Friday 28 March 2014

Issue 26 2013-14


Newsletter Issue 26

Friday 28th March 2014

Dear Parent/Carer,

Thank you everyone for your contributions during last week’s Sport Relief Day. I am pleased to let you know that we raised £450 which will be split between the Sport Relief charity and the British Heart Foundation. The feedback from the children was very positive and I know that they had a really great day. I had a wonderful brisk one mile walk around the field with Key Stage 1; I felt so good afterwards that I posed the question to children, “shall we start every day like this?” I received a mixed response!!

IMPORTANT NEWS ABOUT THE END OF SUMMER TERM

 I have received confirmation just today that Robin Hood Primary will be subject to 3 “shut down” days at the end of the academic year. The Governing Body has approved the closure days in order to decant classrooms, pack up items and for contractors to set up their construction compound in preparation for the internal building work, which begins immediately thereafter. This means that the last day of the school year will be Thursday 17th July for all pupils in school at that time (Nursery- Y5).

I trust that almost 4 months is sufficient notice to minimise any disruption or inconvenience. Thank you for your understanding.

This is a good time to give a quick update on the expansion building work which will take place in summer. The start date to begin internal remodelling is later than planned. This works well in that there will be no disruption whilst the children are in school enjoying the summer term. The building contract states that internal work will be completed by the end of August so that everything is prepared for the start of the new school year. The building of a new staffroom is contracted to take place on site between August and October and the building of the three new classrooms will commence in October and aim to be completed by February 2015. Further details will be disclosed as we have them. I am sure you will agree that this is a really exciting time for us all as Robin Hood Primary School enters a significant new phase towards two form entry. I for one am delighted that more children in our community will be able to benefit from the first class teaching and learning that children receive at our school.

Clubs
Please note that there will be no after school clubs next week except Keyboard, Guitar and Spanish.

Summer 1 assembly dates

All assemblies begin at 2:30 prompt and last approximately half an hour.

Friday 25th April- Upper Key Stage 2

Wednesday 30th April - Nursery (1) Friday 2nd May – Nursery (2)

Friday 9th May- Reception

Friday 16th May – Key Stage 1

Friday 23rd May- Lower Key Stage 2

 
PTA News

Thank you to those who attended our meeting last night.  A very productive meeting and I am hopeful that we will be able to see some new faces in time.  Minutes will be available via parentmail in due course.  Kay at the moment is having discussions with the Easter Bunny to see if he can spare any time to visit the school.  You never know if you are all good enough he may make an appearance????  Our next meeting will be held on 24 April, 8p.m. at the Gardeners Arms.  As always if you would like to contact us or offer help in any way (after all every bit of help goes towards raising money for YOUR children) please do so at robinhoodprimarypta@gmail.com.

Have a great weekend everybody.

Mrs Dale
 
 
Nursery newsletter
NEWS ROUND UP
Thank you for all your amazing home learning! We had some super story maps for the Three Billy Goats Gruff and we loved listening to the children’s retells. We have put their lovely learning up on display so do have a look when you come into Nursery or you can see it displayed on the blog! http://foundationstagenewsatrobinhood.blogspot.co.uk/
THIS WEEK
We have been sharing the story of the Three Billy Goats Gruff and the children have drawn some amazing pictures of the billy goats and the mean, ugly troll! In literacy I have had the pleasure of working with every child and it has been so lovely to see their enthusiasm and pride at their own achievements. I have also listened to every child read and would like to say a huge THANK YOU to everybody for engaging with reading so much at home. Miss Lambert and Miss Pyatt will be so impressed in September! We have also made a special card and treat for all out lovely mums….shh!
NEXT WEEK
Next week we will be learning about the Easter story and preparing for our Celebration assemblies on Wednesday morning (11.00am in the hall) and Friday afternoon (2.30pm in the hall). We will be making Easter cards and hopefully visiting the baby chicks in Reception. An Easter hat parade will form part of our assembly so for home learning this week can you help your child to decorate an Easter hat? We will be asking the children to proudly show off their hats to you all during assembly.
PLEASE NOTE the following diary dates: Nursery will be CLOSED on Wednesday 2nd July 2014
HOW YOU CAN HELP US
·         Keep reading for 5 minutes every day if you possibly can.
·         Keep practising writing your child’s name with them regularly
·         Please complete the home learning task with your child (see above) and bring it in on their first day back.
Thank you for your continued support and enjoy your weekend.
Mrs Steel, Mrs Chin, Miss Fox and Mrs Beckwith
 
