Issue 18 2012-13

Newsletter Issue 18

Friday 25th January 2013

Dear Parent/Carer,

Despite the four day week, we have packed a huge amount into our week. I have had the privilege of observing in many classrooms and must say that the teaching and learning at Robin Hood really does get better and better. I say it every time but I mean it when I say that our learners are receiving such a high quality education delivered by staff who are utterly passionate about what they do…….in EVERY class.

Severe weather

Thanks to everyone for helping to put the word around that school was closed on Monday. Of course, after explaining that you would be able to find out about closures on the Leeds City Council website, the site was down, which made it impossible for me to post information about the closure. Frustrating to say the least! Texts were sent out and thankfully everybody pulled together in good grace to make sure that the message got to families well ahead of school time. I will always update the new school website Noticeboard in the event of a closure so if you are unsure, you can always check there also.

Parentmail

Please would you check that the school has your most up to date contact details and that you have updated these on Parentmail. Some parents did not receive the text on Monday, which means that your details may not be on our system. You will need to visit www.parentmail2.co.uk and register your details. Unfortunately, we can not add your details for you. Thank you.

Our visitors from Sweden

We had 5 visitors from Sweden this week. As mentioned last week, their focus was to explore how we make our curriculum accessible to children with Special Educational Needs. The group were blown away by what they saw in the school and considering that Sweden is known for its exemplary education system and standards, I took this as a huge compliment to the school! Amongst many, they commented on the advanced ICT skills of our younger learners and the highly personalised teaching resources that our teachers put around children in order to maximise every second of every lesson. I look forward to finding out more about the Swedish approaches to teaching and learning.

School Council

Our School Council met last week to talk about ways in which the children would like to spend the PTA funds. Each representative came to the meeting with their class’s top 3 ideas and together we formed a top 3 list for the school. At present, the children are showing a preference for investing some of the money on specialist sports resources, which allow them to develop their skills better when entering inter-school sports events; indoor play equipment and resources and some theatre performances in school. Of course, the money raised is for the benefit of our learners and we aim to give our learners a voice so I met with the PTA recently to discuss these options. Watch this space!

Young Voices

Wednesday night was one of the most memorable experiences I have had since joining the teaching profession 16 years ago. I was delighted to join the children at Sheffield Arena for the Young Voices event. I hope the children and parents enjoyed it as much as the teachers and I did. It was incredibly moving to be sitting amongst thousands and thousands of primary school children all singing in unison, sometimes accompanying professional singers and dancers. Although tired, the children who attended (our choir) were enthusing the following day and I hope that we have helped the children to pursue their passions and reach a little bit closer towards their dreams. All children were incredibly well behaved and entered fully into the spirit of the event. My thanks to all who came along to support the children and make this an incredibly special experience. Thank you so very much to Miss Thackeray, who organised and led the event and to Miss Mees, Miss Abbey and Mrs Cookson, who also accompanied the children late into the night….and word has it, the choreographer of the event commented on how our staff really “had the moves!” I wouldn’t have expected anything less!!

Have a really great weekend!

Mrs Dale

Nursery newsletter

NEWS ROUND UP

Well it was a very wintry start to the week and the children have been telling us about the fun they have had in the snow. We have continued with our topic of Superheroes this week and our focus has been around The Incredibles.

THIS WEEK

In literacy this week the children have thought about all the different powers the Incredibles family have and have talked about what super powers their family has using repeated sentences E.g. My dad can use a drill etc. We have had some wonderful outcomes in topic this week. The children have made some super hero lolly stick super heroes using their family’s faces and have made a city backdrop for their puppets to fly around in. In phonics we have begun the topic of alliteration and have been thinking about what sounds words start with e.g. s for Sam, m for mum, d for dad. Please include the question of ‘what sound does that word start with’ into everyday conversations so the children become more confident and start to tune into the sounds at the start of words. In numeracy we have been comparing which buildings are the tallest and putting them into the correct order to find out which was the easiest for the super heroes to climb up.

