Let’s have a debate
Having focussed on the River Amazon for the last couple of weeks, we spotted areas of the forest that had been chopped down and discussed what was happening.
We learnt that this is called deforestation and there are pros and cons to it. After learning about why people chop trees down and how they benefit as well as exploring what damage it does to the local and global environment, we formed teams and debated.
Should deforestation be allowed to happen?
Yes – Local people earn money from selling wood that is chopped down and they need that money to pay for food and shelter.
No – Cutting down trees cuts down animals’ habitats and might lead to them dying as they have nowhere to live.
Yes – Trees can be cut down sustainably so that only a couple of trees in one area is destroyed and older, rotten trees can be targetted.
No – But trees that are cut down damage many trees around them.
Yes – Any trees that are cut down can be replaced by newly planted trees so they’ll grow back.
No – Maybe so. However, it takes years for these trees to grow back and they’re never the same as they were.
It was difficult to decide which was right or wrong as we could always argue back with another point!
What’s happening in class?
Here’s an overview of what Year 5 will be learning in class in the two weeks running up to half-term.
Topic – Alongside learning about Brazil and seeing how it is similar/different to our country, we’ll be getting creative by looking at Brazilian art and picking up our saws and drills for some woodwork.
Help at home by looking at Brazil on Google maps, finding mountains, rivers, neighbouring countries and then do the same for the UK.
Maths – Fractions will be our focus all the way up to half-term. The children need to understand equivalent fractions, order fractions by finding a common denominator and they need to be able to add and multiply fractions together.
Help at home by joining in with Practice Makes Perfect homework. Ask your child to explain how to solve fraction problems to you as though you’ve never heard of the word fraction before.
English – Having focussed on writing promotions last week, we’ll continue this and write our own promotional text for a boat trip up the River Amazon. This will be followed by writing recounts.
Help at home by looking at the language used in adverts and read it to each other in your best ‘M&S voice’. Have a meal where only ‘writing talk’ is allowed. Everything you say must be in full sentences as though you were writing it down.
Phonics learning in Reception (and at home!)
At Moortown Primary, we follow the ‘Letters and Sounds’ programme.
At the moment, we’re focussing on Phase 1 where children learn to identify alliteration and rhyme which will pave the way for the systematic learning of phonics.
The children are taking part in lots of activities where they listen attentively to sounds around them, such as sounds in the environment and to sounds in spoken language. Singing a wide range of nursery rhymes and songs and reading books to and with the children helps to increase the number of words they know – their vocabulary – and helps them talk confidently about books.
We’re also learning to ‘sound talk’. The separate sounds (phonemes) are spoken aloud, in order, all through the word, and are then merged together into the whole word: d-o-g = dog. This merging together is called blending and is a vital skill for reading.
Children will also learn to do this the other way around: cat = c-a-t. The whole word is spoken aloud and then broken up into its sounds (phonemes) in order, all through the word. This is called segmenting and is a vital skill for spelling.
All of this learning at the moment is oral (spoken). Your child won’t be expected to match the letter to the sound at this stage. The emphasis is on helping children to hear the separate sounds in words and to create spoken sounds.
Ways you can support your child at home:
Play ‘What do we have in here?’ Put some toys or objects in a bag and pull one out at a time. Emphasise the first sound of the name of the toy or object by repeating it, for example, ‘c c c c – car’, ‘b b b b – box’, ‘ch ch ch ch – chip’.
When sounding out, try to avoid the ‘uh’ sound – say ‘sssss’ rather than ‘suh’, ‘mmmmm’ rather than ‘muh’. This is to keep the sound as ‘pure’ as it can be so there’s no confusion with extra, unwanted sounds when blending and segmenting words.
Say: ‘A tall tin of tomatoes!’ ‘Tommy, the ticklish teddy!’ ‘A lovely little lemon!’ This is called alliteration. Use names, for example, ‘Gurpreet gets the giggles’, ‘Milo makes music’, ‘Naheema’s nose’.
Teach them ‘Peter Piper picked a peck of pickled peppers’ and other tongue twisters.
Find real objects around your home that have three phonemes (sounds) and practise ‘sound talk’. First, just let them listen, then see if they will join in.
- ‘I spy a p-e-g – peg.’
- ‘I spy a c-u-p – cup.’
- ‘Where’s your other s-o-ck – sock?’
- ‘Simon says – put your hands on your h-ea-d.’
- ‘Simon says – touch your ch-i-n.’
- ‘Simon says – pick up your b-a-g.
Finally, note in some of the examples above that a phoneme (a sound) can be made up of two (or more) letters, so ‘ck’ (as in sock) and ‘ch’ (as in chin) make particular sounds.
Find out more about phonics in our Phonics Guide.
