A suprise!
Year 5 had a surprise visit from Miss Needham! The children were thrilled to see her. Whilst she’s back for a flying visit, she popped in to see us before she jets back off to Australia.
Roundhay Tennis open days
Waterstones!
Yesterday, 9 children from Year 3 and 4 went on a trip into Leeds city centre to visit Waterstones!
The children had a look around and all chose a book to take home. We had great fun looking at all the different choices that were available. It was hard to choose just one!
Your children chose a mixture of books – graphic novels, narratives and non-fiction books.
It was a lovely afternoon out!
Brownlee Triathlon
This week, a group of our Key Stage 2 pupils took part in the Brownlee Foundation Mini Triathlon event at John Smeaton. This is always a popular and oversubscribed event and it introduces the children to the elements of triathlon – a swim, a bike ride and a run.
Well done to all the children for taking part, showing great determination and supporting each other.
If your child is interested in triathlons, please see more details in our physical activity guide or have a look at the bike and run opportunities at the Brownlee Centre.
Some children are also competing in the upcoming junior aquathlon taking place at Leeds University on 1st June. More details can be found here.
Maths: length and height
It’s always great to hear about extra learning at home.
Here’s some great measuring.
Writing: a letter to a loved one
This week, writing has linked to history because we’ve been writing a recount of an evacuee’s journey to the countryside.
Today, we planned them using story maps.
We want our letters to include information about the journey there, what our host family is like and what we’ve done so far. Our aim is to remember to use a variety of sentence structures whilst remembering our vital must dos: full stops, capital letters and accurate spelling.
Some children had never seen farm animals before (or so much grass!) so we want to capture the culture shock of moving to a completely new place.
Evacuating to the countryside must have been terrifying as well as partly enjoyable but ultimately it kept millions of children safe.
Help at home by asking your child what the purpose and audience of our recount is.
Living and learning: physical health and fitness
This week, our L&L statement is ‘I know that being physically active is mentally and physically healthy’.
We also watched a video which explained why movement was so vital to our lives – it prevents disease, helps memory and builds muscle.
We discussed lots of other ways that being active improves mental wellbeing and came up with our own. We listed some top tips for getting moving.
Finally, we talked about our advice for the following person:
“I think you should try swimming because it makes you feel refreshed and good,” – Henry
“I think they should try and go to bed a little earlier so they can get more sleep,” – Viv
“I would recommend to set a goal to eat a fruit or vegetable every day. They should eat five a day,” – Inayah
“They should have a little bit of protein, veg, fruit, carbohydrates, dairy and a bit of oils and sugar in their diet,” Jensen
“Drink more water!” – Ava
Science: A smelly experiment!
For this unit of science, we are chemists. We are currently learning about reversible and irreversible changes; this lesson was focused on irreversible changes. Irreversible means ‘when a change cannot be undone to get the same substances back again’.
In groups, the children measured the starting components – vinegar and baking powder. Next, they added them together into a bottle, with a balloon on top, to collect the gas that was created (carbon dioxide). This was an irreversible reaction. The scientific enquiry type was comparative and fair tests.
Help at home: Discuss other irreversible changes. For example, burning toast.
Reading: Refugees by Brian Bilston
This week, in Reading, we are focussing on the poem ‘Refugees’ by Brian Bilston. This poem is a palindrome. A palindrome is when a word, phrase, or sequence that reads the same backwards as forwards e.g. madam or nurses run.
We discussed our thoughts about the poem after reading it forwards and backwards. This poem was incredibly clever as the meaning changed depending on which way you read it.
Hadi said, “When we read it first we disliked the poem but when we read it from bottom to top I liked it.”
Nimrah said, “The poem is unfair because people had to evacuate from their countries and it wasn’t their fault. The poem read the opposite way made it seem like the poet really cared for people.”
Danny said, “When we first read the text, I found the poet unkind because he didn’t want to share things with refugees but when read the opposite way he was kind as he did actually want to share.”
Layla said, “I think the poet is clever because it doesn’t just talk about it in a bad way, it also talks about it in a good way.”
Help at home: Have a read of the poem – backwards and forwards – and discuss your thoughts.
Writing: Hot-Seat
In writing, we’re currently working on a piece of journalistic writing all about Leeds West Indian Carnival.
The purpose is to tell the news.
We’re learning about the carnival in our History topic at the moment so we know loads about it! A carnival is a festival that is made up of processions, dancing, music and costumes.
The R2s (remember tos) for our online news article are going to be:
- a headline
- subheadings
- main facts
- history of the carnival
- quotes
Today, we looked more closely at quotes. Your children did a hot-seat where they got to interview some people about the carnival. We then used the quotes gathered from these interviews to turn into direct speech.
Help at home: ask your child who founded the Leeds West Indian Carnival? Why did they start Leeds West Indian Carnival? What does Leeds West Indian Carnival involve?