Newsletter Issue 21
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Friday 15th February 2013
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Dear Parent/Carer,
February half term is upon us and it is this point that marks the exact half way point of our school year. I hope you are all in agreement that it has been a fantastic year so far and I am certain that the next three half terms will be even better.
The Robin Hood big recycle
Do you have any old mobile phones, tablets, mp3 players, digital cameras, handheld games consoles, Sat Navs lying around the house collecting dust? If so, we need them. Mrs Secretan (Mummy of Imogen in Year 2) has kindly teamed up with the PTA to engage with the O2 recycle for schools project – www.o2recycleforschools.co.uk. We are asking that you donate any such items throughout February and each donation will raise money for the school. Dig deep!
PTA Valentines disco
Well, they did it again! Our fabulous PTA organised another fantastic disco to celebrate Valentines day on Tuesday of this week. As usual, it was exceptionally well attended and supported by parents, carers and children and a great time was had by all. I had a lovely dance with Key Stage 1 and have to say, the highlight for me was dancing with the lovely William Hepworth in Reception! What struck all the members of the PTA and the staff who were present, was the impeccable behaviour of the children. They really got into the spirit of the event and really did impress us with their high standards of behaviour so thank you to the children for making all the effort feel very much worthwhile.
ICT Mark
We have had such a busy half term with all things ICT, including the launch of our new website, our visit to the BETT show and the visit from our Finnish colleagues to look at exemplary practice. Therefore, it comes as no surprise that the school has been re- accredited with the ICT Mark. This is a significant achievement, which celebrates the success of our outstanding ICT provision. Schools involved in a range of initiatives such as building programmes, curriculum development and working to ensure that every child matters, have found that the ICT Mark has helped them demonstrate effective use of technology. I am very proud that our school very much remains at the forefront of such brilliant ICT practice. This accreditation would simply not have been possible without the commitment and hard work of Miss Darroch, who continues to lead our ICT curriculum and keep Robin Hood well and truly on the map.
Sandwiches
We are noticing that many children are discreetly throwing their sandwiches on the floor during lunchtimes. Would you please encourage your child to keep any uneaten food in their lunchboxes so that they can let you know what they like and what they don’t! Our brilliant lunchtime supervisors are struggling to keep up with the mess created when this happens. Thanks.
Well done Green Team!
Well done to Green team, who were our winners for this half term’s house winners treat. The children enjoyed a session in the hall, relaxing with friends and sharing their toys from home. We wait in anticipation to see who next half term’s winners will be.
Head lice
We have become aware of a couple of cases of Head lice in school. Please check your child’s hair over half term and treat accordingly if necessary. Please do let us know if you become aware of your child having head lice. Thanks.
Parentview
If you have not already done so, please do access the Parentview survey at http://parentview.ofsted.gov.uk/. As a school we pride ourselves on working together in partnership with parents and putting the wellbeing of the children as the very first thought in everything we do. We would really value some feedback as to how you feel we support you and your child. Thanks.
Please have a wonderful half term break. I look forward to seeing everyone back on Monday 25th February.
Mrs Dale
NEWS ROUND UP
The whole Nursery team are ending this half term feeling very proud and with big smiles on our faces because the children have amazed us with the progress they have made over the last half term! Well done Nursery children we are extremely proud of you and you should be very proud of yourselves.
THIS WEEK
This week we have been thinking about what we would wish for if we could wish for anything in the world. The children came up with some wonderful and creative ideas and hopefully all of our wishes will come true. The children also had a fantastic time making their own star biscuits. In phonics we have been continuing with alliteration and have been playing Bertha’s bus game. This week in maths we have been thinking about different shapes and the shapes we can see around us. The children have impressed us with their knowledge of shape!
NEXT HALF TERM
Next half term our topic is food! Our story in the first week back will be The Very Hungry Caterpillar. In topic we will be making a large scale display of the Hungry Caterpillar and the children will be making their own fruit salad. In literacy we will be looking at the story in the book, as an interactive story and as a video clip. In numeracy our mental maths focus will be counting to 15 by rote and our main focus will be matching the correct amount of food to the correct number. In phonics we will be moving on to aspect 6 which is voice sounds. We will be using books such as Peace at Last and We’re Going on a Bear Hunt to show the children how our voices can make sounds e.g. splish splosh sounds like water.
