Newsletter Issue 5 Friday 6th October 2011
Dear Parent/Carer,
Apologies to those families who received a slightly earlier edit of last week’s newsletter via email and paper. The couple of unfinished sentences that did go out via those sources have been amended on the online newsletter…
The Big Draw
We had a brilliant Big Draw Day on Monday, during which we received visits from Calendar TV, the Yorkshire Evening Post and Councillor Lisa Mulherin, our Chair of Governors. Children from every class, Nursery to Year 6, contributed to the vast artwork in our Hall and produced works of art in their classrooms, all of which were displayed on Tuesday at our Robin Hood Art Gallery Open Exhibition for parents and families. Thanks to everyone who attended that event in support of our fabulous artists. A group of Year 5 and 6 pupils created a permanent work at the rear of the school – our Friendly Faces Graffiti Wall. Robin Hood is, of course, well known for the quality of its Arts provision. We are the proud holder of ArtsMark Gold and have featured in national publications on Art by ofsted and The Campaign for Drawing. The Big Draw at Robin Hood featured on Calendar News on Wednesday this week.
Feedback
We do want to hear from you about your ease of access to the newsletters. We made the change to mainly an electronic system in order to
a. reduce paper, photocopying and administration costs
b. ensure that the newsletters get to those who do want to see them as Pupil Post was not always 100% reliable.
When the newsletter was paper-based, we were often told by parents that they did not receive the newsletter – which is why we added the blog version to our distribution process.
Parents are now able to access the newsletter – at school on the Noticeboards, via the blog, via email or in paper form from the office. We are currently looking at whether the newsletter can be distributed via facebook to make access even easier. Our newsletters contain important information about school. Please ensure that you have a method of accessing them.
Feedback on the different methods of accessing the newsletter could form part of the discussion at our Parents Forum, to be held in Friendly Faces, 9.00am 4th November. Mrs Ann Parker (Governor) and Mrs Dale (Deputy Headteacher) will be there to share a coffee and a chat about any aspect of school life. Please do speak with Mrs Dale about your child’s experiences of The Big Draw… she would be delighted to hear from you.
Graduate Teacher Trainees 2012
The application round for 2012 Graduate Teacher Trainees is open once again. This is an ‘on the job’ teacher training programme that Robin Hood has had the pleasure to be involved with for eight years now. Potential applicants should visit http://www.b-nett.co.uk/?page_id=479 for further details and application packs.
Fantastic Staff
It is a regular feature of our newsletters that I spotlight the contribution made by key members of staff to our fabulous school. I would like this week to pay my particular thanks to Mrs Holland. Mrs Holland’s full time move to the office last year has been a blessing for Mrs Smith, the staff and I as her ultra-efficiency and fabulous photocopier skills have helped us all greatly.
Unnamed Clothing
Mrs Holland has three school-badged jade green cardigans; one age 5-6, one size 28" and one size 30", two jumpers age 5 and 6-7, one pair of shorts age 5, a pale blue Pumpkin Patch raincoat age 8, a two-tone green Mothercare coat age 3-4 and a brown leather H & M jacket age5/6 – all unnamed. Anyone missing these items… please claim them from Mrs Holland… and write child’s name in them. We do not have the space in school to hold a stock of unnamed clothing. Any items not claimed by the Half Term will be donated to charity. Please help us to help you by ensuring that all items that your child brings to school are clearly named.
Holiday Absence
During their inspection in April, ofsted noted the number of school days at Robin Hood that are lost to family holidays during term time – both authorised and unauthorised. Our policy on Holiday Absence is clear, is available from our website (http://www.robinhood.leeds.sch.uk/parents/policies.php), is consistent with the other Rothwell schools and is consistently applied when requests are received. While I fully recognise the issues for families surrounding the taking of holidays in term time I am also aware of the impact that absence from school has upon learning.
PTA Annual General Meeting
The PTA AGM will take place at school on Thursday 13th October, 6.00pm. Parents of our Nursery and Reception children, as well as the parents of children throughout the school, are very much encouraged and welcomed to join us.
Have a lovely weekend.
Mr Wilson
Nursery newsletter Autumn 1 week 5
News Round Up
We have enjoyed another great week in Nursery as Monday kicked off with our Big Draw event. The children had a fabulous time going on a bear hunt and then produced a montage to represent the environments where we found our bears! Many thanks to the parents who supported their children by purchasing their amazing artwork.
This week
We have been learning all about our senses, what they are and how we use them. The children have been listening to sounds inside and outdoors and have smelled and tasted some interesting things, talking about the reasons they liked them and using super descriptive words such as 'salty', 'sour' and 'sweet'. In our numeracy sessions we have concentrated on counting to ten and introduced counting backwards from 10. Please encourage your child to count objects at home too, e.g. how many lego blocks they have used to build a tower, how many teddies have they got lined up on their bed etc.