NEXT WEEK

In numeracy we will be practising counting to 10. If your child can already do this, then please encourage them to count even further. We will also be counting groups and finding the matching numbers. In phonics we will be continuing with alliteration so please try and include it in your everyday lives as mentioned above. In literacy and topic we will be looking at real life superheroes such as firemen, people in the military, doctors and nurses etc. If you know anybody or you have any of these jobs and would like to come into school to talk to the children please let us know.

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.

We hope you have a lovely and relaxing weekend.

Mrs Steel and the Nursery team

 

Reception newsletter

NEWS ROUND UP

Well it was a very wintery start to the week and the children have been telling us about the fun they have had in the snow. Yet again Mrs Dale’s office was very full last week as 28 children achieved their sounds and words of the week certificates. This is amazing as the children are learning the harder diagraph sounds and were learning to read tricky words. Well done Reception you are making the whole team very proud!

THIS WEEK

In literacy this week the children have thought about all the different powers the Incredibles family have. They have written some lovely sentences about what super powers the family has and linked this to their own mums and dads E.g. My dad can use a drill etc. We have had some wonderful outcomes in topic this week. The children have made some super hero lolly stick super heroes using their family’s faces and have made a city backdrop for their puppets to fly around in. This half term in phonics we are revisiting all the digraphs (two letters that make one sound) we learnt last half term. This week we have reviewed the sounds, oo (book), oo (moon), ar (farm) and or (for) and the key words were the tricky words; were, there, little, one, when, out and what. In numeracy we have been learning how to do practical addition. The children have done really well with this, but any opportunity you have at home to practise it will help them even more e.g. you have 2 sweets if I give you 2 more how many will you have altogether?

NEXT WEEK

We have lots of exciting activities planned for next week focussed around the story of David & Goliath. In literacy we will be talking about the story and acting it out. We will also be thinking about real life superheroes such as nurses, doctors, firemen and people in the military. If you know anybody or you have any of these jobs and would like to come into school to talk to the children please let us know. We will also be doing some practical science experiments and making our own catapults just like David’s, so no doubt we will have pom poms being catapulted all over our classroom. In numeracy we will be moving onto practical subtraction so please practise this in everyday circumstances as well as addition... In phonics the sounds we will be learning are; ur (turn), ow (cow), oi (coin) and ear (fear).  We will be learning to write the tricky words; he, she, we, me, be and was.

HOW YOU CAN HELP US

·        Please help your child practise their letter formation. This half term we will be really pushing the children’s handwriting and presentation so please also encourage them to write beautiful letters at home.

·        Please support your child in accessing the ‘Bugclub’ website and ‘I am learning’.

·        Please engage with the home learning each week as this is an essential part of your child’s learning journey and an experience that we hope you and your child enjoy.

·        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.

We hope you have an enjoyable and relaxing weekend.

Miss Lambert, Miss Pyatt and the Reception Team

Key Stage 1

Home Learning: As you know, our numeracy focus this half term has been around naming and describing 2D and 3D shapes. Whilst our mental maths warm ups have seen us revisiting addition and subtraction in their many guises (simply adding 10 to a given number before applying this knowledge to adding 9/11 mentally, doubling and halving and linking number facts up i.e. 4+3=7 therefore 40+30=70 and so on) we would like for you to support your child further in this area. Ask your child to revisit the strategies they have shared with you – biggest number in their head and counting on or back, partitioning with Maltesers or numbers and column addition and present their learning neatly in their home learning books. You may wish to make up some words problems for your child to draw  the sum out of to test their understanding of the language or more/less, sum/total of, the difference between etc.

