News
Newsletter for the week ending Friday 28th November
Christmas has arrived in school with the sound of festive singing and nativity rehearsals now in full swing. Please check below for their details and we look forward to seeing as many of you as possible.
Please read Around the Classes to find out what has been happening in each class this week.
Dates for the diary
- Turtles and Dolphins nativity, 2pm, Tuesday 9th December @2pm
- Years 1& 2 nativity performances are 2pm Wednesday 10th December and 9.30am Thursday 11th December
- Xmas fair Friday 12th December 3-5pm
- Christmas dinner for pupils and wear your Christmas jumper day Wednesday 17th December
- Years 3-6 Christmas celebration at St Mary’s church, Appledore, 2pm Friday 19th December
- Have a good weekend everybody
From Jeremy Cooper and all the children and staff
AROUND THE CLASSES
This week in Turtles and Dolphins we have continued to celebrate Diwali. On Tuesday Tilly came in to talk to us about how she celebrates Diwali with her family. She brought in lots of clothes and garlands for us to try on. She is taught us a Diwali dance. On Wednesday we compared Diwali to Firework Night and Christmas. On Thursday Lydnsey came to make some Diwali sweets with us. We have also been very practising our Christmas Play.
Year 1 have been creating their own pictures of the Great Fire of London this week. We ripped up paper and tissue paper to create flames, then used strips of black paper to make the houses. Some children also asked if they could include the river and add boats to show how people tried to save their belongings! In Maths we have been looking at repeating patterns and recapping odd and even numbers. We have been talking a lot this week about being kind and how we can show kindness to our friends. It’s been really lovely to have so many children throughout the day let us know how their friends have been kind to them. Keep it up Year 1!
Christmas play rehearsals are now in full swing for Year 2 and they can’t wait to show you their singing and acting in a couple of weeks time. Thank you for all your support with learning lines. In English, they have been writing their own stories and trying to use all the skills they have been learning. There are brilliant stories being written about animals who lose something and they have been a delight to read. In Maths, they have continued with addition and subtraction and have been comparing number sentences. In their History work, they found out about Christopher Columbus and his discoveries.
Year 3 looked at the Trimurti and linked the cycle of creation, preservation and destruction to the four seasons. Year 4 wrote beautiful baptismal prayers that could be read at an infant’s christening. Year 5 looked at Christmas traditions and decided how many of them actually relate to the birth of a saviour. Year 6 considered the differences between living with in different types of Jewish communities. In music, rehearsals continue apace. Information has now gone out about costume requirements. As always we have tried to keep it simple as possible. Many thanks for your support with this.
In Year 3 we have been writing newspaper reports about the volcano erupting in Pompeii. This is the end of this unit of work and we have started our new book based on cave drawings. In maths we have continued to multiply and divide, securing our skills in the 2, 4 and 8 times tables. For science we found out more about fossils and learned about a famous fossil collector called Mary Anning. In history we went forward in time from the Stone Age to the Bronze Age. We looked at artefacts found in the Amesbury Archer’s grave and thought about what we can learn about this period of history from what has been discovered.
In Year 4, the children have finished writing about their walk around Appledore where they have written about the history of Appledore. Hopefully they can remember lots of facts to tell you! The children have begun researching what a Roman villa was like where they will write their own piece of writing “A Walk around a Roman Villa” which will link to their History topic. In Maths, we have moved onto multiplication and division where we established what the word ‘multiply’ means by writing a ‘lots of’ sentence, drawing an array, writing a repeated addition calculation and writing a number story. In Computing, we looked at what an algorithm is and the children practised writing their own algorithm to program their screen turtle. In History, the children storyboarded Boudicca’s rebellion. In PE, the children practised their attacking and defending skills in Netball and they also practised their jumps in the hall. In Science, we have moved onto our new unit ‘teeth and digestion’ where the children learnt about the different types of teeth.
Year 5 have been learning how to multiply three-digit numbers by two-digit numbers. We have completed lots of practice questions, and the children are gaining confidence as they become more familiar with the method. In literacy, we continued our ‘hero defeating the monster’ stories by writing the next part of the battle scene. We focused on powerful action verbs and rich vocabulary to create suspense and drama. Science this week has involved investigating reversible changes. We observed what happened when we heated ice, chocolate and butter, and learned that cooling them again turns them back into a solid, helping us understand how some changes can be reversed. In history, we thought like historians by examining Anglo-Saxon artefacts. The children asked questions, made hypotheses and explored what clues the objects offered about life in Anglo-Saxon Britain. In values, we read and discussed the poem Ship of Friends and had a thoughtful conversation about its meaning. Our PE lessons this week have involved developing a dance based on the theme of recycling. The children created their own routines, using a repeating motif, transitions and canon. They then performed these to each other and offered constructive feedback. In computing, we explored programming Crumbles. The children worked on connecting a Crumble and a Sparkle in a circuit and next week they will experiment with simple programming to control the light
Year 6 have completed their diary entries for Literacy and have now moved on to find out about Harry Clement, an evacuee in World War II, in order to write a biography. In Maths, it’s all about fractions: simplifying and finding equivalent fractions as well as placing them on a numberline. In Science, they have discovered all about the effect of exercise on the pulse and the reasons why it changes. In History they have been putting evidence together to evaluate why Britain won The Battle of Britain. To keep with our war theme, and thinking about ‘make do and mend’, the Christmas decorations for the hoop this year involved using just paper to make Christmas trees. Next week children will be at a multi-skills festival on Tuesday: please remember to come to school in PE kit with clothes to change into afterwards. Some great news after the Cross Country event at Kingsley: Lola has been chosen to take part in The Devon Championship in February, well done!
