Friday, 27 April 2012

Issue 28 2011-12


Newsletter Issue 28

Friday 27th April 2012



Dear Parents/ Carers,

It’s been another exciting week for us, with Year 3/4 enjoying some fantastic outings around Leeds, based on the children’s very own choices. Some children even went to visit the mayor, who was naturally charmed by the children and impressed with their fantastic behaviour. My thanks to our teachers, who really do go that extra mile to organise engaging and powerful starting points for the children’s learning.

Pom-Pom Day
Monday is Pom-Pom Day. We will be hosting the community event after school for which the School Hall will be open to all children, parents/carers and grandparents, uncles and aunties to help make as many pom-poms as we can!  The event will be led by Sarah Barton, Educational Officer for the Leeds Industrial Museum, who will be helping us create enough pom-poms to make our very own life-sized sheep!  The Robin Hood Primary School sheep will be part of an exhibition celebrating British wool and will feature in the Museum over the coming year.  Sarah will be holding an Assembly first thing in the morning for children.  We will be making our first pom-pom during the day.  Please help us to make the most pom-poms… and to make the biggest pom-pom sheep we can.  The school doors will open to this event at 3 p.m so do try and come along with your child after you have collected them at their normal finishing time. Refreshments will be available, as we are aware that Pom-Pom making can be very thirsty work!

Guitar and Keyboard tuition
We currently run after school clubs in Keyboard (Mondays) and Guitars (Tuesdays and Thursdays) using the expertise of peripatetic tutors from ArtForms, Leeds. We need to establish how much interest there would be for classes next academic year. The children attending these classes have gained an awful lot this year and many of those children have attended for more than one year. The classes are relatively cheap and instrument hire is included in the price. If your child is interested or you would like to know a little bit more about the clubs, can you please let Mrs Holland know in the office and she will pass the names onto Mrs Dale, who co-ordinates the organisation of these clubs.

Diamond Jubilee Reading Challenge
To mark the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee, we are participating in the Diamond Jubilee Reading Challenge. The children need to read around the Commonwealth countries. If the children read for a total of 11 hours, over the next half term, then they will complete the challenge. Every 10 minutes reading equals 500 miles. Please mark in your child’s reading record the amount of time your child has read and this will be stamped by the class teacher, in your child’s reading passport. We will be celebrating the successful readers with special certificates in the final Celebration Assembly.

Car Safety
Can we please ask that anybody dropping off or collecting their children by car, do so safely and do not park on the zig-zags, next to the solid white lines, or use the school entrance as a turning circle as this compromises the safety of our children.

Well, the rain continues so let’s hope for some sunshine over the weekend.
Have a lovely weekend,

Mr. Wilson


Nursery Newsletter

NEWS ROUND UP
It’s been a rather wet week in Nursery this week, so we’ve had to be careful our Pirate ship didn’t really set sail! The children however have made the most of their time in Nursery and very much enjoyed using the additional props to aid their Pirate role play, which came in as home learning. Yet again the standards were very high and your creativity never fails to amaze us!

THIS WEEK
The children have been busy creating their very own treasure maps and within literacy they wrote the instructions for their fellow pirates to follow to find the treasure.
We have also carried out an investigation to find out which materials are best to make a pirate ship. The children spent time testing and sorting those materials that would float and not sink, and also discovered that some materials really were no good for sailing on water as they just went soggy!

NEXT WEEK
We will continue with our Pirate Topic and will be listening to the stories of Pirate Pete. From these stories the children will be learning about Diaries, and having a go at writing their very own!
Within Numeracy the children will be using positional language. We will be using puppets to learn vocabulary such as next to, above, on top of, behind etc. They will also be using this language to navigate the ICT beebots around a map.


How you can help us
·         Continue sharing stories at home, allowing your child to listen for the phonemes in simple words that you segment and ask them what word they can hear. E.g. p-i-g
·         Build on your child’s awareness of the letters in the alphabet saying both their name and sound, and practice the formation of letters by spelling simple words like cat, mop, jam etc.
·         Develop turn taking and sharing skills by playing games such as dominoes, snakes and ladders etc.

