As part of Me and My Community week, Year 5 were invited along to visit Wetherby’s Tempo FM. The gentlemen who run the station made us feel very welcome and the children enjoyed reading some of their work, local weather and making song requests.
It was a thoroughly enjoyable afternoon and some of our children were naturals behind the microphone. I’m sure the Wetherby community thought so too as they tuned in to listen.
Here are some of our radio highlights:
Olivia, from the Red Cross, came in to visit us as part of Me and My Community Week. She taught us about the PUSH and PULL reasons why people migrate to other countries. Sometimes, people are pushed away from their country due to war, racism and poverty. On the other hand, people may be pulled away from their country due to better jobs, climate or improved healthcare.
Olivia read about a boy named Tesfay, who travelled from Eritrea to the UK. She spoke about the struggles and difficulties he faced. Individually, we then wrote a letter to someone who was new to our community to welcome them. Children mentioned places they love to visit like Ask Italian, The Wetherby Whaler, Leeds United and the local parks and green spaces.
Finally, we spoke about how we will treat people within our community and who are new to our community.
Help at home – Ask your child about how we should treat people, especially those who are new to our community. Write a message to someone within our community – this could be someone you know well or someone who is new to the area.
This morning, Lyndsey from Diversity Roleplay visited our class to talk about how we should treat people within our community and how we can respond when we see/experience things that are ‘unfair’.
Two key words Lyndsey taught us were:
We related what she taught us to our own lives and communities. Lyndsey was keen for us to be Upstanders and ‘challenge unfairness’ when we see someone being treated unfairly. This was a good opportunity for us to reflect on ourselves and how we have responded to things in the past.
Help at home – What is a bystander? What is an upstander? Can your child think of a time when they were a bystander? What could they have done differently? Is there a time when your child has been an upstander?
In Year 5 and 6, we have been focussing on British Values and Protected Characteristics. And as part of Me and My Community Week we have been lucky enough to have Zoom sessions to discover and explore what these things mean in more details.
To help us remember the British Values we learnt a saying:
I really do matter.
We spoke about how we display these values in our everyday life at school, at home and within our community.
There are 9 Protected Characteristics and, as a class, we are confident about what they are and what they mean. We learnt about the Equality Act 2010 and how that helps people within our community.
We were introduced to 2 words:
Help at Home – Ask your child if they can remember the 4 British Values and how they can display them. What are the 9 Protected Characteristics? What does each one mean? What does discrimination mean? What does stereotype mean?
Wetherby Brass Band
On Tuesday, we were lucky to have a visit from Steven from Wetherby Brass Band. He spoke to the whole school about the benefits of playing in a band and being part of a community within the Wetherby community.
Steven, brought in some instruments and some of us were lucky enough to play some of them – some made hilarious noises.
The band play during many events in the Wetherby community, including the Remembrance Parade. They also play every Sunday at 2.30-4.30pm from the end of April to the end of September.
This half-term, our spellings are linked to the rules and strategies we’ll be learning in class:
Each Friday, you’ll be tested on 8 of the words from the list below.
| attaches | restaurant’s | aloud | terrible | thought |
| I’ll | government’s | allowed | categories | co-own |
| isle | bargains | tough | co-operate | yacht’s |
| aisle | re-invent | consciousness | dictionaries | re-tell |
| aggressively | thorough | consciously | soldier’s | opportunities |
| aggressiveness | reliable | bruises | desperately | affect |
| reversible | apparently | enjoyable | communities | effect |
| opportunities | possible | enough | valuable | although |
As our history topic comes to an end, the children have been demonstrating their knowledge and all that they have learnt by producing a two-page spread. They have ensured they record all they remember from the Stone Age, Bronze Age, Iron Age and compared this with what they have learnt about Ancient Egypt.
Help at home – Ask your child about what they remember. Is there any comparisons they can make between the Iron Age and Ancient Egypt? Who was Howard Carter and what do they think of him? Why was the River Nile so important to ancient Egyptians? Can they remember the dates of each key period? If time, can they find out any more interesting information to share after half term?
Some of our Year 5 and 6 children chose to stand for Junior Leadership Team this morning. We are extremely proud of all the children who spoke confidently and clearly and with expression.
As a democracy, children made their choice and took to the Polling Station to submit their vote.
Well done to all the courageous children who stood for election! We await the results…
Just another little reminder to encourage your child to read weekly at home. Your child can complete reading activities in their reading records. Please sign to say that they have been heard read. It would be great to have 100% of children reading at home and completing activities.
Recently, some children have written a letter to their favourite author – a really creative way to display their understanding of what they have read.
This week, we have been finding factors of a number. A factor is a number that divides another equally, with no remainders.
For example:
Factors of 12 – 1, 2, 3, 4, 6, 12
Factors of 15 – 1, 3, 5, 15
We have been also identifying common factors.
So, common factors of 12 and 15 are 1 and 3.
In addition to this, we have learnt what makes a prime number. A prime number is a number that is only divided by itself and 1.
Help at home – What are the factors of 45/36/9? Can you list all the prime numbers up to 20? List all the prime number between 30 and 40. What is a common factor?