What is a safe risk?
…was this week’s homework task. In our review, we discussed lots of different safe and unsafe risks. It was evident that children had engaged brilliantly with adults at home – well done.
We linked taking risks to challenge, and talked about how both made us feel. Miss Wilson introduced us to the learning zone model which describes three different stages of learning – the comfort zone (where you feel safe and no risks are taken), the stretch zone (sometimes called the learning zone, where you are challenged and you grow and learn) and the panic zone (where the risk is too great and there is fear and anxiety). We placed each of our risks onto the learning zone model.
It was an interesting discussion as answers varied across the class and answers varied depending on the situation…
“Challenge is when you might be scared or emotional. I wouldn’t ever give up and I would keep trying.” – Musa
“Division has been challenging for me because we used some tricky numbers.” – Ethan C
“Using a number line to subtract was hard. It made me feel a bit panicked because I didn’t like getting them wrong. When I worked with Mrs Burgess I got the hang of it and felt calm.” – Safiya-Mishal
A special visitor…
We want to say a massive thank you to Mrs Khan who came in to talk to us about Muslim birth ceremonies.
The children loved finding out about a different religion or more about their own as part of this week’s RE learning.
“It was very interesting because I didn’t know that when a baby was born, they got someone special to sing.” – Harris
“I enjoyed learning more about my religion.” – Hifza
“I enjoyed learning about when people have to shave off their hair. They weighed the hair and they paid that amount of gold or silver to the poor.” – Leo
New school dinner menu
After half term, our school dinner menu will be changing. This menu, provided by our school meals provider Catering Leeds, will be served until the end of the summer term.
Our School Council have recently repeated a vegetable survey to find out children’s favourite choices. These preferences have now been incorporated into the new menu.
As well as on our website, the three week cyclical menu is also displayed on our dining room window for you to discuss with your child. If you would like a printed copy, please ask at the office.
Have a look for the days ahead to make your child aware of what the daily meals are. Following pupil and parent feedback, children now make their main meal choice at the start of the day. This ensures they get their first choice of meal.
School meals continue to be free for Reception, Year 1 and Year 2. If your child is in Key Stage 2, please check for eligibility for free school meals. (It’s important to check for eligibility for younger children, too, because school receives additional funding for each child who is eligible for a free meal, even when they’re free in Reception and Year 1 and Year 2!)
If your child would like to start having school dinners, please inform the office. A combination of packed lunches and school dinners is also available.
Children are consulted on school meals through our regular School Council meetings. Feedback may also be given by speaking to an adult in school or completing a suggestions/comments slip and posting it in their class I want to say box. We have a few new dishes on the menu which we encourage the children to try.
Thank you to parents who also raise questions and give feedback. We can then ensure this is passed on to the kitchen staff.
Safer Internet Day 2018
Pupils will be taking part in different activities to support their learning of this important subject. As well as in class learning, children will have the opportunity to work with the following external visitors.
We welcome ‘Splats Entertainment’ who will be delivering e-safety drama workshops for pupils from Year 3 to 6. Children will be learning and performing a show in a day. Please see your child’s letter to request tickets to watch this show at 2:30pm on 06 February.
D:side, an online safety charity, will be visiting classes Y1-Y6 on 01 and 02 February to deliver internet safety sessions with the following focus:
- What we use the Internet for (KS1)
- What is / is not safe to share online (KS1)
- What to do if we are not sure about the internet (KS1)
- Using emails safely (KS2)
- Social networking and safe profiling – including use of Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Snap Chat, Oovoo, etc. (KS2)
- ‘Chatting’ with care (KS2)
- Responsible and safe use of the internet (logins, email, photography, password protection, personal information and self-protection). (KS2)
- Using text and picture messaging (KS2)
- Behaving responsibly (KS2)
Dave Hill, from d:side, will also be delivering an online safety workshop for parents/carers on Thursday 01 February at 2:30pm-3:15pm. There will be chance to find out what your child has been learning in this area, to give you some skills and knowledge to keep your child safe online and to ask questions on this subject. There will be limited places for this workshop so please complete and return the response slip, on your child’s letter, if you would like to attend.
If you are unable to attend the workshop, please refer to the guidance that will be sent home with your child published by the NSPCC/O2. Further guidance can be found on our website. There will also be a workshop for parents of older children later in the term, specifically looking at the use of social media.
Make-a-wish
This year, we’re supporting Make-a-wish as our school charity, chosen by the School Council.
Today, we welcomed John Russo, a volunteer from Make-a-wish, who told us about the charity, the kind of wishes they make happen and how the money we raise might be spent.
Children were asked to consider how we can support the charity over this year. They could either write a suggestion for their ‘I want to say’ box or pass on their ideas to their class school councillors.
Yogart
Yoga and art- the newest craze to hit year 3! Whilst improving our flexibility and strength alongside our mindfulness, we also practised sketching in PE. Our aim is to build a bank of our favourite yoga poses.
Having been inspired by Cosmic Kids Yoga, we will use our sketches to create our own yoga story to retell to the class.
Merging our big topic Life Forces and our yogart, we will create weird and wonderful yoga stories about the world around us for us to increase our balance and inner peace.
Watch this space…
Investigating insulation
Insulation is cool! Or is it hot? Actually, it’s both! An insulator is a property of material that prevents heat from moving, keeping cold things cold and hot things hot!
Tyler Fish – a polar explorer – set us a challenge to find the best material for their new kit. The Arctic is extremely cold and temperatures can drop as low as -50 degrees Celsius so the material would have to keep them warm. We chose our materials and set up our equipment…
…three cups containing the same amount of warm water, which we wrapped in bubble wrap, felt and cotton, for example.
We made predictions about which material would be the best insulator. Carefully and with precision, we measured the starting temperature.
After 20 minutes, we measured the temperature again.
Working out the difference in temperature, we were able to work out the best material. Challenge your child to fill in the blanks:
The smaller the ___________, the better the ___________.
Each group was able to recommend their chosen material to Tyler for him to order new Arctic kit. Success!
Polar launch day
We were very excited to welcome a visitor – our polar ambassador Terry Kirk!
First, we had to find the Arctic before we could dive in.
But who really sits at the top of the food chain? We worked in groups to discuss the right order.
It turns out it’s a lot more complex than it seems! A more accurate term is food web. We were tasked with creating a food web mobile to demonstrate the pecking order. This required teamwork and problem solving. It was really tricky at first but we were extremely proud of our results!
Challenge question- what would happen to the animals that eat fish, if the fish were poisoned?
To get inspired by Boaty McBoatface and find upcoming events and activities, visit STEM Learning.
Chick Cam 3!
We’ve now got seven chicks! We’ll start moving them to the breeder box today.
Chick Cam 2!
The streams on YouTube only last for 8 hours, so here’s the next one!
It’s 17:10 and we now have three chicks with one more arriving very soon! Once hatched, the chicks need to stay in the incubator for about 24 hours to ‘fluff up’ before they are moved to the breeder box.