Reception newsletter
NEWS ROUND UP
The children have tried really hard with their assessments this week and they have approached them with positive and determined attitudes. The children have made amazing progress and we are so proud of how much they have achieved. It makes our jobs very worthwhile! Don’t forget to check on our blog to see what we have been doing in Nursery and Reception this week!  http://foundationstagenewsatrobinhood.blogspot.co.uk/
THIS WEEK
This week we have been sharing the story “The Three Billy Goats Gruff”. The children have loved playing inside, trip trapping across the bridge and they have used lots of different materials to make bridges across the water tray for the goats to cross. In literacy the children are becoming incredibly confident at retelling the story and sequencing it! At the end of the week for the assessment the children had to re-write the story. We are really impressed with how much the children’s writing has improved! Please keep practising writing as much as possible as it is the area where the children feel the least confident. In numeracy we have been learning about the value of coins and they have had to pay the mean, evil troll to cross the bridge! In phonics we have been assessing the children on their Phase 2 and Phase 3 sounds and words and their Phase 4 words. We will send out their maths, literacy and phonics assessments as soon as possible, Have a look in your child’s reading record to see the fantastic progress they have made in reading. We have learnt to read the words could, asked, looked and called this week.
NEXT WEEK
Next week we will be learning all about the Easter story. We will have a special delivery of eggs on Monday, I wonder what will come out of them? We will be writing a diary to record what we see. We will also be designing and making some beautiful Easter cards for the children to take home to their families. In topic we will be making Easter nest eggs and focusing on what happens to the chocolate as we heat and cool it. I can’t wait to taste them! The children will be decorating some eggs to hang onto our Easter tree. On Friday we will be holding an Easter parade for the children to show off their Easter bonnets that they have made for home learning, the best ones will win a scrumptious Easter Egg. Our starter in numeracy will be number sequences, the children will be working out which number comes next using their number squares. We will be focusing on number sequences adding on 2’s, 5’s and 10’s to consolidate our learning from this half term. Our main focus in numeracy will be number bonds to 10 so please practise them with your child as much as possible. There will be no specific sounds or words in phonics next week so please practise the sounds and words your child needs to learn from their phonics assessments. In phonics next week we will be matching the capital letters to the lowercase letters, we will be learning which letters are vowels and which are consonants and we will be learning to read and write the word endings ing and ed.
HOW YOU CAN HELP US
·        Please read with your child for 5 minutes every day.
·       Please ensure you child can write their full name with the correct letter formation
·       Please ensure you child can rote count to 20 and write the numbers 1 to 20 in the correct order.
We hope you enjoyed the children’s wonderful assembly! Have a lovely weekend.
Miss Lambert, Miss Pyatt and the rest of the Reception team.
 
