Living and Learning: body image
During the last two Living and Learning sessions, Year 3 have been discussing body image.
We started off by discussing the word ‘beauty‘ and what that means to different people. We realised that…
Everyone’s idea of beauty is different.
We talked about how media and advertising can make us think that beauty is to look one way or another.
However, some of these images may have been edited or changed to look a certain way. So, it is important that we do not compare ourselves to the images that we see online. Not everything we see online is real!
We thought about ourselves and how we are all beautiful in our own ways. Help at home: Reinforce the idea that not everything we see online is real. Can you think of something you love about yourself?
It can be on the outside or inside.
“I am beautiful because…”
Now try it with someone else at home.
“You are beautiful because…”
Science: We are biologists!
In our next science unit, we are biologists. Biology is the study of living things.
In this week’s lesson, we dissected a flower called Alstroemeria. We labelled the different parts and discussed which of them make up the male and female reproductive systems. Have a look at our work:
Help at home: Label the different parts of the flower.
Science: an EGGcellent experiment
In Science, Y4 have been looking at teeth. It’s really important that we look after our teeth because if we don’t, they can decay.
Sugar creates a sticky substance, called plaque, which can build on your teeth and become a home for bacteria. This bacteria can lead to tooth decay. The protective layer of the teeth (the enamel) can wear away.
Certain food or drinks that are high in sugar or acid can damage our teeth and we must have them in moderation. To explore the effects of different liquids on our teeth, we conducted an EGGciting experiment.
We used the following drinks in our experiment:
Coke, vinegar, orange juice and water.
We conducted an observation over time to see the effects of these drinks on our teeth. However, instead of using real teeth for this experiment, we used eggs! An egg shell contains calcium – the same mineral that is found in our enamel (the protective layer on our teeth).
After leaving our eggs for 3 days, we removed them from their liquid and observed the changes.
The effects of these drinks were clear to see!
- The coke stained the eggshell brown.
- The orange juice decayed the outer layer of the egg shell.
- The vinegar caused the egg to grow in size and become bouncy and translucent.
What we can take away from this learning is that sugary or acidic food and drink can be harmful to our enamel. We should always brush our teeth twice a day, visit the dentist regularly and cut down on the amount of sugar we have to protect our teeth.
Help at home: try this experiment again at home but use different liquids to see their effect!
Trip to Temple Newsam
Year 2 have had a wonderful day today visiting Temple Newsam Farm! We started off the day with a look around the farm and a visit to the playground.
Before lunch, we had a lovely walk around the park and saw some ducklings on the pond.
After lunch we headed back to the farm to see some teeny tiny piglets, some were just 2 days old! We learnt that despite their stereotype, pigs are one of the cleanest farmyard animals. This introduced our Design and Technology workshop about the Three Little Pigs. Pigs make nests to live in, so we decided to make some structures, much like the houses in the Three Little Pigs. We had to construct our own structure out of sticks (just like one of the three little pigs!). We tried really hard and we were really impressed with their structures.
We were very impressed with the children’s behaviour, engagement and attitude all day. They represented Moortown Primary impeccably.
WE HAD AN AWESOME DAY!!
Living and Learning: relationships
For the last few weeks, our Living and Learning lessons and circle times have been all about happy and healthy relationships between our friends, peers and families.
When thinking about our families, we thought about how we show we care for each other. We read some texts about how not all families are the same and that is ok. The children enjoyed sharing special members of their family.
The Great big book of families by Mary Hoffman
We have already learnt about consent in terms of permission seeking when online but here we thought about it when we are with others. We practised showing how we give and don’t give consent and how we can also change our mind if we want to.
Finally, you will have seen the children have brought home the NSPCC Pants Underwear rule. We revisit this important learning every year.
Help at home: read the NSPCC pants underwear rule with your child/children and think about how this keeps you safe. This parent guide is available too.
D&T: making a prototype go-kart!
Design brief:
To design and build a prototype go-kart.
Design criteria:
- must move freely
- must be able to hold a model figure
- must use an electrical circuit for motor
Challenge:
To use a steering mechanism.
The children designed their go karts using annotated sketches. These included dimensions and components. This week, they began building and they made a fantastic start.
They each had a role within their team:
- an organiser of the components
- a builder
- a design checker
They worked very well in their groups too. Help at home by listing three skills someone needs in order to be a great team mate.
Science: Does the amount of seeds affect the growth?
Does the amount of seeds affect the growth of a plant?
Year 3 have set up a test to see whether the amount of seeds in one pot affects the growth of a plant and more specifically a dwarf sunflower!
What are we measuring?
We are measuring the height of the plants in centimetres every week.
What are we keeping the same?
We are keeping the size of the pots, the amount we water them and conditions (windowsill) the same.
What are we changing?
We are changing the amount seeds in each pot: 1, 2, 4 and 8 seeds per pot.
We went out in the sun to plant these and to plant our own individual sunflower seeds too!
The children will measure how these grow over the weeks and take them home.
Check back here to see updates!
Help at home by predicting what you think will happen to our 1, 2, 4 and 8 seeds growth.
Living and Learning: RSE
This week, we’ve been learning about Relationships and Sex Education.
Here’s what some Y6s had to say about our unit of learning:
“It was a little weird but also interesting at the same time.”
“I thought it was interesting and I enjoyed the learning like how to look after a baby.”
“I quite enjoyed it because it explained how all of us are here at this moment!”
“It was a little uncomfortable at times but it was really interesting.”
During and after each session, we always had opportunities to ask questions, as long as they followed the rules, and we discussed some of them at the end of the lesson or at the start of the next. It was a great way to feel safe and heard.
Here are some snippets of our learning. We covered topics such as conception, pregnancy and consent (which of course can be seen in a variety of scenarios).
PE: Cricket
This half-term, our PE topic has been cricket. We have been practising our batting, bowling and fielding skills. We have been perfecting the ready position in each of these rolls. In the past couple of lessons, we have been applying our improved skills in games of kwik cricket.
Help at home: Can you show the ready positions? What are the rules of kwik cricket?
Summer 2: Week 4
Literacy
This week, we’ve been reading Clean Up! by Nathan Bryon. After reading the book, we thought about how we could look after our oceans, animals and earth. It has helped us to understand that we are responsible for our own litter. We had a go at making some eye-catching posters to help get our important messages across.
To help keep our school tidy, we had a go at litter picking.
Art
Yesterday, we talked about Alexander Calder and had a look at some images of his famous moving mobiles. We talked about the different 3d shapes and had a go at creating our own representations of his work. We’ll continue to create our mobiles next week.
Living and Learning
This week, we’ve been recognising our strengths and saying good things about ourselves. I am good at…
Zo – swimming
Zu – writing
Ha – football
Ar – gymnastics
Geo – basketball
Ay – cricket
Po – being helpful
Je – being a good friend
Learning journey drop in
Your child should have a brought home a learning journey drop in letter. Please make sure your return your sign-up slip by Friday 4th July.
School trip
We’re really looking forward to our school trip to Nell Bank on Wednesday. Your child will need:
- Named water bottle
- Packed lunch
- Suitable coat
- Suitable footwear
Your child does not need their school bag on this day!