News
Newsletter for the week ending Friday 6th February
A week of rain dodging has not stopped another busy week here. Please read the around the classes section to find out what has been going on in each classroom.
Next half term our value is Healthy and children will continue to learn about how they can keep themselves safe and healthy. Included within this is the statutory curriculum for relationship, sex and health education. Please see here for more information, including lesson content.
Dates for the diary:
- Half term theatre workshop Monday 16th February, Shirwell Village Hall see here
- Half term sports camps at Bideford Blues, Sandymere, EX39 1XX on the 16th and 18th February see here
- Half term free Safari Storytime and Play, ages 4-11, 10am-12.30pm, Tuesday 17th February, St Mary’s Hall, Appledore see here
- World Book Day – Thursday 5th March – Children in FSU and KS1 (Turtles, Dolphins, Year 1, Year 2) children can come to school dressed in pyjamas ready for a bedtime story. KS2 children (Year 3, 4, 5 and 6) can choose whether they wear pyjamas or come dressed as a character from a book they have read.
- Sports Day Wednesday 20th May all day for Years 1-6 and the afternoon for Reception/Dolphins. Tuesday 16th June is back-up day should the weather be bad in May. More details to follow nearer the time.
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 continue to learn about the Rainforest. We had a visit from Steve from Exmoor Zoo on Tuesday and he brought in some animals for us to look at that live in the Rainforest. On Thursday we named the different layers of the rainforest and worked out where the animals live. We have also made collages of the animals and finished our paintings from last week.
In Year 1 this week we have finished our bread experiment and talked a lot about the importance of washing our hands. We also learnt about two nurses, Mary Seacole and Edith Cavell. We talked about why they are significant and why it is important that we remember them. In Writing we have enjoyed our No-bot book and have had a go at changing the story so that we can write our own versions next week. In Maths we have been looking at doubles, near doubles and subtraction on a number line. It’s been great to hear so many children have been playing the number bond game at home! The link is on Google Classroom if you would like to have a go.
Last Friday, Year 2 had a great time at outdoor learning making and eating soup. They also learnt the importance of washing their hands to avoid spreading germs. In Maths, they have been learning about multiplication and how to write multiplication sentences. In Year 2, children need to know the 2, 5 and 10 x tables by heart, so if you could practise at home it would give them a head start. In their English work, they have been writing biographies about Grace Darling. In their History work, they have been learning how lifeboats have changed over time. In Computing, they have been making pictograms.
Year discussed God’s promise to never send another flood, Year 3 listed everything that they thought was wrong with the world today and then decided what they would allow on to a modern day ark and would would not make it in! Year 4 played “name that prophet” and realized that many Islamic prophets are also important figures in other religions. Year 5 designed stunning cathedrals to represent the qualities of a divine being which had been listed in an earlier lesson. Year 6 were asked to explain where they stood on the “are science and religion in conflict or are they complimentary?” debate.
Year 3 have been very busy this week completing their units of work for both history and science. We compared the work of Marie Curie to that of Albert Einstein and looked for similarities in their work and what was different. We put this information into a Venn diagram. We worked in groups in science to investigate the human skeleton. The most popular question was ‘Do the tallest pupils have the longest legs?’ In maths we have continued with our work on division and finally have a range of strategies to find he correct answers. We have been planning our own poem about memories and feelings that links with the book ‘If all the world were’. The E-safety session looked at copyright and ownership and we have been getting our slides ready for the values assembly next week.
In Year 4 this week, the children have been busy writing their own poems using The Sound Collector as inspiration. They will publish these in their books when they’ve finished. In Maths, we have come to the end of our unit on multiplication and division and we are spending the next few weeks before half term recapping concepts we have learnt since September, for example this week, we recapped area and perimeter. In Computing, the children learnt how to save their sound clips to Google Drive in preparation for when they officially record their podcasts next week. In History, the children completed a Kahoot quiz consolidating their learning about what they have learnt about how our diet has changed since 1918. As part of outdoor learning, the children started The Royal Society Project where they made bird feeders!
This week in Year 5, we have continued our work on fractions in maths, focusing on how to subtract fractions confidently and accurately. In literacy, the children have finished editing their plague diaries and are almost finished writing and illustrating them. These fantastic pieces of work will soon be displayed in the corridor, so keep an eye out for them. In science, we learned about why we have day and night and how the seasons occur, linking this to the movement of the Earth and the Sun. During values, we consolidated our learning about ‘decider skills’ and worked together to put together a presentation, which we will be sharing with the rest of the school in a values assembly next week.In history, we explored two very different leaders from the Shang Dynasty – Di Xin and Cheng Tang. We discussed the qualities that make a good leader as well as the qualities that can make a poor leader, leading to some thoughtful discussions and pieces of writing.Finally, in PE, we continued with gymnastics, focusing on how to land safely and control our movements.
Year 6 have been learning about substitution and describing and using linear number sequences, using algebra in maths. In Literacy, they have completed their balanced arguments with some very valid points and supporting evidence. In history, they were finding out about Edward Jenner and how he made a significant discovery in the world of medicine and how this impacted life expectancy. In science, they have been learning about Peppered moths: evolution based on natural selection. They explored how different beak shapes could affect survival by testing a simple experiment. Please don’t forget to explore resources for revision under the Booster section on google classroom: children do need to work on retaining information and skills to apply in their work – this will help them at secondary school too! In other news, at Sea Cadets, Lara was awarded The most Promising Junior Cadet and Harry received Junior Cadet of the Year. Congratulations to you both!