News:

Ocean Explorers:

Our learning around global warming has offered such a great opportunity for investigation, questioning and discovery. We watched clips and looked at diagrams that presented information about the extreme conditions around the environment, weather and wildlife in places such as Alaska and Antarctica. Then, for a more hands-on demonstration of what was happening in the clips, we conducted an experiment using a block of ice with a piece of Duplo in, a small plastic bear and a hairdryer. This mini world scene was to signify the affects that the melting of the polar ice caps will bring on the wildlife and sea levels. Subjects and issues such as these really do draw out a natural curiosity and compassion in the children which brings with it moments of magic when their questioning draws us down a different route entirely! (Couple this with building a ship and washing our faces with snow and we were onto a winner in topic this week!)

Old newspaper:

Next week we will commence the design and construction of our very own ships to take on our ocean explorations. The final model will be made from papier mache so can we request that once you have finished the crossword on Sunday that you send your old newspaper in with your child. We’re making recycling FUN!

Robin Hood TV:

Well as promised last week, Key Stage One have started to produce their first programme for Robin Hood TV on global warming’s causes, affects and preventions. The stimulus of writing and performing for a TV programme that will be aired has really made the children think with more depth about their presentation skills. Alongside these skills, such exercises promote the need for good listening from the whole class in order to feedback to each group and think of any questions that might have been left uncovered.

Water bottles:

Please can we ask that you ensure your child comes to school with a water bottle every day and takes it home with them to empty and refill every night. There are some children who go all day without drinking anything. Let’s promote the importance of keeping hydrated!

Literacy:

This week has seen us complete our unit of learning around the building site trip. The children remain engaged and enthusiastic and are now producing well thought through, compound sentences for each section. The star write today was a great success, considering it was the first one since Christmas the children took to it with ease and confidence again. Next week we are moving onto a unit of work called “The Fall Out” which is still on the topic of recounts but will present a new, dramatic stimulus around this. No doubt you will hear all about it on Monday from your child – just remember if you do, it was staged!

Numeracy:

This week we have been looking mainly at 2D shapes again and thinking about the ways in which we can put them together to make pictures, rotating shapes and matching them to the un-rotated picture of it and lines of symmetry. The children have been practising their skills around using a mirror and a ruler to find and draw the lines of symmetry as well as drawing regular and irregular shapes. Next week we will move on to thinking about position, direction and movement so in order to prepare your child, feel free to get bossing them around using language such as left/right, forwards/backwards/ in front/behind, near/far. You may want to discuss more complex language such as vertical/horizontal and points on a compass.

Lower Key Stage 2 Newsletter

We have had a super week in Lower Key Stage 2 and are very proud of the children’s continued commitment to their learning. After our fantastic performance of ‘Go Bananas’, we are now learning our new sign language song called ‘Sign2sing’. This is really developing our range of signs used in the classroom. If your child would like to practice this at home, please encourage them to visit the website www.sign2sing.org.

Literacy

This week the children have been learning how to use lots of amazing adverbs, in order to describe how a character moves. We have been taking part in lots of drama activities so the children can really see the importance of describing how a character moves. Why don’t you ask your child to play the adverb game at home when you are doing every day jobs? The children have also been using a story mountain in order to plan their very own adventure stories. These are broken down in to an opening, build up, climax, resolution and an ending. We have been really impressed with everyone’s imaginations, and the stories they wrote for their star write challenge were really detailed! Well done guys.

Numeracy

In numeracy the children have been learning all about weight. They have been learning how to work out the intervals on the scale, how to read a scale accurately, and how to draw the dial on the scale. Why don’t you bake some buns at home to test out their amazing knowledge of scales? Next week the children will be applying these skills to solve worded problems. This will require children to read the questions carefully, find the key information, and then think of an appropriate strategy to use to solve the problem.

Science

During our science lessons we are learning all about Evolution and Inheritance. The children have had lots of fun leaning how parents pass on key features to their offspring. We have used the Mr Men characters to design new characters that have characteristics from both parents. We have also looked at cross and selective breeding, and discussed the reasons why and how farmers produce different crops.

RE

This week the children have been learning all about the story of Moses. We have been watching video clips from the film ‘The Prince of Egypt’, and reading the story, in order to retell the events in chronological order through drawings and detailed descriptions. We have been blown away by their questions to further their understanding about this bible story.

