Back by popular demand, FOWPS have planned another fun run (this is not a timed event). With a cheerful springtime theme, this fun run is for children aged 3 to11. You do not have to be a student at Woodcote Primary School to participate.
Please bring along your butterflies, bunnies, chicks, lambs, bugs and other springtime characters to join in. The entrance fee is £5 per participant payable by 28 April 2017.
Spectators can enjoy tea, coffee, hot chocolate and cold drinks and a breakfast butty or cake which will be on sale before, during and after the runs. There will also be Bunny ears for sale.
Rabbit Run 2017 Fun Run - Registration Form
Please submit the form above first, then pay your registration fee of £5 before April 28th, 2017 to the school office.
Hornbeam Class
Mrs Sarah Hammond will be joining Year 1 to team teach with Miss Ouellette and Mrs Welsh on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday mornings. Some of you may remember Mrs Hammond as Miss Cunniappen when she covered maternity leave in Year 1 two years ago; we are delighted to welcome her back.
Ash Class
Year 3 and Year 4 really enjoyed performing their play, ‘Eddie the Penguin Saves the World.’ Thank you to all the parents who came to see the production. You helped raise £160 for The WWF which is a fantastic amount, thank you very much.
Maple Class
We would like to welcome back Amy Fletcher from her maternity leave. Amy will be teaching in Maple Class on Fridays. We are delighted to have her back on the team. Thank you to Mr Jones for covering this class, he will now concentrate on his teaching in Rowan class.
Young Voices 2018
Year 5 and Year 6 pupils will have the opportunity to take part in ‘Young Voices’ at the London 02 Arena. The concert will take place on Friday February 2nd so please make a note of this date in your diaries. This is such a wonderful event and we look forward to participating again next year, more details will follow next term.
Fit Bits
If your child is wearing a Fit Bit to school we would like to remind you that they do so at their own risk as these are expensive items, if it becomes a distraction in class your child will be asked to wear a different watch. Much as it seems a contradiction, children will be asked to remove the Fit Bit during sporting activities, as we would with any watch, as they hurt if they come into accidental contact with other children.
A Correction
In the Newsletter last week it said that the sponsorship money raised during the Team Superschools event would go directly to the school, but it will be added to our total that we have collected for Comic Relief, as stated in the original letter.
Junior Citizens Trust 2017
Willow Class will be attending the ‘Junior Citizens Trust’ on Friday 28th April. This is a multi-agency event where Oxfordshire County Council works with many other agencies and partners to provide safety educational opportunities to young children. The Year 6 children will be learning about personal safety and citizenship in a safe but ‘real to life’ environment.
Open Morning
A reminder that we have an Open Morning on Friday 7th April from 9.30 a.m. until 11.30 a.m. We look forward to welcoming you into school.
FOWPS
A reminder that the school discos are being held tonight, the cost per child is £3.00.
Aspens
Aspens have introduced an app for your smart phones to make it easier to order your child’s meals. A letter explaining how the App works can be found here Aspens Paperless Letter Primary. To download the App you will need the unique pin number which is 84029618.
After School Club
After School Club are looking to fill two vacancies. They are advertising for a Deputy Manager and a General Assistant.
Ash and Rowan Class School Play
The Year 3 and 4 pupils will be performing ‘Eddie the Penguin Saves the World’ on Tuesday 21stMarch at 1.30 p.m. and Wednesday 22nd March at 7 p.m. Please fill in your class letter to request tickets.
Sports News
Team Superschools
On Tuesday March 14th Team Superschools visited the school. The children took part in the TSS challenge where they performed fitness exercises that they had been shown by the TSS coaches in return for sponsorship. They met Darren Campbell; 100m relay Olympic Gold Medallist and each child had a photograph taken with him. Each child will receive a personal printed photograph and a wristband. The school will benefit financially from the event and we will let you know in due course how much money we raised.
Swimming
Due to the INSET day the Beech class swimming session will be on Friday March 24th. Please remember your child’s swimming kit.
Judo Classes
Judo will begin again on Thursday April 27th and it will run for 11 weeks with a break for Half Term. The club runs each Thursday morning from 8 a.m. until 8.45 a.m. Information is available from the school foyer.
Visits
Stoner Park
On Wednesday 15th March, Mrs Welsh took a group of children to Stonor Park for an afternoon of outdoor exploration at ‘Wonder Woods’. The sun shone and they all had a lovely time.
RE Week
The week beginning Monday April 3rd is RE week. Children from all year groups will be working in their house teams and learning about different religions from across the world. You are all invited to an Open Morning from 9.30 a.m. – 11.30 a.m. on Friday April 7th to see the work that has produced during this week.
Sainsbury’s Vouchers
We are collecting Sainsbury’s ‘Active Kids’ vouchers. The collection box is in the school foyer and you can keep handing in the vouchers until June 30th.
FOWPS
School Discos Friday March 24th
The Key Stage 1 disco will run from 5.30 p.m. until 6.20 p.m. and the Key Stage 2 disco will run from 6.30 p.m. until 7.30 p.m.
Times table snap! (2 player)
Use a pack of cards. Ace =1; Jack = 11; Queen = 12; King = 13
To practice a particular times table, e.g. 7s turn over one card and race your partner to multiply your chosen number e.g. 7 by the number on the card. To practice all times tables, turn over the top two cards and race your partner to multiply them both together. The winning player keeps the cards as prizes and you go again. The player with the most cards at the end wins.
