News
Newsletter for the week ending Friday 13th October
Tickets are still available for the Halloween Discos tonight. Please contact the office before 4.30pm to get one.
Our House captains have launched our House Photography Competition once again and the theme this year is Rebuilding. The theme can be interpreted however you like and entries will also be submitted to the Rotary Club Young Photographer competition. Entries by 1st November emailed to admin@appledoreprimary.co.uk or a printed version handed in to the office.
Any donations of dried or tinned food and fruit and veg as part of our harvest can be left with the school office staff and we will arrange for it to be used by Harbour Bideford. Harbour Bideford support homelessness in the Bideford area.
We have been contacted by a local Toy Bank charity that helps families finding it difficult to pay for Christmas presents for their children. If you would like more information please contact jeremy.cooper@appledoreprimary.co.uk We are familiar with this charity before and please be reassured that all enquiries are treated respectfully and with discretion.
We are exploring the possibility of providing cooked lunches for children in years 3,4,5&6. If you have not already completed the survey helping us to understand the demand and viability of providing this service, please click here to do so. Thank you.
Around 50% of children will experience sleep problems. Please click here for information and a helpline for support.
Wishing you all a super weekend and please read on to find out what has been happening in each class.
Diary Dates
- Halloween disco 5-6pm reception and years 1&2, 6.30-7.30pm years 3-6 Friday 13th October. Tickets £3 STILL AVAILABLE from the school office
- Christmas fair 3.30-5pm, Friday 8th December, bottom playground
- Tuesday 24th October, 2,30-4pm at Round House Halloween crafting aimed at 5-8 year olds. Please click here for more information.
- Open to all parents, carers and grandparents is a baby and toddler group at St Mary’s church hall, Appledore, every Monday morning 10am-12pm. Please click here for more information.
From Jeremy Cooper and all the children and staff
AROUND THE CLASSES
This week in Turtles and Dolphins we have been learning about Autumn. On Tuesday we went down to the woods to look for signs of Autumn. We found lots of conkers, apples, acorns and autumn colour leaves. On Wednesday we found out what the word hibernation means. We have made repeating leaf print patterns and practiced our cutting skills making hedgehogs. Today we had our first visit to Appledore Library where we changed our library books.
In Year 1 this week we have been learning to use time connectives and the conjunction ‘and’ in our writing! We have worked super hard on our writing this week and have been thinking about where the letters should sit on the line. In Maths we have been looking at the part-whole model and using it to write number sentences. We used cubes and counters to help us. In RE we’ve been thinking about Harvest and watched some videos about how farmers are harvesting wheat, we then made our own pizzas!
Year 2 have had another good week. In English, they have started to look at a new book called ‘How to Wash a Woolly Mammoth’. They have learnt some of the pages and had a chance to act out some of the book by washing toy mammoths and interviewing each other. In Maths, they have been looking at number bonds to 10 and 20. I’ve put a game on Google Classroom that you may want to use to carry on practising number bonds at home. On Wednesday afternoon we had a visit from the Fire Service education department. They come in every year to visit children in years 2 and 5 to talk to them about fire safety. There have been two outdoor learning sessions this week and in one of the sessions they had the chance to make seed bombs using the bee-friendly plant seeds they collected at the Quince Honey Farm.
Thank you to everyone who joined us at the church on Tuesday for our Key Stage 2 harvest celebration. The children were magnificent and performed with confidence and skill and they very much enjoyed performing for such a warm and receptive audience. Thank you also for supplying the lovely costumes – the children looked like they really were dancing at a harvest supper – and for your help with the learning of the song lyrics. I cannot believe it but after half term it will be all systems go for our Christmas celebration!
Seahunter (year 3) class have had a brilliant week. We learnt all about the different layers of a rainforest and then drew and described each layer. In maths, we have been focusing on adding and subtracting ones, tens and hundreds to 3-digit numbers and challenged ourselves to answer some word problems towards the end of the week. In Guided Reading, we have started reading ‘Lost Species’. We have read about some different extinct species and have been focusing on our retrieval skills. In Values, we continued our learning on ‘responsibility’ and thought about why it is important to have rules and how they help us stay safe. In PE, we have been exploring footwork and coordination and thinking about different ways to move from one place to another using different footwork patterns.
In HMS Echo (year 4) this week, the children have been busy learning about our new story in English “Little Evie in the Wild Wood” where we have taken some words and phrases and practised writing in the style of the author, especially by trying to create a tense atmosphere using short sentences. In Maths, the children have begun addition and subtraction, where we are using the column method to answer four digit calculations. In Geography, we looked at sustainable development in Exminster, where they’re building scrapes to help a bird called a Lapwing, which is in decline and flagged as ‘red’. In Science, we have looked at how materials and water can change state. The children have practised really hard over the weeks practising the Harvest festival, and their hard work really did pay off on Tuesday, so well done Year 4!
Year 5 have started to read about women in science for their biography writing. So far we have found out about Rosalind Franklin and Caroline Herschel. In maths we have completed the unit of work on addition and subtraction and begun to look at multiplication and division skills. We had an outdoor learning session which linked with the work we have completed this week on Fairtrade. The Y5 fire safety talk happened this week and all are aware of dangers in the home and the importance of making an escape plan. Let’s hope the weather improves for our residential next week (pack plenty of clothes!!)
Year 6 have been learning the rules of divisibility in maths – as well as using common factors and multiples. In Literacy, they have published some beautiful books with their stories in. They have looked at another case study for Geography about the effects of climate change or had their art session using drawing skills. In RE, they made a Sedar plate and had the chance to try bitter herbs! Please check payments for our 2 trips the week after half-term.
