News from the Reception class

Transport topic

This half term we have been busy learning about trains, vehicles and aeroplanes. In Literacy we

read the story of ‘The Train Ride’ by June Crebbin. We discussed and wrote about what the girl

in the story saw out of the train window on her journey. We then read two books by the same

author—’Mr Gumpy’s Motor Car’ and ‘The Magic Bed’ by John Burningham. The children shared

ideas and wrote about where they would go if they had a magic bed.

In Maths we have been ordering numbers

and solving number problems. We have been prac-

tising recognising coins and using money related

language in our vehicle toy shop. This week we

have been investigating 3D shapes, talking about

their different properties and recognising shapes

in everyday objects.

The children have enjoyed comparing old and new trains and cars, talking about their similari-

ties and differences and how they have changed over time. They had fun getting messy when

printing with tyres and looking at the different patterns. We also followed instructions to

make paper aeroplanes, which the children then enjoyed flying and measuring the distance that

they had travelled. We have looked closely at road signs and symbols and talked about how to

stay safe on the road and when out and about.

Much fun was also had when we had our ’Teddy Bear’s Tea Party’ and read a story in our new

willow dome as our class ’nugget’ treat.

After the half term holiday we will be looking at ‘Recycling’ in the home and at school and de-

signing and making vehicles out of recycled materials. We will then move on to the topic of

‘Water’ and how we use it, as well as looking at beaches and seas and making a pirate ship role-

play area out of recycled materials.

Uffculme Primary SChool

May 2015

Year 1 This term in Science we have been learning about the forces

push and pull. We have taken part in an experiment to see

which surface a toy car travelled the furthest on. As a group we

used a tape measure to see how far the car went on a bath

mat, a fleece, a piece of plastic and a rug. We found out the car

travelled the furthest on the plastic. We have also made toys

that can be pushed and pulled.

In literacy this term we have been

learning about non - fiction texts.

We have been using the contents

page and index page to answer

questions about the book. We

have also made our own non - fic-

tion texts about scooters and how

to look after pets.

Year 2

Maths - We have introduced a new idea to our Monday maths session. We work in our challenge groups with a

different mix of friends and we try to complete a challenge. The challenge is ready in an envelope for us and if

we complete it we can take on the ‘Super Challenge’. We have to work as a team and decide who can do

which parts to sort out the mission. One challenge asked us to plan a trip to the beach for Key Stage One and

we had to work out how many ice creams we would need, how many buckets and spades of each colour and

how many litres of coffee the adults would need in their flasks! We have loved working on our challenges and

have to use all kinds of maths skills to find our solutions. We always look forward to Monday maths now. We of-

ten hang our work on a washing line in class so we can see what we have achieved.

Science - We have been learning about all sorts of animals and their habitats this half

term. We have looked particularly closely at nocturnal animals

and were lucky enough to have a visit from Jack of the Animal

Lecture Service, who brought in a selection of fascinating ani-

mals for the children to see and touch. He was extremely interest-

ing and the children learnt lots of interesting facts.

English - Mini-beasts have crawled, flitted and slithered from Sci-

ence into our English work. We have been busy writing non-fiction

booklets about the mini-beasts we have chosen. The range of ani-

mals is amazing, from slugs to damsel flies. We have also been writ-

ing character profiles about someone we have chosen ourselves.

We are really working hard to make our writing interesting and fun to read by using ad-

jectives, adverbial phrases and the power of three - if you don’t know what that is, please ask us. We are also

using our five senses to make writing more exciting, thinking about how everything and anything might feel,

smell, taste, look and sound.

Computing - We are really looking forward to our work in computing as we have finished our bar and pie charts

now so we can go on to our silver word-processing badge. This means we will be writing up our character pro-

files from English on the computers. We will be giving them a heading, different font

styles and a picture too. If we do really well we will earn a Silver badge.

Art - Time to draw! It is not every day that we have enough time to sit and really focus

on drawing. We are now working on our fine-detail pencil sketch drawing and every-

one is finding that drawing is something we can learn through practise and observa-

tion. We now know the most important part of the body for drawing is the eye so we

look very carefully before we put pencil to paper. We have also been looking at the

five different families of lines. Can you guess them all?

R.E. - Symbols are all around us and we have been out with our clipboards around the

school to find all of the logos and symbols we can. The first ones we found were on our

new school jumpers! We have thought about why we have symbols and have focused

on the symbol of light and what it might mean to different people. We know that Chris-

tians believe that Jesus is the light to show people right from wrong. We have talked

about how we know what is right and wrong in our own lives and we acted out some situ-

ations we find tricky at school, trying to think about the right and wrong choices we could make ourselves.

Circle time is when we have been thinking about relationships and we have particularly focused on people

we miss lately as a few of us have been feeling that we miss others. We have talked about some stories about

when people or animals go away and explored how that makes us feel. We have tried to think of some things

that make us feel better when we miss people and we made a very long list of ideas to help.

Thank you for all your help at home this half term, Mrs Moss and Mrs Wright.

