Newsletter Issue 29 |
Friday 4th May 2012
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Dear Parent/Carer,
Pom Poms
We began the week with a visit from Sarah Barton, Education Officer at Armley Mills, who showed our children how to make pom poms. We made pom poms in the morning and pom poms in the evening. The pom poms are our contribution to the Museum’s flock of pom pom sheep that celebrates British Wool Week in September. My thanks to everyone who made a contribution to the Robin Hood pom pom sheep and to Mrs Chin for organising this super celebration event.
Pirates Ahoy!
I hope that many parents saw the fantastic full-page colour article on our Foundation Stage pirates in last week’s Wakefield Express. For those who missed it, the article will soon be joining the other press cuttings on our Press Board in the entrance area. Copies of the pictures of Sam, Kate, Lois, Oban, Ewan and Charlie can be ordered direct from Wakefield Express.
Email thanks
I received a lovely email from Sarah Westaway, Acting Head of Arts Development at ArtForms Leeds this week. Sarah wrote “Thank you for the wonderful art work by your pupils that has recently been put up at The West Park Centre, it is fabulous to have this work on display in the foyer and meeting rooms and we have received some really great feedback about it.” The artworks that Sarah refers to are displayed in the West Park Teacher Training Centre,
Spen Lane
, Leeds . Our children are artists. Their works are displayed in public spaces all around the city – which is a powerful message and a powerful motivation for them. It is also a powerful model for schools and for learning that we are committed to exploring through our exciting and dynamic curriculum. If we want children to learn geography... we should make them geographers by giving them opportunities to act, think, and produce, publish and present as geographers. The same goes for our artists, musicians, historians, writers, etc. My thanks to Mrs Chin, Mrs Mistry, Miss Thackeray and Mrs Dale for being the driving forces behind our Arts development. It is great to know that our children’s work is bringing pleasure to people all over our city.
Electronic sign in
Parents arriving late with children or collecting early will now need to sign their child in/out using the electronic sign in system.
Have a super weekend and Bank Holiday,
Mr Wilson
Nursery Newsletter
NEWS ROUND UP
The children came into Nursery eager to share their fabulous Pirates they had made for home learning, and they are a great addition to the setting, so thank you for your effort and support. Please do take a look at our home learning wall to see the outcomes.
THIS WEEK
The children have shared the story of Pirate Pete and been keeping a diary of the islands he visited on his adventures looking for gold! They also went on their very own treasure hunt outside with Miss Fox, as they followed the map looking for clues for where it was buried!
Within number the children have been using positional language to describe where objects are, and have also been using directions to help navigate the Beebots around a desert island.
NEXT WEEK
We will round off our learning about Pirates and will be listening to the story of Captain Pepper. From the story the children will be making Wanted Posters, as that pesky pirate causes us a bit of mischief!
Within Numeracy the children will be revisiting their knowledge about shapes and learning about 3D shapes and sorting and matching everyday items according to their properties.
How you can help us
· Practise simple drawings with your child, labelling the pictures they draw
· Support their developing colouring skills, using a range of different colours, focusing on pencil control.
· Listen to the letter sounds that make a word when reading stories, say the word in sound talk e.g. sh-i-p and ask your child what word they can hear.
· Use magnetic letters, flour sprinkled on a chopping board to practice forming letter shapes.
Many thanks for your continued support
Have a super weekend.
Miss Bradshaw and the Nursery team
RECEPTION NEWS ROUND UP
We have had another amazing week in Reception and we can hardly believe that next week is our fourth and last week of learning about Pirates! The children have really engaged with their learning and have assessed me for a crew role on Pirate Pete's ship....unfortunately I failed the interview as I don't have a peg leg - yet! There have been all sorts of super ideas about what we could do to help me with that (as I am sure you can imagine!)
THIS WEEK
We started off the week with some postcards from Pirate Pete. He had moored his ship off the coast of Bridlington and dropped us a line to share his adventures (including the pesky seagull that had a lick of his ice cream!) and we have been creating a daily diary of what we think Pete and his crew have been up to on their adventures. In our topic sessions the children have been creating their own telescopes and treasure chests, selecting and talking about appropriate materials. They have also made pirate ships in our DT area and Mrs Chin has challenged the children to a sailing race in the outdoor area!
