The Courier

This week in Forest School the children helped to start building our fire circle, moving benches and fetching sitting logs so now we have a lovely place to be together and a safe place for any tool work. An activity that was enjoyed across the year groups was how to get the swing out of the tree (that Mrs Dowling had accidently got stuck – oops). The children showed fabulous ingenuity, excellent problem-solving skills and amazing resilience when their attempts were unsuccessful! In fact, some children enjoyed it so much they wanted to throw the swing back up again! Some children had a go at whittling, making pegs to secure our hearth in weeks to come, some searched for fungi, some built and decorated a huge hedgehog home, some decorated special wands, some used a magnifying glass to inspect parts of a slug and some made a water slide for leaves. All (including me) had a big smile after getting to spend some time outside in nature.

Class 3S had a truly amazing time at Whitemoor Lakes this week. They tried climbing, archery, completed a challenge course and learned some great circus skills. They also learned the importance of teamwork, tolerance and understanding and supporting and caring for each other. They are also full of super campfire songs! Thanks too to all the great staff who accompanied them.

There are lots of photos, so Mr Adkins has kindly agreed to put them together in a Vimeo which will be sent out to the Class 3S parents in due course.

In Music classes 3S and 4C have been learning to play accompaniments to the song Loki the Joker. Using chime bars and percussion they took turns to play the melody and rhythmic patterns. This required hand co-ordination and a sense of rhythm, as well as superb listening skills.

Class 4C had a day full of sun and fun last Tuesday at Brandon Marsh Nature Reserve. The children enjoyed hunting for minibeasts and identifying them, using quadrants to observe how the ground in the forest and the meadow habitats differ and pond dipping. It was an informative and action-packed day.  

Earlier this week, Year 4 immersed themselves into the world of Mr Stink by role playing what might happen if he found himself in an enclosed, crowded space. We had cafe customers rushing out in a panic, travellers leaping from ferries and ice creams melted by the stench of his breath! The children turned their role play ideas into punctuated direct speech, building up the skills needed to write a short story later this half term. 

Year 5 have been researching Spanish cities and regions and they have produced some excellent display work as a homework task. Popular choices have been Madrid, Barcelona and Pamplona. This week the pupils are continuing to learn how to talk about their free time activities in Spanish.

Class 5F are starting to realise that all mathematical skills that they have learnt at school connect so they can perform more complicated mathematics. We have been multiplying fractions by whole numbers this week. Skills you need to be successful with to achieve this are:

• reading and writing numbers
• writing the calculation correctly
• using = sign for every conversion
• understanding what a proper fraction is
• understanding what an improper fraction is
• converting improper fractions to mixed numbers
• understanding whole numbers and remainders
• identifying a fraction that can be simplified
• identifying factors
• knowing multiplication facts
• knowing division facts
• correct layout and use of notation

And there was plenty of success. With the way maths is taught in 2023 at Crescent, which is so different to 'when I was at school', we forget that the build up of skills is integral to consolidating understanding, rather than just showing a method by rote that is forgotten or cannot be corrected without starting again!

I think this is the quietest club with the most concentration that I have ever run. The children had access to a variety of pens and papers and were learning some key skills. Some children were already experts and were offering great advice to the others.

As part of our English this term, Year 6 are aware of themselves and the impact they can have on each other, their own mindset but also the world around them. They are using a variety of English skills to teach others about Climate Change, what it means and focusing on an aspect of change that can be made. The starting point to this is planning and research.

Year 1 and 2 were treated to a very interactive assembly on Thursday by our co-curricular providers Funstar Education. They had the children doing some great Street Dance moves. There are some spaces in the co-curricular club on a Wednesday for any children in Years 1-4, should they wish to join.