Key Stage 1
Home learning
In addition to reading and spelling practise please can you practise some fast mental addition using number bonds? Start with number bonds to ten asking your child questions like… what must I add to 6 to make 10? Try firing a number at your child and they have to quickly tell you its number bond friend. Then move onto number bonds to 20. How many can they successfully answer in 1 minute? Speed is the key. After that, try multiples of 10 to make 100 such as 30 + 70 or 20 + 80. Finally we’re going to start working on breaking up numbers to find number bonds in order to make mental addition easier. For example, in order to quickly work out 7 + 5 you can quickly add 7 and 3 then add on the 2.
Assessment week
We would like to thank the children for their incredible effort this week during our assessments. Everyone tried so hard and we have been extremely impressed with the progress the children have made. It’s truly a testament to the hard work they put in every day. They have certainly earned a well-deserved break at Easter… one week to go! We will talk you through their scores next week at parent’s evening. We’ll also be providing you with a pack containing your child’s assessed write, spellings they need to work on and a few additional resources if we feel they will be helpful. It’s so important that we work together and that you feel confident any learning taking place at home ties in with what we cover in school.
Marching on together…
We were very lucky last week to receive a visit from the Leeds Rhinos winger Ryan Hall (I’m not sure who was most excited, us or the children!!) We were so grateful that Ryan took the time out of his busy training schedule to answer some of the children’s burning questions. He gave a great insight into what it takes to be a professional sportsman and the children left the hall buzzing with excitement and dreams of rugby stardom (even the Wakefield Wildcat fans!)
Literacy
To finish our learning around Recounts the children will be producing a factual piece of writing about how to protect themselves from germs. This ties into our learning about the plague as well as some work we did on hygiene in science. We will be encouraging the use of more adventurous time connectives and linking captions to pictures appropriately. Everywhere you look you can find text with pictures to support it – newspapers, magazines, advertisements, leaflets… have a look around and perhaps have some discussions about the relevance of different pictures to support the writing and message being conveyed.
Numeracy
Year 1 will be continuing their learning around doubling and halving this week – practising rapid recall mentally as well as using counters and drawings for slightly larger numbers. Year1/2 and Year 2 will also be touching on this as well as practising manipulating numbers in a range of addition, subtraction, multiplication and division problems. We want the children to become really secure in understanding what these functions actually mean by using lots of resources to enable them to visualise the problems they are calculating. We want to deepen their understanding of number so that they are able to confidently swap numbers around in sentences. So if 6 + 7 = 11 then they can also conclude that 7 + 6 = 11, 11 – 7 = 6 and 11 – 6 = 7. The equal sign can also be moved from the end to the start of the number sentence… 11 = 7 + 6 etc.
Topic
The children have learnt that there definitely is no I in Team! They have co-operated in small groups to create some stunning London backdrops in D&T, created beautiful clay London lettering and now they are going to devise their own script to make a short film using Stop Motion Animation. Watch out Spielberg…!
Have a lovely weekend.
The KS1 Team


Lower Key Stage 2 Newsletter
The 3/4 team are so incredibly proud of all the fantastic and positive attitudes we have seen this week towards assessments! The children have, as always, tried their absolute best! This week also saw us begin to use our knowledge of the Easter story to practice our Easter Service ready for next Friday. All the children were super enthusiastic and many of them volunteered themselves for a speaking role. We would like to see as many of you attend as possible as the children have worked really hard to practice! This will be held on Friday 4th April at 10:00 am at Lofthouse church therefore there will be no showcase assembly this half term.
Year 4 Residential
All year 4 children that are attending residential this year have been given a kit list (available on the blog) and an important form to be completed. Please can we ask that it is completed and returned before Friday 4th April. Unfortunately, if forms are returned after this date, the children shall not be able to attend. Just a quick reminder that we are holding our last meeting regarding residential on Wednesday 23rd April.
Home Learning
We have been extremely impressed with the children’s response to the new home learning logs. We have seen all sorts of pieces from news articles, handwriting practise, stories, sketches, interviews and recounts. Many of these pieces will be photographed and saved onto the phase blog for all to see. Although we are no longer sending home photocopied resources for home learning, we have saved many resources onto the phase blog for you to download. These resources are related to our weekly learning and are entirely optional. Any links to games and websites that we have used will also be posted to the blog.  Paper copies of resources from in class are often available daily for the children to take home. We would also like the children to continue to read daily and ensure they are recording this in their reading records so we can reward their efforts with stickers! In addition to this, the children should be practising and learning their spellings and Times Tables as this was the key skill that has let many children down when trying to calculate multiplications, divisions and fractions this half term. The times table we will be testing next week is the 12 Times Table. We are really impressed with the children’s continued effort with learning their times tables and all the children who are getting 12 out of 12 are celebrated on our  blog ‘Wall of Fame’ on a weekly basis.
Numeracy
This week the children have been using all of their super mathematical skills in their assessments. We have also used sessions this week to go through the numeracy papers altogether to provide help with those questions that they struggled with and to eliminate any misconceptions. Next week we will be solving problems involving using inverse operations, balancing equations and solving problems involving algebra.
Literacy
What a week of reading and writing! For our assessed write this week we wrote a newspaper article to inform our readers about our successful Sports Relief day last Friday. The children have tried their absolute best to include compound and complex sentences, adjectives and adverbs to describe as well as quotes and facts to support their story. As well as this, they completed a reading paper which has seen lots of children having improved their comprehension skills – Well done! Next week we shall be writing some spring time poems and writing up a newspaper article so that the children’s fantastic work can be displayed in school.
Spellings
These Spellings will be tested on Monday 31st March.
Group 1: want, were, what, when, water, with, where, to, too, two.
Group 2: dance, distance, advance, difference, notice, place, surface, entrance, science, practice.
Science
This week we have updated our observations of our investigation into the factors required for healthy plant growth. Next week we will be finishing our plant topic and will be taking a mini quiz to find out how much we have learnt.
RE
This week we have begun to practice our Easter Service and continued to paint our very own canvasses showing key moments in the story. These canvasses will be displayed during our Easter service on Friday 4th April at 10:00 am at Lofthouse church. We look forward to seeing you there!
Reminders
·    Our last swimming for the half term will be on Friday the 28th March.
·    Please ensure your child has an art shirt in school at all times.
·    The current weather is very changeable and so we ask that your child brings a suitable coat to school every day.
·    Please ensure all of your child’s belongings (especially PE kits, hats and gloves and school jumpers) are clearly labelled with your child’s full name.
·    Remember the children have two PE units a week now, one indoor (Thursday) and one outdoor (Wednesday), so please ensure they are bringing the correct kit each week.
·    Can all children please be provided with a named water bottle, especially on PE days?
Don’t forget to check out our blog where you will find lots more information about this week’s learning as well as important reminders and dates for forthcoming events. http://year34rhps.blogspot.co.uk/
Enjoy your weekend!
Team 3/4
 
