News
Newsletter for the week ending Friday 1st December
A very full week of learning, trips, more rehearsals and our Christmas hoops are springing up on our main corridor – more to follow… Please come and take a look! Please read around the classes section of this post to find out what has been happening in and around all the classes this week.
Please be aware Christmas Jumpers can be worn by children on Christmas Dinner day (14th for year 5, 13th of December for everyone else).
With Devon CC waste schools education programme we have completed a whole school waste audit and the results are very encouraging.
- 5.16 kg mass of waste our school sends to landfill in one day
25 g mass of waste the school sends to EfW/landfill per pupil per day
14.99 kg mass of organic waste per day
82 % of the school’s waste IS BEING recycled or composted (this is very high for a school!)
Our Eco Ambassador pupils have an action plan so we can be even better!
Contrary to what some people may believe (or remember!), the last few weeks of term are important and not solely films and purposeless activities. At the end of term, sequenced programmes of study are concluded and vital assessments are conducted to enable staff to know exactly what needs addressing right at the start of the next term. First week back is equally important, because that is when new programmes of study begin and missing the start of a teaching sequence immediately disadvantages the children. Of course there will be Christmas celebrations and other festive fun whilst essential teaching and learning is underway, so please ensure your child’s attendance is good over this festive period.
A few diary dates:
- Christmas fair 3.30-5pm, Friday 8th December, bottom playground
- St Mary’s Church, Appledore, Christingle Service December 10th at 4pm
- Turtles & Dolphins nativity 5th December 2.30pm and 5,15pm start, school hall. Children to school 4.45pm for second performance please
- Year 1&2 nativity 11th December 2pm and 12th December 9.30am, school hall. Due to limited space, please attend only the one performance
- Pupils can wear Christmas jumpers the day of their Christmas meal 14th December for Year 5 and 13th December all other years
- Christmas service for years 3-6 Friday 15th December, 2pm, St Mary’s church.
Wishing you all a super weekend.
From Jeremy Cooper and all the children and staff
AROUND THE CLASSES
This week in Turtles and Dolphins we have been reading the story Stick Man. We have repeated the phrases in the story and helped to retell it. We talked about what Stick Man could turn into. Today we went to the Woods to make a Stick Man and a Leaf Man. We have also been busy making reindeers by printing our feet on to paper to hang from our Christmas hoop.
This week year 1 have carried on learning about 3D shapes and started recapping 2D shapes. In Writing we sequenced the story of The Three Little Pigs and learnt what adjectives are. We then had a go at using adjectives in sentences where we described different parts of the story. We have been busy rehearsing our Christmas play and also made some clay decorations to start getting us in the Christmas spirit!
Christmas play practices are underway for Lundy Puffins (year 2) and they have been working hard to speak loudly and clearly when saying their lines. Thank you for all your support with learning and practising the lines. In Maths, they have been learning about 2D shapes and have had fun making different shapes with modelling clay and sticks. In English they have all written brilliant stories based on the book: Augustus and his smile. They tried hard to use all of their writing skills to make their writing entertaining. Well done everyone!
Year 3 have had a fantastic week! In Maths, we have been learning all about the multiples of 2, 5 and 10 and have been using this knowledge to answer reasoning questions. In English, we have become journalists and we have been writing our own newspaper articles to describe the eruption of Mount Vesuvius in Pompeii. In Values, we thought about our similarities and differences. We discussed what makes each of us unique and why we should celebrate our differences. In PE, we have been continuing to focus on our jumping and landing skills and created our own jumping combinations in pairs. On Wednesday, we went on a very exciting trip to Rosemoor where we learnt all about deciduous and evergreen trees and we went foraging for some things to use to make some Christmas crafts. We used our foraged goods to create Christmas cards and a wreath. We also planted a pea snowman and we can’t wait to watch the peas grow.
In HMS Echo (year 4) this week, the children have begun learning about poetry, and we have read a variety of different poems. We have also had a go at performing different poems in front of the class which has been entertaining! We will use these poems as inspiration to eventually write our own. In Maths, we have been learning our different times tables, particularly the 6, 7, 9, 11 and 12 times tables. In PE, we focused on shooting this week in netball, and working together as a team to score. In Science, we have looked at the digestive system, and labelled the different parts of the body that are part of the digestive system. In History, and also part of our outdoor learning, we looked at Hadrian’s Wall during the Roman period, and why this was so significant
It has been a really busy week for year 5 rehearsing the KS2 nativity play. Well done to everyone for learning their lines so well. You should now have received a text letting you know what costume is required. Please bring it into class, next week, in a named bag. We have been writing a range of poetry in our literacy lessons; Haiku. Tanka and Renga poems (all forms of Japanese poetry). In maths we have completed the multiplication and division unit and started our work on fractions. The end of term assessments have been completed in maths; very good results for most of the class, but all showing good progress. We have continued to look at what happened when the Vikings arrived in Appledore and evidence that can still be seen today. Please look at the robins we have been sewing in the main corridor. These will come home at the end of term to go on your Christmas trees.
Year 6 have been adding and subtracting fractions in Maths – applying their timestable knowledge to find common denominators. They have been writing a biography about Harry Clement in Literacy, working on cohesion between their paragraphs. They have also been completing experiments to find the effect of exercise on heart rate in Science as well as practically looking at how blood flows around the body in Outdoor Learning. In RE they drew a seder plate and have been practising for the Christmas church performance in music. Another busy week.
