FoBS Christmas Fayre 2012



Christmas Fayre, Do You Know Where?

The Friends of Bielefeld School's next fund-raising event will be “The Bielefeld School Christmas Fayre”. This will be FoBS' 8^th annual fayre!

So, while you are on your half term holiday, we hope that parents, carers and children will all be busy collecting their unwanted games, DVDs, CDs, books, cuddly toys, jigsaw puzzles and bric-a-brac, to bring into school during November. Please ensure that the items are in good condition and that there are no pages or pieces missing.

The next FoBS meeting will be in November. Please contact Mrs. Durban, via the School Office, if you would like to become a Friend of Bielefeld School and invest some of your time in raising money for our children's benefit. 

Remember, when you look around your house next week, there may be some items that you don’t want anymore .... but, someone else just might!

FS1 Week 43 2012

The children have really enjoyed helping to make the Circus Bay come to life this week. A special thank you to Mr Fidler, who has helped the children to brighten it up, by making tumbling acrobats, a huge clown and a very wrinkly elephant.

Stay and Play: Thank you to those parents who made it to Stay and Play. We hope that you enjoyed finding out what your children do all day at school. The children really enjoyed showing the new adults around the Setting. They are really proud of what they have been making and doing this half term.

Snack, first week back:  After the holiday, snack will be: muffins and jam, cheese and crackers, cereals, soup and crusty rolls and scrambled egg on toast. Yum yum!

EDC: We currently have spaces for children to stay in Extended Day Care in the afternoons. If you would like to use EDC for your child, please ask for a form or talk to Mrs. Durban for any further information. You can now download an EDC application form from this website.



One of our computer boffins, using Number Run

Can you help us? We are in desperate need of girls and boys socks. If you have any that your children have out-grown, please send them into the Setting. Thank you.

Half term: Just a reminder, we come back to school on Monday 5th November, after the half term holiday. Are you going somewhere exciting? Why not take a photograph and attach it to a Rainbow Moment Slip when you get back, telling us all about it.

Farewells: We would like to say farewell to Mrs. Martin, Mrs. Bluff and Mrs. Citrine. They are all leaving us today. We would like to take this opportunity to thank them for all of their hard work, commitment, dedication and support whilst in the Setting. We wish them all the very best in their new adventures. Good luck ladies.

If you have any worries or concerns, please feel free to contact us straight away. We are more than happy to help sort any problems out big or small. Thank you for your continued support and we look forward to working closely with you.

FS2 Week 43 2012

Thumbs Up, For FS2!

We are extremely proud of the children for their hard work this half term. We are sure, too, that all of our children in FS2 are now ready for a well-deserved rest next week.

Phonics: This week, the children have been practising blending and segmenting words with the letter sounds “e, u, r, h, b”, as well as the letter sounds previously covered. Your child might enjoy looking for CVC (consonant, vowel, consonant) words in his/her environment that have some of these letters.

Light and Dark: Our theme after the holiday will be Light and Dark. “Fireworks”, on November 5th, will provide an exciting introduction for the children.

Half Term: We would like to wish you all a happy holiday. We look forward to welcoming the children back to school on Monday 5th November.

Thank you for your continued support.

Year 6 Guitar Learning Clips

Year 6 guitar lessons, for half-term homework.

Year 6 Week 43 2012

‘Posh Poppies Intl’, as our Y6 poppy business has become known, is enjoying huge success! In our first week of trading, we have raised more than €80 for The Royal British Legion. We also took our first online order from the UK.

Our creative homework project for our ‘Just War?’ topic has been launched today. Please find details in the ‘Creative Challenge’ envelope. The children were involved in deciding the range of activities to choose from.

Year 6's Big Write - Note The Poppy!

For mathematics homework this week, we would like both groups to practise the times tables from page 135 of the School Planner. Focus on the multiplication tables that need improvement.

Please join us for our Remembrance Assembly on Friday 9th November. Y6 will lead the school in prayer and reflection, as well as sharing some of our learning outcomes from this half term.

We bid a fond farewell to Ethan and Lydia, who are moving on to new schools after half term. Have a safe, relaxing break and we look forward to hearing all about it when we return on Monday 5th November.

Year 2 Week 43 2012

In Literacy this week, the children have worked extremely well to create a class ‘Guide to Bielefeld’. In groups, the children have researched a different place and then created a section of the guide, using all of the features of Information Texts that they have learned about over the last three weeks. We collated all of their work as a class using alphabetical order and added a contents page and a glossary.

Bielefeld Guides - courtesy of some of Year 2

In Numeracy, Mrs. Nyman’s group have been working on telling the time and solving addition number sentences, using objects and number lines to count on. Miss Cunningham’s group have been exploring multiplication and division.

