Newsletter Issue 7
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Friday 19th October 2012
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Dear Parent/Carer,
Well, Autumn is well and truly in the air, the nights are drawing in and the dark mornings are ever more a struggle so it’s a good job I am the Headteacher at Robin Hood Primary School to keep my spirits lifted throughout the working week. It’s been a wonderful week with Key Stage 1 and Years 5 and 6 engaging in the exciting “Risk- It” days, exploring wonderful and innovative new ICT Software (Do you know that children in Year 5/6 used technology which allowed them to become King Henry VIII?- Incredible!). Then of course there was the wonderful Harvest Festival this morning led by Year 3/4 with their amazing singing, acting and Victorian outcomes. I would like to take this opportunity to thank all who came out in the cold weather to support this key school event. I think it is invaluable that children feel part of a caring and safe community.
Christmas Fayre
The Christmas Fayre will take place on Saturday December 1st. We are seeking donations for the stalls so if you have any good quality toys and books that you would like to donate then please see Mrs Mistry. If you would like to put yourself forward to help in any way then please do approach Mrs Mistry at school or Clare Perry- we need all the help we can get.
House Points
All children will now be aware of the house point winning team. The house point system has been a fantastic way of using positive praise to reward our children for their efforts and achievements. There has been a real sense of excitement surrounding news of the winning team. Well done to all of the children right across school, who have worked in collaboration with their house team to receive as many points of possible. Mrs Wathen has had to put in yet another order for Gold stickers- I wouldn’t want it any other way! All children in the winning team will enjoy some “Disco Time” next Thursday afternoon.
Laura Paul
I mentioned last week that Laura has been shortlisted in a city wide competition to become The Children’s Mayor for Leeds . Her manifesto is absolutely exemplary and to win, she needs as many votes as she can possibly get. Please, please vote for Laura. You can do this in a number of ways- either by visiting www.breezeleeds.org, or by e mailing leedschildrensmayor.leeds.gov.uk. You can also vote via our Year 5/6 blog at www.robinhood56.blogspot.com. Good Luck to Laura.
Parent Consultations
Parent Consultations will take place next week. This is a necessary and valuable meeting with your child’s class teacher to talk about how they have settled into the new school year and to give you a chance to talk about how we can best support your child to make the most progress possible this year. As usual, we ask that you are punctual and stick to the 10 minute time slot so that every parent’s consultation can run smoothly. Thank you.
School Photographs
Individual school photographs will be taken next Wednesday 24th October. Siblings in school/nursery will be photographed together. If you wish baby brothers or sisters to be photographed please come to the hall at 8:30 a.m.
Reception Christmas Production
Last week I informed you of some key Christmas dates. Please note that the Reception Production for parents will take place between 11 a.m. – 12 p.m on Thursday 20th December. The Nursery and Reception Christmas parties will take place during the afternoon of Friday 21st December.
Have a wonderful weekend and I look forward to seeing everyone next week for the final week of our first half term of the year- I know, I can’t believe it either!!!
Have a fabulous weekend.
Mrs Dale
Nursery newsletter
NEWS ROUND UP
This week we have been smelling, touching, tasting, looking at and listening to many different weird and wonderful things including chilli jam, lemon and popcorn. The children have really enjoyed this week’s topic and now know all about their five senses.
THIS WEEK
In phonics this week we have been practising copying sound and rhythms as well as practising recognising instrumental sounds. In numeracy we have been focusing on recognising numbers 1-3 and the children are becoming much more confident. In topic this week the children have had the opportunity to taste different things and touch different textures.
NEXT WEEK
Next week we will be reading the story Elmer and learning about friendships and why we are special. In numeracy we will be carrying on with number recognition of the numbers 4-6 as well as sharing things equally between 2 groups and decorating Elmer in beautiful repeating patterns. Next week in phonics we will continue to play copy me games of rhythms and sounds. On Wednesday/Friday we will be celebrating the end of the half term with a colour party! If possible please can you send some coloured food in with your child to share with everyone at the party.
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.
· Please practise writing the first letter of your Child’s name and if they can do this try going even further with them.
