We have had the most amazing Book Week at Cypress Lower!
Today the school is filled with Hungry Caterpillars, Cats in Hats, Wizards, Witches and Gruffalos to name but a few. It was great fun spotting which characters our staff had dressed up as too! We have been so impressed with everyone’s costumes and enjoyed a parade during our assemblies today. Thank you to our supportive parents and carers for efforts and creativity! Please check out the photos below for our costumes inspired by our favourite books:
Visiting authors at CYP Lower
On Monday we welcomed Kevin Graal who worked with our youngest children in Nursery and Reception. He is the most amazing storyteller and had all the children truly captivated.
Chitra Soundar led an inspiring assembly for children in Year 1 and Year 2 on Monday, sharing her childhood growing up in India and explaining what had inspired her to become an author. Chitra then led some workshops for our Year 1 classes, reading her book ‘Tiger Troubles’ and then Year 1 completed some artwork to create their own jungle scenery for the story, in the style of Henri Rousseau.
On Tuesday Margaret Bateson-Hill joined us for assembly where she enthralled Reception, Year 1 and Year 2 with her storytelling, taking us on an adventure through the Appalachian Mountains. Margaret then led workshops with Year 2 where she shared her story ‘Lao Lao of Dragon Mountain’ and inspired the children to write their very own versions. Sophia and Caleb in Violet class said ” We enjoyed listening to Margaret, being creative and making our own paper flowers!”
Extreme Reading
We loved seeing the Extreme Reading photographs during our assemblies today; how funny that you have been reading in the bath, on top of vans and cars and even in the swimming pool! Congratulations to Ruairi in Red class, Elbie in Green class and Shen in Ruby class for winning the Extreme Reading competition – all of our winners received a brand new book to enjoy at home.
Buddy Reading
Our classes have enjoyed Buddy Reading with children from Cypress Upper School this week. We have been so impressed with how kind some of the older children have been with our youngest children and it’s been great to see children of all ages engaged in sharing books together. In some year groups siblings have had the chance to read together too!
Book Fair
Our Cypress Book Fair is running from Friday 3rd March until the morning of Wednesday 8th March. The Book Fair is based at the Upper School (follow the signs!) but all Cypress children and families are welcome to attend. Children can use their World Book Day voucher towards any purchases and there will be a huge range of books to choose from. All sales help Cypress to gain free books! Our Book Fair is always very popular so please be mindful that we may have queue systems in place.
Reception Parents and Carers Reading Sessions
We have had a great turn out for our Reception reading sessions this week, where parents and carers have shared a book with their child in our Saplings library. As these sessions have been so successful, we are hoping to extend them to Years 1 and 2 in the coming weeks.
Thank you!
Thank you to our amazing Cypress PTFA, without the support of whom, these visits would not be possible. A huge thank you also to Mrs Parker and Ms Cheeseman for all your hard work and organisation and our fantastic staff for their creativity and commitment to delivering a memorable week for our children.
Parents’ Evenings
Next week is Parents’ Evening. Please ensure you have signed up for an appointment with your child’s class teacher. Children in Year 1 and Year 2 will have their books in the school hall for you to look at. We will also be encouraging all families to complete our annual Parent/Carer Questionnaire which you can also access here.
Makaton Sign of the Week
The new Makaton sign we are learning this week is salad. Please click here to see how to sign salad.
Cypress Superstars
Well done to Elham, Kane and Rose in Blue class this week for their independent work in maths, grouping into tens and ones. Dougie, Aidan, Poppy and Widad in Year 2 have been working hard to use the features of instructions, using time connectives in their writing. Oskar in Ruby class has really impressed us all with his fantastic progress in maths – he’s now working independently to subtract 2 digit numbers bridging through 10!
We wish everyone a fantastic weekend and look forward to seeing you all on Monday.
Mrs Sorensen and Lower School Team