Homewor: We have added a creative homework project to the Homework Books this week. This is to be completed and returned to school on 21 November, please.

We hope that you have a lovely half term!

FS1 Week 43 2012

We had our first 'Stay and Play in FS1' today. The event was very well attended and we had lots of fun learning together. Please see the pictures below.

Parents' comments were very positive, for example:

• "I can't believe how much fun the children can have."
• "I would never have thought of using shaving foam and paint to make autumn foam, the children love how it feels and smells."
• "It is so lovely here and they children all look so happy, I wish school was like this when I was there."

Year 5 Week 43 2012

This week, we have been looking at the properties of different shapes and some of us even went on a right angle hunt around the school.

In Literacy, we have written a fabulous piece of prose based on the story that we have been studying. Everyone has used lots of powerful description, to really enhance their writing.

Year 5 Literacy. Admire The Descriptive Words!

It has been a sad end to the week as, unfortunately, Luisa is leaving to go to the UK today. She will be missed greatly by all of the children in the class and we wish her the best of luck.
       
We have had a fantastic first half term in Year 5 and all of the children have worked extremely hard!  I hope you all have a relaxing half term and gets lots of rest – you deserve it!

Year 1 Week 43 2012

This week, we have been finding out about the signs of Autumn that we can see around us. The children brought in some very creative homework examples about the signs of Autumn and we investigated what we could see around the school environment. We had great fun crunching leaves and describing, conkers, acorns and fir cones. We thought of lots of interesting describing words that we were able to use for a class poem about Autumn.

Repeating Pattern Consoliodation

In Numeracy, we have been finding pairs of numbers that add up to five or ten, and making a range of repeating patterns using colours, shapes or numbers.

Mr Fidler helped the children to make moving puppets during our art session. It was very tricky and everyone had to cut out the different pieces very carefully. They look great and have already been used to great effect.

Our holiday homework is related to our topic about “Ourselves”. We have suggested a couple of ideas that the children might like to complete. It is intended to be something to enjoy over the holidays, so we have not set a deadline for return. We will be happy for the children to share their homework when it is finished. We hope that you all have fun with it.

Please make sure that your child’s clothes are labelled with their names. Although we try to make sure that children look after their clothes they do, occasionally, get mixed up after PE. It is almost impossible to work out who the white shirt or blue jumper belongs to if it is not named. Could we also ask you to check that your child has brought home the right white shirt as we have misplaced one which has the name 'Lauren' in it? Thank you.

Sadly we are saying goodbye to Mrs. Bluff who has worked very hard to support the children in Year One. We will miss her and we wish her well.

We hope you all have a great half term holiday and we look forward to seeing our children back on Monday 5th November.

Year 4 Week 43 2012

Well done to Year 4 for all of their fantastic work this half term.
 
In Literacy, Mr Kerray’s class have been continuing to work on their play scripts.  Miss Mead’s class have been looking at sentence structure; making sure that sentences make sense and that different punctuation is used correctly.

Big Maths Work

In Numeracy, Miss Mead’s class have been looking at quadrilaterals. We have been naming them, looking at their properties as well as investigating lines of symmetry and rotational symmetry.  Mr Kerray’s class have been looking at multiplication, using ‘double double’.

In Art, with Mr. Fidler, we are continuing with creating ‘The Globe’. We have been joining the panels made in previous sessions, in order to create the main structure of the theatre.  We still have lots of work to do but it is all taking shape!

During the holidays, remember that you can use the school website to access links to other websites. For example, all the games that we have been learning in German can be found on the right hand side under ‘SCE VLE German’.

We hope you have a lovely half term holiday and look forward to seeing you back on the 5th of November.

Children Thrive On Routines

Arrival At School




 Every morning, our children are met at the school gate by a jovial member of staff, usually a senior member of staff, like Mr. Westmoreland.


Lining Up



Class Registration

Every morning, our children line up calmly when school is about to start.

Every morning, our children sit quietly during registration.

And so, another school day begins ...

Year 3 Week 43 2012

A busy week before the half-term holiday! In English, the children have been gathering information about Diwali, ready to make information leaflets about the festival. In Maths, we have been looking at handling data and number work.


Human Carroll Diagrams

There will be no homework set this week but we will be launching our creative homework project after the holidays. If you want to do some fun learning at home don’t forget Education City or other sites for things like Times Tables games. Have a great holiday!

Two of our galant assistants prepare a colourful display on Diwali

The World Of Podcasts

Radio is often overlooked these days. Podcasts allow listeners to subscribe to the latest episodes of radio programmes, just like readers would subscribe to paper magazines.

