‘sat’ or ‘sitting’…?
Yesterday, we received this email from Elle Wild, author:
I am home schooling my child, who is in Year 4 in Canada, and have been following your very useful notes for Moortown school to keep my son on track with the UK curriculum, as he was schooled there for the last 4 years.
I just wanted to give you a heads up that you’ve included a grammar error in your homework for Nov 4th.
The sentence should read, “My cat is seated on the sofa”, not “is sat”. The cat sits, the cat is seated, the cat sat, but the cat should never “be sat”. It’s a confusion of present and past tense.
I hope you won’t mind the comment terribly, and please permit me to say that I am very impressed by the careful planning evident in your weekly reports.
We’ve replied with the following:
Thank you for your email. In particular, thank you for using our site to support the home education of your son. The grammatical issue to which you refer is quite a tricky one, in that it is becoming more and more wide-spread, and I’m sure you’ll know that language is an ever-changing thing!
Part of the cause here is that Moortown Primary and most of the staff are from the north of England (Moortown is in Leeds), as raised here. To exacerbate this, the teacher in question – who’s a fantastic teacher, and one who is passionate about grammar, providing professional development for staff in other schools – is from the north east (not quite Geordie, but heading in that direction), a point raised here. And it may also relate to the deeply embedded class system, ‘sat’ being more working class, as noted here.
That’s not to say you weren’t right in highlighting this to us because of course you’re completely correct here. We do like to be accurate and this will certainly provide food for thought!
Grammar can be tricky, but the internet is a great way to clarify confusion! One of our favourite sites is Grammar Monster.
Find out more about Elle Wild’s new book, Strange Things Done.
PS We’ve corrected the homework article!
04 November 2016
This week’s homework is creative and is due Thursday 10 November:
Design a new front cover for Charlie and the Chocolate Factory.
Make sure it represents the story but doesn’t give too much away!
04 November 2016
Be bright, be seen
Now the clocks have gone back, here is some safety advice from the Child Accident Prevention Trust.
Visibility is a key issue all year round, all day round, whether children are walking or on their bike. However, over the winter months, it is especially important as the school day can start and end in twilight.
During term time, the majority of child road accidents happen in the afternoon and evenings, especially in the autumn and winter when it gets dark earlier in the day.
The general principles of being visible to motorists are:
- During the day, bright and fluorescent clothing is best.
- At twilight and night time, reflective clothing or tape that is picked up in car’s headlights is best.
- It is against the law to cycle at night without a white front light, a red back light and a red reflector at the back.
- Always choose routes and cross at places that are well-lit.
- Where possible, cross the road at a pedestrian crossing
- The message for pedestrians and cyclists is to wear bright clothing during the day and reflective clothing or accessories after dark.
Drivers should be especially careful around schools and mindful of their speed when visibility is poor.
Woodwork
Work has begun on making our frames that will showcase the Quentin Blake artwork completed before half term. Accurate measuring, complete concentration and staying safe were some of the skills need for this activity.
Well done to Aina, Pia and Danny who were experts at sawing and helping others. Great for building muscles!
04 November 2016
For this week’s spellings, we recap learning from earlier years as we focus on plurals – more than one of a noun. Children should practise spelling these words in preparation for a test on Friday 11 November.
Children will be tested on 10 of these words (but should know them all).
I have given the singular version. Children should learn the plural version. For example:
- one bus / two buses
- one baby / two babies
| bus |
| cup |
| baby |
| balloon |
| sheep |
| party |
| child |
| lunch |
| worry |
| cactus |
| duck |
| stimulus |
Please remember what we discussed at parents’ evening: “It is much more important that children learn the rules than simply the correct spellings.”
04 November 2016
We have two pieces of homework this week, both due on Thursday 10 November 2016.
The first is creative:
Why is maths important?
This a broad question and could be interpreted in many ways, hence the fact it’s a creative homework.
Children could:
- Talk about how adults they know use maths every day
- Research a key moment in history and explain why maths how maths played a part in this
- Make a photo collage of examples of maths in everyday life
- explain why maths is important
The second is using a program called IXL (it’s a bit like Mathletics). Each child knows their login and they should complete the activities relevant to them – the ones on their homework slip.
Some children should complete the following activities (click on the links or visit the website):
- HH.1 Commas with direct addresses and after introductory words
- D.4 Identify nouns – with abstract nouns
Other children should complete these activities:
Please note: a ‘run on’ is another term for a squashed sentence – your children know all about these!
If you have any problems accessing IXL please do not hesitate to ask me early next week.
A letter from the Lord Mayor…
Well done to Naran, one of our Year 6 pupils, who submitted a manifesto to become the next Leeds Children’s Mayor. Unfortunately, Naran did not make it to the final 12 but he has received a letter from the Lord Mayor of Leeds congratulating him on his efforts.
We would like to say well done to Naran for having a go.
Another well done for Moortown!
We have a new School Improvement Advisor (SIA). This is someone from the Local Authority who visits us from time to time and monitors, evaluates and provides any support we may seek. Here are some of the words and phrases that help to sum up his report:
- ‘every inch of space available [is used] to create an effective and 21st century learning environment’
- ‘professional approach’
- ‘consistency is a key feature…displays, routines and learning behaviour’
- ‘bright and imaginative displays captured the current theme’
- ‘purposeful application of knowledge and skills’
- ‘sound teacher and other adult relationships had secured the best in terms of learning behaviours from the pupils’
The School Improvement Advisor saw two classes in particular. In Year 5, he saw ‘skillful’, ‘impressive’ teaching with ‘a natural command’ and, from the children, ‘some high quality speaking and listening’. In Reception, he praises the ‘highly effective indoor and outdoor areas … imaginatively created’ and the children’s engagement and ‘purposeful learning’.
He was also impressed by the quality of support staff: ‘…skilfully held the children’s attention in an outdoor PE session’.
04 November 2016
This week’s IXL homework is based around spelling and sentence work.
- Greek and Latin roots: PP.2
- Sentence, fragments and run-ons: C.2
IXL is a programme we’re trialling to decide whether we want to purchase it for use by school. The children all have log-ins which are written in to their homework books. If they then go to Y6 English, there will be a section which correspond with the subheadings above and an activity with the corresponding code. I’ve shown the children which activities they’ll be doing and how to get to it.
For IXL, it doesn’t ask a number of questions, instead the activity is complete once 100 points are achieved. Questions remain easier if mistakes are being made and, whenever a mistake is made, it explains what the mistake was. If children are answering questions correctly, they will get harder.
- run ons = squashed sentences