Many thanks for your continued support

Have a super weekend.

Miss Bradshaw and the Nursery team

RECEPTION NEWS ROUND UP
We have had another fabulous week in Reception. We have continued with our pirates and the children have amazed us with their energy and creativity!

THIS WEEK
We have made our own treasure maps by staining them with tea and then adding detail such as volcanoes, trees and swamps, not forgetting X to mark the spot!
The children have been finding out about positional language and have been using clues to direct their friends to the treasure for example 'look behind the swamp or under the palm tree'. In topic we have designed our own pirate ships and then tested them to see if they float or sink.

NEXT WEEK
We will be finding out about Pirate Pete and his adventures, using the story of his escapades to write our own diary entries. We have also been finding out about famous historical pirate characters and looking closely at what is takes to be a successful pirate! In our topic sessions we will be making telescopes and treasure chests, describing the treasure that we have in our chests using describing words such shiny and sparkly. The children will also be using the metal detectors to find treasure in our outdoor area!

HOW YOU CAN HELP US
  • By completing the home learning task and encouraging your child to bring their home learning journal in on Monday morning
  • By reading with your child for at least five minutes every day and writing a comment in their reading record
  • By continuing to practice counting in 2's, 5's and 10's (there are some video clips on our blog which the children really enjoy)
  • To write their FULL name with correct letter formation
  • To write a number line to 20 with correct number formation 
Thank you for your continued support.

KS1 Newsletter

Well it's been another busy week in Key Stage One! The children have thoroughly enjoyed making their own Disney Character and are becoming professionals at using mod rock!

Numeracy
This week in Numeracy the children have been continuing to build on their learning about money. They have also been understanding how to interpret different types of data. This has included money pictograms and bar graphs, tables and tally charts. The children have been finding out who has the most, who has the least, what is the difference and adding amounts together. The children have been using all four operations; addition, subtraction. multiplication and division. Any problem solving at home using any of these operations is important. This useful link includes games the children have been playing this week. Why not have a try at home! <http://www.topmarks.co.uk/EducationalGames.aspx?cat=10>

Literacy
The children have been enjoying their new unit of learning all about story writing. This week has seen them complete their own story following the structure of a story mountain. Every good story has super front cover, an opening, a problem, a build up, a climax and finally a resolution and ending. The children have shown fantastic ideas and super imagination! We have continued to work on class targets which include the correct use of punctuation, spelling, developing ideas and using paragraphs.

Topic
This week in Topic the children have been making the structure to their Disney Character with newspaper and masking tape. Characters have ranged from Princesses to Aliens, to Animals and Cars! The children have been using mod rock to cover them to make a solid 3D base to a character. They have really enjoyed this activity and we look forward to seeing what the finished products will look like!

Next Week

Numeracy
The children will begin a new unit of learning of measure. They will be spending the week understanding length. This will include learning about the different types of length (mms, cms, m and km) lots of measuring lines, parts of the body, ordering heights and finding the difference between heights. Again, all of the four operations will be used so please support your child in using these at home.

Literacy
Over the next two weeks the children will be using a different adventure story to help them with their writing.
Year 1 - Cars
Year 1/2 Alice in Wonderland
Year 2 - UP
Why not watch the film or see what you can find out about these stories.

Topic
Next week in Topic the children will be lending their attention to science and the use of electricity. The home learning is all about researching about electricity and this will be important for them to progress in their understanding of a very interesting subject! The children will be making circuits, understanding different symbols, investigating different types of circuits and the safety implications and dangers of electricity.

Home Learning and Reading Records
We would like to thank all the parents and carers who encourage and support their children in completing their home learning. We also appreciate your continued involvement in updating the reading records. The home learning set and your child's reading record are an extremely important part to your child's learning. Please ensure that the home learning takes place and on the hand in date, all home learning is handed in with their home learning book. We love reading all the beautiful comments about your child's reading at home or any other learning they are doing and it is important that these are handed in every Monday Morning.