Your children can listen to podcasts from the BBC, free of charge, over their half term break.

BBC Learning's Music Workshop, for example, aims to develop music skills in pupils aged between 9 and 11 years. The BBC also offers imaginative programmes to our younger pupils, like CBeebies Radio.

Audioboo is a mobile and web platform that allows you to record and share audio for your friends, family or the rest of the world to hear.

Year 3 Ukelele Homework

Here are two more video introductions/refreshers for our Year 3 children who are learning to play the ukelele this term, which is almost all of them!

GoSkyWatch - iPad Training

Bielefeld School is an investor in its people. Here, we see evidence of our regular staff training, which normally occurs on-the-job, and sometimes off-the-job.

Having already trained our teachers in how to make best use of iPad applications, such as GoSkyWatch, Mrs. Davies returned today to train our teaching assistants.

Learning How To Use GoSkyWatch To Enthuse Astronomers And Astronauts

Year 6 Science

Today, Year 6 experimented with mixing different substances with water. The substances included: sand, sugar, flour, bath salts, Plaster of Paris, baking powder and liver salts.


Adding Measured Amounts Of Substance To Water

Q. Which of these substances caused one of our budding scientists to exclaim excitedly, "Wow! It's exploding out of the lid!" do you think?

A. The baking powder.

National School Meals Week

Bielefeld School Lunch

School meals aren't what they used to be. Just ask these satisfied customers!

On Wed 07 Nov, in support of National School Meals Week, you have a chance to re-live your school days. We're inviting all parents and carers to join our children and staff for a school meal. The lunch will include a roast turkey main course and a strawberry mousse for dessert.

The child's portion sized meal will cost adults just €2.95. Please return the slip, being sent out in a letter today, by Fri 26 Oct, so that we can estimate the catering requirements. 

Come, dine with us!

10 Ways To Help Your Child With Maths

We have composed a leaflet to give our parents and carers some advice, guidance, hints and tips on how to help their child(ren) with Mathematics at home.

Year 2 Number Lines

For your copy of our leaflet, simply click the link above.

Key Stage 2 SATs Results

Our Key Stage Two SATs results this year were very positive.

As you may know, our Year 6 children take tests in Reading and Mathematics at the end of the academic year. The children also take a separate Writing Test. The Writing Test is assessed by the class teacher.


Year 6 Mathematics - Tessellation

Click here to see the percentage scores that we achieved.

We are very proud of our children’s learning and progress. This achievement is a direct result of the hard work and dedication of our children, parents, carers, teachers and assistants throughout their time at Bielefeld School.

We look forward to a similarly successful year this year.

Safety On Dark Nights And Mornings

Monday’s assembly was all about staying safe now that the nights are getting darker, especially with the clocks changing this weekend.

Hi-Visibility Vests Are Inexpensive

We encourage parents and carers to ensure that their children wear bright, stay-safe, stay-seen clothing etc., now that the nights are drawing in, especially near roads and light railways.

The Royal Society for the Prevention of Accidents (ROSPA) has created numerous resources for children, parents and carers to share.

DodgeBall Club

Are you any good at dodging ... dodging big, soft, brightly coloured balls?


Oh, Calamity!

Well, we've got some children, and at least one teacher, who are very good at it.

Throw And Dodge

Football Club



Goal! The Whites Score



Bringing The Ball Under Control

On Tuesday evenings, our children take to the sports field adjacent to the school, to play football.

This evening, an energetic kick-about was enjoyed by everyone and some fantastic talent was on display.

Here, you can see the 'whites' scoring a goal and one of the team in the build-up to the attack.

If you would like to play, contact your class teacher. Boys and girls are welcome!

Keep Us 'In The Loop', Please!

In the very unlikely event that your child is involved in an accident, or an incident, at school, we will contact parents and/or carers as soon as practicable.

We can only do this effectively and efficiently if all parents and carers tell us immediately about any changes to their mobile telephone numbers; ideally, about any changes to their land line telephone numbers and email addresses too.

Simply inform the School Office using the contact details shown on this page; it will only take a few minutes of your time. Thank you.

FS2 Discover Repeating Patterns

First, Sort Your Cheerios



Second, Thread Them On A Necklace

A delicious way to find the properties of repeating patterns.

FS1 On Art And Cooking

Art With Messy Fingers

Baking The Perfect Mix

Just how much fun can you have in FS1, with Art and Cooking?

Buses Galore

And so, another busy day comes to an end ...


Bielefeld School's Buses

... usually with a bus ride.

Sparrenburg Castle And Tier Park Trip

Year Two will visit Sparrenburg Castle and the Tier Park in Bielefeld on Tue 06 November 2012.

