Money
Today, we began learning about money in maths.
We talked about why we need money and what we can do with it. The children had some wishful ideas about what you could buy with 50p! After that, we looked at the coins more closely and sorted them. We’re only looking at pence this week so just the 1p, 2p, 5p, 10p, 20p and 50p coins. Next week, we will look at pounds and will include notes.
Further into the week, we will be adding using coins, for example, a 5p, 2p and 1p coin makes 8p altogether.
Rocket seeds
A quick update on our rocket seeds…
They’re growing! We’ve been watering them and turning them each day so that they all receive the same amount of sunlight.
We can’t see any difference between the red and the blue yet but there is a noticeable difference according to which windowsill they’re on. We’ve concluded that one of the windowsills doesn’t receive as much sunlight as the others because those seeds are growing at a much slower rate.
Today, we’ll be calculating the percentage of seeds that have grown in each seed tray and noting it on our record sheet.
Hotshots
To launch our Money Matters themed week, on 23 May, we will hold a Hotshots fundraising event, led by TSC sports and dance coaching limited, to raise money for our two school charities: Yorkshire Air Ambulance and Mind. During the day, each class will be able to take part in the Hotshots event, with every child having three chances to score a goal and their fastest time recorded. All children will receive a certificate with their fastest shot and medals will be awarded for the fastest boy and girl in each class. Sponsor forms will be sent home and children are encouraged to raise money for this event. These should be returned, with any money raised, on the day.
Money Matters
Our next whole school themed week Money Matters, based around money and financial education, will be taking place from Monday 23 May 2016. A variety of events and visitors are planned to help us deliver this key aspect of education.
During the week, we will look at questions including:
- What is money?
- Where does money come from?
- How do we spend money?
- How do we manage money?
If your job involves an aspect of finance and/or money and you can support our themed week by coming into school, please contact the office.
A fun maths game for doubles
To help us remember doubles, we have been playing a game…
Roll a die (1-6)
Double the number rolled and colour that number.
Take it in turns.
The winner is the first to get three coloured squares in a row.
The children love playing this and they are getting much quicker at recalling doubles and halves. They are also developing their logic as they decide which square they are going to colour and how they can ‘block’ their opponent.
Questions you can ask:
Which number do you think I want to colour next? Why?
If I want to colour this number, which number do I need to roll? (This gets children thinking about halving.)
How many ways can you win now?
Which square would be best to start on? Why?
The children said they would like to play it at home so you can simply download the image above or make your own. All you need is a die!
Sunflower seeds: 1 week later
A week after we planted our sunflower seeds, we could see some progress! We were super excited to see how things had changed.
We could see a shoot! Most of the pots had a shoot emerging from the soil, but not all…yet!
There was one pot which had stayed the same. The seed which has had no water has not changed. We wondered why.
We also have a seed in the fridge, a seed with no soil and a seed in the dark! We’ve made some predictions on which ones we think will be successful, but only time will tell! We’re really enjoying being scientists. You can help your little scientist develop at home by asking your child what they are learning about and investigating in science lessons. How much can they tell you about plants and our experiment?
Teamwork, concentration and coordination
Today some of our Year 1 and 2 children have taken part in the Key Stage 1 participation event as part of our partnership with Active Schools. This is one of the ways we have invested our PE Premium.
Along with other Leeds schools the children enjoyed activities including tri-golf, cheerleading and Tagtiv8.
‘I loved the golf.’
‘Cheerleading was the best.’
‘We got to do cartwheels.’
Rocket seeds
You may have seen on Newsround recently that many schools have received some seeds from outer space; we are one of those schools! Today, Year 5 were set the very important challenge of planting our schools ‘red’ and ‘blue’ seeds.
Each school has received two sets of seeds (red and blue); one lot is from space and the other are plain old Earth seeds. We don’t know which one is which but we’ve planted both and so begins our experiment to find out: will seeds grow if they’ve been cultivated in space?
This is a six week experiment through which we’re required to observe, record, measure and question – all essential scientific skills. Although Year 5 have planted them, children from across the school will be involved in looking after and monitoring them throughout the project. We’ll keep you updated as the seeds grow and let you know which ones we think are from space.
Which do you think?
Free tennis
Tennis For Kids is a free 6-week coaching course packed full of action packed games and activities designed as the perfect introduction to tennis for kids aged 5-8.
Courses are available locally at Roundhay Park tennis courts and Alwoodley tennis club.
In addition, free family open days will be running locally, at David Lloyd and Roundhay Park, over the next few months.
New SEAL theme
At Moortown Primary, we’re dedicated to the value of SEAL in promoting a happy and healthy place to learn. However, we’re always thinking about other ways to meet our children’s needs and interests. That’s one of the reasons we choose to sometimes break away from the national SEAL themes to do something different.
This half term, we’ll think about our rights and responsibilities and, importantly, that if we have rights, we also have responsibilities. Children will consider their rights and responsibilities at home, at school and in other places. These may include:
Their right to eat food, their responsibility to eat healthily.
Their right to a good education, their responsibility to listen to the teacher.
Their right to use the internet, their responsibility to go on appropriate websites.
Each week this half-term, we’ll concentrate on a different area:
- Week beginning 18 April: learning
- Week beginning 25 April: playing
- Week beginning 02 May: expressing an opinion
- Week beginning 09 May: staying safe
- Week beginning 16 May: being healthy
- Week beginning 23 May: general
Perhaps you can support your child’s learning by discussing and promoting rights and responsibilities at home, too.
