Better brains with more sleep
‘Your brain needs lots of sleep to repair itself and to organise and sort everything you have learnt’… One of the messages in the Good-night guide for children, published by The Sleep Council, sent home today, at the end of Brain Box week.
Research carried out by The Sleep Council revealed that lack of sleep among primary school children was having a devastating effect in schools with nine out of 10 teachers (92%) complaining that pupils were so tired they were unable to pay attention in class. More than a third (38%) said lack of sleep among youngsters is a daily problem for them.
This week, classes have been looking at The Sleep Council’s Better Brains with More Sleep initiative where children are encouraged to learn tips on getting their full sleep quota and the factors that can affect it.
Leeds Children’s Mayor Project 2012
Today, I have talked to the Year 6 class about this exciting project.
All of the class have been invited to take part in the competition, open to all schools in Leeds, to become Leeds Children’s Mayor. They must write a short manifesto saying how they would improve Leeds if they were the Children’s Mayor, based on one of the 12 Wishes for a more child friendly Leeds.
Entries should be brought to school by Tuesday 02 October and one entry will be selected to represent Moortown Primary. A panel including last year’s children’s mayor, Leeds youth councillors, city councillors and UK youth parliament members will shortlist all the entries down to a final ten. Everyone in the city is then asked to vote for their three favourite entries.
Our entry last year, by Bronwen Grainger, was selected as one of the ten finalists. Her idea was to link schools with local care homes / homes for the elderly and collect litter to improve the local community.
For more information and to hear from last year’s winner visit http://www.breezeleeds.org/pg/228/Leeds_Children’s_Mayor.
Good luck!
Ukulele lessons
Every Friday afternoon, Year 4 have a ukelele lesson. Mr Batton has made a guitar from a Quality Street tin!
Our Big Topics begin…
We’ve had a busy few weeks with mini-topics and our themed week but our Big Topics will begin next week!
Our topics for this school year are:
Year 1 and 2
- Roll up! Roll up! Learning about the origins of the circus and how they have changed over time
- Treasure A new topic for 2012-2013, ‘Treasure’ will include lots of map-reading and adventure
- Ee Ie Ee Ie O! Learning about different types of farms and animals
Year 3 and 4
- All aboard! Learning about transport through the ages
- To infinity and beyond! A popular topic delving deep into space
- Food, glorious food! Another new topic for 2012-2013, ‘Food, glorious food’ will look at popular food in different cultures
Year 5 and 6
- Rich and poor Thinking about differences in lifestyle between rich and poor over time
- Theme parks Another new topic for this school year, ‘Theme parks’ is a roller-coaster ride which links all the key literacy learning the children have done in the past, from reports to recounts
- Chocolate A popular topic looking at aspects such as fair trade and how chocolate is made
Learning about the brain
Year One have enjoyed a week of exciting activities. These activities helped them to understand and learn about their amazing brains. This is what they said:
- “Our brains help us think!”
- “My brain needs water.”
- “My brain has 3 parts.”
Class Assembly
It is our class assembly on Thursday 4 October. It will start at 2:40.
See you there!
Have you ever seen a rat’s brain?
Don’t worry! We haven’t dissected any rats but we did see a rat’s brain today! Dr Lewis, from Leeds University, came to talk to us today about the brain. Our brains are full to bursting with information and the 100,000,000,000 brain cells that we have made a lot of links after listening to Dr Lewis. He spoke to us about our brain’s activity when we learn something new; it truly is the most amazing organ in our body.
This is a rat’s brain – it’s quite similar to ours in shape but obviously much smaller. We also saw a snail’s brain but to be honest we thought it was a bit of fluff! Even though it was so small it did consist of 11,000 brain cells.
As well as looking at brains, we also tested our receptive points in our fingers and hands; we then tested our reflexes. Mrs Weekes asked the question, “Do our reflexes slow down as we get older?” The answer was “Yes. However if you keep your brain active then it will stay alert for longer!”
Finding all possibilities
Year 4 try to find all the ways of making 10. To find them all they need to work systematically.
Learning about brains!
This afternoon we’ve been learning about the brain. Two brain experts from Leeds University have helped us to understand how the brain works. They also showed us some snail and rat brains, tested our reflexes and taught us which parts of our bodies are the best at feeling things.
Brain Week Four
Today we had a visit from brain specialist, Dr Dave Lewis. He talked to us about how we touch and feel. We looked at the brains of animals including small sections of real snail brains and real rats brains. We tested our brain speed and reactions and learnt about how many brain cells animals had.
(We learnt that fresh brains don’t actually smell like cheese, only old preserved ones!)
It was brain-tastic!
