The Big Pedal
Today was the first day of the Big Pedal, a Sustrans initiative to encourage sustainable travel to school by bike or scooter, running from 23 April to 04 May.
Well done to Reception who were our winning class today with a third of the children travelling to school by scooter. Year 3 were second and Year 4 were third.
Schools will be entered into daily prize draws if we have over 15% cycle or scoot on each day of the challenge. Let’s try to increase numbers of children who bike or scoot to school tomorrow as we compete with schools locally and across the country.
Paint out in a Maths lesson???
Last week, we started learning about ratio in Maths and we got out the paint brushes to help us understand what it was all about.
We tried to all make orange but found that our oranges were all a little different from each other’s. We then discussed how we could ensure that we all ended up with the same orange and, without even realising, we were talking ratio.
Electricity
Today we made circuits! We had to make them complete in order for the bulb to light up.
We made and tested predictions about what would happen if we added more batteries or more bulbs.
We had to use the equipment carefully. 
We worked as a team. 
We also did some maths learning. We had to work out the total cost of different circuits using each component’s individual price. We also helped Miss Wilson find and correct her mistake in her own maths learning, too!
It was a great feeling when we were successful!
Living and Learning – I can name emotions.
Last week we did some artwork based around different emotions.
First, we planned different expressions in our sketch books and talked about what colour they reminded us of.
Next was the fun part! We drew, painted and blew!
Can you guess what emotions are being shown in our artwork below?
The Big Pedal is back!
Get set… we’re taking part in Sustrans Big Pedal 2018, the UK’s largest inter-school cycling and scooting challenge, that inspires pupils, staff and parents to choose two (or three) wheels for their journey to school.
The Big Pedal will run alongside our year round Living Streets WOW sustainable travel initiative where the children record how they travel to school on our daily travel tracker.
The Big Pedal challenge focuses on journeys made by bike and scooter and runs from 23 April to 04 May. We would love everyone to be involved.
The details
On each day of the challenge, schools compete to see who can record the greatest number of pupils, staff and parents cycling or scooting to school. Our best five days will determine our final position in the challenge. We’ll be competing against other schools right across the UK, and if we clock up the most bike and scooter journeys, we’ll win!
Why we’re taking part
It’s a great way to get more of our pupils travelling to school on their bikes and scooters. We will be competing to become one of the UK’s top schools for two-wheeled journeys and will be in with a chance to win prizes including bike and scooter stunt shows and fantastic cycle and scooter storage.
What’s next?
All you need to do is encourage your child(ren) to cycle or scoot to school every day during the event, and join them on their way.
If you do need the car to bring your child(ren) to school, you could park further away from school and bike or scoot the last part.
Living and learning – Healthy minds
- 16 April I can name emotions.
- 23 April I recognise emotions in myself and others. Being aware of different emotions – both positive and negative – is an important basis for good mental health.
- 30 April I show empathy. Talk to your child about empathy, both in real-life situations and also when discussing characters in a book, film or TV programme.
- 08 May I can describe ways to calm down. We all get worked up from time to time – how do different people calm down?
- 14 May I use calming down strategies. Calming down strategies might include any of the mindfulness techniques children have been taught or counting to ten, going for a walk, getting a glass of water – discuss what works for you and your child?
- 21 May I recognise mental health is important. We want our children to be happy and healthy!
This text is a great introduction to the topic of mental health for children.
Welcome back
We hope that you all have enjoyed the holidays. The spring term was a very busy one indeed. Below are a few quotes from the children’s most recent feedback forms.
- “I loved learning about past famous explorers.”
- “PE is great fun and we are really good at working in teams.”
- “I really like how much reading we do. We have lots of different reading types in our classroom.”
- “I feel that my fractions work has really improved. I wasn’t sure at first but now I get it.”
- “I find writing hard. The teachers help me and encourage me to check and edit my work.”
- “I love DT. We had made rafts, monsters, dens, been archeologists, and lots of cooking.”
Our summer term, once more, is packed full of learning.
Mini-topic: Electricity
Electricity is the theme for our learning for the next few weeks. We’ll identify common appliances that run on electricity, construct a simple electrical circuit, identify and name its basic parts, including cells, wires, bulbs, switches and buzzers.
Big-topic:
This term, we won’t be learning through a big-topic. Instead, we’ll have several mini-topics. In Science, we’ll learn about the simple functions of the basic parts of the digestive system in humans. Also, identify the different types of teeth in humans and their simple functions.
In History, we’re going to study The Egyptians – a fascinating period of time to explore and discover! 
Reading:
We’re starting the term with a class set of our new novel ‘Ottoline and the Yellow Cat.’ 
With a child each having a book, we can all follow the story much more easily and share the reading. We’ll explore the language, themes, context and our own opinions of this much loved story.
PE:
Kits are needed in school every Monday and Friday. Some children are not bringing the correct kit to school. Please ensure you are aware of the uniform policy. If you are unsure have a look on the website or check with one of us.
Herd Farm
We’re all very excited about our upcoming visit to Herd Farm. Please call in if you have any further questions regarding this.
As always, remember to call in if there’s anything we can support with – we are happy to help where we can.
Creative Homeworks
Here are our favourite creative homeworks from this week.
Year 2 and Year 6 assessments
The STA has published an information leaflet and two videos for parents/carers of children in Year 2 and Year 6 about national curriculum assessments. The purpose of these materials is to help you understand more about the end of key stage assessments that will be administered in primary schools in May. (The end of Key Stage 1 is Year 2; the end of Key Stage 2 is Year 6.)
The materials provide basic information about the purpose and format of the tests, how parents can best support their children and how results will be reported.
2D shapes!
This morning, we’ve been making 2D shapes on geo-boards. Not only is this a good way of exploring shapes, it also helps with children’s fine motor skills.
First of all, we made some different quadrilaterals:
Next, we focussed on pentagons. Look at all the different types of pentagons we made: 
After that, we made some hexagons:
Finally, we used rulers to draw our own quadrilaterals:
