Me and My Community week
Our next whole school themed week, based around identity, diversity and community, will be taking place from Monday 4th November. This is the first of two themed weeks in the year. In our ‘Me and My Community’ week, children will learn about what it means to belong to a community, from family to national or even international communities. Importantly, our children will also learn to respect and celebrate different communities. A variety of events and visitors are planned to help us deliver this key aspect of our Living and Learning education.
Events and learning during the week will include looking at our own identity including belonging and self-esteem, diversity of people around us including race, age, religion and disability and children will also be getting out into the community working with local organisations and taking pride in the local area for example by litter picking.
Active travel in the community
We encourage children to get out in the community in an active way on their way to and from school, with prizes available as part of the themed week. By walking/scooting/biking to school, families will by keeping our community safer and healthier by reducing congestion at the school gate. Maybe even pick up a piece of litter on the way. Even by parking further away from school your child could then to do the final part of their journey by foot, bike or scooter. Bike and scooter storage facilities are available beside the Year 3 and 4 classrooms.
Email us (moortownoffice@spherefederation.org) a picture of your active travel, maybe by a landmark in our community on your route to school, for the chance to win one of five vouchers. Entries to be submitted by noon on Friday 8th November.
New school charity
At the end of the themed week, classes will have the chance to discuss our charity shortlist and the Junior Leadership Team will have the final vote for which charity they would like our school to support, replacing our current charity, The Children’s Heart Surgery Fund.
Identity day
Friday 8th November will be a non-uniform Identity Day. Children are invited to dress in clothing that represents part of their identity, for example uniform from a club they attend, a team they are part of or support or traditional dress to represent their heritage. There is no donation or contribution required for this day.
SAVE THE DATE PTA coffee morning Friday 8 November 9-10am
As part of the week, we welcome all parents and carers to an informal coffee morning to meet other members of our school community including representatives from the PTA. A whole school community Wake up Shake up will follow at 9:50am in the main playground.
Can you help?
Maybe you speak another language and you would be happy to speak to children about this or you would like to share about your own family culture and heritage. If so, please contact the office to pass on your details. Also, do you have any local community links that may support our week?
Our website continues to keep you up to date with key community events as well as our community noticeboard.
Writing – Write a recount!
In our writing lessons, we have completed our first writing unit! We’ve written a recount as a warrior arriving back home to Athens.
What is a recount?
A recount re-tells events and describes what has happened.
What makes a good recount?
- past tense
- description
- feelings
- adverbs
We did an amazing job of including all of our features. We have read back through our writing to check it makes sense and to see if we could improve it! So if you see purple pen, that’s our editing and improving.
Here’s a couple of our recounts:
Our next piece is writing is a discussion piece. Help at home by discussing two sides of an argument like: Are dogs better than cats?
Dogs are better than cats because…
Cats are better than dogs because…
Topic – The Golden Age of Ancient Greece!
Year 3 are well into their Topic for this half term – Ancient Greece.
Ancient Greece’s Golden Age (the time where it was at its best) lasted from around 800BC to 300BC. During this time, they were a very innovative civilisation. They’ve influenced our lives in so many ways and we made some posters to display this!
Sport
They founded the Olympics with many of the sports we still play today e.g. javelin, discus and horse racing.
The story of Marathon who ran the distance (42 km) which we still run now.
Language
Some of our language originates from Ancient Greek.
Art
The Ancient Greeks loved art and performance. From amphitheaters and amazing architecture to spending time making and decorating pottery, the Greeks did it all.
Philosophy and Writing
We have learnt a great deal from philosophers like Socrates and Plato. So much so, that we still think deeply about the world around us every Friday morning in Year 3.
But every good thing must come to an end! The Golden Age of Greece ended around 300BC due to a few reasons:
- City states like Athens and Sparta were warring over land, resources and power.
- The Romans were attacking and trying to invade to expand their empire.
- Greek oligarchies were being over thrown by the poorer communities as they felt they weren’t being listened to!
We created some freeze frames to match these scenarios in our lesson this week.
Help at home by exploring other ways that Ancient Greece has influenced our lives today! What else can you find?
Connect Challenge
Today, the whole school completed our Connect Challenge, in memory of Rob Burrow, by running walking or skipping seven laps of the back playground and the green. All the children gave 100% and were even asking to do extra laps. It was a great active morning!
Thank you for your donations so far. You can still donate on Gateway until the end of the week with money raised to be split between the Rob Burrow Centre for Motor Neurone Disease Appeal and our school charity, The Children’s Heart Surgery Fund.
Scooter Training!
Today, Year 3 have been scooter training! Using a scooter to travel, rather than driving in a car or on a bus, is much more active and clean. It’s good for us and the environment.
