Year 3
What a fantastic finish to the half-term! A particular highlight for me was participating in our cricket coaching session. Year 3 shone in our Great Year 3 Sewing Bee – they showed super focus on this task, and their handmade cushions are coming home for you to admire. Huge thanks to Mrs Troughton and Mrs Dobson for their tireless support.
Class photo proofs were also tucked into reading records - please let Mrs. Manning know if yours has gone astray.
Our theme this week was finishing strong. We evaluated our sewing projects, wrapped up our Newmarket topic with a lively quiz, and explored how jobs in horse racing have changed since the 1600s. The children also finished writing persuasive texts encouraging visits to Newmarket, showing great care in editing their work. I’m very impressed of their growing independence and pride in their writing.
We’re still thoroughly gripped by the drama and imagery of The Iron Man. We will finish it next half-term – this one was short and packed, but I don’t want the children to miss out!
In PSHE, the children examined the benefits and challenges of exercise with Mrs Marsh. RE saw them creating posters on the Christian mission with Mrs Chittock, and PE has been full of energy with Sports Day practice.
Wishing you a restful break. We’ve got one more wonderful term to look forward to together!
The year 3 team (Miss Murphy, Mrs Troughton and Mrs Dobson)
Year 4
Well, here we are, another half-term holiday, our final half-term ahead of us. I shall be making the most of our last weeks together, and, as always, they will be busy weeks with Sports Day, Transition Days and all the other things that get added to the last half-term. The children have brought home today a sample copy of the class photo, with instructions on how to order your copy. We have been working hard this week and . . .
Our learning this week;-
Maths - The children have learnt how to use the 'bus stop' method for division. If you are practicing at home (🙂) please don't have any 'carry overs' that will take the children into decimal numbers. With Mrs Harper, the children finished their shapes unit by completing a symmetrical figure.
English - The children finished writing the imitation text for 'Escape from Pompeii'.
Art - Continuing with looking at 3D drawing using shading and thinking about tone. The children used pieces of ribbon to copy and draw, making them look 3D.
Titanic - The children finalised their power points and presented them to the class.
Science - The children used the school pond to carry out a pond dipping survey, counting and categorising.
Music - the children performed their compositions.
French - The children were writing descriptions based on the story of Little Red Riding Hood.
RE - The children thought about and created a poster for the 5 T's for Christians Mission to demonstrate their learning over this unit.
The children really enjoyed their Cricket session, demonstrating some great skills.
Have a lovely half-term break, 10 whole days!
Mrs Chittock and the year 4 team.
Year 5
It was nice to be back to normal this week, although I think lots of us are ready for a week off!
In Maths, we have been learning how to use long multiplication to multiply TU x TU. Lots of us even felt confident enough to have a go at solving HTU x TU multiplications. We will be recapping this again after half term to check we haven't forgotten what goes in which row (a lot can happen in a week).
In English, we have been planning and writing a descriptive encounter with Bill Sikes. Being able to watch the film in its entirety last week gave Y5 lots of ideas about how he might walk, talk and respond to people in different situations. We worked hard to show contrast in out descriptions - showing people making noise and having a lovely time before Bill walked in to their quiet and meek response to his brooding presence. I haven't had a chance to read them yet but I am sure they'll be brilliant.
History this week has focused on the British Empire. On Monday, we learnt about what the Empire did for Britain. On Thursday, we learnt about the Empire's impact on the rest of the world. We had some really interesting discussion about how things that happened so long ago still have a bearing on things that happen today.
In PSHE, we talked about drugs. Many Y5s were shocked to realise that medicines and caffeine are classed as drugs. We also talked about how drugs can be legal or illegal, and why some drugs are illegal. In Science, we learnt about insect life cycles, focusing on lady birds and butterflies and insects who incompletely and completely metamorphosise.
On Monday, we were lucky to have a session with a cricket coach from Suffolk cricket. He was really impressed with Y5s enthusiasm and catching skills. Hopefully a Bikeability checklist came home with your child this week. We don't need these back - these are just to help you check your child's equipment before the sessions. The Bikeability people still haven't sent us a timetable for that week, so I can't let you know which days your child will need their bike in school. We are chasing them - and when we know, you will.
Congratulations to the four Y5s who represented us at the Orienteering County Final yesterday - they came 4th out of 18 Suffolk schools which is a fantastic achievement.
Have a wonderful half term. I look forward to seeing you all back for our final half term (!) on TUESDAY, 3rd June.
Miss Rutter, Mrs Marsh and Mrs Nichols
Year 6
Despite a very busy and tiring week last week, Year 6 have remained incredibly productive and focused. We’ve been hard at work finalising our writing assessments and preparing thoughtful letters to form tutors in readiness for the upcoming transition meetings with secondary school staff, which begin the week after half term.
We’ve also held auditions for our end-of-year play, and what a tough job it was to cast! The talent, enthusiasm and bravery shown by the children absolutely blew us away – we’re so proud of them all.
As we head into the break, we’re sending home some spelling work to look at over the holiday. We’ll be reviewing this together on the first Tuesday back (not Wednesday), so please encourage your child to take a little time to have a look.
Have a super half-term – let the fun begin!
Mrs Gilmore
