History topic – real life heroes
We are learning all about significant people (real life heroes) in our topic lessons this half term. Below is the key vocabulary that we will be focusing on.
equality – being treated fairly and having the same chances in life
rights – the basic things people need to live (eg food, housing) and reach their potential (eg education, safety)
apartheid – a system that keeps people apart, usually because of their different skin colour
racism – treating people differently because of the colour of their skin, their religious beliefs or their culture
suffragette – a woman who campaigned for the right of women to vote
protest – people coming together to show others that they are against an idea or an event
impact – a strong and powerful effect on something or someone
belief – a strongly held opinion that something is right
Sarah Allen from Abbey House Museum talked to us about Leonora Cohen last week. Leonora Cohen was a suffragette. She was involved in the fight for women to have the right to vote. The children asked some super questions and shared their thoughts.
Why was she sent to prison three times?
Why did she not give up?
It wasn’t fair that girls and boys were paid different money.
Women should have been allowed to vote too.
We have also learnt about Apartheid and how Nelson Mandela changed things.
3,4NV class news
What another fabulous week of learning!
Over the last couple of weeks, we have been learning all about the Leeds West Indian Carnival. This week, we have started to design our own carnival costumes. Have a look at our sketches.
Our flowers are growing nicely.
Congratulations to our certificate winners for this week:
For Living and Learning
- Well done Harry B. You are always so polite and cheerful. Well done for excellent manners.
For Sport and Physical activity
- All of 3,4NV for excellent, creative ideas in PE.
For Great Learning
- Grace – well done for taking the time to make sure your sentences make sense and that you have included the Must Dos.
Enjoy the weekend everyone.
Mrs Wadsworth, Miss McAleer and Mrs Richardson
Fee Fi Fo Fum!
We loved listening to the story of ‘Jack and the Beanstalk’ this week and children are really excited about growing their own beanstalks. We’ll be looking after them and watching them grow over the next two weeks. Ask your child to talk to you about their seed and tell you about any changes that they notice.
Lots of our learning activities have been linked to ‘Jack and the Beanstalk’ this week. Here are few that children have really enjoyed.
- In the story corner, we practised our story telling skills. Children enjoyed using the props to re-tell the story with their friends. Lots of children remembered the key events in the story and some could remember the Giant’s favourite phrases too.
- ‘Eughhhh!’ could be heard quite a few times in our sensory corner as children explored the textures and smells of different types of beans. We had kidney beans, butter beans and even baked beans! Despite the initial texture and feel of the beans, many children enjoyed investigating what happened when you ‘popped’ the beans and removed the outer shell.
- During group time, we practised our subitising skills. We had to say how many beans there were (1,2 or 3) without counting. We continued this in the maths area, as well as using the tweezers to fill each pot with the correct number of beans. It was very tricky!
- In the creative area, children enjoyed sitting together and talking as they created their own beanstalks and drew Jack climbing up to the top.
As well as the ‘Jack and the Beanstalk’ themed activities, we also enjoyed lots of other games and followed some of the children’s own interests -all of which helped to develop important skills such as turn taking and sharing, building friendships and balancing.
Finally, to end the week, children loved joining in with some Red Nose Day fundraising Friday fun by playing a special game of ‘Red Nose Day’ musical statues.
Next week, we will be talking about seasons and looking for signs of spring in our Nursery garden. Talk to your child about springtime and see what you can spot on your walk to Nursery. Send us a picture or let us know what you spotted. Email – scholesf1@spherefederation.org
We’ll also be talking about healthy eating and finding out about where vegetables come from as we read ‘Oliver’s Vegetables’.
Reminders
- Many children are still arriving over 10 minutes before their group’s drop off time. Please stick to your child’s allocated time as it helps to ease congestion outside Nursery and allows staff time to welcome each child and help them with their coat and handwashing. Thank you for your support.
- Does your child’s water bottle have their name on? Please check and write it on if not. Thank you
This Week…
Our busy week began with a large pair of legs hanging from the ceiling!
I wonder who it could be?
Many children were inspired to write and draw about the unexpected visitor up in the clouds.
In Maths, we have been measuring the giant’s footprints and ordering beanstalks.
Using laptops, we have created pictures based on the story – Jack and the Beanstalk.
