An Unexpected Early Goodbye

Hello to all you wonderful Squirrels. 

Yesterday was a bit of a surprise. It feels very strange to have finished our final week together early and not be able to do all of the fun activities we'd got planned. While I'm sad things ended so suddenly, I'm very glad we got to have an amazing final Forest School together yesterday morning (complete with a camp fire and smores of course!). 

I feel so lucky to have been Squirrels teacher for the past two years. We've had an amazing time and learned a fair bit together along the way! I hope you all keep asking questions and finding ways to make your learning fun, whether it's at home or at school next year. 

Our Squirrel class mantles have been a very special highlight for me. We did so many but the Gruffalo mantle (Autumn term 2019), Guy Fawkes mantle (Autumn term 2020) and our current Queen Raven castles mantle have been my favourites. What were yours? 

My plan for today in school was to build Queen Raven's castle using tables, boxes, pallets and whatever else we could find around the school. Maybe you could build your own castle at home at some point this week? If you're not ready for the history/castles learning to end, take a look at school activities page of Warwick Castle's website. 

Finally, I'll leave you with some photos from our Battle of Hastings history day from last week. We had a lot of fun exploring the Bayeux Tapestry, raising questions and re-enacting both the battles between Harold Godwinson's army and Harold Hardrada's, then Harold Godwinson vs. William of Normandy's army. 

Harold Hardrada's defeated army

William, Duke of Normandy, becomes William the Conqueror and King of England!

All that is left for me to say is a huge thank you to you all, both Squirrels and parents! You've all been wonderful through two very difficult years. Squirrels, in school you have never given up and you've always had great attitudes! Parents, throughout the lockdowns, home learning and the return(s) to school you've been incredibly supportive and generally brilliant. So thank you all. 

Reports will be sent out this week along with some ideas on how to keep your child's learning ticking over during the summer. 

A ParentMail will be sent out soon with details of when we can return together at Whaddon Park and say our goodbyes properly. 

I hope you all have an amazing summer holidays and you'll return to school in September ready to learn. I won't be there but I know you'll be incredible!

Lots of love, 

Miss Cartwright 

Summer Term 2 Update 3 & 4

Hello Squirrels one and all. I hope you're well and have had a good few weeks. This week you get twice the update as I was unable to publish last week's blog. 

Our mantle story has been incredibly busy. We spent the beginning of week 3 researching castle defences so we could better understand how to attack and take back Queen Raven's castle. We learnt about equipment used to attack castles in the Middle Ages. It ranged from siege towers and ladders to fire arrows, battering rams and catapults to mining underneath castles to access them from the inside or undermine their outer walls. The servants of Queen Raven agreed on a battle plan which used a battering ram at the front gates for a distraction, then mining tunnels into various rooms of the castle to attack. They wrote excellent instructions on how to attack a wooden Motte and Bailey castle. 

Queen Raven appeared on Wednesday and order her servants to ready themselves for an attack. Her servants fought boldly and bravely but unfortunately the knights inside the castle were ready for attack. The situation was looking bleak when suddenly a flaming fire arrow through the air! The servants were confused as we'd agreed in our battle plans not to use fire arrows as we wanted to reclaim Queen Raven's castle, not burn it down. Sadly the wooden walls and thatched rooves were no match for the fire arrow and the fire spread quickly. Wisely, Queen Raven commanded her servants to retreat once again to the forest. 

Although she was sad, Queen Raven commanded her servants build her a new, better castle. She'd heard of these Norman castles being built from stone. They were larger, safer and far more impressive! 

Before beginning that task, we wrote diary entries about our attempt to reclaim Queen Raven's castle and used oil pastels to draw the burning castle. That way, the story of the attack will be saved for others to learn about in the future. 

At the beginning of week 4, the servants first created a map of Queen Raven's kingdom. They spent time discussing the physical and human features of the kingdom and how it compares with modern day Britain. They then chose a prime location to build on.

Next, the servants researched Norman castles and discovered how many built in defences they had, such as arrow slits, battlements and crenellations, a portcullis and drawbridge, extremely tall and thick walls and, of course, a moat. The servants used their research knowledge to design Queen Raven's new castle. Their pictures and  blueprints (drawn onto squared paper with precise measurements labelled on) were incredible and hugely detailed! They wrote about their designs, explaining which features they had included and why for Queen Raven. We are now awaiting a verdict from Queen Raven about whether we should begin building...

SPAG

Week 3: A recap of using adjectives in a list with commas, followed by forming nouns using the -er suffix. E.g. build = builder, farm = famer, teach = teacher. 

Week 4: Using similes to describe (e.g. brave like a knight, as busy as a bee) and alliteration (e.g. Daphne dog danced and dug dreamily all day long). 

Year 2 SPAG homework is on DoodleSpell while Year 3 SPAG homework is on DoodleEnglish. 

Maths 

We have continued telling the time for the last few weeks. The children have progressed from telling the time to 5 minutes to calculating end or start times for events and duration of events. These are tricky skills but the children are showing great endurance. Please continue to do plenty of time telling with your child at home using an analogue clock face. This is a life skill that we want them to feel really confident with! 

There is maths homework on time telling on DoodleMaths. 

Next week there will be Move-Up Day on Wednesday for everyone. They will spend the day with their new teachers in their new classes.

Have a wonderful weekend Squirrels.

From Miss Cartwright