UKS2 Newsletter
Friday Celebration Assembly:
·       Don’t forget, our next phase assembly will be on Friday 25th April.  We look forward to seeing you there to show off the amazing learning from this half term!

Year 6 – Rodillian.

 
Thursday June 12th 4:30pm -7:30pm
 
 
Year 6 information Evening
 
Monday 14th July until Tuesday 22nd July inclusive
(Please note: Although there are three training days at Rodillian, this does not apply to the new starters, Year 6 children will still attend during the three training days.
 
 
Year 6 induction
Parent Consultations
Parent consultations this time are for the Year 5 parents only, as the Year 6 parents were invited back in January.
Year 6 Numeracy Book
The children in Year 6 have been given a ‘study guide’ and a ‘question book’ to work through ahead of the SAT’s. Next week we will be learning about Division (pages: 15-18 in the study guide). If your child would like to complete these pages at home and bring the book back into school they will be rewarded for their hard work!
Although completing the pages is not compulsory, we are keen to reward your child’s effort.  You can support your child by marking the questions; you will find the answers in the back of the book.  Alternatively, your child can mark their own learning and make any amendments to their answers in pen so we can see the changes made.  Your child can also bring the ‘study guide’ book into school each day, and even use it to support them in their Numeracy session.
Times Table Challenge:
Times Table Challenge will be on Friday April 4th. So, get practising! Visit www.teachingtables.co.uk and click on the Bingo Machine for the interactive game we use in school….remember, we play the game at 1 and 0 seconds, so you need to be fast!
Core Subjects:
Numeracy:
This week in Numeracy the children have been learning about multiplication and using the grid method to multiply numbers by given amounts before applying these skills to word problems. Next week, we will be learning about division, including the Bus Stop Method to divide by a single digit number and the Chunking method to divide by a 2-digit number.
Literacy:
This week pupils have been looking at the key features of newspaper articles. We have compared and contrasted a range of different newspapers, discussing the intended audience. Pupils selected a key audience for their newspaper report and then researched a topic of their choice. Next week pupils will be planning and drafting their very own newspaper report using a range of journalistic features.
SPELLINGS: Next week, the spellings are: non-fiction, non-slip, nonsense, nondescript, mismanage, mistrust, misunderstand, disappear, discovery, disbelief. Your child has received a copy of these spelling and will be tested on Friday 4th April. 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

 
 

Friday 21 March 2014

Issue 25 2013-14


Newsletter Issue 25

Friday 21st March 2014

Dear Parent/Carer,
Well what an active day we have had. Well done to all of the children for entering into the spirit of our Sport Relief day so brilliantly. We will be able to report next week on how much was raised for both the British Heart Foundation through the non-uniform sportswear donations and Sport Relief through the purchase of wrist bands.

Robin Hood Rugby Union Squad
Congratulations to the Robin Hood Rugby Union Squad. For the past 8 weeks, boys from across Key Stage 2 have been taking part in some outstanding coaching sessions at a rugby school at Rodillian Academy. Of course our boys really impressed the coaches over the 8 weeks and the final session saw our superstars take part in a tag rugby tournament against other schools last Wednesday. The performance from our squad was breathtaking. Unfortunately the boys narrowly missed out in the final, but we would like to celebrate the raw talent and teamwork in school. My thanks to Mr Malley for facilitating the sessions and reporting back the successes.

