20^th October 2014

 

Dear Parents and Carers,

 

We would like to invite you to a Key Stage 2 information workshop to let you  know about our reading programme Accelerated Reader (abbreviated to AR) so you can support your children at home.  We would love you to come along and learn how we use AR, how we level the children and look at some of the resources we use. Our AR leaders will be on hand to answer any questions you may have. All children at Cliftonville Primary School will eventually be part of the AR programme so coming along to find out as much as you can would be really worthwhile.

 

The workshop will be held on Tuesday 4^th November at 2.30pm in our school hall.  Please complete the slip below to let us know if you are able to attend. For those unable to come along, we will add the presentation notes to the ‘English’ area of the website.

 

http://www.cliftonvilleprimary.co.uk/english/

 

We all hope to see you there,

 

Yours sincerely

 

 

Mrs Louise Wilson

(Assistant Head Teacher)

 

 

 

Mrs Wilson is leading our work on children's writing across the school.  We are using the 'Talk For Writing' strategy which is having an amazing impact.  We thought you may like to see what some children in Year 1 have been doing (click on link below).  Year 6 have also used Talk For Writing to write their own version of 'The Highwayman' poem by Alfred Noyes.

 

http://www.cliftonvilleprimary.co.uk/english/

Dear children and parents,

 

HALF TERM HOMEWORK!

 

Spelling bee Friday 28th November  for Year 3 & 4

               Friday 5th December for Year 5 & 6

 

We are excited to announce a new spelling bee competition for our KS2 pupils.  The purpose of this is to help children improve their spelling, increase their vocabularies and develop correct English usage that will help them all their lives.

 

There will be two ways to enter:

 

1. Children can enter as an individual.They will be asked to spell thirty words, chosen at random, from the Year 3/4 or 5/6 spelling list overleaf. They will be given the word to spell by their teacher.

2. Children can enter as a team of up to four – the team must be made up of pupils from one year group. They will be asked to spell forty words, chosen at random, from the appropriate spelling list overleaf.  In rotation, they will take it in turns to answer.

 

Individual pupils and teams will compete in the hall in front of their classmates but don’t worry… we will give them lots of support and encouragement!

 

All children entering will receive a certificate and there are fantastic prizes for those scoring maximum marks.   The spelling list has been copied, laminated and displayed around the school….so children can learn them on the playground, while queuing for lunch, etc!

 

Please encourage your child to take part.

 

 

We are very excited to be part of the BBC Ten Pieces Music project.  Mrs Ross, our specialist music teacher, is leading this at Cliftonville:

 

• The project will help us to deliver key aspects of the educational curriculum, including learning about the works of great composers, composing and performing
• The project is endorsed by music and arts and education bodies
• It is a great opportunity to be part of an inspirational national BBC initiative
• We have access to free BBC educational resources
• It will give us an opportunity to work in partnership with local arts and music organisations such as Music Education Hubs and Music Services, to enhance the work already being done in our classrooms
• Participation will also develop children’s creativity, confidence and collaborative skills

 

You can listen to the ten pieces by clicking on the link below.  How many do you recognise?

 

http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p01vs08w/clips

Thank you to the thirty-four parents who were able to attend the Year R 'Phonics Workshop' led by Mrs Wilson.  If you were unable to come along, the information is here on the website on the English area of the 'Curriculum' page.  If you would like any further information on phonics please see your child's class teacher or Mrs Wilson.

Despite the rain, our cross country entrants represented the school in the Thanet-wide cross country at Quex Park on Saturday 11th October.  Congratulations to everyone who took part, especially to those who made it into the top twenty for their age group.  Thanks to all the parents for their support and Mrs Adams for organising and accompanying our children. 

Well done - we are very proud of you all!

 

Our award winning Green Travel Team visited Thanet District Council this week accompanied by Mrs Adams and Mrs Glover.  They contributed to discussions about promoting green travel.  We have put in place lots of ways that our families can reduce car travel to school.

Year 4 had a fascinating...if slightly windy...day at Dover Castle!  The Year 4 staff were thrilled to have received great compliments from members of the public about the children's behaviour and enthusiasm for learning.  Well done Year 4! 

 

There are lots of exciting things to do at Dover Castle and special events at half term.  Click on the link below for more details...

 

http://www.english-heritage.org.uk/daysout/properties/dover-castle/events

Nine children from Year 5 took part in Kent Children's University 'Become a radio presenter' day on Sunday 5th October.  Miss Connellan and Mr Hedges took the children to Cobham, near Dartford.  We had a lovely email this week from the organisers to say how fantastic our children and staff had been.  Mr Hedges has already been investigating how we can use podcasting back at school.   

Year 5 have been reading and studying the book "Born To Run" by Michael Morpurgo about the many lives of a racing greyhound.  The book has really captured the children's interest and imagination and they have produced some fantastic descriptive and persuasive pieces in writing.  On Thursday 25^th September they were surprised when a real life greyhound arrived in their classroom!  Flash is a retired greyhound who was homed through the Kent Greyhound Rescue Team.  They kindly agreed to allow one of their volunteers and dogs to visit the school to answer questions and allow the children to have an up close and personal meeting with a greyhound.  Many thanks to KGR and Katrina Farley for making this happen. 

 

The Year 5 team would like to apologise to parents if your children are all asking to adopt a greyhound now!

 

Click on the link below if you would like a copy of the book

<font color="#0066cc">http://www.amazon.co.uk/Born-To-Run-Michael-Morpurgo/dp/0007230591</font>