Newsletter
Issue 5
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Friday 3rd October 2014
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Dear Parent/Carer,
This week I have observed
several lessons in Reception and Year 3/ 4 and also had the chance to show our
School Improvement Advisor (Tim Richards) around, visiting almost every
classroom. I am delighted to let you know that the quality of the teaching and
learning in school is absolutely fantastic. Mr Richards was clearly impressed
by not only the conduct of the children, but the learning behaviours as a
result of consistently outstanding pedagogies.
Building
update
Miss Hinton, Mrs Wathen, Mrs
Smith, Mr Reynolds and I recently attended our monthly progress meeting regarding
the building work. The rear extension which will house the new staffroom and
toilets is ahead of schedule and apart from some minor delays on brick and
blockwork, all other aspects of the phases are currently on schedule. Under the
new lay out of the site, we have carried out fire drills as safety remains a
key priority. For your reassurance, Bermar (the contractors) also carry out
rigorous internal monthly safety checks on the site.
Harvest
Festival
Please note that there has been
a change to the Harvest Festival arrangements. Instead of taking place at
Lofthouse Church, we (with Reverend Mandy Rhodes) will host the celebration in
school on the morning of Friday 17th October for the school children
only and again at 2:20 pm for parents. KS1 will lead the proceedings so please
be aware that although all parents are welcome, only KS1 will be in attendance
during the afternoon celebration.
Black
History Month
During October, it's Black History Month and to begin this
focus, children from Years 1 to 6 will be thinking about their
own identities- who they are, where they come from and
how they perceive themselves. To help the children be prepared
for this, we would appreciate it if parents and carers could spend a
little time discussing answers to questions such as What's your
nationality? What is your religion? What groups do you belong to? Where
have you lived? Where do you live now? Children in Key Stage One will be
using this information on Tuesday, children in Lower Key Stage Two on Wednesday
and children in Upper Key Stage Two on Thursday. Thank you.
Rothwell
Library
This
week pupils from Reception were invited to see the dinosaur they had made which
is on display at Rothwell Library. They brought along their families to
see “Spike” and to enjoy a story time. The children had made the stegosaurus in
the summer term of last school year, when they were in the Nursery.
Spike, as he is called by the children, was made as part of the topic on
Dinosaurs. He measures 1metre tall and a massive 260cm long. I am very
grateful to Rothwell Library for displaying our artwork, which was once more
the result of a project led by our amazing Mrs Chin.
Rothwell event
Whilst
on the subject of Rothwell Library, Caroline, the
librarian has asked us to pass on that there is a free family RSPB Information
Event on Saturday 11th October from 10.30am at the library (no need to
book) for those families who are interested in nature and would like to
learn more about the RSPB.
Swimming
hats
Please be mindful that if your
child is in Year 4 and does swimming on a Thursday, that they MUST wear a
swimming hat, as is policy at the pool. Thank you.
PTA news
This week and next will see the invite for the
Halloween Disco on 22nd October, going to all pupils. Nursery,
Reception and KS1 will have their disco 3:30p.m until 4:30p.m. and KS2 will
have their disco 4:45p.m. until 6:00p.m. We are still in need of
volunteers to help out on the night so if anyone parents, grandparents, carers
are able to help out please contact us at robinhoodprimarypta@gmail.com.
We will be collecting any unwanted clothes
(even those that are no longer fit for wear), linen and general bric-a-brac
after the half term break. The company Skycycle will be collecting your
unwanted items from 9am on Monday 3 November. This is brilliant way of
raising money for the school and this year we will not be having our usual
Christmas Fayre so this is an ideal time to clear out any unwanted items ready
for Christmas. Bags will be sent out shortly with details of when and
where they can be dropped off.
This year, we are organising a Christmas Craft Fayre, a
number of the stalls have already been booked so, if anyone would like a stall,
or knows of friends or family members that would like one please get in touch
with Emma Womersley who has kindly offered her organisational skills, womersleys@tiscali.co.uk.
Lastly as Christmas is creeping round the
corner, when you are doing your shopping online, if you register with “The
Giving Machine” prior to making your purchase then the school will receive a
donation from the company you are buying from. www.thegivingmachine.co.uk,
click on “join” and Robin Hood Primary School.