Spellings to be tested on Monday 28th January (the children already have their spellings for this Monday)

Group One	Group Two
Boat	Taught
Coat	Caught
Road	Straight
Soap	Weight
Book	Eight
Bookcase	Tough
Cook	Cough
Could	Rough
Would	Enough
Should	Through

Reminders

·    PE this half term is invasion games, please ensure your child brings their PE kit into school on a Monday and keeps it in school until Friday.

·    We check Reading Records every Monday morning, so please ensure your child brings in their signed Record so we can reward all of their fantastic reading.

Have a lovely weekend!

Team 3/4

 

UKS2 News Roundup:

·    Our achiever of the week is everyone in 5/6G for their effort with their handwriting recently. Miss Gascoigne has been blown away with the improvement every single child has made, the handwriting really is stunning! The only way is up now, 5/6G… keep it up!

·    The children have been learning to sign songs as part of the Sign to Sing event which will be held on Wednesday 6^th February. We will be trying to break a world record with other schools in the UK. We are currently learning Sign to Sing. You can practise the song at home by clicking on the link on our class blog.

·    Robin Hood has a new school website! Take a look by visiting http://www.robinhood.leeds.sch.uk. Access to I Am Learning is now through the pupil’s Learning Zone, an area which will be developing over the next term.

Reminders:

·    PE for 5/6B and 5/6M is on Monday afternoon. 5/6G will have PE on Tuesday. This half term, the children are learning basketball skills indoor so trainers or pumps are needed.

·    For pierced ears, only small studs should be worn. No dangly earrings please!

·    As part of our topic this half term, we will be holding a charity coffee afternoon on Tuesday 5^th February where we will be selling all of our products from our craft sessions. The money raised will go to our chosen charity Hearing Dogs for the Deaf. The children have been finding lots of information out about the charity and are now all experts. More details of the coffee afternoon will be sent home next week.

Numeracy:

·    This week, the focus has been on finding percentages. The children have been increasing and decreasing amounts by a percentage.

·    Keep practising all your times tables, everyone, we would like to give the current holders of the Times Table Challenge trophy a run for their money and have some new winners this half term…only a few weeks to go, so get practising! Hit the Button is being used to practise these number facts. This can be accessed via the Year 5/6 Blog Visit http://robinhood56.blogspot.co.uk and click on Numeracy. There is also a link to the Bingo Machine which is used during the Times Tables Challenge.

·     Next week, we will by learning how to handle and interpret data in the form of various graphs. The children will be applying the skills learnt to multi-step problems with a Charlie and the Chocolate Factory theme!

Literacy:

·    This week in Literacy, the children have been evaluating a number of magazine, radio and TV adverts and identifying features which make them successful. They have been writing their own adverts ensuring questions, statements and commands are included.

·    Next week, we will be writing our very own adverts to promote the products on sale at our charity coffee afternoon. We will also be creating advertising posters and leaflets about the event which will be on display next week.

·    SPELLINGS: Our focus next week is still prefixes, this time focussing on un, re, en: unashamed, unemployed, unfortunate, unavailable, replace, reinvent, recycle, enable, entangle, enlarge

Other areas of the curriculum:

·    In Topic, we have continued our craft afternoons where we have been sewing key rings, cushions and mobile phone holders, making decorative door signs and building boxes ready for some tasty cupcakes. All of the items we have made will be on sale at our charity coffee afternoon. Watch this space!

·    In Music, 5/6B have been developing their recorder skills using the notes B, A and G. They have also played in a round this week. 5/6M have been learning how to play elements of a samba piece using a whole range of percussion instruments with Mr Major, our visiting Music Teacher. 5/6G have been learning how to read music to help them play the piano on the iPad; many of the children managed to read the notes for Mary had a Little Lamb and play this beautifully in front of the whole class – very impressive!