The letter covering the visit requires the completion of a consent form by 05 November.

Visit London's Science Museum Today!

The Science Museum has some web-based laboratory experiments for you to try, ideally on Google Chrome.

You may have to wait your turn during busy periods; just like visiting the real museum in London!

Teaching Children To Read

The BBC has published an interesting article, giving different viewpoints on how best to teach children to read.


Our 2011 Books At Bedtime Event

Parents and carers will find this article, on the value of reading bedtime stories, interesting too.

Don't forget that their is a Reading Assessment Guide in your child's Planner/Journal.

Hand Foot Mouth Disease

Bielefeld Medical Centre has advised the school that 7 cases of Hand, Foot and Mouth Disease (HFMD) arose yesterday.

This is an unpleasant and contagious condition, which usually effects young children. The recovery time seems to be 5 to 7 days.

Please encourage your child(ren) to use a handkerchief to catch coughs and sneezes, and to wash their hands thoroughly and frequently. This is important if a brother or sister has the disease.

You can also check your child(ren) for the symptoms listed on the website above and apply the suggested remedies.

Year 6 Week 42 2012

Year 6 Poppy Production

The ‘Posh Poppies’ production line has sprung into action this week.

Year 6 have been manufacturing their first batch of poppies, made from satin. They should be available to buy from the school office from Tuesday. All proceeds will be donated to The Royal British Legion.

For English homework this week, we would like the children to make a poster to advertise their poppies in our community.

Year 6 Reading Today

For Mathematics homework this week, Miss Graham’s group is working on estimating and rounding. Miss Barker’s group need to complete page 43, green section question 4 and the red triangle section from their homework book. All homework should be handed in by Wednesday.

Schönes Wochenende!

Great Bielefeld Bake-Off!

Cake Decoration

Children who attend our Baking Club, but were unable to do so yesterday, had a special session this lunchtime.

The aim of the session was to decorate the cakes that they had made on Monday.

Great fun ensued, with icing bags reflecting different flavours, sugar balls, sprinkles etc.

Here, you can see 4 confections in the latter stages of decorating.

Year 5 Week 42 2012

Another super week in Year 5!

We have been acting out lots of scenes from the book that we are learning about in Literacy and we have produced some fantastic descriptive writing.

We have been lucky enough to take home our Cornets this week. Please ensure that these instruments are brought into school every Thursday, when we have Music lessons.

Across the school, we encourage children to read as much as possible. In Year 5, we would like the children to read 5 times a week, any book/text of their choice.

Please support your children in their reading, where possible. Thank you.

Year 4 Week 42 2012

Another busy week in Year 4!

On Wednesday, we were lucky enough to have the Playtime Theatre Group visit. They performed a play based on The Canterbury Tales.  The children thoroughly enjoyed watching the performance and, in the afternoon, they were able to take part in a workshop run by the professionals.

 

Using our Big Writing Book

 In Literacy, we have been continuing to look at ‘A Midsummer Night’s Dream’.  We have been studying play scripts and their features.

In Numeracy, Miss Mead’s class have been continuing to work on subtraction by coaching each other.  We have been looking at what makes a good coach such as using supportive language.  Mr Kerray’s class have been looking at the properties of 2D shapes. They have been investigating regular and irregular polygons.

FS2 Week 42 2012

We have enjoyed another action-packed week in FS2. It has been good to enjoy the mild weather whilst investigating outside this week.

FS2 Construction

Repeating Patterns: Our children have thoroughly enjoyed creating repeating patterned necklaces this week. We hope that your child was able to talk to you about the pattern that was made.

Phonics and Homework: The children have been practising making, and sometimes writing, CVC (consonant, vowel, consonant) words with the letters “s, a, t, p, i, n, m, d, g, o, c, k, ck”.

FS2 Art

Please support your child to practise these words at home. We recommend strongly that you only work with your child for a few minutes at a time. “A little and often” often works well with younger children.

Year 6 Survival Swimming

Survival Swimming

  In their swimming lessons, Year 6 has been learning how difficult it can be to swim in wet clothing, even in pyjamas in warm and clean water!

Year 1 Week 42 2012

Thank you for all of the different homework about growing and changing. The children have enjoyed sharing their work with each other. They have explained about the things they can do now, which they couldn’t do as a baby.

Speaking and Listening in Year 1

In Literacy, we have continued to retell the story about, The Tiger Who Came to Tea. The children have made masks and puppets to help with the retelling. They are trying hard to put events in order and to focus on using “story language.”

In Numeracy, we have been learning to subtract, or takeaway, using objects to help. Some children are beginning to write number sentences, to show what they have been doing.

