School dinners
Our school dinner menu was discussed by our School Council this week. They also talked about ways to encourage others to try some of the new meals that are on the Spring term menu.
Did you know the menu is available to view on our website and also displayed on our dining room window. This is a good way to make your child aware of what the daily meals are.
The menu follows a three week cycle and it changed on a termly basis.
Here are the options for today.
School Council elections 11 February
Our current school councillors held their final meeting today as we prepare to elect our new school council. This year’s election date is Thursday 11 February.
Children from every class, including Reception, are encouraged to prepare a speech to present to their class as part of the election process. Our whole school homework before the election date (05 February) will give children the chance to plan their speech.
Thank you to our existing school council who have been involved with many decisions and discussions throughout the year. On today’s agenda, there have been discussions around the new school dinner menu, classroom reading areas, e-safety and general suggestions put forward by children in each class. It appears they have enjoyed the role as they all intend to stand again at the elections.
Borrow a book, borrow a bike
With 100 days to this year’s Tour De Yorkshire, a local bike library has been set up locally at Moor Allerton Library.
Leeds City Council has introduced a new Yorkshire Bike Bank which will allow residents to borrow bikes as well as books from the library.
This week, by Jennifer and Ethan
This week, Jennifer and Ethan have spent some time reflecting on our learning over the last week.
English
This term in English we have been planning and writing news articles about the three little pigs but this time the wolf is innocent. We have already done the main news and the background. This a piece from Bailey’s writing:
At approximately 15:17, Bradley and Albert Pig were left no option but to run to their sister’s house. Mr A.Wolf, who claimed he wanted to invite them to his house welcoming party, said the attack on Wheat Dale Farm was accidental.
Maths
In maths we have been focusing on drawing and calculating angles – including missing interior angles. We have also learnt about symmetry and circles!
Here are some examples of our learning (drawing angles and finding the total of the interior angles of a shape):
Next week, we will be starting our new topic: Life!
Loving our library!
This afternoon, as we do every Monday, we went to the library to change our books. We really enjoy this experience and are making a conscious effort to raise the profile of reading in our class. It’s great that we have this facility in school and Year 6 are certainly making the most of it – everyone seems to be enjoying reading their books!
It would be great if you could help at home by:
- reading with your child
- asking questions about what you have read (e.g. How does the character feel? What might happen next? What did the character say when…?)
- encouraging your child to read for pleasure
- asking questions about reading in general (e.g. Do you like the book? Who is your favourite author? What makes this book different to a fiction/non-fiction book? Is there a particular genre you enjoy/don’t enjoy reading?)
- raising the profile of reading at home – Do you read? If so, could you and your child spend time reading your own books at the same time?
We know you help lots at home and it really shows in the learning we do at school. Thank you for your continued support.
Staying safe online
This week, an important letter is being sent home from Mrs Weekes. Please take the time to read this to help make sure your child is safe online.
We strongly recommend you have a happy and healthy discussion about how to behave online. Try this idea.
Tuck shop returns
Tuck shop will be back this Tuesday.
Eighty four portions per week have already been prepaid for this term but there is still chance to buy fruit on the day for 20p per portion.
Is your child in Year 3 and therefore goes swimming on a Tuesday afternoon? Some children buy a portion of fruit from the tuck shop and keep it for their healthy snack after swimming.
Spectacular Science!
Today, we were fortunate enough to visit the science department of Allerton Grange High School.
We completed six experiments using their specialist equipment in the labs; we mixed acid with magnesium and even made our own sparklers!
We also saw some awe-inspiring demonstrations of different chemical reactions. In one of them, Zach had his hands set on fire!
Most importantly, all the children returned to school enthused about science and hungry to learn more. This is great because our current topic ‘What’s The Matter?‘ and our next topic ‘Life‘ are driven by this subject.
This week, by Arran and Bailey
Arran and Bailey spent some time reflecting on some of our learning this week.
Topic
In Year 6, we have started a new mini topic called ‘What’s The Matter’. This topic involves Chemistry. In our first lesson, we learnt about ‘filtration’ and how to separate mixtures and solutions.
Here is some technical vocabulary that we have learnt:
- ‘Mixture’: A mixture is a combination of a solid and a liquid which won’t dissolve.
- ‘Solute’: A solute is solid that dissolves in a solvent.
- ‘Solvent’: A solvent is the liquid used to dissolve a solute.
- ‘Solution’: A solution is the combination of a solid and a liquid that have dissolved.
English
In English we have received a mystery letter from Alexander Wolf. The first few lines of the letter read: ‘Everybody knows the story of The Three Little Pigs. Or at least they think they do. But I’ll let you in on a little secret. Nobody knows the real story because nobody has heard my side of the story.’
Based on this letter we are writing a news report.
Mystery letter causes outrage in Year 6 English lesson
Happy New Year!
Yesterday, we read the classic fairy tale: ‘The Three Little Pigs’. Then, in the middle of our lesson, we received a letter from Mr A.Wolf. The letter explained how the wolf has been made out to be a villain when really the whole story was a misunderstanding involving a bad sneeze and a cup of sugar; some of us were more understanding of the wolf’s plight than others. We combined all of this to create our own version of the plot in which the wolf is not the villain.
There were some interesting ideas. Rav’s alternative plot included misheard song lyrics, heavy whistling and a tranquilizer dart, while Jaskirat’s alternative plot centres around the wolf having a bad couch and asking his neighbours for medicine.
Despite being aimed at younger children, we have used ‘The Three Little Pigs’ as a stimulus for some very creative and mature learning. The focus of our learning will be on news reports so we’ll be producing our own news reports based on our alternative plots.
You can help at home by encouraging your child to read the news (online or in the paper) and pick out how the writing might differ to what you would find in a narrative. Also, ask them about the plot they have devised in class and how it differs to the original story line. 