Visit our blog: http://robinhood56.blogspot.co.uk/

Issue17 2012-13

Newsletter Issue 17

Friday 18th January 2013

Dear Parent/Carer,

Well, what a cold and frosty week it has been. Thank you to everyone for braving the cold and sometimes challenging conditions and getting your children into school on time. Your child’s attendance and punctual arrival in school is so very important in ensuring no learning time is missed. The school aims to keep attendance above 95% overall in order to remain Outstanding in this area, so thank you all in your continuing support to ensure we maintain this high standard.

Severe weather

In the event of severe weather resulting in a school closure, please be reassured that you will be contacted via text, the local radio stations will be informed and Leeds City Council website will also list the school as closed. Unless you are informed otherwise via one of these sources, please always assume that school will be well and truly open! There should be no need for you to contact school and ideally we ask that you refrain from doing so as we would need to keep the lines free in order to communicate with staff if necessary. Thanks.

PTA

The PTA is once again active in organising new events for 2013. I met with Clare and Stephanie this week to discuss potential developments for the PTA this year and it all sounds really exciting. I am in discussions via the school council on how best to spend the PTA funds raised so far but it’s wonderful to know that plans are already being made to organise further events. I wholeheartedly support the PTA in all that they are achieving and urge you to get involved if you can in any way. We have a very friendly and proactive team who need your help so if you can give up any time at all, please join Clare, Stephanie and the other members at The Gardner’s Arms Pub on Thursday 24^th January ‘13 at 8:00p.m.

Our new website

This week, our new website has gone live. We will be updating sections on an on- going basis but for now, I invite you to take a look and see what you think of the format. I feel that the sections are much clearer and easier to navigate and at present, there are the usual links to blogs, including the newsletter blog. The Learning Zone is also active and an easy way for your child to access both The Bug Club and I am Learning. We have further plans to make sure that you are as well informed as you can be, but if you have any comments or ideas that would help us to make the website better for you, please do let us know.

Young Voices

I am getting really excited about the Young Voices event, which takes place next week at Sheffield Arena. Miss Thackeray has organised our participation in an incredible event, which celebrates the value of singing on a HUGE scale!! Around 10,000 school children and their guests will be heading to Sheffield on Wednesday night to take part in the biggest performance of their lives. Our choir will be in attendance and will no doubt thoroughly enjoy singing the wide range of songs that they have learnt in preparation for the event. This is the first time Robin Hood has been involved in this annual event but I am told that the evening is magical and that the sound of thousands of children singing enthusiastically together can get a little emotional! I am sure I will have something to say about it next week! My sincere thanks go to Miss Thackeray for organising our involvement.

Miss Darroch

Finally, I have some lovely news to end with. I am delighted to announce that Miss Darroch and her husband Robbie are expecting their first child in June. I am sure you will all join me in wishing Miss Darroch a very happy and healthy pregnancy. A little top tip from me: Stock up on some sleep while you can!

Take care this weekend. It’s meant to get really rather snowy and ever more cold. I am currently pondering on how many snowmen I will be forced to build!

Have a really great weekend!

Mrs Dale

Nursery newsletter

NEWS ROUND UP

We have had a fantastic week learning all about superheroes. The children are really engaging with this topic and as a result there is a lovely buzz within our setting. The role play the children are engaging in is terrific and is really helping to develop their social and speaking and listening skills. The children are really impressing us with their attitudes to their learning and the progress they are making is tremendous. This really would not be possible without all the fabulous support you are giving them so thank you and we hope you can see and take pleasure in the progress your child is making just as we do.

THIS WEEK  

In literacy this week we have imagined ourselves as real superheroes and have engaged in some wonderful superhero drama activities which have helped develop the children’s speaking and listening skills.  In phonics we have now moved on to aspect 4 in phase 1 which is Rhyme. We will be using lots of exciting games to help the children learn how to do this and can you please play rhyming games at home with your child whenever you get the chance. In numeracy we have been ordering ourselves in height order and talking about who is the shortest and tallest.

