Grand Depart Raspberry Pi Project
The countdown to the Tour de France is almost over and tomorrow the riders will be rolling past (well, almost past) our school! This morning, we’ve been getting ready for this once in a lifetime occasion by setting up a Raspberry Pi time lapse camera which will capture all of tomorrow’s events. We’ve had to use computational thinking, maths skills and programming skills to get our camera working. This was challenging as the Raspberry Pi wanted the information in milliseconds. This meant we had to convert 10 hours (the duration we wanted the time lapse to run for) into minutes, then seconds and then milliseconds – that’s 36,000,000 milliseconds in all! We then had the simpler task of deciding the length between each photo. We decided on 5 seconds (5,000 milliseconds). We’ve got Ava’s mum to thank for helping us with this project and also
Grace and Frankie’s family to thank for offering to put the camera up outside their house. Hopefully, we’ll get some great footage from the race!
Code Club
The ‘Moortown Scratchers’ talking about their projects in the last Code Club of the year. A big thank you to all the hard work, creativity and resilience you have shown this year. A massive thanks to Linda as well, who has run the club all year!
Our new SEAL theme for this half-term is…
…’Changes’.
We begin the half term with a focus on manners: I use good table manners. Adults in school, including lunchtime supervisors, will be looking out for children who show good table manners – not talking with their mouth full and using their cutlery correctly. What other table manners can you think of? Ask your child to add their suggestion to their class SEAL box.
Following this, the Changes theme aims to equip children with an understanding of different types of change, positive and negative, and common responses to change.
It aims to develop knowledge, understanding and skills in three key social and emotional aspects of living and learning: motivation, managing feelings and social skills.
The key ideas and concepts behind this theme are:
- Change can be uncomfortable, because it can threaten our basic needs to feel safe and to belong
- Change can also be stimulating and welcome
- Both adults and children can experience a range of powerful and conflicting emotions as a result of change – for example, excitement, anxiety, uncertainty, loss, anger, resentment
- Worries about change can be made worse by uncertainty, lack of information, or misinformation and lack of support from others
- People’s responses to and ability to cope with change are very variable, and might be influenced by individual temperament, previous experience of change, and the nature of the change – chosen or imposed, expected or unexpected, within our control or out of our control
Some children may welcome most forms of change and dislike routine and predictability. Other children may find even small changes very difficult.
Within school, children, who are coping with or have undergone significant change, are supported in a variety of ways:
- Our positive ethos within school
- Support systems, from staff and peers, for children who have undergone change or who maybe new to the school
- SEAL and circle time sessions where children feel safe to talk about their feelings
- Class SEAL boxes for children to record any concerns
- Preparing children wherever possible for planned changes for example, a change of class teacher, Key Stage or even school
Roundhay Football Tournament
The Roundhay 7 a side tournament is well under way. The Year 5 team have a win and a draw from their first two games!
Upcoming sporting events
Sports & Active Lifestyles Fair
Find out what sports clubs and physical activity opportunities are available in our area for all children, young people and adults. This is a great opportunity to come as a family or with friends and take part in sport / activity taster sessions and watch sports demonstrations from local clubs.
- When: Thursday 5th June 2014
- Time: 5:30pm – 7:30pm
- Where: Roundhay School
Roundhay Park Family Fun Run (1K & 5K)
- When: Saturday 7th June 2014
- Time: 10:00am
- Where: Roundhay Park
REAP and Roundhay Live are starting the celebrations of Le Grand Depart early with this community event, full of family fun, music, food and cycling.
- When: Sunday 22nd June 2014
- Time: 12:00pm-5:00pm
- Where: Roundhay School
For further information about any of these events please ask at the school office.
Our new SEAL theme for this half-term is…
…’Relationships’.
We begin the half term with a focus on manners: I cover my mouth (when I cough, sneeze or yawn) is our statement for this week. Children, and adults, will be taught the ‘vampire method’ for coughs and sneezes in order to prevent the spread of germs – ‘use your sleeve to cough and sneeze’.
Following this, the Relationships theme explores feelings within the context of our important relationships including family and friends.
It aims to develop knowledge, understanding and skills in three key social and emotional aspects of learning: self-awareness, managing feelings and empathy.
There is a focus throughout the theme on helping children understand the feelings associated with an experience that we all need to cope with at some time: that of loss – whether of a favourite possession, a friend, a family home, or a loved one. Although relatively few children are bereaved, most will experience losses of other kinds during their childhood; losing a home, losing friends because of moving house or changing schools, or losing a pet are examples.
We would therefore ask for parents / carers to alert us to any experiences your child has had that might make this area particularly difficult for them – for example, a bereavement.
Holiday time!
We’re now two thirds of the way through the year!
It’s been a fabulous term and the Lion King has been a perfect ending to it. I was so proud of the class for their brilliant performances on Tuesday and Wednesday but especially for the enthusiasm they brought to every rehearsal and singing practice. The whole Animal Kingdom topic has been fantastic and there have been so many other highlights: the cute chicks; meeting and holding all the exotic animals; the mini-beast hunt (I’ve never seen so many woodlice!); and the great modroc animal sculptures.
The literacy and maths learning has been great this term as well. Ben has made super progress with his reading. Isabelle, Owen and Riya have produced some fantastic writing. In maths, Kieron has really impressed me with his calculating skills and Jorja is also showing she is a very confident mathematician.
Hope you have a wonderful holiday and I look forward to seeing you in a couple of weeks!
It’s the Easter holidays…
…so we have no set homework or spellings, in line with our Homework Policy.
That doesn’t mean we expect your child not to be developing their skills in reading, writing and maths!
Your child should be reading daily – this could be fiction, factual books, a comic or newspaper, and could include being read to at bedtime, too.
It would be good to practise basic skills in writing by writing a letter or email to a relative, perhaps recounting a day-trip or reviewing a film your child watched.
We’re finding quite a few children are ‘squashing their sentences’ such as I went to Leeds City Museum it was really interesting which is wrong. It would be much better with punctuation to separate or a word to join:
- I went to Leeds City Museum. It was really interesting. (A comma isn’t strong enough to separate two sentences.)
- I went to Leeds City Museum – it was really interesting.
- I went to Leeds City Museum; it was really interesting.
- I went to Leeds City Museum and it was really interesting.
- I went to Leeds City Museum which was really interesting.
Finally, to improve calculation skills, please keep practising mental number facts which your child must know:
- number bonds (two numbers which add up to 10, 20 and 100 eg 3+7, 13+7, 30+70) – these facts should be known by children in Y1 – Y2
- times tables (up to 12×12) and the division facts with your child – children in Y2 should have rapid recall of x2, x 5 and x 10 at least
We know we mention these ‘basics’ a lot, but that’s because they involve practice, practice and more practice – we practise a lot at school, but your child will need to practise at home, too, if they are to truly succeed.
Learn more about current expectations for reading, writing and maths. However, do be aware that a new National Curriculum comes into effect from September, meaning these expectations have been raised and so many aspects of learning now feature in younger age groups.
Chick Cam
Here’s a time lapse video which we set up when the chicks in Year 3 and Year 4 hatched. The video is a series of photographs (one taken every minute) and captures the chicks from their arrival as eggs to hatching.
httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GtasRA8Q5Lw
Chickwatch 2014
We have ten chicks! Most are now in the brooder box. Feel free to pop in after school next week to have a look at them!