Dates for your diary- summer term
Arts Award Discover week (KS1 and Y3) - week beginning 30th June

Arts award showcase to parents 2:00p.m on 3rd July

Training day- 4th July (school closed to children)

Sports Day- 7th July

Golden Day- 9th July

Y6 Fish and Chip lunch- 10th July

Year 6 prom (evening) 10th July

Year 6 leaver’s assembly 2:00 p.m. - 11th July

Transition day- Reception- Y5- July 14th

Phase assembly dates- coming shortly

Clubs
Please note that next Thursday will be the last After School Club sessions for this term. There will be no clubs in the final week of term. Thanks.

Parent Coffee Morning
My sincere thanks to those who could attend the Parent Coffee Morning on Monday. Miss Thackeray reported back once more some very useful suggestions along with some positive responses to discussions. Attendance is improving at every meeting but it would be great to see even more of you there to help us gather your views on particular aspects of school life. It is always great to receive parent’s views by email too and I must reassure you that these are always taken into consideration.

The next meeting will take place on Monday 19th May and the agendas for discussion will be:

  • Website and blogs- how well used are they? How could we make them more engaging for the children? Do they help you to support your child in their learning?
  • Successes at school this academic year

PTA News

We will be holding a meeting on 26th March at 8pm in the Gardeners Arms.  We would encourage as many people to attend as possible as we would like to discuss our future fundraising events and the more ideas we get the more money we can raise.  We look forward to seeing you all.

I would just like to chip in here as I know that it would be most appreciated by Kay, our new Chair to see a few more faces at meetings as everyone’s ideas and input is as important as the attendance at events. I am incredibly proud of what the PTA have achieved since September 2012 and really hope that the support can be there to continue what has been done so far.

Have a great weekend everybody.