Year 3 Year 3 have really enjoyed learning about the weather and climate this half term. We particularly enjoyed learning

about extreme weathers and learnt lots about flooding, hurricanes and tornadoes. Last week we made our own

tornadoes in a jar, which we thoroughly enjoyed. Some of us have taught our brothers and sisters how to make

them.

We have also been recording the weather is like in Uffculme. We have used a thermometer to measure

the temperature in ˚ C, a rain gauge to measure how much rain fall there was and an anemometer to

measure the wind speed. We are going to make our own anemometers in Design Technology.

Lost Property!

Mrs Squire kindly spent a long time sorting out our lost property this

week.. Only 5 items had names in them!!

PLEASE ensure that all items of uniform are clearly named.

Year 4 We thoroughly enjoyed our residential trip to Heatree House!

If you didn’t get a chance to come to our class assembly, then you can view more of our Heatree House photos on the

school website. Here is the link : http://primary.uffculmeschool.net/news/y4-

heatree-house-residential When we got back from Heatree House, we wrote lots of

wonderful poetry about Dartmoor:

The Magic of Dartmoor

Sometimes it’s sunny,

Sometimes it’s cold,

And some of the rocks are very old.

Houndtor looks like a hound,

It is also really high off the ground.

Some grass is green,

Some grass is brown,

It makes me frown,

I just feel like the world’s gone upside

down.

Some rocks are big,

Some rocks are small,

I just want them all.

Some are thick,

Some are thin,

You can even make the flat ones skim.

By Harry Tidball

Recipe for Dartmoor

Take some rain that ruins,

Some prancing ponies,

Add attacking adders,

Add some magic myths and tall tales,

And mix some poisonous or painful plants,

Some terrifying terrains,

Mix in some ridged rocks,

Mash in green grass,

Take some cool waves,

Stir in some horridly hot weather,

Add some wild woods,

Some deadly ditches,

Fold in high hills,

Drop in silvery streams,

Mash in moorland mud,

Mix in beautiful birds,

Stir in sad storms,

Take some flash floods,

Some fantastic fresh air,

Decorate with lost legends,

Fold in hairy hares,

Leave in a glass dome,

For ever and ever,

And you have made delicious Dartmoor.

By Freya Gray

Dartmoor Acrostic

Dartmoor, what a wonderful place.

Although not a place for dresses of lace.

Rugged terrain, prickly gorse.

The old Mr Bowerman owned the fastest horse.

Many years ago, Kitty Jay died.

Only she committed suicide.

Oh how I enjoyed my stay.

Really I want to come back next May.

By Josephine Nash

We also collected data

and produced pie charts

in Maths about the time

we spent doing different

activities at Heatree

House.

Our topic this

term is The

Incas. So far

we have learnt

about where

they lived and

aspects of

their lives.

We have also included photos of our finished Roman

masks from last term:

Year 5 Swimming During swimming, we played some exciting twists on traditional games (‘Fishes and Sharks’ and ‘Sally Says’). We were sorted into groups of swimming ability and have done very well so far. All of Year 5 had a sensational time and are looking forward to the next lesson. By Erin Oliver and Ava Yuill

Preparing for Sports Day Yr5 have been practising for Sports Day. Some of the sports we have been doing are long jump, javelin, shot-put and discus, we have also been improving our skills in 200m and 100m sprint. We have enjoyed using all of the equipment that Mr Carpanini has provided for us. Thank you. From Henry W and Aubrey C

Year 5 3D Models Year 5 have made some sensa-tional models over the past term in maths. We have scaled them down professionally in our maths books. It took a whole week but we finished them! We made bedrooms

with furniture made from cardboard and squared paper! By Isabella Hart and Louis Sutton Improving Our School Grounds Recently, Yr5 have been trying to improve our school grounds by planning different things for different areas. Children in the class have been put into mixed up groups and are making good efforts. On of the six groups have been raking outside of the school, others planting and two groups have been plan-ning to make windchimes (also bird boxes). We are extremely excited to see what this brings to our school! We would like to thank Mrs Norland who has helped us during her spare time. By Rosie and Daisy

Ancient Greeks This term we have been looking at the ancient Greeks. We have mostly been focusing on families, warriors and myths. We were shocked to find that if a baby looked weak or ill they would be taken up a mountain and left to die! But if you looked strong and healthy they would be brought up and trained to be a warrior. There are lots of different types of Greeks, like Spartans and many others. Sometimes if a child was un-wanted they were thrown out on to the streets, occasionally someone would come and bring them up as a slave. By Milly W and Kaysie H

Religions This spring term we have learnt about different religions such as Christianity, Sikhism and Buddhism. We all went to get some facts from the internet and library. We were planning a presentation in small groups of 8 on different religions. By Josh E and Henry D

Uffculme School Muga We are really enjoying our new school muga, which has been built for us over the school holidays for us to play on at lunch time and playtime. We have a rota so we all get a turn to play on it. Everybody enjoys playing foot-ball, basketball and hockey. We all play together with the sports leaders leading the fun. By Thomas M and Ellis

YEAR SIX ART WORK

In Topic, Year 6 have been working on crime & punish-

ment which is linked to their art work and they have

also made some stelas. Before we started, we made Ro-

man curse tablets and Elli Berry has made one like this,

“I am cursing the big bad wolf by cutting his tongue and

teeth off, putting them in a jar and throwing it out to sea

so he can’t eat anyone else!”

