Uncategorised

XXVII February MMXV

This week, the words all end in cial. Usually cial is used when the letter before it is a vowel. However, there are a few exceptions: financial, commercial.

27.02.15

This week, the words are all words with double up for short vowel sounds. These words are taken from the National Curriculum list.

27 February 2015

This week’s homework is creative.  Please make sure it is handed in by Wednesday 04 March. 

What would be your perfect house?

What would it look like?  Where would it be?  What would be inside?

Don’t forget there is a drop in session on Wednesday 04 March at 2.45 pm.  This is an opportunity for you to see how we review homework and give feedback.

27 February 2015

Here are this week’s spellings.  There will be a spelling test on Friday 06 March.

Times Tables

From now on, Year 2 will be given a times table to focus on each week. By the end of the year, children are expected to know the 2, 5, and 10 times table with quick recall. This week we will be focussing on the 5 times table – here are the type of questions your child can expect.

• 1 x 5 is 5
• 2 lots of 5 are 10
• 3 groups of 5 are 15
• 4 times 5 is 20
• 5 multiplied by 5 is 25
• 6 groups of 5 are 30
• 7 lots of 5 are 35
• 8 x 5 is 40
• 9 multiplied by 5 is 45
• 10 times 5 is 50
• 11 lots of 5 are 55
• 12 groups of 5 are 60

They will also be expected to then know the related division facts. For example, if 6 times 5 is 30… 30 divided by 5 is 6. There will be a couple of questions relating to division facts each week.

Help at home by counting in fives as you go up the stairs or walk down the street. Ask quick fire questions while driving in the car and make it a competition to see who can write the whole table the fastest – you or your child?

27 February 2015

This week’s homework is Creative and is due on Wednesday 04 March.

I can present my favourite book.

Whether it’s fiction or non-fiction, lots of us have a favourite book or at least a book we have enjoyed recently. Discuss what books your child has enjoyed recently and think about how they can present this to the rest of the class.

Here are a few suggestions…

• Prepare a speech.
• Write a book review.
• Create a poster.
• Interview the characters.
• Make a story board to retell from.
• Create a fact flap page.

Of course, this homework is creative so any of their own ideas would be great too!

Taken from our Homework Policy:

Creative homework

This involves a creative piece of open-ended work based around an ‘I can…’ statement eg ‘I can use research skills to find out about a country.’ ‘I know how instructions are used’ Only one rule: don’t use more than one page of A4 (unless your teacher says otherwise!). Content will be a balanced mix of subjects.

Top Tips: Be as creative as you like! Chat about ideas with your child: Could the homework be in the form of a poster, a letter, a comic strip, some writing, a PowerPoint…? Could it use photos, drawings, foldout ‘extras’ on the page…?

Value of houses – Maths

There’s all sorts of maths to explore through our Time Travel topic. Today, we tackled the big numbers by looking at the cost of houses today. By the end of the lesson, we were all comfortable reading tens of thousands, hundreds of thousands and millions numbers. We ordered house from cheapest to most expensive and discussed what it was that affected how much houses are worth.

Encourage your child to keep up this practice by searching on Right Move and estate agent websites and asking how much the houses are. You could also discuss how house prices have changed, not  only in the last 2000 years, but the last 20!

Welcome back!

It’s been a great couple of days back at school and we’ve been very busy.

Year 1 and 2 spent yesterday working with SPLATS – a drama company who helped us to create a performance about the Romans taking over Britain. We took the roll of prop designers in the morning with the whole class chipping in to make leaves for our chase scene through the forest.

Our afternoon was then spent rehearsing for our two scenes before the big performance at the end of the day.

Everybody tried their best and showed that we have some budding actors and actresses in the making.

BBC Radio Leeds Thank You Teacher Awards 2015

BBC Radio Leeds is launching its Thank You Teacher Awards inviting people from across West Yorkshire to nominate their most inspirational teacher. From pre-school to primary, secondary, FE and extra-curricular, this is a fantastic opportunity to celebrate the work of teachers across the region.

They’re asking for a 250-word submission and for those aged 16 and under there’s a special category which means they can submit a short film about the teacher who most inspires them.

Closing date is Tuesday 31 March 2015.

The winners, runners up and nominators will be invited to a special Awards Ceremony at the West Yorkshire Playhouse on the evening of Monday 15 June 2015.

Visit the BBC Leeds website for the application form and terms and conditions.

Attendance matters!

Put simply: taking a term-time absence will affect your child’s attainment – this conclusion is based on data over the past five school years. Research shows:

• the higher the percentage of sessions missed across Key Stage 2, the lower the likely level of attainment at the end of Year 6
• there is a gradual decrease in achievement as overall absence rates increase
• pupils with no absence are 1.6 times more likely to achieve level 4 or above, and 4.7 times more likely to achieve level 5 or above, than pupils that missed 15-20 per cent of all sessions
• pupils with the lowest five per cent of overall absence rates are 1.4 times more likely to achieve level 4 or above in reading and maths tests and 3.3 times more likely to achieve level 5 or above in reading and maths tests than pupils with the highest five per cent of overall absence rates

This research is based on national data. At Moortown, the picture is similar:

Read the full story from the Department for Education here.

Read the research here.

Supporting your child’s maths at home

This article is a thought-provoking read, and might inspire you to support your child in different ways; in it, Professor Jo Boaler sets out this list of top tips for parents who want to support their child in Maths:

1. Encourage children to play maths puzzles and games at home. Anything with a dice will help them enjoy maths and develop numeracy and logic skills.
2. Never tell children they are wrong when they are working on maths problems. There is always some logic to what they are doing. So if your child multiplies three by four and gets seven, try: “Oh I see what you are thinking, you are using what you know about addition to add three and four. When we multiply we have four groups of three…”
3. Maths is not about speed. In younger years, forcing kids to work fast on maths is the best way to start maths anxiety, especially among girls.
4. Don’t tell your children you were bad at maths at school. Or that you disliked it. This is especially important if you are a mother.
5. Encourage number sense*. What separates high and low achievers in primary school is number sense.
6. Encourage a “growth mindset” – the idea that ability changes as you work more and learn more.