Signal Box

Term 4 Summary:

This term in Signal Box we have continued with our history based enquiry, ‘How Can We Fly?, by looking at some of the significant people and events in the history of flight; the Wright brothers,Betsy Coleman, Amelia Earhart and the Apollo 11 mission to the moon.

The book Emma Jane’s Aeroplane by Katie Haworth became our inspiration for writing our own stories in English. We enjoyed choosing our own transport and characters and finding new places in the world to visit. We worked hard writing our own beginning, build up, problem, solution and ending. We then illustrated and published our stories to keep in our class book nook. We also invited our parents in to hear the story and make paper aeroplanes We filled them with Katie’s characters before seeing how far they could fly.

Our enrichment Wednesday Walks this term have included a trip to Stanton Park to see the lambs, a walk around Barbury Castle followed by flying our paper bag kites that we had made (the Wright brothers interest in flight began when they flew their kites, and their aeroplane design was based on kite designs), a walk to B&Q to buy seeds and plants for our allotment and science experiment and a very muddy walk to the water logged Mannington Rec. where we enjoyed squelching in the mud. Closer to school we were thrilled to see the frogs had returned to the pond and enjoyed picking the daffodils in our allotment having planted the bulbs in September last year.

Platform 1 have continued their drumming lessons and have been building on their skills they developed last term.  

On World Book Day we wore our pyjamas or dressed as a favourite book character and invited our parents in to share their favourite stories with us in our reading dens that we made.

In maths Platform 2 have worked hard on practising adding and subtracting 1 digit numbers from 2 digit numbers and adding and subtracting multiples of 10. Platform 1 looked at place value, addition and subtraction within 20 and learned how to tell the time to the hour at the end of term.

Have a look at our photos!

Reading Records

Reading books and reading records will once again come home in book bags with the expectation that you read with your child most days.  This may be their reading book, or it may be another book from home you read with them.  They will receive a reward and certificate for every 50 reads they complete.

Homework

For children in year 1- 6 English and maths homework will be sent home on Fridays. Homework books will need to be returned to class on or before Wednesday.  The English and maths homework will be designed to reinforce and practice essential skills in these subjects. Spellings will be sent home weekly, and tested on Friday.

Outdoor Learning and Enrichment

This year we will be continuing with our weekly enrichment on Wednesdays. Getting out and about on local walks and trips and continuing to explore more ways to use our outdoor environment and local area to enrich learning.  Skye, our therapy dog, will continue to join us on some of our visits and we will also use the school mini bus and Mrs Butcher’s car when we are exploring further afield.

Therefore, can you please provide your child with a pair of wellies to be kept at school in case we decide to take our learning outside.  Please also ensure your child comes to school prepared for the weather; a coat on chilly days, gloves and a woolly hat on even chillier days and suncream and sunhats on lovely sunny days.

Instagram

Signal Box have a new instagram for this academic year – even_swindon_signalbox_23_24.
Please follow us so we can share photos and information over the year. We can only accept ‘follows’ from parents and immediate carers. Your child’s mainstream class will also have an Instagram account which you can follow and we will be able to share their address shortly.