Writing
This week we had some visitors in to the classroom. Year 3 had been writing a narrative and Year 5 were their audience. We were very happy to welcome our Year 3 friends into the classroom and to listen to their writing.
I was really impressed with how the Year 5 children showed maturity, kindness and patience when listening to the Year 3’s read their work. They made some fantastic positive comments on their work .
Elsewhere in writing we have been looking at the 4Ps of handwriting: pencil grip, posture, paper position and pressure. We all checked our pencil grip and our posture before handwriting. We made sure our paper was positioned at a slight angle and we applied the right amount of pressure to the paper with a sharp pencil.
Help at home by asking your child to explain to you what the 4Ps of handwriting are. Maybe they could check that you follow them all?
Guided Reading Week 5
Here are the target pages for this week’s guided reading. These need to be read by Friday 28th November.
The Girl of Ink and Stars – up to page 201 (Chapter 23)
Kensuke’s Kingdom – finish the book.
Extra time – up to page 181 (Chapter 39)
Flood and Fang – finish the book.
Rooftoppers – finish the book.
Art: Soap carving
This week, we started our soap carving. The children were very excited to get going. They created a design, which was inspired by the sculptures of Henry Moore and Barbara Hepworth. Afterwards, we learnt how to use spoons, paper clips and a wet paper towel to create shape, form and texture in our soap. We were really focussed and created some brilliant sculptures.
Some parents even came in to help!
Help at home – talk to your child about the visual and tactile elements of art. How did they create texture? How did they use form and shape?
Living and Learning: Identity and Self Respect
This week – in Living and Learning – we focussed on our identities (what makes you you) and self respect. In assembly, we talked about what we can do to show respect to ourselves. The children thought of some ideas:
- going to bed on time
- saying positive things about yourself
- having a healthy diet
- exercising and staying fit.
We also completed an identity map (a drawing of what makes you you). I was really impressed with how much the children had to say about themselves. They brought their identity maps home – is there anything they could add?
Help at home: Discussing the most important parts of their self identity. Could you complete a family identity map? What makes your family special and unique?
Guided Reading Week 4
Here are the target pages for this week’s guided reading. These need to be read by Friday 28th November.
The Girl of Ink and Stars – up to page 161 (Chapter 18)
Kensuke’s Kingdom – up to page 145 (Chapter 10)
Extra time – up to page 153 (Chapter 33)
Flood and Fang – up to page 183 (Chapter 15)
Rooftoppers – up to page 212 (Chapter 21)
Guided Reading Week 3
Here are the target pages for this week’s guided reading. These need to be read by Friday 28th November.
The Girl of Ink and Stars – up to page 125 (Chapter 14)
Kensuke’s Kingdom – up to page 117 (Chapter 8)
Extra time – up to page 113 (Chapter 25)
Flood and Fang – up to page 137 (Chapter 9)
Rooftoppers – up to page 162 (Chapter 18)
PE – Gymnastics
This week in Gymnastics we were all very excited to get out the big climbing frame. The children thoroughly enjoyed challenging themselves to climb to the very top. I was very impressed by their resilience, especially on the ropes which proved to be very difficult. We also practised our movement, balance and jumping skills on the other equipment in the hall. We are working up to composing, practising and performing a routine using the mats and benches.
Help at home by talking to your child about their routine and practising their balance at home.
Sporting events
Recently, we’ve had a few sporting events that children have taken part in.
Year 2/3 Cheerdance
Firstly, as part of our association with Leeds Well School Partnership, some of our Year 2 and 3 children took part in a cheer dance session led by Nicola from Leeds Rhinos. The children learnt some cheer arm actions, some jumps and using pom poms, they learnt and performed a great routine.
Basketball festival
Some of our Year 5 and 6 children took part in a basketball festival with other schools practising some basketball skills and drills.
Leeds School Sports Association Saturday morning cross country
The first of the Leeds School Sports Association Saturday morning cross country races took place at Cardinal Heenan. This is one of four events across the year. Well done to the Key Stage 2 children who took part and represented our school.
Key Stage 2 School Games cross country
Finally, this week was the Key Stage 2 School Games cross country event in Otley. We are hopeful a number of our children will qualify for the Leeds final from this event after some great performances. The children were a great team and supported and encouraged each other in very muddy conditions.
Thank you to adults in school and parents who have supported with these events and to the children for being happy and healthy and representing Moortown Primary so well.
Guided Reading Week 2
Here are the target pages for this week’s guided reading. These need to be read by Friday 21st November.
The Girl of Ink and Stars – up to page 83 (Chapter 10)
Kensuke’s Kingdom – up to page 85 (Chapter 6)
Extra time – up to page 80 (Chapter 18)
Flood and Fang – up to page 99 (Chapter 7)
Rooftoppers – up to page 118 (Chapter 14)
RE drop down morning
This morning Year 5 looked back over our RE learning that we have done in KS2 so far. We first discussed what are the main world religions and when they originated. We discussed which religions were monotheistic and which are polytheistic.
Then we focussed on Christianity for the rest of the morning. We made fact files about Christianity on cubes. We found the making of the cubes a little tricky but we showed great perseverance.
Afterwards, we discussed different denominations of Christianity focussing particularly on Catholics and Protestants. We completed a RIC and was able to confidently discuss the differences.
Finally, we looked at Christian festivals, focussing on Holy Week. This is the most important week for Christians. We completed a table describing each day and which significant events happened on each day.
I was very impressed with how much information the children had retained.
Help at home by discussing different religions and what they have learnt. The BBC bitesize website has some excellent videos.