Living and Learning
This week our focus is to ‘recognise the importance of sleep’.
Did you know that at age 10, children are recommended to get around 10 hours of sleep each night. The average person spends 9,582 days of their lifetime asleep.
A good night’s sleep can improve a person’s:
- memory – Overnight, information moves from short-term to long-term memort.
- decision making – Our ability to think and make decisions is improved during sleep.
- concentration and mood – While asleep, activity in the brain improves a person’s focus.
- immune system – The immune system keeps a person healthy.
- body feel full after eating – This means a person who sleeps well is more likely to stay a healhty weight.
- body to grow and repair – During sleep the body repairs its muscles, organs and other cells.
We have been reviewing two different characters and thinking about their sleep patterns. We were able to highlight good and poor quality sleep and say how it might effect a person.
Then we devised our own action plan to help a young person improve their quality of sleep. It was important for us to consider daytime, bedtime and bedroom routines. Children we excellent at suggesting ways to improve these points (for example: less screen time, reading a book, blackout curtains, drinking water throughout the day). Finally, children suggested top tips for better sleep.
Children may be getting poor quality sleep due to worries and concerns. Children know where they can go should they be experiencing this:
The Very Hungry Caterpillar
This week, we have been reading ‘The Very Hungry Caterpillar’ by Eric Carle.
This book is fantastic as it helped our counting skills and helped us to think about the food that we eat.
We thought about the food the caterpillar ate and decided it was mostly fruit apart from on Saturday.
We know that fruit is good for our bodies, so we decided to make some delicious fruit kebabs to have at snack time. 
“The melon tastes sweet.” Avery
“The strawberry is yummy.” Wyatt
We even made one for Mr Nash! He told us the strawberry was both sweet and sour!
Help at home: Your child could make their very own fruit kebabs out of the fruit they enjoy or maybe even try some new ones! Can they remember the story of The Very Hungry Caterpillar?
Living & Learning – I know the importance of personal hygiene
Earlier this week, we had a detailed discussion about the importance of personal hygiene. The children summarised their key learning beautifully:
Help at home:
Discuss things that you do at home to maintain your personal hygiene. Children could try different hand soaps and different toothpastes to see if they have a favourite!
Arithmetic
This term, together with our weekly spelling test, we’ll complete a short, low-pressure arithmetic test every Friday. This well help us to grow as confident, flexible mathematicians.
Children will complete 15 questions on the 4 operations (+ – x ÷) before reviewing as a class. Papers will be sent home weekly.
Help at home by looking through the paper with your child, working through errors and offering similar questions for additional practice. If you have any questions or need additional support, please don’t hesitate to ask.
Living and Learning: I know the importance of personal hygiene, including handwashing.
Today, Year 3 have been learning about allergies and how these may tie in with personal hygiene. An allergy happens when a person comes into contact with something, such as a food, that their body thinks might be harmful. We discussed some different types of potential allergens, both foods and non-foods. Here are some responses:
Pollen is an allergen because I have hay fever.
People can be allergic to peanuts and have a reaction.
I’m not allergic to anything, but I think I have an intolerance to milk and dairy.
Some medicines make your body have a reaction, but they are meant to make you feel better!
We then learnt about ways to avoid allergens and how to deal with potential reactions. We discussed how washing our hands and keeping our personal hygiene levels high is important when tackling allergies, e.g. washing our hands to avoid spreading allergens that we might’ve handled. It’s really important to wash our hands at lunch times, especially with so many different foods in our packed lunches!
Help at home:
Discuss potential allergens and signs to look out for with allergic reactions. Check some food packaging on your next shopping trip – you should find the most common allergies are in bold!
Welcome Back – Summer 1
We were delighted to welcome the children back to school this week to start our summer term. We hope you’ve had a happy and healthy break.
Here’s a look at what will be going on in our classroom:
English
In English, we’ll write a non-fiction report about a hero from history. We’ll read Amazing Grace by Mary Hoffman and dive into lots of interesting non-fiction texts.
Maths
In maths, we’ll learn about money, shape, length/height, stats and more!