NEXT WEEK
We will be sharing the story of Captain Pepper's Pets with the children and thinking about what it would be like to set sail with Captain Pepper. We will be learning about the history of the Jolly Roger flag and we will be designing and painting our very own pirate flags onto white fabric. In our numeracy sessions the children will be learning about 3D shapes - looking at their properties and then sorting real life items (such as balls, cans and boxes) by these properties, talking confidently about their choices. We will even be going shape hunting in our inside and outdoor areas. Any conversations you can share with your children or spotting of 3D shapes whilst you are out and about would really give your child a head start for next week.
HOW YOU CAN HELP US
By ensuring that children complete their home learning task independently and that they bring it to school on Monday morning (next week because of the May Day Bank holiday we will collect them in on Tuesday).
By listening to your child read for at least five minutes every day and by sharing stories and reading together. We have some amazing readers in Reception and this is down to all the fabulous support the children receive at home.
By making sure all children have their PE kits in school on PE day. Forgotten kits do cause upsets for the children. You are more than welcome to leave PE kits in lockers at school and take home in the holidays if that is more convenient.
By making sure your child can write their full name with all the letters correctly formed as well as the numbers 1 - 20
Don't forget school is closed on Monday 7th May so we will see you on Tuesday 8th. Have a lovely weekend and thank you for your continued support.
KS1 Newsletter
We are all very proud of KS1 this week because of all of the super learning they have been doing! Over the course of the next few weeks Robin Hood are taking part in another Global Reading Challenge. Please ensure you are recording how many minutes your child reads each night so we can track their progress in the Global Reading Passports. This is a great chance to encourage your child to read at home, and gives us another reason to celebrate this in school.
Literacy
This week in Literacy the children have been reading different Disney stories in order to soak up some ideas to transfer into their own writing. We are extremely proud of the stories they wrote last week, and we can’t wait to be impressed with what they produce at the end of next week! Thanks to Ella in Year 2, we have decided to sell these books in our very own Robin Hood Book Shop.....look out for the details of this next week.
We have been encouraging the children of KS1 to use interesting verbs, adjectives and spoken language in their writing to make it really interesting to read. Why don’t you get your child to show you how to make your writing have the 'wow factor?' Not only this, your child has been planning their fabulous story using Story Mountains
Numeracy
If you need any help measuring anything, your child will be able to help! This week in numeracy we have been using rulers, metre sticks, tape measures and trundle wheels to measure different objects around the classroom and outside on the playground. We have encouraged the children to look carefully at the units of measure (mm, cm, m), and choose appropriate apparatus to measure things. Please continue to support your child in developing their understanding about length, by asking them to measure different objects around the house.
All of KS1 have also been practicing their mental maths strategies in order to add, subtract, times and divide different numbers. Ask your child to show you how to add numbers mentally!
Next week, KS1 will be learning about capacity. This will involve measuring different amounts of water, comparing amounts, and finding the difference/how much more. Please support your children by exploring the capacity of different objects at home, encouraging them to look closely at the units of measure (ml, l).
Topic
What an amazing week we have had in topic. We have been finishing off our fabulous mod-rock creations of our favourite Disney character. We have been getting very messy with paint and googly eyes, but it has all been worth it. Take a look at the KS1 blog to see the amazing outcomes.
Next week we are exploring the world of electricity! We will be learning all about conductors of electricity, how to be safe when using electrical items, and we will be producing some safety posters to display around school. Don’t forget to bring in any home learning so we can celebrate your child’s learning in school!
LKS2 Newsletter
We've had another fabulous, busy week in Year 3/4. The children have been displaying a great attitude towards their learning across all three classes. We have been really happy to see them reflecting on their knowledge from last week's trips, which they will continue to use as they plan, draft and publish their very own tourist information leaflets for the places they visited. We have also been thrilled to see lots of children reading regularly at home to 'clock up' their reading miles around the Commonwealth countries. We wonder how many children can complete more than one full journey this time? The standard was set very high in the last challenge!
