The Courier

Everyone from Reception to Year 6 has worked hard in French this week and I have been impressed by both their effort and achievement.

A special mention for our Reception, Year 1 and 2 classes who have worked so well independently and creatively. A big thank you to the mums and dads too who have supported their children and engaged so well with the tasks, including making videos of their children.

As I teach my lessons towards the end of the week I will include articles in the following week's edition.

It is delightful to see and hear the children, and all the more when they are speaking French.

We have managed to keep our ‘Pirates’ topic in full flow in our week of home learning. One of the tasks the children were asked to do was to make a pirate mask to support their work in Expressive Art and Design.

It’s been wonderful to see the children’s creations – it’s hard to know who’s hiding behind some of them! See if you recognise any of these pirates.

Our daily phonics input has been continued as part of our home learning activities. The children have been given a blend to practise and have been busy trying to write some of the words they’ve thought of. Our focus blends this week have been bl, br, cl, cr and dr.

As part of our work in Understanding the World the children were set a task to investigate which everyday articles would float or sink.

The children were encouraged to make predictions before testing. They recorded their results in a simple table. I know lots of the children had fun carrying out this activity and I loved the videos and photos you’ve shared.

Evelyn was very excited to find that one mummy pheasant had laid her eggs in the undergrowth at the bottom of a big tree.  Being in the countryside pheasants visit their garden regularly.

They are going to be keeping an eye from a distance and will keep us updated!

Crescent School

The arrival of spring heralds the start of Norooz, the Persian New Year. Observed by people across the world in countries such as Iran, that were once part of the Persian empire. It has been commemorated for thousands of years.

Norooz is about welcoming spring, celebrating new births, the revival of nature and spreading messages of love and peace. It is celebrated each year at the exact start of the Spring Vernal Equinox.

Kian in Reception celebrated Norooz with his family. Together they laid a ‘HAFTSIN’ (Seven things beginning with the letter S) that all symbolise different hopes for the new year:

• Sir (garlic): For good health
• Senjed (sweet dry fruit of the lotus tree): For love and affection
• Serkeh (vinegar): For patience and wisdom
• Seeb (apples): For beauty
• Samanu (wheat pudding): For sweetness of life and affluence
• Somagh (crushed spice of berries): For the sunrise and the spice of life
• Sabzeh (sprouted lentil grass): For rebirth and renewal of nature

There’s also Sekeh (coins) for prosperity and Tokhmeh Morgh (eggs) for fertility.

This year Kian’s family celebrated the:

• Year 7042 based on Mitrai Aryan calendar
• Year 3758 based on Zoroastrian calendar
• Year 2579 based on unification of Persian Empire by Cyrus the Great

No-Rooz Mobarak (Happy New Year) Kian from all of us here at the Crescent School. 

And thank you to Kian's family for sharing their celebrations with us all.

Having spoken to many of the parents this week by either phone or email, there is one very clear message, Class 1E have been working hard and are making their parents very proud.

In maths, they have focused on place value in tens and added a bit of money calculating into the mix.

There has been lots of core English skills taking place working on reading, phonics, handwriting and spelling as well as introducing a story mountain for the children to write their own story. These have started to come in to me and the children are doing an amazing job. They should all give themselves a ‘pencil sharpener’ and a ‘ketchup clap’ (they know what that is!).

There has been masses of creativity on show from making owls in art to Easter projects in RE and a fair amount of PE to keep physically fit.

A hard first week of home learning juggling it all but a strong sense of achievement.  A link to view the photos will be sent separately.

Well done Class 1E – you make me very proud!

Class 1E were set the task to learn the song Spring Chicken. Here are Maximillion and Fred demonstrating the fruits of their learning!

As the clock struck 08.40am on Monday morning, pupils in Class 2W were ready and excited to begin this new chapter of their learning.  As you can see from the photos they were all ready to go.

Keep up the good work Class 2W.

Class 2W have been looking at when to plant seeds and crops as part of their Science home learning. They were set the challenge of planning an allotment patch and creating a bird scarer to enable the seeds to grow.

They have also been given some carrot seeds to plant and observe over the coming weeks.  

Class 2W have loved their home learning based upon the Rainforest making 3D models, information booklets about the Amazon and drawing pictures.

Please see photos attached of work that has been sent in.

Charlie has enjoyed his history this week and produced an advert for the Roman Baths.

Great work, Charlie!

Charlotte has created a story board of her chosen Fairy Tales, The Three Little Pigs. Well done, Charlotte!

Dorrit Little Red Riding Hood to focus on this week, and here is her amazing story board. Great work, Dorrit!

Faris worked super hard this week on his fairy tales work and produced this story board all about Jack and the Beanstalk. Great work, Faris!

Katherine really enjoyed creating a story board all about Jack and the Beanstalk and here are the results. Well done, Katherine!

See their great work in the attached photos. 

On Tuesday, Class 5F were asked to improve their measuring skills using metric and imperial measures. They measured the same amount of capacity, weight and length using different equipment and different scales. An excellent life skill.

6Y have made a great start to home learning this week. I've been really pleased to see photos of well organised work spaces and hear all about the great work that's being produced. Many of the children have enjoyed being responsible for their own timetables and have been working well, independently, which I know will be a great help to hard working parents. 

Having the beautiful sunshine has really helped with break time and lunchtime in the Yates' home school. We've been cutting our lunchtime shorter than at school so that we can finish our day earlier, leaving plenty of time for playing and finding photos of spring around us to send to Mr Thackway. These have included: Perry the pony being in the field without his winter rug, daffodils coming into bloom and the hedgerows starting to turn green. 

Whilst we have all been missing our Crescent family this week, we have been practising daily gratitude focusing on our blessings and are most grateful for the outdoor space we are so fortunate to have. What have you been grateful for this week?

It has been great to share some of the English the children have been achieving this week, one lesson was about creating your own grading system. These pieces are by Freya Somerset and Joseph Yates 

Another lesson was to create a potion (we have been studying Harry Potter) I received ones that made people as tall as a tree, got rid of wasps and gave wishes to name a few.

Two of my favourites are:

• One for those who suffer gluten intolerance by Ewan
• To rid the world of the Coronavirus  by Eleanor

What great ideas.

Mrs Webb
Class 6W Teacher

To conclude our different RE objectives this term, 4M and 5F have been sending me pictures of their Easter gardens, lego scenes and collages.

Wishing you a very blessed Easter!

Children of key workers have been in school this week.  They have also been busy with their learning, here are some photos of the activities they have been doing.

Crescent School

Our music teachers have been giving remote lessons this week via the internet.  It's good to see their lessons continuing.