HOW YOU CAN HELP US
· 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.
· Please support your child in completing our home learning task over the half term holiday.
Mrs Steel, Mrs Chin & Miss Fox
Reception newsletter
NEWS ROUND UP
The whole reception team are ending this half term feeling very proud and with big smiles on our faces because the children have amazed us with their high attainment during assessment week. The progress made by the children in the last 6 weeks has been excellent and we are going to be very proud when showing off their results to Mrs Dale & Miss Hinton. Well done Reception, we are extremely proud of you and you should be very proud of yourselves!
THIS WEEK
This week we have been thinking about what we would wish for if we could wish for anything in the world. The children came up with some wonderful and very creative ideas, here are just a few; “I would wish for a rainbow because they are beautiful”, “I would wish for lots of chocolate and a kitten” and “I would wish for a talking robot”. The children made their very own sparkly and shiny star and we attached their wishes to them, hopefully all of our wishes will come true. The children also had a fantastic time making their own star biscuits which were delicious. In phonics we have been reviewing all of the phase 3 sounds, the children’s confidence is brilliant and a pleasure to see. This week in maths we have been thinking about different shapes and all of the shapes we can see around us. The children became shape explorers and we went on a shape hunt around school to see what 3D and 2D shapes we could find.
NEXT HALF TERM
Next half term our topic is food! Our story in the first week back will be the Very Hungry Caterpillar so in topic we will be making a large scale display of the hungry caterpillar and the children will be making their own fruit salad, learning the skills of chopping and peeling. In literacy we will be reading the story and solving the case of the missing caterpillar by ordering the lifecycle of the butterfly. In numeracy our mental maths focus will be counting in twos and our main focus will be sharing in 2’s and then in 4's. We will be sharing the food the hungry caterpillar ate between ourselves and playing an exciting hungry caterpillar board game. In phonics we will be revisiting the sounds; ai, ee, igh and oa and we will be reading the words; don’t, old, I’m, by and time.
HOW YOU CAN HELP US
· Please read with your child as often as possible and comment in their reading record to let us know how they are doing at home. The children will be moving on to yellow band reading books after the holiday so we hope all children who are red band readers will be reading their new yellow books confidently after a week of practice during the holidays.
· Please support your child in accessing the ‘Bugclub’ website. We will be putting yellow books onto ‘Bugclub’ for the children to access as these consolidate all the sounds we have learnt so far.
We hope you and your child have a wonderful half term.
Key Stage 1
Home Learning:
Next half term we are travelling back in time 3 days a week to discover everything we can about the Romans! For the home learning over the holidays please support your child in finding out all you can about this topic which can be presented in any way that you would like: picture, writing, model, video of a dramatization of a story or character. This learning will culminate in an exhibition on the 27th of March in the school hall, which everyone is invited to. You will receive an invite from your child through the post closer to the event…look out for this!
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News:
Assessment week:
All week the children have been taking part in the end of term assessments in reading, writing and numeracy. Although we as adults tend to find the idea of ‘tests’ quite daunting, the children have been (as they always are) enthusiastic and excited about filling in the assessment papers! The knowledge that we as teachers attain from such weeks is priceless in mapping our steps for next term. As always the children have wowed us with their determination, learning and attitude towards the week.
Farewell to Ye Old Ocean
That’s right, this week saw the completion of our topic on Ocean Explorers, which has been so enjoyable for us as teachers as well as the children: who doesn’t love a great adventure story about intrepid travellers?! Our Photo Stories on Christopher Columbus and Captain Scott have been edited and submitted to the powers that be and our 3D model boats have been painted, given sails and have found their sea legs to be able to journey home to you. Our wider curriculum topic next half term will be set around the topic of The Romans and Easter, which will lead on to our next star performance at Lofthouse church where we hope to rival the Year 3-4 Harvest Festival performance! Watch this space!
The Valentines Disco
The PTA put on another cracker of a party this Tuesday. Hot dogs, face paint, tattoos and chart topping music got the shindig started and kept the energy going throughout our hour long slot. Thank you so much to all the parents who volunteered on the night to ensure everything ran smoothly; it was yet another occasion on which we could feel blessed by having such supportive parents and a wonderful sense of community. In total we raised almost £600 for the school, what an achievement!
House Points Winners:
Well, for the second time in three half terms Green saw themselves topping the charts in the house points race and celebrated their win in style on Thursday afternoon. House teams were only introduced to the school in autumn but it seems to have been the way of life for much longer! Rewarding great learning, behaviour and effort with class and head teacher’s stickers has always proven to be an effective motivator for all the children, but this added sense of team work and camaraderie has created more depth and bonds throughout the school. It is always such a tight competition to the finish line to find the winner so keep encouraging your child to get those stickers in!
Literacy:
As part of our writing assessment we completed our unit on recounts by showing the children some images of a train station and asked them to imagine they were the solitary figure in one of the pictures, about to embark on a day out. We followed the structure that the children have become used to (four paragraphs using time connectives to link one to the next) to build our past tense stories. As always in assessment week this was a ‘cold write’, meaning that the children were given minimal input and left to show what they had retained from the half term’s learning. Everyone put in a great effort and we are really happy with the writing that has been produced. Moderations will take place in the first week back and a photocopy of your child’s writing with their level will be sent home soon after.
Next half term sees us move onto traditional tales and invitation writing because who wouldn’t want Little Red Riding Hood at their party?
Numeracy:
All year two children and a good number of the year one children completed the year 2 SATs paper this week, with wonderful results. As you know, our learning in numeracy has been focused on doubling, halving, fractions, shapes and direction which has left us little time to focus on addition and subtraction. However, it was fabulous to see so many of the children using the skills and strategies that were embedded throughout the autumn term in school and at home. As mentioned above, the assessments have helped us identify what the children need additional practise on. Next half term our learning moves onto multiplication, division and counting in groups of 2, 3, 4, 5 and 10. Please support your child over the half term by rote counting in 2’s, 3’s, 5’s and 10’s beyond 20, 30, 50 and 100.
Lower Key Stage 2 Newsletter
We have had an incredible week in LKS2 and have been extremely proud of the children’s sensible and mature attitudes towards their assessments. It’s been a great opportunity for the children to show off all of their amazing learning from across the half term and we are so pleased with the progress the children are making. We would also like to take this opportunity to thank you for all your continued support with the children’s learning at home. Ensuring they have this support really does help them to make even more progress in school as it supplements and reinforces what they are learning in class.
Home Learning
For our holiday home learning we would like the children to research and learn about the Ancient Egyptian Gods. The children can present their learning in any format they choose; a presentation, a drawing of a god, a video, a model or some factual notes about one or more of the Gods. We look forward to sharing these during our topic sessions after the holidays. We would also like you to encourage your child to read at home as much as possible over the half term break and record this reading in their reading records. Please can you also encourage your child to access their Bug Club account online if they are part of the scheme and complete the quizzes to check their understanding of the text.
Literacy
The children have blown us away with their incredible writing this week. Everyone has written a story and the children have worked extremely hard to incorporate lots of adjectives, adverbs, nouns and amazing compound and complex sentences in their writing. They have also tried super hard to use a balance of action, description and dialogue to move their stories on. Next half term we are learning how to write a variety of different recount texts effectively, such as; letters, reviews and reports.
Numeracy
This week in numeracy the children have carried out assessments covering the different units we have looked at since September. The children managed to tackle a variety of question types and showed an increased confidence in choosing the appropriate strategy to solve these. We were very pleased to see the huge improvement in the children’s mental maths scores and the ability to answer a question within a time limitation. We can see children in year 3/4 have been busy learning their times tables, well done. Next half term we will be learning both written and mental strategies to solve multiplication and division problems.
Topic
This week the children have been carefully decorating their Egyptian Pharaoh masks, according to the designs they created in their topic books. They have also completed a great fact file about the discovery of Tutankhamen’s tomb as well as a Kar2ouche animation on the computer to re-tell the story of this great discovery. We look forward to sharing these with you at parent consultations next half term.
Spellings to be tested on Monday 4th March (the children already have their spellings for this Monday)
Group One
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Group Two
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which
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pretty
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but
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prettiness
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with
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lazy
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where
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laziness
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who
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forgive
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then
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forgivable
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once
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enjoy
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because
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enjoyable
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than
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value
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that
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valuable
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Reminders
· Next half term’s PE sessions will be outside so please ensure all children bring a warm tracksuit and trainers.
Have a lovely weekend!
Team 3/4
UKS2 News Roundup:
· Our achievers of the week are Evan and John H in 5/6G for their astonishingly high scores in their end of half term assessments. These boys are only in Year 5 and are already achieving a high level 5 in Numeracy and Reading
· Congratulations to this half term’s Times Tables Champions, Billy in Year 5 and, once again, Ellis in Year 6. The competition is so close each half term which just goes to show that practise does make perfect. Well done boys.
· We welcomed Sandra, Anne and Baz the dog from the charity Hearing Dogs for Deaf People to our Celebration assembly. They were presented with a cheque for the money raised at the Coffee Afternoon last Tuesday. Thank you once again to all parents and carers who attended the afternoon. We really do value your support in such enterprising and inspiring events.
· In PE next half term the children will need to ensure they have their indoor kit every week; this includes black/blue shorts and plain white t-shirt.
Numeracy:
· This week, the children have been applying their knowledge of the four operations to find the area of compound shapes. The children have been creating their own compound shapes for a theme park and then finding the area of their designs.
· In mental maths, we have been focusing on a random selection of times tables. If you would like any further 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 all times tables. There are also lots of free iPad apps to help with times tables – Multiple Wipeout is a particular favourite of ours.
· After the half term break, the focus will be on finding angles in shapes as well as reading and writing co-ordinates. To practice angles, there are a number of games at http://resources.woodlands-junior.kent.sch.uk/maths/shapes/angles.html#Angles
A game which is a particular favourite of ours for co-ordinates is Billy Bug, which can be played by visiting http://resources.oswego.org/games/BillyBug2/bug2.html Remember, when reading and writing co-ordinates, the rule is along the corridor then up or down stairs!
Literacy:
· This week, the children have been exploring the features of book reviews and exploring how connectives and conjunctions can be used to express both positive and negative views. We have been writing reviews of our favourite books, ensuring that our learning from the last few weeks is included.
· After half term, the children will be writing news reports. We will be looking at the journalistic features associated with news reports both on screen and in newspapers. If you find any news articles related to the extreme weather or climate change then please do bring them in after half term, as we will be focussing our attentions on these sorts of stories.
· SPELLINGS: During the first week back we will be testing the children on 20 random spellings from this last half term. All spellings should be recorded in your child’s planners.
Other areas of the curriculum:
· In Science, we have been carrying out lots of exploratory investigations into static electricity and magnetism, and discussing the theories around the behaviour of atoms. Through our investigations we have been able to form scientific opinions and establish rules associated with both of these amazing phenomena. Like poles repel and opposite poles attract.
· In ICT, the children have continued to use Prezi to create a presentation about a superhero such as Bananaman, Super Ted, She Ra and He Man. They have focused on ensuring that the templates selected are suitable and that the presentation is consistent in font and style. You can use Prezi at home by visiting http://prezi.com
· This week in Spanish, we have completed our journeys to school, including directions left and right.
· In Music, 5/6B have been learning about a musical note called a ‘tie’. We have also played tunes on the recorder with our new notes E and C. 5/6G have been finalising their musical compositions using the iPad – they really do sound great! 5/6M have completed their Samba percussion workshops with Mr Major.
To find out more, visit our blog: http://robinhood56.blogspot.co.uk/
