Vincent Van Gogh or Kandinsky?
Today we have started our new Big Topic, Katie and… based on the books by James Mayhew.
Year 1 had some great group discussions about likes and dislikes of a number of famous paintings. We concluded that it was ok to each have our own opinions and to respect others’ opinions, too.
Welcome!
Welcome to Reception Class!
Thank you all for welcoming us into your homes. It was lovely to meet you all and get to know your child a little bit more.
We hope you’re as excited as we are about this new chapter in your child’s life and hope you’ve been provided with all the information you need. As always, please ask if you are not sure about anything.
The children will all begin this week, with the last children arriving on Thursday.
After your first day, school will begin at 8.50am and finish at 3.15pm. Please bring your child into the classroom and help them in the different learning areas to have a go at a learning challenge. Take this time to look at your child’s learning journey.
We try to get the children to be as independent as possible early on, so please let them hang their coat up and sort themselves out while you wait in the classroom.
At 3.15pm, please wait at the gate to the Reception outdoor area to collect your child.
See you all soon!
Ralph the Rabbit
Let me introduce you to a member of Year 1 that you may not have met before – this is Ralph:
Ralph goes to someone’s house every Friday but doesn’t like being away from school too long so needs to be returned to school on Monday morning. Ralph will have a rucksack with his pyjamas in and he has a full set of clothes (including boxer shorts) so please make sure he doesn’t sleep in his clothes. In the bag with Ralph, you will find a book for you to record what Ralph has done at your house while he has been visiting. Please make sure that all his clothes are returned back to school with Ralph – one of the main objectives for your child is to be responsible for something else which means caring for his possessions.
We hope you enjoy having Ralph to stay – he’s a very easy-going house guest!
Welcome to Year 1
Wow! What a brilliant start to Year 1. The children have moved from Reception to Year 1 without any upset and are certainly ready to learn – well done to Mrs Burke and her team who have done a brilliant job preparing the children for Key Stage 1.
We’ve had a busy couple of weeks, learning new routines and getting straight into all lessons. We have seen some fantastic independent writing and have discovered that there are some great imaginative ideas when predicting stories. Gerry the Giraffe has helped us to learn some positional language and there has been some great PE which has impressed Mr Catherall.
Here are some photos of our first couple of weeks:
A great start
Now that we’ve all settled into Year 2, it’s time to say welcome back to everybody and well done for such a great start to the year.
Already, we’ve been exploring our use of adjectives by working together to make sentences more interesting…
A dog walked down the street.
- Add an adjective – An angry dog walked down the narrow street.
- Choose a more interesting verb – A dog scurried down the street.
- Use a conjunction to add information – A dog walked down the street so he could get back home.
- Use an adverb – A dog walked hurriedly down the street.
- Of course, you could use all of these to really improve your writing.
An angry dog scurried hurriedly down the narrow street so he could get back home.
We’ve also got lots of facts to remember for our Where in the world? topic. Here are some things we need to know. Maybe you could test us at home…
- Seven continents – Africa, Europe, South America, North America, Australasia, Antarctica and Asia.
- Five oceans – Arctic, Indian, Atlantic, Southern, Pacific
- United Kingdom – England (London), Scotland (Edinburgh), Wales (Cardiff) and Northern Ireland (Belfast).
Keep up the hard work, Year 2.
Smile for miles on the St Gemma’s sponsored walk
One of our chosen school charities, St Gemma’s Hospice, is holding their first ever Happy Walk on Saturday 20 September. This is a good opportunity to support our school charity but also to take part in a great morning with your family while walking 3.5 or 5.5 miles around Roundhay Park. The event starts at 10am.
We’ll be co-ordinating registration for the event and registration forms are available now from the office.
Entrance for this event is £5 (children under 12 walk free) and each walker will get a free hot drink and cake. All participants are asked to raise sponsorship money. It is also a pram and wheelchair friendly route so the whole family really can get involved.
There will be an activity pack that children can take with them on the walk where they can look out for wildlife and take some tree rubbings. Before the walk starts there will also be a face painter, a chance to meet Olaf from Frozen, and time to make your own Happy Loom band to wear and keep.
St Gemma’s are also encouraging all walkers to wear what makes them Happy on the walk – whether that’s a silly hat, fluffy socks or a brightly coloured t-shirt.
We hope you are able to join in with the St Gemma’s Happy Walk.
