Reading skills
We’re using the picture book, A house that once was, to support our adjective and description learning in English this week.
Today, in our reading learning, we thought about the characters in the book and considered what we would ask the characters using what we know about the text so far.
- How did you find that house?
- How did you get there?
- How are you feeling?
- When did you discover the house?
- What are you looking at?
- Who are you?
- Where are you?
- What is covering the path?
- Are you meant to be there?
- Are you scared?
- Have you been to the house before?
We then used hot seating to ask these questions to our ‘characters’.
At home, try asking your child questions about the characters in fiction books to show your child’s understanding of the text.
Living and Learning – Anti-Bullying Week
During Anti-Bullying Week, we used the following image in our reading learning to retrieve and interpret information based around bullying.
We started by considering whether this is bullying.
Well done to Gabriel H who confidently stated, ‘this isn’t bullying because we don’t know if they have done this several times on purpose.’
In another reading lesson, looking at word meanings, we used the school definition of bullying as there were some words we wanted to make sure we all understood.
Finally, the children came up with their own scenarios and asked the rest of the class whether it was bullying or not and why.
To support at home, ask your child what bullying means at Moortown Primary and what they would do if they were to experience bullying or witness bullying. STOP is a key message we use to reinforce the problem and the solution (Several Times On Purpose and Start Telling Other People).
Living and Learning: Anti-bullying week ‘Choose Respect’
This week, all classes have been learning about different aspects of bullying during national Anti-Bullying Week.
Thank you to those families who supported our Odd Socks Day on Monday, celebrating that we are all unique.
At their first meeting, our new School Council reviewed the school definition of bullying and this remains unchanged.
‘Bullying is when you hurt someone, physically or emotionally, several times on purpose.’
In addition to this definition, each class has considered the following.
- Types of bullying – cyber-bullying and prejudice-based bullying related to gender, sexual orientation, race, religion and belief, special educational need and disability
- What to do if children experience or witness bullying. The key message is to tell someone (start telling other people)
STOP can stand for two key messages: the definition or the problem (Several Times On Purpose) and the solution (Start Telling Other People).
All classes have access to their class I want to say box or a whole school worry box where they can tell an adult any concerns about bullying or any other issues.
Our whole school homework this week, will allow children to consolidate this learning and show what they have learnt in a creative way.
We encourage you to discuss this learning with your child and for further support, bullying resources can be found at…
- https://www.anti-bullyingalliance.org.uk/tools-information/advice-parents
- https://www.kidscape.org.uk/resources/
- http://www.bullying.co.uk/advice-for-parents/
- https://www.internetmatters.org/hub/news-blogs/get-involved-in-anti-bullying-week-2018-choose-respect/
- https://www.nspcc.org.uk/preventing-abuse/child-abuse-and-neglect/bullying-and-cyberbullying/keeping-children-safe/
- https://www.childline.org.uk/info-advice/bullying-abuse-safety/types-bullying/
- https://youngminds.org.uk/find-help/feelings-and-symptoms/bullying/
A few reminders
It’s going to be a busy day tomorrow!
In the morning, we are visiting Herd Farm for a Forest School Time Travellers experience based around our current big topic.
Here are a few reminders for the trip.
- The children should wear uniform as normal.
- We will be outdoors for the morning so please bring a warm, waterproof (although the forecast looks dry) coat, a hat and gloves.
- Bring wellies to wear for the trip. Children can change back into school shoes when we return.
- We will be back at school for lunch so no packed lunch is needed (unless your child normally has a packed lunch at school).
We’ve been checking the weather in class and fingers crossed it will stay dry. Ask your child how we found this out.
Please also ensure your child has their PE kit at school as in the afternoon we will be going to Allerton Grange for a PE session led by their Sports Leaders.
Odd socks day
We launched anti-bullying week today by taking part in Odd Socks Day.
There were all kinds of sock colours and designs on show celebrating the fact that we are all different and unique. Thank you for supporting this.
Here’s some of the Year 2 selection.
New kit awarded from Premier League Primary Stars
Following our application to the Premier League Primary Stars Kit and Equipment Scheme, we’ve heard our bid has been successful!
As a result, we’ll receive a new kit for school later in the year. This will be of great use for the football team and for other competitions.
School Council, when they meet for the first time on Wednesday, will be discussing the possible team colours. The final choice will be made democratically: each school councillor will vote for their favourite.
Which would you choose?
Allerton Grange sports leaders
Over the year, Year 2-Year 6 will visit Allerton Grange to take part in PE sessions organised by their sports leaders.
There are many benefits of these sessions:
- Allerton Grange sports leaders have the opportunity to practise and develop their skills with a class
- the sessions support our positive relationship with Allerton Grange
- our pupils visit a local high school
- the children get to enjoy a PE session in a different environment and see positive role models (the leaders)
- the sessions give a positive image to physical activity
- pupils reinforce their road safety knowledge as they walk to Allerton Grange
October active travel prize winners
We’ve awarded the final voucher prizes for our October active travel prize draw.
Well done to Isla, Year 2, and Jasraj, Year 4, who won the week 4 and overall October month prizes for travelling to school in an active way.
The Living Streets’ WOW interactive travel tracker allows children to record, in class, their daily journey to school and children will continue to be awarded themed badges at the end of every month for travelling actively.
An active journey includes:
- walking
- scooting
- biking
- park and stride
We want to reduce the number of cars outside school so if you do have to travel by car, we recommend parking away from the school gate maybe at our preferred park and stride location, Marks & Spencer.
As always, keep safe while travelling.
DT Catapults!
We’ve been designing and making catapults in topic lessons this week. Children used elastic bands, lolly pop sticks and a spoon to create their catapults. It was tricky to get the elastic bands attached but it was good fine motor skill practice! We then tested our catapults by trying to fire a fuzzy missile over the wall of a castle. Finally, we evaluated the effectiveness of our catapults and suggested improvements. 
Spelling strategies
We’ve been using different strategies to help us to learn spellings.
Word shape Children draw around the shape of the word to remember the shape the letters make. 
Word pyramids Children begin with the first letter of the word and then add an extra letter on a new line until they have the word written in full. 