Have a lovely weekend,
everybody.
Mrs Dale
Nursery newsletter
NEWS ROUND UP
Well done to our fabulous
learners who are continuing to settle in to the Nursery routines. We have
overcome the tiredness of the first full week and we are having lots of fun.
The children have settled in to the lunch time routine and are becoming more
independent each session. Please look on our blog for the latest information
and to see what has been happening in Nursery. http://foundationstagenewsatrobinhood.blogspot.co.uk/
THIS WEEK
In our literacy sessions
this week, we have shared the story of ‘Where’s My Teddy’ by the fabulous
author Jez Alborough. We have even been outside in our Nursery forest and acted
the story out using props. The children brought their favourite teddies to
school and they have joined in with lots of fabulous maths activities where we
have talked about size and ordered different sized objects ! I think I can safely say that all of the
teddy bears have had a lovely time in Nursery!
NEXT WEEK
We will be reading the story ‘The Rainbow Fish’ by
Marcus Pfister. This is a story about friendships and supports our activities
which are planned to encourage the children to find out more about each other
and develop new friendships by being kind, considerate and caring. Again, the
home learning task has been planned especially to support this, so please make
sure all home learning comes into school. Thank you.
HOW YOU
CAN HELP US
· Home learning is sent out weekly and will
prepare your child for the learning that will happen the following week.
· Learning logs need to come into school every
week along with reading bags
· Please engage with the home learning and ensure
you read for 5 minutes daily.
· Each week your child will have a PE session
in the big school hall. They do not require any kit but they do take their
socks and shoes off. If you could practise doing this with your child at home
it would be a great help to us and encourage them to be independent.
Thank you!
Mrs Harley and the Nursery
Team
Reception
newsletter
NEWS
ROUND UP
We
have settled well into our routine in Reception and this week we were visited
by Mrs Dale and Miss Hinton who came in to see our fabulous learners in action!
Thank you for engaging with our weekly words and home learning tasks, it is
wonderful to see how proud our children are when they receive a certificate for
getting a hundred percent. Please look on our blog for the latest information
and to see what has been happening in Reception at http://foundationstagenewsatrobinhood.blogspot.co.uk/
THIS
WEEK
In
our literacy sessions this week, we have shared the story of ‘The Rainbow Fish’
by the author Marcus Pfister. This book is brilliant for the children’s social
and emotional development as it explores friendship choices and the way that
our actions can make others feel. In numeracy we have been very impressed with
the children’s grasp of prepositions and they loved our Rainbow Fish games.
This week we will be finding out what they know about repeating patterns. In our
phonics sessions we have been practising reading the sounds g, o, c, k and the words dad, had, back, and, get, big
NEXT
WEEK
We will
be reading some stories about families and talking about our family life and
why we love our families so much. In literacy the children will be creating a
family book and writing a sentence underneath each lovely picture. To support
our topic please can you send in a family photograph on Monday morning; please
make sure this is a spare copy as we will need to cut it up. In phonics we will
be practising reading and writing the sounds ck, e, u, r and words him,
his, not, got, up and mum. Please
help us by continuing to give your child lots of opportunities to practice
reading the sounds and words each week as we have a different set introduced on
a weekly basis. In Numeracy we will be working on 2D shape activities,
recognising and naming the shapes as well as talking about their properties.
HOW YOU CAN HELP US
· Learning logs need to come into school every
Monday along with reading bags and home learning. Please engage with the home
learning and ensure you read for 5 minutes daily and help your child learn
their spellings.
· Please make sure that your child has a PE kit
in school; it can stay in their locker and come home every half term holiday.
· Please send in a water bottle (no juice) and
a coat every day
· Please support your child to write their full
name and give them lots of praise and encouragement.
· If you have time to do some extra practice on
phonics, have a look at Mr Thorne http://www.mrthorne.com/ and
Phonics Play http://www.phonicsplay.co.uk/freeIndex.htm for some fun activities
which will support the teaching and learning in school.