After they had practised writing their curse tablets on

clay, Year 6 started to draw in their Art books and plan-

ning their Stelas which contained things they love and

what are special to them.

WRITTEN BY Ellie Berry and Cara Broom.

Jam Jar Appeal

Dear parents and carers,

If you have any spare

empty jars, please bring

them in to school as

soon as possible. They

will be used for our Fiver

Challenge project.

Thank you,

Tiernan, Adam and Jacob

Quad kids and rounders

Two teams from Year 5 and 6 took part in a Quad Kids event at Uffculme School last Monday. Quad Kids involves four different athletics events (75m sprint, 600m run, vortex throw and standing long jump) and a relay at the end. Both teams represent-ed our school well and the A team came fantastic second overall.

After the Quad Kids event, some more children joined to take part in a rounders competition against other local schools. Using skills learnt in PE lessons with Mr Carpanini, the tactics paid off and Uffculme A came first and Uffculme B came sec-ond. We are now through to the next round and look forward to representing Uff-culme in the finals. Reported by Lucy P and Sammy

The Fiver Challenge

In year six we have started to think about the fiver challenge and what we would like to sell. Whether it’s a

product or a service, we have very passionate ideas.

What Is The Fiver Challenge?

The Fiver Challenge is where children from the age of 5-11 get £5 to start a business. Chil-

dren will get into groups and think of an idea of what to sell. Here are some ideas of what

some of the children are going to sell in Year 6: Sweet shop, Bits and bobs, Jewellery,

cakes, homemade jam, chocolate fountain, cookies and ice cream.

What skills are we going to need to use?

In English we have been learning about all the skills we will need to use and what we might use in the future

and what skills we use now. The skills are team work, confidence, communication, financial literacy, problem

solving, organisation, entrepreneurial ability and resilience. Also in maths and computing, we have been learn-

ing to use a spreadsheet so we can keep track of our finances.

We will be selling our products/services at the summer fete and we hope you will support

us.

Reported by Megan and Jacob

SATS

From Monday 11th May to Thursday the 14th

May Year 6 sat some important tests called

SATS. They all worked very hard and tried their

best. All the other classes were very considerate

and kept quiet while year 6 were where doing

their tests. We would like to say a big thank you

to all the staff who helped us, especially to Miss

Gibbs for teaching us and baking us treats to

help us through. Another special thank you goes

to Mrs Cheetham who bought our breakfast and

gave up her time to help the level 6 readers and

grammar and spelling people.

Reported by Grace and Jessica

News from Year 6

On Sunday 10th May Culm Sampford United Pumas football team

won the Exeter youth league plate cup. They played the match at St

James Park, home to Exeter City FC. It was a great game. The team

played really well and should be very proud they won 2-0 on penal-

ties. The following boys from year 6 played—Zach Ingram, Sammy

Broomhead and Jay Tinworth-Tanner. Jay’s dad Matt is a very

proud coach!

RED – CULM 10 Housepoints: Dillon Croft 30 Housepoints: Oliver Batten, Lauren Godfrey, Brooklyn Dunn, Finlay Croft, Ewan Harkness-Moore, Keira Dunn, Joe Davies 60 Housepoints: Iona Wilson, Seth Furness, Aduka Kempster-Weldon Luke Greenhalgh

GREEN – LOWMAN 10 Housepoints: Lily Harding, Sophie Harding 30 Housepoints: Erin Dunn, Dyllan Smith, Victoria Horne 60 Housepoints: Freya Gray, Isabelle Margetts, Logan Hulatt-Keefe Jonah Thomas

BLUE – OTTER 30 Housepoints: Violet Bennellick, Kisa Benson, Leon Wynne 60 Housepoints: Isabelle Dunster, Laila Howell, Cara Broom 100 Housepoints: Crystal Thompson, Jessica Swanston

YELLOW – EXE 10 Housepoints: Lily-Sue Crocker 30 Housepoints: Bailey Parker, Maya Hurved-Shelley, Isabella Mactaggart, Isla Chaplin, Ellis Pritchard-Griffin 60 Housepoints: Amelia Kujawa, Minnie Nash

House Points

Reception: Oliver F, Kamila, Sophia S,

Sophia L, Mackenzie, Freya, Flora, Oskar, Ollie, JJ, Freddie, May, Cienna, Victoria

OUR LEARNING LEAVES Presented in our Achievement As-

semblies to children who have im-

pressed their teachers with their

learning in the previous week.

They are on display on our Learn-

ing Tree in the Hall if you would

like to see them.

Year 1: Leland Amelia

Year 2: Bethany, Reuben, Karim, Luke, Charlie, Minnie, Crystal

Year 3:

Meske

Year 4: Ewan, WIlliam

Year 5: Isabella

Year 6: Lucy G, Adam, Alanah