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26 September 2014

This week, the spellings are all verbs which end in the suffix ‘ise’.

Help your child: Can (s)he think of any other verbs which contain this suffix?  Can (s)he say / write sentences using the words eg I despise the way they advertise junk food so that children recognise brands.

Children will be tested on all ten of the words on Friday 03 October.

Ratios in art?

Yesterday, we combined our artistic and mathematical skills by using ratios to turn primary colours into secondary colours. We discovered that different ratios of blue to red created different purples; different ratios of red to yellow created different oranges; and different ratios of yellow to blue, of course, created different greens. Farai decided that, to make a ‘good’ orange, you needed more yellow than red.

Here we are in action…

…and our end product…

Great work, Y2.

26 September 2014

This week’s homework is Practice makes perfect and is due on Wednesday 01 October.

I can use a number line for addition.

Your child has been practising addition in class for the last two weeks. They have work that is suited to their learning in their homework books which will allow them to practise the skills they have developed and offers the suggestion of learning that will challenge them.

Practice Makes Perfect

This is similar to what you might consider traditional homework: it may be a worksheet or a writing task (such as Y5’s current homework: I can write instructions).  Practice Makes Perfect is useful homework when something has been taught in school but needs consolidation.  The work should be fairly straightforward for the child as there should be no need for new learning, so just some encouragement from you is needed.  However, it would be a great time to get your child to teach you – they should be able to explain the key points or processes!  We use this type of homework less often because usually the best practice is where a teacher can keep feeding back and presenting new challenges when they see it as appropriate.  Teachers mark these activities in line with our marking policy. 

As always, please ask if you’ve any questions or concerns.

26 September 2014

This week’s homework is practice makes perfect.  It needs to be handed in by Wednesday 01 October.

It is really important that the children know their number bonds to 10 – this means that they need to know the pairs of numbers that make 10. For example…

7 + 3 = 10  so  3 + 7 = 10    

And if they know the addition facts, they’ll know subtraction facts, too…

10 – 7 = 3  and  10 – 3 = 7 

The homework this week is looking at calculations that make 10 – if your child can recall these facts quickly then it helps with more complicated calculations as they progress.

(Thank you for the great discussions that seem to have happened about Katie – it’s an exciting topic!)

26 September 2014

Here are this week’s spellings.  There will be a spelling test on Friday 03 October .

Cooking in the new curriculum

Teachers have been busy learning about the different cooking skills we’ll be teaching your child this year!
Today we’ve made a tasty (and healthy) garden salad!

Budding actors and actresses

Friday was filled with drama and costume making as Years 1 and 2 set to work to create a performance in just one day! While half of the class worked on creating a scene, the other half were hard at work cutting, colouring and combing masks and props for the final performance. Then…we swapped.

The show took our audience through a number of paintings just like Katie (the main character of our class novels) and watched her lose a girl’s hoop, argue with monkeys, run from a tiger and dance with shapes – not to mention hiding from the gallery guard!

If you couldn’t make it, here are a few pictures from our main performance.

We have a new Chair of Governors

Over the summer holiday, Mrs Janice Rush stood down from her role as Chair of our Governing Body.

Mrs Rush became Chair at the same time as I started at Moortown: in the autumn term of 2007-2008 school year.  Having put in seven years as Chair (and some time on our governing body before that), we will miss her a great deal and are extremely grateful for all her efforts.  She has worked tirelessley and tenaciously to help the school move from ‘good’ to the outstanding school we are today.  She provided the right balance of support and challenge to me and to a governing body which has become even more integral to our school and the processes we have in place.  In recent months, she was especially proactive in attempting to secure the best possible outcome for the field, and for this we are also grateful.

Mrs Becky Lawrence, our former Vice-Chair, has been voted in as the new Chair to replace Mrs Rush.  Currently on maternity leave, Mrs Lawrence works for Children’s Services and brings a wealth of experience and skills, especially statistical expertise.

Mrs Rachel Greenhalgh, mother of Y3 and Y1 children, is our new Vice-Chair.  Like Mrs Lawrence, Mrs Greenhalgh has a great deal of useful skills, with a particular passion around the teaching and learning of Maths.

Meet the artists in Year 1

The first week of our Big Topic has been really busy. We had an amazing day with Splats – the children worked on their scene from Katie’s Picture Show for 45 minutes and then it all came together for a professional performance. Well done to all of the children and thank you to Arran who co-ordinated the whole day and narrated the story in the performance. There are a few photos below from the day and also some photos of our own artists – following Vincent Van Gogh’s lead, drawing sunflowers.

19 September 2014

This week’s homework is talk time homework.  Your child needs to be ready to talk about this homework on Wednesday 24 September.

What did Katie do?

There should be lots to talk about this week after our exciting day with Splats.  Here are some questions you might want to ask:

• Who is Katie?
• What happened when she went to the art gallery with Grandma?
• Who did she meet in the paintings?
• Which painting would you like to go inside?
• Did anything in the paintings change?

As this is talk time homework,  we do not expect lots of written work from the children.  There is a slight change in expectations this year – please make a few brief notes showing what was discussed.  Older children are expected to write their own notes but this is something that we can develop during the year.

We are looking forward to hearing all about your discussions.