AROUND THE CLASSES

This week in Turtles and Dolphins we have been celebrating Diwali. We read the story of Rama and Sita and then acted it out. We discussed the different ways that Rama could reach the island to rescue Sita. We now know that it is called ‘The Festival of Light’ and we have looked at photographs of people celebrating Diwali. We have started to make diva lamps and we will finish those next week. We visited the Library in Appledore today to change our library books. On Thursday we enjoyed a workshop with Jodie From West End Schools Production Company. We acted out the story of Diwali through dance and she showed us some Bollywood Dance moves. We are going to create our own dances next week

This week we have had a bonanza of dancing in year 1. On Wednesday the children learnt a food dance in PE. I was really impressed with how the children were able to come up with their own actions for the different ingredients and then put those movements together to form a short routine. On Thursday the children took part in an amazing Diwali workshop which again involved the children learning a dance to retell the story of Diwali. The children’s enthusiasm for dance has been incredible. I am very proud of their efforts and what they have created. \in our topic learning, we continued to develop our mapping skills. This week the children used their teamwork skills to create giant road maps. They then used small world people and animals to populate their creations. I was pleased with how well the children worked together and how they showed an understanding of bird’s eye views. Have a great weekend.

Lundy Puffins had a great time learning and performing a dance based on the Diwali story. They listened very well and were amazing – well done everyone. In Maths, they have been identifying coins and notes. In English, they have been learning how careful ver choices and expanded noun phrases can enhance their writing. This week as part of their topic work, they learnt about endangered animals and why they were under threat. In particular,  they learned about tigers living in India.

This week in Maths Seahunter have been continuing to add and subtract using the column method involving 2 and 3-digit numbers. We have begun to look at missing number problems. In English, the children have started learning about our new text ‘Gregory Cool’ where they have created a storyboard, and looked at the vocabulary used. In P.E we have been continuing learning handball skills and rules by playing some mini games. In Philosophy, we read the story ‘The Tortoise and the Hare’ and the children came up with the question ‘Should you believe what somebody says about somebody else?’

HMS Echo have been very busy writers this week. They have used the evidence they gathered on their trip to Morrisons to look at how they reduce, reuse and recycle to write letters to Morrisons head office. They have explained what they are doing well, what they could improve and explained the reasons why it is important. This is an excerpt from Anya’s letter. She was explainer of the week..’Did you know, it takes 500-1000 years for plastic to biodegrade? The problem is that most plastic goes to landfill. It breaks down into micro plastics and gets washed away into our water systems. We drink the water from those systems and so do animals. Methane gas comes from animal and plant waste and is making the world hotter. The sea level rises and then there will be more floods.’ In addition to letter writing, they have also written some beautifully descriptive stories, retelling the short film ‘The Girl and The Fox’. They have used ambitious vocabulary and worked hard to ‘hook’ their readers in. They are looking forward to reading each other’s stories next week

Year 5 have been writing their own ‘overcoming the monster’ stories.  We are looking forward to reading these to the class (let’s hope they are not too scary!) Our maths this week has focused on finding factors and prime numbers.  We have now started thinking about a formal method for multiplication.  In science we have looked at how babies develop in their first year and then how our bodies change during puberty.  To gain a better understanding of the Anglo-Saxons locally we walked up to Bloody Corner and then along to Boat Hyde. We learned a lot about collecting weather data in our outdoor learning session this week.  We know the name of the equipment needed and the units of measure; we were shown how to enter this data to the Met Office.   All the Christmas cakes are now made so next week will see the start of putting on the marzipan and icing.  It was fun dressing up for Children in Need.

Year 6 have been refining skills with squared and cubed numbers as well as the order of operations in maths this week. In Literacy, they are diary writing – trying to really show a character’s emotions. In science – it’s all about micro-organisms and they’re hoping the bread will go super mouldy and our yeast races work successfully. In topic, they have been answering the question ‘Why was winning the Battle of Britain in 1940 so important?’ Thank you to those who have paid for the WW2 workshop next week – we are really looking forward to it.

01237 474365

admin@appledoreprimary.co.uk

Appledore School
Richmond Road, Appledore, Bideford,
Devon, EX39 1PF