Next week
We will be continuing to learn about Ourselves but will be focusing on our feelings and emotions. The children will be using role-play to act out different scenarios and we will be discussing different feelings and appropriate responses to different situations. The children will be thinking about the things that make them feel happy and sad and developing strategies to cope in different situations. In numeracy we will continue to look at numbers and using number rhymes and games to help build on their skills.
How you can help us
Please ensure your child completes the home learning task and brings into Nursery as we do use the finished outcomes to support our activities in school.
Thank you so much to those parents who have engaged with the reading records and guidance notes to help your child with early reading skills. Please could I ask that Wednesday becomes the day that we hand in reading records and I will then return them to you.
Thank you.
Reception Newsletter
News round up
We have enjoyed another great week in Reception. Monday kicked off with our Big Draw event and thank you to all parents who supported their children by purchasing their amazing artwork.
As the weather has turned colder please can you make sure your child brings a coat every day. We have also had some polo shirts going missing, particularly after PE. Can you please check that all clothing (including shoes) is clearly named and if your child comes home wearing something that isn't theirs, please can you wash and return to school to allow us to return to the rightful owner!
This week
We have been learning all about our senses, what they are and how we use them. The children have been listening to sounds inside and outdoors and have smelled and tasted some interesting things, talking about the reasons they liked them and using super descriptive words such as 'salty', 'sour' and 'sweet'. In our numeracy sessions we have looked at numbers above 10 and have continued with working on our number formation.
Next week
We will be continuing to learn about Ourselves but will be focusing on our feelings and emotions. The children will be using role-play to act out different scenarios and we will be discussing different feelings and appropriate responses to different situations. The children will be thinking about the things that make them feel happy and sad and developing strategies to cope in different situations. In numeracy we will continue to look at numbers above ten, talking about the way they are made up from tens and units and practising writing them. All children need to be able to read, recognise and write the numbers to twenty during their time in Reception.
New Sounds and Keywords
the new sounds for next week will be: 'b', 'd' and 'i'
the keywords will be: him, his, not, got, up, mum
KS1 Newsletter
What an amazing week it has been in Key Stage 1....check out the blog for photos of this weeks events!! http://robinhoodkeystage1.blogspot.com/
Home Learning
A huge THANK YOU to all parents and children for their outstanding home learning projects which were handed in on Monday. The Key Stage 1 staff were very impressed with the time, effort and creativeness the children showed. All projects handed in can be seen of the KS1 blog......
The Big Draw
On Monday the children took part in The Big Draw, where they were involved in art based activities across the day. The day started with a whole school assembly led by Mrs Dale who shared the vision for the day and the project which would take place in the hall.
The children went on an Autumn walk to collect leaves from the playground which then fed into the children's art work of leaf printing and observational drawings of leaves. When using the leaves to print, they first investigated the different ways to create a leaf print using primary colours and then teamed up with up to 3 other people to create amazing pictures of leaves. The children then continued to add detail to the pictures using coloured pens and pencils.
During the afternoon the children went outside to create observational drawings of leaves using charcoal and coloured pastels. The children spent time looking at how to create an effective outlines of the leaves (without drawing around the leaf itself) and then adding on the vines.
We hope you were able to join the celebration of this art work on Tuesday and even purchased some from the amazing artists Robin Hood have!!!
Literacy
This week in Literacy the children have tried so hard with their learning, creating a booklet all about being healthy and having a healthy lifestyle. The children continued to look at having a balanced diet and the effects this has on the body. They watched video clips to enhance their listening skills and knowledge of the subject. The children have completed their own Healthy Eating booklet including sub-heading, CAPITAL LETTERS, full stops, developed ideas (using: so, if, but, because, when), Did you know facts..... and text effects.
Next week the children will be learning with a partner and creating a poster on Exercise. They will be participating in different exercise videos, discussing the effects these have on they body while reading information texts about the benefits of exercise and the possible side effects of being unhealthy. The children will look at how to set out an effective poster using different colours to present different ideas.
Numeracy
This week in Numeracy the children have continued to develop their understanding of Numbers and the Number System and using the Malteser system to partition two and three digit numbers. The children have been ordering the numbers and discussing which is the Biggest/Smallest and why. Please continue to support your child at home by asking them to write three and four digit numbers at home and label up the columns.
Next week in Numeracy the children will be developing their understanding of the 100 square and where the numbers are in relation to the columns and rows. They will continue to develop their understanding of 1 more/1 less and 10 more/10 less, using the hundred square but also doing this mentally. To really test the children's understanding and knowledge of the 100 square they will be given a small section to fill in and complete which will require them to use all the skills taught across the week.
