Newsletter Issue 7 Friday 21st October 2011
Dear Parent/Carer,
Newsletter
Just a reminder to our community; our newsletter is available to you in the following formats:
- Collect a paper copy from the office (arrange with Mrs Holland)
- give your email address to Mrs Holland to receive it direct to your email
- subscribe to the newsletter blog
- read the newsletter on our Noticeboards
Fantastic Staff
I would like this week to highlight Mrs Mates’s contribution to our school. Mrs Mates has stepped into the Lunchtime Supervisory role for us for the last three weeks during Mrs Hick’s absence. Mrs Mates has done an absolutely fabulous job for us. She is a highly valued and long-serving member of our Lunchtime Team.
PTA
The PTA AGM took place at school on Thursday 13th October, 6.00pm. The PTA is struggling to survive due to lack of support and lack of donations. As you will be aware, the PTA have been unable to run the Magic Show this year, there was no Summer Fayre, no Easter Egg Tombola, no Mothers Day Flowers… all activities and events that had become part of the life of the school. The PTA have very few funds left. We don’t have a Christmas Pantomime booked this year and the Christmas Fair – which ran at a very reduced level last year, as some of you will remember – is in serious jeopardy of not running at all this year. The PTA will be announcing a meeting to discuss the prospects for a Christmas Fair shortly.
The PTA need not only support in terms of attendance at the events, they need support in terms of the commitment of time to prepare and organise events. A very committed group of parents have taken the brunt of the workload for quite some years now. My thanks on behalf of our children to those people who have given their time, energy and commitment to our PTA.
Graduate Teacher Trainees 2012
Potential applicants should visit http://www.b-nett.co.uk/?page_id=479 for further details and application packs.
Have a wonderful weekend.
Mr Wilson
Nursery Newsletter
ROUND UP!
We have had a gorgeous week in Nursery this week learning all about Elmer the patchwork elephant. The children started the week full of excitement after producing yet another stunning array of homemade Elmers!! They really are a creative bunch! The home learning is having such a fantastic impact on the learning we achieve in Nursery so please do continue to support your child.
THIS WEEK
We have shared stories about Elmer that have been adored by the children. We have used images from the stories to think about colours, we then had a go at mixing our very own colours to paint Elmer! The children have also made 2 fabulous paper mache elephants to represent Elmer and his cousin Wilbur, which we hope to be able to display in main school! In number we have taken the idea of the repeating pattern on Elmers coat and then designed a new version. We have continued to use the theme to help with counting in order and also size ordering.
NEXT HALF TERM
We will be starting a new topic looking at Celebrations! We come back to Nursery on the 31st October with a Halloween spectacular, and then we will be moving on to the preparations for Bonfire Night! We will be counting using songs and rhymes and making our very own fireworks and using them in an investigation to see which travels the furthest!
During the holidays please do continue to support your child at home by sharing stories together, singing songs and rhymes, counting and playing games that involve turn taking. We will also be developing our writing skills, so please encourage your child to “write” at home too. Making it fun and natural is the best way, for example, ask them to take drinks orders, write a shopping list to help you at the supermarket, use chalks outside on the path, use paintbrushes and water – add glitter for an extra sparkle to practice writing the letters in their name.
HOW YOU CAN HELP US
· By ensuring your child can put their own coat on and that they bring a coat to Nursery every day.
· By practising putting on and taking off their own shoes and socks.
DIARY DATE
The first Monday back (31st October) is Halloween and Mr Wilson has agreed that the children in Nursery (and Reception) can come to school dressed for Halloween. However, we will be accessing our full provision so please make sure outfits and shoes are practical and appropriate.
Thank you for your support. Have a great half term!
Reception Newsletter
NEWS ROUND UP
Thank you to all the parents who attended our parent consultations this week. It was lovely to see you and share the fabulous news about how your children have settled and the super progress they are making.
Thank you too for all the amazing home learning. Miss Abbey has uploaded them onto our blog at: http://mrssatrobinhood.blogspot.com/
Look out for the half term homework to be returned on Monday 31st October.
THIS WEEK
We have continued to work on the OURSELVES topic,focusing on Elmer the elephant. The children have been discussing why Elmer is different and what qualities Elmer has that makes him a special friend to the other animals. The children have written some lovely letters to Elmer and invited him to a party as well as creating a large scale collaborative Elmer with Mrs Chin, to display in our classroom. Your home learning will be going up on this display too.
NEXT HALF TERM
We will be starting our new topic of 'Celebrations'. The first week back, we will look at the traditional Halloween and Bonfire Night celebrations and we will be creating some super artwork for a display. We are hoping to have a visit from a Fire Safety Officer to talk to the children about how to keep themselves safe.
In our numeracy sessions we will continue with our counting and number formation but we will also be moving on to estimation (then counting to check) followed by rounding numbers to the nearest 10.
HOW YOU CAN HELP US
By reading daily with your child for five minutes. All children should be ready to move onto PINK band books by the end of this half term. Some children have made such super progress that they will be working on RED band books after their reading assessment . Please put extra support around your child if they are still on Lilac books. Thank you
By practising the sounds and keywords of the week every day. New words for next week are: will, them, then, that, this, with. Sounds are v, w and y
By ensuring your child can write their first and second names
By recognising and practising writing the numbers to 20 with the correct formation.
