Dear parents and carers,

This week in English the children have worked very hard on their newspaper reports about Shackleton rescuing the rest of his crew from Elephant Island. It took a little bit longer than I had originally planned, but the results are brilliant and really worth the wait. 

In maths we have just started our work on fractions. Again, this is slightly later than I had planned, but the children are already picking it up well. I've really emphasised that the bottom number (denominator) is how many equal parts the whole has been split into, while the top number (numerator) is how many of those parts we're bothered about. We'll be continuing with this work after half term, including looking at changing mixed numbers into improper fractions (e.g. turning 3 and a half into 7/2), adding, subtracting and even a bit of multiplying fractions!

In our science lesson this week the children really enjoyed planning and carrying our their own investigations about electrical conductors. They were surprised that pencil "lead" conducts electricity! 

We'll be continuing with our work on materials after half term, when we'll look at dissolving, separating mixtures of materials, and also look at the difference between reversible and irreversible changes. 

The spellings for over half term are challenge words:
amateur
ancient
awkward
criticise
excellent
foreign
pronunciation
symbol
yacht
equipment

Enjoy your half term, and I hope that the weather clears after the weekend so that the kids can get outside at some point!
Mrs B

Three things to ask your child this week:

1. What did you say your dream or goal was in our PSHE work?
2. Why was Shackleton's rescue of his men from Elephant Island such an incredible thing?
3. What do the numbers mean in a fraction?

Dear parents and carers,

In our English lessons this week we have continued with our work on Shackleton's Imperial Trans-Antarctic Expedition, based on Shackleton's Journey by William Grill. We've found out what happened at the end of the mission, when Shackleton took 5 other men in a small lifeboat on an 800 mile journey to South Georgia, in order to raise a rescue for the rest of his crew, who were stranded on Elephant Island. We've moved on to learning about newspaper articles, and have just started writing our own articles about the rescue, using the sentence stacking approach. Next week we'll be finishing this off in some independent writing time.

​In maths this week we have continued our work on division. This is taking some time but it's important that we nail this technique before we move on to fractions (which will hopefully be next week). I'm really pleased with how hard the children have worked on this- they really have been Steadfast Squirrels to master this difficult task.

We enjoyed learning about thermal insulators and conductors in our science lesson yesterday. The children tested 3 different materials to find out which one would be best for the lining of a lunchbox. 

Please remember that children need a water bottle in school everyday, as well as a suitable PE for indoor and outdoor PE lessons. Lots of my class were a bit chilly during my PE lesson today, as they didn't have jumpers or tracksuit bottoms!

We are now using Spelling Shed and Maths Shed. I am expecting that (unless you have already had a conversation with me about your child's use of Spelling Shed), your child will do a minimum of 4 Spelling Shed games and a minimum of 4 of any of the Maths Shed games over the course of a week. I don't mind if they're spread out or all on one day (although I think that spread out would be a bit more effective). I am finding that some children aren't doing any spelling practice, and are then finding the weekly test more stressful than it needs to be. A lack of speedy, accurate times table knowledge is also causing some issues in maths lessons, so using Maths Shed regularly would really help with this. Your help with this is much appreciated. 

This week's spellings also include silent letters, but this time in different places in the word, instead of the start:
doubt
island
lamb
solemn
thistle
autumn
build
receipt
ascend
disciple

Mrs B

Three things to ask your child this week:

1. Do you think that Shackleton was right to undertake such a dangerous expedition to the Antarctic?
2. How do you do bus stop division?
3. What did you learn about thermal insulators in your science lesson?

Dear parents and carers,

In English this week we have been finding out more about what happened when the Endurance reached the Weddell Sea, near Antarctica. The ship was stuck in ice during the Antarctic winter, and is slowly being crushed by the weight and pressure of the grinding ice. The children learned about motivational speeches (including watching the one given by the President in Independence Day!), and then we built up the first half of a speech that Shackleton might have given, using the sentence stacking technique. After that, the children finished the speeches independently. The quality of the work was really high, and I'm very proud of how the children's writing is progressing.

In maths this week we have finished off multiplication, and moved on to looking at division. The children are finding this tricky, but are working really hard on developing their method. We'll continue to work on this next week. You can help your child with this by practising the games on Maths Shed. I have set a number of games and would like to see that the children have played at least four times.

