Creative homework review
This afternoon, we spent some time reflecting on last week’s creative homework. We had a chance to look at everyone else’s before voting for our favourite (with a focus on effort and originality).
The standard was high across the class. In particular, we loved Henry’s, Ethan’s, Laurielynn’s, Gloria’s and Jennifer’s.
Homework is a really important part of school life and can lead to some very rich learning. We can’t wait to see next week’s!
Drama day!
Yesterday, we spent the whole day focusing on drama. Francis, from a company called ‘Ignite Lights’, came into school and delivered a whole day of drama that was linked to our class novel: ‘The Thornthwaite Inheritance’.
We started the day by looking at stereotypes and how they are often used in writing/theatre. We discussed how stereotypes also affect our day-to-day lives and made some freeze-frames based on some stereotypical characters.
Next, we donned some outfits and became story detectives. First, finding the stories that contained our characters. Then, proposing an alternative plot before devising a short play.
Last, we studied the poem ‘Caged Bird’ by Maya Angelou. The poem reminded us of a character from our class novel. We created soundscapes and imagescapes to show our understanding of the key emotions in the poem. Brandon amazed us with his understanding of key themes, showing a real maturity in his answers. (Well done, Brandon!)
We had a great day exploring our class novel through drama and would like to thank Miss Valentine for organising the visit.
It was particularly fun to dress up. Can you guess whose hair got covered in black and white paint?
You could really help at home by discussing stereotypes with your child. You could discuss questions such as…
- which stereotypes are prevalent in society?
- is stereotyping always a negative?
- what can we do as individuals to combat stereotyping in society?
Quick Sticks
Fifteen children (and several adults) set off from Moortown Primary early on the morning of Friday 26 February as part of forty teams competing in the Quick Sticks hockey competition at the Sportspark Weetwood. Fifteen hockey players (and several other adults…) returned. A fast-paced day of teamwork and good sportsmanship, with plenty of goals scored, leads us to look forward to the next Quick Sticks event!
We also look forward to working with Leeds Hockey Club back at school.
Thank you to all parents who helped with transport for this event.
Tchoukball returns to Year 6!
This half term, in PE, we will be learning all about Moortown’s favourite sport: tchoukball!
We spent our first lesson yesterday reminding ourselves of the game, its rules and the skills we need to play it. We arranged our thoughts using a spider-diagram as we moved through the lesson (sorry about the shadow!). You could ask your child: Are any of these skills transferable to other sports? Can you discuss each skill in more detail? Is one skill more important than the others? Which skills are you most confident with? Which skills do you feel you need to improve most?
We had lots of fun playing this action-packed game again; here are some action shots:
Please remember, children need their PE kit in school on Tuesdays and Fridays – this is their responsibility!
World Book Day menu
World Book Day is celebrated on 03 March and during that week (Wednesday 02 March) we will be having a World Book Day Roald Dahl menu for school dinners.
Our next SEAL theme – Getting on
For this half term, our SEAL theme Getting On covers four main aspects:
- developing the social skills of friendship
- working well together in a group
- managing anger
- resolving conflict
A key resource for children to refer to during this theme, and at other times, is Peaceful Problem Solving. This is a useful resource to encourage children to sort out their own problems. You may wish to talk through this with your child(ren).
When group work takes place in school, some questions for children to consider are:
- Did everyone take turns?
- Did everyone listen to what other people thought?
- Did each person have chance to tell the group what they thought?
- If people had different ideas could the group reach a compromise?
The key areas of learning throughout this theme are empathy, managing feelings and social skills.
We start our weekly SEAL statements with a focus on manners, I don’t interrupt (with my mouth or with my hand).
Sainsbury’s Sport Relief Mile comes to Leeds
The Sainsbury’s Sport Relief Mile is back – and it’s coming to Leeds.
Yorkshire Sport Foundation will host a Sainsbury’s Sport Relief Mile on Sunday 20 March.
Setting off from Woodhouse Moor, the Yorkshire Sport Foundation Leeds Mile event offers a 1 mile, 3 mile or 6 mile route.
School Council elections
It’s was a busy morning at the Moortown Primary School polling station with all classes taking part in our School Council elections. We’ve had a record number of children choosing to stand as candidates including the majority of the current School Council. Candidates prepared and delivered some great speeches to their class earlier this week in preparation for the election.
With a number of very close results, the winning candidates were announced in our assembly this afternoon.
Well done to our new school councillors – we are sure you will represent your class well.
The first meeting will be held after the half term on 01 March and one of the initial decisions to be made will be how we can support Sport Relief.
School Council Elections
Following in-class election speeches this week, our School Council elections will take place on Thursday, 11 February. All children have the opportunity to vote at our polling station using the following instructions.
Before voting, please read the following:
- Vote once for one person.
- Place one X only on this ballot paper beside the name of the candidate you have chosen.
- Do not write or mark anything else on the ballot paper; if you do, your paper will be invalid and your vote will not be counted.
- When you have marked the ballot paper, fold the paper and place it in the box provided.
Results will be counted on Thursday and our new School Council will be announced at the end of the day. This will be made up of two children from each class with the highest number of votes.
Good luck to all our candidates.
BLAST!
Alright, Charlie is coming to Moortown Primary on Monday 08 February.
Alright, Charlie is a gender neutral, age-appropriate resource for young people which aims to raise the awareness of grooming and how to stay safe from unsafe adults for young people aged 8-11. The BLAST Project been developed in Leeds by a nationally recognised service working to prevent child sexual exploitation (CSE). It’s been funded by the Department for Education and will be available for all primary schools across the country from the end of March; however, schools in Leeds have been piloting the resource since September and so far it has received great feedback from parents, teachers and young people alike.
On the same theme, did you watch the horrific, but true, docudrama on BBC3 last week? Murder Games: The Life and Death of Breck Bednar tells the true story of Breck Bednar, a 14-year-old schoolboy who was lured to his death after being groomed online by Lewis Daynes while gaming. Whilst this seems a world away from primary school, Breck was only 14 years old. (Please note: it contains strong language and upsetting scenes.)
Check out our advice for staying safe on-line.
The last page of our age-related expectations contains age-appropriate skills your child should have in Year 5 and Year 6.