At the Upper School this week, we have been focusing on our Pegasus Value “We strive to be independent learners“. In class we have been discussing the strategies we use to be independent and the resources we have in the classroom to support us. We are also showing independence in our approach to learning by walking straight into class at the end of break and lunch when the bell rings instead of lining up. This has worked really well and the children are all in class very quickly ready to start their new learning.
At the Lower School this week, we learnt about St George and other patron saints from the United Kingdom. It was lovely to hear some children sharing their knowledge of other patron saints they know and celebrate in their family. In our Rainbow assembly today it was wonderful to hear about children trying their best, overcoming challenges in their learning, persevering and being a good friend. We are very proud of you all!
Year 2 Iron Man
Year 2 have immersed themselves in Ted Hughes’s book ‘The Iron Man’ since their return from the Easter break. A highlight has been creating their own enormous Iron Man in class and using this as a prompt to generate expanded noun phrases and powerful verbs to describe his movements. His head is as big as a dustbin and his legs are as strong as a rock! The children have started writing their own versions of ‘Iron Man’ and we can’t wait to read their full stories!
Hawthorn Class Assembly
We started the day at Cypress Upper with a wonderful assembly from Hawthorn Class. As part of their learning in English, Hawthorn Class have been learning about the tiger. We were all very surprised to learn that tigers are now endangered and there only around 4000 left in the world. Hawthorn Class shared some excellent examples of persuasive writing and interesting facts that made us consider what we could do to help protect tigers. We finished the assembly with the song ‘Try Again’ which demonstrated the importance of resilience. Thank you to all the parents and carers who were able to join us. Well done to Miss Richardson and Hawthorn Class for all your hard work.
Holly Class have a Surprise Visitor
Holly Class had a fantastic afternoon yesterday when a surprise visitor came to see them. Mrs Wayman’s son Albert, who is a paramedic, was in the local area and brought his ambulance to show the children. Holly Class really enjoyed going inside the ambulance and learning about the job of a paramedic. Thank you Mrs Wayman and Albert for creating such a lovely experience for the children.
Terrie Chilvers Visits Year 3
Year 3 pupils enjoyed an inspiring visit from children’s author Terrie Chilvers this week. The event built upon the work completed during Book Week, where the children had previously designed their own animal characters with unique special powers.
During the workshop, Terrie shared extracts from her popular book, ‘Michael the Amazing Mind-Reading Sausage Dog’. The pupils then used her professional tips to develop their own ideas. Using their Book Week characters as a starting point, the children spent the afternoon planning original stories, focusing on how their animals would use their powers to navigate different adventures.
Thank you to Terrie Chilvers for visiting us and supporting our young writers.
The Great Sunflower Showdown begins at Upper
To celebrate Earth Day, we are igniting some friendly competitive energy across the Upper school! Our fantastic Eco Squad has officially kicked off our inter-class growing competition.
Each member of the Eco Squad has planted a sunflower seed and will spend the next few weeks nurturing it to see which class can grow the most magnificent bloom. Each class will hold a democratic vote to decide on the perfect name for their plant. Will it be Sunny McSunface or Bob? Luckily the Eco Squad is taking this seriously. They know that watering requires the ‘Goldilocks touch’- not too much, not too little, but just right. We’ve already heard reports of some children planning to read stories to their plants! Science says a little extra attention (and maybe some carbon dioxide from a good book) helps them grow strong.
Cypress Superstars
Well done to Jacob in Holly Class who came to share his Stone Age shelter he had made as part of his home learning. Jacob could explain how he had planned and made his model and had even collected moss from his garden to make the shelter even more authentic. What a fantastic piece of work! Congratulations to Dejhonte in Holly Class who has made incredible progress in his reading. Dejhonte is now reading complex texts showing great use of fluency and prosody. Mrs Ebrahim and Ms Binks were thrilled to have him come and read to them. Keep up the brilliant work!
Well done to Arya in Violet Class who has been making great progress with her phonics and reading. We are very proud of her determination and applaud her efforts. Sofia, Gael, Bohdan, Chloe and Sky were super mathematicians this week, completing an investigation about grouping. They had to use their problem solving skills and work as a team to work out how many groups of 10 they could make and how many would be left.
Year group newsletters
Please check Studybugs for an important newsletter containing information about what your child will be learning this term and how you can support at home. We have also included diary dates so please do make a note of these and continue to check our website for Cypress diary dates here.
PTFA dates
The PTFA have been busy organising our Summer term events. Please see the attached poster for details of upcoming Stay and Play events, the CYP Fest Summer Fair and Break the Rules Day! Thank you, as always, to our wonderful team of PTFA volunteers for their efforts building the Cypress community and supporting our school. If you can volunteer your time and support the PTFA please email them on hello@cypress-ptfa.org or say hi at one of their events.
We wish all our children and families an enjoyable weekend.
Ms Binks, Mrs Sorensen and the Cypress Team
