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Training day – Arty ideas !
We thought you’d enjoy hearing a little about what went on during our recent teacher training day! Part of the day was dedicated to developing our art knowledge and skills with our resident art teacher, Mrs Boulton.
Teachers got hands-on with paints, pastels and even soap! There was plenty of colour, laughter, and even a bit of friendly competition as we experimented with new techniques and ideas for upcoming art lessons.
The rest of the day focussed on other important areas too, including maths and inclusion. It was a full, productive day – and we left feeling ready and excited for the next half-term!
Autumn 1: Week 8
Diwali
This week, we explored the story Binny’s Diwali. We talked about what a festival is and discussed the similarities between different religious festivals. The children had lots of fun learning how families prepare for and celebrate Diwali.
Help at home: Can your child remember something about Diwali? If they’re unsure, here’s some key words to help them: food, decorations, fireworks.
For our writing activity, the children designed their own invitations to a Diwali celebration. They included some fantastic drawings and used recognisable letters in their writing—well done, everyone!
What else have we been up to?
We’ve been getting creative by making our own magic potions! The children used their imaginations to come up with exciting ingredients and then wrote lists to describe what they added to their mixtures. Fantastic mark-making and early writing practice!
In the maths area, we practised 1:1 correspondence by counting pom poms to match numerals up to 10.
One-to-one correspondence focuses on the actual counting of objects, and assigning numbers to objects in the correct order, as they are counted. This also helps children to understand that the numbers they are saying hold value.
The playdough challenge has been very popular this week! The children have really enjoyed using their fine motor skills and creativity to make colourful Diya lamps.
Another popular chilli challenge involved drawing detailed Mehndi patterns, We observed some fantastic concentration and careful mark-making.
Yesterday, the children worked in pairs to design and create some beautiful Rangoli patterns.
Reminders
- Marvellous Maths Stay and Learn Session
Tuesday 18 November
Come and join us for a fun, hands-on maths learning experience! - WOW Moments
Have you noticed something special or a new interest at home?
Send photos or updates to: moortowneyfs@spherefederation.org
We love sharing these in class! - Daily Reading
It’s important that your child reads daily at home. Please continue to read eBooks to support phonics skills and their library book to support love of reading.
Have a happy and healthy week. See you on Monday 3rd November!
Writing: news reports
Today, Year 4 finished their twisted tales news reports. They were writing to report the story of the three little wolves and the big bad pig!
I was wowed by their brilliant writing and creative ideas. The reports were full of adverbs, fronted adverbials and fantastic descriptions of the awful crime.
This afternoon, Year 4 read out their writing as if they were news reporters. We spoke about our oracy skills (speaking and listening) to make sure the reports were clear and well projected. Everybody did a fantastic job – I think we might have some budding journalists in Year 4!
Help at home: watch Newsround and talk about the oracy skills the presenters are using when reporting.
Half term basketball camps
As a partner school of City of Leeds Basketball Club and one of our after-school club providers, we’re pleased to share details of their half term camps held locally at Allerton High School.
Living and Learning: Me and my money themed week
Geography walk
Last week, during Geography, we planned a walk in our locality so that we could investigate what the land is used for. This week, we walked the walked!
Here are the types of land-use we saw:
- residential – flats and houses
- commercial – shops and restaurants
- recreational – Moortown Park
- transport – roads
We really enjoyed getting our steps in while being geographers! We stayed safe by wearing high-visibility jackets, walking in pairs and taking care when crossing the roads.
Poetry Picnic
The fun, seasonal poem we’ve been learning this week is Five Little Pumpkins.
Hope you enjoy the (slightly raucous) performance!
Yorkshire Sculpture Park
On Tuesday, Year 5 and 6 went on a trip to the Yorkshire Sculpture Park to support our Art learning for next half term. We loved seeing all the amazing sculptures.
In the morning, we had a self-guided tour of the park and saw both abstract and figurative sculptures. We spent time discussing and sketching what we saw.
In the afternoon, we took part in a workshop with a real artist! We investigated patterns, textures and shape. The children did some artwork without looking at the page; they had to put their sketchbook on their heads. They also created artwork without taking their pencil off the page, which was a bit tricky! We spoke in depth about Barbara Hepworth’s Family of Man and had some brilliant ideas as to what each sculpture could represent. Finally, we made our own clay sculptures overlooking some of Henry Moore’s work. 
It was a brilliant day!
Help at home: Ask your child about the trip. What was their favourite part of the day? Which was their favourite sculpture and why? Or, take a look at the Yorkshire Sculpture Park website – can you find out more about the pieces of art we saw in real life?