Homework with a differencce
Following our whole school themed week this week, Who do you think you are?, children were asked to consider the following statement by showing what they have learnt.
I know what community is.
As a guide, children could think about these aspects.
- What is community?
- Where is their community? Children could consider their school community to local community to wider community. Moortown Community Group has lots of information about our local community.
- Who is in their community? Children could consider visits/visitors during our themed week.
- Why is community important? Children could consider the terms ‘identity’ and ‘diversity’ discussed during our themed week.
How can we be a good citizen in our community?
We were absolutely delighted with the high standards of homework this week. The children had thought of the most ingenious ways to create their homework. As we moved around in the classroom, celebrating everyone’s efforts, sounds such as, “WOW! Look at this! How did they think of that? This is such a great idea,” could be heard.
A great deal of respect is always shown by the children in Year 4 especially during homework celebrations.
One particular piece of work that stood out to both adults and children alike was a song with a difference. Kirsten had used the famous Christmas song, ‘The Twelve Days of Christmas’, and changed it to ‘The Twelve Days of Moortown Community‘.
It was superb! So much so, we just had to all sing it!
The Twelve Days of Moortown Community
By Kirsten
On the first day of Christmas in my community, we sang Christmas carols by the tree.
On the second day of Christmas in my community,
Two helpful brownies,
And we sang Christmas carols by the tree.
On the third day of Christmas in my community,
Three fire fighters,
Two helpful brownies, and we sang Christmas carols by the tree.
On the fourth day of Christmas in my community,
Four policemen saving,
Three fire fighters,
Two helpful brownies, and we sang Christmas carols by the tree.
On the fifth day of Christmas in my community,
Five brilliant teachers!
Four policemen saving,
Three fire fighters,
Two helpful brownies, and we sang Christmas carols by the tree.
On the sixth day of Christmas in my community,
Six neighbours giving,
Five brilliant teachers!
Four policemen saving,
Three fire fighters,
Two helpful brownies, and we sang Christmas carols by the tree.
On the seventh day of Christmas in my community,
Seven lights switched on,
Six neighbours giving,
Five brilliant teachers!
Four policemen saving,
Three fire fighters,
Two helpful brownies, and we sang Christmas carols by the tree.
On the eighth day of Christmas in my community,
Eight St. Gemma’s collectors,
Seven lights switched on,
Six neighbours giving,
Five brilliant teachers!
Four policemen saving,
Three fire fighters,
Two helpful brownies, and we sang Christmas carols by the tree.
On the ninth day of Christmas in my community,
Nine local Councillors,
Eight St. Gemma’s collectors,
Seven lights switched on,
Six neighbours giving,
Five brilliant teachers!
Four policemen saving,
Three fire fighters,
Two helpful brownies, and we sang Christmas carols by the tree.
On the tenth day of Christmas in my community,
Ten librarians lending,
Nine local Councillors,
Eight St. Gemma’s collectors,
Seven lights switched on,
Six neighbours giving,
Five brilliant teachers!
Four policemen saving,
Three fire fighters,
Two helpful brownies, and we sang Christmas carols by the tree.
On the eleventh day of Christmas in my community,
Eleven mince pie servers,
Ten librarians lending,
Nine local Councillors,
Eight St. Gemma’s collectors,
Seven lights switched on,
Six neighbours giving,
Five brilliant teachers!
Four policemen saving,
Three fire fighters,
Two helpful brownies, and we sang Christmas carols by the tree.
On the twelfth day of Christmas in my community,
Twelve families rejoicing,
Eleven mince pie servers,
Ten librarians lending,
Nine local Councillors,
Eight St. Gemma’s collectors,
Seven lights switched on,
Six neighbours giving,
Five brilliant teachers!
Four policemen saving,
Three fire fighters,
Two helpful brownies, and we sang Christmas carols by the tree.
An amazing selection of such super homework – I’m sure you’ll agree.
Comments from the children included:
“So much to choose from.”
“Enas, has celebrated her religion.”
“I love the drawing of the school. It’s a great idea!”