You could increase the difficulty by turning over three cards and multiplying all three together.
Flippy, floppy fingers (two players)
Both players shake their fingers, while picturing a secret number between 0 and 10 in their heads. At once they reveal their numbers. Race to multiply your numbers together. The trick is, if you already knew your number, you can get ready by reminding yourself of the numbers’ times table (multiples).
Ghostblasters (two players on one device)
Blast the ghosts who are multiples of the given number. Multiples means the numbers in the given numbers’ times table. E.g. 20 is a multiple of 2. Ipad link: https://itunes.apple.com/gb/app/ghostblasters-for-ipad/id442380006?mt=8
Times tables questions. Pc link: http://www.primarygames.co.uk/gb3/resgmulti.html
Connect 4 common factors
This game needs areful mathematical thinking. Can you line up 4 numbers in a row that share the same factor? You know they have the same factor if they can all be divided by the same number without a remainder. http://www.transum.org/Software/Game/Connect4/
Times table beatbox (1 player, one device)
I just discovered this! It chants times tables to you, and you remix the backing track as they go!
https://www.nationwideeducation.co.uk/www/flash/bso/bso-flash/index.html
Shannon’s game (or spelling hangman) (1 player asks questions, + one or a team of contestants)
Tell the contestants what word they have to spell. They write down how they think it is spelled and then try and guess the first letter. If they are correct, write the letter down; if not, draw the first part of the hangman. Continue with the second letter of the word and you must get each letter in order before moving on to the next letter. If the contestant makes a mistake, they should re-write the word, guessing what the spelling is based on the most likely next possibility. It is this searching for alternative spelling patterns which teaches the spellings!
Make your own wordsearch
Follow the instructions to make your own printable wordsearch with all your spelling words. http://puzzlemaker.discoveryeducation.com/WordSearchSetupForm.asp?campaign=flyout_teachers_puzzle_wordcross
Different ways to write your spellings- The idea is to draw your attention towards the patterns of letters and help you to find ways to remember.
Write your spellings…. forwards, backwards, forwards and down; in bubble writing; with the vowels coloured in blue.
Write them in the air with your finger.
Write an acrostic poem using your word.
Make a word pyramid:
p
py
pyr
pyra
pyram
pyrami
pyramid
Write the letters using dots and join the dots to make the word.
Free Rice (1 player- one device) (Expand your vocabulary and feed the hungry)
http://freerice.com/#/english-vocabulary/1391
This app is clever because it changes the difficulty to match your vocabulary level. It uses responsible advertising to donate rice to the hungry each time you click an answer. This will improve your speaking, reading and writing.
(There is a maths version too, but I don’t know it so well. Let me know how it goes!) http://freerice.com/#/multiplication-table/17493
This page will be updated as I find new ideas for games! Let me know any others you think should be up here. Note: Some online games need flash player to be enabled- try them on different browsers if you have any trouble!
World Book Day
The children really enjoyed celebrating ‘World Book Day’. Throughout the week they have been working collaboratively in their house teams and they have produced some wonderful artwork which will be on display around the school. Thank you to all the parents for helping with such great outfits and costumes.
Sporting News
High Five Netball Tournament
The Year 5/6 Netball team played in a tournament at Langtree School on Thursday March 2nd. As a team they put in a valiant effort and displayed excellent sportsmanship. The matches were closely contested and we were fifth overall. The team choose Erin Hughes-Williams from Year 5 for the Olympic Value of sportsmanship and fair play and she received a medal. The ‘B’ team will play in their tournament next week.
Team Superschools
Team Superschools will be hosting a sponsored event at Woodcote Primary School on the afternoon of Tuesday March 14th with a special visit from the Olympian Darren Campbell.
All the children from Reception to Year 6 will be taking part in a simple fitness circuit which will include the following exercises:
After the event the children will have a question and answer session with Darren and have a photograph taken with him. Team Superschools run this as a sponsored event. They request that, if possible, each child raise a minimum of £2.50. This money helps their company to support young Olympic hopefuls to fulfil their dreams and represent England at the Olympic Games. Who knows, maybe one day a Woodcote Primary School child will be representing us!
If your child raises more than the £2.50 we will collect this and send it to Comic Relief along with other monies raised on Red Nose Day. If your child raises between £7.50 and £12.49 they will be awarded a bronze medal, £12.50 to £19.99 will be a silver medal and £20+ a gold medal and a water bottle. Everyone taking part will receive a wrist band as a reminder of the day.
The children have already watched a video from Team Superschools telling them all about their special guest and what will happen on the day. They have also been reminded about seeking sponsorship safely with help from family and friends and it has been emphasised that strangers should never be approached.
We would like the children to wear their regular PE kits and they are welcome to bring in an autograph book for Darren to sign. Darren Campbell won the 4×4 100m relay in the Athens Olympics in 2004 and we are really excited to be meeting him and seeing his Gold medal. For parents wishing to learn more about Team Superschools, the web link is www.teamsuperschools.co.uk. Please do not hesitate to contact me with any questions that you have about the event. Please make any cheques payable to Oxfordshire County Council.
Parents Evenings
A reminder that Parent Interviews are being held next week on Monday 6th, Wednesday 8th and Thursday 9th of March. Sign up lists are in the school foyer and slots are still available if you haven’t signed up yet.
Inset Day
Friday March 17th is an INSET Day.
Red Nose Day
Friday March 24th. The children can dress up in something red and make a donation of £1. This is a voluntary donation.