This week's spellings are all ones with silent letters:
knight
wreckage
writer
knowledge
knuckle
wreath
pterodactyl
mnemonic
wrestler
knife

Again, these are set of Spelling Shed and (unless you have already talked to me about Spelling Shed) I am expecting to see that the children have practised 4 times before the test next Friday. This is preparation for year 6, when they will need to have practised 7 times per week.

Mrs B

Three things to ask your child this week:

1. How do you think Shackleton felt when he realised that Endurance was stuck in the ice?
2. Have you practised your spellings and times tables?
3. What did you find out about materials in your science lesson this week?

Dear parents and carers,

In English this week the children have continued with our work based around Shackleton's Journey by William Grill. The children have thought carefully about what it might be like to go on a voyage like that, and have written in role as a family member, wishing one of the crew luck as they set off, but also explaining their more complex feelings. I have been really impressed with the quality of the content of the writing, but also with the beautiful presentation. We shared some of this writing in our celebration assembly this morning, and it was very well received.

In maths we have continued with multiplication skills. The children are trying very hard and have made lots of progress, but we're not *quite* there yet. I'm going to give it a couple more days, and will be sending home some extra practise sheets early next week. This is something that it would be brilliant if you could have go at with your child. When I think we're ready, we'll move on to having a go at some division- hopefully towards the end of next week. The children are finding it challenging but really have been Steadfast Squirrels this week and shown that they haven't given up.

In science this week we carried out our end of unit assessment, and next week we'll start our new unit, all about changing materials.

In PE this week we tried something a little bit different- OOA (outdoor adventurous activities- although we were inside, because it was cold!). This activities focus on key skills such as communication and teamwork. It was really good to see the children working with other people to solve problems, and we will continuing with this over the next few weeks.

Spellings this week are as follows:
referring
preferred
transferring
reference
referee
preference
transference
difference
inference
conferring

Mrs B

Three things to ask your child this week:

1. How do you think Shackleton's crew felt when they set off on their voyage?
2. What do you need to remember when doing multiplication calculations?
3. What are of the Vikings are you going to research in history?

Dear parents and carers,

This week in English we have been working on writing letters to Ernest Shackleton, to apply to become a member of the Trans-Antarctic Expedition team. The children have worked hard on writing using formal tone, and justifying their reasons using things that they have found in their research. The children are just starting to write their letters out, practising their neatest handwriting.

In maths this week we have continued our work on multiplication. They children are finding this very difficult, so it would be fantastic if you could have a go at the new maths games on Maths Shed, to recap multiplying by 10 and 100 and also basic times table facts. This will help to build the children's fluency, so that the job of multi digit multiplication becomes more manageable. You can find these just by logging onto Spelling Shed as normal, and pressing "Maths Shed" instead. Next week we'll be continuing with this work, hoping to build both speed and accuracy, as well as work with larger numbers.

In science this week we enjoyed observing eggs (both inside and out!) as part of our work on bird life cycles. The children were very sensible, especially considering the amount of raw egg in the classroom! Next week we'll be recapping this work before I assess what the children have learned.
​

There's been a bit of a snaffu with the spelling, so I'm giving the children another week to learn the -able ending words, so I'll test them next Friday on both that list and this new list (time adverbials). Apologies for any confusion.
afterwards
immediately
earlier
eventually
previously
finally
recently
yesterday
tomorrow
whilst

Mrs B

Three things to ask your child this week:

1. How did you persuade Shackleton to take you on his expedition?
2. What methods can you use to multiply 2 digits by 2 digits?
3. What's similar and different about bird/mammal/insect/amphibian life cycles?

Dear parents and carers,

This week in English we have started working on a new book Shackleton's Journey by William Grill. This fantastic picture books tells the story of Shackleton's attempted traverse of Antarctica in 1914. So far we have made really subtle inferences and deductions about the book from the front cover, written about a journey, made inferences about Shackleton's character and also researched one of the crew members. Next week we'll be writing in role to try and persuade Shackleton to take us on this dangerous adventure.

In maths this week we have started working on our multiplication skills, including using the short method for multiplication and also using our knowledge of area to solve two digit x two digit problems. The children were a bit rusty with multiplication at first, but have picked it up really well. We'll be continuing with this next week, with lots of multiplication practise, hopefully reaching multiplying four digits by 2 digit numbers.

In science this week we learned about metamorphosis, and compared the life cycles of insects and amphibians that go through metamorphosis.  The children were fascinated to see how caterpillars turn into their pupa, and how caterpillars can camouflage their pupa's colour to the background. Next week we'll be looking at bird life cycles, and studying eggs.

