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24 June 2011

This week, we’re again learning to spell WOW words and to use them in class in the correct context.

Children will be tested on them in class on Friday 01 July, and will be given points for using them correctly in written work and verbally in class.

Here are the WOW words for all groups to learn how to spell and how to use in context:

• scrambled
• trotted
• glanced
• laboured
• grimaced
• tumbled
• stuttered
• staggered
• screeched
• stumbled

24 June 2011

Your homework this week is creative and is due in on Wednesday 29 June.

I can express my opinion about Rebecca’s World.

We’ve been reading Rebecca’s World by Terry Nation. Homework is to produce a piece of work that tells me your opinion of the book.

This piece of work could be:

• Some art work
• A timeline
• A cartoon strip of the story so far
• An interview with you answering questions about as though you were one of the characters
• A prediction of the exciting events still to come

Or…your own even more creative idea!

24 June 2011

The homework this week is ‘Creative’ and is due in on Wednesday 29 June.

I can create a map of a journey I make.

As prospective navigators and explorers, your child will have to become accustomed to creating maps. This is your child’s chance to put their cartographic skills to the test and design a map of a familiar journey. Here are some ideas:

• Bird’s-eye-view map of their route to school / grandparent’s house / friend etc on paper or on a computer.
• A constructed model of a familiar journey using Lego/K’nex etc.
• Another (more elaborate) idea would be for you to make the journey, taking a picture every few seconds.

As always, these ideas are here to inspire you or help if you can’t think of anything. They are by no means compulsory.

24 June 2011

This week’s spellings for Bananas, Oranges and Apples are all adverbs.

They will be tested on Friday 24 June.

24 June 2011

This week’s homework is Practice Makes Perfect. The children will be answering questions about graphs. It’s due in on Wednesday 29 June 2011.

24 June 2011

This week’s spellings are different words that can be used instead of ‘said’. Learning these words will help the children in their writing. These spellings will be tested on Friday 01 July 2011.

Alien Hand Puppets

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vmXQkRf3DGs

Our Summer Fair

The Moortown Primary Summer Fair is on Friday 01 July 2011, 3pm – 5pm.  A big thank you to all the parents who have volunteered to help out so far.  Without your support, events like the Summer Fair can’t happen – we really appreciate it.

We need donations for our Tombola stall, so we will be having a non-uniform day on Friday 24 June. Instead of each child paying money, we’re asking children to bring in an item for the tombola. We’ll welcome donations such as wine, unwanted gifts, toiletries, old jewellery, books…

The Cake Stall has got competitive this year!  There’ll be two competitions:

• most donations per class
• best home baking voted for on the day

Parents of children in Reception and Years 1, 2 and 3 are invited to bake biscuits and buns.  Parents of children in Years 4, 5 and 6 are encouraged to bake cakes and tray bakes.  Please bring donations to the school office on Thursday 30 June and Friday 01 July.

Each class has been allocated a class stall varying from decorating doughnuts to selling hotdogs. If you feel you can assist in helping (by volunteering to help on the day or supply a raffle prize, bake a cake etc) please contact your child’s class teacher or Mrs Maver, who will point you in the right direction.

We’re also offering advertising opportunities in the Summer Fair Programme for any parent and carers who have their own business and would like to promote it to the rest of the school. For information, Mrs O’Malley in the office will be able to help.

Please support this fantastic fundraising opportunity. Money raised goes direct to school. It makes school trips affordable, it pays for sports day medals and prizes and one-off purchases.

How’s my child doing at school?

We’re still waiting on the Key Stage Two SAT results for Y6, but (just like last year) I’m confident that the children performed extremely well. More importantly, their attitudes and behaviour have been excellent throughout the year – a really great year so far.

Children from Y2 to Y5 have also had some end of year assessments recently. These tests help teachers to decide on a final level to give to each child for reading, writing and maths. They only help teachers decide; for example, if a child performed quite poorly in a test but have excelled throughout the year, teachers would quite possibly ignore a test result. In Reception and Y1, teachers base their final assessment entirely on the children’s day to day actions and abilities.

Soon, you’ll be receiving the end-of-year annual report about your child’s attainment, progress and attitude in school. On the report (except the Reception report), teachers use ticks to indicate how your child is doing.  If you’d like to know their actual level, we’re happy to give you this – just ask me or your child’s teacher near the end of the year.

Pupils in Y2 and Y6 are at the end of a key stage. Because of this, parents of these children will receive a letter alongside their reports with the teacher assessment level on it. Parents / carers of Y6 children will also be told the results of the SAT tests.

Here’s a table to show general, national expectations for the end of each year. Letters are used to indicate a higher or lower level eg 2A is a higher level of attainment than 2C, but a lower level of attainment that 3C.

From this, you can see that any child reaching Level 5 at the end of the year is working at a level above national expectations. Well done to Yutaro and Rosie for attaining a Level 6 in Maths this year – about the level of an able 14 year old!

Reception children are not given a level. Instead, they are assessed against criteria and typically reach 6 points in each strand, such as reading or numbers for counting and labels. A point is given when adults observe a child securely showing a particular skill or activity.

SEAL statement 20 June

‘I can change my behaviour for the better’ is our ‘Changes’ SEAL statement for this week. 

As stated in our Positive Relationships policy:

It is the responsibility of pupils to make good choices at all times and with all adults and pupils in school. This will lead to pupils behaving well and building up and maintaining good relationships. Pupils should follow three simple rules to avoid bad choices:

• follow instructions
• use positive language (including body language)
• keep hands, feet and objects to themselves

Therefore a change in behaviour can be made by making positive choices rather than negative choices.  

Working together for good behaviour in schools is a helpful document for parents.