24 Oct 2008 - Newsletter 24th October 2008

HOPA Newsletter & Wellies for School Leaflet

School Meals Menu

We know that parents in several classes are battling to keep head lice at bay. Please can everyone check their child's hair this holiday in the following way and then hopefully we can see the last of them: You can check for head lice by:

• Checking your child's scalp for head lice once a week using a special detector (fine toothed) comb

• Using a conditioner to make combing easier, comb the damp hair forward from the neck over some paper. Any lice or eggs will become attached to the comb and damaged lice will fall out on to the paper

• If lice are found, all family members should be checked

On Monday a team of 6 children from Year 1 and 2 attended the first 'A' Team Huff and Puff Festival which was held at Winston Churchill School sports hall. The festival included teams from all of the Winston Churchill family of schools.

The festival involved a series of relay game activities that focussed upon students: speed, agility, teamwork, basic ball skills (Football, Basketball, Hockey etc) and target skills.

The children were, as always perfect ambassadors for The Oaktree School, polite, trying their best, supporting each other and being good sports in every activity. Throughout the competition both the Year 1 and Year 2 teams were either first or second. Unfortunately just at the end both teams were beaten to 2nd place by only 2 marks. We were all really pleased. At the end the children were reflecting upon their performance and wondering what they would do differently next time. One child said that they should all go faster. We all thought that was a good idea.

Please can you remind your children to take all of their clothes, bags etc out with them at the end of the day when they are going to a club.

The Woking Diwali Parade takes place on Friday 7^th November and in light (!) of this we will be holding an after school workshop to which you are invited to come along and make your own lantern. Our resident lantern specialists Mrs. Bladon and Mrs. Noble will be on hand to show you how to make a lantern using traditional materials (plus a bit of latex glue) and you can take along your finished masterpiece to the Parade. Every child must be accompanied by an adult at the workshop. Tea and coffee will be served. Please complete the slip overleaf if you will be attending and return to school.

This week the children have been learning to listen to sounds in words when "having a go" at writing. They drew pictures of themselves and tried hard to write labels for the body parts. We were pleased that many children were able to write the initial sounds of the words; this is the start of writing! We also assessed how many letter sounds and key words the children have learnt so far. You will be able to check this in the back of the reading diaries.

In Maths we assessed how the children could calculate for themselves, or show us with counters ,one more or one less than a number to 5 or 10.The children also learnt how to draw Ticklish Two (2.)

The KUW (Knowledge and Understanding of the World) part of the curriculum involved the children identifying machines in school that help us with our everyday lives and finding more examples in catalogues. Our RE lesson was hearing a bible story of how Jesus fed 5000 people using a little boy's picnic lunch and talking about what made Jesus special.

Please check the back of the reading diaries after the holiday to find your children's targets. Please share these targets with them.

If you did not keep your appointment time at the Consultation Afternoon/ Evening, please contact the Class Teacher as we do need to see you at some stage. We also need all the signed Home/School agreements returned please.

Please see us if you can help with a short Road Safety walk one morning after the half-term holiday. We should be back in school by 9.30 am.

Key Words and Letter Sounds.

Week beginning 03.11.08

ie, v, y, ch and sh he and she

(Don't forget to keep practising the letter sounds from the sheet over the holiday.)

It was great to see you all at the Parent Consultant Evenings and discuss your child's progress. We will be following up on items discussed.

It has been another very busy week in Year Two!

On Monday the week began with an exciting drama workshop. We had a great time going on an adventure to the circus where we became clowns and tried to make a sad lion laugh. As you can imagine, the children definitely managed it!

Six representatives from Year Two went to Winston Churchill school for the Tops Link Sports Festival. The children took part in different activities and competed against other children from different schools.

On Tuesday we had a wonderful time playing African Djembe drums. The children had to listen very carefully to the caller who played her drum and then they responded by playing a rhythm back. We used words to help us remember the rhythm we needed to play on our drums.

In Literacy we have been continuing our story writing work and have come up with some exciting ideas for the middle of our stories! An exciting middle always has a problem. The children decided on problems that the characters could have and then worked in groups to think of some ways to solve the tricky problems.

In Maths we have been using number lines to help us solve subtraction calculations. The children worked very hard at counting back in 10s and 1s on their number lines to find the answers. We had to concentrate very hard when we were counting the number of jumps back along the number line to make sure we didn't do too many or too few!

We are trying to work very hard on the High Frequency Words both in reading and spelling. We are looking for adults who would come in on two afternoons a week for the last half hour ( 2.40pm - 3.10 ). Training will be given. Please see your child's class teacher if you can help.

MATHS HOMEWORK CHALLENGE

Grown ups please complete the Energy Savers Report and donate the leaves to our school. It only takes 5 minutes and it is quite interesting. We now have 8,370 towards our 27,743 total.

Child's class....................................................................................................................................................................

We would like to attend the Diwali Lantern Workshop on Wednesday 5^th November. 3.30pm - 4.30pm

(meze bar and restaurants)

The Green Olive Restaurant chain has a scheme to support local schools or a charity. Participating restaurants can be found in Chobham, Windsor and Henley.

When anyone associated with The Oaktree School dines at one of their restaurants (in a group of 6 or more) the value of 10% of the menu price for each Daily Meze or Party Menu, ordered during that visit, will be allocated to The Oaktree School.

For example, 6 diners ordering the Daily Meze @ £19.75 per head will earn £11.85 for the school.

All the diner(s) has to do is identify the school they are associated by booking through the website on the school/club regard page and the restaurant will do the rest.

A full paying adult can now bring up to four children absolutely free* to enjoy wonderful, fun filled day out at Hampton Court Palace.

Once upon a time, it was Henry Vlll's playground. Now it can be yours.....

Meet members of Henry VIM's court and join in with the

games they played.

Enjoy hands on creative workshops

• Follow the fun family trails

• Take [art in music workshops, face painting and much more

Join in a treasure hunt and collect leaves in the beautiful gardens and lose yourself in the word famous Maze.

There are activities being held at Chertsey Museum during half term in October.

Tuesday 28th October

Wednesday 29th October

Thursday 30th October

Sessions run

11.00 am - 2.30 pm 2.00 pm -3.30 pm

Cost £4.50 per child

To book or find our more call the museum on 01932 565764.

First Saturday of every month 2—4 pm

Create a tissue paper stained glass window taking inspiration from our church exhibition.

Have a go at making Victoria style Christmas cards.

Chertsey Museum

01932565764

Celebrate autumn half term with 2 MAGIC SHOWS at Knaphill Library.

Call in to Knaphill Library and collect your FREE TICKET.

Event is for 5 to 11 year olds. Children under 8 must be accompanied by a grown up!