Our Year 3/4 Blog
As most of you are aware, this half term has seen a re-launch of our LKS2 blog. We are encouraging the children to use our blog regularly from home. The link can be found on the 'Blogs' section of the school website. We intend for it to be another way of being able to communicate with you and the wider community. You can find the weekly newsletter, spellings and achievers, which are updated every Friday. As well as this, there's a Numeracy and Literacy Area. Here, the children can link up to a wealth of educational games which complement what we are teaching them in school. Please do encourage your children to use these regularly as they all give the opportunity for great consolidation for the skills they are learning in class. You will also find a link to the Oxford Owl website, where you can access lots of Oxford Reading Tree books online for free, with audio too. As the term goes on, we also hope to upload examples of the children's learning for them to showcase to you and of course, the online world!
Numeracy
This week, the children have been re-visiting telling the time and solving word problems involving time. We have been really happy with their engagement with this and their fantastic efforts. Why not practice with your child at home? Clocks and watches are all around us so the opportunities for that practice are vast. Check that they can read an analogue clock and also say that time in the digital format (e.g. quarter to seven is the same as 6:45). Next week, we shall be moving on to reading timetables and calendars.
Literacy
In Literacy this week, we have continued our focus on traditional tales by looking at Goldilocks. As well as remembering the traditional tale, the children have read Roald Dahl's version and compared the two. They have been fantastic at including adverbs and powerful verbs in their writing to give clues about different character's personalities and we were really impressed with how they implemented this in their diary entry from Goldilocks' point of view. Why not ask your child for some examples of sentences with adverbs and powerful verbs?
PE
This half term our PE unit is dance. The whole school are learning different sections of a choreographed dance routine as part of The Big Dance. 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 make sure 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
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Group 2
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1. we've
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1. exciting
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2. you've
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2. especially
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3. they've
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3. necessary
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4. I've
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4. electricity
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5. she's
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5. recently
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6. he's
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6. spicy
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7. somebody's
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7. agency
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8. nobody's
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8. currency
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9. there's
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9. frequency
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10. who'll
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Have a lovely weekend,
Team 3/4
UKS2 News Roundup:
- Congratulations to all the children in the collage making group. The children in this group had chosen to create a design incorporating a union jack theme, which may be chosen to be put onto real products and sold in Leeds City Museum...watch this space to find out whose design will be selected!
- 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.
- SATS – On Tuesday, the children are invited to a question and answer session at 12:15pm in 5/6B. If the children have any questions regarding SATs, make a note of anything they would like to ask in their planners and bring it along on Tuesday.
Numeracy:
- This week, we have been focusing on applying our learning of the four operations to a whole range of activities, including averages, decimals, measures and time.
- Next week we will learning all percentages and strategies we can use when handling data.
- Home Learning – Be one step ahead...As we're focusing on percentages and handling data next week, why not visit the following websites to brush up on these skills?
Handling Data - http://www.bgfl.org/bgfl/custom/resources_ftp/client_ftp/ks2/maths/percentages/index.htm
Times Tables -
- Please ensure you continue to practise your times tables for the Times Tables Challenge at the end of the half term. These facts are also essential to underpin so many of the tasks we tackle in the classroom as well as everyday life. This game is the format we use for the challenge...http://www.teachingtables.co.uk/bingo/caller/caller.html
Literacy:
- This week, we've been reviewing 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 holiday they have been on. Please have a think about the different holidays you have been on and the things you enjoy / don’t particularly enjoy whilst on holiday!
- Home Learning: For this week's spellings, the children will be bringing home spellings from this Friday’s test which they have spelt incorrectly. The children are also asked to continue to learn the spelling from the lists given out before the Easter holidays.
Other areas of the curriculum:
- In Topic, the children have been involved in three different workshops: sewing, graphic manipulation using ICT and collage. The children have been very busy trying to create their own union jack themed design which may be chosen by
Leeds City Museum - Visit our blogs!
5/6G 5/6D
5/6B
