News
Newsletter for the week ending Friday 8th May
A shorter than usual week, but no less busy! Please read Around the Classes section to find out what has been going on in each class.
The Parish Nurse Baby Drop-in Weigh and Health Clinic for parents/carers with babies and toddlers. It offers a free, face-to-face, weigh and health support service by a Nursing and Midwifery Council, qualified Nurse and Health Visitor, with many years’ experience working in the Bideford Community. The nurse (see here for info) is also a certified, lactation consultant and offer free Infant Feeding support alongside the clinic. For more information, please see here and here.
Children’s Commissioner has launched a survey so you children and parents can have their say on what it’s like to be a child or young person in England today. The Commissioner will take your views to the Government, to help them make life better for children. The link to the survey is available here
Dates for the diary:
- Book Festival at Barnstaple library, Saturday 18th May and see here for more information
- Sports Day Wednesday 20th May all day for Years 1-6 and the afternoon for Reception/Dolphins information is here. Tuesday 16th June is back-up day should the weather be bad in May. More details to follow nearer the time.
- Football clubs for boys and girls of all abilities are being run across the region over May half term. See here.
- Appledore’s first ever Pride will take place around the village on Saturday 6th June (see here) and please see here for a competition for children to win £50 and here for story reading in the library
- Tabsfest, in memory of an Appledore Pupil, is a family music festival at The Big Sheep, Saturday 13th June. See here for info.
Wishing you all a lovely weekend.
From Jeremy Cooper and all the children and staff
AROUND THE CLASSES
This week in Turtles and Dolphins we have read a new story. ‘Goldilocks and the three bears’. On Tuesday we had a bag of props and we had to guess the story. We talked about what we already knew about the story and we have loved acting out story. We have used pastels to draw pictures of Daddy Bear and we made new chairs for baby bear. We have been using cubes to measure the heights of different objects and work out which was the tallest and which was the shortest. Then we went to the Jungle to continue our measuring. Don’t forget to look on the Turtle and Dolphin website page to find out more about what we have been up to.
In Year 1 this week we have been finishing off our Hidden Oceans book and made our own lift the flap books about minibeasts. In Maths we have been looking at sharing and grouping. We loved playing a game where we had to see what equal groups we could put the class into! In topic we read a book about what we might find in the oceans and talked a lot about litter. We then drew pictures and labelled them, showing what we might find in the ocean.
Last Friday, Year 2 had a great time using microscopes to look at the creatures they found at the rock pools. They used identification charts and sketched the creatures and seaweed. In Maths, they have continued with fractions and have recognised and found a third of shapes and numbers. In English, they have continued with the Dragon Machine book and have designed machines to carry different mythical creatures. After completing their designs, they wrote about the machines using some of the skills they have learnt so far. In their Science work, they investigated how to change the shape of a solid object by pushing, pulling and twisting. This involved playing a game to make a model duck with modelling clay. They will be finishing their work using the Bee-bots by learning how to de-bug a program.
Year 3 have enjoyed writing their own versions of Cinderella; they have created a new Cinderella and put her into a different setting. We have completed our work on fractions and we can now add and subtract fractions and know how to find a unit fraction and non unit fraction of a set amount. We looked at how plants adapt to different environments in our science lesson and looked at river features and map symbols in preparation for our river trip.
This week in Year 4, we have continued our work on Leon and the Place Between and have composed a practise write as a class. In Maths, we have finished our decimals work with a mini assessment and can see plenty of improvement with our knowledge and understanding. We now move into working with money and problem solving skills. In Geography, we looked at presenting data in a pictogram based on how much water the average person uses in a day. In Science, we have looked at complete and incomplete circuits – testing them to see if they work and explaining why they do or don’t. We continued our work around stereotypes in our values lesson by reading the book ‘Pink is for Boys’. In Guided Reading, we have read chapter 4 and 5 of Wind in the Willows and explored key vocabulary and using retrieval and inference to explore characters in the text. We have enjoyed our swimming lessons and have been building further skills in tennis so that we can begin to rally. Times tables is a real focus for us and we are continuing to try and score 25/25 in our Times Tables Rock Stars!
In English, Year 5 started our new unit on writing non-chronological reports. We have been focusing on Ernest Shackleton’s expedition to Antarctica. We have learned all about Shackleton’s life and achievements and have written their own introductions for their reports. In Maths, we have been working on statistics. The children collected their own data and used this to create fantastic charts, pictograms and bar charts. In Science, we learned about amphibians and explored the life cycle of a frog. The children then wrote their own non-chronological reports, using key vocabulary such as metamorphosis. They were challenged to include this scientific vocabulary accurately within their writing. In Geography, we found out about marine debris and garbage patches in the oceans. The children answered questions on a reading text and discovered more about the important role of oceanographers in helping to tackle the issue of plastic pollution. We also enjoyed another brilliant pickleball session at ARC, where the children continued to develop their teamwork and sporting skills. In Values, we read the story Land of the Red People and discussed why diversity is important and how differences should be celebrated. Next Friday, we have a Science Day. If children could please bring in some plastic recycling it would be much appreciated, as they will be making props for a video!
SATS for Year 6 6 next week and they have been working very hard!
