Highlights from the week!
Hi everyone!
Some children are still coming to school as their parents are key workers. We’ve been doing all the learning that teachers have been setting on homework pages, but have had plenty of time for other activities too.
Art
We’ve painted some beautiful rainbows…
…and we’ve made creations out of clay. Aren’t they good?
Coding
We’ve been coding on Scratch and Kodu: both free-to-download programming software, which children enjoy using to build games.
Exercise
Joe Wickes PE sessions have proved very hard work…
Sometimes we’re just going outside to play games instead. Anything to keep fit and healthy!
Music
We were even lucky enough to have a visit from a teacher in our federation who is also a musician. Mrs Richardson performed for the children by singing, playing keyboard and even using a singing bowl. We kept our 2m away but we could hear it just fine! It was a lovely experience and we were all very impressed. Thanks very much Mrs Richardson for coming in.
I love music! Are you learning an instrument at home? I’m practising my drums as often as I can. It’s a good opportunity to get better. I’ve got a guitar that I haven’t played in a while too… I might have to pick it up again! Why not take a short video of you playing something on your piano, guitar, drums or whatever other instrument you’re learning and send it to me? My email address is [email protected] If you’re happy for me to share them on our website’s news pages, please let me know. I’m sure others would love to see them too!
Construction Challenges!
One of our favourite activities has proven to be marble runs. We’ve spent quite a while planning and constructing these, with the courses our marbles are running gradually getting more and more complex. We’ve now got some working with tubes and foam tracks and it’s very satisfying. When I can work out how to get a video on here, I’ll post one for you to see ours in action!
Do you want to try? They’re fun to make and don’t take any special equipment or materials – just a marble. You can then use anything to make the run:
- pencils
- books
- boxes
- toys
- Lego bricks
Don’t forget to start somewhere high so gravity can help.
Hall of (Home Learning) Fame
Hello and welcome to the first ever – drum roll please – Hall of (Home Learning) Fame! [crowd goes wild]
I was inundated with emails where you guys were keeping me updated with your amazing home learning or just fun stuff you were getting up to whilst staying safe at home.
Here are this week’s winners who have bagged themselves a special place on #HoHLF!
First up, this brother and sister duo taking the week by storm with sports, crafts and the mastery of life skills – winning x 3!
What an effort requiring dedication, precision and an eye for a pattern. All traits we appreciate very much here at #HoHLF headquarters!
Staying at home doesn’t mean staying sat down! This Jordan-Pickford-in-training was truly saving himself from boredom and diving into the fun right in his own back garden. Result!
And last but by certainly no means least … a huge well done to our home scientists who have nabbed the last, highly sought-after place on this week’s Hall of (Home Learning) Fame. Your understanding of materials and their properties was solid. 😉
Tune in next week for another episode of #HoHLF!
Living and Learning: body image parent and carer guide
Our focus in Living and Learning, for the rest of this half term, is body image.
What is body image?
Body image describes our idea of how our body looks and how we think it is perceived by others. This can include our thoughts and feelings about our height, weight, shape, skin colour, and our appearance and attractiveness more broadly.
This parent and carer guide has been designed to give practical ideas to support your child in building their emotional resilience in this area.
Living and Learning: manners
Our manners focus this week, in Living and Learning, is all about covering our mouth to prevent the spread of germs.
You’re just about to sneeze or cough but, oh dear, you don’t have a tissue. What should you do? Cover your mouth and nose with your hands? Surely that’s what polite people do.
But hold it! If you sneeze or cough into your hands (and then fail to wash your hands straight away), you’ll only be spreading colds and flu germs on everything you touch.
And that’s because germs (as long as they stay moist) can live for HOURS on hard surfaces such as tables, phones and door handles. And not just on objects – everybody you touch will be contaminated, too.
And of course, vice versa – if somebody else has sneezed or coughed on their hands, they’re leaving a germ-trail for you to pick up.
So what’s it best to do?
Here it is in action.
World Book Day themed menu
Catering Agency, our school meal provider, will be running a special themed menu on Thursday 5th March. Please contact the office, in the next few days, if your child would like a school dinner on this day (no action needed if your child normally has a school meal on this day).
Internet Safety Day
For Internet Safety Day, Y6 explored online persuasion in the form of advertising, pop ups and games as businesses. They created and presented what they had learnt.
Top tips:
- fully close the app if a pop up appears and you’re unsure – delete and reinstall if necessary
- do the legwork when searching online – check multiple sites and customer reviews
- keep a happy and healthy balance when gaming – go outside often or put a limit on your screen time
New school dinner menu
Our new spring/summer school meal menu, starting after February half term, is now available on our Meals page. It continues to follow a three week cycle.
The menu has been created in liaison with Catering Leeds to ensure it meets the School Food Standards. We have also incorporated feedback from our school cook, pupils and parents/carers. We will continue to offer a meat free day every week. This will be every Tuesday.
Pupils will continue to make their daily food choices at the start of the day to ensure they receive their first choice of main meal.
If you would like a paper copy of the menu, please ask at the office.
Remember, children in Reception, Year 1 and Year 2 continue to receive free school meals and we encourage pupils to take up this offer. For families in other year groups, please check if you are eligible to receive free school meals for your child/children.
We welcome feedback on the school dinner menu from pupils and parents/carers.
Diverse Dolls
Take a look at this amazing article spotted and shared by a member of Y6 while we were reading First News.
We discussed why representation is so important; it makes people feel more confident in who they are and more tolerant and understanding.
The girl who spotted it felt especially awesome – she has vitiligo herself!
Keep being awesome, Y6.
Living and Learning: Children’s Mental Health Week
Set up by children’s mental health charity Place2Be, Children’s Mental Health Week shines a spotlight on the importance of children and young people’s mental health.
Young Minds is also a great source of information and support about young people’s mental health.
Mental health forms part of our Living and Learning long term plan and we encourage pupils to look after their mental health as well as their physical health. This maybe through the use of mindfulness and calming down techniques, recognising their own and others’ emotions and knowing how to seek help if needed. This guide shares some of the techniques we use.
In addition to Children’s Mental Health Week, Every Mind Matters is a national mental health campaign from Public Health England.
Living & Learning – online safety.
We had another visitor from Y6 favourite d:side who came to remind us about safe choices to continue making us happy and healthy people.
All the children spotted the strong links with our computing topic. Challenge your child to explain how d:side’s visit linked with:
- digital footprint
- phishing
- dis- and misinformation