We have put links on the school website to some websites that might support the children’s learning. They can be found by looking on the right hand side for Children, then clicking on Other Links. We hope that you find these useful and fun.

FS1 Week 42 2012

The children have had yet another busy week and are now becoming independent around the Setting. They are beginning to explore all of the areas and access the activities that are on offer, well done children!

Stay and Play: Fri 26 Oct will be our first Stay and Play. You are invited to join the children between 11.00 and 12.30hrs. You are welcome to stay as long as you like. If you only have half an hour to spare, why not come along for a little while, to find out what your child does during their time in the setting?

Lego Construction in FS1

There will be the first Golden Leaf Assembly at 12.15 hrs on Fri 26 Oct, where one child in each group receives a golden leaf for something special that they have done during the week. We look forward to seeing you there.

Snack Next Week: Snack has been very popular this week, especially the peppers and dips; yum yum! Next week, snack will be: cereals, fruit and custard, cheese and crackers, hot dogs and ham or cheese wraps with salad.

Extended Day Care (EDC): We currently have spaces for children to stay in EDC in the afternoons. If you would like to use EDC for your child, please ask for a form, or talk to Mrs. Durban for any further information. You can now download an EDC application form from the school website (right hand side), print it, fill it in and bring it into the Setting.

Can you help us? We are in desperate need of girls' and boys' socks. If you have any that your children have out-grown, please send them into the Setting. Thank you.

Half Term: We come back to school on Mon 05 Nov after the half term holiday. Are you going somewhere exciting? Why not take a photograph and attach it to a Rainbow Moment slip when you get back, telling us all about it.

 We are trying to collect information about the children in our Setting, for our Where in the World display. Please complete the slip in the Journal and send it into your child's key worker, so we can add the information to the display. Thank you.

If you have any worries or concerns, please feel free to contact us straight away. We are more than happy to help sort out any problems, big or small.

Year 2 Week 42 2012

In Literacy this week, we have continued our work on information texts. The children have been using dictionaries and thesauruses and have begun researching places to find information for our own Bielefeld visitor guides. They particularly enjoyed using the iPads for their research!

Hand Writing - Well done!

Homework: This week, we sent the homework (please see the homework books) home a little earlier. Could we ask for it to be returned on Monday?  The children will be using their homework as part of our literacy lessons next week.

In Numeracy, we have been working on data handling. The children have been sorting information and recording their findings in tables and charts, which they have then used to answer questions, e.g. Which is the most popular?

Reminder: The children are provided with a fruit snack every morning.  If you choose to send in your own snack for your child, please ensure it is a healthy alternative!

If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to ask.  Many thanks for your support.

Breakfast - The Most Important Meal

Thankfully, our parents and carers have the money and self-discipline to get up early and make their child(ren) healthy breakfasts, before they head off to school.

Apparently, '... four out of five teachers in England have seen examples of pupils starting school without having eaten any breakfast.' BBC Education News 16 Oct 12.

Bielefeld Bis ...

What is our talented artist up to?

Can you guess where he is and what his sign will say?

Enterprise Club

Whilst discussing unit costs, profit margins and selling prices, Bielefeld School's bright entrepreneurs were busy on their assembly line ...

The BBC's Young Apprentice programme starts on 01 Nov 12. Meanwhile, the Dragons' Den continues on BBC Two.


See yourself as an entrepreneur? Then try the Fantasy Stock Exchange.

NB. Club Transport, Today!

Dear parents and carers of children attending after school clubs today, Thursday (18 Oct12),

Please note that there will be no buses available for clubs today, Thursday, for this week only. We will still run our clubs as normal - except Baking, there will be no Baking Club tonight - but you will have to arrange transport for your child, if you wish them to attend.

My sincerest apologies but I am sure that you will realise that we have no control over this situation. Please be reminded that the HCSO has been very supportive of the school in the past. The HCSO will continue to provide transport in the future for our school clubs.

Regards,

Mark Westmoreland

Year 3 Week 42 2012

What an exciting week! The children really enjoyed the visit by the theatre company.

The Diwali cards made at home were a great success and the children have enjoyed sharing their creative talents with all of us! Thank you.

In English this week, we have begun to look at the features of Information texts. In Maths, we have been looking at symmetry and 3D shape.

Thank you for supporting the children with their ukulele playing! On the school website, there are the lessons to help the children practise.

Have a good weekend, Year 3 teachers.

Playtime Theatre Group Visit

This morning, some travelling actors and actresses performed a play based on Geoffrey Chaucer.

Later, our children will create and perform their own plays, with help from the professionals.