We have been thinking about our ‘resourcefulness’ learning capacities this week. We have been thinking about ‘questioning’ and whether we ask the ‘right questions’ to receive the information we require, whether we employ our imagination to solve problems on the playground and in the classroom and to write creatively, and whether we are making links when we learn to better understand concepts. We really focused on recognising for ourselves when we were using these skills. We know awareness of this will help us to use these skills even more and to greater effect.
Mrs O’ Connor is currently working on a Building Learning Power presentation for parents to give some insight into the framework and help you to support your child/ren at home in developing their learning powers. More details on this to follow soon.
Macmillan Cancer Support Bake Sale
We raised money for a very worthy cause today- Macmillan Cancer Support. Thank you for all of your cake donations and to those of you who purchased cakes or gave money to children for the playtime cake sale. I will update you with the total raised as soon as all the money has been counted. A big thanks to Mrs Rose and Ms Prideaux our PSHE co-ordinators who organised the events today and a special thank you also to the House and Vice Captains who organised themselves efficiently and manned the stalls!
Oak Class Assembly
Today we were treated to some poetry – the children recited verses from the book ‘All are Welcome’ by Alexandra Penfold. They delivered their lines with confidence and clarity. They also discussed the importance of our Cypress Community and our strong spirit of togetherness. Our Collective Worship theme this week is Charity and we reflected on the worthy charity we are supporting today – Macmillan Cancer Support. They finished with a song that embodies our Cypress spirit of communnity and togetherness. If you are an Oak Class parent and would like to watch the assembly again, the video will be posted to the class blog.
Music at Cypress
Mr Spoerer had his first day of music at the Upper School this week and it was such fun! We are also so excited to be purchasing our own Cypress set of West African Djembe drums to help children understand melody, dynamics and rhythm. Children will have the opportunity to listen to and play the drums during their sessions with our music teacher, Miss Barker.
Dr Bike
Dr Bike came to see us today. Children in Y5 and Y6 were invited to bring their bikes in to have them checked by him to ensure they were roadworthy and make or recommend any necessary repairs. We are so excited for bikeability training beginning on the 4th October!
Rainbow Winners
| Class Name | Rainbow 1 | Rainbow 2 |
| Holly | Beatrice – for striving to be independent learners | Lucas (same as Beatrice) |
| Cedar | Lily-Mathilde – she was ill last week but has been a joy to see her back and so absorbed in her work this week. | Joe – for being so absorbed in his work and managing his distractions. He has produced some quality pieces in literacy, maths, reading and science this week! |
| Birch | Hettie- fantastic noticing skills when solving a challenge with place value work | Tommy- for being a superb GROW coach during writing sessions |
| Lime | Kevin – for reading out his sentence and realising he had missed out a word and self corrected | Lara – using her fingers for counting on in hundreds. Used her prior knowledge the following day. |
| Hawthorn | Lea – for making an incredible Roman castle as part of her Thematic homework. | Raul – for showing great perseverance and determination to improve his handwriting. |
| Rowan | Mete for a wonderful attitude to learning. He is a role model for his peers. | Lucy for such thoughtful writing in response to ‘The Promise’. Lucy has made excellent use of a range of powerful vocabulary. |
| Hazel | Asya – for being an independent learner and producing a poem with similes and metaphors. | Mohamed – for excellent contributions in all lessons |
| Willow | Jasmina – for doing incredible Viking homework and always showing she is managing her distractions in class. | Alex W – for persevering in his poetry writing & producing some really imaginative lines. |
| Sycamore | Billy – for persevering in our lessons and asking for help at appropriate times. | Nikolai – for his honesty about overcoming problems in our BLP session. |
| Beech | Ava – for supporting others when making an origami crane. | Sangeeth – for using great perseverance skills when making an origami crane |
| Oak | Evie – for being extremely supportive and helpful to the class during a BLP lesson. | James – for bringing a smile to the face of a teacher through his warm and welcoming greeting. |
Congratulations to all our Rainbow winners!
Cypress Superstars
Word of the Week last week was ‘ecstatic’. Well done to Cara, who won the Word Wizard rosette for her ambitious sentence! The Word of the Week this week is ‘indignant’. Get your entries in first thing on Monday to be in the running to win the rosette! Well done to Tyler (Lime) this week, who wrote a wonderfully sensitive and thoughtful letter related to the class’ work on ‘The Promise’. Cavani (Lime)is a Cypress Superstar this week; he wowed his teacher with his reasoning skills, independence in the classroom and resilient attitude. Zhane (Birch) is an amazing reader, who confidently read aloud to his class with clarity, fluency and intonation. He also worked hard to create a retelling based on the class’ book ‘Into the Wood’ by Anthony Browne – Zhane read his work out to me and really impressed me with his confidence. Well done, Zhane! Well done Alesha (Hawthorn) for biking to school and winning the ‘Golden Lock’ I hope you are enjoying your prize! James (Cedar) came to see me today with a wonderfully descriptive piece of work based on ‘Into the Wood’ also – he had really paid attention to his handwriting and it showed! Great effort, James!
Writing Competition
Join Crystal Palace Library Hub, the Crystal Palace Museum, Parakeet Books and Graham Whitlock author of The Crystal Palace Chronicles for a writing competition for 7-14 year olds imagining what they would show if the Crystal Palace reappeared today! Winning entries will be exhibited at the Crystal Palace Museum and Upper Norwood Library Hub, and prizes include free books, family tickets to Ligthopia at Christmas in Crystal Palace Park, fabulous merchandise from Friends of Crystal Palace Dinosaurs and the chance win an iPad for your school! Please see the attached posters for details. Good luck!
Pick-up/Drop-off
We politely request that parents/carers refrain from smoking outside of or nearby the school whilst other families are picking up and dropping off children. We also ask that families park their cars considerately, in the area being mindful of our neighbours. Many thanks for your cooperation in this matter.
We hope you have a restful weekend.
Mrs Carpenter and the Cypress Upper team
