Newsletter Issue 9
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Friday 9th November 2012
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Dear Parent/Carer,
We have had a brilliant and busy start to our half term. Some of my highlights have been the Autumn Disco, Laura’s attendance at the switching on of the Leeds Christmas lights, watching Nursery doing their firework dances, meeting with all of Year 6 to discuss their fantastic writing and seeing the outstanding home learning that Year 3/4 have produced.
PTA
I have just about recovered from my “dancing” at the Autumn Disco on Wednesday, which was a huge success. It was incredibly well attended and we were very proud of the children, who seemed to enjoy every minute of it. Thanks to all who supported the event. Without the committed, proactive and efficient organisational skills of our fantastic PTA, such events would not be possible. I am pleased to announce that £488.67 was raised- an absolutely amazing achievement.
Mr Reynolds
I have been reliably informed that Mr Reynolds has just passed his 24 year anniversary as superintendent at Robin Hood School. Visitors constantly comment on how well kept and attractive our school environment is and we all know that without Mr Reynolds’ care and passion for our school, it would not look as fantastic as it does. I extend my thanks to Mr Reynolds on behalf of the school community- you’re the best!
Children in Need 2012
We always support Children in Need and this year children are invited to come to school in their pyjamas to raise money for the charity. All we ask is that the children bring a £1 in and wrap up in their warmest PJs! All proceeds will go to Pudsey’s charity.
Year 5/6 Christmas service
The Year 5/6 Christmas service will take place in school on the afternoon of Friday 21st December at 2:00. This will be performed alongside our traditional Carols around the Tree event- All are welcome.
James Driver
A quick update from James, who informs me that he has now raised in excess of £35,000. Well done and thank you to everyone who has been involved so far in raising money For James’ Wish to Walk charity.
Operation Christmas Child
As usual, we are supporting the Operation Christmas Child charity. You should have received a leaflet from your child, which states how to create a shoe box with suitable items that can be sent to a country to brighten up the Christmas of a less privileged child. Please support this charity and get collecting now.
Volunteers
I would like to invite parents to volunteer their time to hear children read during the afternoons. Children make the most progress when they practise their reading little and often. We would really value the help of the community to be able to provide some of our children with this opportunity. We would need volunteers to commit to the same time each week, in order to keep the system reliable and consistent and to show a willingness to read with children of any age. If you are interested in offering some regular time, please approach Mrs Smith or Mrs Holland in the office with the times you would be available. Please note that Dads are encouraged to come forward. The support from a male role model can really impact on the engagement of reluctant boy readers. Thank you.
Christmas date reminders
1/12/12- 10:30 a.m.- 12:30p.m. Christmas Fayre
18/12/12- 2:00 p.m. – 3:00 p.m. Lower Key Stage 2 Christmas Production
19/12/12- 10:00 a.m. Nursery Christmas Production
19/12/12- 2:00 p.m.- 3:00 p.m. KS1 Christmas Production
19/12/12- 6:00 p.m.- 7:00 p.m. LKS2 Christmas Production
20/12/12- KS1 and UKS2 Christmas Parties
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20/12/12- 6:00p.m.- 7:00p.m KS1 Christmas Production
20/12/12- 7:00 p.m.- 8:00p.m Choir Concert at
20/12/12- 11:00 a.m.- 12:00 p.m Reception Production
21/12/12- 10:00 a.m. Nursery Christmas Production
21/12//12- LKS2 and Nursery Christmas Party
21/12/12- 2:00- Year 5/6 Christmas Service and carols round the tree
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Have a wonderful weekend everyone!
Mrs Dale
Nursery newsletter
NEWS ROUND UP
First of all I would like to say a big welcome back to everybody. Last half term was hugely successful and if the children continue to put in as much effort and show as much enthusiasm without a doubt this half term will be even more successful! It was a pleasure to see the children come back to nursery on Monday/Wednesday. They were really excited to see all their friends and really threw themselves into the new areas that have been set up, the buzz and atmosphere in the classroom definitely made everyone smile all day. We finished off the week with a fantastic bonfire party, we made our own sparklers and tucked into a fantastic bonfire feast. Thank you so much for all the wonderful food that you sent in for our bonfire party.
THIS WEEK
We have had lots of fun learning all about Bonfire night and why we celebrate it. In literacy we made our own bonfire party sound effects and learned all about the story of Guy Fawkes. Phonics was really great this week, the children were very excited when we were playing guess the noise and you could tell they were really tuning into the sounds and thinking carefully about what they could hear. If children can do these activities confidently it means that when they begin to start to read they will be able to tune into all the different sounds in words. The children continue to impress us with their numeracy skills and are becoming more confident in counting and recognising numbers. Please keep encouraging your child with their learning as your contribution is truly valuable and is obviously paying off.
NEXT WEEK
We will be learning all about the Hindu festival of Diwali and we are planning to immerse ourselves in Diwali themed activities. In literacy we will be learning about the exciting story of Rama and Sita and we will focus on the chronological language that is used. Towards the end of the week we will produce our very own theatrical puppet shows of the Rama and Sita story. In topic we will be making our own beautiful Diwali lamps from clay. In our phonics sessions we will be thinking about whether sounds become slower or faster and the children will be repeating the sound patterns back to me. In numeracy we will be focusing on comparing two quantities and using the language more and less than.
HOW YOU CAN HELP US
We have been really impressed by how much you are engaging with your child’s reading, lots of you are coming in to change your child’s reading books. This is a very valuable contribution to your child’s learning journey at Robin Hood so thank you very much for all your support.
· Please listen to your child’s fabulous reading once a day and comment in their reading record. Please feel free to drop in and change their books when you pick them up.
· Please practice counting to 10 and beyond with your child at any opportunity. Please also practise writing and recognising the numbers 1-6 with them. If your child can do both of these then please help them go even further.
· Please practise writing the first letter of your child’s name and if they can do this try going even further with them.
Reception newsletter
NEWS ROUND UP
First of all I would like to say a big welcome back to everybody. Last half term was hugely successful and if the children continue to put in so much effort and show so much enthusiasm without a doubt this half term will be even more successful! It was a pleasure to see the children come back to school on Monday, they were really excited to see all their friends and really threw themselves into the new areas that have been set up, the buzz and atmosphere in the classroom definitely made everyone smile all day. We finished off the week with a fantastic bonfire party, we made our own sparklers and tucked into a fantastic bonfire feast. Thank you so much for all the wonderful food that you sent in for our bonfire party.
THIS WEEK
We have had lots of fun learning about Bonfire night and why we celebrate it. In literacy we made our very own bonfire night sound effects and at the end of the week the children produced some fantastic writing about the fireworks they had seen. We were really impressed on Monday with the children’s phonics, it was clear that they had been practising during the holidays as they were confidently writing down CVC words such as jog and van. The sounds we concentrated on this week were; j, v, w and x and our key words were; this, then, will, that, with and them. The children continue to impress us with their numeracy skills and were confidently adding one to numbers up to 10. Please keep encouraging your child with their learning as your contribution is truly valuable and is obviously paying off.
NEXT WEEK
We will be learning all about the Hindu festival of Diwali and we are planning to immerse ourselves in Diwali themed activities. In literacy we will be learning about the story of Rama and Sita focusing on the chronological language such as first, then, next and encouraging the children to use these words when they retell the story. Towards the end of the week we will produce our very own puppet show of Rama and Sita. In topic we will be flying on an aeroplane all the way to India
HOW YOU CAN HELP US
· Please listen to your child’s fabulous reading once a day and comment in their reading record.
· Please help your child to write their second name and perfect their first name.
· Please practise counting to 100 and recognising and writing numbers to 30 with your child.
· Please practise reading their key words and saying and writing their sounds.
· Please practise and recap the sounds we have already learnt either using your previous home learning sheets or the phase 2 and 3 phonics games that are available on phonics play and the letters and sounds websites.
· Please help your child practise their letter formation, there is a super letter formation game called hairy letters for the IPad or there is a game called sky writing from ictgames.com www.ictgames.com/sky_writing.html that will show them how to form letters which they can then write.
We hope you have a lovely and relaxing weekend.
Miss Lambert, Miss Pyatt and the Reception Team
P.S. Don’t forget the PTA need some help from the children. They are planning on producing a school programme which will have information about school, donations, prizes and lots of other things. They have asked the children to come up with a Christmas poem or joke which will be published in the programme. If your child would like to enter please get them to write the joke or poem on the Christmas paper attached to your child’s home learning. This needs to be handed in by Monday 12th November. Thank you.
Home Learning:
For this week’s home learning we would like the children to retell their favourite traditional story or fairy tale using the story’s existing structure but changing the information. Read their chosen story with them and discuss the plot, characters and settings that they will change when they re-write it. Encourage your child to use appropriate story language (Once upon a time…) and time connectives to build tension as their story progresses (All of a sudden…). We have learnt about how repetition (“No! No! No!” he shrieked), alliteration (a funny but fierce frog) and exaggeration (the BIGGEST bear in the whole wide world) all add to the drama and excitement in a story, with capital letters and full stops remaining an important focus.
