News
Newsletter for the week ending 14th February
The whole school topic on health draws to a close today and there has been some truly fascinating learning as a result, so pleas read on to find out what your children have been up to.
Don’t forget next week is half term and we look forward to seeing you again on Monday 24th February.
AROUND AND ABOUT THE VILLAGE
Free Lego Club
Monday 17th February from 2.30-4pm at Appledore Library.Free fun for the kids with refreshments provided for a small donation.
AROUND AND ABOUT THE SCHOOL
Uniform
I reminder to please check your children are wearing the school uniform. Trainers tend to appear instead of school shoes and headband become increasingly colourful and large! I have spoken to the whole school about it and individuals if required and the repsonse from the children has been excellent. If you are unsure please click here to see what is acceptable uniform and if you are still unsure please do call us before buying new.
Communication
Please ensure that we always have your current contact details, including address, email and all telephione numbers. Thank you.
AROUND AND ABOUT THE CLASSES
This week in FSU we have focused on trains as our mode of transport and we used the story ‘The Train Ride’ to help us with our learning. On Tuesday we read the story and compared old and new trains and then on Wednesday we created story maps detailing the trip that the little went on. We have made trains from tubes and egg boxes and we changed our role play areas into trains and counted the passengers on and off.
Year 1 have had a great end to the term, with a very exciting trip through the storm to the Lifeboat Station on Monday. It was really interesting and we learnt lots about the Lifeboat Station. On the way back we got caught in the hail storm, which was not part of the plan but we all survived! We have written about our visit to the lifeboat station and we have compared today’s lifeboats with Grace Darling’s time. In Maths we have been using the greater than and less than symbols to compare groups of objects and numbers. We have also been finding one more and one less than 2 digit numbers. In PE we have been learning how to do teddy bear rolls and tuck rolls. We hope you all have a fun and relaxing half term break.
Year 2 had a great time walking to the lifeboat station to find out a little bit more about what they do. They asked some really interesting questions and listened carefully to the answers. They even got to climb aboard one of the lifeboats! In the Art studio they have finished their beautiful lifeboat collages which will be on display very soon. In English, they have written information books which will be published after the break. In Maths, they have been learning about division and odd and even numbers. After the break, they will be taking part in outdoor learning sessions on Thursday afternoons, so please could they bring in their Wellington boots. We wish you a happy half term break.
Year 3 have had an amazingly busy week, but they have risen to the challenge and should be proud of their wonderful achievements. They have concluded their work on Marie Curie by publishiing books about her life story, baked many x-ray biscuits and radium cakes and porduced and performed an assembly to the rest of the school about being inspirational! They concluded the week with an open events for parents, which they enjoyed; sharing work and singing to end the half term. The books will be on display on the writer’s wall for everyone to enjoy after half term.
HMS Echo have been working hard in Maths to solve division problems using the short written method. In English, the children have been recapping skills from the half term and publishing their stories which will be up on display after half term. In Science, the children learnt more about the role of each part of the digestive system and worked in groups to present their understanding. In Philosophy, we discussed our big question linked to our Topic ‘Do you think people eat healthier today than they ate 100 years ago?’.
This week we having been completing our work on The Great Plague. We have found out about when there was a plague outbreak in Bideford and the effects it had on the town. We also compared the number of people who died in London during 1665 to the population in North Devon today. By putting it into this context we discovered that the whole of the district (and more!) would have died from the plague. We have completed our maths unit on multiplication and division and will start work on fractions after the break. In science we have continued looking a life cycles and in art completing our collage work. Have a restful half term break.
In Literacy, Year 6 have completed letters or video commentaries as Cameron from ‘Pig Heart Boy’. The letters/commentaries are to their unborn sibling detailing aspects of life which they feel they should pass on, should they not meet due to Cameron’s weak heart. In topic, they have been completing their timelines of major breakthroughs in medicine since 1790 which have had a major impact on the increase in life expectancy. In maths, algebra has involved finding more than one variable to suit an equation and turning problems into algebraic equations. We had a much better turn out for homework this week – thank you. There are going to be some tricky questions sent home for homework, which will go over work covered – some of this is from a while ago. Please try and help your child, where possible, if they don’t understand – talking about their work and how to do things, is some of the best revision at this stage. If they are really not understanding something, there will be a list on the back of the classroom door where they can sign up for help after half-term. We are encouraging children to take responsibility for this element of their learning.
Have a wonderful half term everybody.
From Jeremy Cooper and all the staff and children.
