School Trip to Lotherton Hall!
Yesterday, Year 3 and 4 visited Lotherton Hall on a school trip! This trip linked to this our science topic: grouping and classifying living things.
We began the day by exploring the Wildlife World and we saw some incredible animals! Some of your children’s particular favourites included the capybara, tapir, emus, Humboldt penguins and flamingos! It was amazing to be able to get so close and admire these fantastic animals.
Later, we were lucky enough to attend a workshop all about classifying animals. I was so impressed with all your children’s science knowledge! They explored the five groups of vertebrates:
- mammals
- reptiles
- amphibians
- fish
- birds
At the end of the workshop, each table got a replica skull to study. They looked at the teeth to decipher whether it was a herbivore or carnivore and the eye sockets to determine whether it was a predator or prey. It was fascinating!
It was a brilliant day filled with exciting and interactive learning – we’d love to go back!
Help at home: ask your children to name the different animals they saw at Wildlife World and classify them into their vertebrate group.
Maths: column addition
This week, we’ve loved doing column addition!
We began the week with column addition without exchanging and once your children were confident with this, we moved onto column addition with exchanging.
You can exchange 10 ones for 1 ten.
You can exchange 10 tens for 1 hundred.
You can exchange 10 hundreds for 1 thousand.
I’ve been wowed by your children’s column addition this week! They’ve demonstrated some fantastic knowledge of how and why we use column addition.
Help at home by asking your children to complete the following calculations using column addition:
2910 + 5839 =
1092 + 7233 =
2649 + 7221 =
8323 + 1284 =
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.
Drop-down morning: history, geography and computing
Today we had drop-down morning! This is an entire morning dedicated to recapping our topic learning from previous years. In Year 4, we recapped:
- history – heroes
- geography – explorers
- computing – algorithms
We began the day with history. We discussed two influential figures in history: Nelson Mandela and Leonora Cohen. I was so impressed with your children’s knowledge about these two individuals and they demonstrated this in ‘Walkabout Bingo’. Our bingo cards had 15 questions about either Nelson Mandela or Leonora Cohen and, to fill these, the children needed to ask each other for the answers. It was a really fun way for your children to test each other’s knowledge!
For our geography topic, we compared York and Venice. We recapped what we knew about the human and physical geography of both cities before revisiting the idea of overtourism. The children’s job was to read a selection of issues that’ve arisen due to overtourism in York and Venice and, in groups, come up with some solutions. It was great to hear your children’s discussions and they came up with some excellent solutions!
Finally, we recapped our Year 3 computing on algorithms.
An algorithm is a set of instructions or rules to complete a task.
Our focus was on creating effective algorithms in the simplest form (to make it easier for our computers to follow). We practised creating and writing a variety of different algorithms and even debugging some!
Help at home:
- Ask your child to tell you about Nelson Mandela and Leonora Cohen and why they’re such influential figures in history.
- Create a list of physical and human geographical features with your child.
- Download ScratchJr and ask your child to show you how to create algorithms.
- Alternatively, ask your child to write an algorithm for this grid:
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.
Reading: Book Club
Every Friday, your children share their love of reading in our Book Club sessions. As part of their homework, they complete one activity in their reading records each week, relating to the book they’re reading. This week it was ‘Predict the Future’.
We then discussed our class novel ‘Greek Myths’ by Geraldine McCaughrean – specifically the myth of ‘Daedalus and Icarus’ which we’re half way through. Your children shared their own predictions of what might happen:
I predict that Icarus is going to get too close to the sun and burn.
I predict that Icarus’ wings are going to fall off and he is going to fall but then Daedalus is going to catch him.
I predict that Icarus’ wings are going to melt off and he is going to fall but one of the guards is going to catch him and lock him up again.
We’re all very excited to finish the myth and find out if our predictions were correct!
Help at home: Read with your child daily and encourage meaningful conversations about their books. What do you think will happen next? Who is your favourite character and why? If you had to describe this book in three words, which would you choose?
Living & Learning: Rights and Responsibilities
This week, our L&L statement was: I know that rights come with responsibilities.
We had a brilliant discussion about how we all have rights, however these come with certain responsibilities. As a class we came up with some rights we have within school and the responsibilities that come with these:
- We have a right to playtime but a responsibility to play safely and respectfully.
- We have a right to learn but a responsibility to be great learners.
- We have a right to eat lunch but a responsibility to be respectful and polite to the lunchtime staff.
- We have a right to use the classroom equipment but a responsibility to look after it.
- We have a right to share our opinions in circle time but a responsibility to do so respectfully.
After, we looked into some children’s rights in the UK:
Help at home: Watch this video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x9_IvXFEyJo and ask your child what rights and responsibilities they have at home (eg. they have the right to play with their toys but a responsibility to do this safely).
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?
PE: Hockey
This half-term in PE we’re playing hockey!
This week, we’ve learnt how to correctly hold a hockey stick and explored two types of passes: a hit pass and a push pass. We discussed how to make sure our passes are accurate and controlled, and practised passing in partners.
We then played a game of ‘Piggy in the Middle’, where the children had to pass the ball to their partner without it being intercepted by a defender. This was a fun way for them to practise both their passing and their defending.
They all demonstrated brilliant hockey skills – their passes were controlled, on target and powerful. I’m looking forward to seeing these skills exhibited in a match later this half-term!
Help at home: ask your children to show and explain to you how to correctly hold a hockey stick (you could use a broom or anything you have lying around the house). You could also watch this YouTube video (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xaVNiYGHcC8) and get your children to identify the different passes they can see.