Newsletter Issue 2: Friday 23rd September 2016 Dear Parent(s)/Carer(s), Classroom News: Nursery Castle: This week has been our first full week in Castle Class. We are all being very brave, saying goodbye to our parents/carers in the morning and going to play with our new friends and nursery staff. We are still learning how to use the resources and how to play with the other children in our class. At lunch time we have been down to the dinner hall and had our lunch; most of us ate it all up. We have also helped with tidying up this week before going home; Mrs McAdam said we did a brilliant job! Reception Moat/Bailey/Keep: In Reception we have been continuing to settle in to our new classes. We are still getting to know all our new routines and investigating all the different areas in the three classes. We have been discussing our class rules and playing lots of games to help us find out about our new classmates. We have also been playing some games to remind us how to listen carefully when we are working as a whole class. We have been thinking about what makes us unique - what we look like and what we might like and dislike. We have also had a go at drawing or painting pictures of ourselves and at writing our own names on our work. This week, we will be choosing a super learner to take home the class bear from each class. We look forward to seeing what adventures the bears might get up to when it’s your turn to take them home! Year 1 - Scarborough: We have been working hard getting used to our new, busy and exciting timetable. For maths we have been reading, writing and ordering numbers; problem solving using number lines, making our own playing cards, counting and building towers of unifix as well as thinking about our magic number of the day. Afternoons are now so eventful. In PE, we have been practising how to travel in a variety of ways and had the challenge of an obstacle course for our outdoor session. We have learnt a new expression within computing – ‘algorithms’ which means to be able to follow a set of instructions. Our drawings are crazy! For All About Me science work we had to label different body parts, learning some facts about what happens inside us too. Well done to everyone for trying their best, keep it up! This is the first week of choosing extra special pupils, so these four should feel very proud:- Please don’t forget to return your homework every week by Thursday. Earn those Dojos to spend in the shop. Thank you. Year 1 – Spofforth: In Spofforth Castle class this week we have had another visit from the gingerbread man! He asked the children to make him a home, so they explored the outdoors and used natural materials to create a shelter for him. The children have really enjoyed learning about the gingerbread man and have been acting out different parts of the story and described the characters and setting. I have been really impressed with the children's maths this week, there has been lots of learning going on. They have been making number lines, showing the tens and ones in a number and doing lots of counting! In computing the children have been learning about algorithms and have followed instructions to create a picture of a crazy character (these have been impressive)! In science we have been learning about the human body, labelling all the different parts we know. It has been a brilliant week and I wonder if the gingerbread man will visit again next week! Year 2- Conisborough: What another fantastic week Conisbrough Class have had! We've been whizzing through our multiples in maths and are now really proud of ourselves because we are beginning to transfer these skills to our times table knowledge. We've really enjoyed starting up with our Read Write Inc groups again this week and because we're in year 2 now, some of us have even moved onto Literacy and Language. We can't wait to tell you all about the different stories we're going to enjoy reading. We have begun looking at the human and physical features of our school grounds in Geography. Why not challenge us to find some near our home? We've continued our work on animals including humans in Science, looking this week at how humans grow from a baby all the way up to becoming an elderly person. In Computing we learned a new word this week - algorithm. It's not that tricky once you understand it and we would love to teach you about algorithms. Year 2 - Middleham: This week in Middleham class, we have been counting in 2s, 5s, 10s and 3s - forwards and backwards! In our literacy, we are settling in to our Read Write Inc and Language and Literacy groups, and starting to understand what is expected. We also know we are a team - every person in Middleham class is very important. By working together we can achieve all our goals. Our first class target is to line up quietly in register order, in less than two minutes. When we have achieved this, the children would like ice cream as their treat. Our PE days are Monday and Wednesday. Year 3 - York: Year 3 York Castle have this week delved deeper into their maths topic of place value and have produced some fabulous work. We have also been learning about forces and magnets in science and have been acting out pulls and pushes through mime. The whole of year travelled to Quarry House to take part in swimming and PE lessons and were a credit to the school with their attitude and behaviour. We also can't wait to take part in our Romans workshop on Friday and find out more about Roman invaders. Year 3- Ripley: This week, we began our learning about the Romans, reading the legend of Romulus and Remus and how Rome began. The children enjoyed creating freeze frames of their favourite parts from the story and writing captions to accompany photos of these. Their ideas were definitely creative and imaginative! Next Friday, a Roman visitor will be spending the day with Year 3! In Maths, the children have been exploring the value to digits in numbers, using the vocabulary of hundreds, tens and ones. PE for children in Ripley Castle is on Mondays at Quarry House (returning to school for 3:30) and Wednesdays in school. We will let you know when your child needs to bring their swimming kit. We also warmly welcome Mrs Burghila to Ripley Castle Class, who will be supporting the children with their learning alongside Mrs Cable and Mrs Jackson. Have a fantastic weekend! Year 4- Skipton: Another fantastic week in Skipton castle class! We have been focusing on how to keep safe on the Internet as well as starting our new topic "Exciting electricity". In addition, we have been looking at our local area and comparing it to Whitby. The children have also enjoyed competing with each other in our Times Table sessions. We are very much looking forward to our trip to The Forbidden Corner next week! Year 4 –Richmond: Richmond Castle Class have been working hard on non-chronological reports in Literacy and on the 6,7 and 9 times tables in maths. In science we have been finding out about what electricity is and where it comes from. We also looked at using electricity safely and I'm happy to say that the children were very safety conscious! Don't forget, it's our trip to The Forbidden Corner on Thursday 28th September which the children are really looking forward to. It will link in well with our non-chronological report writing and will inspire a range of art work. If you have any questions about the trip, just let us know. Year 5-Pickering: Pickering Class have continued to show an outstanding attitude to learning this week. In literacy lessons, we have begun learning about 'IPEELL'. This will help us with every type of text that we might face, telling us exactly what needs to be included in our writing. We have looked at non-chronological reports this week, researching different animals that might be found in different climates around the world. In maths this week, the children developed their understanding of place value. We have read, written, ordered and compared numbers up to 6-digits. Next week we will continue to build on this understanding. We have continued to learn about our topic, 'What a Mega World!'. In science, we learnt about classification and created our own creature from this. Then in geography, we explored how latitude and longitude might be used to find different locations in the world. This will be useful next week when we begin to research different climates and where these might be located. Year 5 –Helmsley: This week has been even better than the last! Year 5B Helmsley Castle have come on leaps and bounds and we have really bonded as a class! We have taken part in some practical Maths and started a brand new Literacy strategy called IPEELL, where the children have accepted and taken on every challenge thrown their way Year 6 – Bolton: This week we have been preparing for our residential. Looking at how fossils form and the different types of Coastline around the United Kingdom. The children are praying for stormy weather (in Whitby) over the weekend, so that there are plenty of fresh fossils at Robinhood's Bay for us to collect next week.