In science last half term we spent some time learning about chimpanzees and mammal life cycles. For their Christmas present I sponsored a chimp at the Dr Jane Goodall Institute, and the adoption pack arrived this week. Our chimp, Anzac, is about the same age as the children, and lives in a sanctuary as she wouldn't be able to survive in the wild on her own. Yesterday a series called "Baby Chimp Rescue" started on BBC2. It's presented by Dr Ben Garrod, who is a primate specialist and will help rehabiliate  orphaned chimpanzees at a sanctuary in Liberia. I highly recommend having a watch, and thinking about how we might be able to help these endangered and special creatures. The website for the programme is here: https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m000d8xb

This week's spellings are all -able words:
changeable
noticeable
manageable
agreeable
knowledgeable
replaceable
microwaveable
salvageable
rechargeable
irreplaceable

Mrs B

Three things to ask your child this week:

1. Have you got your pair of indoor shoes in school?
2. What does metamorphosis mean?
3. What sort of person was Ernest Shackleton?

Football Report
When we arrived we did a few short warm ups and then we received the news that we have changed group fro group A to C. We lost our first match 2-1 to Windmill. Then we won a match 2-0 and another match 2-1. In the end we got to the quarter finals and then got knocked out. By Charlie, Thomas and Harry. 

Dear parents and carers,

Wow- what an amazing week we've had!

The highlight for me has to be Wednesday, where we welcomed a swathe of special guests to the school. Firstly we had Oxford University's a capella group Out of the Blue, who kindly spent the whole day in school, working with all of KS2. Year 5 really enjoyed our workshop, learning how to sing The Lion Sleeps Tonight in 5 part harmony! The children were amazed when Out of the Blue performed for everyone at the end of the school day too. The Frozen medley was a real high point for the children, but hearing the Beach Boys classic God Only Knows was wonderful for me. 

That evening it was fantastic to welcome Bishop Colin to our KS2 carol service. The readers did a wonderful job with their nativity play, and all of the children sang beautifully. We work very hard to organise and arrange this service, so it was great to have so much positive feedback from parents and governors about the event.

In the classroom, year 5 have been working hard this week on reading and maths assessments (including arithmetic and reasoning/problem solving) in order to show me everything that they've learned since September. I've not marked the maths yet, but I am really pleased with how much effort they have put in. During our other English lessons this week, the children are working really hard on editing, revising and redrafting their stories inspired by Cosmic. They have all really knuckled down and have worked for extended periods of time on this writing, which shows how well the class are maturing as writers.

In science we ran an investigation to see what the best design was to carry a seed the furthest. We tried a variety of designs, but found that the parachute style ones work best. We think that this is because they have the largest surface area.

Out of the Blue to perform at Appleton Primary School!

Mrs Barker is thrilled to announce that the Oxford University a capella group, Out of the Blue, will be performing at school for the children next Wednesday, 11th of December. Each KS2 class will have a singing workshop with the group, before the choir give a whole school performance at the end of the day. 

We are particularly excited to welcome Out of the Blue to school as former pupil Rhys Surtees is a member of the choir. He was part of Mrs Barker's first class, back in 2007!

Everyone at Appleton Primary would like to thank the Appleton Trust for their kind donation to pay for this special event.

Dear parents and carers,

In our English lessons this week, the children have been working on writing the first draft of their stories about Liam and Florida's adventures in space, inspired by Cosmic. Next week we'll be working on editing/revising and redrafting these stories. We'll also be building on our work this week on reading comprehension skills by having a go at a reading comprehension paper.

In maths this week we've tackled the tricky challenge of perimeter and area, including rectangles and compound shapes. The children have found this hard, but have worked really hard and are getting there! Next week we'll be consolidating this, and also doing an arithmetic and a reasoning maths paper.

We have a really busy week next week, including our "Out of the Blue" day on Wednesday. I'm sure that the children will really enjoy the workshop and the performance, and I'm looking forward to hearing one of my former pupils sing!

I wasn't in school this morning, so I'll do the spelling test on Monday. Next week's spellings will be:
accommodate
available
controversy
dictionary
marvellous
opportunity
secretary
sincerely
suggest
twelfth
This is a set of tricky challenge words, so I just need to see that the children have had a good go at learning them. I'll test these next Friday (13th December) as usual.

Mrs B

Three things to ask your child this week:

1. What do "area" and "perimeter" mean?
2. What do you know about how choirs work?
3. How is the first draft of your story going?