Cedar Tree Class Blog
Cedar Tree Class
Cedar Spring 2, Week 2 w.e 07.03.25
Mr Dring (p.dring) on: Cedar Tree Class
Hello
What a busy week - we have had fun exploring persuasive language features in English, erupting volcanoes in Geography, a variety of fractions in Maths, strategies to support our mental health in PSHE, World Book Day in Reading, all thing electrical in both DT and Science and Year 4 children at their Nell Bank residential!
Please note that the children will be set a PE related homework over the next two weeks - more details to follow from Mr Spence as PE lead. This is instead of our usual homework and is set with the same school expectations.
Year 4 - a link for parents about the government's Spring MTC test https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/multiplication-tables-check-information-for-parents/multiplication-tables-check-information-for-parents-text-version--2
Year 4 - Mr Kyriacou will soon share a link for the Nell Bank photos - watch this space.
https://www.ruffordparkprimary.org.uk/classes/year4beech/nell-bank-residential-2025
Finally, we would like to thank Mr Turner for his time with us on his student teacher placement and the support he has provided the children in Cedar class. We wish him every success in his future career.
Have a great weekend - hopefully with more Spring sunshine.
Mr Dring
Cedar Spring 2, Week 1 w.e 28.02.25
Mr Dring (p.dring) on: Cedar Tree Class
Hello
Welcome back - it's Spring 2 already. The children have brought their enthusiasm for learning back with them and also some sunshine which has cheered us all. We have started learning how to use persuasive language as part of our new unit on non-chronological writing. As part of this, we used drama and acted out a mini TV advert for the imaginary Sydney Broadcasting Corporation! It has been wonderful to see how confident the children now are to 'perform' in front of their peers.
In Computing this week, we have explored further online safety messages as part of our extended Safer Internet Day work. In Maths we have continued in both year groups to explore all things fractions. We have continued using the phrase 'The whole has been divided into ? equal parts' to help us with calculating the denominators for our fractions. In Reading we have continued with our class novel 'Kidnap in the Caribbean.' We have also explored how to build basic switches as part of our battery operated light units through exploring circuits.
Year 4 - please look our for further information from Mr Kyriacou about residential packed lunches (Day 1) and drop off arrangements. Those not attending will arrive at school as normal and work alongside the Year 3s in Cedar class Tuesday and Wednesday on Year 4 learning challenges.
Have a wonderful weekend
Mr Dring and the Cedar team
Week 6 Cedar Spring 1 w.e Thur 13.02.25
Mr Dring (p.dring) on: Cedar Tree Class
Hello
We have had a lovely end to the Spring 1 half term. The children's ideas on how to end a real life adventure story have been wonderful - some pilots survived the erupting volcano...some didn't. The children have put together their Scratch Computer programming skills and created a series of characters (sprites) that are all very musical, set against a variety of backdrops. In Maths we have been using the phrase 'The whole has been divided into ? equal parts' to help us with calculating the denominators for our fractions. In Reading we have continued with our class novel 'Kidnap in the Caribbean' and also volcano related texts such as poems too. In Music, the children have performed their final recorder compilation using the skills they have honed this half term with Mr Fones - they have made great progress. Below is a link as part of this year's safer internet day - schools are increasingly aware of children viewing potential harmful material through a variety of means which also include games such as Roblox or videos viewed on Youtube. The children have learned a lot about online safety this term during PSHE and will also be doing more in the first week back in Spring 2.
Have a fun and safe half term holidays.
Mr Dring
Cedar - Spring 1 week 5 w.e 07.02.25
Mr Dring (p.dring) on: Cedar Tree Class
Hello
This week we have started drafting our endings to the real life story from 1992 about a helicopter pilot who survived crashing into a volcano. We have really enjoyed using drama to explore language of emotion and show not tell devices. For example, they were in peril, in mortal danger, he could hear his heartbeat pound in his ears. In Reading, we have continued to practise our retrieval and inference skills using our class novel 'Kidnap in the Caribbean.' In Music, the children continue to develop their recorder playing skills and are really making progress. In P.E, they have continued to practise and hone their skipping skills with Sam our PE coach, Mr Fones and myself. A few parents have asked what they can do to support their child best and I would always suggest mental maths skills such as number bonds to 100 reminders, all of the times table facts up to 12x12, spelling of the first 200 common exception words e.g people, school or neat and legible handwriting/letter formation.
Reminder - next week (Week 6) for the children is a 4 day week with school being closed for our next teacher training day.
Have a lovely weekend
Mr Dring
Cedar Spring 1 week 4 w.e 31.01.25
Mr Dring (p.dring) on: Cedar Tree Class
Good afternoon
This week we have started our new narrative unit linked to a helicopter pilot who survived crashing into a volcano! We are developing ideas on alternative endings we could write in our descriptive writing. In Reading, we have used non-fiction texts to learn what the inside of volcanoes look like. In Geography, we finished mapping the course of the River Wharfe and River Aire and have started to think how life in Leeds can be compared to other parts of the world. In Maths, we have been calculating perimeter in Year 3 and rectilinear perimeter in Year 4. We are all enjoying learning about everything to do with sound in Science too.
Year 4s: those remaining parents who haven't yet returned your child's E1 medical form please do so as we are unable to take your child on the trip without this information.
Have a wonderful weekend
Mr Dring