Book Wars

We had so many books competing in our Book Wars this week that there was a book that everyone wanted to try!

Graphic Novels are still a firm favourite but it was lovely to hear how many children are trying different books by the author of our class novel, Hannah Gold. As well as Turtle Moon (by Hannah Gold) there were other animal-themed books such as Paws and Whiskers (by Jacqueline Wilson) and a Bear Grylls novel.

Escape Room by Christopher Edge now has a waiting list and lots of children were interested in the non-fiction book about the human body that Isabella brought  from home.

Help at home – talk to your children about your favourite books from when you were there age.  Are there any that you would enjoy reading together?

Living and Learning – RSE

Over the last three weeks in Living and Learning, we’ve been exploring relationships as part of our Relationships and Sex Education (RSE) curriculum.

Families

We began by thinking about families and what makes each one special. We read the wonderful story Lesedi Finds a Family by Helen Turner, which follows a young leopard searching for a family of his own. Along the way, Lesedi discovers that every family is different but all are connected by love and care. We especially loved the message at the end:

“It doesn’t matter if a family is big or small, it’s sharing love and happiness that matters overall!”

The children enjoyed discussing the many different ways families can look and the thoughtful ways we can show love and care to the people who are important to us.

Friendships

In our second lesson, we explored friendships. Through stories and discussion, we thought about what it feels like to be included or left out and discovered that it’s possible to have more than one good friend. We talked about how kindness, sharing and inviting others to join in can help everyone feel welcome.

PANTS

This week, we revisited the NSPCC PANTS rules to remind ourselves how to stay safe. The children showed fantastic maturity throughout the lesson as we used simple scientific vocabulary to name private body parts, talked about trusted adults and practised different ways to say “no” using both our words and our body language. We also discussed why it’s important to speak to a trusted adult if something ever makes us feel worried or unsafe.

Help at home:
• Talk about the different people who make up your family and what makes your family special.
• Ask your child how they can help a friend feel included at school.
• Encourage your child to remind you of the PANTS rules and identify the trusted adults they could speak to if they ever needed help.

DT – cooking

Mrs Bald led our children in a wonderful morning of cooking today. The children prepared the vegetables before cooking up a very tasty pasta sauce.

Leo S: The sauce was really good with the pasta. I will try out some of the skills I have learnt at school, at home.

Help at home – using the recipe, that children will be bringing home, see if you can create a pasta sauce for the whole family.

Science- Growing up

This term in Science, we have been learning about how living things grow and change. We have explored the different stages of life, from being a baby all the way to becoming an adult. We also compared how animals and other living things grow and develop too.

This week, we focused on the human life cycle. We learned how humans change through each stage of life and practised describing the journey from infancy to adulthood. We discussed some things that might change and that some things can stay the same. It has been exciting to discover how all living things grow and develop in their own unique ways!

Help at Home: Can you recall the four main stages of a human lifecycle?

Wetherby Tennis Club visit

Year 5 and 6 were lucky enough to visit Wetherby Tennis Club today. We were invited along to hone our skills and display some of the attributes we have learnt in our PE lessons. We all thoroughly enjoyed the afternoon in the sun and we made all the staff proud.

Help at home – can your child show you some of the skills they have learnt today? Can you play a game as a family in your garden or at the park?

Design and Technology

In Design and Technology, we learned how to sew using a needle and thread. First, we learned how to hold and use the needle safely. We practised threading the needle and tying a knot in the thread before we started sewing.

We learned two different types of stitches: a running stitch and an over stitch. The running stitch goes in and out of the fabric in a straight line and is useful for joining pieces of fabric together. The over stitch goes over the edge of the fabric and helps to keep the fabric secure and stop it from fraying. We carefully followed the instructions and practised both stitches to improve my sewing skills.

At first, sewing was a little tricky, but with practice we became more confident. We worked hard to make our stitches neat, even and the correct size.

Learning these sewing techniques has helped us develop patience, concentration and fine motor skills.

Help at home:

Discuss what is important when you’re stitching?

What does a good running stitch look like?

Starting school: Tips to try at home

Mind Mate

This week we had a visit from Mind Mate, they talked about the 6 basic emotions.

We had great vocabulary to talk about them, due to our Feelings First sessions. We could name each of the different feelings felt by Riley in the movie ‘Inside Out’ and we even had some strategies to help her overcome them.

We call the first one starfish breathing and it is something we use a lot in Early Years to help us.

Great job everyone!

Extra Yarn

The children have enjoyed reading and exploring the story Extra Yarn by Mac Barnett. The book tells the story of Annabelle, a young girl who discovers a magical box of colourful yarn that never runs out. She uses the yarn to knit jumpers for people, animals and objects around her.

The story was used as inspiration for the children’s independent writing. They created their own narratives, drawing on the characters from the story and using the imaginative ideas found in Extra Yarn. The children wrote some fantastic sentences and showed a growing understanding of how to use possessive apostrophes accurately in their writing.

They’re beginning to give their characters distinctive voices and are developing confidence in writing character interactions. The children’s creativity and enthusiasm for storytelling has been evident throughout the week and they should be very proud of their work.

Help at home:

A simple way to practise possessive apostrophes at home is choosing everyday objects around the house and asking your child who they belong to. You could challenge your child further by asking them to write a full sentence using a possessive apostrophe.

e.g.  Dad’s car is outside.

Maths Update

This week in Maths, we have been learning how to add multiples of 10 to a 2-digit number. We used our class shop to help us solve real-life money problems, such as adding £20 to an item costing £23.

To support our understanding, we represented numbers using tens and ones and recorded them on a tens and ones chart. We noticed that when we add a multiple of 10, the tens digit changes while the ones digit stays the same.

Try this at home: Ask your child questions such as:

• 34 + 20 = ?
• 52 + 30 = ?
• 17 + 40 = ?

Encourage them to explain what happens to the tens and ones in each number.