Moortown play park consultation
- Would you like to find out more about the proposed play park on the land at the rear of school?
- Would you like to comment on the proposed play equipment suggested in the design?
- Maybe you’ve seen equipment in other parks that you’d like to recommend.
Helen Forman, a design officer from Leeds City Council, will be visiting school tomorrow to consult with our School Council. After that, all children will have chance to see the proposals in an assembly. Helen is keen to hear their views as the future users!
From 3pm, there will be chance for parents and carers to see and comment on the proposed designs.
We hope to see you there.
Living and Learning- body image
Body image is the focus of this half term’s Living and Learning lessons.
Today, we began our sessions by reading a newspaper report encouraging boys to talk about body image and the effect that it can have on thier mental health and well being.
There is growing evidence that boys do care deeply about how they look, and it can be something that makes them feel bad about themselves.
As a class, we discussed factors that may influence how a person feels about their body. Advertisements, media, wanting to ‘fit in’, peer pressure, inclusion and popularity were just some ideas we came up with.
The children were very mature throughout this lesson and asked some interesting questions.
We thought about the parts of our bodies that we couldn’t change and why some people feel they need to alter thier image.
Girls golf rocks
Girls Golf Rocks is a partnership project aimed at addressing the disparity between girls’ and boys’ participation in golf.
The county-wide recruitment drive targets girls aged 5-18 years of age, providing the opportunity for them to access free taster sessions, followed by a five week coaching, Par 3 event & a 7 iron golf club – all for £14.
There are eight centres across Yorkshire running the programme, delivering girls only sessions with an emphasis placed on fun, social and friendship aspects of golf rather than just the coaching and playing side of the game.
Homework – What I like about reading!
Once again, some super, creative homework this week. The children were asked to think about what they like about reading.
In September, we noticed that some children were reluctant to read. To encourage more love of reading, we regularly update our reading area, ensuring that we have a variety of texts and an inviting area in which to relax and read. Aside from the sheer joy of exercising the imagination, research shows reading for pleasure improves literacy, social skills, health and learning outcomes.
The children are encouraged each week to bring something to read from home. This doesn’t have to just be a book. It could be reading material such as:
- newspapers
- leaflets
- maps
- instructions
- top trumps cards
- comics
- wordsearches
- recipies
- stories written by themselves
- letters
- biographies
- poems
- and, of course, non-fiction and fiction books
Over the year, so far, we’ve noticed a much improved enthusiasm for reading.
Keep it up, Year 4!
Living and Learning – compliments
This morning, we thought about how and why we give compliments.
We discussed how important it is to be a part of the ‘classroom community’. We need to care about and take care of each other. Giving compliments is an example of caring and taking care.
The class observed each other giving one another a compliment and noted the appropriate way to receive a compliment. We then discussed how the giving and receiving of compliments improves the mood of the classroom, school and individuals.
To finish our lesson, using a ball of string, we created our own ‘compliments web’. Each person complimented a classmate and passed the string across to them. As they received the compliment, each person needed to respond appropriately.
- “I really like your hairstyle today Manpreet,” commented Zara.
- “Thank you,” replied Manpreet.
Living and Learning – a body image guide for parents and carers
This term, our Living and Learning theme is Being me. Part of this learning is all about body image. This parent and carer guide has been designed to give practical ideas to support your child in building their emotional resilience in this area.
Bud to flower
Today, during our daily plant observations, we noticed that one of our amaryllis bulbs is beginning to open. The children made predictions as to what colour they think the flower will be.
- “I predict that it will be a purple flower,” commented Eve.
- “Explain why you think that Eve,” said Mrs Freeman.
- Eve replied, ” The bud looks quite dark. If you look very closely, just where the bud is beginning to open, there is some purple colouring.”
Evie also noticed in her observation that the growth of the stem had slowed down considerably.
- “I think the plant has almost finished growing in height and is now putting all nutrients and strength into helping it to flower.”
Day 1 33 days later
Celebrating success
In Year 4, there are lots of ways in which we celebrate success.
Success can be in any area of school life.
These rewards include individual golden tickets, certificates, prizes, stickers and postcards home. We also have whole class and table rewards. Look out for certificates this week and please celebrate your child’s achievements with them.
How is our support helping?
As part of our on-going support for mountain gorillas, last week, Year 4 received the latest update from the WWF charity.
| Welcome to your latest gorilla adoption news.
I hope The Year 4 is enjoying being a gorilla adopter, and learning more about these unique-looking, intelligent animals whose future you’re now a part of. Here’s your latest update on just how your support is helping. Together, we shared this information. The children had lots of questions. “What can be done to save these creatures?”
“What place do they have in the food chain?” |
| WHY MOUNTAIN GORILLAS MATTER |
| Gorillas, like all animals, play an important role in their ecosystem. Without the gorillas, which are large-scale grazers, eating a variety of vegetation, the natural balance in the food chain would be disrupted. This could negatively affect other wildlife, their habitats, and ultimately the people who depend on that environment for food, water and other resources. |
Year 4 are enjoying learning about these and other endangered animals. We have stories, leaflets, reports and lots of data in our reading area to further our knowledge of the amazing work done by the WWF.
“If we don’t look after these animals, then people in the future will never see them in real life!” commented Gurnoor.
Year 4 are learning lots of new vocabulary throughout of current topic of ‘Life Forces‘ and it has been great to hear them use these new words in their questions.
Here are some examples:
- extinct
- endangered
- habitat
- ecosystem
- vegetation
- environment
- life cycle
- nutrition
- predator/prey
- adaptations
- poaching
- conservation
- community
- threatened
- carnivore/herbivore
- reforestation
- vulnerable
…and many more new words.
Question your child about these words. Can they give you a definition? If not, can they find out how and where to get a definition from?
We constantly remind the children about using the internet for research safely.
Is all information online reliable?
Not all of the information you find on the internet is true because anybody can write anything they want to online.
Make sure you always compare the information you find online with other websites, books, or people who might know to make sure it is true. Use the 3 Website Rule.
Remember, when using the internet for research, use trusted child-friendly sites.
Stay safe online!
Production
I’m sure you will agree – this week has been a fairly tricky one! It was great to see the majority of the children return to school today.
Over the next few weeks, Year 3 and 4 will be very busy rehearsing for their production. This takes place in the last week of term. We’d like all the children to learn their lines and the songs. Next week, your child will bring home a letter informing you of the costumes they will need for their part. Please don’t worry if you can’t provide some items. However, it would be much appreciated if you can search through your wardrobes and help us with this.
So far, the singing from both classes has been superb and we’re really looking forward to the children putting on a good show for us all to enjoy!
Many thanks.