Please see the attached timetable for this week. It contains links to each lesson (Literacy and Maths) and activities for the afternoons.
Thank you.
Mr Wilmot
Please see the attached timetable for this week. It contains links to each lesson (Literacy and Maths) and activities for the afternoons.
Thank you.
Mr Wilmot
Hi everyone
I didn’t expect to be writing this message but have to agree that Lockdown is possibly the best option to curb the current threat and worrying statistics.
Here’s the remote schedule for the next few weeks. I have gone until the Easter hols as I don’t know how long the current situation will last.
Willow-Class-Spring-Term-Remote-Learning-Schedule
Please click on the links in the appropriate weeks. The links send you to a series of lessons. Each lesson usually has a clip (video) and a lesson activity. Just do the one in Literacy and Maths each day and then there is a weekly Science lesson. Follow the lessons in order as they are sequential. I will have a look at the other subjects too and forward links on the class newsletter and class page information – I will locate activities that follow my initial thoughts and planning and that I think will engage your children.
I will be in contact soon to virtually catch up with the children to make sure they can access the work and to offer any further support.
In the event of query please contact me on the class email address: willow@crowmoorschool.co.uk.
Keep safe
Mr Wilmot
The end of the term and Christmas! It’s been a very unusual term and I would like to thank you for your support. The classroom routines etc are different now and will be so for the foreseeable future but the children have shown great aptitude to change and they have handled the term with enthusiasm and energy.
We started the week with our normal PE session in the afternoon – next term’s PE will be on a Wednesday only unless advised (if I can fit in more, I will). We completed our Maths Position unit and the children enjoyed a little Christmas code breaking. We also sneaked in our class Christmas song – the children know it well; you’ll probably hear it hummed around the house!
Thank you for the shoe boxes and cereal boxes – they were perfect. The children paired up and made buzzer games – we completed them on Friday and all the models worked, looked good and were fit for purpose. It was a super practical activity to end the term.
The children have worked hard this term and I will feedback their progress after the holidays when I have had chance to analyse the data from recent assessments. As a thank you and to ensure they fully relax I will not be setting any spellings or homework this week – it is the season of goodwill after all! I would recommend your child reads each night though.
I wish you and your family a happy Christmas and a healthy New Year. See you all in 2021!
Mr Wilmot, Mrs Carroll-Lewis and Ms Harris
We have had a great week in Willow. Between assessments I have made sure the children have enjoyed a few fun activities. On Monday, the children had their usual PE session and we filmed our Highwayman dramas in the morning.
We have completed several assessments which will help me direct any interventions we may need and prepare us for the SATs in May.
In PSHE, we discussed the consequences of our choices and how to make decisions by looking at a problem from different viewpoints. In RE, the children learnt about Christmas customs and traditions and in History we learnt about Athens and Sparta and the Battle of Marathon.
The children completed their fraction topic and we are now looking at coordinates and translations. We will continue with this next week but I will make sure we find time to complete fun Christmas maths activities.
With next week in mind, we will block our DT project for the term. We are going to make buzzer games where you have to navigate a shoe box wire course without setting off the buzzer. It is a similar principle to the game ‘Operation’ – it combines some Science and our earlier class topic of ‘Fairgrounds’. I would be grateful if your child could bring in any empty cereal boxes you may have or any old shoe boxes as they create a good base for our games/models.
It was Christmas Jumper Day and Christmas Lunch on Friday – the children clearly enjoyed it and the visit from Santa on Thursday.
Have a great weekend.
Mr Wilmot, Mrs Carroll-Lewis and Ms Harries
We’ve had quite the festive week. In RE, the children learnt about Advent and the relevance of items within a church. On Tuesday, we made Christmas cards for STFC – they will deliver them to people in the Community that would appreciate a little Christmas cheer. We learnt our Christmas song – ‘Merry Christmas Everyone’ by Shakin’ Stevens – we film it next week to share with the other classes as part of our Festive Friday fun.
The children learnt how to multiply and divide fractions – their understanding is now impressive and we are almost ready to move onto the next topic. In Literacy, we continued our Highwayman topic – the children created a new verse to the poem, a diary entry from the perspective of Bess, they then wrote a newspaper article from the time and we finished the week creating a script to act out next week.
It is Assessment Week next week where the children will complete tests to ascertain their current levels. Everyone has made progress this term and I am looking forward to seeing a development in their skills. We will complete a maths paper, a reading paper, a Grammar, Punctuation and Spelling Paper and the children will carry out new sociograms. They have already conducted a new Accelerated Reader test and new reading ages and ZPD Bandings will follow soon. I’ll tell your child how they got on so please ensure they feedback to you.
Have a great weekend, hopefully we will see a little sun. The later part of this week has been cold and a little wet!
Mr Wilmot, Mrs Carroll-Lewis and Ms Harris
Unbelievably, we are now 30% of the way through this school year – the time is flying!
We have had a busy week – it started with more work based around ‘The Highwayman’ narrative poem. Over the week we have reviewed the chronology of the story, we’ve looked at grammar associated with the poem (namely similes and metaphors) and we have studied the characters in detail. We will look at how the story could have ended differently next week and we will create some drama sketches.
In maths, we made real headway with adding and subtracting fractions and we ended the week looking at how to multiply fractions. We will complete our fraction unit soon; I plan to do some fun Christmas maths in the final week of term.
We spent a good part of Friday writing and creating anti-bullying clips. We looked at how perspectives change in PSHE and RE and in History we looked at how we can tell what happened around 3000 years ago when any written work on paper etc would have eroded and been destroyed over the time.
The children had their normal PE lesson on Wednesday and we had our extra session on Monday – this will continue until the end of the term.
The children learnt more about online safety and they are better armed to block and ignore comments that offend or that might be inappropriate.
