News
Newsletter for the week ending Friday 17th January
A super week that has flown by! Please take a look at the Around the Classes section to find out what has been happening.
Are you or your child interested in trying out Taiko drumming? If so, please see here. Adult lessons also available.
If necessary, pupils may wear a smart watch provided it is not a distraction. If the watch does prove to be a distraction, please be aware they will be removed and we will request it is not worn to school.
Wishing you all a good weekend
From Jeremy Cooper and all the children and staff
AROUND THE CLASSES
This week in Turtles and Dolphins we have started our new topic ‘Around the World’. We have been finding out the Arctic. We looked at Google Earth and compared the Arctic to Appledore. We identified the school, the playground and the field. Then we noticed that the Arctic is all white where Appledore is more green. We know that igloos are built in the Arctic and we have had a go at building our own igloos. We have also drawn pictures of igloos using chalk and had a go at printing them.
In year 1 this week we have been keeping a weather diary to support our science work and writing focus. We compared nonfiction and fiction texts that we have read. Then we looked at a variety of non-fiction books trying to spot different features like a contents page, headings, photographs, glossary. In history this week we learnt about Florence Nightingale and how she is a significant person. We found out about how she changed the ways hospitals worked and the importance of nursing. During PE we have started to learn different gymnastics skills and holding balances on apparatus.
This week, year 2 have been reading a new book in English. It’s a biography about Amelia Earhart. They have picked out the key events in her life and have sequenced pictures from the book. In Maths, they have continued to learn about money and have found ways to make £1 and added different amounts of money together. In their History learning, they have found out about Grace Darling and why we remember her. They are looking forward to an outdoor learning session today (Friday) where they will be learning about lifecycles.
In R.E. year 3 explores the story of Noah and the Ark and found frozen pictures to depict key moments in the story. Year 4 discovered how the word of Allah was revealed by the angel Jibril to the Prophet Muhammad. Year 5 compared what they thought the properties of a divine being are to how the Bible describes God. Having written the story of the three little pigs in a variety of different genre, year 6 considered what genre Genesis is and how this affects our understanding of this text. In music, year 3 rehearsed their graphic score, year 4 layered their cyclic patterns and year 5 composed using the pentatonic scale.
Seahunter class (year 3) have had a wonderful week! In Maths, we learnt how to multiply a 2-digit number by a 1-digit number and thought about the links between multiplication and division. In English, we began reading Fantastically Great Women Who Changed the World, and we wrote noun phrases to describe Gertrude Ederle and wrote about her achievement swimming across the English Channel. In Science, we researched the human skeleton and labelled all the bones that we had learnt. We discovered that the longest bone in the human body is the femur and the smallest bone is found in the ear, called the stapes. We also took part in some fun outdoor learning where we recapped our learning from last half term about how fossils are formed and then we had a go at creating our own fossils. In Computing, in our e-safety lesson, we discussed what it means to know someone, and explained the differences between knowing someone online compared to offline.
In year 4 this week, the children have been multiplying and dividing whole numbers by 10 and 100. In English, the children have been practising writing expanded noun phrases and fronted adverbials in a fantasy style that links with the book Jack and the Dreamsack. In Science, they looked at some pictures of some animals skulls and worked out whether they were carnivores or herbivores just by looking at their teeth. In History, they learnt about rationing and that it was introduced in 1918. In PE, they practised their balancing skills whilst balancing a beanbag on their heads and they also took part in some partner balances in gymnastics.
Year 5 have continued with our writing about the great plague. The class are really interested in what happened during this time of history and are writing some amazing historical stories. In maths we have been looking at how to subtract fractions from mixed numbers, and, although we can complete the calculations, we are still struggling to simplify our answers. Hopefully this will make more sense when we continue with this element of the work next week. In science we have looked at more facts relating to space and getting ready for our interactive space workshop next week. We have been looking further into the discovery of the oracle bones and thinking about the kind of questions emperors would have been asking the priests. We had a great day at ARC this week, taking part in a multi-skills festival. Everyone worked hard and showed good sportsmanship and resilience. Well done Y5, you represented the school amazingly well. We have talked about the upcoming Bikeability course and finding out who would like to take part in this and who would like to do the half day ‘learn to ride’ a bike. Further details will be sent home soon, but please respond promptly as spaces are limited.
Year 6 have been using ratio in drawing this week as well as applying it to problem solving in maths. In Literacy, they have written a diary entry as Cameron and are thinking about the style of writing needed to form a persuasive argument. In history, they have been looking at how life in the 1500s-1840s still only had a low life expectancy and the reasons for this. It was great to see so many children attending Booster classes this week and working hard.
