Maple Class Blog 2025 Onwards
Maple Tree Class Blog
Weekly Update 1.3.24
Miss Bairstow (d.bairstow) on: Maple Tree Class Blog
Hello!
This week in English we have started to plan our newspaper reports about a yeti/bigfoot sighting here on the school site!
In maths, Mrs Trotter's group have been continuing their work on area and perimeter and my group have been looking at decimal place value and using this to order and compare decimals with up to three decimal places.
On Wednesday, we had a very exciting visit from James Ketchell, an adventurer and motivational speaker who spoke to all the children in school about the importance of resilience. UKS2 also had workshops with James in the afternoon where they were able to ask him more questions about his adventures, climbed in a tent and even tasted some powdered chocolate pudding food he takes with him on his expeditions!
Finally, on Friday we completed an investigation in science about thermal insulators and conductors. We were looking for the best thermal insulator to line a lunchbox. We measured this by covering ice cubes in various different materials (our independent variable) and took the temperature of the ice cubes at 5 minute intervals to work out which material was the best at keeping the ice cubes cool.
Have a great weekend!
Miss Bairstow
Weekly Update - 23.2.24
Miss Bairstow (d.bairstow) on: Maple Tree Class Blog
Hello,
Our slightly shorter first week back has flown by!
In English this week we started looking at the features of newspapers. We enjoyed cutting up some old copies of First News to find all the different things that make newspapers unique. We are looking forward to starting to write our own newspaper reports next week.
In maths, Mrs Trotter's group have been learning about area and perimeter and Miss Bairstow's group have moved on to decimal place value and equivalent decimals and fractions.
Have a great weekend!
Miss Bairstow
Weekly Update 9.2.24
Miss Bairstow (d.bairstow) on: Maple Tree Class Blog
Hello!
This super short half term has whizzed by and we are now half way through the school year!
All the children in Ash have worked incredibly hard in this final week. In maths, Year 6 have been completing assessments and Year 5 have been consolidating their fraction knowledge and also doing some work on negative numbers.
In English, we published our non-chronological reports about our chosen twin city. We learnt so much about different places around the globe and how they compare to our own city of Leeds! Here are a few of our finished pieces:
This week it has also been Safer Internet Day. We had a special assembly on Wednesday to remind the children about the importance of staying safe online. If you would like more information about this we have some useful links on our website - https://www.ruffordparkprimary.org.uk/information/curriculum/computing
Finally... all children will be sent home today (Friday 9th February) with a thought bubble template to complete ahead of World Book Day which is coming up in March. A letter with more information has been sent to parents/carers electronically. Half term might be a good time to get ahead and complete your thought bubble - particularly if the weather is rubbish!
KS2 children have also received a paper copy of an order form linked to our World Book Day visit from author, Phil Earle. If you would like to pre-order a book which will then be signed by Phil on the day please complete the form and return to school by Wednesday 21st February at the latest.
Have a great half term!
Miss Bairstow :)
Weekly Update 2.2.24
Miss Bairstow (d.bairstow) on: Maple Tree Class Blog
Hello!
This week we finished our non-chronological reports in English, really got into our class guided reading text "King of the Cloud Forests" and continued working hard in maths lessons!
On Wednesday morning, several children from Year 5 and 6 took part in a “Come and Try” ice skating event at Planet Ice. Several of the children had never been ice skating before but by the end of our session they were skating independently. Everyone (including staff!) had a great time and all the children said they had fun and would definitely try ice skating again! Here are some of our skaters in action:
Next week is another busy week for school sport with judo, cross country and football events all taking place!
Have a great weekend!
Miss Bairstow :)
Weekly Update 26.1.24
Miss Bairstow (d.bairstow) on: Maple Tree Class Blog
Hello,
This week we have been busy finishing off our non-chronological reports. Next week we will be publishing them and are excited to display our finished work in school!
In maths, Miss Bairstow's group have been recapping multiplication and division methods and Mrs Trotter's group have been learning about fractions, decimals and percentages.
On Friday, we had a particularly busy afternoon as we completed a science investigation looking at the properties of different materials as we investigated the magnetism, transparency, permeability, flexibility and hardness of different materials. We then spent some time finishing our art from our lesson last week. Our new art unit is North American Art - Landscapes and we were looking at the artist John Singer Sargent's work and completing a task which involved "drawing the other half" of one of his paintings. Have a look below at a great example of one of our sketchbooks:
Have a good weekend!
Miss Bairstow :)