Newsletter Issue 29
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Friday 3rd May 2013
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Dear Parent/Carer,
We started the week with excitement in Year 5/6 with the fantastic trip to Jodrell Bank observatory in Cheshire
BSL lessons
I had the pleasure of attending Mrs Spear’s first BSL lesson this week. Along with some parents and staff members, we learnt how to sign vowels, apply those to some simple names, ask a persons name, say “My name is” and ask if someone is right. It was so enjoyable and refreshing to be on the “other side”, so to speak! I can’t wait for next week’s lesson. I even received a Headteacher sticker from Callum Spear, when I tried out my new skills on him!
Rankin Dragons
Reception have had some special visitors this week. Miss Parker brought in her Rankin Dragons to share with the children, as part of their learning about the film, Shrek. They were able to hold them and learn all about them and were encouraged to use powerful adjectives to describe them. Thank you to Miss Parker for sharing her precious pets with us.
Sun cream and hats
We ask that as summer (finally) descends upon us, we all work together to keep the children safe from the sun. This week, the children have spent lunchtimes on the top field, so please can you ensure that you put sun cream on your child or children before they come to school as the weather warms up and jumpers are peeled off. Also, a sun hat or cap is a brilliant idea, if you have one.
Extreme readers
I am delighted to announce the winners of the Extreme Reading competition. We sure do have some extreme readers in our school and thanks to ALL children and families who got involved. However, the prize for the most extreme readers in our school goes to Hayden Tyndall (Nursery), Charlie Bruce (Year 1), Millie Parish (Year 3/4) and Jack Strachan (Year 5/6). All children will receive a book related prize.
PTA
I would like to extend my thanks out once more to the PTA for their continued support in organising fantastic events for our school community. We have the family quiz night and the summer fayre to look forward to this term. These events cannot be the success that they are without your help, so I urge and encourage you to contact the PTA and offer your help in running these events (even if it is just an hour or so) when you can. Thanks.
PTA NEWS
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Thank you to all those of you that have returned your invites for the quiz night on 10 May. It has come to our attention that there was a delay in the invites being issued by some year groups so we are able to accept monies up until Wednesday 8 May. When sending in returns, please ensure you include your child’s name and your family name. We are sure it will be a fun night for all that attend, with plenty of questions the children will know the answers to and with a top cash prize of £75 it really is worthwhile coming along and taking part. Please don't forget that ALL monies raised from the PTA events goes towards your children's future, from fantastic PE equipment to the summer treats which are just around the corner. Over the next few weeks we will be asking for donations/help for our summer Fayre to be held on 29 June up on the school field, weather permitting. If you feel you can help us in anyway please contact us by email at robinhoodprimarypta@gmail.com.
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Everyone, have a super loooooooooooong weekend! May the sun shine brilliantly!
Mrs Dale
Nursery newsletter
NEWS ROUND UP
The children were so excited on Wednesday to meet our visitors Sparky and Squirt who are Miss Parker’s pet Rankin’s dragons. The children were very brave and all had a go at holding them and touching them during our PSHE session. They were really gentle with the dragons and looked after them very well; no doubt the dragons will definitely want to come and visit us again soon. During this immersive learning experience the children learnt how to care for and handle animals and the vocabulary the children were using to describe the dragons was fabulous.
THIS WEEK
In literacy we have been learning about the story Shrek and thinking about the characters and the setting of the story. The children have made swamps and have really enjoyed discussing the different properties of the materials to decide which they might find in Shrek’s swamp. We have also made an amazing display with pictures of the children holding the dragons and we have shown off some of their magnificent 2D castles too. If you come to visit us in Nursery you will be able to appreciate the children’s creativity. In numeracy we have been on an exciting number and shape hunt, trying to spot numbers and shapes in the environment. The children were very excited about this task and were super shape spotters. In phonics this week we have learnt the sounds of the letters ‘I’ and ‘n’. The children are becoming really confident with the letter sounds we have learnt so far, with some children accessing red band and trying yellow band books which is a fantastic achievement for nursery children. We have continued to play phonics games concentrating on blending the words the sound talk toy is saying. We have even managed to make words from the sounds we have learnt so far including; is, it and pin.
