Sunday 31 May 2015

summer term...

A super end to the term, all the children have done really well carrying out assessment tasks in literacy and numeracy. We were all super impressed with the effort and concentration from all at the end of yet another busy term. We are hoping they have all had a lovely break and time to relax!?

Topic for this term is the Jurassic Coast - looking at fossils, how they have been made, dinosaurs! Fab trips in searching for more information to learn!
If you have any super fossils or information you think would be good for this topic then please do approach the team and let us know!

 


 

Mostly music!


The Prince of Wales Musical Soiree

If your child has been learning an instrument for a while (not a beginner) or is a member of choir then you should have received a letter to invite you to watch them and their peers perform in the annual school concert. This takes place on Weds 10th June in the school hall at 6pm. We are allocating adult tickets, two per family. If you wish for an extra seat then please let the office know you wish for extra and we will hand out the week before the concert. Thanks!

 

Beginners – Assembly on Monday22nd June at 10.10am

If your child has begun learning an instrument this year then this assembly is for you! Again, hopefully you will have received a letter to invite you. No seat limitations!  These groups include Reception beginner recorder group, Mr Farrington’s Yr 1 recorder group, Miss Johnson’s recorder group, Mrs Thorpe’s beginner uke group and hopefully the Yr 4 children who have started to learn the clarinet this year.  Please join us if you can; will be lovely for the children to get the support from you and their class mates.

Tuesday 19 May 2015

Relationships and Sex Education Parent Information Sessions

We are holding parent information sessions for each class to explain our approach to Relationships and Sex Education as follows:

Monday 1st June                              Reception
Tuesday 2nd June                            Year 1
Wednesday 3rd June                        Year 2
Thursday 4th June                            Year 4
Friday 5th June                                 Year 3

As usual these will be held in the school hall from 9.00 until 9.30.

These sessions are designed to explain how the Jigsaw scheme of work that we are using in common with most other DASP First schools introduces Relationships and Sex education in an age appropriate, progressive way in a short series of lessons within the unit of work called "Changing Me".

Information about this is coming home via a newsletter but we hope these extra parent information sessions will be helpful in explaining the school's approach which has been approved by the governing body.

POWSA Summer Fair Saturday 6th June

At POWSA Towers we've been working hard to prepare for the Summer Fair. On Saturday 6th June we have the annual inter - school football & netball tournaments and running alongside these the chance for you to all enjoy yourselves, have fun and support the school. There will be games to play, candyfloss, burgers and juices to keep you going as well as the chance to cheer on the teams from years 3 & 4. There will be competitions: colouring, scone baking and a Minecraft challenge!

We have already received some initial donations of crockery and will welcome any more donations that you can spare. Please don't donate anything that might make an appearance on Antiques Roadshow but if you have any plates or bowls that are old, chipped or just unloved we will put them to a smashing new use.

There is a sign up sheet at the schools reception, if you can spare some time to help us on the day, be it flipping burgers on the BBQ (we'll supply the apron) or running a game for an hour please let us know, your help and support is greatly appreciated.

We look forward to seeing you there, the football  & netball kick off at 11am

Friday 15 May 2015

super spellers....

Another super week of spellings from the class. Some focussing on words ending with the 'l' sound made up of le or el, tricky! Others focussing on ch, sh, th starters to words. And finally, another group of children working with a very old rule of the silent k or g at the start of a word like 'knock' or 'gnaw'. Very impressive results from all!
 

Monday 11 May 2015

Maths Learning - Week Beginning 4th May

This week the children have been developing their understanding of division using practical methods and their knowledge of times tables to help them to work out their answers.  Children have also had to use their reading skills to answer worded questions, finding the maths and writing their own number sentences / division statements.  Perhaps at home you could practice halving amounts practically or sharing things out fairly?  The children really impressed me at how well they could use their times tables to find answers (very logically) to division questions.

Literacy Learning - Week Beginning 4th May

This week we have been writing play scripts inspired by our class story - Charlie and the Chocolate Factory by Roald Dahl.  Using our own dramatic improvisations which were recorded on our ipads, the children converted these into play scripts taking into account the format of writing plays.  We have decided that we have some budding actors and actresses in year 2 who really enjoyed this hands on approach to developing their writing.  Why not try and write a play script at home or simply recording some direct speech on your phone or tablet and writing it down in play script format?

Friday 1 May 2015

spellings - last week of high frequency words

Our last week of recapping on the words we use a lot in our writing. The children have been doing brilliantly in our weekly test and I'm sure these are looking better in their writing books too! Thank you for the practising you are doing at home with your child; so many can now spell the word 'Dorchester' too!

RE - sense of belonging

We have been talking about our senses of belonging at school and at home with our families. The children have produced their own design of a prayer mat covered with pictures of what they believe gives them their sense of belonging. These are lovely, lots mention love and family as well as pets and football teams!!
We are also looking at how Muslims feel from visiting the mosque what they get from a sense of belonging. We are comparing and contrasting. The children are really inquisitive, they really enjoy finding out about other faiths and the ways people live.