DIARY DATES
The first Monday back (31st October) is Halloween and Mr Wilson has agreed that the children in Reception (and Nursery) can come to school dressed for Halloween. However we will be accessing our full provision so please make sure outfits and shoes are practical and appropriate. Thank you
Have a lovely half term.
KS1 News
How quickly the first half term has gone! The Key Stage One team would like to say a huge thank you to all the parents and carers who attended Parent Consultations this week. The children have started the year with exceptional attitudes to their learning. It has been fantastic to share their achievements and their next steps in their learning journey! We would also like to say a thank you for the feedback regarding the new reading records and how they are being used effectively.
Numeracy
This week the children have been showing what they have learnt across the half term with a series of short tasks to show off their learning. We have been very impressed with the childrens understanding of number! Next half term the children will be starting to learn all about addition. They will begin the term learning number facts such as number bonds to 10 (6 + 4) and number bonds to 20 (18 + 2). Please support your child through half term by counting objects and using their fingers to add numbers together.It can be adding as much as you want together!
Literacy
This week the children have written a non chronological report all about Robin Hood Primary School. The children have produced fantastic outcomes and should be very proud of their achievements! The children have been using their targets successfully and have consistently applied their learning of new literacy skills in their writing. Next half term the children will be starting a unit of work on 'Narrative' writing. Across the half term the children will be reading books by the Author Julia Donaldson, 'The Smartest Giant in Town', A Room on the Broom' and 'The Gruffalo'. We are looking forward to reading the stories that the children have been asked to produce for the home learning task over half term.
Topic
This week the children have been learning all about the Harvest Festival, what is for and why people celebrate at this time of year. We would like to thank all parents who came to school to see Key Stage One perform a super assembly! Next half term the children will be learning all about Beauty and The Beast. So why not enjoy watching this over half term and get to learn a few of the songs!
All the Key Stage One team hope you have a fantastic half term! Enjoy and relax!
LKS2 Newsletter
We have had a fun and eventful week in year 3/4. We have thoroughly enjoyed sharing the learning that has been taking place with parents and carers within this weeks parent consultations. The children had a fantastic experience at Danelaw Viking Village this week, where our learning this term really came to life!
Numeracy
In Numeracy, the children have shown us the wonderful learning they have developed within their Data Handling. We have been looking at venn diagrams, pictograms and bar charts, allowing the children to read and interpret data from them. On Friday we completed our first Times Table Challenge - please ensure your child continues to practise their times tables at home.
Literacy
This week we have been completing our final write about the ‘Vicious Vikings’. The children have chosen their information from the topics covered this half term, including rainbow paragraphs, super compound and complex sentences within their writing, as well as many audience engaging features that we have enjoyed reading! Well done year 3/4!
Topic
Over the course of this week the children have been continuing to make their moving mechanisms, weaving and Kar2ouche animations. They look fabulous!
RE
The children have also completed their stained glass windows, including Christian symbols. They are certainly brightening up our classrooms.
Reminders
Our Topic next half term is ‘Amazing Adverts’. As part of our learning, we would like the children to bring their favourite pair of trainers in to school on the first day back after half term. Details of our holiday homework have been given to your child, we would really appreciate your support.
UKS2 Newsletter
News Roundup
• Congratulations to our Starbooks readers, who are our Achievers of the Week. These children have shown a great deal of dedication and a regular commitment to reading at home and in school and have demonstrated a positive attitude towards making progress. Well done guys, you really have deserved those hot chocolates.
• Thank you to all parents and carers who attended parent consultations this week. It was a great opportunity for us to share with you some of the great progress your child has made so far this year. We are really grateful for all of your support and we are sure that further progress will be made with a continued input both at home and in school.
• Congratulations to Erin Surtees who is our Times Table Champion for this half term. It was a very close battle for the top spot and we hope that we see just as much enthusiasm next half term.
• Out topic next half term will be about inventions. We have asked the children to create an invention of their own and present it in whatever form they wish. We would like to see all creations back in school for the start of the second week back.
• Year sixes should have brought home a SAT pack containing examples of past papers. These are for the children to complete at their own pace over the holidays. We hope that this will help to support them in the run up to the SATs next year. Please ensure your child engages with these papers over the holidays and brings them back into school during the first week.
Numeracy: after half term the children will be focussing on multiplication and division strategies as well as data handling with a Mario Kart theme. To get you started, why not have a look on the I Am Learning platform where you will find lots of games to help you. Also, there are help videos on the school website to show you the methods we will be using.
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 are fundamental to all areas of numeracy. 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
After half term we will be looking at persuasion. We will be applying our persuasive techniques to letter writing as well as writing balanced arguments.
Home Learning: This week’s spellings are linked to our topic next half term: invention, television, telephone, bicycle, design, creation, technology, genius, convenience, appliance.
Other areas of the curriculum:
In Art we have been creating our own city skylines based on an inspirational video clip and a selection of photographs. We have created a colourful sunset and then added silhouettes of buildings using black paper.
In PE we have completed our line dances, rock and roll and street dance performances. We have showcased these to the whole of Year 5/6 so that we can all see what each of the classes have been doing and we are very proud of what we have managed to achieve.
5/6D http://robinhood56d.blogspot.com/
Visit our Blogs! 5/6G http://robinhood56g.blogspot.com/
5/6B http://robinhood56b.blogspot.com/
