Signal Box

Term 5 Summary:

‘Where in the World Shall We Go?’ was our geography based enquiry question this term. We learned many reasons why our world is wonderful by looking at some of the amazing physical and human features across all continents.

Our book ‘Wombat Goes Walkabout’ took us to the Australian bush. We enjoyed meeting and learning about the characters in the story – Wombat, Emu, Wallaby, Possum, Boy, Koala and wrote about them based on what we had read. Our focus was on using interesting vocabulary and stylistic devices used by authors. We then enjoyed planning and writing an extension to the story – a party to celebrate Wombat finding his mum.

Our enrichment Wednesday Walks this term have included a trip to Aldi to buy ingredients to make Anzac biscuits, to Mannington Rec. to play games and identify trees, a scavenger hunt at the GWR park, Old Town Gardens to see the cherry trees in blossom and Hagbourne Copse to see the bluebells covering the woodland floor.

This term both Platform 1 and 2 have joined together for their drumming lessons and are continuing to build on their skills. We have also begun to practise singing and signing songs which we will be performing in Term 6.

The children have joined with their mainstream classes for trips and WOW days. Year 4,5 and 6 Signal Box children had great fun and learnt a lot on our 2 day residential stay at Abbey Home Farm where they carried out farm jobs such as feeding the pigs and collecting, grading and boxing eggs, learned skills such as fire lighting, wood chopping and how to groom and look after horses – as well as cooking all their own meals.

In maths Platform 2 have focussed on finding fractions of objects and amounts and Platform 1’s maths work has included learning about numbers within 50 and 2D shape.

Have a look at our photos!

At the farm

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 – signalbox2024.
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.