PE Kit
Recently many children across the Key Stage have been coming in to school with either the wrong PE Kit or no PE kit. PE takes place on a Wednesday for all of the children and the uniform consists of; blue or black shorts and a white t-shirt. You are more than welcome to leave PE kits in the lockers during the half term. If your child does not bring this a letter will be sent home to inform you.

Thank you for your support.
The Key Stage One Team

LKS2 Newsletter

This week we have been very busy "Discovering Leeds". Miss Thackeray's group had a fantastic time in Leeds City Centre on Tuesday where all the children enjoyed exploring the Museum and were fortunate enough to meet the Lord Mayor, who was particularly impressed with the insightful questions that the children asked him! On Wednesday, Miss Nicholls' group had a very wet experience around Roundhay Park and Tropical World. Fortunately, the rain held off long enough for the children to explore the park, viewing the Upper lake and the play park. After meeting the Meerkats, Butterflies and many reptiles, we decided to escape the rain and enjoyed a delicious hot chocolate in the Roundhay Fox. On Thursday, Mrs Moore's group had a fabulous time finding out about
Elland Road
 and the Cricket Stadium in Headingley. We were all very impressed with the children's beautiful manners when out in the general public, they were definitely an asset to the school!

Numeracy
This week in Numeracy, the children have been identifying equivalent fractions and comparing fractions to decimals and percentages.  The children have been linking their multiplication and division skills to help them find fractions of amounts.

Our weekly home learning is to continue to practice our times tables.
Here are some websites to encourage your children to learn their times tables at home:

http://www.fieryideas.com/tnt-tables-46-c.asp (TNT Tables - an addictive activity to practise times tables)

http://www.mad4maths.com/multiplication_table_math_games/ (Mad 4 Maths - times table games for x3, x4, x5, x6, x7 and x8)

 Literacy
This week we have been looking at the traditional version of The Three Little Pigs and comparing it to the Roald Dahl alternative version and finding out the true version of events from the wolf's point of view. The children have created some beautiful story boards and Kar2ouche animations of their stories. The children have also written their alternative stories from the wolf's perspective and have used a range of powerful verbs and adverbs to make their description of action and dialogue more interesting for the reader.

PE
This half term our PE unit is dance. The whole school are learning different sections of a choreographed dance routine. We will then perform each section all together in the hope to break a world record for the most schools performing a routine all together. This week, as we were working in our trip groups we used our team work skills to play bench ball. The children enjoyed this competitive game and used their overarm throwing skills.

Reminders
·         Please ensure your child brings their indoor PE kits every week.
·         Year 4s will need to bring their swimming kits every Friday and remember to take it home to have it washed.
·         Please could you check that all of your child’s belongings are clearly labelled?
·         It is very important that all children have a water bottle in school to ensure they remain hydrated throughout the day.

Spellings

Group 1
Group 2
  1. their
  1. circuit 
  2. there
  2. certain
  3. people
  3. century
  4. can't
  4. ocean
  5. don't
  5. city
  6. didn't 
  6. circle
  7. couldn't 
  7. receive
  8. wouldn't
  8. special
  9. hasn't 
  9. except
10. hadn't
10. ancient




Thank you,
Team 3/4

UKS2 News Roundup:
  • Congratulations to Jade Nicholson who is our achiever of the week. This week, Jade has shown her creative flair creating a design based on the Union Jack with an imaginative use of British images to add detail.
  • Please collect examples of magazine and newspaper adverts ahead of our Topic session later in the half term. These adverts will be analysed in class in preparation for the creation of our own adverts.
  • This half term, PE is indoors. Please ensure that you have a white t-shirt and black or blue shorts. Trainers or pumps are needed as our focus is dance.
Numeracy:
 Literacy:
  • This week, we've been designing our own products for the Queen's Diamond Jubilee or the London Olympics. The focus has been ensuring that related ideas are grouped together and the sentences that these ideas are written in are accurate in structure, word choice and tone. Next week in Literacy, the children will be writing a review for a product.
  • In reading, the children have been finding out about the entrepreneur Peter Jones of Dragons' Den fame and answering comprehension questions about his life. We've also been comparing texts on a similar theme and answering questions about them.
  • Home Learning: For this week's spellings, we would like you to check which of the high frequency words you can read and spell. These spelling lists were given out before the Easter holidays and we're aware that some children have identified spellings that they need to learn. On Friday, we will be carrying out an assessment which will include words that use rules and patterns from the spelling lists. e.g. -tion; i before e except after c; adding -ed etc
Other areas of the curriculum:


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Friday, 20 April 2012

Issue 27 2011 - 12


Newsletter Issue 27

Friday 20th April 2012


Dear Parent/Carer,

Welcome back to the third and final term of the school year, known in education circles as the Summer Term… though you wouldn’t know it, going by the weather this week.  Hopefully things will improve soon.  It has been a delight to meet so many little Pirates this week from our Nursery and Reception.  Our teaching teams are developing deep and immersive learning experiences for our children.  My sincere thanks to parents for supporting our teaching teams, children and topics with the incredible costumes that children are wearing every day for school.  These are things that live long in the memory, things that make the Primary School years magical.

Lunch Benches
We have taken delivery of three Lunch Benches this week that will provide a break out space for school lunches when the weather improves.  The benches will also provide seating for parents and carers waiting for Friday Celebration Assemblies.  My thanks to School Captain Chloe Jackson for her fabulous idea.  Robin Hood truly is a school where children’s suggestions and ideas are listened to and acted upon.

Key dates for your diary:
Meet Your New Teacher Day
Our Meet Your New Teacher Day takes place on Tuesday 3rd July.  On the day, children will spend time with their teacher and in their new class for next year.  At the end of the school day on 3rd July there will be a short and informal Meet Your New Teacher Welcome Meeting for Parents in their child’s new class (except Reception.  More details of meetings for parents of new to Reception children shortly…)

Nursery will be closed on 3rd July.  Nursery children who are transferring to our Reception class in September should come direct to the Reception classroom on Meet Your New Teacher Day.  They will be welcomed by both the teaching team for next year and by the current Nursery staff.

Nursery Open Day
The Nursery will also be closed on Friday 1st June as this is our New to Nursery Parents Open Day.  Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday children will be welcomed in the morning:
9.00-10.00 – Stay & Play – Parents are encouraged to join their child in play activities in the Nursery for the first hour
10.00-11.00 – Children Only - Parents are asked to leave their child in the setting for an hour to become used to the Nursery environment.  Tea and biscuits will be on offer to parents during this hour in our Friendly Faces building at the rear of the school.
11.00-11.30 – Meeting for Parents

Wednesday, Thursday, Friday children will be welcomed in the afternoon:
12.30-1.30 – Stay & Play – Parents are encouraged to join their child in play activities in the Nursery for the first hour
1.30-2.30 – Children Only - Parents are asked to leave their child in the setting for an hour to become used to the Nursery environment.  Tea and biscuits will be on offer to parents during this hour in our Friendly Faces building at the rear of the school.
2.30-3.00 – Meeting for Parents

New to Reception Parents Meetings
Our New to Reception Parents Meetings take place on Thursday 31st May at 3.30pm-4.30pm or 6.00pm-7.00pm.

Year 6 Transition Day
Tuesday 3rd July is also the date of the Rodillian Transition Day for Year 6 pupils.  Year 6 pupils who are going on to Rodillian should go direct to the school that day, not come to Robin Hood.  Similarly, Year 6 children should be collected or make their way home direct from Rodillian that day.  Year 6 pupils who are not transferring to Rodillian should attend school as normal. 

I am aware that Rodillian have again scheduled their Open Evening for Year 6 pupils on the evening of the return of our Robinwood residential.  We gave Rodillian a full year’s notice of the residential dates and were very clear in passing on the feedback that we had received from parents about their scheduling of the event last year.  Parents of this year’s Year 6 residential children – please address any comments about the scheduling of the event direct to Rodillian.

Dinner Notification
If your child is changing from packed lunches to school dinners and vice versa, please give the school one week’s notice as kitchen food orders are made one week in advance. 

