Money Matters
- Why do people get paid different amounts for jobs?
- What happens after you have spent the money?
- Why is there different money in different countries?
- Why do we need to have money to buy things?
- Who invented money?
- How has money changed over the years?
- How can I spend money wisely?
- What would happen if there was no money?
These are some of the questions suggested by children prior to our Money Matters themed week.
The week kicked off with our Hotshots fundraising event for our two school charities, Leeds Mind and Yorkshire Air Ambulance. Children are encouraged to bring in their sponsor money and forms this week, following the event.
Representatives from Leeds Mind and Yorkshire Air Ambulance will be visiting during our week to talk about their work and how they use donations.
Today, St Gemma’s Hospice visited to talk about how our donations have support patients and families in Leeds. St Gemma’s Hospice were one of our previous school charities. We even got to meet their new mascot, Gemma the Giraffe.
We’ve also launched our class collecting jars where children are encouraged to bring in any spare 1ps and 2ps so we can create a penny trail on Friday. All proceeds to the two school charities. The jars are already starting to fill up.
Thank you to Barclays Bank who hosted all classes at their branch today, showing the children behind the scenes of a bank.
On Thursday after school, we will be holding our first School Saving Club paying in session. For those children who have returned their application forms this will be an opportunity to start to pay into their new account. Please note money should be paid in at these sessions rather than bringing money to the office. Accounts are also available for siblings. Please ask on Thursday.
Our cash4coins collecting tin is now available at the office. This PTA fundraiser uses old coins and any foreign currency to raise funds for the school.
Finally, thank you to those parents who have offered their time to come in and speak with the children about their money related jobs.
As the week goes on, please check on class news to find out more about our Money Matters week and discuss with your child/children about their learning this week.
Lights…Camera…Action
On our visit to the National Media Museum in Bradford, we had a great time enjoying and making films. A big highlight for all of us was the 3D IMAX film all about dinosaurs. Check us out all ready in our glasses…
We stood behind and in front of the camera in our TV production workshop, learning all about the different stages that are involved in bringing things to our screens at home.
And we also had time for a bit of fun in the Games Lounge (where we saw how technology has advanced over the years) and the Magic Factory (where we learned all about the role of mirrors in the history of film).
What a great day out!
School Saving Club
As part of our upcoming themed week, Money Matters, we’ll be setting up a School Saving Club, in partnership with Leeds City Credit Union.
There will be a parent information session on Wednesday 18 May, from 3pm-4pm, to find out more information and pick up an application form from Leasey Newton, Leeds City Credit Union.
As an extra incentive, children in Year 3 will receive £10 from Leeds City Council for opening an account.
During our Money Matters week, we’ll hold the first paying in session on Thursday 26 May from 3pm-4pm.
The Savings Club will then run on a monthly basis. The dates for this term are Wednesday 22 June from 3.15pm-4pm and Wednesday 20 July from 3.15pm-4pm.
Leeds City Credit Union First Savers account
Opening your child/children a First Savers Account is a fantastic way to help them to learn how to save and will teach them a skill they can use in the future. It has been proven that children who utilise a savings scheme within a school, watching their savings grow, continue to save throughout their adult lives.
There are no minimum requirements to this account and with each deposit, however small; your child will earn rewards to collect.
Leeds City Credit Union has introduced a new fun way for children to save and would like you to say hello to “The Potts Family”.
All children joining the savings club will be given an individual membership number and savings card. After every sixth deposit a sticker will be given. Each sticker represents a member of “The Potts Family”. When all the five stickers have been collected your child will receive a special badge of “Dolla” the dog.
Once the account is open, and your child reaches the signatory control age, the account will stay theirs to do as they wish, setting them up to continue saving throughout their adult life.
If you would like your child to join the Savings Club, please ask at the office for a First Savers application form, or come along to the parent information session on Wednesday 18 May from 3pm-4pm.
Do you have any old or foreign coins and bank notes?
If so, we will be launching a cash4coins PTA fundraiser during our Money Matters themed week.
Many people have some old foreign currency, either notes or coins and perhaps some old UK or Irish decimal coins.
We are collecting all worldwide current currency in notes or coins and any of the older currency such as the German Marks, Spanish Pesetas, old UK shillings, old UK decimal coins including Ireland, Channel Islands, Scotland, Isle of Man and £5/£2 coins.
We can turn your old money into a valuable donation.
Please donate at the school office.
Prepare for your audition
On Wednesday, Year 5 and 6 will have the opportunity to auditions for parts in our upcoming production…
Robin and the Sherwood Hoodies.
If the children want a speaking part (no matter how big or how small) they’ve been asked to be ready to give a very short demonstration of their acting skills and will have the opportunity to identify which parts they’re interested in. Obviously, we won’t be able to give everyone their first choice but we’ll aim to give anyone who wants a speaking part some lines. Anything can be prepared for the audition but I’ve attached some scenes if the children want to use use those.
We’ve also discussed the importance of other roles in theatre: lighting, props, sound, stage hands, front of house. Any children not wanting an acting part will still be involved in the singing but may wish to take on one of these roles instead.
Break a leg!
National Smile Month
As part of National Smile Month, we will be having a calcium filled lunch special menu on Tuesday 24 May.
If your child would like to have a school meal on this day, please inform the office as soon as possible.
Films in the making
As part of our child-led film topic, we’ve been working on creating our own stop motion animation films. We worked really well together today to develop some short films that we’ll share with you soon.
We’re going to try our hand at some editing next to see if we can give them a more professional finish and audio too. We’ll then analyse our efforts, think about what we need to improve and have another go at it before half term to see if we improve. …Just like they’d do in the films!
Skittles science continued…
After our science experiment with Skittles last week, we went on to ask our own questions and plan our own experiment from it.
- What will happen if you change the sweet?
- What will happen if you change the number of Skittles?
- What will happen if you change the liquid?
This meant we could discuss independent and constant variables to ensure that we were testing just one thing and it was really interesting to see which of our predictions were correct and what was surprising.
…all really great Science, although we couldn’t help but be distracted by wanting to eat all of the lovely sweets we had in front of us!
Film production
Our film topic continues as we move into creating our own stop motion animations. The children have teamed up and started the process by noting down all of their different ideas.
They then decided on one together and started scripting (organising, assigning roles, noting what they would need) before mapping out their idea onto a storyboard.
We’ll begin filming next week and, hopefully, will be able to publish some of our masterpieces so that you can watch them at home.
Rocket seeds
A quick update on our rocket seeds…
They’re growing! We’ve been watering them and turning them each day so that they all receive the same amount of sunlight.
We can’t see any difference between the red and the blue yet but there is a noticeable difference according to which windowsill they’re on. We’ve concluded that one of the windowsills doesn’t receive as much sunlight as the others because those seeds are growing at a much slower rate.
Today, we’ll be calculating the percentage of seeds that have grown in each seed tray and noting it on our record sheet.