​Good afternoon everybody - Happy Friday!
 What an active week we have had. 
This week, we have been working hard in English and have written, edited and evaluated our innovate task based on our English text: The Day the Crayons Quit, which looks at persuasive writing.   We have also been working on our spelling, grammar and handwriting skills.  We have worked hard in Maths, on our unit Area and Perimeter, this week we have really focused on calculating the area and perimeter of rectangles and rectilinear shapes.   In Science, we have focused on Magnetism, looking particularly at what a compass is and how it works. On Monday, we enjoyed another fun-filled French session with Madame Jordan, thinking about conversational French. The children have had their Music session with Miss Boyce, based on Electro-Pop and RE with Miss Penny, this week exploring the role of Jesus for Christians further.
This afternoon we completed our work on Pablo Picasso and have created collage in a Picasso style, whilst some of the children went off to represent the school at the OCRA Cross Country Run in Simmons Park.  The children who ran were superb, they really did the school proud with their teamwork, effort and support for one another – well done all of you.
This week, we have had 3 PE sessions, one with OCRA on Tuesday, when we ran in relay teams over a distance of 2.4km. We finished the week off with a double PE whammy, swimming on Thursday afternoon, where it is really pleasing to see the progress that the children are making with their swimming, both in confidence and technique, and finally, our session with our Saints Southwest PE coach Mrs Edwards, in which we played Ultimate Frisbee and Netball.
 
Spellings are on Dojo for the groups and I have been impressed with how many people are reading every night, I would like it to be everybody next week!  The new Wider Curriculum home learning is on the website and on Dojo and the children have had a paper copy, I have had a few good examples already, some art, some cookery, some really good limericks, a story and there are some great videos and electro-pop tracks.  2 weeks left to do this, pieces are due in by Thursday 17th February and I will expect at least 3 completed tasks, more if you want to - rise to the challenge!
 
  In terms of home learning, can I remind everybody that the expectation is that children read for at least 10 minutes at home every day, this can be magazines, newspapers, manuals, cookery books, as well as their reading books, as it is all reading. This is to promote reading for pleasure as there is nothing better than a good book. Remember, that you are your child’s greatest role model, so if they see you enjoying a good book, it really promotes good learning habits.  I will ask that reading is recorded in their new reading journals and that these come in every day so that I can monitor their reading.
  I would also like children to spend time working on their times tables, which are vital in so many areas of the Maths curriculum.  They can do this through Times Tables Rock Stars, I have also posted a list of great websites to practise on.
Next week, we will be continuing work on our History topic area of The Middle East, exploring the conflict in the Middle East and the reasons for it.  We will also work further on our Science area of Magnetism. We will be writing in a persuasive style for our English work and will work on our new Maths topic of Perimeter and Area.
 
Have a great weekend, get outside, be active, read and enjoy family time.
 
See you on Monday.
 
Mr F