Wooden Hill Primary and Nursery School Parent Portal - The Wooden Post

14 February 2020

Dear Parents and Carers,

Thank you to all of the parents who came to the Parents’ Consultations this week. I do hope that you found them useful and informative.

Yesterday we sent out a letter and a link for completing the parent survey. Please could I encourage you to complete this as it does provide us with really useful information.

We are pleased to welcome two new members of staff, Mrs Wood and Mrs Harris, to the staff team who will be starting shortly after half term.

I hope you all have a wonderful half term break.

Mrs Lagares

Celebration Assembly

Congratulations to the following children who were awarded certificates for their achievements last month.

Maths:

Noah J, Riley L, Archie B, Alfie R, Bailey I, Darius D, Billie R, Imogen A, Amber Tipett, Charlotte P, Caiden T, Tyler B, Harrison S, Grace T, Ruby H and Megan KS.

Writing:

Harley B, Seryn E, Abby R, Max M, Noah G, Zakariya B, Beau S, Alfie H, Poppy M, Kieran G, Holly C, Angela N, Freddie M, Nat L and James W.

Super Star:

Amelia B, Finn PT, Ella N, Poppie L, Ava H, Kian C, Abishola K, Riley W, Archie D, Cody C, Alfie H, Toby E, Millie W and Oscar H.

Respecting our Neighbours

We have received a few complaints from local residents regarding children climbing and walking on walls. Please can you ensure that children do not do this, not only for their safety but also out of respect to our residents.

Thank you for your co-operation.

Reception Roundup

Over the last couple of weeks the children have been looking at the books ‘Here come the Aliens’ written by Colin McNaughton and ‘Whatever Next’ that linked to the ‘How will we get there’ topic for this term.

The children have had great fun designing their own aliens, they have drawn and planned what their Alien looks like, given it a name and written about the planet it comes from. They had so much fun exploring different sensory materials,like space gloop, playdough, colour mixing as well as designing their own planets.

In maths the children have been counting and sorting numbers 1-20, looking at 1 more and 1 less from a given number, as well as looking for 3D shapes in the classroom. This is something that you could do at home e.g what shape is a can of beans? It’s a cylinder etc.

Please continue to hear your child read through the holidays and focus on blending their sounds.

Year 1 Roundup

In English the children began reading a new story 'If the dinosaurs came back'. Using the book the children enjoyed freeze framing as a whole year group, acting out different parts and then on the word ‘freeze’ stood still and they guessed what each group were doing. We looked at plurals within the story, identifying when 's' and 'es' are used. The last part of the week involved changing the story, thinking of new ideas and planning our own story. Finally the children enjoyed using all their learning to write a story.

The children have been very busy in Maths comparing addition and subtraction number sentences and learning to subtract from 20. The children solved number sentences and then used the symbols greater than and less than to compare numbers. They have also been looking at different resources that can help them including number lines, tens frames, Carr bars and bar models.

Last week the children thoroughly enjoyed a dinosaur day. During the themed morning they got to make skeleton dinosaurs, clay footprints, bone shaped cookies, split pin dinosaurs, fossil hunting in the sand, imaginative dinosaur play, stencil drawing, playdough dinosaurs, helped free dinosaurs in ice and volcano making.

Finally the children got to meet a Police Officer. On Thursday 30th January they were delighted to meet PC Whiteside who came to talk to the children about her job. They were fascinated to hear about all the exciting adventures she gets up to and how she helps people and keeps us safe.

We hope you all have a wonderful half term and look forward to seeing you again in a week

Year 2 Round Up

Miss Smart and Miss Bolton just wanted to say a huge well-done to the children for their hard work this half term. We hope they have a really relaxing break, and enjoy the time spent with loved ones.

The children have had an extremely busy term and have absolutely loved learning about space and Tim Peake, and both Miss Smart and Miss Bolton have admired the children's curiosity to research more facts outside of school. There have been many pictures of planets, and fact files about Tim Peake!

