February school days in year 4 primary school
February has been a really busy month for school days. With half term in the middle, we’re rushing ever faster towards Easter! Here’s this month’s school days.
Owl visit
This term the topic has been predators, and N’s class again went to the catchment secondary school to visit the farm and find out about owls. They did the visit back in Class 2, so N thought they’d know exactly what they were doing. He said it was a good trip – they examined owl pellets to find bones and some found maggots inside (nice!) which seemed to be N’s highlight.
VIP and multisports medal
On the same day N came home with a VIP sticker and a medal from multisports after school club. He couldn’t remember what either were for, but we deduced that the multisports one was for him helping ‘the little ones’ to get changed. Ahhh. His usual aim is to get changed as quickly as possible, but nice that he was helping others out.
Hair gel
I mentioned previously how much care N is now taking with his hair morning and evenings (not much point in the evening given he then sleeps on half wet hair). It seems he’s got it from school as there’s been discussions about hair gels and how much they get through. I can’t remember us thinking about that kind of thing until secondary school!
Football tournament
After the disappointment that the tournament before was only for girls, the boys got their own one this month for Year 3 and 4. N didn’t get to play last year so was pleased there were 2 teams this year. He really wanted to be in the ‘competitive’ team rather than the fun one, and was pleased to find out on the day that he was in the A team. They have a lot of children who play for local teams, and when I picked N up he and his friends were so excited that they’d won all of their matches, and quite convincingly. They’d even beaten the 2 teams that everyone was saying were the good ones (although how they know given each year the cohort of children moves on, I have no idea).
He even scored a goal despite being in defence. He was a bit sad he didn’t get to play in midfield, but I did mention that I was the same at school. I started off as an inner up front in hockey, and gradually over the years got moved back further until 6th form when I was left back. And ended up in defence for all other sports as well – frustrating when they’re totally different sports and you might want the chance to try in attack positions.
He had a great time, and for a small school, they certainly hold their own in sports – the girls had done well, previous football teams have done well, and then the tennis last year they won too. He looked really grown up in their school football kit as well.
N has had painful hamstrings since the football, although they seem to be easing off. With tennis being cancelled that Friday and Sunday it give them time to heal a bit more.
Banned games
Evidently tag has now been banned at playtimes, as has tennis and football. I can understand ball sports as they do take up lots of room, but you’d think tag would be fairly safe. Obviously not as he reckoned it was because the foundation stage children were getting knocked over too much. Oops.
So he’s not too impressed and they seem to have reverted to hide and seek. I suggested that the sports council would be coming up with suggestions, and he said they can do cricket but the sports they can do take up a lot of room. He wasn’t excited about my suggested What’s the time Mr Wolf and Red Letter that we used to play. I also suggested French skipping and skipping with 2 turners, but these ideas were batted away too. I await to see what they’ll change to. I’m sure they don’t really just stand around!
Pancake day
The night before I was making 1 pancake for N to take in for their pancake race. They do the race by year group. N was pleased he flipped his without dropping it, but he was middle of the race at finishing. He had a right moan about the faster children being at an advantage….well yes kid, they’re fast and it’s a race so obviously they’re going to win unless they drop their pancakes.
Dance and gymnastics
N isn’t happy because after half term it appears they’re now doing dance and gymnastics for PE. Multisports club is often disappointing because they usually do really random sports rather than proper team sports that they’re likely to do at secondary school. They do rotate round sports in PE so I’m sure they’ll be back to another sport soon.
While he enjoyed doing gymnastics with the older class when he wasn’t swimming (he’s gutted that those not swimming are now getting to do tennis), he’s not enjoyed it with his class so far. Evidently there’s been some muttering from some of the girls because they’re good at it and it’s too easy for them, compared with the boys who aren’t gymnasts.
N doesn’t usually mind a bit of dance, so I’ll be interested to see what they end up doing.
How has February school days been for your children?
The school playground keeps evolving, many games we played have been banned and evolved onto other things, so I am sure somebody will come up with other new ideas.
Up here the schools have separate play grounds, usually P1,2,and 3 in one and the 4 older years in another.
The foundation class have their own playground for morning and afternoon breaks (and outdoor learning), but lunchtimes they have out in the main playground from the first half term.