NEXT WEEK
Next week we are focusing on the story ‘The Queen’s Knickers’. In literacy we will be designing a pair of knickers for the Queen to wear and we will then use our fabulous writing skills to label the knickers. The children will then make their knickers in topic and we will hang them all up on a big washing line in our classroom. In numeracy we will be learning that everything can be counted not just objects. So Mrs Steel’s daughter, Hannah, will be performing some star jumps and other exercises which we will count and we will also be listening to the number of sounds we can hear. So this week if you are walking up the stairs count how many steps you make with your child or see how many cows or lambs you can count in the field. In phonics our sound of the week this week is ‘m’. We will be continuing with blending and segmenting in phonics but we will be concentrating more on the children segmenting the words. So they will be saying “in my bag I have a c_a_t” because the nursery children are so clever they no longer need the sound talk toy to sound the words out for them - they can do it themselves!
A QUICK REMINDER
Now that we are finally seeing some sunshine, please can you send your child in with a sunhat which they can keep on their peg. Although we are not allowed to apply sun cream to your child, you can apply it in the morning and then we can keep it safe for them and we will remind them to re-apply it at lunchtime. If you send sun cream in with your child, please ensure that it has their name on.
Mrs Steel, Mrs Chin & Miss Fox
Reception newsletter
NEWS ROUND UP
The children were so excited on Monday to meet our visitors Sparky and Squirt who are Miss Parker’s pet Rankin Dragons. The children were ever so brave and they all had a go at holding them and touching them during our literacy session. They were really gentle with the dragons and looked after them very well, so no doubt the dragons will definitely want to come and visit us again soon. Following this immersive learning experience the children went away and wrote some amazing adjectives to describe the dragons.
THIS WEEK
In literacy we have been learning about the story Shrek and thinking about the characters and the setting of the story. In topic this week the children have made swamps and have really enjoyed discussing the different properties of the materials to decide which they might find in Shrek’s swamp. We have also made an amazing Shrek display with pictures of the children holding the Rankin Dragons and we have displayed some of their magnificent star writing this week so that everyone who comes to visit Reception can appreciate how wonderful the children’s writing is. In numeracy we have been thinking about addition and subtraction and Shrek has been very busy going to and from the market buying vegetables. The children are now really starting to understand the concepts of addition and subtraction so please reinforce these at home wherever possible. In phonics we have read the words; took, school, think, home, who and didn’t and learnt to read and write the long a sounds eigh (quadgraph) in neigh, ey in grey and ei in veins.
NEXT WEEK
Next week we are focusing on the story The Queen’s Knickers. We don’t want to give too much away about what we will be doing in literacy but let’s just say the start of the week will be very dramatic when we realise the Queen’s knickers have been stolen and we will end our literacy sessions by writing a letter to the Queen. In topic we will be making our very own knickers for the Queen by printing repeating patterns on them and at the end of the week we will be making jam tarts and learning the Queen of Hearts rhyme. Outside we will be going on a treasure hunt with our brand new metal detectors to find the Queen’s missing treasure. In numeracy we will be focusing on money. We will start by looking at the value of different coins up to 10p and then by the end of the week the children will be buying items with their money and receiving change. So this week if you are shopping please take the opportunity to show your child all the different coins that we use to buy things with. In phonics following on from learning all the different sounds that make the long a sound we will be moving onto graphemes that make the long e sound including; ea in heat and the split digraph e_e in here and eve. The words we will be learning to read next week are; ran, bear, can’t, know, again and cat.
A QUICK REMINDER
Now that we are finally seeing some sunshine please can you send your child in with a sunhat which they can keep in their lockers. Although we are not allowed to apply sun cream to your child, you can apply it in the morning and then they can keep it in their lockers and re-apply it themselves at lunchtime. If you send sun cream in with your child to keep in their lockers please ensure that it has their name on.