Mrs Dale
 
Nursery newsletter
NEWS ROUND UP
Thank you for all your amazing home learning! We were really impressed with the imagination and creativity that you have discovered, and every week the children are really prepared for the learning that is coming up. This is having a really positive effect on their confidence, so THANK YOU all and please keep it up.  Don’t forget to check on our blog to see what we have been doing in Nursery and Reception this week!  http://foundationstagenewsatrobinhood.blogspot.co.uk/
THIS WEEK
We have been sharing the story of ‘Jack and the Beanstalk’. The children loved playing with the home learning props in the Castle kitchen and we have observed some super imaginative role-play. In topic the children have been planting bean seeds with Mrs Chin and finding out all about the different things we need to grow our own beanstalk! Outside we have been painting and creating a giant beanstalk and indoors we have a ‘magic beanstalk’ that seems to be growing every time we leave nursery for the night…..
NEXT WEEK
Next week we will be learning about the story of ‘The Three Billy Goats Gruff’ and it is assessment week – which means the children will be showing us how amazing they are.  We will be making a picture caption of the story and showing Mrs Steel how amazing our ‘writing’ is. In numeracy we will be practising our preposition skills by hiding the troll under the bridge or behind the bridge and giving our friends clues of how to find him. We will also be developing our bridge building skills – can they build a bridge for their friends to cross over? For home learning this week can you help your child to make a story map of the Three Billy Goats Gruff story? We can use this to support them in their writing task next week.
PLEASE NOTE the following diary dates: Nursery will be CLOSED on Wednesday 2nd July 2014
HOW YOU CAN HELP US
·         Keep reading for 5 minutes every day if you possibly can.
·         Keep practising writing the first letter in your child’s name and beyond as soon as they are ready (some children are now writing their first name independently – which is amazing!)
·         Please complete the home learning task with your child (see above) and bring it in on their first day back.
Finally a quick reminder that our next Nursery class assemblies are on Wednesday 2nd April at 11.00 am and Friday 4th April at 2.30pm in the school hall. Thank you for your continued support and enjoy your weekend.
Mrs Steel, Mrs Chin, Miss Fox and Mrs Beckwith.
Reception newsletter
NEWS ROUND UP
Thank you for all your amazing home learning! We were really impressed with the imagination and creativity that you have discovered and every week the children are really prepared for the learning that is coming up. This is having a really positive effect on their confidence, so THANK YOU all and please keep it up.  We thoroughly enjoyed what super weekend activities you had stuck in your learning logs too. We have shared these amazing experiences with the other children and they will be celebrated in our Reception assembly. Don’t forget to check on our blog to see what we have been doing in Nursery and Reception this week!  http://foundationstagenewsatrobinhood.blogspot.co.uk/
THIS WEEK
We have been sharing the story of ‘Jack and the Beanstalk’. The children loved playing with the home learning props in the Giant’s Castle and we have observed some super imaginative role-play. In literacy the children are becoming incredibly confident story tellers and writers! We are impressed! In numeracy the children went on an exciting shape hunt around school and then built the giant a new castle using the 3D shapes. In phonics we learnt to read the sounds; ear (hear), ure (pure), air (hair), er (ladder) and we learnt to read the tricky words; oh, their, people, Mr and Mrs. In topic the children planned how they were going to plant their magic bean seeds and then they planted them with Miss Abbey. They found out all about the different things we need to grow our own beanstalk! Outside we have been painting and creating a giant beanstalk and indoors we have a ‘magic beanstalk’ that seems to be growing every time we leave our Reception classroom for the night…..
NEXT WEEK
Next week we will be learning about the story of ‘The Three Billy Goats Gruff’ and it is assessment week – which means the children will be showing us how amazing they are.  We will be re writing the story The Three Billy Goats Gruff in literacy. In numeracy we will be practising our preposition skills by hiding the troll under the bridge or behind the bridge and using money to pay the troll so that he will let us cross the bridge. We will also be developing our bridge building skills – can they build a bridge for their friends to cross over? There are no sounds to learn in phonics next week as we will be recapping all the sounds and words we have learnt in reception so far. The key words that the children need to practise reading for next week are; could, asked, looked and called.
HOW YOU CAN HELP US
·        Please read with your child for 5 minutes every day.
·        Please help your child learn all the key words and sounds for our assessments next week.
Finally a quick reminder that our next Reception class assembly will be next Friday (28th of March) at 2.30pm in the school hall. Thank you for your continued support and enjoy your weekend.
Miss Lambert, Miss Pyatt and the rest of the Reception team.
Key Stage 1
Home Learning:
Thank you to all parents who are returning reading records FULL of information on a Monday Morning. It is lovely to see how much learning your children are doing at home! Please can you continue to ensure you are writing in any learning that has taken place at home. This can be spellings, reading, writing, numeracy or any other learning or achievements you are proud of your child achieving.
This half term the children have spent time learning times tables and division facts. Please continue to practice reciting times tables and division facts for 2, 5 and 10. If you feel this is too easy then see if your child can use 3’s, 4’s and 6’s.
A fantastic Numeracy website that we use in the classroom is:
Please feel free to explore this website and look at any other learning you would like with your child.
Sports Relief Day
