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07 June 2013

This week, we’re revisiting words which have a split digraph.

Remember a split digraph is when the ‘e’ at the end of words works with another letter to make a longer sound. Think about the difference between hop and hope – both have three sounds (phonemes), but the split digraph in hope creates a ‘long o’ sound. Other examples in the list below is the difference between Tim and time and made and made.

These words will be tested on Friday 14 June.

07 June 2013

Our spellings this week are all homophones. That’s when two words that sound the same are spelt differently.

In these next two sentences there are five homophones. See if you can spot them!

Whilst most of the spellings are pretty straightforward, the challenge is whether you can tell which one is necessary for the sentence.

For example:

I have been/bean to the shops.

Can you write the correct homophone in this sentence?

Goodbye, Year 6 (from Miss Hewson)

Just a little message to say goodbye to another wonderful class that I was lucky enough to teach. I hope you all keep up the good learning. My favourite thing about your class is how, over the years, you have gelled more and more together as a team. Like I said in assembly, I don’t think I’ve ever laughed more with (or at!) a class! You provided Mrs Bald, Mrs Freeman, Mrs Edwards and I with many giggles.

I have two favours to ask my Wake Up Shake Up-ers:

• Please teach Mr Redfearn to dance properly when he takes over!
• Please still do my beloved One Direction dance every so often even if it’s just to annoy Mrs Hazell!

Finally, good luck with your SATs results. I know you’ll do brilliantly.

Goodbye, Year 3 (from Miss Hewson)

Just a little message to say goodbye to another lovely class that I was lucky enough to teach. I hope you all keep up the good learning. My favourite thing about your class is how different you all are. I love that you all have individual personalities and opinions. Thank you to the girls who have spent time making up leaving dances for me in the last few weeks – they were brilliant! (However, I think you had a pretty good Wake Up Shake Up teacher didn’t you?!) I think you’re a class full of talent, especially when it comes to sport. Best of luck for the future and don’t forget me when you’re famous!

Goodbye, Year 2

To the parents:

I would like to say a big thank you for all of the cards and presents that I received on Friday. I was totally overwhelmed and not expecting the amount of thought and effort that everyone had put into them. I now have several gorgeous bunches of flowers on display and I’ve been treating myself to the delicious chocolates I received whilst drinking tea out of my new Cath Kidston mug and reading my fab new book all about things that you forget from school . I was lucky enough to get some writing materials that I’ll be using to keep note of my never-ending to do lists! The pens I’ll be using to mark books in my new school. Any decorative items are now proudly placed around my house. My Molton Brown products definitely make my bathroom look posher than it is. The new earrings I got are now in the beautiful jewellery box that my colleagues kindly bought for me. I am yet to spend the Debenhams vouchers that many of you generously collected for me. However, I’ll be use them to treat myself to a Jasper Conran watch that I’ve seen so thank you very much. The card was so very thoughtful and one that I will keep forever too.

I know that the children are going to continue to thrive at Moortown. The current teachers there are wonderful and the new recruits seem like they will settle in well too. (Mr Roundtree has a talent for choosing staff!)

You’ve all been so supportive with homework, spellings and communicating messages and that has had a big impact on how well your children are doing both academically and socially. I wish you all the best for the future.

To Year 2:

I’m so sorry that I had to leave before the end of year. I know that you’re going to have a lovely seven weeks with Mrs Weekes now though.

• Ubaid: You’re trying so hard with your reading – keep it up!
• Malique: I’m pretty sure we’ll see you on Britain’s Got Talent with your gymnastic or dancing ability sometime in the future.
• Subhaan: You’re liked by everyone. Keep up that good reading!
• Hasan: What a super star learner you’ve been this year! Remember to keep up that concentration.
• Jack: A walking encyclopedia – I think you could have actually done my job this year, Jack! Super progress made.
• Ava: I will miss our chats about your busy social life, Ava!
• Mia: What a lovely friend you are to everyone. Very creative, too!
• Haider: Such a lovely person. An excellent attitude to learning, too.
• Frankie: You’re totally unique and very funny!
• Addam: So polite and kind to everyone. You better not be taller than me when I next see you!
• Kostas: I’ve never known anyone learn things so quickly! We’re glad you joined us, Kostas.
• Indi: Such an amazing learner and loved by everyone in the class.
• Riya: You’re such a sweet young lady. You’re going to be a brilliant big sister!
• Zaiyad: Quite possibly the loveliest smile in the world!
• Aleena: Chatterbox! I will miss your bubbly personality.
• Grace: Just lovely. You always go above and beyond what is expected of you.
• Luke: You should feel really proud of your improved attitude to everything, Luke.
• Talha: WOW to the progress you’ve made this year, Talha.
• Manya: You’re like a sponge that soaks up every bit of information. Excellent learning attitude.
• Dominic: You make me laugh! Liked by everyone.
• Isabelle: You are so lovely and calm, Isabelle. I hope you keep enjoying Brownies.
• Owen: So polite and kind all of the time. Keep up the taekwondo!
• Naran: You put 100% effort into all of your learning, Naran. Well done!
• Sarah: What will I do without you in my classroom, Sarah? You always keep it so tidy! Keep up the excellent reading.
• Emre: You’ve always got a fascinating story to tell or information to share, Emre.
• Ben: You now have super learning behaviour, Ben. Keep it up!
• Ebonnie: You are so sweet. The song that you wrote for me is on my fridge door so I can see it every day.
• Jorja: I don’t think you could be any kinder if you tried. We’re all so glad that you joined our class, Jorja.
• Moses: You have a cheeky smile that brightens up our classroom!
• Kieron: Always one of the first ready to learn. Super manners too, Kieron!