Topic
This week has seen another taste testing session.....tasting different smoothies and trying to identify the fruit used. The children then continued to design, make and evaluate their own fruit smoothie, using a selection of fruit. The children really enjoyed the hands on sessions and even created their own labels which would be used for their bottles. I am sure in years to come we will see some of these on the shelves in Morrisons!!
LKS2 Newsletter
Our week kicked off with the fantastic 'Big Draw' on Monday, where we had lots of fun creating sky lines of the words most famous landmarks. We would like to congratulate all the children for their amazing enthusiasm and superb effort shown throughout the day. We would like to thank everyone who came along to support the event in the hall on Tuesday and who purchased our amazing pictures. I'm sure you'll agree 3/4 are very talented artists! Miss Thackeray and Miss Nicholls class have produced an amazing video of instructions on how to play a fun playtime game this week. This video is for the schools in our comenius project to use and learn from. Miss Thackeray and Miss Nicholls will take this with them next week when they are going to Prague to observe and teach in one of our Comenius partner's schools.
Literacy
This week we have continued to research what life was like for women and children. The children have introduced their report with an engaging opening paragraph and have continued to group ideas into paragraphs. We have been very impressed with the children's descriptions and attempts at complex sentences. Next week the children will be researching the battles that the Vikings and the Saxons took part in and the impact Alfred the Great had on the Vikings' reign over England.
Numeracy
This week we have been sorting and carrying out investigations around odd and even numbers. We also have had a lot of fun sorting multiples of different numbers into venn and carol diagrams. Next week we will be collecting data and representing this in pictograms and bar charts.
Topic
We have been continuing our weaving, moving pictures and Kar2ouche animations all about different aspects of Viking life. We are looking forward to sharing these with you at the end of our topic.
Reminders
All year four children who are going on residential have received the itinerary, equipment list and a medical form. Please can all medical forms be completed and returned to school as soon as possible.
Our trip to Danelaw Viking Village at Murton Park is fast approaching, please can you ensure we have everyone's payment in before we go. As the weather has turned quite cold please can all children make sure they come to school on that day in warm clothes and a waterproof coat.
Thank you,
Year 3/4 Team
UKS2 Newsletter
News Roundup
• Congratulations Laura Bond, who is our Achiever of the Week, for her AMAZING paragraph about an American Film icon. She wowed us with her use of ALL the star Criteria. Well done Laura.
• Well done to everyone who took part in the Big Draw event on Monday. We were so impressed with the enthusiasm and creativity demonstrated by Year 56 as well as the quality of the outcomes. Some pieces of work are still available if pupils wish to take them home.
• Thank you to everyone who attended our Celebration afternoon on Friday. We were delighted to share the children’s work with parents and carers and we sincerely hope you enjoyed the biscuits that were on offer.
Numeracy: this week we have been looking at the relationship between fractions and decimals. We have found fractions of given amounts and applied it to the decorating of our biscuits. Next week we will continue to look at fractions. However, we will be focussing on mixed number and improper fractions as well as finding common denominators. The following websites are useful to get you started:
http://www.bgfl.org/bgfl/custom/resources_ftp/client_ftp/ks2/maths/fractions/index.htm
http://www.coolmath4kids.com/fractions/index.html
Home learning: please continue to practise ALL of your times tables as well as other number facts (e.g. number bonds to 100, 1000, etc). These facts facts are fundamental when working with fractions. Any additional resources related to specific strategies will be provided for those who wish to practise at home. These resources are NOT compulsory; however we hope that children will choose to use these to help them with their understanding of the units of work.
Literacy
Next week in Literacy we will be moving on to look at newspaper reports and the stylistic devices needed to write like a journalist. We will be using the Big Draw event as a stimulus and will be looking to include ALL of our Star Criteria in our writing. These include: the correct use of punctuation, complex sentences, adverbials, quotes and personal opinions.
Home Learning: This week’s spellings are linked to our art unit: Scissors, Sculpture, Texture, Picture, Prepare, Create, Pastel, Material, Mixture, Build. You can practise these spellings via the Learning Platform.
Other areas of the curriculum:
In Science we have been finding out about how we hear and how sound travels. We have carried out investigations around changing the pitch and volume of musical instruments and have then had a go at making our own ‘unique’ sounds.
In PE we have been rehearsing and finessing our performances of street dance, line dancing and Rock and Roll. Performances will be shown in assembly over the next couple of weeks.
In RE we have continued to look at the religious act of pilgrimage. We have looked at the Catholic faith and have compared it with the Muslim faith.
Visit our Blogs! 5/6G http://robinhood56g.blogspot.com/
5/6B http://robinhood56b.blogspot.com/
5/6D http://robinhood56d.blogspot.com/
