all those that attended the math stay and learn. The feedback qr code has been sent to you. Please can you complete the feedback form.
SE Maths Mastery presentation stay and learn 2024
As mentioned in the meeting the app one min maths app by White Rose is good for math fluency.
For those of you that could not make it, attached is the presentation.
If you have any questions please ask.
The children enjoyed Odd Sock day. They were able to talk about our differences and we discussed this being our super power that there is no one in the world the same as us.
For math this week, we have been comparing amounts of objects using the language more than, fewer than and the same as. The children have enjoyed completing the math challenges using this language.
Help at home: by sharing different amounts of objects (less than 10) and comparing.
We have been creating art work inspired by Seurat. We have been using cotton buds, bubble wrap and pen lids to create different sized dots with paint.
Outside the children have been building cars to go on adventures, finding conkers and having tea parties.
We had a visit from the Road Safety team on Thursday who spoke about crossing roads safely and the importance of wearing a seat belt.
Help at home: by ensuring regular reading is taking place.
Writing: Expanded Noun Phrases (ENPs)
Year 5 this week have been identifying and creating expanded noun phrases (ENPs). ENPs are made with a determiner, adjectives, a noun and potentially a preposition.
They created some brilliant examples of ENPs:
- the abandoned city of Atlantis in the middle of the ocean
- a rushing swarm of bullet-like birds
- the illuminous sky behind the edge of the crumbling mountains
- several elegant, blossoming trees beside a calm, flowing river
Help at home: Can you create any ENPs about this picture?
Road Safety
Today, Year 4 had some visitors from Leeds City Council to deliver road safety training. We had a really insightful lesson all about road safety and sustainable travel before heading out to do some practical training.
Green Cross Code:
- Think – find a safe place to cross.
- Stop – take a 30cm step back from the road.
- Look – right then left and then all around.
- Listen – listen closely for all vehicles (especially quiet ones like electric cars).
Help at home: ask your children to explain the Green Cross Code. When you are crossing roads together, make sure you are all following the Green Cross Code.
Road Safety – Seatbelts!
Today, Year 3 were visited by Leeds City Council to talk to us about road safety. There are lots of things to remember to keep us safe around the road but today was specifically about seat belts!
Seatbelts are one of the main things that can keep us safe while in the car. They keep us from getting more seriously hurt if there were to be an accident.
We watched a ball fly across the room with no belt and then with a belt. When it had a belt, it was safe and held to its seat. We repeated this again but with a model car and dummies and we saw that they were more hurt when they weren’t wearing their seatbelts.
Help at home by checking that your child knows how to put on their own seatbelt! How fast can you put it on? Can you do it in less than 10, 5, 1 seconds?
Remember: HIP, HIP, SHOULDER
Living and Learning: anti-bullying day and odd socks day
We kicked off anti-bullying day with our odd socks to celebrate that we are all unique and different.
Odd socks day is a celebration to show that we are all different and that makes us unique.
We are wearing odd socks today because we are all different and we should be treated fairly.
Odd socks day shows that we are all different. We should respect everyone no matter what they look like.
We explored our school definition of bullying, created by our junior leaders, by looking at what some of the words meant.
What are the different types of bullying?
Our school definition helped us understand the different types of bullying – physical (hurting someone’s body), emotional (hurting someone’s feelings) or cyber bullying (online).
We also considered the role of bystanders and their responsibility to start telling other people.
The story #Goldilocks looks at how we should treat everyone with respect whether it is in person or online.
How can you STOP bullying?
We used our weekly circle time to think about the role we all have to STOP bullying. Year 2 had some excellent suggestions.
Our main message is Start Telling Other People and to continue to do that until you are heard.
You can stop bullying by…
respecting others
telling the bully to stop if you are a bystander.
telling a trusted adult.
asking a lunchtime helper to help.
standing up for others.
letting everyone join in and not leaving people out.
being kind to people and not hurting them.
helping the person being bullied and take them to an adult.
being resilient and saying STOP.
ignoring the bully, walk away and don’t say anything back to them.
Using positive words and actions can also help to prevent bullying by creating a happy and healthy school.
How can you get help?
Seeking help can be done in a number of different ways.
Who could you tell? (taken from our child friendly anti-bullying policy)
- Safeguarding team – Mrs Weekes, Mr Wilks, Mrs Russell and Mrs Limbert
- Any other members of staff
- A trusted adult
- Someone in your family
- Friends
- Childline (0800 1111)
- Write a worry slip and put it in your Living and Learning box or the whole school worry box (outside the school office)
- Email stayingsafe@spherefederation.org
The children thought about who they would tell if they needed to Start Telling Other People.
Help at home: discuss our school definition of bullying with your child. Do they know the difference between falling out and bullying, and between a one-off situation and something that’s happened more than once?
Anti-Bullying Day
Today for our anti-bullying day, we joined the nation by focussing on the message of ‘choosing respect‘.
We looked at the definition of bullying which our JLT members created:
“Bullying is when you hurt someone physically or emotionally (including online), Several Times On Purpose”
Whilst we hope this would never be the case in our school, we also discussed what you can do if you were to experience bullying at Moortown Primary School:
“Start Telling Other People. You could use the Living and Learning box, the worry box, tell a trusted adult, email stayingsafe@spherefederation.org or even call Childline (0800 1111).”
The school came in odd socks today to show that we are all unique but should still all respect each other.
In class we discussed how to be respectful and safe online. The children suggested making sure to send kind messages to each other and only playing with people they know. We also discussed what to do if someone is mean online; Year 5 said you could step away and ignore, you could report or block and you can tell an adult or even the police if it is a serious incident.
Year 5 also watched the BBC Anti-Bullying Week 2024 Live Lesson. The children talked about how someone might feel if someone behaved disrespectfully:
- hurt
- lonely
- upset
- worried
- frustrated
- angry
- annoyed
- sad
- moody
- mad
- furious
Finally, we created an acrostic poem. Here are a few of them:
Help at home: Can you create your own acrostic poem using the word RESPECT? Discuss with your child how they can show respect to others.
Anti-Bullying Day
Today, we celebrated Anti-Bullying and Odd Socks Day as part of Anti-Bullying Week.
We all wore odd socks to school to show that it’s okay to be different and to stand up against discrimination and bullying. At Moortown, we always celebrate diversity and wearing odd socks was a fun way to show this today!
In Year 4, we had some important conversations around what bullying is and what to do if we experience it. We like to use the acronym STOP to help us remember.
We discussed where your children could get support regarding bullying:
- A trusted adult
- Someone in your family
- Friends
- Childline (0800 1111)
- Write a worry slip and put it in your Living and Learning box or the whole school worry box (outside the school office)
- Email stayingsafe@spherefederation.org
We attended a live online lesson held by CBBC all about friendships, conflict, respect and bullying. As part of this lesson, Year 4 came up with an acrostic poem about RESPECT.
Help at home: have an open discussion about bullying at home. What is bullying? What should you do if you experience bullying? How can bullying make somebody feel? How can we resolve conflict respectfully?