I hope you have a great weekend.
Mr Wilmot, Mrs Carroll-Lewis and Ms Harris
It has been an unusually mild week this week. The early mornings have been quite atmospheric – Autumn continues to be a period of contrast and change.
The class were very respectful when we had our 2 minutes Remembrance silence and within the resulting video clip from the British Legion. They also studied the poetry of the Yorkshire Prose, with particular reference to his ‘Remembrance’ poem. This poem was written last year, I think, and it was written by a current serving naval engineer. He writes poetry and speaks in a broad Yorkshire accent; we studied his original version then translated it into language that is more familiar. On Friday, the children completed the poetry unit by writing their own poem about Remembrance – these poems were added to our class display; it looks very effective and is a fitting tribute to those that fell or were injured in conflict. I will try to remember to take a picture and publish it within next week’s newsletter entry for you to see.
In Maths, we continued with fractions and we are about to move onto adding and subtracting fractions next week. We continued our Ancient Greek study by looking at early democracy and we compared this to the democracy system here in the UK. The class also benefitted from a couple of additional PE sessions too. PE will continue to be on a Monday and a Wednesday so please ensure your child comes to school in PE clothing but also a hoodie/sweatshirt and long joggers so they keep warm when in class.
It was Children in Need day on Friday and all the children made a big effort. We completed ‘Act your Age’ challenges where the children had to complete 10 or 11 circuits of activities or tasks – it was fun and the day flew by.
Have a super weekend.
Kind regards
Mr Wilmot, Mrs Carroll-Lewis and Ms Harris
The weather is getting colder and the evenings drawing in. With that in mind please ensure your child wear a jumper and that they bring in a coat. The doors and windows will be open so the class might get a little cold. Some children had their yearly flu vaccination this week.
Another active week. We had PE on Monday and will continue to have sessions until the end of the term so please remind your children to come to school in their PE kit on a Monday and Wednesday. They also had their normal session on Wednesday and on Friday they had an Orienteering lesson. Unfortunately, swimming was cancelled and with the new lockdown restrictions swimming will continue to be cancelled until further notice.
In Maths we completed our functions unit and started looking at fractions. In literacy we started our poetry study and we will continue expanding our poetic arsenal next week. I hope to complete the unit with the finale of appropriate Remembrance poetry.
The children started studying the origins of Christmas and we filmed the Head Boy and Head Girl clips ready for the elections next week. With elections in mind, we also kept a keen eye on the US Elections and the number of seats each candidate has gained.
I hope you have a great weekend and trust you are all safe and well.
Mr Wilmot
Well, it’s been a very active week. Almost half the class completed the Bikeability Course (Stage 2) and they were active for most of Monday and Tuesday – thankfully the weather held. We had our normal PE lesson on Wednesday and then on Thursday afternoon the children took part in an Athletics Festival. Results were collated and the coach will compare these to the schools in our PE group and create a table of where we came in relation to the schools nearby – results to be published, when known!
We are now 20% or 1/5 the way through the year – a shocking fact! In Maths, we looked at prime, square and cubed numbers, common multiples, factors and the order of operations – quite meaty content but I am delighted to say the children enjoyed learning about them and that they did well in their associated activities. In Literacy, we continued with our Newspaper Unit and the children wrote a report about a truck fire. We discussed and completed some interesting activities relating to Black History Month and the children finished this term’s RE topic about Commitment.
I have set some homework for the Half Term but am aware that we haven’t marked last week’s yet – we will do this on the Friday in the first week back after Half Term – we ran out of time today! I have also given the children information about the forthcoming Head Boy and Head Girl Elections – they will commence after Half Term. The homework, for those wanting to participate, is to write a speech that includes their reasons for being Head Boy or Girl. We will record the speeches on the iPads when we return and then share them with the other classes. Normally the children would present in Assembly but these are being done virtually at the moment due to COVID. After the classes have viewed the speeches the school will vote for their Head Boy and Head Girl – those receiving the most votes will take their seat!
Have a fantastic Half Term break. I will close now thanking you for your support through the term and wishing to thank your children for a fun term. They have been superb in terms of learning in the COVID compliant classroom and eating lunch in class etc. They have also worked hard and I feel they are content and working well as a class unit. They can now enjoy a well deserved rest.
Take care.
Mr Wilmot
We are in the penultimate week to this half term and almost 20% of the way through the year – what a staggering fact!
We have spent the week assessing – the children completed a reading paper, a grammar and spelling paper, a writing output and a maths paper. This is to help ascertain their progress since September and to highlight any gaps etc due to COVID. The children completed the papers well and without fuss. The information also helps me ensure your children are in the correct groupings etc and that has a bearing on the level of support and differentiation needed. This also helps me when I feedback to you at Parent’s Consultations in November.
We return to our Newspaper topic next week where the children will write their own report based on the skills they have learnt in the last fortnight. In maths, we move onto prime and square numbers. We have cracked long division this week and the children feel far more confident in dividing numbers when the divisor is considered too large for the short method. We looked at translucent, transparent and opaque materials this week and we conducted a quick refraction experiment.
We had our second swimming session at Shrewsbury School Baths – please note next Friday will be a PD Day so the children are not in. Session 3 (our middle session of 5) will go ahead after half term.
Half the class are taking part in the ‘Bikeability’ Course next week – this is a great take up and something the children enjoy and benefit from. Please ensure their bikes are in a good condition and that they have a front and back brake. Your child will also need a cycle helmet. Bikes can be left in the quad area outside the boys and girls’ corridors but I would advise you send a lock in so it can be made more secure. Alternatively, your child can take their bike home on Monday night and return with it on Tuesday.
Have a super weekend and keep safe – COVID related data is on the increase so we need to be even more prudent.
Mr Wilmot