Here's s short video where Romy shares some of her favourite authors and books. We hope you enjoy watching it!
Wednesday, 3 May 2017
Tuesday, 25 April 2017
Gracie talks about empathy
This week, Year 6 continued their work learning about empathy. In this video, Gracie explains about what empathy means to her.
Friday, 3 March 2017
What is empathy?
As part of our Empathy Lab work this year, we have created some videos to try and explain what empathy means. We hope you enjoy watching them.
Wednesday, 8 February 2017
Mr Biddle's letter to Deer Class
Below is the letter that Mr Biddle wrote to his class last week. It's all about how much they love reading, and has created quite a stir on the internet. So far, it's been featured in the EDP, Great Yarmouth Mercury and TES. Happy reading!
Dear Deer,
Dear Deer,
Today I realised something very exciting! Did you know that you’re all readers now, every single one of you? I don’t mean that you all can read, because you’ve been able to do that since you were in Reception and Year One. That’s a different kind of reading, working out what all the sounds are and how to put them together. I mean that you’re readers; real, genuine, passionate readers. I spent a lot of time thinking about it on my way to school this morning (there was bad fog so I had to drive very slowly), and I’m going to try and show you that I’m right.
You’re readers because you remind me every single time when I forget about you sharing our Poem of the Day. You’re readers because you work brilliantly together to tidy up before story time, which means that you can squeeze every last minute out of it. You’re readers because you all get excited whenever a new book arrives in the classroom. You’re readers because you work so hard to keep the school library up and running. You’re readers because you love talking about your favourite books at every possible opportunity. You’re readers because you want to share the books you enjoy with children lower down the school.
In fact, now that I’ve started, let me be even more specific…
Lauren, you’re a reader because as soon as you found out that there was another book written by Katherine Rundell, you marched straight down to the school library to find it.
Troy, you’re a reader because you think very carefully about which picture book you’re going to share with the children in Reception at story time.
Liam, you’re a reader because you love looking at books with beautiful illustrations and trying to recreate them.
Charley, you’re a reader because you got so emotionally involved when we read One Dog and His Boy together and sat there with tears streaming down your face.
Isobel, you’re a reader because you squealed with joy when you found out that there might be a third Varjak Paw book one day.
Nico, you’re a reader because you insisted that your mum read Wonder straight after you did, so that she could see what you were so excited about.
Gracie, you’re a reader because you spend every spare minute talking about how amazing you think Lyra Belacqua and Katniss Everdeen are.
Rubie, you’re a reader because you read the books that you enjoy and you don’t care what anyone else thinks about them.
Hollie, you’re a reader because you spend your playtimes reading the Eddie poems by Michael Rosen to anyone who'll listen.
Jack, you’re a reader because you love sending the class photos on Twitter of the purchases you make at the different bookshops you visit.
Andrew, you’re a reader because you can recall almost every record from Guinness World Records 2017 and you know straight away where to find any that you’re not sure of.
Alfie, you’re a reader because you can remember exactly what happened on page 264 of Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire (and on any page of any other Harry Potter book).
Marley, you’re a reader because you’ve read so many books and you’re always happy to share recommendations with your friends.
Layla, you’re a reader because you can give a detailed plot summary of every Jacqueline Wilson book ever published.
Oliver, you’re a reader because you’ve quietly been working your way through the Young Samurai series since September.
James, you’re a reader because you love finding out extra facts about whatever topic we’re studying, and you start virtually every sentence with ‘Did you know...?’
Romy, you’re a reader because you always want to try books that you shouldn’t really be reading quite yet. Don’t worry, their time will come…and when it does, you’ll love them even more.
Leo, you’re a reader because you carefully take your signed Tom Palmer book out of your drawer and sit reading it with a contented smile on your face.
Jack, you’re a reader because you’re not afraid to change a book that you’re not enjoying.
Gabriella, you’re a reader because you read Bridge to Terabithia time and time again. It’s wonderful that you enjoy it so much!
Christian, you’re a reader because you come in every morning (without fail!) and tell me about the latest developments in the Once series.
Sonny, you’re a reader because you turn up at school book council meetings absolutely full of fantastic suggestions about which books we can buy for the school.