KS2 fruit tuck shop
The KS2 fruit tuck shop returns next Tuesday 16 September with prices remaining at 20p per item. Open to Years 3 – 6, children can come to the tuck shop at playtime to purchase items from a selection of fresh and dried fruits. There is an option to pre-pay so your child doesn’t have to remember to bring money to school. As an extra incentive, you get one week free if you pre-pay for this term. Please return the letter to the office or ask in the office for more information. The Year 5 class will be receiving their training this week to run the tuck shop and look forward to lots of new and regular customers next Tuesday.
New SEAL theme
As we start the new school year, our SEAL (Social and Emotional Aspects of Learning) theme focuses on new beginnings.
‘I make someone feel welcome’ is the first SEAL statement to launch the theme.
New Beginnings allows children the opportunity to discuss and reflect on how they or others may feel in a new situation or setting. This SEAL theme offers children the opportunity to see themselves as valued individuals within a community, and to contribute to shaping a welcoming, safe and fair learning community for all.
During the theme, the key areas of learning are empathy, self-awareness, social skills and motivation.
Through discrete SEAL lessons, circle times and across the curriculum, children will explore feelings of happiness and excitement, sadness, anxiety and fearfulness, while learning (and putting into practice) shared models for calming down and problem-solving.
New Beginnings supports the development of a learning community in each classroom where all members feel that they belong. Class contracts, produced at the start of the year, allow children to contribute to how they feel they can achieve a safe and fair learning community.
Ready to learn
It’s the summer holidays and, in line with our homework policy, there is no formal homework set over the six-week break.
That doesn’t mean that your child won’t be learning! We learn all the time – and so do children, whether it’s through play, day-trips, independent reading, discussions at home…
And of course, you’ll be keen to support your child at home so the basic facts aren’t forgotten. Please think about key English and Maths knowledge that you can gently practise over the holidays:
- number bonds: knowing pairs of numbers that add to make ten, like 3+7=10 and therefore 10-7=3). When your child is secure with pairs that total ten, can they extend this knowledge to pairs which make 20 (13+7=20, for example) and 100 (such as 30+70=100) – make this fun by using some sweet treats or how about stringing ten loom bracelets on string and then hiding some and making the link with the ones that are left (how many are hidden if you can see three bracelets?)
- times tables: Year 2 children should have an emerging knowledge of the 2 times table and the 10 times table at least, and children who have just finished Year 4 should know all their times tables (up to 12 x 12) and the division facts, too (7×8=56 so 56÷7=8) – think about chanting some times tables or buying an app to practise just a few minutes every day to keep your child’s knowledge sharp!
- reading: lots of reading over the holidays will help your child in lots of different ways – visit the local library; take part in our Extreme Reading competition; if you’re going to a theme park or museum, read the leaflet and the website… there are loads of opportunities to build in reading as a daily activity!
- writing: reading will help your child’s spellings and writing style, so don’t force lots of writing, but do try to encourage some useful, purposeful writing – write some postcards to friends and relatives , or send some emails instead, and make lists for what to pack on holiday, or what to buy if planning a sleepover.
Check out this guide about supporting learning, useful whether it’s term-time of holiday time!
Finally, make sure you enjoy the summer break!
The end of a brilliant year!
Wow! What a fantastic year this has been. I’ve thoroughly enjoyed my first year at Moortown and it’s due to the children in Year 2. We’ve learnt so much and everyone is leaving Year 2 as more enthusiastic, mature young learners. I’m particularly pleased with how our behaviour has improved and expect to see this good work continue in Year 3. Good luck everyone. Enjoy your Summer!
An Ode to Year 2
Never will your smile be fuller,
than when with Danny and Abdullah.
All great kids, but to name a few,
Pohnum, Nishaan and Matthew.
Always a smile with a great big gleam,
from Aleena, Pavan, Elias, Saleem.
Megan, Hibba and good old Stan,
will help you out where ever they can.
Noah, Owen, Zeewa and Nieve,
have grown so much before they leave.
Never will there be a sad face
when with Archie, Enya, Harry or Grace.
This class you’ll find are always ‘chippa’
Matteo, Umaimah, Edward and Pippa.
Try their best, they always can,
Nico, Brandon, Hibba and Sam.
Olly and Issy have learnt so much,
Year 2…
…do stay in touch