Absence Notification
If your child is absent from school please notify school before 9.15am.  Time that could be spent by office staff on important school work is otherwise taken up with tracing children who are absent.

Have a fantastic weekend and let’s hope the weather improves…
Mr Wilson

Nursery Newsletter

NEWS ROUND UP
Welcome back after the Easter holiday, we hope you all had a lovely break! The children seemed well rested and ready for their new learning! Thank you all so much for organising the children’s pirate costumes, it really made for a fabulous start to the topic!

THIS WEEK
We have begun our topic “Island Life” with the first instalment being Pirates! The children have been able to fully explore the new enhancements in the setting and this has been fully embraced and enjoyed by all the children, or should I say Shipmates! It has been wonderful to see how the slight addition of a costume can truly bring to life the children’s interest, excitement and enjoyment for their learning!
Within literacy the children have been thinking about alliteration and making their own pirate name to place on their pirate portraits, and in Numeracy the children have been naming and describing 2D shapes.

NEXT WEEK
The children will continue with their topic on pirates (but in school uniform please) and will be embarking on new adventures as we make our very own treasure maps.
Within numeracy we will be continuing to learn about shapes, and using the different shapes to create pictures.


How you can help us
·         Build on your child’s awareness of the alphabet by thinking about what letter sounds words begin with and name the letters in their own names.
·         Practise writing different letter sounds to label pictures that they draw or lists they write.
·         Continue using numbers in every day contexts : laying the table, climbing the stairs, sharing sweets, playing board games, to help build on your child’s use of number names and recognition of numerals.

Many thanks for your continued support

Have a great weekend.

Miss Bradshaw and the Nursery team

RECEPTION NEWS ROUND UP
Welcome back to our summer term. It's hard to believe it's summer with the weather we have had this week, but we have still had a brilliant week and there has been some amazing learning every day! The children and staff have loved dressing up as Pirates and it has allowed some really hands on learning to take place!

THIS WEEK
We have had a great time finding all about pirates, where they live, what they do, how they dress and even how they speak. The children have thought of pirate names for themselves using alliteration and we have been really impressed with their imagination! In topic they have painted pictures of themselves as pirates and have written some rather menacing speech bubbles.....'hand over your gold' and 'aargh give me your treasure or I will eat you up'!

NEXT WEEK
We will continue to find out more about pirates and will be sharing the story of 'The Pirate Ship'. This tells the story of how the evil pirates changed their outlook on life and we will be using the story as a basis for verbal and written retells using story language and connectives to join our sentences. In this half term we are insisting on correctly spelled  keywords, capital letters, full stops and finger spaces in the children's writing and we would really appreciate your support in making sure the children write regularly at home to build up their confidence.
In numeracy we will be introducing positional language to the children and asking them to create their own treasure maps and then direct the Beebots to the treasure by means of clear instructions!

HOW YOU CAN HELP US
  • By completing the home learning task and returning it to school on Monday
  • By encouraging your children to write some sentences  using this week's keywords (water, away, good, over, how, want)all of which should be spelled correctly (these should be written in the homework journal and we will mark them alongside the home learning task)
  • By continuing to practice counting in 2's, 5's and 10's (there are some video clips on our blog which the children really enjoy)
  • To continue to listen to their amazing reading every day.
  • To write their FULL name with correct letter formation
  • To write a number line to 20 with correct number formation.
Thank you for your continued support.

KS1 News

The first week has gone so fast!  It was so nice to see the children on Tuesday come running into school full of excitement and energy after the two weeks off.  They were keen to share their amazing knowledge of Disney and the Home Learning they clearly spend a great deal of time doing.  Please check out the school blog for pictures of all the Home Learning.

Literacy
This half term the children will be writing adventure stories within the narrative unit.  Across the half term they will be looking at the films and books of Cars, Alice in Wonderland and UP.  This week Year 1 have read the book Alice in Wonderland and watched sections of the film to accompany the book, Year 1/2 have read the book UP while Year 2 have read Cars.  The children have been introduced to the story mountain which shows the structure of every story.  This includes: Opening (introduces the character and setting), Problem (something happens), Build-Up, Climax (the big bang of the story), Resolution/Ending.  Across Key Stage 1 the children have written their opening, using a story opening such as 'Once upon a time', 'One sunny day' before moving onto the problem where something happens to their main character.  Please ask your child about their story and encourage them to write a story at home which they can bring into school to share with their friends.

