Computing!
This half term, computing is our topic. We have had 2 unplugged lessons where we have discussed what a computer is and what a search engine is. This week, however, we have taken to the laptops!
Year 5 had some time to explore Scratch and remind themselves where everything was and how to use it. Then, the task was to create their sprite (cartoon character or object) to walk up a set of stairs. The children showed good teamwork as they worked in pairs.
Take a look at their brilliant code!
Leeds North East Youth Summit 2024
Today, the Year 5 and 6 Junior Leaders visited the Leeds Civic Hall to attend the North East Youth Summit. It was a great day where the children had the opportunity to meet and hear from councillors, ask questions and give their say when thinking about things we would like to change and improve about our local area.
We even got to sit in the chambers with Leeds City’s Mayor! Will asked her a question on the microphone, “How many candidates were there for mayor?” “It can depend, sometimes there are 4, 2 or even just 1!”
We were in a room with lots of other Junior Leaders from around our locality so it was great to meet them as well!
Cross country
Well done to the children who represented school at the Leeds Schools Sports Association cross country race at the weekend in typical cross country conditions!
Thank you to parents who supported and transported children to this event.
It was incredibly muddy and very cold and wet. I was really impressed (as always) with the children who ran in such tough conditions and supported each other all the way.
This was the last race of the season. However, local Park Runs continue weekly at Roundhay Park and Temple Newsam.
PE: How can we improve our performance in physical activity as part of a healthy lifestyle?
Once again, Year 5 were joined by our visitors from the University of Leeds. This week we focused more on physical education (PE). We discussed how we can improve our performances in PE.
The three main ways are:
Sleep
Children aged between 6-12 should be getting 9-12 hours of sleep every night. Here are some reasons sleep is VERY important:
- Reduce the risk of cardiovascular diseases
- Improve mental health
- Allows the body to recover and grow stronger
- Helps us to conserve energy
Diet
Routine
Going to bed at the same time every night helps us to sleep better and feel more awake during the day. Therefore, we have more energy which directly improves our physical activity performance.
Our lesson then lead us on to reaction time. Did you know an adult’s average reaction time is 250 milliseconds whereas a cat’s average reaction time is 20-70 milliseconds.
We then put our reaction times to the test with a little experiment.
Help at home: Ask your child to explain the reaction time experiment or why not give it a go yourself. Also, try one of these ways to improve sleep.
- Go to bed at the same time every night
- Make sure your mattress, pillows and duvet are comfortable
- Aim to not use devices such as phones, TVs and videogame consoles 2 hours before bed.
The Secret Garden
It was a pleasure to welcome M&M productions to perform ‘The Secret Garden’ for us. It’s a classic story (written in 1911!) about resilience and friendship. They gave it a modern twist with some familiar songs – it was very entertaining!
What a start to the week it was! Keep your eyes peeled for what we get up to on World Book Day, this Thursday.
Help at home by discussing what your child liked about the performance using the pictures above! Can your child retell the story?
We loved it!
Y2 – I really liked it because Master Colin was able to walk. He believed in himself.
Y6 – It was funny and had all the things a play should have. I’ll definitely be checking out the book from the library.
Y3 – The sign language song was cool and interesting!
Y5 – I liked the show because they had a creative way to change the scene. They had a great voice projection.
Guided Reading Week 2
Here are the target pages for this week’s guided reading. These need to be read by Friday 8th March:
Divine Freaks: up to chapter 9/page 95.
Street Child: up to chapter 14/page 119.
How To Train Your Dragon: up to chapter 7/page 83.
The Considine Curse: up to chapter 9/page 70.
Extra Time: up to chapter 18/page 80.
The London Mystery Eye: up to chapter 16/page 117.
Writing: figurative language
For the past two lessons, Year 5 have been looking at figurative language. During the first lesson, we had a scavenger hunt! Around the room were 28 different sentences and the children had to find them and decide what type of figurative language it was.
Types of figurative language:
- simile
- metaphor
- alliteration
- personification
- hyperbole
- onomatopoeia
- idiom
For the next lesson, the children wrote a descriptive paragraph that contained different types of figurative language.
Have a look at some of their fantastic work:
Help at home: Discuss the definitions of each type of figurative language or
create a descriptive paragraph using different types of figurative language.
Science: How do we taste?
On Monday, we were joined by our visitors from the University of Leeds. This week they came to talk to us about how we taste. The children learnt that there are 5 different tastes. These are:
- Sweet
- Sour
- Salty
- Bitter
- Umami (savoury)
The scientific word for taste is GUSTATION.
The children then were able to try different foods that highlighted the different tastes.
Did you know that the nose and taste buds work together to tell you what taste and scent you are eating? Different parts of your tongue detect which taste it is.
Finally, they went on to look at the difference between whole foods and processed foods.
Help at home: Take a look in your food cupboards at home and discuss which foods are whole and which are processed. 
KS2 Cross Country event
This weekend is the final Saturday cross country race of the season. Please sign up online or inform the office ideally by tomorrow Thursday 29 February if your child would like to take part.
LSAA Cross Country race Saturday 2nd March Woodhouse Grove school, Apperley Bridge, BD10 0NR
We are pleased to invite KS2 children to compete in an upcoming cross country race as part of the Leeds Schools Athletics Association cross country programme of Saturday morning races. Children will compete against pupils from other Leeds schools.
The race will take place on Saturday 2nd March Woodhouse Grove school, Apperley Bridge, BD10 0NR.
This race is an afternoon race at 1pm. Limited parking is available so please car share where possible.
Please note, parents/carers are responsible for taking and supervising their child/children at the event. There will be a parent representative at the event.
There are opportunities for Year 3 and 4 girls and boys (under 9) to race 900m and Year 5 and 6 girls and boys (under 11) to race 1500m. Once your child has completed their race, you are free to leave the event.
We look forward to pupils representing our school at this event.
Big Walk and Wheel
We are taking part in the 15th year celebration of Sustrans Big Walk and Wheel, the UK’s largest inter-school cycling, walking, wheeling and scooting challenge. The challenge runs from 11-22 March 2024. It’s free to take part and we would love everyone to be involved.
Last year, in our category of small primary schools, we finished in 24th place out of 514 schools with an average of 91.14% of our journeys to school being active. We achieved the highest national (24th) and Northern England (5th) ranking out of those schools in Leeds taking part.
What do you need to do?
Encourage your child(ren) to walk, scoot or cycle to school on as many days as possible during the event. Park and stride can also be included if you park at Marks and Spencer or further away from school and walk/scoot or bike the final part.
Why we are taking part
Sustrans Big Walk and Wheel is a great way to build physical activity in children’s daily routine which is important for their physical health and mental wellbeing.
Active school journeys also help to reduce congestion and air pollution outside the school gate. A 2021 YouGov study showed nearly half of UK children worry about air pollution near their school. And that children thought active travel was the best away to bring down these pollution levels.
Plus there are some great prizes to be won every day if we get enough children taking part!
Useful resources
To help you prepare, Sustrans has developed a handy free guide to walking, cycling or scooting to school. It is packed with advice to help you have hassle-free journey to school.
Download your free family guide using this link: https://www.sustrans.org.uk/sign-up-to-receive-your-free-school-run-guide/
For more information about the event go to www.bigwalkandwheel.org.uk . Enjoy the challenge!