Miss
Lambert, Mrs Steel and the Reception Team
Key
Stage 1
Home learning
It
has been lovely to read all of the lovely comments you have been making in your
child’s reading record over the last few weeks and to see how much progress
they are making. Please be aware that it is your child’s responsibility in Key
Stage 1 to change their reading books as and when they need.
For
this week’s number facts please could you support your child in the following:
· Your child has been practising all week so
they should be able to impress you with their skills. Please practise one more
and one less with your child up to 20, 50, 100 and then 1000.They have also been
learning how to order numbers up to 100 and then up to 1000.
The
children have been producing some fantastic home learning in their learning
logs and it has been great to see all of the extra writing they have been doing
at home. Their handwriting is looking beautiful!
Numeracy
This
week in numeracy we have been focusing on more and less and what these two
words mean. We have been practising quick fire 1 more and 1 less questions up
to 100 and then up to 1000. We then moved on to using the greater than and less
than sign (e.g. 5>4 five is greater than 4, 3<5 three is less than five).
We have also referred to this sign as Allie the Alligator; the alligator always
eats the biggest number. There is a lovely song on Youtube to help the children
with their understanding of this sign - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M6Efzu2slaI.
We
then moved onto ordering numbers first up to 100 and then up to 1000. There is
a fabulous caterpillar ordering game http://www.topmarks.co.uk/ordering-and-sequencing/caterpillar-ordering
which has different levels so you can choose the most suitable for your child’s
ability.
Literacy
Caterpillar
update! Our caterpillars have now formed their cocoons and we have moved them
into the butterfly house. We are eagerly waiting for them to emerge as
beautiful butterflies.
In
literacy this week we have been learning lots of different facts about
butterflies; did you know butterflies taste with their feet? And no 2
butterflies are the same, they all have unique patterns? Ask your child if they
can tell you any more interesting facts they have learnt. They have then used
these facts to compile a leaflet providing information all about butterflies
and caterpillars.
Topic
In
topic this week we have started our design and technology learning. We are
designing and sewing our own animal bookmarks. They are already looking
fabulous and we can’t wait to see the finished products by the end of next
week!
P.E. Kit
Please
make sure all of your child’s P.E. kit is labelled. We have had a few cases of
missing items of kit so please can you check your child’s P.E. kit and if there
are any pieces of clothing that aren’t your child’s please bring them back and
give them to your child’s class teacher. Thank you in advance
Have
a lovely weekend.
The
Key Stage One Team
Lower Key Stage 2 Newsletter
It’s been another fantastic week in
Year 3/4. We were visited by Mel, a real archaeologist, on Monday who shared
some of her amazing artefacts and stories about life in the Iron Age. The
children thoroughly enjoyed dressing up as superheroes on Tuesday to really
help them bring their literacy learning to life and we were all very proud
showing off our super learning at our first showcase assembly of the year.
Thank you to all parents and carers who came along to share the celebration
afternoon with us. It was wonderful to see so many children standing tall and
being extremely proud of their efforts so far this year.
Numeracy
This week in numeracy we have continued
to work on our rounding skills by rounding different measures to the nearest
10, 100, 1000 and whole number. Please visit the blog for more information and
extra resources to support your child’s understanding of this topic at home.
Next week we will be turning our focus to the mental and written strategies for
addition and subtraction in preparation for our assessments. We will also be
testing the children on their 7 times tables.
Literacy
This week
has been a ‘super’ week. The children have been creating their very own
superhero and then writing an information text about them, complete with arch
enemies, weaknesses and friendly sidekicks. Next week we will be continuing to
develop our texts, making sure we include LOTS of adjectives to describe.
Please see the blog for extra resources to help your child with their sentence
level learning at home.
These Spellings will be tested
on Monday 6th October. Please support your child in
practicing their spellings every day to help them achieve 10/10 in their
spelling test every week.
Group 1: peas, leaf, meal, team, eagle, jeans,
peanuts, peach, teacher, beast
Group2: metal, petal, capital, natural, hospital,
barrel, travel, cancel, temple, scramble
Other areas of the curriculum:
In PE we have
continued to develop our throwing and catching skills indoors and apply these
skills in game situations during our outdoor lessons.
