Suckley School
Happy, Aspirational and Ready for Life
Spring
Diglis Island & Fish Pass Field Trip - River Severn
Goodness me! What a wonderful day Woodpeckers have had visiting our local river, right here in Worcester - the River Severn. Organised through the Canal & River Trust, we were lucky enough to experience the river up close by going to Diglis Island and the Fish Pass. Woodpeckers have learnt so much today:
- What a weir looks like, why the Victorians built them and how weirs negatively impact river ecosystems;
- How modern engineering has been able overcome the effects of the weir by building a 'fish pass' (also known as a fish ladder) so that fish can make their essential journeys upstream towards Wales in order to spawn;
- What it looks like inside a fish pass where you go under the river;
- The names and unique adaptions of many fish that travel upstream in the River Severn, such as Salmon, shad, grayling, bream, roach, barbels and trout, to name just a few;
- How engineering marble runs can translate to river engineering when thinking about flow of water and gradients.
And that is just a few of things we have learnt. This was a fantastic end-of-unit trip to allow us to put all our learning about Rivers into action. Well done Woodies for a day of super bahaviour and learning ! :)
Class Visits from Worcestershire Wild Life Trust & The University of Birmingham, Geography Department
We have had such an inspirational and aspirational week here in Woodpeckers!
On Monday, the Worcestershire Wildlife Trust visited our class for the whole morning so we could learn about freshwater habitats from the experts, linking into our Rivers topic. During our pond-dipping session, the children were thrilled with the experience of collecting and identifying many amazing creatures that are currently thriving in our pond, including a newt! We then used this investigation to create unique mini-beast art, allowing the children to think about the many unique adaptions of animals, such as a Hog Louse, which has 15 pairs of legs to skate on the water because they can't swim!
As if that wasn't enough, Laura, a Geography Ambassador from the University of Birmingham, came to work with us. The children were enthralled listening to Laura talk about the exciting field of Geography and all the places it can take you! Using air pollution monitors and thermal cameras, Woodpeckers measured pollution levels in various locations around the school. This linked neatly into our Rivers topic as we discussed the ways in which pollution damages delicate ecosystems, for example from toxic acid rain, and the little things we can do to reduce our own pollution footprint. So, you might find your Woodpecker turning off lights around your house more often!
Geography Ambassador Visit - University of Birmingham
Woodpeckers Football Tournament - well done to all of you - you are FABULOUS
Working as Designers - Building Bridges to cross a river
Working as Mathematicians
Year 3 deepened their understanding of fractions using 'Fraction Pizzas'. This allowed us to think of 'the whole', and how we write non-unit fractions to represent the whole. It also helped to reinforce a unit fraction as we talked about taking 1/4 of the pizza and putting it on our plate. Experiencing the fractions with this concrete activity was both fun and educational.
Geography - Investigating how Oxbow Lakes form
Using dictionaries to study vocabulary
History - Ancient River Civilisations
Today we meshed history with geography in our Topic lesson. Using Atlases, we looked at the location of five rivers which were vital to four ancient civilisations - Mesopotamia (The Tigris and The Euphrates), Ancient Egypt (The Nile), The Indus Valley (The Indus) and Ancient China (Yellow River/ Huang He). These rivers were crucial to the development of these ancient cultures - we will be looking at the reasons for this over the next lessons.
Role play of Mole and Rat from Wind in the Willows.
This role play was to allow the children to experience the personality traits of the Mole, which we had previously inferred from analysis of the text.
Talk Maths!
Year 3 are getting really involved in their "Talk Maths". When we "talk" about maths, rather than just "doing" maths in really helps us to embed the language of mathematics, as well as help us reason and problem solve. This all helps to deepen our knowledge and understanding of how number works. Brilliant work today year 3!
R.E - People of God
Today we looked at Christianity in R.E. and thought about the story of Noah in the context of People of God.
After-school STEM Club
KS2 After-school STEM (Science Technology Engineering and Mathematics) Club has been very popular this half term. The children have met DASH who is our class Robot. We are learning how to code Dash using drag and drop code sequences. In conjunction, we have been using K-Nex and Lego to work as Engineers as design structures which can accompany Dash.
