News
Newsletter for the week ending Friday 27th September
A busy week dodging the rain with lots going on, as reported in Around the Classes below, including book festival author visits, so please read on…
FOAS (Friends of Appledore School, ie our Parents Association) is holding their annual general meeting this evening at 7pm in our Art Studio. The art studio is the building at ethe bottom, of our front playground. everybody is welcome.
Please click here for an overview of what your children will be learning each term this year.
Clarification regarding the 48 hours absence rule regarding diarrhoea and vomiting.
A change in bowel pattern in young children that has resulted in liquid or semi-liquid stools within a 24 hours period necessitates 48 hours absence from school after symptoms have stopped and provided your child is well enough to return. Vomiting on more than one occasion during 24 hours necessitates the same period of absence. If your child is unsure and you are unsure what to do, please call the school when your child is ill for guidance. If your child is able to attend school following such a call, please be reassured that we will keep an eye on your child and if we become aware of further diarrhoea, vomiting or other related symptoms we will notify you for collection of your child.
Dates for the diary:
- Stories and Fun, 10am-11am Saturday 1st November, Bideford Family Centre, Victoria Park, Bideford
- Years 3-6 Harvest Festival, 2.15pm, Wednesday 16th October at St Mary’s Church
- Year 3-6 Christmas Service, afternoon of Friday 20th December, St Mary’s Church (time to be confirmed)
Have a lovely weekend everybody
From Jeremy Cooper and all the children and staff
AROUND THE CLASSES
This week in Turtles and Dolphins we have continued learning about our senses and we have focused on ‘touch’ and ‘hearing’. We have had lots of different feely bags where we have had to touch the objects and describe them for our friends to guess. On Thursday we went to the woods. Each adult had a word and we had to find natural things in the woods that matched the wood e.g. spikey, bumpy. Today we have played lots of listening games and we have had to guess the sound.
We have had another great week in Year 1. The children had another surprise arrival of a toy called Cheeky Helicopter. They have enjoyed thinking about what type of character the helicopter could be and have once again come up with some fantastic ideas for what she could get up to around school. Next week we will be using these ideas to create our own stories. For our topic work we looked at penguins in Antarctica and how they have adapted to survive the cold conditions. We also talked about the life cycle of a penguin to link into our science work. Today the children learnt how to log onto the school computers, they were so excited to get to use them. In art we have been learning how to draw different types of lines and patterns using sketching pencils.
Year 2 had a great first session in the Art Studio on Thursday. They tried out different drawing techniques and were able to create their own bee picture using what they had learnt. On Friday morning they took part in outdoor learning and looked at different habitats. In English they wrote new stories about Traction Man and are looking forward to writing stories about their own toys next week. Comparing objects and numbers was the focus in Maths as well as using the greater than and less than symbols. They found out all about bees in Science and thought about what they could do to help them.
Year 3 looked at what the Bible tells us about creation and sequenced the things that were made on each day. Year 4, considered the impact that praying 5 times a day a specified times may have on your daily life. Year 5 looked at a Hindu text and explored how the imagery relates to samsara which was studied the previous week. Year 6, looked at the story of Moses and then exodus and represented it dramatically. In music, harvest rehearsals continue a pace and it is coming together very nicely. Notes about costumes will be coming out to appropriate year groups but we are keeping it simple as before. Any help you can give with providing the required clothing will be very much appreciated. We intend to put on a good show for you.
Year 3 have had a wonderful week! In Maths, we finished our topic on place value by comparing and ordering 3-digit numbers and we then used this knowledge to answer a variety of reasoning questions. In English, we finished reading Lord of the Forest and we planned our own version of the story in a different setting with a different main character. In Science, we planned our own investigation to test whether opaque, transparent or translucent objects create the darkest shadows. We discussed what we needed to do to make our investigation a fair test. In Geography, we recapped the different climate zones around the world and then we thought about which animals and plants are found in different climates and how they are adapted to live there. In PE, we continued to focus on our coordination and static balance and we worked in pairs to copy each other’s footwork pattern, speed and route.
In Year 4 this week, we have been busy writing a story together as a class like Meerkat Mail, called Kitty Cat Mail! This is in preparation for the children to write their own voyage and return story next week. In Maths, we have been comparing and ordering 4 digit numbers and solving problems with these. In Computing, we have been learning about ‘how does the internet work?’ where they have been doing their own research and creating a Google Slides presentation about what they have learnt. In Geography, we have been learning about the Lapwing and why it is classed as ‘red’ and what the RSPB are doing to protect them. The children are designing an interpretation panel to inform people about what Lapwings are. In Science, we practised reading temperatures on different thermometers. In PE, we have been practising the different ways we can move, turn and jump in a space as part of a routine.
Year 5 started the week with a visit from the author Steve Cole. We also listened to Hamza Yassin talk about his new book, Hamza’s Wild World, and learned many new and interesting facts about animals. We have started to draft a new story, based on the Tear Thief, using the plan we created last week. In maths we have continued with our addition and subtraction skills. We used our mapping skills in geography to look at the docks in Southampton and using an OS map to locate key features on an aerial view photo. We looked at reversible and irreversible changes in science and talked about staying safe when using online technology. It’s been great that so many of you have been visiting secondary schools this week, thinking about what setting you would like to apply for next year.
Year 6 have been using The Princess’ Blankets as a stimulus for practising writing skills in Literacy. In maths, it has been more place value work: ordering and comparing numbers, as well as placing them on a numberline. In science, they have made their own classification keys and in PE they played handball – working on the skills of a long pass and dribbling. They have responded well to their first week of homework and seem to be gradually picking up their pace of work as we expect in Year 6. They have been lucky to see the author Justyn Edwards this week and receive their own book – a huge thank you to the Appledore Book Festival for this. A very positive week, well done.