Phonics – Spelling
We’ll continue our journey to becoming confident spellers…
Science
Science takes us back to plants, this time focusing on bulbs and seeds. We’ll plant some bulbs and observe them over time. We’ll also learn about sustainability and how we, as biologists, can support the wildlife in our environment.
Topic – History
This half term, we’re historians! We’ll learn about some heroes from history and the impact they’ve had on our society.
RE
How and why do some people pray? We’ll explore prayer across a range of world religions, linking to this half term’s Christian value, peace.
Living and Learning
We’ll learn about physical health: hygiene, sleep, diet, physical activity
PE
Throwing. Catching. Games. Exercise. Teamwork. Fun!
Help at home by keeping up the great work. Thanks for your all support so far this year – it’s had a huge impact. Please continue to use NumBots and Times Tables Rockstars, and listen to your child read every day.
History Topic – Heroes
We’ve begun our exciting new History topic: Heroes. Over the next five weeks, we’ll be learning about two inspirational figures: Nelson Mandela and Leonora Cohen.
To kick things off, we explored the big question:
What is a hero?
Here are some of the lovely ideas the children shared:
“Somebody who’s done something very good.”
“Somebody who helps or saves people.”
“Someone who protects you from danger.”
We also discussed the qualities of a hero and how these connect to our school rules and Christian values. These included:
empathy, passion, caring, kindness, honesty, bravery, respect, helpfulness
Over the next few weeks, we’ll be using and exploring this vocabulary in class.
Help at home: Look at the key vocabulary together to support your child’s understanding.
Summer Term
Welcome back. Hope you are all feeling refreshed after a happy and healthy Easter break.
We have a short half-term ahead of us but lots of exciting things going on as well as lots of exciting learning.
Year 6 are working towards their SATS tests which take place from 12th – 15th May. The children are working so hard towards these in the classroom. They are really responding well and are taking suck encouragement from the progress they are making. Please continue to encourage your child to work through their SATS booklet at home and remember I can go through difficult questions with them in class, if required.
Year 5 children have several trips out of school this half term:
- Thursday 1st May – netball at Wetherby High School. 1-3pm
- Monday 12th May – ‘A Day in the life’ at Wetherby High School. All day.
Here are some of the topics covered this half term:
Reading – Our class novel this term is Letters from the Lighthouse. A superb book about WWII in Britain. Please speak to your child about the book and what they can remember/enjoy. Please also continue to encourage your child to complete activities in their reading record once a week.
Writing –
Journalistic writing. In History, children learn about The Blitz. In this piece, they apply this knowledge by writing journalistically about a bombing – imagining they’re there at the time.
Recount. Children learn about evacuees. They imagine they’re an evacuee who has just arrived at the new home. They write a letter to a loved one explaining what’s happened and how they are.
History – World War in Britain.
RE – What kid of a King was Jesus?
PE – Rugby.
Science – Variation and Adaptations.
Please feel free to contact me should you have any questions.
Welcome back!
We hope you all had a wonderful Easter break. The children have returned full of energy and enthusiasm and they’ve made a fantastic start to the summer term!
Phonics
We’ve now learnt all of the Phase 5 sounds, so we’ll be revisiting them to prepare for the upcoming Phonics Screening Check in early June. We’ll be practising reading both real and ‘alien’ (nonsense) words to build confidence and fluency. To help us, we always use our decoding mantra:
Maths
In Maths, we’re continuing to work on counting forwards and backwards to 50. We’re using number lines and a 50 grid to help us find:
-
1 more and 1 less
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10 more and 10 less
These are key skills that help build number sense and mental maths fluency.
Help at home:
Phonics: play phonics games and practise reading real and alien words together.
Maths: Use the 50 grid to practise counting forwards and backwards. Try finding 1 more/less or 10 more/less from different numbers.
Summer 1
Welcome back to the summer term! This half term our theme is Life on Earth and our first focus book is The Bug Detective by Alex Griffiths.
This week we will be beginning to look closely at minibeast and where they live. We will also be creating a class Bug Hotel using the hand drills.
We can’t wait to see you all,
Mrs Kendrew, Mrs Rippon, Mr Smith and Mrs Small