Art: Henry Moore and Thomas J Price
Year 5 have linked their Art learning with their Geography skills. To start off, the children looked at the inspiration of some of our focus artists: Henry Moore and Thomas J Price. The children found out that Henry Moore was inspired by nature and used the curves in his sculptures to depict the Yorkshire countryside. Whereas, Thomas J Price is inspired by urban life and has lots of his work displayed in cities. We then used atlases to find where the artists grew up and marked these on our maps.
Help at home: Find out where our other featured artist, Barbara Hepworth, grew up and the inspiration for her sculptures.
Guided Reading Week 4
Here are the target pages for this week’s guided reading. These need to be read by Friday 8th December.
The Boy and the Tiger: end of book.
Extra Time: up to chapter 34/page 159.
Flood and Fang: up to chapter 10/page 131.
Dirty Bertie: up to page 122.
Kensuke’s Kingdom: up to chapter 8/page 117.
We are chefs!
This week, Year 5 made tomato and lentil soup! We worked in small groups to prepare the ingredients and then cook them. We made sure that we washed our hands and wore our aprons for hygiene reasons.
We used the bridge cutting method and the claw cutting method to cut up our ingredients. These methods are the safest way to cut food as they help us from hurting ourselves!
Help at home: Have your child show you the bridge and claw cutting methods.
Writing: Figurative Language
Year 5 have been identifying and selecting different types of figurative language. This is to help them when they come to write their narratives about a sculpture coming to life.
We then turned into detectives and found figurative language in an example text.
Help at home: Identify the different types of figurative language in the text above or create your own examples.
Drop Down Morning
This morning was a little different to our usual mornings: we had drop down morning. This is where we recap our topic units from last year.
To kick-off the morning, Year 5 revisited their computing journey so far. We also discussed the key vocabulary and played Pictionary.
Then, we moved on to look at the Ancient Greeks; we focused on the innovations that form the legacy of the Ancient Greeks. We first looked at which other civilizations were happening at the same time and then discussed innovations. We found out that Ancient Greece created a LOT! Here are some: democracy, philosophy, the water mill, the crane, medicine and the Olympics. The children then took part in a Kahoot (an online timed quiz) to show off their learning.
Finally, we moved on to Geography where we talked about all things volcano. We looked at where volcanoes can be found; key vocabulary; the difference between magma and lava; and if we thought volcanoes were good or bad.
Help at home: Research recent volcanic events and discuss their impacts.
PE: Gymnastics
This half-term, we are becoming gymnasts. For the past couple of weeks, we have been focusing on travelling, whether that be low, high, quick or slow. We were able to travel into spaces and sequence a range of different movements. We have then had a lesson to explore the apparatus with controlled and balanced movements.
We will be moving on to sequence different jumps and perform routines.
Writing: Narratives
Today, Year 5 became the artwork at Yorkshire Sculpture Park. Over the next 3 weeks, the children will be writing a narrative about the sculptures coming to life. Year 5 put themselves in the shoes of the statues and pretended to awaken after years of being frozen. Take a look at some snapshots of their movements:
We discussed different sculpture’s back stories, if they were good or bad, where they would go and what they would be thinking at that time.
Help at home: Discuss how these sculptures would move if they came to life. 
Cross country stars
*UPDATE* Four of our Year 3 runners have qualified for the Leeds School Games cross country final!
On Friday, twenty two Key Stage 2 children took part in the Leeds North East School Games Cross Country festival at Roundhay High School attended by 900 pupils.
We had a great start from our Year 3 runners with 4 children coming in the top 10! After that, we saw some excellent efforts from the rest of the children throughout the afternoon with great support and encouragement from the other pupils.
Well done to all the children who took part and represented the school. We are sure there will be some qualifiers for the next race, the Leeds final. Watch this space!
Thank you to the parents who came along to help and support at this event.
It was a brilliant event. The Team Moortown spirit was very strong.
If you’re child would like to take part in cross country, have a look at our physical activity guide for details of local running clubs and junior Park Runs.
Guided Reading Week 3
Here are the target pages for this week’s guided reading. These need to be read by Friday 1st December.
The Boy and the Tiger: up to chapter 13/page 107.
Extra Time: up to chapter 26/page 117.
Flood and Fang: up to chapter 7/page 99.
Dirty Bertie: up to page 87.
Kensuke’s Kingdom: up to chapter 7/page 99.
We went to the Yorkshire Sculpture Park!
What an action-packed day we had on Tuesday!
Y5 and Y6 went on an amazing trip to the Yorkshire Sculpture Park to support our Art learning for this half term.
Before we went, we had a look at the website and previewed the art which made it very exciting when we actually saw them up close!
We took our Arty Ideas books and did a lot of amazing sketches.
It was great to see both abstract and figurative sculptures – just like we’ve been learning about in school.
Spot the difference: Moortown vs Network by Thomas J Price edition.
Zodiac Heads was definitely a fan favourite.
The texture and scale of the sculptures was sometimes mind boggling!
We did a lot of walking – luckily, the scenery was stunning. Can you spot Henry Moore’s Reclining Figure: Arch Leg in the distance?
In the afternoon, we took part in a workshop with a real artist!
We investigated patterns, colours and shape in Three Stones for Three Trees by David Nash.
And did some artwork without looking at the page – it was quite spiritual in a way.
Another great moment was seeing Barbara Hepworth’s Family of Man in real life! We had a tour of the sculptures and learnt all about the story of what they represent.
Lastly, inspired by the sculptures we’d seen, we made our own out of clay, just like Henry Moore would have done. He used a maquette made out of plaster.
Help at home by asking your child about their review of the trip which we’re doing in writing!