Art - investigating brush strokes
In Art, we have started working on our brush strokes. We found that different brushes created different effects, and textures. We also started talking about Claude Monet and some of his famous work such as Waterlilles; we will be using his work for inspiration to create our own riverbank paintings from Wind in the Willows. I can't wait to see what Woodpeckers will create!
Year 4 working as mathematicians - multiplication and division
Year 4 have been finding it valuable to use concrete mathematical resources to assist with their multiplication and division. Concrete equipment is very helpful as it really helps us to understand what the numbers and the functions truely mean, rather than simply rote learning a method by which to complete a calculation.
Science - investigating habitats
In Science, we headed outside to our own Wild Area (which we are so lucky to have!) to investigate the environment for various habitats. This the perfect way to introduce habitats to the class as we found many unique habitats on our own doorstep. We will be linking this learning to fresh water environments and the types of plants an animals that live in rivers, and we will also be linking to classification of animals.
Year 3 - working as Mathematicians - multiplication
Year 3 are straight back into their learning, using concrete mathematical resources to learn about 2-digit by 1-digit multiplication.
Rivers of Life Topic Web for Spring 2023
LETTER TO PARENTS/ CARERS
Dear Woodpeckers Parents/ Carers,
We hope you had an enjoyable and relaxing Christmas holiday. The children have settled well back to school and are happy to be with one another, which is lovely to see. For the first few days back, we have been studying a whole school book – Stanley’s Stick by John Hegley. This delightful book has captured the children’s imaginations; we have been thinking about the many things that a stick could be – magic wand, hockey stick, mast on a boat…the list is endless! This has inspired some lovely partnered poem writing and drawings, which will form part of a whole school display.
This week, we are launching our new topic, “Rivers of Life”. We will be looking at many aspects of rivers, both locally and internationally, for example: investigating the geography of rivers from source to mouth; looking at why rivers are rich and diverse habitats for many species of flora and fauna and how rivers (and other waterways) are important transport networks. In March, we will be taking a whole-school trip to the National Sea Life Centre in Birmingham (date TBA) to observe aquatic life up close. We will be reading the classic children’s novel, Wind in the Willows, by Kenneth Grahame and weaving this text through our daily literacy.
Reading
Please ensure that children have their reading books and reading logs in school daily. This helps us to hear children read regularly and monitor their progress. Reading books are changed once a child completes a book and their comprehension of the text has been assessed. Please hear your child read at home as often as you can, and record this in their reading record. Reading records are checked weekly; if a child has read four times at home (and this has been documented by a parent/carer), children earn a raffle ticket for the half-termly raffle draw.
Spellings
Please ensure spelling books come to school daily. New spellings will be set each Monday; please encourage your child to practice their spellings regularly. These can be found in the children’s spelling books and online at https://www.spellingshed.com/en-gb/. The login information for Spelling Shed is in the children’s spelling books. When your child uses the internet at home, we would encourage you to take the appropriate measures to keep them safe online.
Multiplication Tables Check (MTC) – Year 4
The multiplication tables check (MTC) for Year 4 pupils means that all Year 4 pupils will be tested on their multiplications in a school-administered test in June 2023. In order to prepare for this, children have already been practicing their multiplications daily at school, and we will continue with this. To help support your child, please encourage them to practice their times tables at home. Practice is best done little and often – practice makes permanent. For further information, please review the government website:
https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/multiplication-tables-check-information-for-parents.
P.E. and Forest School
P.E. has resumed on a Tuesday afternoon. Please ensure children have full P.E. kit (including appropriate footwear) in school for a Tuesday – we suggest that P.E. bags remain in school and are then taken home at the half term to be washed. Currently, Forest School sessions are paused for the winter; this allows the site time to restore and recover. We will update you when we are allowed to return.
Staffing
We have had a staffing reorganisation. As such, Woodpeckers staffing is now as follows:
Mon Mrs Seward & Mr Hughes (TA)
Tues Mrs Seward & Mr Walker (TA)
Weds Mrs Seward & Mr Walker (TA)
Thurs Mrs Seward & Mr Walker (TA morning only)
Fri Miss Rogers & Mr Hughes (TA)
If you have anything that you would like to discuss, please do not hesitate to contact us via the school office for an appointment.
Best Wishes,
Mrs Seward & The Woodpeckers Team