· Please have a look on the Robin Hood foundation stage blog to see what exciting activities your child has been doing.
· Next half term our topic is celebrations. For Bonfire night we will be making fireworks so please can you collect and send in any cardboard tubes you have from tinfoil and kitchen rolls etc. Please do not send in toilet rolls. For Christmas we will be making an advent calendar using really small boxes so we would appreciate any of these being saved and sent in as well.
Have a lovely weekend and once again thank you for all your support and encouragement.
Reception newsletter
NEWS ROUND UP
This week we have been smelling, touching, tasting, looking at and listening to many different weird and wonderful things including chilli jam, lemon and popcorn. The children have really enjoyed this week’s topic and now know all about their five senses. Last week 19 children got 100% when reading their sounds of the week and tricky words. The number of certificates just keeps on increasing so please keep it up!
THIS WEEK
In phonics this week we have been practising saying and writing the sounds; l, ll, f and ff and reading all the key words from this half term. Their writing is improving and the children are doing really well at writing the first sounds in words. The next step is for the children to write the other sounds that they can hear in words so please encourage this during the home learning this week. In numeracy we have been focusing on number recognition particularly teen numbers and the children are becoming much more confident with this. In topic this week the children had the opportunity to make some really funky glasses that they looked amazing in and went on a listening walk to identify sounds around our amazing school.
NEXT WEEK
Next week we will be reading the story Elmer and learning about friendships and why we are special. In numeracy we will be decorating Elmer using beautiful repeating patterns of 3 different colours. We will also be learning about sharing things equally between groups. Next week we are learning the sound ss as well as recapping all of the sounds that we have learnt this half term. Next week we are going that step further with our key words and we will be practising writing them so that the children can write them in their writing. The sounds and key words can be found on the home learning sheet. On Friday (26th October) we will be celebrating the end of the half term with a colour party just like in the story Elmer! On this day the children will be allowed to come to school in brightly coloured clothes. Please try and get them to wear as many bright colours as you can find but also please remember it is P.E. on Friday so make sure they can take them off themselves. If possible please can you send in some brightly coloured food so we can all share it at the party.
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 practise writing their name.
· Please practise counting, recognising and writing numbers to 20 with your child.
· Next half term our topic is celebrations. For Bonfire night we will be making fireworks so please can you collect and send in any cardboard tubes you have from tinfoil and kitchen rolls etc. Please do not send in toilet rolls. For Christmas we will be making an advent calendar using really small boxes so we would appreciate any of these being saved and sent in as well.
Have a lovely weekend and once again thank you for all your support and encouragement
.
Key Stage 1
Home Learning:
This week an assembly was held about the new housing estate that has started being built near school. The children learnt about how to be safe on and near a building site and were introduced to a competition that is being held in school.
Next week the children will be designing and creating a poster in school about being safe on a building site and the lucky winner from Key Stage One will win a fantastic prize of book vouchers!
Please support your child by researching and writing some facts about:
“The Do’s and Don’ts of being safe on a building site”
The more the children find out, the more this will help them with their learning next week!
We look forward to reading the interesting facts that your children find out.
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News
Risk-IT Day
On Monday the children took part in an ICT ‘Risk IT’ Day. The children were given new ICT software to use and explore. The children spent the day learning how to use a computer program called “Scratch” and also used an Apple Mac Application on the iPads called ‘Book Creator’. The outcomes of the day were extremely successful. The children made the following:
1. A robot computer racing track game using ‘Scratch’. The children programmed the robot to move up, down, left and right. If the robot went off the track the children were able to program it to blow up.
2. A story about ‘Hand-me Town’. The children used the iPads to take photos, make voice recordings, write sentences and change fonts, colours and sizes.
The children had a fantastic day of learning and our thanks go to Mrs Moore for her involvement and help with this amazing experience.
Scratch is a free download off the internet so if you want to have a play at home this is the link:
If you have an iPad at home get your children to show you what they have learnt on the ‘Book Creator’. It makes writing stories lots of fun!