First, we reminded ourselves of the Green Cross Code:
- THINK
- STOP
- LOOK
- LISTEN
We then practised using this code outside while scootering around. We had some fun practising our stopping using our break.
Then we stopped and walked while crossing a ‘road’ and looked behind us while crossing a ‘driveway’.
Help at home by choosing an active way to travel. When crossing a road or driveway can you use the Green Cross Code to keep you safe?
Living and Learning – rights and responsibilities
This week, Year 3 have been talking about rights and responsibilities.
We learnt about Eglantyne Jebb, the founder of Save the Children, who drafted the first Declaration of the Rights of the Child in 1923. She wanted children to be protected, nurtured and educated!
The children discussed what rights they have and that these rights come with responsibilities. Here’s what we came up with:
I have the right to learn and go to school. I have the responsibility to help others learn while at school.
I have the right to clean water. I have the responsibility to not waste water.
I have the right to share my religion. I have the responsibility to be respectful about other religions.
I have the right to feel safe. I have the responsibility to make others feel safe.
I have the right to feel happy. I have the responsibility to make others feel happy.
Help at home: What other rights and responsibilities can you think of? See how many you can list with your child!
Leeds Schools Sports Association cross country races
We have received details about the LSSA cross country races for this year. These races take place on a Saturday and children compete against pupils from other Leeds schools.
Please note, parents/carers are responsible for taking and supervising their child/children at these events. There will be a parent representative.
There are opportunities for Year 3 and 4 girls and boys to race 900m and Year 5 and 6 girls and boys to race 1500m.
Race 1 – Saturday 19th October 2024 – Woodhouse Grove School
Race 2 – Saturday 9th November 2024 – Cardinal Heenan Catholic High School
Race 3 –Saturday 14th December 2024 – Prince Henry’s Grammar School
Race 4 – Saturday 18th January 2025 – Middleton Park Subject to confirmation from LCC
More details about race 1 will follow shortly.
Here are some of our Key Stage 2 children taking part in one of the races last year.
Connect Challenge Wednesday 02 October
What is it?
The Connect Challenge is in memory of Rob Burrow CBE. It involves a rugby ball being ‘passed’ between local schools and each school taking part in a physical activity event.
When is it?
The challenge will run from Thursday 26 September, (Rob’s birthday) until Thursday 3 October. Our event is in the morning of Wednesday 2nd October.
Why are we remembering Rob?
Rob Burrow CBE sadly died on 2 June 2024, four and a half years after he was diagnosed with motor neurone disease. Throughout that time, Rob and his family bravely chose to publicly share their MND journey to raise awareness of the disease.
What is our Connect Challenge?
We will complete seven (Rob’s rugby shirt number) laps of the green and the back playground by travelling in different ways – walking, jogging or skipping. Children should come to school in outdoor PE kit on the day.
We will be raising money at the event, to be split between the Rob Burrow Centre for Motor Neurone Disease Appeal and our school charity, The Children’s Heart Surgery Fund.
We request a donation of at least £1. This can be paid online via school gateway.
Help at home: discuss this challenge at home and the reasons why we are remembering Rob. This challenge is also about friendship. Rob’s ex team mate and friend Kevin Sinfield has now raised over £8 million for MND charities. Ask your child how can they be a better friend?
Writing – What is a recount?
In our writing lessons, we have begun our first writing unit! We’re going to write a recount as a warrior arriving back home to Athens.
What is a recount?
A recount re-tells events and describes what has happened.
What makes a good recount?
- past tense
- description
- feelings
- adverbs
So far, we’ve read a WAGOLL (What A Good One Looks Like) and we’ve decided that the best recounts include lots of detail and their sentences start in many different ways. One way to do these two things is to use adverbs!
What is an adverb?
An adverb is a word that adds information to the verb. It might tell us how, where or when something is happening.
For example:
Miss Birch danced elegantly.
The boat floated into the harbour early.
I love chocolate ice-cream the best.
Help at home: Use adverbs to describe your everyday tasks. I am walking up the stairs carefully. I woke up eventually.
We’ve identified adverbs in our writing and our next step is to use them in our writing. Check back here soon to see how we’ve been getting on!
Maths – flexible partitioning
Year 3 have been getting to know 3 digit numbers and how to represent them. We now have three digits that represent hundreds, tens and ones.
What does the 3 represent in each number?
We began partitioning these numbers into the three columns:
Then we had a go at partitioning these numbers flexibly with exchanging.
We know:
10 ones = 1 ten
10 tens = 1 hundred
Here’s how we did it! We used place value counters and base 10 to help us with our number sentences.
Help at home: How many different ways can you partition the number 789?What does each digit represent? Can you a part part whole model or a place value chart?