“WOW! Our whole class put together as little people in a box.”
“Such detail in Oliver’s work.”
“Celebrating all the local places of worship is really thinking about the community.”
“We were blown away by this week’s homework! Keep up these high standards and be proud of yourselves. WELL DONE!” commented Mrs Freeman, Mrs Charlesworth and Mrs Pearson.
Cheesy scones
Today, Year 4 went back to the kitchen. On the menu were cheesy scones.
Listening carefully to given instructions is always important – especially when using sharp knives and hot ovens.
All the children used skills they have been taught before. These included:
- accurate weighing and measuring
- grating
- mixing
- kneading
- rolling and cutting
- and, of course, washing up
The scones smelt and tasted delicious.
Packed lunches
On Monday, Caitlin Kitson, Nutritionist and Healthy Eating Adviser, delivered a whole school healthy eating assembly. The main focus was the importance of healthy packed lunches.
We talked about the different food groups on the Eatwell Guide, why different proportions of each food group are important for our bodies and how to achieve this in a packed lunch.
It was great to hear the children’s excellent knowledge of the Eatwell Guide when answering Caitlin’s questions.
At Moortown Primary, our packed lunch guidance includes:
- information about the different food groups
- how to put together a healthy, balanced packed lunch
- links to recipes and ideas for healthy packed lunches
Following the assembly, all children were given a copy of our packed lunch guidance and the Eatwell guide.
As an alternative to packed lunches, school meals, including a vegetarian option, are prepared daily in our kitchen and children are offered a choice of main courses and desserts. Children select their main meal choice at the start of the day. Catering Leeds provides food which meets national Food Standards criteria. School meals can be combined with packed lunches.
Free school meals are available to all children in Reception, Year 1 and Year 2. They are also available to some older children according to family income. It’s important to register for entitlement to free school meals, even if your child has a packed lunch or is in a younger class – this is so we can receive additional funding (called the pupil premium) which we can use to help your child.
What is our new school charity?
Part of our Who do you think you are? themed week was to learn about charities and how we can support them.
Our previous school charities, Leeds Mind and Yorkshire Air Ambulance Money, will benefit from £309.97 and £508.88 respectively as a result of fundraising and donations. Thank you.
It is now time to change our school charity. Each class discussed a range of charities, researched by the children for their homework, and voted on one charity they wanted to put forward for the school councillors to decide on.
Here were the class choices:
- Year 1 Plastic Oceans Foundation
- Year 2 Barnado’s
- Year 3 RSPCA
- Year 4 St Gemma’s Hospice
- Year 5 Make a wish
- Year 6 Diabetes UK
The final decision was a vote by the school council and the winning charity for 2017-2018 was Make A Wish. We will support this charity for one year.
We look forward to welcoming representatives from the charity in January for an assembly where we will hear more about their valuable work.
Who do you think you are?
It’s been a very busy week in Year 4.
With a big focus on our identity, we began the week discussing and thinking about all the different things that make us who we are.
As well as identity, we thought about the community we live in and how that is a big part of our lives.
On Wednesday, Year 4 spent the morning visiting St Gemma’s Hospice in Moortown.
Who We Are 
“We are a Leeds-based charity providing expert care and support for local people with terminal illnesses. We offer specialist medical and nursing care to thousands of local people each year and offer invaluable support to their families and friends. Opened in 1978, we are the largest hospice in Yorkshire and one of the largest in England.
We provide expert care, support, advice and information for patients and their families, carers and loved ones. We are also a world leader in palliative care research and our Academic Unit provides training and education for professionals. We provide information and support for children and young people when someone in their family is seriously ill or has died.”
This hospice is a big part of our community and lots of us have personal links to it. During our visit, the children learnt how the charity supports some very poorly people and their families.
The St Gemma’s Young People’s Service arranges all kinds of fun activities for children of all ages, to help them cope with their feelings and worries.
These are some of the methods used by the team to help families.
- We meet with children, young people and their families.
- We sometimes do activities such as artwork or an activity book. We also talk about the person who is ill or has died.
- We are used to talking about difficult things and don’t mind if you get upset.
