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05 July 2013

This week’s spellings will be a challenge!  Next week’s test could include any spelling from the last four weeks.

On Friday 12 July, the children will be tested on a mixture of different spellings so be prepared!

05 July 2013

This week the words all end in y. However, when you turn them into a plural, you have to drop the y and add ies.

You do this for any word which has a consonant before the y.

For example, fly becomes flies.

If the word has a vowel before the y, you only add s.

For example, boy becomes boys.

Fab feedback

So that we can feel confident about what we do, we quite often invite feedback.  Thank you to those of you who have returned annual surveys (once again, your feedback is really positive, but with some useful suggestions, too).

Recently, a headteacher from another Leeds school was so impressed by our school’s learning environment, he asked if he could return with the school’s leadership team to get some ideas.  Here are some of the things he said:

Moortown Primary is a school where the learning environment has clearly been carefully considered and a high priority for all members of staff. The compact learning spaces and transitional areas are characterised by creativity, order and clarity.

The organisation and structure of all areas gives a strong indication that pupils are encouraged and able to self-select resources to move learning on independently. There is also an impression that all members of the school community put a high value on maintaining this high quality learning environment.

The use of space was exemplary. This was most strongly shown in the Reception classroom. Areas of provision were well defined, well organised and very engaging for the pupils. The creativity behind many displays/backdrops was admirable. The lack of space did not restrict the broadness of what was offered. Parents/carers had easy and immediate access to pupils’ learning journey folders.

The headteacher went on to praise particular strengths, including classroom displays, classroom management and resources.

Another visitor recently has been a Leeds Primary School Improvement Service consultant.  In her reports, she comments on the Reception classroom and the children there:

The indoor especially is bright, stimulating and offers challenge in all areas to ensure children are making progress. I spent the entire morning in the Reception class. All children were constantly on task due to the engaging provision areas.

When I visited again a week later, there were new challenges to inspire children’s learning at the right level.  All the children were on-task and involved in their own learning due to the challenges and stimulating environment offered to children. The children’s behaviour is impeccable because children are busy and on-task within the learning environment, even in the absence of the children’s usual teacher.

…Once again showing Moortown Primary is a happy, healthy and effective place to learn!

05 July 2013

This week’s spellings all follow a familiar spelling rule:

drop the y for an i

When an er or an est is added to the route word, the y is dropped and replaced with an i. For example,

sunny with er added becomes sunnier

and the y is replaced with an i

Some of these spellings also follow another rule. Do you know which one it is?

05 July 2013

This week, your child has been taking part in a variety of activities as part of our Community Themed Week. One of these activities involved learning facts about different countries.

This week’s homework is creative. It is due in on Wednesday 10 July 2013.

I can show what I know about a country I have a connection with.

They could:

• produce a spider diagram of information
• draw pictures with labels
• write a fact file
• create a promotional leaflet for a tourism brochure
• design a homepage for a website about the country

…or think of another creative way of presenting their information.

This homework can be about any country of their choice, but it would be ideal if there is some sort of connection. This could be where your child was born, or where their family originate from; it could be where they have visited on holiday or even where they plan to visit in the future – any sort of connection would be good!

Family

This week, we’ve been talking and learning about what a family is and what is important in a family. We’ve learnt that there are many different types of families and that who is in the family is not important but what a family does and how they love and support each other is really important.

Community links

This week is Community Week. In one lesson, we talked about the different communities that we belong to. We talked about how other children in the class might belong to the same community. At the end of the lesson, we talked about how we can make links between the communities. One child held a ball of wool and threw it to a person who was in the same community as them whilst keeping hold of the start of the ball of wool. This person then said the name of another community they belong to and threw it to someone else who belongs to that community. Soon enough, everyone was holding the wool and we’d created a spiders web of linked communities and children.

Professional footballer visits Moortown!

On Monday, we were privileged to welcome an actual, real life professional footballer into our classroom! Carla Cantrell currently plays for Lincoln and has previously played for Leeds United. She has even played for England! Carla talked to us about what it is like being a professional footballer and the challenges and sacrifices she has to make.

It was really interesting to find out how different it is being a female professional footballer compared to a male professional footballer. For example, Carla has to work all day and then go to training for three hours after work! Wayne Rooney doesn’t know how lucky he is!

Water Aid

This morning, we had a visit from Gary who works for one of our school charities, Water Aid. We learnt that Water Aid is an international charity which helps people from many different countries who don’t have easy access to clean, fresh drinking water. We also learnt about how we have been helping Water Aid help our global community.

Water Aid

This morning, we had a visit from Gary who works for one of our school charities, Water Aid. We learnt that Water Aid is an international charity which helps people from many different countries who don’t have easy access to clean, fresh drinking water. We also learnt about how we have been helping Water Aid help our global community.