The start of the term begun with our exploration of the book 'Beegu' which we are sure will remain in the children's memories for years to come. Who could forget an alien crash landing into the classroom!

Last Friday the children enjoyed a "Rocket Launching Day" where they got to design and decorate rockets. Building the rockets allowed the children's learning to come alive. They used cardboard tubes, card and tissue paper to build their creations and Miss Smart and Miss Bolton were incredibly impressed with the detail the children achieved. Each child's rocket was incredibly unique!

In maths the children have been looking at 'statistics', learning how to make a tally from information gathered in the classroom from one another (based on our favourite ice-cream!). They have been interpreting and constructing simple pictograms, tally charts and block diagrams. Lastly the children got to ask simple questions about the data gathered such as 'which is the most/least popular?' 'what is the difference between chocolate flavour and strawberry flavour?

Have a great half term holiday.

Year 3/4 Roundup

Year 3 have been learning all about money and on Friday the children got to put all their learning into practise and ran their own shop! They used money to buy and sell items and made sure they were giving each other the correct change when paying for something. I think they may just like to help out with the shopping at home now!

In maths Year 4 have have been learning about area. The children have learnt that area is the amount of space inside a boundary of a 2 dimensional shape and they also now know that to find the area of a shape, they just need to know the length and width, then multiply them together!

In History we have been learning about the Ancient Greeks and have been focusing on the Greek Gods. The children have been super busy researching about the many different Gods, and then got to choose their favourite to present to the class.

Enjoy the holiday.

Year 5 Roundup

Year 5 were lucky enough to have a visit from the Red Watch at Bracknell Fire Station. Jay class were shown all the different tools and pieces of equipment the fire engine contained and even got to sit inside! Meanwhile, Woodpecker class had a talk about fire safety and had the opportunity to try on the safety equipment. Unfortunately, the team were called out to an emergency but are hoping to return soon to complete their visit.

In Maths, Year 5 have continued their work on fractions. They have made video tutorials to share how to compared fractions with different denominators.

In English, Year 5 have written stories based on The Secret Garden. They published these stories beautifully before reading them to their Year 2 reading buddies.

In Science, Year 5 have created information pages to show off what they have been learning about materials. They worked independently to design the layout of their page and decide which information and pictures would be on it.

In computing, Year 5 have finished their projects about famous scientists. They have researched scientists who have discovered or created new materials and used publisher to create a leaflet to present their information.

Have a great half-term.

Year 6 Update

Last week, the children went to visit their local secondary school, Easthampstead Park, not once but twice.

On Wednesday, both Year 5 and Year 6 were invited to watch the schools' production of Peter Pan, the children had a great time and got to see a few old Wooden Hill students performing!

On the Thursday, Year 6 went for their first 'Aspirations' session. During the session, all the children took part in singing, dancing and drama with the theme of Matilda.

All the children got together this week to present their Science projects. For the last couple of weeks the children have been exploring Charles Darwin and the Galapagos Islands. Working together in small groups the children had to think of a question and then finding the answer to it. Some children made PowerPoint presentations, some created models and some did both!

The questions which were answered were:

How were the Galapagos Islands formed?

What is evolution?

What did Charles Darwin discover?

What do we know about the Galapagos Islands?

What was the impact of evolution for the finch?

What are the Galapagos Islands and why are they famous?

How do different animals evolve?

What animals can be found on and around the Galapagos Islands?

What are the most interesting creatures on the Galapagos Islands?

How did the Galapagos Islands evolve?

What would happen if the volcanoes kept exploding?

What plants live on the Galapagos Islands?

How have animals evolved on the Galapagos Islands?

How have iguanas adapted to live on the Galapagos Islands?

How have the Galapagos Giant Tortoises adapted?

Have a great week off!

~ Notices and Reminders ~

School Lunches - Reminder

If your child's lunch account is greater than £10.00, you will need to provide a packed lunch each day until the arrears have been cleared.

School Calendar

Please check the calendar on the school website for future dates and events. You can subscribe to our calendar by clicking the “Subscribe” button. By doing so, this will display all events on your phone or tablet.