- Sometimes groups of children and young people meet together to talk about how things are.
- If we are working with a child or a young person and they ask a question, we will answer it openly and honestly.
Did you know that St Gemma’s was originally a school? It was run by a group of nuns.
During our visit, the children were able to look around the beautiful, well tendered gardens. These are a great comfort to many and a lovely area to spend time with loved ones.
It is always a very humbling experience visiting St Gemma’s. This was made even more so by the respect, care, patience and behaviour of all of the Year 4 children. It was an absolute pleasure to take them.
Who do you think you are?
Our themed week is in full swing with many highlights so far.
- Mindfulness workshops for Year 1, 2, 3 and Reception.
- Dove self esteem sessions for Year 5 and 6 (Visitor feedback – ‘We really enjoyed running the sessions and the classes we had were great and very engaged!’)
- Visits from RNIB, BID sensory services and the Leeds deaf and hearing impairment team for all classes
- West Yorkshire Police Hate Crime session for Year 5 and 6
- Some Year 5 and 6 children attended the Moor Allerton Elderly Care ‘Old & New Games’ afternoon (Visitor feedback – ‘They were brilliant and a pleasure to have.’)
- Whole school assembly about charities by Val from the Salvation Army charity shop in Meanwood
- Year 4 visit to St Gemma’s Hospice
- Year 5 visit to Marjorie and Arnold Ziff centre
- Year 2 visit to Donisthorpe Hall
Thank you to parents who have attended our mindfulness workshop on Monday and our community coffee morning and wake up shake up today.
There is still more to come.
- PCSO visit to talk about community safety, road safety and monitor speed outside school in 20mph zone for Reception, Year 1 and 3
- Mindfulness workshops for Year 3, 4 and 5
- Learn languages in our community for Year 3 and 4
- Two more chances to walk, bike or scoot to school (Road Safety Week) to be in with a chance to win prizes on Friday
- New school charity will be chosen
- Have a go at the Who do you think we are? competition
Take a look at the class news pages to find out more about your child’s learning this themed week.
Taking over in spots!
Year 4 came into school looking slightly poorly yesterday. There were spots everywhere!
Luckily, no illnesses, just lots of support for Children in Need. It was great to see the effort made by the children (and possibly parents) in putting together an outfit that had spots. 
In addition to supporting a charity, Year 4 were able to take over some of the responsibilities in the classroom. This created a fair bit of excitement!
We discussed which jobs would be suitable and safe for children to take over and these are some of the ideas Year 4 came up with:
- taking the register
- delivering the tests
- handing out golden tickets
- delivering show and tell
- reading with Reception
- giving out stickers
- handing out cool class tokens
- writing certificates
- speaking in assembly
- reading the class novel
- and much more..
It was great to see some of the 8 Rs for Learning being put to use: - responsibilities
- risk taking
- being ready
- remembering
- being resourceful
The children did such a good job at taking over these roles with maturity, and a sense of humour, which is always a bonus!
Celebrating learning
It’s the end of our Explorers topic this week and we’ve spent time reflecting on what we have learned.
This morning, we met with our Year 1 friends to discuss the topic. We looked at each other’s topic books and talked about the different learning. Next, we looked at some specific skills which we might have used during the topic (e.g. comparing and contrasting, teamwork, problem solving) and found pieces of learning which evidenced these skills.
The children were questioning each other about their learning.
- “Tell me about this work. What did you find out?”
- “Explain this learning to me.”
- “Would you like to do any of the activities again and why?”
Have a look through our photos showing how we celebrated our learning.
Mindfull or mindful?
Would you like to find out more about mindfulness and how it can be used to support your child at home?
As part of our whole school themed week next week, all children will be taking part in mindfulness workshops. There’ll also be a parent/carer session on Monday 20 November at 2:30-3:15pm.
Please contact the office if you would like to attend.
Christmas school dinner themed menu
Catering Agency, our school meal provider, will be running a special themed menu on Thursday 07 December. Please contact the office, before Monday 20 November, if your child would like a school dinner on this day.