NEXT WEEK

In literacy next week we will be creating our very own superhero puppet family. Your faces and your child’s will be attached to superhero bodies and you will shortly be flying, swinging or jumping over the New York skyline. In numeracy we will be continuing with our topic of height, we will be measuring the height of the buildings and trees the superheroes have to climb to rescue people. In phonics we will move onto alliteration which are words starting with the same sound e.g. clever cat or silly sock and we will be concentrating on the first sound we can hear in words using lots of exciting and engaging games.

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.

We hope you had an exciting week in the snow.

Mrs Steel and the Nursery team

Reception newsletter

NEWS ROUND UP

We have had another fantastic week learning all about superheroes. The children are really engaging with this topic and as a result there is a lovely buzz within our classroom. The children are really impressing us with their attitudes to their learning and the progress they are making is tremendous. This really would not be possible without all the fabulous support you are giving them, so thank you and we hope you can see and take pleasure in the progress your child is making just like we do. Mrs Dale’s office was very full last week as 30, yes 30 children achieved their sounds and words of the week certificates, with some fantastic children achieving their first certificate. No doubt this week we will have even more!

THIS WEEK

In literacy this week we have written our very own superhero stories, which were more imaginative and creative than anything the adults could have come up with, we definitely have some budding authors in reception. In topic we have advertised our super powers to the rest of the school by making some fantastic posters. We have also created our very own comic strips. This half term in phonics we are revisiting all the digraphs (two letters that make one sound) we learnt last half term. This week we have reviewed the sounds, ai, ee, igh and oa and the key words were the tricky words; have, said, come, some, like, do and so. In numeracy we have been comparing our heights and using the vocabulary ‘tallest’ and ‘shortest’. We then developed our knowledge even further and measured the buildings the superheroes were on top of using unifix cubes.

NEXT WEEK

In literacy next week we will be creating our very own superhero puppet family. Your faces and your child’s will be attached to superhero bodies and you will shortly be flying, swinging or jumping over the New York skyline. In numeracy we will be adding together how many people each superhero has saved and we will be writing the number sentences to go with them e.g. 3 + 2 = 5. In phonics the sounds we will be learning are; oo (book), oo (moon), ar (farm) and or (for).  We will be learning to read the tricky words; were, there, little, one, when, out and what.

HOW YOU CAN HELP US

·       Please help your child practise their letter formation. This half term we will be really pushing the children’s handwriting and presentation so please also encourage them to write beautiful letters at home.

·       Please support your child in accessing the ‘Bugclub’ website and ‘I am learning’. The main focus of this week’s home learning is for the children to be accessing these interactive resources at home, if you can’t access them for any reason please let us know and we will be happy to help you with any problems.

·       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.

We hope you had an exciting week in the snow.

Miss Lambert, Miss Pyatt and the Reception Team

Key Stage 1

Home Learning: Next week we will be looking at our topic of Ocean Explorer’s from a geographical perspective, thinking about global warming, how this affects temperature, and reading thermometers and weather charts to tell the temperature. For this week’s home learning we would like the children to make a weather diary about their weekend in the snow. Ask your child to include how they felt at certain points – excited because it snowed, nervous in case they woke up and it had melted, disappointed that the snow disappeared.

 News:

Intrepid Explorers:

Well, we braved the elements and trudged down to the bottom of the playground, zipped up and booted to survey the building site to add inspiration to our recounts unit in literacy. The whole key stage was buzzing on Monday morning; the value added by taking learning outside the classroom really does have a huge impact. The magic of the adventure was only added to by the fact that the snow was falling and we were able to lose focus for a few minutes whilst we caught some falling flakes in our mouths! Everyone really engaged with the reasons for the trip and benefitted from vocalising our success criteria for our writing (time connectives, connectives, past tense) during the walk. We’ve no doubt that the writing this will harness will be some of the best yet.

Reading focus day:

Although it is a week late, we thought that we should feedback on how successful our reading day was last Friday. It was so great to see so many of you sharing a book with your child over a slice of toast and a cup of tea before school and let it be said that the fun continued throughout the day! We introduced the children to some classic cartoon characters and superheroes from our youth, including Popeye and Super Ted (first time we’ve felt truly old when they had never heard of them!) before developing our own super heroes. A great day was had by all!