Leeds Children’s Mayor
Every year, year six pupils in primary schools are invited to enter the Leeds Children’s Mayor programme. Pupils write a short manifesto saying how they would improve Leeds if they were the Children’s Mayor. The manifesto must be based on one of the 12 wishes for a more child friendly Leeds.
Our entry this year, titled safe and independent, is by Ahmed. Here’s his manifesto. Good luck Ahmed!
If I was Children’s Mayor of Leeds, I would like to create a system which would mean certain shops have a poster on their window that shows the child walking past that it is safe in there. This means that if the child is scared about someone following them or doesn’t want to be out alone they can go in there and know that they are safe. This also follows one of the ‘12 Wishes for a more child friendly Leeds.’ This wish says that all Children and young people can make safe journeys and easily travel around the city.’ This is what would happen if I was Children’s Mayor.
To continue this manifesto, I would like to highlight that I am a strong leader and, as an observant member of year 6, I can listen and see problems. Furthermore, I can use my supportive fellow students, friends, and family to find solutions to problems. Plus, I would like to think I am a kind and caring person. Also, my older brother is part of a group for children and young people who deal with issues regarding children for the whole of England so I have learnt a lot from him and have gained experience about how to deal with problems like child poverty and unhappy children.
I would also like to put in place a special council made up completely by children and chosen by children. I think this is important because, as kids, we know what is best for us and what we really need. We should be able to make or at least have a say in the important decisions that concern us. Like my other point, this also supports the statement, ‘Children and young people express their views, feel heard and are actively involved in decisions that affect their lives’ and the fact that we will be allowed to participate and shape our lives according to decisions that we as children have made agrees with this wish. It also would mean the wish ‘Children and young people are treated fairly and respected’ is also fulfilled.
I hope I have the chance to become a candidate for Children’s Mayor for Leeds and I hope I am able to make a difference.
What’s on the menu in Brazil?
As part of the whole school Holidays topic, Year 5 and 6 have been ‘visiting’ Brazil. Following some research about popular foods in this South American country , we’ve recreated our own Brazilian dish. This was taken from a recipe book donated by the Brazilian restaurant Cabana. There is even a branch in Leeds if you’d like to try some more traditional Brazilian dishes. Our dish was a vegetarian version of moqueca (fish stew).
Take a look at our food preparation and tasting. Ask your child what skills they were using. Maybe you’ll get chance to try this at home as a few children were motivated to cook this for their family at home.
- ‘I love it and my favourite part is the courgette.’
- ‘I really like it, especially the coconut milk.’
- ‘I really like the sauce. This is new to me.’
- ‘It’s amazing – the best stew I’ve ever tasted.’
Playground fun
Breaking news from Y6 PE lessons
As you know, we are learning PE and basketball in PE with a twist. Here, two of the six journalists explain how their teams are doing so far.
Linda explains:
In recent PE lessons, we have learnt lots which makes it difficult for me to know where to start. Ah, I believe I need to do some explaining so I guess I will start from the beginning when Mr Catherall put us in groups…
It was just a normal day of working hard at school. We had done everything planned: maths, English, reading and break time. After all that work, we were heading out for lunch when Mr Catherall explained that we were going to be put in groups and would be teaching ourselves PE (basketball and rugby). We’re learning rugby because the Rugby World Cup is happening in England at the moment. Don’t panic though – of course we still have support from our teacher regularly.
Another journalist, Ravinder, wrote:
In PE we are doing rugby. However, we are in charge of our own lessons. We are in teams of five people. Our team is made up of: a skills coach (Zack), a physio (Lanas), a captain (Oliver), an equipment manager (Simran) and a journalist (Ravi). Last lesson, Zack did especially well as the skills coach. He was teaching our group and came up with some good games. Lanas also did a great warm up which included a pulse-raiser and stretches.
Ask your child how their team is getting in. Do they think their teamwork skills are improving? Why?
Holiday history
We’ve been comparing beach holidays from the Victorian age to holidays now. There are a lot of things which have changed but even more that have stayed the same. Check out our Venn diagrams…
More great Creative homework
Last week’s homework has filled the classroom with Lego.
I can design a Lego mosaic/model.
Some of us chose to design a model for a First News competition commemorating the Queen becoming the longest reigning monarch.
Some of us chose to design a model linked to the Holidays topic.
Well done, Year 5. Keep it up.
More number bonds!
7 and 3 makes 10, shown on a ten frame. Make one of these at home to support your child to remember number bonds to ten… you could use coins instead of counters.
We can show this using a ‘part,part,whole’ picture.
We enjoyed working out how many pegs were hidden behind the board!Again – do this at home – all you need are ten clothes pegs and one coat hanger, then slide some pegs to one side, the rest to the other and then create a ‘number sentence’ like 4+6=10.