Parents Consultations
Next week is Parent Consultations, which will take place on Monday and Tuesday with your class teacher. Each appointment will last ten minutes, this will be an ideal opportunity for you to hear and see the fantastic learning your child has been doing in their classes. It is also an important time to share their next steps and continue to ensure great successes. We look forward to sharing lots of amazing learning with you!
Assessment Week
Next week the children will be taking part in assessment week. The children will spend time in class revisiting what they have learnt across the half term in Numeracy, Literacy, Reading
Please can you ensure that your child brings their reading record in on a Monday and their Home Learning on a Wednesday. Home Learning is on the newsletter and if for any reason this newsletter doesn’t make it home the newsletter is also available to read on the Key Stage One Blog. The Blog is a great way to see what the children have been learning and our thanks to Mrs Mistry for regularly updating the blog with your children’s super learning!
Literacy
The children have continued to build on their knowledge of ‘Africa ’s Big Five’ and have produced interesting leaflets about two different animals of their choice. The children have shown great enthusiasm on this unit of writing and we are extremely impressed with their outcomes. The children have become great at using their targets to progress in their writing, so ask them at home what it is!
Numeracy
This week in Numeracy the children have been learning about estimating and rounding. We have been making ‘sensible’ guesses about amounts of objects and explaining our reasons why. We have also been rounding numbers up and down to the nearest ten. The children have learnt songs to help them to remember how to round. 5, 6, 7, 8,9 I like rounding all of the time, 4, 3, 2, 1, rounding down is so much fun!
Lower Key Stage 2 Newsletter
We have had another fabulous week of learning in LKS2 this week. The children have made us all feel really proud with their superb performance in their Harvest Festival. I’m sure those of you who were lucky enough to attend, will agree it was absolutely brilliant!!! Well done to everyone for putting 100% effort into their singing and for giving a fantastic performance. We would like to congratulate our amazing achiever of the week Lewis Godwin. Lewis was chosen for his amazing attitude towards his learning and for setting a fantastic example to the rest of the key stage.
Home Learning
Every week, the home learning is for the children to practice their spellings ahead of our weekly test on Monday morning. We would also like the children to continue reading as often as possible at home. Please ensure you are noting in the children’s reading records when they are reading at home- if we can see they have read every day they will earn five house points for their team.
Literacy
In Literacy this week your children have had the chance to show off their fabulous learning by writing a full chronological report, all about the Victorians. The children have WOWED us with their amazing use of audience engaging features, detailed paragraphs and amazing compound and complex sentences. We will be photocopying these reports to send home with the children next week so you can see how amazing the standard of writing is in LKS2.
Numeracy
This week in numeracy we have been learning how to interpret data from a range of different sources such as pictograms, bar charts and tally charts. We have also been trying really hard to construct our own bar charts. The children have impressed us with their great attention to detail and remembered to use all of the key features of a bar chart. Why don’t you make a tally chart at home and have a go at turning it into a bar chart? Can you write some questions about the data you’ve collected?
Next Week
Next week in 3/4 we will have the chance to show off our fabulous learning from over the half term. Your child will carry out both numeracy and reading assessments. This is nothing for your child to be worried about; it is just an opportunity to show off how much amazing progress they have made over the course of this half term.
Spellings to be tested on Monday 5th November (the children already have their spellings for this Monday)
Group One
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Group Two
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pie
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accident
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flies
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complete
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tie
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experiment
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five
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recognise
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slide
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equipment
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smile
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separate
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bike
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comparison
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prize
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suppose
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sky
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surprise
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spy
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whose
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· PE kits need to come in on a Monday and be taken home on a Friday. Miss Thackeray’s and Mrs Moore’s class will now have PE on Tuesdays. Miss Snowden’s will have PE on Thursday
· Those children who have ‘home learning packs’ please ensure they are brought into school every Monday morning.
· Our Achiever of the week goes to Joe Clark, Jack Kreczmer, Max Ellis, Caison Davey and Thomas Caldicott in 5/6B. These boys have produced a fantastic presentation for the rest of the class all about Tudor warfare. Their explanations about weapons, armour and famous battles were truly wonderful and a clear indication of the time and effort they have put into their research. The quality of their outcomes was also exemplary. Well done boys.
