Term 2.2 – group reading!
Hello!
Last week, we began group reading!
The class have been divided into groups and each group has been given a book to read at home. This will last for this half term.
During our Book Club sessions each Friday, each group will discuss what they have read so far and share their reading record activities related to their book. This will be a fantastic opportunity for the children to explore characters and storylines more than they might do normally!
Every Friday during Book Club, each group will be given a new page to read to for the next Friday.
What to remember:
- Your child has a book that they need to read every week (up to a chosen point marked with a post-it notes).
- The reading record activity needs to be completed using their new book.
- A comment from a grown up needs to be written in their reading record.
- Group reading books and reading records need to be brought in every Friday.
Help at home by listening to your child read their new book and asking them questions about the book to help prepare them for class discussions.
I look forward to hearing the children’s discussions next week!
Thanks, Miss Birch
Science – What are soils made of?
In science, we have been learning about what soils are made of.
Soils are everywhere and they’re very useful. They are amazing in helping plants grow and provide homes to lots of little organisms.
We made careful observations when finding our own soil samples from different areas of the school.
We looked for the 3 main parts of soil:
1. small rocks
2. organic matter (dead and rotting plants and animals – humus)
3. water
We then compared our soils to sandy, chalk and loam soil and decided our soil was most like the loam soil.
Help at home by searching for the 3 main ingredients in soil you can find outside! What does the soil look like? Is it dark in colour?
Food Technology – Bruschetta!
This morning, Year 3 have been making Bruschetta. We were so impressed with their knowledge and skills at each stage of the recipe.
The main skill we were practising was cutting with a knife. The two different techniques that we used were the bridge and the claw. We used the bridge to safely and securely cut the tomatoes into small chunks. We used the claw to cut the basil up into smaller pieces.
We then used a garlic crusher to squeeze the garlic into our tomato and basil mixture. It’s safe to say the room smelt very strong!
The final challenge was to spoon the mixture onto the sliced and toasted baguette without making a mess and then to dig in… some of them gave it a 10/10!
Help at home by re-making the recipe the home. It’s been sent home with your child today. Could you add something new; ham, cheese or salmon?
Leeds Beckett tennis
This week, Nic and Sky, tennis coaches from Beckett Sport Juniors, came to deliver a tennis themed assembly.
Here are the details of a special offer they are offering for Moortown pupils.
Topic: What are volcanoes? Are they good or bad?
After spending this half term learning as much as there is to know about volcanoes, it was the children’s time to show off their knowledge.
They created a poster style spread in their books. Here are just some of the amazing ones they produced!
They thoroughly enjoyed this topic and we immersed ourselves by writing reports about volcanoes and learning about rocks in science too.
Help at home: Keep an eye out for recent volcanic activity around the world. This is a great place to start: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/topics/c340r9zgpnkt
Cross Country Leeds Final
*** UPDATE*** Congratulations to our Year 3 girls team and one of our Year 4 runners who have qualified for the West Yorkshire Cross Country Final.
We were very proud of our eight Key Stage 2 children who took part in the Leeds Cross Country Final at Temple Newsam this week.
In muddy, slippy, wet conditions they all put in 100% effort in their races and were a great support for each other. The children should feel proud of competing against the best runners from across Leeds.
We’ll wait to hear if we have any qualifiers for the next round, the West Yorkshire Final.
Thank you to parents who helped with transport and supported at the event.
Living and Learning: Safer Internet Day!
Safer Internet Day – 11.02.2025!
The theme for this year’s national Safer Internet Day is:
‘Too good to be true? Protecting yourself and others from scams online.’
Over the week, we’ve had the opportunity to think about any worries we might have about using the internet, becoming equipped with the skills to be safe on the internet but also about celebrating all the fantastic things technology can help us with.
I know that some things online may not be true.
We discussed ‘fake news’ and what this means. We decided that if something is ‘fake’, it is not real and ‘news’ is information that is important. Fake news can be misleading and can give people the wrong impression or information.
We worked in groups to decide whether certain information was reliable and trustworthy.
Here are ways we could check if something is real or fake:
- Where has it come from?
- Who has posted this information?
- Is it a reliable news source like Newsround or First News?
- Can we see it across multiple reliable sources?
- Ask a trusted adult.
I know it’s important to check with a trusted adult before sharing personal information online.
Personal information is any information that is about who you are and what you do.
Websites and apps can collect our personal information and data and use it to provide services to us. For example, supermarkets might need your address if they are delivering your food or an app might need to know your age to know that you are old enough.
We need to keep this information safe whilst online and not give it to just anyone! We must always speak to a trusted adult before sharing any information online.
We watched the BBC live lesson for Safer Internet Day as well as our school learning. 
Help at home: Can you think of at least 4 pieces of personal information that we should keep private?
New school meal menu
After February half term, we start our new menu which runs to the end of the year. It can be viewed here. Please review this with your child to help with their selection at the start of the day. We continue to offer meat free Mondays.
The cost of a school meal is £2.75, which should be paid in advance on the School Gateway app. We’re happy to accept payment for the week, month, half term or term. We prefer two weeks’ notice to change lunch arrangements.
All children in Reception, Year 1 and Year 2 receive free school meals. If your child is in Year 3 to Year 6, and you are on benefits or a low income, your child may be eligible for free school meals.
Some people like to choose a mix of school dinners and packed lunch for their child – that’s absolutely fine, as long as it’s a the same pattern of school dinners and packed lunches every week. Just let office staff know which days you’d like to opt in for a school meal in the week, and which days you’d prefer to provide your child with a packed lunch.
We continue to gather feedback from children on our school meals. Shortly, we will be reviewing our vegetable choices to help to eliminate waste.
If you have any feedback. please do get in touch.
Science: What is a fossil and how are they formed?
Hello!
Our current science topic is fossils!
This week, we learnt about what a fossil is and how they are formed.
A fossil is the remains or trace of a living thing that lived a very long time ago. They can be fossils of animals, plants or even animal poo!
We decided that fossils are important because they tell us a lot about the past. For example, we know a lot about dinosaurs, what they looked like and even what they ate because of fossils that we have found.
We used this video to help us understand the process of fossilisation…
https://www.bbc.co.uk/bitesize/articles/z2ym2p3
Mary Anning is our key scientist as she is known as one of the greatest fossil hunters to have ever lived. We’ve read about her as part of our reading fluency sessions. She found fossils in Lyme-Regis and she made amazing discoveries just from observing and studying them!
If you have a fossil at home that you are happy to bring into school, please do! We would love to have a look at different fossils in real life.
Help at home: When you are travelling somewhere, quiz each other on whether an object is living or not living and whether it could be made into a fossil! Is this pen living? No! Is this rock living? No! Is this apple living?
Living and learning: online safety assembly
This week, Louise from West Yorkshire Police came to deliver a whole school assembly all about staying safe online.
There were lots of clear online safety messages around content, contact and conduct.
At the end of the assembly, the children reflected on what they were going to do after hearing Louise’s messages.
I am going to ask my adult to take off the chat on my Roblox settings.
I am not going to accept friend requests from people I don’t know.
I am not going to play games that have a age rating older than me as they won’t be appropriate for me.
Help at home: ask your child how content, conduct and contact are linked to online safety.