James, you’re a reader because, after a whole year of reading nothing but Beast Quest, you were brave and tried the Ranger’s Apprentice books and The Hobbit. And Christian was right, you loved them!
Taylor, you’re a reader because you discovered the Barnaby Grimes books by Chris Riddell and are happy to tell everyone you meet about how exciting you think they are.
Maddison, you’re a reader because you got so angry and frustrated during ‘that’ chapter in Wonder.
Have I proved my point Deer Class? I really hope so. Thinking about all of this today meant that it was the most heart-warming and enjoyable drive to school that I’ve had for a very long time, so thank you all!
Mr Biddle
Friday, 30 December 2016
Friday, 2 December 2016
Year 6 Empathy Lab work on refugees
Over the past 18 months, Moorlands Primary Academy has been heavily involved in working with the Empathy Lab project, which uses books and reading as a starting point for children to help develop their empathy skills. It's having a noticeable impact on the way that many of our children think and act. This term, as part of our work, the Year 6 children have been focusing on the plight of refugees from different parts of the world.
We started by talking about what the class already knew about refugees, and then spent time reading and sharing a wide variety of books. Some, the pupils were already aware of (eg Boy Overboard by Morris Gleitzman, which they had read as a class story in Year 5), although they were looking at many of them for the first time. The books were added to a Pinterest board, which we updated as they discovered more, and put on the Empathy Lab Book Spotters website. Links to many of the books, along with some planning and resources that I've found are available on this Padlet page.
As part of our Empathy Lab ‘social action’ work, the children decided to take part in Amnesty’s ‘Write for Rights’ campaign, and write letters to some of the refugees. They wrote about how people could make refugees feel welcome in the United Kingdom and what they enjoyed about living here. Because they were writing for a real audience, and could see that there was a genuine purpose behind their work, they were highly motivated to write and produced some fantastic work.
We also had a visit from a local refugee charity, GYROS, who shared the work they were doing in the Great Yarmouth area. One of the speakers was a refugee from Armenia and the other was a refugee from Mozambique, so they both had amazing stories to tell about their lives. The children were inspired by what they had been told and wanted to know how they could help. After Christmas, they've planned some fundraising activities but, equally importantly, they're going to do some work to raise awareness of the refugee situation in the local community.
Thoughts from Year 6
Troy: I actually feel as if I’d rather be the refugee than them so they didn’t have to suffer through things. I feel awful about what has happened.
Gracie: I tried really hard to empathise with them, but even with a vivid imagination like I have, it’s very hard to understand how bad things are.
Romy: When we read all the books about refugees, it made me think a lot about it. When someone says the word refugee it brings up loads of emotions as I didn’t know what they were going through before. Reading all the books helped me understand it.
Gracie: I loved how the books we read transported me to another world, but I hated the world that they transported me to!
Lauren: When you hear the stories about how hard it is, it makes you feel really lucky. I don’t like being separated from people I love for even a day, so just think what it would be like forever.
Romy: I feel upset for the refugees but I’m also angry at the people who are putting them through it. They’re just trying to have a normal life but they’re getting destroyed for no reason at all. Some of them are just little babies.
James: Writing the letters made me realise how many simple things I can do without being scared. I could just get a drink out of the fridge if I wanted to.
Lauren: It must be awful to go on a boat ride and not know what’s at the end of it. I know what’s going to happen every day and that makes me feel safe, but they don’t even know if they will survive to the next day.
Romy: When I wrote the letters, I felt lucky. I’m lucky anyway but I just felt lucky that I had the chance to make someone’s day a bit better. I know that when they get the letters they’ll realise that at least someone is thinking about them.
Gracie: Learning about refugees made me think about books like Once by Morris Gleitzman. The boy in that was a refugee too. All of those books made me understand what it must have been like to be hated in the war.
James: It made me ask my mum if we could send them stuff to help. We have lots of stuff that we don’t really need.
Troy: Some people in Yarmouth should treat the refugees kindly because, at the end of the day, we’re all humans.
James: I can’t imagine leaving everything at home. I’d have to leave my family, my pets, my books and my friends. I’d miss the village we live in. All my memories would be left behind. How could they take their memories with them? They must also miss speaking the language they know. They would just ‘feel’ their own language and to have to speak in another language all the time, well, that’s just like when I went to Holland.
