Author: Hollie Gilliland

Living and Learning: Stereotypes

This week, we had some fantastic discussions about stereotypes, especially those linked to gender.

We explored how everyone should be free to follow their interests and dreams, whether that’s being a builder, a dancer, a scientist, or a footballer, no matter who they are.

This links to our learning about British Values, especially individual liberty (the right to make our own choices) and mutual respect (treating everyone fairly). It also connects to the Protected Characteristics.

Our classes agreed that we should celebrate differences and challenge unfair labels. We’re proud to support equality and kindness and believe that anyone can achieve great things when they are encouraged and included!

Circle Time

This week in Circle Time, we talked about changes, especially the upcoming move to a new year group. We shared some of the things we’re excited about, like new classrooms, teachers, and learning topics, as well as a few things we’re feeling a bit worried about.

We also talked about how important it is to share our feelings. We reminded ourselves of the different people and tools we can turn to for help, including trusted adults, our classmates, our class worry box, and of course our class Worry Monster, Winnie! It was a great chance to support each other and remember that it’s okay to feel a mix of emotions during times of change.

Help at home: Talk to your child about what they’re looking forward to and any worries they may have.

Year 3/4 Reading

This week in Year 3/4, we explored the poem “I Opened a Book” by Julia Donaldson. The children loved diving into the imaginative world the poem describes. We turned our classroom into a retrieval treasure hunt and searched for hidden questions around the room to test our understanding of the poem. To finish, everyone had a go at performing the poem to the class with great expression and enthusiasm. A fantastic week of reading and creativity!

Help at home: Read the poem aloud and try to use intonation, tone and actions.

I Opened a Book

by Julia Donaldson

I opened a book and in I strode
Now nobody can find me.
I’ve left my chair, my house, my road,
My town and my world behind me.

I’m wearing the cloak, I’ve slipped on the ring,
I’ve swallowed the magic potion.
I’ve fought with a dragon, dined with a king
And dived in a bottomless ocean.

I opened a book and made some friends.
I shared their tears and laughter
And followed their road with its bumps and bends
To the happily ever after.

I finished my book and out I came.
The cloak can no longer hide me.
My chair and my house are just the same,
But I have a book inside me.

Working with decimal fractions!

This week in maths, we’ve been learning all about decimals—especially how to recognise tenths and hundredths as a decimal. We explored how 1/10 is the same as 0.1 and 1/100 is the same as 0.01. We used number lines and place value charts to help us understand. The classes did a fantastic job connecting their knowledge of fractions to decimals. Well done, everyone!

Help at home by continuing to support your child access TT rockstars

Living and Learning: I know that people should treat others respectfully when online

Safer Internet Day is the UK’s biggest celebration of online safety. Each year, Safer Internet Day covers online issues or themes that speak about the things young people are seeing and experiencing online. It’s a chance to think about any worries we might have about using technology and the Internet, but it’s also about celebrating all the fantastic things technology can help us with.

The 2025 Safer Internet Day theme is: ‘Too good to be true? Protecting yourself and others from scams online.’

We had a visit from d-side to discuss the importance of staying safe online. It’s important to remember:

  • use a strong password with characters, numbers and capital letters
  • always ask a trusted adult if you’re unsure about something online
  • always check the PEGI ratings for games and if they’re suitable
  • NEVER share personal information online
  • always question if everything you see online is true

We talked about what is trust and can we trust eveything we see online. Here’s a reminder to think about if you’re being scammed.

Help at home: Discuss online websites that you use at home and if they’re trustworthy by answering the following questions: 

– Who is it by?
– What else have they created?
– Do they have a good reputation?
– Is it high quality information?
– Does it look real and does it feature on other websites?

 

 

 

 

School Trip to Magna!

This week, Year 3/4 visited Magna, and it was an experience we won’t forget! The centre has four zones-Earth, Air, Fire, and Water-each with hands-on activities. A highlight was the Big Melt, a dramatic show recreating how steel was made.
We attended a workshop about volcanoes, where we learned why all volcanoes look different and how scientists collect samples. Check out some of the fun we had!
  
Magna was a fantastic place to learn outside the classroom, making science exciting and memorable. If you ever get the chance to go, we definitely recommend it!

Reading- Inference Skills!

This week in reading we’ve been using our inference skills to answer questions about our new class novel, The Firework-Maker’s Daughter.

Inference is a reading skill that is all about looking for hints! The text might not tell us the exact answer but we can read around the words.

We started to explore the first chapter and discuss what we know and what we think about the characters so far.

We played a classroom classic called hot seating! This is where we step into the characters shoes and we ask them questions. We paused at a part in our class novel and inferred what each character was thinking and feeling.

Our success criteria for inference is:

  • What do we know?

  • What does it make you think?

  • What can you infer?

Help at home: read with your child regulary at home. Pause to ask inference questions (What do we know? What does it make you think? What can you infer?) You could even play a game of hot seating!

 

Mathematics

In maths, we’ve been exploring units of measure and learning how to convert between them. We know how to change millimetres (mm) into centimetres (cm), centimetres (cm) into metres (m), and even metres (m) into kilometres (km). This helps us understand how different measurements connect and makes it easier to solve problems involving length and distance.

Help at home: can you come up with your own true or false questions? You could even measure things around your home and convert them into different units!

Living and Learning- Me and My Community Week

Welcome back!

We’ve kick started our first week back into a themed week; Me and My Community Week.

We started learning about who makes up our school community and had a creative discussion about the meaning behind our school logo.

What do the trees/ colours/ railway represent?

Throughout the rest of the week, we’ve been learning about:
  • a healthy relationship is a positive one
  • Why are protected characteristics important?
  • different types of family communities
  • respecting others that are differernt to us
  • British Values
  • different types of bullying and how to seek help
  • What is a charity?
  • main rivers and mountains in the UK
  • significant buildings in Leeds

What a fantastic and busy first week back!

Help at home: talk about what is mutual respect and tolerance, and how can we show it?

 

 

 

 

Column Addition- Year 4

This week, Year 4 have been perfecting column addition. We started the week by adding two three digits numbers, before ending the week with adding four digit number with more than one exchange!

It’s important to remember to set out your columns correctly.

Which are correct? Spot and explain the mistakes in the others.

When exchanging, we know that we can…

Exchange ten 1s for one 10…

Exchange ten 10s for one 100…

Exchange ten 100s, for one  1000…

Help at home: Practice chanting the exchange rules. I say it, you say it, we say it! You can even say them in silly voices!