We have loved enjoying the sunshine and getting out in our outdoor area to create our own fairy world and for some birdwatching too.
Another amazing week in Sunshine and Rainbow!
5/6 Certificate Celebration
This weeks certificate winners are…
For great learning…
Sonny – you have returned to school with a brilliant attitude and put 100% into your learning. Keep it up!
For sport and physical activity…
Charlie H – for demonstrating hard work and a mature attitude during cricket this week. You were great at demonstrating your skills. Well done.
For living and learning…
Ellie – you contributed so well to the discussion about where to find help. You were sensible and mature. Thank you.
Well done everyone!
Homework Heroes!
We have had a great response to the creative homework this week about Biology. The children were asked to show their own knowledge of the digestive and circulatory system. They could present this how they liked: a diagram, a model or even just a written explanation. It has been lovely that so many parents have emailed the homework in. This means we can celebrate their work in the homework review and enjoy seeing what each other have done at home – so thank you.
Help at home: reading
Reading is super important. In fact, we think it’s one of the most important things you can do to support your child at home.
Some studies have found that children who read regularly are more likely to be happy in adulthood, more likely to earn more money and more likely to do well in all school subjects.
Whilst we understand life is busy, we’d love it if you could read with your child every day (ideally for about 20 minutes but anything is better than not reading at all).
This article has a handy reading for parents guide if you’d like any more information or tips.
Our Reading Activities leaflet will provide lots of activities to make reading an even more enjoyable and active experience for all. Check out the ‘Help Your Child‘ section of our website for a range of guides and tips for helping your child across a range of subjects.
Some common questions about reading:
When should my child have their reading book and reading diary in school?
If your child is in 3,4O or 3,4N they should have their reading book and reading diary in school every Friday. If your child is in 3,4E they should have their reading book and reading diary in school every Monday.
Now my child is in Year 3 or 4, should I still sign their reading diary?
Yes. We’d love it if you could sign their reading diary and leave a comment at least once a week. We think it’s a really important link between school and home.
My child can read fluently. Should they still read aloud to me?
Ideally, yes. They can spend time reading on their own, too – we encourage this. However, it’s really important that children still practise the skill of reading aloud. It helps improve their confidence and improves their ability to read with expression. Being read to is really important, too – so don’t underestimate the power of a bedtime story!
The book my child has brought home is too easy / hard. What should I do?
This will rarely happen but if you do think your child’s book isn’t the right level please get in touch with their class teacher (our email addresses are at the bottom of this post).
If you have any other questions, comments or concerns, please don’t hesitate to get in touch with your child’s class teacher. While we don’t encourage you to do this on the playground (to reduce numbers and enhance social distancing), we encourage you to email us instead.
3,4O – olliecatherall@spherefederation.org
3,4E – emmamccormick@spherefederation.org
3,4N – nicolawadsworth@spherefederation.org
Design and Technology
As our Leeds West Indian Carnival topic continues, we are learning more about costume designs and the designers who made them .
Arthur France and Hughbon Condor have designed many winning carnival Queen costumes. Hughbon Condor is actually an engineer and has always enjoyed bringing his ideas to life.
So, we had a go at the design process by researching a theme, sketching ideas and asking our troupe about our ideas.
Here are some…
Electricity
Year 5/6 have begun their new science unit ‘Electricity.’ The children have been learning about the scientific symbols for the components that make up an electrical circuit. They confidently used vocabulary such as: cell, switch, wire, buzzer and motor. They had to test different circuits using equipment to see if they would work. They did an excellent job with their predictions. Here are some photographs of the investigation…
New History Topic – vocabulary
This week, we have started our new history topic – The Leeds West Indian Carnival. It’s a new topic for children and teachers, and we’re loving the learning so far.
As a class, we looked at programmes and videos from the carnival, dating back to 1977. We’ve learned alot about how life has changed over time and how these primary resources can help us learn about life in the past.
We’ve studied the location of the West Indies in the Caribbean sea and the human and physical geography of the islands.
Also, many questions were answered:
- What is a carnival?
- What is a procession?
- What is immigration?
Some of these words are in our vocabulary list. We found that drawing pictures on our whiteboards helped us to understand the meaning of the words. It was fascinating to see the different creations and how we all have our own way of ‘seeing’ words. It was good to share our drawings in the class and learn from one another.
Here are some photos…