Photostory 3:

We have been transferring our knowledge about Christopher Columbus and Captain Scott into Photostories on the computers this week. Photostory 3 is a fun and accessible piece of software onto which you can upload photographs, music and text that then play as a slideshow movie. All the children have really enjoyed seeing their learning in this format especially as the outcome can be seen so quickly. If you would like to share this with your child it is a free download – Google ‘Photostory 3’.

New website:

Over Christmas our new website became live and it looks great. From our home page you can click on links to our blog, Bug Club, I am Learning and Robin Hood TV – upcoming productions to look forward to!

Literacy:

Like we said above the recounts topic is proving to be very enjoyable for everyone. We are trialling a new structure in literacy which focuses more on the children’s spoken development of sentences before writing. Scaffolding the process in this way is embedding the skills necessary for producing well developed, full and thought through sentences that the children self-evaluate and improve. Our hope is that the continuation of this process will realise the use of connectives to develop a compound sentence in becoming a natural skill for every child in our key stage, making the step on to using adjectives and adverbs to engage the reader easier.

Numeracy:

First and foremost, a big thank you for all of the effort you put in, in making some beautiful and creative home learning last week with your children about 2D and 3D shapes. We say it often but the message continues to be true: the support that you provide at home around our in-school learning really does consolidate and further the children’s knowledge and understanding within our topics. We have focused this week on naming and describing the features of 3D shapes using the key words – faces, vertices and edges. This learning culminated in 2 days-worth of shape challenge, seeing the children building models, making shapes with nets and dividing shapes to create new shapes. Next week we will move onto lines of symmetry and making patterns with shapes.

Lower Key Stage 2 Newsletter

We have had yet another amazing week in LKS2 full of exciting and inspiring learning. We have been busy learning our first song in sign language ‘Go Banana’s’ and are very proud of the children for their commitment and dedication in learning each of the signs correctly.

Home Learning

For the children’s home learning we would like you to encourage your child to read at home as much as possible, and record this reading in their reading records. As we are working hard to develop our reading comprehension, why don’t you ask your child to retell part of the story? Please also encourage your child to access their Bug Club account online if they are part of the scheme. Thank you for your continuing support with helping the children to learn their spellings every week. We are really pleased with those who practice hard to get 10/10.

Literacy

This week, as part of our narrative unit, we have been writing lots of descriptive sentences, describing different characters appearances. The children have been continuing to develop their use of effective adjectives focusing on characters; height, build, age, hair and eye colour, clothes and other distinguishing features. We’ve had lots of fun listening to various descriptions and trying to draw an accurate picture of the person being described. We have also created our own characters that we have written descriptive sentences about including both adjectives and similes. Why not ask your child to describe a character for you to draw and see how detailed their descriptions are. Next week, we will be planning and writing our own stories with a focus on how to use adverbials effectively to describe how a character moves and speaks.

Numeracy

In numeracy, the children have been solving addition word problems about length. The children have worked hard to unpick the word problem, pulling out the relevant information and choosing an appropriate strategy to solve the problem.  The children have also been learning how to convert the different units of measure in order to give their answers in either mm, cm, m or km.

Topic

This week we have been learning about Ancient Egypt and seen where it fits on a timeline of other periods we study in 3/4. We’ve also studied the different uses of the Nile for Ancient Egyptians and why the Nile was important for farming. We put all our new found knowledge onto fact cards that we stuck onto our working walls. Next week we will be learning all about the pharaohs and even creating our own pharaoh masks.

Spellings to be tested on Monday 28th January (the children already have their spellings for this Monday)

Group One	Group Two
rain	string
tail	stripe
chain	strip
again	strong
captain	stride
high	stringent
light	strangle
night	strict
might	strap
right	strike

Reminders

·    PE this half term is invasion games. Please ensure your child brings their PE kit into school on a Monday and keeps it in school until Friday.

