Leaders Class

This week in English, Leaders have completed their explanations focusing on Global Neighbours. They have used a range of causal conjunctions and adverbials in their writing and have also included parenthesis to provide the reader extra information. Leaders have also been pushing themselves when selecting vocabulary.

In maths, Leaders have learned about prime, square and cubed numbers and have completed some tricky reasoning questions during these lessons. Each day at the start of maths, Leaders also complete key skills and it is great to see the speed and accuracy at which this is being completed. Excellent effort Leaders!

In art this week, the children selected from a range of graded pencils, charcoal and chalks and from a range of drawing techniques to create effects for different purposes, including creating different textures, using Henry Moore’s drawings as inspiration. We are looking forward to applying these effects to our own pieces of art, inspired by our locality. 

On Thursday, Leaders enjoyed gathering at St John’s Church for the first time this year. To welcome the new starters, Leaders shared what to expect from their time at Sleights, which covered lessons, trips, clubs, Collective Worship and lunches! It was a brilliant service and a great way to welcome the new starters at Sleights.

Check back next week to find out about out first class trip of the year!

It has been another busy week in Leaders class.

In maths this week, we have tackled rounding any integer up to the nearest million and can confidently explain the steps needed to do this. We have also explored negative numbers and can calculate and solve problems with these. 

In history this half term, we are learning about the Romans. This week, we considered how Rome was formed. We explored the story of Romulus and Remus in a reading lesson and then demonstrated our understanding through drama. Each group was given a part of the story to act out, without using any speech, and the rest of the class had to identify the part of the story being performed. 

On Monday, we were joined by Owen from Yorkshire cricket. We played games to practice throwing and catching skills before enjoying a game of last batter standing. The enthusiasm, level of skill and team work demonstrated was wonderful to see. 

In Leaders class, we love to read and we have been enjoying a range of books and texts together and independently this half term. In our whole class reading lessons, our focus is ‘The Boy at the Back of the Class’ and at the end of each day we are currently reading ‘ Can you see me?’. We are already thoroughly enjoying these books and look forward to sharing more with you about them soon.

What an amazing start to the new school year Leaders have had!

In maths, the children have been working extremely hard on place value and persevering when faced with challenges with excellent success. They have mastered reading, writing and ordering numbers to 10,000,000.

In English, we have been creating our own Terra Cartas, inspired by the text, ‘It’s Up to Us’. The children have written thoughtful responses when writing about nature and the impact that human actions are having on the planet. The published books are looking incredible.

In computing and PSHE, the children have been considering how to stay safe online. They have considered what harmful content is and how to report it as well as how to create safe profiles online.

On Thursday, it was great to hear the music of our class band once again. This year, we have teamed up with the Discoverers to make a new Year 5/6 class band and we are looking forward to more brilliant performances as the year progresses.

This half term, our Christian Value is Thankfulness. The children have enjoyed exploring this value through the story of Jesus and the lepers this week in Worship.

It has been another wonderful week in Leaders class.

In history this week, the children considered how we know about the Mayan time period to finish off their learning in this area. They considered evidence such as buildings, writing, books and number systems. 

On Wednesday morning, Leaders enjoyed time in the forest. The children worked together to create forest faces on trees and then used their collage skills from art to create images with their forest finds. They displayed great teamwork and communication skills to complete the tasks.

On Thursday, it was a joy to gather together in church and celebrate all things music. The Leaders class band were amazing as always and it was wonderful to hear individual performances from many of the children in class. 

Well done everyone!

This week, the Leaders have continued to explore the Mayan time period. Using a range of sources, they have found out about city life, with a focus on the layout of them. They found that the higher in the societal hierarchy you were, the closer to the center that you lived. The children also learned about Mayan Gods and created some brilliant pieces of writing based on what they found out.

In art, Leaders have continued to focus on collage, with a focus on the artist Hannah Hoch. The children learned that she used photomontage in her work and used her techniques to create their own collages. The work created is brilliant. 

The children have also been busy preparing for the music concert next week. We have some wonderful class band, recorder and individual performances ready to share with families next week.

On Friday, we were joined by Whitby Fire Service. The children were presented with information about camp fire safety. They learned that fires must only be started with an adult present and about where to start them and with what materials. Once the camp fire was lit, the children learned how to put it out safely.

So much learning has been happening in Leaders this week. Here is our weekly round up!

