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This week we begin our new SEAL theme, Changes

Following our focus on manners last week, we now begin the SEAL theme of Changes. This theme aims to equip children with an understanding of different types of change, positive and negative, and common responses to change. It aims to develop knowledge, understanding and skills in three key social and emotional aspects of living and learning: motivation, managing feelings and social skills.

The key ideas and concepts behind this theme are:

• Change can be uncomfortable, because it can threaten our basic needs to feel safe and to belong
• Change can also be stimulating and welcome
• Both adults and children can experience a range of powerful and conflicting emotions as a result of change – for example, excitement, anxiety, uncertainty, loss, anger, resentment
• Worries about change can be made worse by uncertainty, lack of information, or misinformation and lack of support from others
• People’s responses to and ability to cope with change are very variable, and might be influenced by individual temperament, previous experience of change, and the nature of the change – chosen or imposed, expected or unexpected, within our control or out of our control
• Some children may welcome most forms of change and dislike routine and predictability. Other children may find even small changes very difficult.

Within school, children, who are coping with or have undergone significant change, are supported in a variety of ways:

• Our positive ethos within school
• Support systems, from staff and peers, for children who have undergone change or who maybe new to the school
• SEAL and circle time sessions where children feel safe to talk about their feelings
• Class SEAL boxes for children to record any concerns
• Preparing children wherever possible for planned changes for example, a change of class teacher, Key Stage or even school

£182.60 raised

Thank you for the donations, as part of identity day, during our latest themed week, Who do you think you are? and for entries to the Who do you think we are? competition.

A total of £182.60 was raised and this will be split between one of our school charities, St Gemma’s Hospice, and the Nepal earthquake appeal.

Moortown botanists

Lab coats went on yesterday as we all turned into botanists. It was time to find out once and for what plants need to grow so we set up an experiment. We planted the same seed and gave it different conditions to see which would grow and which would not.

Here are the conditions we set up:

• soil, water, light, warmth, air
• no soil, water, light, warmth, air
• soil, no water, light, warmth, air
• soil, water, no light, warmth, air
• soil, water, light, cold place, air
• soil, water, light, warmth, no air

Plant news

Having planted all sorts of seeds last week, let’s see how they’re getting on. We’ve had them sat on a sunny window sill and they’ve been watered everyday.

The sunflowers have started growing very quickly but we’ve also got tomatoes shooting through the soil and some marigolds and courguette poking through too. They’ll be planted outside next week so you’ll be able to come and have a look.

Making it through the maze.

We’re trying to make our way through mazes in maths by using lots of directional language.

• forward
• backward
• left
• right
• quarter turn
• half turn
• three-quarter turn
• clockwise
• anti-clockwise

Return of Leeds Sky Ride

Join the cycling revolution in Leeds as Sky Ride returns for its third year bringing thousands of cyclists and spectators to a traffic free city centre.

The free family friendly mass-participation bike ride takes place on Sunday 14 June 10am – 3pm. Registration is now open at  and people are being encouraged to sign up fast as places are filling up.

Previous years have proved to be very successful attracting more than 8,500 people of all ages and abilities, with many more lining the streets to cheer along friends, relatives and loved ones.

For those not jumping on a bike there is plenty to get involved with thanks to the return of the “Tricks and Tunes” area featuring top DJs as well as pro BMX and mountain bikers performing jaw-dropping stunts not for the faint-hearted.

Riders can look forward to starting from the same point, on The Headrow, as cycling legends during last summer’s “Grandest of Grand Départs”. They will also pass iconic city landmarks from Leeds University to the town hall and First Direct Arena.

Riders can challenge family and friends in the Sprint Zone, experience the sensory tunnel and find out more about cycling opportunities in Leeds. Bike experts at Halfords are offering a free bike safety check to everyone who registers and will be on hand to help out with any last minute problems. Join the cycling revolution in Leeds as Sky Ride returns for its third year bringing thousands of cyclists and spectators to a traffic free city centre.

The event is one of 15 to be held nationally and is part of a continuing partnership between Leeds City Council, British Cycling, Sky and the West Yorkshire Combined Authority which aims to encourage more people to get cycling.

05 June 2015

This week’s spellings are common words that are often spelt incorrectly. A good way to practice these is to put them into sentences.

05 June 2015

The homeworks this week are Practice Makes Perfect and Creative.

The Creative homework prepares us for our new topic by asking children to show what they know about Earth and Space. Your child could write a poem, create a story or report about our solar system. They could do some number crunching about planets. They could collect data over the weekend about light and shadows. They could speculate about other beings that we share space with.

The Practice Makes Perfect homework are two Mathletics activities. The first is about measuring angles which we’ve learnt recently in class. The second supports the learning this week on transformations: reflections, translations and rotation (though this is not part of the new curriculum in Y5).

Top Mathletics tips:

1. It is not a timed activity. Do not rush!

2. Do not rush!

3. Read the questions carefully.

4. Use jottings on a piece of paper to help you.

5. Tell me if you are finding an activity hard and I will find time to help you with it.

05 June 2015

The spellings this week are all words where the ‘i before e except after c’ rule applies. You’re in luck this week because there aren’t many of them!

05 June 2015

Here are this week’s spellings.  There will be a spelling test on Friday 12 June.

Please note that Green Group may be tested on other forms of the verb eg adding the suffix “ing” or “ed”.