Newsletter Issue 18
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Friday 25th January 2013
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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 Sweden
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.
· 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
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.
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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
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Group Two
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Boat
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Taught
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Coat
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Caught
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Road
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Straight
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Soap
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Weight
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Book
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Eight
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Bookcase
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Tough
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Cook
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Cough
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Could
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Rough
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Would
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Enough
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Should
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Through
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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 6th February. We will be trying to break a world record with other schools in the UK
· 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 5th 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!
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