·    We check Reading Records every Monday morning, please ensure your child brings in their signed Record so we can reward all of their fantastic reading.

Have a lovely weekend!

Team 3/4

UKS2 News Roundup:

·    Our achiever of the week is Grace Allen for a fantastic approach to all her learning and a wonderful kind attitude to all her class mates. Well done Grace, you’re a star!

·   Thank you to Year 6 parents and carers who attended the meeting with their child’s class teacher this week. We value the opportunity to speak to you about your child’s progress to date, their next steps and how we and you as a partnership can support them in their learning. The revision books that we shared with you are available to purchase online, however we have heard reports of them being out of stock. We are looking into possibly buying a set for school that we can then lend out to our pupils. Watch this space! Year 5 parent consultations will be held later in the Spring term.

·    Robin Hood has a new school website! Take a look by visiting http://www.robinhood.leeds.sch.uk. Access to I Am Learning is now through the pupil’s Learning Zone, an area which will be developing over the next term.

Reminders:

·    PE for 5/6B and 5/6M is on Monday afternoon. 5/6G will have PE on Tuesday. This half term, the children are learning basketball skills indoors so trainers or pumps are needed.

·    For pierced ears, only small studs should be worn. No dangly earrings please!

 Numeracy:

·    This week, the focus has been on fractions. The children have been finding equivalent fractions and simplifying them (making them easier to understand). They have also been learning how to convert improper fractions to mixed numbers and vice versa as well as finding fractions of amounts. There are fraction videos and games to practise at http://www.bbc.co.uk/skillswise/topic/fractions

·    In mental maths, the 7 times table has been the focus. Hit the Button is being used to practise these number facts. This can be accessed via the Year 5/6 Blog Visit http://robinhood56.blogspot.co.uk and click on Numeracy. There is also a link to the Bingo Machine which is used during the Times Tables Challenge.

·    Next week, we will be learning how to increase and decrease toys from the Toy Story film by various percentages. We will also be learning about ratio and proportion to help us when solving multi-step word problems.

Literacy:

·    This week in Literacy, the children have been using a range of sentence starters to write formal sentences and have been contributing ideas towards a paragraph for a letter from the charity Hearing Dogs for Deaf People to children at Robin Hood. Conjunctions and connectives are being used to link sentences and ideas. The children have planned and written their own letter from the charity. You can find out more about the charity we’ll be raising money for by visiting http://www.hearingdogs.org.uk/

·    Next week, the children will be delving into the world of adverts, looking at examples from TV, Radio and magazines. They will be working in small groups and pairs to write their own adverts to promote a given product.

·   SPELLINGS: our focus will be on spellings with the prefix im or in: improbable, important, impossible, impress, imbalance, indistinct, inspire, inspect, inadequate, incorrect, immediately.

Other areas of the curriculum:

·    In Topic, Miss Gascoigne’s group have been using sketching skills and ICT tools on Smart Notebook to design their own variation of the Hearing Dogs for the Deaf logo, which will eventually be placed onto packaging. Mr Malley’s class have been designing a range of signs using Smart Notebook and making prototypes using cardboard and various stencilling techniques. Mrs Brook’s group have been designing and making templates for our own key rings, which we will then be sewed using a variety of stitches.

·    In Spanish we have been learning the alphabet. You can practise at home using the following link: http://www.bbc.co.uk/languages/spanish/guide/alphabet.shtml

·    In ICT, the children have been exploring Prezi and how this web based programme can be used to present information.

·    In Music, 5/6B have been playing compositions using the notes B, A and G. They have also been playing pieces which contain an ostinato. 5/6M have continued with their samba-themed percussion workshops with Mr Major. 5/6G have been exploring the instrument on Garageband using the iPad.

·    In PE pupils have been learning the correct technique for the chest pass in basketball and applying this to small sided game scenarios.

Visit our blog: http://robinhood56.blogspot.co.uk/