What a fantastic day Sport relief has been! The children have enjoyed taking part in a dodge ball competition and walked or ran a mile. They have also learnt about what we eat that can make our heart healthy or unhealthy. The learning will be part of Robin Hood’s first ever PE and sport display! Well done to all the children for showing fantastic sportsmanship throughout the day. Not only were the winners modest whilst winning, the children whose teams didn’t win were extremely gracious in defeat. Well done.
Numeracy
This week the children have continued learning how to solve multiplication problems. The children have worked hard to understand the term ‘arrays’ and that a multiplication sentence can be shown in two different ways and still have the same answer. For example: You could ask your child to show you what 4 lots of 2 look like and what 2 lots of 4 look like. The bigger numbers you use the more difficult this will be to do. A starting point would be to use X2, X5 and X10. What does 6 lots of 5 look like? What does 8 lots of 10 look like? If you wanted to make this more difficult you could get them to investigate the opposite of the question. Is it easier to show 5 lots of 6? What does 10 lots of 8 look like? Your child could show you this by using objects or drawing it. If you wanted to make it really tricky you could also use X4, X6 and X8. If you feel you would like any more support on the strategies we are using in class please do not hesitate to ask one of the members of the Key Stage One team.
Literacy
This week the children have written their own recount of what it would feel like to be somebody who had caught the plague! The children have loved acting out the symptoms of the plague and using this in their writing. Each class has focused on how they could use verbs (doing words like sneezing), adverbs (how to describe a doing word; moved slowly) and adjectives (describing words like massive). The Year 2 children have also been learning about how they could use a simile to help describe how they are feeling. For example: I felt as sick as a parrot! Next week the children will be using all their learning from this half term to write a recount as a character from the fairy tale Cinderella. If you have time please feel free to discuss this story over the weekend.
Topic – Design and Technology
This week the children have been working in small groups to create a London backdrop full of movers, levers and sliders. The children have chosen different London Landmarks and decided how they could show these in an interesting way. This learning is being used next week to then create 3D clay letters of a London Landmark. We can’t wait to see the finished products!
Assessment Week
Next week the children will be taking part in a range of assessments in their reading, writing, phonics and Numeracy. We will speak to you about these most recent assessments during the parent consultations. We are extremely proud of all the children in the Key Stage and we are sure there will be lots to celebrate and positive information to share with you.
Uniform: A gentle reminder
We are still having to remind children in Key Stage One to either wear the correct school uniform or bring in their correct PE kit. Some children have been coming in to school with trainers on for the full day because they have PE later on that day. This is not acceptable and your child should be wearing school shoes and change them when it is PE. It is extremely important for your child to come to school dressed appropriately and wearing what is part of the Robin Hood uniform. PE kits should be brought in on a Monday and kept in school until Friday. If you wish to wash it over the weekend please make sure your child brings this back in on the following Monday.
Have a fantastic weekend
The Key Stage One team.
Lower Key Stage 2 Newsletter
Well, it’s been another fun-packed week in year 3/4 this week.  We all enjoyed our Sport Relief day on Friday, especially taking part in our very first inter-form dodge ball competition. The game has become a firm favourite across the phase and everybody gave it their all. We have also begun painting our Easter story canvases and practising our songs ready for the Easter service at the end of the half term.
Home Learning
We have been extremely impressed with the children’s response to the new home learning logs. We have seen all sorts of pieces from news articles, handwriting practise, stories, sketches, interviews and recounts. Many of these pieces will be photographed and saved onto the phase blog for all to see. Although we are no longer sending home photocopied resources for home learning, we have saved many resources onto the phase blog for you to download. These resources are related to our weekly learning and are entirely optional. Any links to games and websites that we have used will also be posted to the blog.  Paper copies of resources from in class are often available daily for the children to take home. We would also like the children to continue to read daily and ensure they are recording this in their reading records so we can reward their efforts with stickers! In addition to this, the children should be practising and learning their spellings and Times Tables as this was the key skill that has let many children down when trying to calculate multiplications, divisions and fractions this half term. The times table we will be testing next week is the 12 Times Table. We are really impressed with the children’s continued effort with learning their times tables and all the children who are getting 12 out of 12 are celebrated on our  blog ‘Wall of Fame’ on a weekly basis.
Numeracy
This week the children have been calculating fractions of numbers and quantities using their division and multiplication skills. Next week we will be carrying out our termly assessments where the children can put into practise all of their learning from the year so far.
Literacy
This week in literacy we have written a newspaper article detailing the experiences of a local man when flying over the Bermuda Triangle. The children have tried super hard to include compound and complex sentences, adjectives and adverbs to describe as well as quotes and facts to support their story. Next week we will be completing our assessed piece of writing where we will be looking for the children to be including all of these features in another newspaper article (Children will have to wait until next week to find out what the subject will be – another mystery perhaps?).
Spellings
These Spellings will be tested on Monday 24rd March.
Group 1: born, fork, short, morning, forget, park, shark, yard, parcel, garden.