Troy: It was probably some of my favourite work that we’ve ever done. We’re learning about the real world and we’re all part of it. Like, everyone, not just us and the people we know.
We started by talking about what the class already knew about refugees, and then spent time reading and sharing a wide variety of books. Some, the pupils were already aware of (eg Boy Overboard by Morris Gleitzman, which they had read as a class story in Year 5), although they were looking at many of them for the first time. The books were added to a Pinterest board, which we updated as they discovered more, and put on the Empathy Lab Book Spotters website. Links to many of the books, along with some planning and resources that I've found are available on this Padlet page.
After a couple of weeks of reading and researching, we had a wonderful visit from an Amnesty International speaker, David Huband, who came to talk about human rights. The children discussed which rights they had and which rights they felt that refugee children might be denied. The classes spent a lot of time discussing how and why children and their families travel from Syria to the UK.
As part of our Empathy Lab ‘social action’ work, the children decided to take part in Amnesty’s ‘Write for Rights’ campaign, and write letters to some of the refugees. They wrote about how people could make refugees feel welcome in the United Kingdom and what they enjoyed about living here. Because they were writing for a real audience, and could see that there was a genuine purpose behind their work, they were highly motivated to write and produced some fantastic work.
We also had a visit from a local refugee charity, GYROS, who shared the work they were doing in the Great Yarmouth area. One of the speakers was a refugee from Armenia and the other was a refugee from Mozambique, so they both had amazing stories to tell about their lives. The children were inspired by what they had been told and wanted to know how they could help. After Christmas, they've planned some fundraising activities but, equally importantly, they're going to do some work to raise awareness of the refugee situation in the local community.
Troy: I actually feel as if I’d rather be the refugee than them so they didn’t have to suffer through things. I feel awful about what has happened.
Gracie: I tried really hard to empathise with them, but even with a vivid imagination like I have, it’s very hard to understand how bad things are.
Romy: When we read all the books about refugees, it made me think a lot about it. When someone says the word refugee it brings up loads of emotions as I didn’t know what they were going through before. Reading all the books helped me understand it.
Gracie: I loved how the books we read transported me to another world, but I hated the world that they transported me to!
Lauren: When you hear the stories about how hard it is, it makes you feel really lucky. I don’t like being separated from people I love for even a day, so just think what it would be like forever.
Romy: I feel upset for the refugees but I’m also angry at the people who are putting them through it. They’re just trying to have a normal life but they’re getting destroyed for no reason at all. Some of them are just little babies.
James: Writing the letters made me realise how many simple things I can do without being scared. I could just get a drink out of the fridge if I wanted to.
Lauren: It must be awful to go on a boat ride and not know what’s at the end of it. I know what’s going to happen every day and that makes me feel safe, but they don’t even know if they will survive to the next day.
Romy: When I wrote the letters, I felt lucky. I’m lucky anyway but I just felt lucky that I had the chance to make someone’s day a bit better. I know that when they get the letters they’ll realise that at least someone is thinking about them.
Gracie: Learning about refugees made me think about books like Once by Morris Gleitzman. The boy in that was a refugee too. All of those books made me understand what it must have been like to be hated in the war.
James: It made me ask my mum if we could send them stuff to help. We have lots of stuff that we don’t really need.
Troy: Some people in Yarmouth should treat the refugees kindly because, at the end of the day, we’re all humans.
James: I can’t imagine leaving everything at home. I’d have to leave my family, my pets, my books and my friends. I’d miss the village we live in. All my memories would be left behind. How could they take their memories with them? They must also miss speaking the language they know. They would just ‘feel’ their own language and to have to speak in another language all the time, well, that’s just like when I went to Holland.
Troy: It was probably some of my favourite work that we’ve ever done. We’re learning about the real world and we’re all part of it. Like, everyone, not just us and the people we know.
Wednesday, 23 November 2016
Deer Class Mannequin Challenge
Never wanting to miss out on a potential bandwagon-jumping opportunity, last week Deer Class had a go at recording their own Mannequin Challenge during quiet reading. They managed to nail it on the very first take!
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