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News:
Bug Club Parents’ meeting:
Your child’s class teacher will be holding a parents’ meeting to share with you information about a fantastic new resource the school has invested in for you and your child to enjoy together at home. Bug Club is a reading scheme that follows the book bands and phonics progression your child is learning from. By logging on to the Bug Club website you and your child will be able to access books and activities together that will make reading even more fun! This meeting will take place on Wednesday 14th November at 2:30-3:00 in your child’s class. You will be able to enter the classrooms through the door which your child exits. This is an opportunity to share again our class learning around reading and support you with reading at home.
Key Stage One Trip
It is with great excitement that we can report our school trip will take place on Wednesday 12th December to the Carriageworks Theatre in Leeds . We will be watching their production of Jack and the Beanstalk which links to our topic work on this story. The cost is £15 per child which includes ticket price, transport and a snack and drink during the performance. Every child should have brought home a consent letter, if you haven’t received this then please see Mrs Holland at the school reception.
Assessment Week – How did it go?!
As you know the children had assessments in literacy, numeracy and reading throughout the final week of last term. It is with great pleasure and pride that we’re able to report back that these assessments were a huge success. Progress was made within each class in all subjects, confirming many of our children are working at age related expectations for the end of their year already. This truly is a testament to the strength of learning that continues to take place in key stage one, the capabilities of all of our children and the benefits that having such supportive parents brings.
Calling on all comedians and poets!
Mrs Mistry and the PTA are launching a competition to find the funniest Christmas joke or best Christmas poem. Do you and your child have a joke that would make Santa’s belly shake with laughter like a bowlful of jelly? If you do, send it in by Monday 12th November for your chance to be published in a booklet handed out at the PTA Christmas fair on the 1st of December.
Literacy
Moving on from our non-chronological reports unit, the children are now looking at traditional stories: We’re Going on a Bear Hunt, Gorilla and Where the Wild Things Are. Our focus is around the repetitive structure within these stories and how we can adopt this when making our own improved version. We are doing this by elaborating on the structure within these tales by including compound sentences using so, if, but and because, great descriptions of people and places using adjectives and by including exciting time connectives linked to building up tension within story telling. Our writing is shaped by the ‘Story Mountain
Numeracy
Firstly, a big thank you for supporting your child over half term with the home learning booklet. We have made a flying start in Key Stage One on our addition journey, learning the different strategies we can use to solve addition problems. The children are looking at addition and all the words that mean ‘add’ (sum of, total, more than, altogether, plus). Our mantra for adding on a single digit number is, “Biggest number in your head, just count on”. We then moved into partitioning two 2 digit numbers using the Malteser system and counting on the tens and then the units to find the total. Addition will continue into next week, no doubt seeing many children adding three digit numbers using column addition and partitioning and recombining strategies.
Lower Key Stage 2 Newsletter
What a fantastic first week back we have had in year 3/4! We have been truly blown away by the fantastic home learning the children brought in on Monday! We had some INCREDIBLE models of Victorian inventions, such as penny farthings, cameras, green post boxes and telephones! Clearly, a lot of time and effort had been spent on them so well done to all and thank you for all of your support!
Home Learning
It was great to see all the reading the children had also been doing over the half term holiday. Please continue to support your child with this, as it really does have a positive impact on their learning in class. For their home learning this week, the children have an extra task set from Mrs Mistry in preparation for our Christmas Fair. They have been asked to write a Christmas poem or joke on a piece of paper and bring it in. We will then be putting forward the most creative to be published in the programme at the Christmas fair. How exciting! Over the next few weeks, we will be beginning our rehearsals for our Christmas production ‘A Dancing Christmas Party’. As usual, priority for speaking parts goes to year 4’s in the first instance. If there are any parts not filled, we will re-audition with the year 3’s. If your child has expressed an interest in auditioning for a part, they have taken home one page of the script today. They need to decide which character’s lines they want to read and learn them off by heart, making sure they say them with expression (perhaps throw a few actions in!). We will be holding the auditions on Tuesday afternoon and we can’t wait!
Spellings
Thank you for your support with helping the children to learn their spellings every week. The children are tested on a Monday and get their new spellings on a Monday too so they have a full week to learn them. We are really pleased with those who practice hard to get 10/10. If your child is a year 4 who has consistently achieved 10/10 in their spellings test every week, we now have some year 5 spellings up on our blog for them to learn as well, if they so wish. The will continue to be tested on their year 4 spellings on a Monday, but will be tested on the year 5 spellings as well during the week.