Group 2: quicker, quickest, colder, coldest, taller, tallest, closer, closest, bigger, biggest.
Topic
This week we have been delving into the world mystery of the Bermuda Triangle. The children have watched clips, listened to eye witness accounts and have produced their own fact file all about the Atlantic Ocean mystery.
Science
This week we have updated our observations of our investigation into the factors required for healthy plant growth. We have also studied how water is transported around plants by placing cut flowers into coloured water. The results are available to see on our blog. Next week we will be looking at the life cycle of a plant with a key focus on seed germination and the role that the flower plays.
RE
This week we have continued to write our own version of the Easter story and have begun to paint our very own canvasses showing key moments in the story. These canvases will be displayed during our Easter service on Friday 4th April at 10:00 am at Lofthouse church. We look forward to seeing you there.
Reminders
·    Our last swimming for the half term will be on Friday the 28th March.
·    Year 34 will be hosting this year’s Easter service on Friday 4th April at 10:00 a.m. at Lofthouse church therefore there will be no showcase assembly this half term.
·    Please ensure your child has an art shirt in school at all times.
·    The current weather is very changeable and so we ask that your child brings a suitable coat to school every day.
·    Please ensure all of your child’s belongings (especially PE kits, hats and gloves and school jumpers) are clearly labelled with your child’s full name.
·    Remember the children have two PE units a week now, one indoor and one outdoor so please ensure they are bringing the correct kit each week.
·    Can all children please be provided with a named water bottle, especially on PE days?
Don’t forget to check out our blog where you will find lots more information about this week’s learning as well as important reminders and dates for forthcoming events. http://year34rhps.blogspot.co.uk/
Enjoy your weekend!  
Team 3/4
UKS2 Newsletter
Dates for your Diary:
Friday Celebration Assembly:
·    Our next phase assembly will be on Friday 25th April.  We look forward to seeing you there to show off the amazing learning from this half term!
Year 6 – Rodillian.
·    There is a Year 6 information Evening on Thursday June 12th 4:30p.m. -7:30p.m. which will provide parents with vital information to ensure a smooth transition and an opportunity to ask questions. Prior to this event, parents will receive a transition booklet that gives clear guidance of the transition programme with important dates and additional information. These booklets will be delivered to Robin Hood just after Easter and they will be passed on to the children straight away.
·    Year 6 induction has been extended this year so that Year 6 pupils will join Rodillian Academy on Monday 14th July until Tuesday 22nd July inclusive. This arrangement will allow pupils to gain a fuller experience of life at secondary school; take part in school-wide enrichment days and a sports day event; meet with the staff and to familiarise themselves with their new surroundings before their official start in September.
Additional dates regarding events at Rodillian are yet to be confirmed and we will keep you posted.
Child Line
·    Year 5/6 will be having a visit from ‘The Child Line Team’ On Wednesday 26th March during the afternoon. Your child will have brought a letter home regarding this, if you have any concerns over this, please contact either Mrs Wathen or Mrs Cookson.
Parent Consultations
Parent consultations this time are for the Year 5 parents only, as the Year 6 parents were invited back in January.
Year 6 Numeracy Book
The children in Year 6 have been given a ‘study guide’ and a ‘question book’ to work through ahead of the SAT’s. Last week in Numeracy the children learnt about Time.  In order to develop their understanding, children can complete pages: 77 (time) and 79 (time tables).
Next week we will be learning about Multiplication (pages: 43, 44, 45, 46 and 48). If your child would like to complete these pages at home and bring the book back into school they will be rewarded for their hard work!
Although completing the pages is not compulsory, we are keen to reward your child’s effort.  You can support your child by marking the questions; you will find the answers in the back of the book.  Alternatively, your child can mark their own learning and make any amendments to their answers in pen so we can see the changes made.  Your child can also bring the ‘study guide’ book into school each day, and even use it to support them in their Numeracy session.
Sport Relief:
We would like to thank all the children for their superb efforts during our sports relief day. The day was a fantastic opportunity to be active and educate pupils on the importance of being active and keeping a healthy heart. We also would like to thank Mrs Calvert, who was kind enough to come in and share her expert knowledge of the heart with year 5/6.
A final thank you to all parents and carers who have helped contribute towards the day. The money raised has helped to support two fantastic causes - The British Heart Foundation and Sport Relief.
Core Subjects:
Numeracy:
This week in Numeracy the children have been learning about Time, which includes converting time from analogue to digital time, finding the difference between two times and reading timetables. We ask, please, if you could continue to support your child when using time outside of school as this is such a fundamental skill.
Literacy:
This week in literacy pupils have been brushing up on their grammar and punctuation knowledge. Earlier this week pupils have recapped on spotting grammar mistakes displayed in public, prepositions and comparative adjectives.
Next week pupils will be revisiting newspaper articles. Pupils will be contrasting tabloid and broadsheet newspaper examples and identifying their similarities and differences. After this pupils will edit and improve a short newspaper article, before researching a news topic of their choice for their own newspaper report.
SPELLINGS: Next week the spellings are: whenever, finally, despite, however, hence, meanwhile, although, consequently, additionally, nevertheless. Your child has received a copy of these spellings and will be tested on Friday 28th March.