· Congratulations to Ellis Smithson and Billy Gates, both from 5/6M, for winning the first Times Table Challenge of the year! They answered 20 random times table questions so quickly and with such confidence! Well done, boys! We would love to see someone from 5/6B or 5/6G give these boys a run for their money at Christmas, so get practising! Visit www.teachingtables.co.uk and select the ‘Bingo Machine’ to practise!
· This week, we welcomed Michael, Paul and Graham from the Persimmon Homes Rowans Development, which is being built next to school. During a special whole school assembly, our visitors spoke about the dangers that exist on building sites and they also launched a competition to design a poster to promote safety on building sites. We are therefore inviting the children to design a high quality poster for the competition by Friday 26th October. The winning poster, chosen by Persimmon Homes, will be produced and displayed around the development for all visitors and new homeowners to see!
· Please, please, please help us to get as many votes as we can for Laura Paul to become Leeds Children’s Mayor! Her amazing manifesto is online and ready to be voted for. Voting is easy – simply visit our phase blog http://robinhood56.blogspot.co.uk/ to access the link or visit www.breezeleeds.org Voting finishes November 5th, so let us show our support and spend a few moments voting for our lovely Laura to win!
· On Thursday, Year 5/6 took part in a national event called RISK IT. We spent the whole day discovering and trialling new IT software that could potentially be used in the curriculum. The children enjoyed using Scratch (a programming package that is free to download to both macs and pcs) and Morpho, which is an iPad app that allows you to bring still images to life. They also had a go at designing icons for a new school app.
· A really big thank you to all parents and carers who attended our Celebration Friday today. It was lovely to have the opportunity for the children to show off all of their amazing learning from the last half term – they really should be proud of all they have achieved so far!
Reminders:
· PE kit should be a plain white T-shirt, black or blue shorts and outdoor trainers (weather permitting). No jewellery should be worn. Please can all the children ensure that they are come into school with the correct PE kit on Monday (5/6G & 5/6B) and Tuesday (5/6M).
· 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!
· Please ensure that step booklets for the Global Children’s Challenge are in school for our ICT lessons (5/6M and 5/6B Monday; 5/6G Tuesday).
Numeracy:
- This week, the children have been applying their learning to their end of half term Numeracy assessments. The children completed a non-calculator paper, a calculator paper and a mental maths test and all children put in lots of effort… confidence and perseverance really is the key – well done Year 5/6!
- Next week, we will be learning how to multiply using the grid method and divide using the bus stop and chunking method.
- Visit www.mathszone.co.uk for some really useful resources which can help you with these methods!
Literacy:
- This week, the children have written a guide to explain how to care for a mythical creature called a Miptor. The children had to imagine that they had owned one of these creatures and as a result, were experts in looking after one. They had to include information and advice about how to train a Miptor, how to feed it and even highlight any strange habits it may have. The children also applied all of their comprehension skills to a reading assessment.
- Next week, we will be writing narrative paragraphs with a horror theme. We will be focussing on the use of apostrophes for contractions and possession and will be applying all of our sentence level skills so far.
- This week’s spellings to be tested on Friday are: definitely, factory, generous, jewellery, television, description, dictionary, easily, hospital, similar
Other areas of the curriculum:
- In Topic, the children finally presented their learning all about their chosen aspect of Tudor times. The children spoke in a clear and engaging manner whilst using their amazing props to support their explanations. The children demonstrated some outstanding collaboration skills and evaluated each other’s presentations critically, yet constructively too! A big well done and congratulations to all groups for their dedication and enthusiasm! Check out our phase blog to see some of the final outcomes!.
- In PE this week, the children have been developing their football techniques even further by using the drag push skill to manoeuvre the ball around their opponent. We have been really proud of how successful the children have been, when applying all the football skills learnt over the last half term when playing a mini tournament called ‘Four Corners’.
- In Music, 5/6B have added the finishing touches to their fruit salad samba using percussion instruments and have begun learning a new piece. 5/6G have been learning about the semi-breve and dotted minim, we have also developed our recorder playing skills even further by playing some complex duets! 5/6M have been playing traditional nursery rhymes on the iPads using garageband.
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