Miss Pyatt, Miss Lambert and the Reception Team.
Key Stage 1
Home Learning:
Year One
Throughout the year the children have been learning Pseudo words within their reading of Phonics words. To the children these are called “alien” words which are made up/pretend words but include a phonic sound.
For example: groiks
This starts with a ‘gr’ sound, has a middle “oi” sound and ends with an “s”.
Home learning this week is as follows:
The children will all be given a booklet with phonics sounds that we have covered across the year.
Use the booklet to help practise reading the twenty alien words provided and then make up ten of your own. Please write these in your home learning books. These will be shared in class. The best alien words will win a prize!
Year Two
The Year Two children will also be given the same booklet with all the sounds practised so far. Once you have gone through these sounds with the children, support your child in thinking of different words and discuss whether it is a noun, adjective, verb or adverb. Each column needs to have at least 5 – 10 words.
For example: Noun: Leeds Adjectives: Super Verb: Dance Adverb: Quickly
The busiest sheet of nouns, adjectives, verbs and adverbs will also win a prize!
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Messages
Cakes and Buns
Thank you to all the parents who have supported their children in making tasty cakes and buns and bringing them in to school! The children have loved sharing and eating these with their class (The teachers have enjoyed a little taste too!) We thank you very much. Real life experience learning is extremely valuable to your child and we are sure they enjoyed taking part in this activity.
Art Attack
Thank you for providing your child with a white t-shirt for the up and coming Andy Warhol design project that will be taking place in Topic. This is a reminder that the t-shirts need to be in school by no later than Wednesday 8th May as these will be used the following week in the children’s learning. We look forward to seeing the fabulous designs your child creates!
Spellings
Each week your child receives spellings to practise reading and writing at home. These are specific words set by the class teacher and are currently being used within each class during your child’s learning. It is extremely important that these are practised each week as the children are tested on them and these are useful words for children to use in both their reading and writing.
The week ahead
Topic
Next week the children will be broadening their horizons and listening to music from all across the world! They will be using their geographical skills and look closely at music from Africa, India , Mexico and the USA
Literacy
This week each class has started using a different story to help them write a new interesting adventure story! The children will be continuing to progress their understanding of nouns (A place, object or thing), adjectives (A describing word, verbs (A doing word) and the use of conjunctions (where they develop a sentence using words such as and or because).
“My best hugs are cosy because it makes me feel loved and protected” said Douglas .
Can you spot which is which?!
Numeracy:
This week the children have been having lots of fun with capacity! The children have been measuring different amounts of water using non - standard measurements (cups) and standard measurements (millilitres and litres). The children have also designed their own fruit drink using orange juice, lemon juice and apple and blackcurrant. They have continued to build on their knowledge of reading scales and have started to look at finding the difference between amounts. Next week the children will be focusing their attentions on subtraction problems and “finding the difference”. This is a difficult concept to understand and allows children to either take away or add to find the answer.
For example:
What is the difference between 5 and 9?
What is the difference between 10 and 20?
Have a lovely bank holiday weekend and let’s hope the sun stays shining for us all!
Lower Key Stage 2 Newsletter
What an exciting week we’ve had in year 3/4! The children are thoroughly enjoying our India
Literacy
This week, the children have been learning to extend their ideas into compound and complex sentences. They wrote some fantastic news articles about Miss Pyatt’s accident, which happened during the Easter holidays and also reported on an event that has happened at school this year. These were then copied up to form a Robin Hood newspaper that will be displayed in our classrooms for everyone to read. We are all very impressed with the children’s attitude towards their journalistic writing and all children now have a good understanding of the different elements of a news article. Why not ask your child what orientation and reorientation mean?
Numeracy
In numeracy this week the children have been building upon their knowledge of 2D shape. They have been learning the names of different polygons, as well as identifying right angles and classifying different types of triangles. They have shown great enthusiasm in describing the different properties of 2D shapes, including the number of edges, vertices, right angles, lines of symmetry and whether the shapes are regular or irregular. See if your child can remember the four different types of triangle we also learned about this week!