In English, the children have been planning and writing narratives based on the animation, ‘Rock, Paper, Scissors’. The vocabulary and sentence types used are really making for some excellent stories! I can’t wait to read the finished products next week.

In history, we have continued to learn about the Mayans. This week, the children learned about the four main time periods for this time in history: the preclassic, classic, post classic and contact and Spanish conquest. We explored some key events from each time period to consider the differences between them and plotted them onto a timeline. The children then learned the different theories of why the Mayan civilisation declined. 

We are currently learning about collage in art on Friday we researched and learned more about one of our focus artists, Ben Giles. We learned that Ben Giles works from his studio in Norwich in the UK, where he creates commissions for companies such as Google and Apple as well as many magazines. We enjoyed exploring his collages before the children created pages in their sketch books to demonstrate what they had learned about him as well as spending some time evaluating his artwork.

In Collective Worship this week, we focused on Christian Aid week. This is a charity the children are already familiar with from their work earlier in the year in RE. Together, we explored some of the people and communities Christian Aid help.

On Thursday, we were joined by the Zambezi Sunrise Trust, which is a charity that helps to provide education to children in Zambia. The children learned about the charities work and what life is like for the children who attend school in Zambia. We are looking forward to working with this charity to forge a link between Sleights and the Linda Community School. Next Friday, we will be holding a coffee and cake afternoon to raise funds for this amazing cause. 

Finally, we had tennis success on Wednesday, when eight children from Leaders competed in a tennis tournament. The children secured a wonderful third place! Well done!

It has been a busy week in Leaders Class.

This week, Year 6 children sat the SATs. The children approached the week with positivity and demonstrated excellent effort throughout. A big well done to all of the Year 6 pupils from Leaders.

The Year 5 Leaders have been exploring angles this week. They can identify and estimate angles and are looking forward to learning more next week.

In art this term, our focus will be on collage. This week, the children demonstrated the collage skills they already have when designing their own cover page for this unit. Next week, we will begin to explore our focus artist so keep an eye on our class blog for updates. 

In writing this week, Leaders have finished their character descriptions, with a focus on Scissors from the animation ‘Rock, Paper, Scissors’. The children have really pushed themselves to use new and challenging vocabulary and have succeeded; the pieces were extremely interesting to read. 

A big well done to Leaders for another brilliant week!

Wow! I can’t quite believe that it is the summer term already. There is so much to look forward to this term so keep an eye on our class blog for exciting updates.

This week, the children have been focusing on characterisation in their English lessons, developing skills to show and not tell their reader about their character. The vocabulary that has been used has been wonderful to see and I am looking forward to seeing their character descriptions develop next week. 

In maths, children have been exploring statistics. This week, Year 6 children have learned how to read and interpret pie charts as well as how to draw them. Year 5 children have explore line graphs, including drawing and interpreting them. Keep up the brilliant work!

In collective worship this week, the children have been introduced to our new Christian Value, ‘Friendship’. The children have explored what friendship means and how we can show care and respect to our friends. The responses have been excellent.

This term, our new topic is ‘When I grow up’. Take a look at our curriculum map to find out more about our learning for this term.

It has been another brilliant week in Leaders class.

On Monday, the children enjoyed a history drama day, focussed on how punishment has changed over time. The children demonstrated their learning from the day by performing for the whole school to finish the day. On Tuesday, the Leaders made links to the previous day’s learning when they learned about how punishments were decided during the Anglo-Saxon time period. The children learned about the different courts, trials by ordeal and oath-bearers.

This week in English, we have continued to shared write an argument, considering if palm oil should be banned. The writing produced has been amazing and I am looking forward to seeing how the children apply their skills to their independent writing about plastic next week.

In RE, the Leaders have been thinking about the events that led to Jesus’ death. There were some incredibly thoughtful responses during this lesson. Next week, we will be considering why Jesus died and what this means to Christians.

In science, the children have continued to learn about life cycles. This week, the children focussed on amphibians, with a specific focus on frogs. The work produced was brilliant.

On Thursday, the final rehearsals took place before the Leaders class band takes to the stage at the Eskdale Festival on Monday. The children have worked incredibly hard and I am looking forward to seeing them perform together on stage.

To finish the week, Leaders tackled a longer pieces of text in French. The children were able to use cognates to understand the text, which was about our new French topic, the Olympics. The enthusiasm and understanding demonstrated was brilliant to see. 

Have a brilliant weekend.