Next week the children will continue writing their stories, including descriptive words to describe what is happening and using spoken language to bring the characters to life.

Numeracy
This week the children have been learning about money.  They have looked at the values of the coins and how to make up different amounts including pound and pence.  Please ask you child questions such as:  What coins could you use to make the value 72p/£6.35/£14.29.  The children have been busy answering words problems using the four operations, addition, subtraction, multiplication and division. 

They have also taken part in a number of investigations such as:
Investigation 1
I have three 10p and three 5p coins in my purse.  I use two coins to buy a lolly.  What might the lolly cost?
Allow the chn time to investigate and bring back the possible cost, explaining how they did this.

Investigation 2
Investigate ways of using silver coins to pay 50p.

Investigation 3
Which 5 coins make 74p?  What other amounts can you make with five different coins?

Please support your child this week by completing one or more of the Home Learning  questions.

Next week the children will continue to develop their understanding of money and their values but also look at information presented in graphs.  The children will read tally charts, bar graphs and pictographs while answering questions, finding the difference, more or less of a given number.

Topic
This half term the children will be learning about Disney and the history of the founder Walt Disney.  This week the children have been very keen to take part in a number of quizzes to name the Disney characters and Disney songs.  Across the week they have researched their favourite Disney character, copied and pasted an image from the Internet before drawing it and colouring it in.

This will support the children next week when they will make a 3D model of their favourite character using newspaper before covering it in modrock and painting it.  The children are very excited at the thought of making a 3D Disney character.

LKS2 Newsletter

We have had an extremely fun and energised week back in year 3/4 and would like to congratulate all the children for their sensible, mature and positive attitudes towards their learning. On Monday all the children chose targets to achieve across the week in Literacy, Numeracy and Reading and the children have blown us away with their commitment in reaching these and we have enjoyed celebrating the children's success! Thank you to everyone for the amazing home learning we have received, it’s really kicked off our exciting topic 'Discover Leeds'. We were blown away by the fantastic posters, videos, booklets and presentations of different landmarks in and around our fantastic city.

As you are aware next week 3/4 are going on their different educational visits in and around Leeds in order to allow the children to draw on personal experiences for their tour guides about our City. The children are all aware of which visit they will be going on, either choice A, B or C. All of the trips present rich and interesting learning opportunities which the children will draw upon and apply in to their writing.
Choice A is a trip to the centre of Leeds on Tuesday 24th April. This will give them the opportunity to study the architecture of the shops, visit Leeds museum, meet the Lord Mayor and have a tour of the civic rooms and council chamber.
Choice B is a trip to Roundhay on Wednesday 25th April. Here the children will visit Tropical World where they can see a variety of animals, explore the Tropical Gardens and the extensive park that is a very popular tourist attraction.
Choice C will take place on Thursday 26th April. This is a tour of the
Elland Road
 stadium where the children can learn about the history of Leeds United football club. The second part of this trip will be to visit Headingley stadium to see the Rugby and cricket ground.

Please can children arrive at school at the usual time of 8:50 in their school uniform. All children will require a packed lunch and drink for the day. Also please could you ensure all children bring a waterproof coat with them for the day. We will leave school at approximately 9.00am and return at the usual time of 3.15pm

Numeracy
This week in Numeracy, the children have been recognising different fractions of shapes and objects. We have also been finding fractions of a given number such as 1/3 of 60 then multiplying the answer to find 2/3. The children have then solved word problem finding several fractions of a given number.  

Our weekly home learning is to continue to practice our times tables.
Here are some websites to encourage your children to learn their times tables at home:

http://www.fieryideas.com/tnt-tables-46-c.asp (TNT Tables - an addictive activity to practise times tables)

http://www.mad4maths.com/multiplication_table_math_games/ (Mad 4 Maths - times table games for x3, x4, x5,  x6, x7 and x8)

Literacy
This week we have been looking at the traditional version of Cinderella and comparing it to the Roald Dahl alternative version. We have then written our own alternative endings to the traditional version. We had some fantastic and imaginative ideas for their endings!  