Topic
Well, we have had an exciting week with our topic learning! We are sure you’ve probably all seen your child’s henna design already! They thoroughly enjoyed designing and then painting their own patterns. While some used stencils, some were able to paint their own designs free-hand and the results were fantastic! The children were also lucky enough to try on Indian saris with a partner and continue their PowerPoint presentations about India
Spellings to be tested on Monday 13th May (the children already have their spellings for this Monday)
Please support your child in practicing their spellings every day to help them to achieve 10/10 in their spelling test every week.
Group One
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Group Two
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they’ll
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knowledge
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you’ll
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knock
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you’re
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knee
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It’s
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knight
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It’ll
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knit
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I’m
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knew
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Monday
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knife
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Tuesday
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know
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Wednesday
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known
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Thursday
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knuckle
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Reminders
· Please ensure your child’s PE kit is kept in school from Monday - Friday every week.
· As the weather is getting warmer please make sure your child is bringing a water bottle to school every day.
· Can all year 4 children going on Residential make sure they have paid any outstanding money to Mrs Smith in the office by next Friday 10th May.
Team 3/4
UKS2 News Roundup:
· This week’s achiever is Bethan in 5/6G. Bethan produced a fantastic outcome using morpho on the iPad for her biography on Neil Armstrong in literacy. Well done Bethan your outcome is a fantastic example of what is possible using ICT.
· We would like to thank all pupils for their enthusiastic approach to our Jodrell Bank school trip on Monday. All pupils were a credit to the school and experienced a fantastic day of learning, through a range of engaging workshops and activities.
· Can we please remind all year 6 children who have been given a rising stars grammar and punctuation book to continue to engage with this resource before the spelling and grammar test during SATS week.
· Dates for your diary:
· 10th May: Please can pupils have their leaver’s book profiles completed by this point. The profile can be emailed to the following address; leavers@robinhood.leeds.sch.uk and should contain no more than 400 words.
Monday 13th May- Reading paper
Tuesday 14th May- Spelling, punctuation and grammar test.
Wednesday 15th May- Numeracy paper A and mental maths test.
Thursday 15th May AM- Numeracy paper B. PM- Level 6 numeracy papers.
· 5th- 7th June: Year 6 residential to Robin Wood.
Numeracy:
· This week pupils have been handling and interpreting a variety of data sets. Pupils have been taught a range of strategies to help them solve problems in a more strategic way.
· Next week pupils will be revisiting time and learning about time zones. We will also be applying a variety of numeracy skills to an investigation.
Literacy:
· This week pupils have been developing their understanding of discursive texts. Pupils have developed ideas for arguments for and against space travel and exploration. Pupils have been using connectives effectively to join ideas to provide balanced viewpoints in their writing.
Spellings: Next week pupils will be tested on the following spellings; original, gradual, generation, succeed, realise, between, awkward, amongst, complete, identify.
Other areas of the curriculum:
· This week in ICT the children have been inputting procedures to program robots to manoeuvre over canyons, which the children have made. These models aim to replicate the surface of Mars.
· This week in Spanish, pupils have extended their vocabulary to describe the planets in our solar system in more detail.
· In PE this week pupils have been continuing to learn the Big Dance routine that will be performed by the whole school. Children have recapped the steps to the first and second section of the dance and are now refining the whole section of the dance. The video resource is available online if pupils search Big Dance 2013.
· In our TOPIC sessions pupils have continued their learning about space. This week pupils have been researching the planets in our solar system. Pupils have selected their favourite planet and have produced a travel brochure for their chosen planet.
· In Music, 5/6M have continued to learn the Yellow Submarine by the Beatles on the recorder. Pupils are continuing to develop playing a range of new and established notes. 5/6G are continuing to explore several percussion instruments; including xylophones and have started to learn how to play twinkle twinkle little star. 5/6 B have continued to develop their compositions on garage band. Pupils have been introduced to the importance of a pulse in their track to set tempo of the piece.
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