Enjoy the next seven weeks with Mrs Weekes and make sure you show her your best learning as I will be checking up on you all!

Thank you to Mrs Stewart and Mrs Smithells for providing invaluable support this year too.

Missing you already.

Butterflies!

Our butterflies finally emerged from their cocoons last week and on Friday we released them.

It’s the half-term break…

…so there’s no homework or spellings this week.  Enjoy the holiday, whatever you get up to.

Goodbye, Miss Hewson!

On Friday, children, parents and staff said goodbye to a much-loved member of our school community: Miss Hewson.

Miss Hewson had been with us for just short of five years (the picture below was taken in her first year at Moortown Primary).  She has left to take up a leadership role in a school in York, closer to her home.Amongst the comments in Friday’s assembly, when people were asked to suggest some of Miss Hewson’s talents (fitting in with last half-term’s Good to be Me SEAL theme), were her teamwork, her support for others, her dancing (during Wake Up, Shake Up sessions) and her ability to smile all the time!  As well as obviously missing the Moortown community, Miss Hewson commented on Friday that she would miss being the youngest teacher in a school – a feature of which she has always been most proud!

Miss Hewson, we will miss you and we all wish you well for the future.

New SEAL theme – Changes

This SEAL theme tackles the issue of change and aims to equip children with an understanding of different types of change, positive and negative, and common responses to it.

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

We begin this half term with a focus on manners: I don’t talk with my mouth full.

Subsequently, I can get better at my learning is the first SEAL statement to launch the theme of Changes.

Safety, health and social benefits of walking to school

In association with Leeds City Council and Living Streets we are taking part in this year’s Walk to school week.  We all know how congested the area around school can be at the start and end of the school day and so this week we are asking children to take part in the Leeds City Council Ben E. Fit competition.

Children who walk, or scoot, to school or walk part of their journey (at least five minutes, maybe by parking further away than usual) every day will be entered into a prize draw.

On Wednesday, Leeds City Council will deliver a whole school Walk to school assembly followed by pedestrian training for Year 1 and Year 2.  We also start our scooter skills training this Friday for some of our Key Stage 2 children.

Why walk to school?

Our walk to school video has lots of facts and tips about walking to school.

According to Living Streets, there are many benefits to walking to school related to health, safety and the environment.

Time and money

• Trips to and from the school gates by car waste thousands of hours of parents’ and other road users’ time and cost an average of £400 per family per year
• At the peak time of 8:35am on week days in term time, the school run generates approximately 21per cent of all trips by urban residents in the UK
• 16% of school journeys under a mile are driven to school. This distance could be walked in 20 minutes

Safety

• Driving the school run denies children the chance to develop road safety skills, independence and an understanding of their local environment
• Child pedestrian collisions on the walk to school peak at about 12 years of age. This could be due to parents not preparing their children for travelling independently and practising road safety skills when their children are younger
• Parents of children who are driven to school overestimate the risks of abduction and ‘stranger danger’ while underestimating the risks of traffic

Benefits for your children

• Children who walk to school are actively engaged with their community and have better knowledge of their local area
• Children who walk to school have wider social networks: In a study by Living Streets, 84 per cent of the children who walked to school reported always or sometimes meeting up with classmates on the way to school, while only 66 per cent of those who were driven to school had the opportunity to do so
• Walking to school improves children’s social development in future years
• The more contact children have with their natural environment, the higher they score in tests of concentration and self-discipline
• Short-term and even superficial exposure to natural areas through brief walks have been found to have positive effects on mood, reducing feelings of anger and anxiety
• An American study found that after as little as five minutes of moderate to vigorous activity (i.e., running, walking), children were able to concentrate more

Health benefits of walking for parents and children

• 24.5 per cent of adults and 14 per cent of children (aged two to ten years old) in the UK are obese and obesity can reduce life expectancy by 9 years on average
• Young people who are obese are likely to have lower levels of fitness, suffer from social discrimination and have low self-esteem and lower quality of life
• Research has suggested that, without appropriate intervention, overweight or obesity could affect as many as nine out of ten adults and two out of three children by 2050
• Walking one mile (1.6 km) can burn at least 100 calories of energy and walking two miles (3.2 km) a day, three times a week, can help reduce weight by one pound (0.5 kg) every three weeks
• Three out of ten boys and four out of ten girls do not cover the recommended minimum of one hour a day of physical activity
• Children who generally travel to and from school by car, bus or other vehicle are more likely to be overweight at age 5 than those who walk or cycle

The environment

• The school run is adding two million tonnes of carbon dioxide to the atmosphere every year
• It is estimated that 17% of the total school carbon emissions can be attributed to school travel