Be mindful
At this busy time of year, mindfulness can help children to take control of their emotions.
During our recent themed week, all children took part in mindfulness workshops to learn a variety of techniques to use at school and at home. Here’s a reminder of a few of them that might be useful for over the holidays. A mindfulness newsletter/parent guide will be sent out in the new year.
Breathing hug
Start with both arms in the air. Put one hand across your tummy and the other on your shoulder. Breath slowly in and out.
Breathing tree
In a standing position, raise your arms as you breath in and release your arms back down as you breath out.
‘Ok’ breathing
Make an ‘o’ sign on your tummy button to represent that it is ok to feel different emotions. Slowly breath in and out.
Mindfulness bottle
This is a bit like a snow globe. Shake it up and watch it. Simply watch the disturbance as it begins to settle – as does our mind.
Take a bottle, add glitter and food colouring and seal tightly.
Happy holidays!
What a start to the year we’ve had! It’s been a pleasure to teach such hard-working and enthusiastic children who enjoy their learning and have a little fun along the way!
We hope you all enjoy a well-deserved break and come back to school ready and fresh to learn on 02 January.
Thank you for all the lovely cards and gifts.
Happy holidays from all the Year 4 staff!
Congratulations
Many congratulations to a very talented artist.
A winning design has been chosen by the Lord Mayor of Leeds, Cllr Jane Dowson, for her official Christmas card this year. The winner received a special thanks and congratulations on stage at the Lord Mayor’s Christmas carol concert on Thursday evening.
Following the Christmas card competition which was launched with Candelighters, the Lord Mayor’s chosen charity in August, over 600 entries were received from children aged up to 13 years. The only criteria given was the theme – ‘Leeds at Christmas’.
The winner created a Christmas winter scene incorporating some of the iconic buildings in Leeds. He was presented with a copy of his actual Christmas card by the Lord Mayor as well as a special prize from Candelighters.
A superb achievement – well done!
Year 3/4 new class novel
Next term, Year 3 and 4 will be diving into two class novels.
The first will be a Fighting Fantasy novel, which is the title given to a series of interactive books, also known as gamebooks, that were developed by Steve Jackson and Ian Livingstone. This book will certainly be intriguing and memorable because the children’s participation and the choices they make directly affects the outcome of the story!
The second will be Akimbo and the Elephants, written by Alexander McCall Smith. Here’s the blurb for a sneak peak:
Ten-year-old Akimbo lives on a game preserve in Africa. His father is the head ranger, and Akimbo is eager to help him whenever he can—even if it means getting into some pretty dangerous situations.
In Akimbo and the Elephants, ivory poachers are killing grown elephants for their tusks and leaving the calves to die. When the authorities fail to turn up new leads, Akimbo sets out to save the elephants by posing as a hunter himself.
Northern Lights
Our idea for calendars this year, is based around The Northern Lights.
Since the beginning of time, people have told stories and legends to explain natural, but mysterious occurrences. The Northern Lights is one example. The Vikings thought the Northern Lights were caused by the shining weaponry of immortal warriors. The Alaskan Inuit people believed the lights were the souls of salmon, deer and other animals. The Menominee Indians thought the lights were the torches of giants living in the North.
Following a session finding out the facts, we set to work on designs for our calendars. I was amazed how much the children understood about the phenomenon of The Northern Lights.
The Northern Lights are actually caused by electrons from solar winds. They are attracted to the poles by the magnetic fields found there. They mix with gases in the atmosphere, causing the gases to glow. Solar flares can also cause the Northern Lights to appear.
Using chalks and smudging techniques, some great design began to emerge. The children chose colours carefully and mixed these to create a vision of light.
The finished gallery.
Cultural Creative Homework
Here are just a few of our creative homeworks from this week. It is great to see how proud the children are of their religions and cultural experiences. One homework, in particular, really had us engrossed and we were keen to learn more. One child came into school loaded with two very special cakes which are a part of a celebration held yearly in France.
Kings Day is also known as the Epiphany and takes place on January 6th. It’s the day the Three Kings are said to have presented their gifts to Jesus.
On this day, the three Wise Men arrived from the East, guided by the Star of Bethlehem, bearing gifts for the divine infant. In France, it is on 6 January that the Wise Men figurines in the nativity scene are placed around baby Jesus; in the lead up to this date, they were either hidden or being gradually moved closer and closer to the stable. French people also celebrate the Epiphany by eating the “galette des rois” (Kings’ cake) ceremoniously!
The cake is eaten most traditionally in northern France and is a flat round cake with an almond/butter filling called frangipane. The tradition is to bake a trinket or bean inside the cake. It’s called la fève in French, which means broad bean. That’s because originally they always baked a real broad bean inside the cake. Now the trinket is also called la fève.
Whoever gets the slice with la fève is King or Queen for the day. They’re given a golden cardboard crown to wear all day long. Their duty as king or queen is to buy or make the next galette des rois!
Other homeworks included:
- a Scratch project
- a cultural game
- places of worship
- rules for religions
.
Party
Just a quick reminder that the children can bring party clothes, in a carrier bag, into school tomorrow. They can put on their dancing shoes after lunch and get ready to strut some moves!
Reading in Chapel Allerton
‘I respect my communities and other communities,’ has been the focus of our Living and Learning sessions this week. In class, the children discussed what the community means to them. They were given the start of a sentence and were then asked to complete it, making sure they included reasons for their ideas.
My community is important to me because …….
I know that different religions are celebrated in my community because……
I think that our community is………
We would like to see more ………………
I show respect to my community and others by …………
Moortown community is ………………….
Some of the children walked down to the Chapel Allerton community to visit a new children’s bookshop.
Set in the heart of Chapel Allerton, The Little Bookshop is Leeds’ only independent children’s bookshop. Opening its doors in October 2017, The Little Bookshop is a place to explore literature and illustration with your child. With regular story times, author events and a cafe serving up fresh and wholesome food we hope you’ll have an experience in the shop that embodies the joy of reading for your family.
As well as visiting another local community, the children were able to enjoy what the bookshop had to offer and enrich their love for reading. The children enjoyed selecting some books that were linked to our next big topic – Life.
It was great to see those children then sharing the books they had returned with, with the rest of the class.
If you are ever stuck for something to do, then why not pay a visit to ‘The Little Bookshop.’
Coffee and cake available too!
Road Safety Pantomime ‘The Gift of Life’
Yesterday, all pupils watched this lighthearted show that delivered important road safety messages.
Pupils joined Santa and Rudolf as they travelled back in time to prevent young Neil Downe from being knocked down. Whilst being fun and interactive, the pantomime covered the following road safety themes:
- the Green Cross Code
- seat belts
- be bright, be seen
- safer cycling
Ask your child about the performance and what messages they took away.
Cross Country qualifier
Congratulations to Grace in Year 6 who finished 6th in the Year 6 girls Leeds East North East Cross Country race at Cardinal Heenan school last week to qualify for the Leeds final next year.
Well done to all children who represented school in traditional cross country weather. For some of the children, this was the first time they have taken part in a competitive event and spirits were still high despite the weather.