Gymnastics
As we come to the end of our gymnastics unit in PE, we have spent some time learning how to use the apparatus safely and purposefully. We had a go on a range of equipment and learnt how to use each piece to improve our gymnastics skills. It’s also really fun to challenge yourself and take a few safe risks. I was particularly impressed by how resilient some of us were when we were attempting things we found a little scary.
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.
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.
Fire Safety
This afternoon, we were visited by some firefighters from Moortown Fire Station. They came in to give us some information about how important fire safety is.
They started by explaining what a fire is. We found out about ‘The Triangle of Fire’. For a fire to start, you need three things: heat, power and ______ (ask your child what the third component is).
Then, just as our actual smoke alarm sounded (don’t panic, the incident was dealt with quickly) we were told about the importance of having smoke alarms fitted in our house. We watched a video simulation of a fire and saw that in just three minutes the room was filled with smoke. The smoke alarm sounded after 15 seconds meaning that anyone in the house had a better chance of making it to safety.
We also learnt that having a ‘Fire Action Plan‘ in place for your house can significantly improve a family’s chances of survival in the case of an emergency. A good action plan would incorporate the following points:
- think (Are exit routes and hallways clear? Have you considered alternative exit routes)
- plan (Where are keys kept? Are they easily accessible? Where are house phones and mobile phones kept?)
- tell (How will you tell each other about the fire? How will you tell the fire service?)
- be safe (Remember not to try and fight the fire yourself. If in doubt, stay in a room, close the door, cover the cracks in the door with towels and open the window. Then, wait for the fire brigade to arrive.)
Ask your child if they can help you create a suitable fire action plan for your own home.
Living and Learning
In our Living and Learning session this week, we learnt all about how we respect ourselves and other people. We started by studying this quote:
‘No one is born hating another person because of the colour of his skin, his background, or his religion. People must learn to hate, and if they can learn to hate, they can taught to love, for love comes more naturally to the human heart than its opposite’ – Nelson Mandela.
We discussed what it meant and the children were brilliant at understanding the message Nelson Mandela was trying to get across – we also had an interesting discussion about apartheid. Ask your child what they understand by this quote.
Next, we thought about all the different types of discrimination that might be prevalent in society: racism, homophobia, sexism and ageism to name a few. After reflecting on how lucky we were to be part of a school were these things are not an issue, we discussed what society can do to overcome these terrible prejudices.
We learnt about the Stonewall campaign to kick homophobia out of sport – Rainbow Laces. We discussed that charities and other organisations can rasie awareness of discrimination or raise money to help victims. However, as individuals in Year 5, what can we do? We made this (brief) list of things we can do to overcome discrimination:
After, we each took a moment to reflect and decided on one thing we could do to be respectful of everyone in our community and help to overcome discrimination.
- ‘I will see if I can put some rainbow laces in my boots for my next football match.‘ Josh
- ‘I will make sure I don’t look at someone’s appearance but focus on their personality instead.’ Noorpreet
- ‘I will bake some cupcakes and decorate them with rainbow coloured icing. Then, I’ll sell them and donate my money to the Stonewall charity.’ Grace
Super Science Learning
This week, we’ve started our new mini-topic… Power – forces. In Year 5 and 6, we’ll be focussing on electricity to make sure that we’re covering all of the National Curriculum. We started our unit by thinking about what electricity is (learning about: which materials conduct electricity?). Each group were given a basket full of electrical equipment and given one challenge: make the bulb give off light. All of the groups managed to do this (despite some equipment failures) pretty quickly – I was impressed.
Then, we discussed different materials and predicted* if they would conduct electricity or not. To find out how accurate our predictions were, we placed each material in the circuit and observed* if the bulb still worked or not. Ask your child which materials were conductors, and which ones weren’t.
*Two key skills covered in the working scientifically part of the National Curriculum.
Mindfulness
On Friday, we enjoyed a mindfulness workshop – ask your child if they can explain what mindfulness is.
We started off by thinking about a situation (being kicked in the leg in the playground) and thought about how we might react. Our response could be negative: we could react in a retaliatory way. However, being mindful would allow us to respond more positively: taking a moment away from the situation to calm down and find a suitable solution.
Then, we watched a clip from ‘Kung-Fu Panda’. In the clip, we saw two characters. One had a special power: mindfulness. Being mindful allowed the character to respond to a tricky situation by staying calm, thinking through his options and finding a solution that was best for all involved.
As our themed week is all about who we are, we discussed that learning to accept our emotions is a huge part of our identity. We talked about how we were feeling and reflected on times when we haven’t felt so upbeat and positive. We agreed that feeling anxious, sad or stressed is OK because we know that no matter how we are feeling it will always get better. To help, we learnt a few relaxation techniques:
- self hug
- breathing tree
- OK breathing
- nasal breathing (risky in the winter if you have a cold!)
Another technique we learnt to help us be mindful when we’re feeling anxious or worried is an emotions bottle. To create an emotions bottle at home, simply add different coloured glitter to a bottle of still water. Once made, decide what emotion each colour represents, shake the bottle, watch all the emotions mix then breath calmly as the bottle (and your emotions) reset. We have our own emotions bottle (or ‘Worry Waver’ as we’ve decided to call ours) in class that children can use at any time they wish – maybe, you could have one at home, too?
Another simple method to help us relax was to sit still and silent and focus on our senses. You could listen out for 10 sounds, find 10 shapes you haven’t noticed before or use your sense of touch to find contrasting textures around the room.
We’ll keep talking about mindfulness in class and we’ll be trying out some of the techniques.
Marjorie and Arnold Ziff Community Centre
Yesterday, we were fortunate to be invited to the Marjorie and Arnold Ziff Community Centre.
We had a great afternoon! When we arrived, we split into two groups. One group went to the kitchens to have a go at baking some traditional Jewish bread: challah. The other group completed a short dementia awareness course. We learnt about the brain and its many vital functions before discussing the impact that having dementia has on day-to-day life. We also focussed on how we can ensure that people suffering from dementia (and other mental illnesses) can be included within our communities. Then, we swapped to make sure everyone had a go at both activities.
After this, we joined up in the hall to sing and dance with some of the day visitors. We had a lovely time meeting some of the older members of our community and it was great to see that our visit (and considerable energy!) put a smile on everyone’s face!
Here’s a few images from the afternoon…