In Topic this week
the children were visited by Mel, an archaeologist from Manchester University
who came in to speak about life in the Iron Age and the types of burials that
the people were given. She showed us several artefacts and really helped the
children gain a better understanding of just how different life was so long
ago. The children have also begun putting together their information posters to
accompany their models with the hope that they will eventually be placed on
show in Leeds City Museum – watch this space!
In music, 3/4B have begun
to compose their own musical masterpieces using the instruments available on
the iPads. 3/4T have been practising their recorder skills when learning to
play a new song and 3/4M have begun their percussion sessions using a variety
of instruments.
In ICT we have continued
to programme our animations in Scratch in order to tell a funny joke. We have
added movement and speech and will start to look at adding sounds and music
next week. The completed outcomes will be uploaded to the school website and
blog very soon.
Reminders
· Please ensure your child’s labelled PE kit is kept in school from
Monday-Friday every week
· Now the weather is turning cooler, please can we ask that ALL children
wear a coat to school and that it is labelled clearly with their name?
· Please can we ask children to bring in any old newspapers and cardboard
ready for our DT topic next week?
We hope you have a wonderful weekend
in the Autumnal sunshine.
Team 3/4.
Upper Key Stage 2 Newsletter
Upper Key Stage 2
Celebration Assembly
Just
a reminder that our first celebration assembly will be held next week, on Friday 10th October, from
2.30- 3.00pm. We welcome any parents and carers to come and celebrate the
fantastic start that our pupils have made to the year. We will also be opening
the classroom doors after school and giving pupils a chance to share their
wonderful learning. We look forward to seeing you next Friday!
Year 6 Numeracy SAT Workbooks
All
of the Year 6 children have been given a Numeracy Study Guide and a workbook.
The Year 5/6 teachers just wanted to remind all children that if they wish to
bring this in to school to share what they have completed, then they will be
rewarded with a Head teacher’s sticker after every five pages they complete.
The children are more than welcome to bring this in to school to practice
during quiet reading sessions at registration time, however class teachers will
stamp them and reward stickers on a Monday morning when planners are also
checked
Numeracy
In
Numeracy this week pupils have been learning how to subtract larger numbers
quickly and accurately. Pupils have also calculated fractions of amounts and
percentages! We have been blown away by the way pupils have applied these
strategies into some Harry Potter themed problems! Next week in Numeracy we
will be learning all about multiplication, including using strategies such as
the ‘Chunking’ method to multiply whole numbers and decimals. The children will
also be applying these strategies to some theme park area problems.
Literacy
This
week in Literacy, pupils have been writing their very own non-chronological
report - all about Mount Everest! This has been a fascinating topic and some of
the formal language and sentence structure has been extremely sophisticated! Next
week, pupils will turn their attentions to persuasion and write a travel
article all about the Great Barrier Reef! Pupils will spend time identifying
and analysing persuasive features; before experimenting with these features in
their own writing. The spellings for next week are; heather, heat, please,
pleasant, woman, women, mean, meant, fried, friend. Your child has received
a copy of these spellings and will be tested on Friday 10th October.
Topic
During
our Geography sessions this week, pupils have been introduced to the seven natural
wonders of the world. Pupils have been placed into research teams to
investigate a natural wonder. Using their research pupils will be planning an
outcome which will inform their audience of the fascinating detail and history
relating to their selection.
ICT:
In
ICT, the children have been drafting their own posts about our current topic,
‘Our Great Earth’. The children have
successfully logged on to the blogger page as an authorised user, have written
a reflective comment and next week they will be adding a photograph to their
post before they’re published.
Science:
In
science this week we have been identifying, classifying and organising living
things according to their characteristics. The children have been creating
their own questions to classify living things and have then applied these
strategies to creating their own classification systems for sorting living
things according to their characteristics.
PE
In
PE this week pupils have continued to focus on their throwing techniques. This
week pupils have focused on the chest pass. As with previous throwing
techniques, we have looked at the importance of correct footwork and the follow
through when passing. Pupils have impressed with their accuracy in session and
were able to challenge pupils by applying these techniques into drills
involving speed, agility and quickness.
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