Our Great Exhibition
This half term we will be holding our very own Great Exhibition! This will offer you the chance to come into the hall and witness all the wonderful outcomes the children have created. This will take place on Wednesday 28th November at 2:30-3:00pm. We look forward to seeing you all there!
Literacy
This week the children have been imagining they are a great Victorian inventor and were asked to write an advert to persuade people to buy their new invention. Their writing was fantastic! Next week, we will be learning how to write a formal letter of persuasion.
Numeracy
In numeracy, the children have been learning how to add numbers by partitioning and recombining. They have also been learning how to use column addition to add large numbers and amounts of money. Next week, we will be looking at column subtraction.
Spellings to be tested on Monday 19th November (the children already have their spellings for this Monday)
Group One
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Group Two
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coat
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describe
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boat
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climate
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coach
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immediately
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goat
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escape
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toes
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telephone
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goes
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investigate
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home
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furniture
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rose
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texture
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hose
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figure
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rope
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sculpture
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UKS2 News Roundup
· Our Achiever of the week goes to Charlie Senior. Charlie has shown a real determination to succeed in all areas of his learning. He has also proved himself to be a very helpful member of the class on a regular basis and has even given up some of his lunchtimes to help with the phase blog. Charlie, you are a real star and we are all very proud of you. Keep it up!
· A huge well done and congratulations to the children who completed some research all about an aspect of South America . We have absolutely loved hearing all about what the children have found out and we have been so proud of the effort and time put into their Home Learning.
· Another big thank you to those in Year 6 who have completed and brought to school this week their completed Numeracy paper. The children’s attitude towards their home learning has been exceptional and we are seeing some excellent improvements as a result of their efforts. Please ensure that the necessary papers are completed and available in school for the following dates
13th November
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Numeracy Paper B
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20th November
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Mental Maths
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26th November
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Reminders:
· For PE, please ensure that you have a plain white T-shirt and black or blue shorts. Pumps can be worn though trainers are not suitable as our PE sessions are now indoors.
· Don’t forget to bring in your planners every day, especially on Monday when they will be stamped and signed – try to aim for at least 4 entries per week of reading and remember, stickers are up for grabs!
· Year 6 Splat the SATS- please complete the papers by the following dates at the latest.
Numeracy:
- This week in Numeracy, we have been finding multiples and factors. There’s further information and quizzes on these at http://www.bbc.co.uk/skillswise/topic/multiples-and-factors
- PRACTISE! Visit http://robinhood56.blogspot.co.uk/ and click on Numeracy. There is a link to Hit the Button which is being used to practise times tables.
- Next week, we will be learning all about percentages. We will be applying our division, halving and doubling skills to find percentages of amounts to calculate new prices in Shrek’s Far, Far Away restaurant.
Literacy:
- In Literacy this week, we have been reading diary entries and identifying their features. We watched an amazing clip which showed the first footage of a tribe in the Amazon rainforest and we’ve used this to write a diary entry.
- Next week, we will be continuing our learning about diary entries and will be using more video clips to immerse ourselves in what life is like in the Amazon rainforest. We will then write a diary entry based on the information we retrieve from the clips.
- PRACTISE: Next week, our punctuation focus is apostrophes. http://www.bbc.co.uk/skillswise/game/en29punc-game-who-owns-what and
http://www.bbc.co.uk/skillswise/game/en29punc-game-beat-the-clock-apostrophes are games to practise using apostrophes.
· SPELLINGS: optician, magician, confusion, conclusion, explosion, fiction, fraction, direction, session, profession
Other areas of the curriculum:
- In Topic this week, we have begun our brand new
- In PE this week, the children have been developing their core skills in Gymnastics. We have been practicing jumps, turns, balances and weight on hands to a more advanced level by performing some of these skills on our vault!
- Our ICT focus this half term is iMovie. This week, we have been developing our skills including importing film clips and photos as well as adding text and transitions.
- This week in Spanish, the focus has been on expressing our likes and dislikes of different types of music. We have also learnt the Spanish names for a variety of musical instruments.
- In Music, 5/6B have been using the iPads to explore different musical instruments using Garageband. 5/6G have had their first percussion lesson this week with Mr Major; we have been learning some new and exciting skills using various drums. 5/6M have begun their unit on recorders. They have been practising their skills around the different notes and keeping in time to a rhythm.
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