 PE
This half term our PE unit is dance. The whole school are learning different sections of a choreographed dance routine. We will then perform each section all together in the hope to break a world record for the most schools performing a routine all together.

Reminders
·         Please ensure your child brings their indoor PE kits every week.
·         Year 4s will need to bring their swimming kits every Friday and remember to take it home to have it washed.
·         Please could you check that all of your child’s belongings are clearly labelled?
·         As the weather improves, it is very important that all children have a water bottle in school to ensure they remain hydrated throughout the day.

Spellings

Group 1

Group 2

  1. over

  1. absence

  2. old

  2. sentence

  3. half

  3. commence

  4. could

  4. defence

  5. should

  5. offence

  6. would

  6. finance

  7. ball

  7. exercise

  8. call

  8. experience

  9. your

  9. announced

10. laugh

10. audience



Thank you,
Team 3/4

UKS2 News Roundup:
  • Welcome back to everyone after the Easter break. We are all looking forward to what we know will be another fantastically successful half term.
  • Congratulations to Jack Kreczmer who is this week’s achiever. Jack has shown a wonderful dedication to his reading all year and has even kept this up during the holidays. You are an inspiration to others Jack and you should be very proud. Well done.
  • We would like the children to begin collecting examples of magazine and newspaper adverts ahead of our Topic session later in the half term. These adverts will be analysed in class in preparation for the creation of our own adverts.
  • We would like to thank the Year 6 parents for helping their child to complete the practise SAT papers over the holidays. The Splat the SAT sessions have resumed this week and this will now be the final push up to the SATs which take place during week commencing Monday 14th May.
  • Could we please ask for any outstanding Personal Information Forms for the Year 6 residential to be returned to school as soon as possible? Further information about the trip will be sent home shortly.
Numeracy:
  • The focus this week has been around mental and written calculations related to addition, subtraction and multiplication. The children have also been undertaking tasks to solve problems with the use of a calculator.
  • Home Learning – please ensure you practise your times tables and number facts regularly. These facts are essential to everyday numeracy and underpin so many of the tasks we tackle in the classroom as well as everyday life. Remember, there are now two very large, shiny trophies up for grabs- one for Year 5 and one for Year 6! This website has LOTS of interactive games available to practice! http://www.woodlands-junior.kent.sch.uk/maths/timestable/interactive.htm
Next week, the children will be focussing on the written methods for solving problems related to division and will then apply these to problems related to area, perimeter and fractions. For examples of the methods used for division and multiplication, visit the following website: http://www.bbc.co.uk/skillswise/maths/games?page=3


Literacy:
  • The children have started the half term by planning and writing a formal promotion for a product related to the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee or the London Olympics. They have been applying their skills to ensure their sentences are purposeful, meaningful, appropriate to the tone and accurately punctuated.
  • In reading, the children have been delving into the world of entrepreneur Alan Sugar and answering comprehension questions about the text. Did you know, Alan Sugar started his entrepreneurial life by selling car stereos and TV aerials from the back of a van? Next week, we will be finding out about a very interesting ‘Dragon.’
  • This week’s spellings are related to our product promotions: promote, design, unique, Olympics, celebrate, occasion, contemporary, image, Union Jack, Jubilee.
Next week in literacy the children will be designing a simple product that they will promote. They will build upon their written skills from this week and learn how to use appropriate language and tone to promote a product to a specific audience. 

Other areas of the curriculum:
  • In Topic, the children have been gaining an insight into the world of successful entrepreneurs. We have watched clips from Dragon’s Den and discussed the suitability and saleability of the products on offer. We have also been visited by Liz and Jim from the Leeds Discovery Centre who have set us a challenge to design a product to be sold in gift shops across Leeds. Next week we will be putting pen to paper to start gathering and designing ideas.  
  • In RE, we have begun a research and presentation unit about Buddhism.


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