Year 3
We are delighted to share with you how brilliantly Year 3 have settled into their first week back at school. The children have approached their learning with focus, enthusiasm, and determination, and we have been so impressed with their positive attitudes. They are engaging attentively with teaching input, contributing thoughtfully in class discussions, and tackling independent tasks with growing confidence.
Spellings
You will have seen that weekly spellings were sent home. These will be tested each Tuesday. In class, we dedicate one session each week to exploring, understanding, and practising the spellings together. To consolidate this learning, please support your child with a few short practice sessions at home. Do let us know how your child is finding the new spelling routines, and do let us know if you have any problems logging into Ed Shed.
Reading at home
Next week we will begin counting the number of reads children complete at home. Children are expected to read at least five times per week to develop fluency, confidence, and comprehension. To become a Star Reader, children should aim for six or seven reads across the week. Your support with this is invaluable - it not only strengthens their reading skills but also nurtures a lifelong love of books and allows us to celebrate their efforts in school.
English
Our English learning this week has focused on instruction texts. As a class, we read a set of instructions on how to make a dumper truck. We explored vocabulary, sentence types, and the features of this text type before applying our understanding to instructions on making a spaceship. The children used a checklist to identify each feature, demonstrating great attention to detail. We also introduced imperative (bossy) verbs, which the children will soon use in their own writing. In our first grammar-focused session of the year, the children impressed us with their work on suffixes, plurals, vowels, and more.
Maths
In maths, we extended our understanding of place value by representing and partitioning numbers up to 1,000. The children have shown real determination and even asked for “more maths sheets” - a highlight of the week! Please continue to support your child at home by practising times tables and maths targets, as this makes a huge difference to their confidence and progress.
Geography: We launched our new topic by asking where fruits and vegetables come from. The children suggested ideas ranging from farms and allotments to container ships and supermarkets.
French: In our introductory lesson, we explored where France is located and shared what we already know about the country. The children made some excellent contributions.
Science: We learned definitions of ‘diet’ and ‘nutrition’, how to classify animals by their diets - carnivores, herbivores, and omnivores - and discussed how different types of teeth help animals eat their food
Music: With Miss Spinks, the children “climbed mountains” through music.
RE: With Mrs Chittock, they began a new unit with thoughtful discussion.
PE: Mrs Crook
Art: Inspired by Van Gogh, the children created beautiful “mark-making” trees using pencil.
It has been a busy, rewarding start to Year 3. We are so proud of how the children have embraced their learning, and we look forward to continuing this exciting year.
Have a lovely weekend!
The Year 3 team
Year 4
First full week completed, and the children were looking a little tired by the end. It's been a full on week, we've been busy and have now experienced all of our learning. Thank you for encouraging your child to read. We are looking good for Bookster Bear though Year 5 are under the impression that he will be theirs. Come on folks, let's prove them wrong! Thank you also for ensuring your child has returned their spelling sheet. Good to have some Maths Targets to check too.
Our learning this week;-
Maths - We are continuing with shape and place value. In shape the children have continued with looking at perimeter and in place value we have been looking at numbers up to 10,000.
English - We have used a dictionary to find the meaning of words and then a thesaurus to find alternatives for that word, this was fun. The children also completed a reading comprehension.
Topic - we started our topic of Anglo-Saxons and we talked about what it was like under Roman rule and after the Romans left.
French - With Miss Murphy.
RE - We started a unit on Christianity and we have started to think about salvation.
Computing - Mrs Harper taught a lesson about online safety from bullying.
PHSE - With Miss Spinks the children were looking at how laws are passed.
Art - We have continued looking at the intricated patterns that were used in Anglo-Saxon art and sculpture, particularly in jewellry.
The children have worked hard this week and deserve a little down time to recover.
Have a lovely weekend
Mrs Chittock and the Year 4 team
Year 5
We had a wonderful day on Tuesday. The sun shone and the A11 was kind! We had so much fun flying through the air on the tree zip line, splashing about on the river while kayaking and puzzling our way through the team challenges.
There was so much enthusiasm, support and laughter. It was lovely to spend some time with the class outside the classroom in an adventurous setting! If Tuesday is anything to go by, we are going to have an incredible time at Horsted in February. Mrs Manning will be posting some photos from our adventures on the school website, so keep your eyes peeled!
We've had a busy first full week in school. In English, we completed a reading activity on our Neil Armstrong text, analysed different sentence types and wrote some 'If, if, if, then' sentences about different space-y events.
In Maths, we have continued looking at place value and have begun looking at decimal place value. In Science, we learnt about the planets in our Solar System. There is a rather catchy song which you can listen to here if you'd like to be singing it for the rest of your life.... (you have been warned!)
Minds were blown in RE when we learnt about the Bible. We started thinking it was the Christian holy text, full of stories and prayers, but we learnt that it's the basis for several religions' holy texts, took over 1,000 years to write and was originally written in 3 different languages. It also contains poems and prophecies!
Homework books should have come home on Monday. We spent lots of time talking about homework tasks on Monday, making sure everyone is happy and knows what they are doing. I look forward to seeing their homework on Monday.
Spellings lists will go live tomorrow at 7am (in case anyone enjoys an early morning spelling activity!) Children are expected to practice their spellings at home, and they will also have opportunities to practice in school. They will be tested on their spellings on Friday mornings.
Have a restful weekend – there are lots of coughs and sneezes developing in Y5!
Miss Rutter, Mrs Grosvenor and Mrs Marsh
Year 6
We are so delighted with how the children have settled into Year 6 and the positive progress they are already making. Their hard work, enthusiasm and support for one another have created a fantastic atmosphere for learning.
In English, we have continued reading Private Peaceful and learning to respond to questions in a structured and thoughtful way. The children have also completed a 'cold task' diary entry, recounting their very first day in Reception. Alongside this, we have been developing our use of expanded noun phrases – adding description both before and after the head noun – to bring our writing to life.
In Maths, the focus has been on place value: rounding numbers with accuracy, ordering and comparing numbers, and tackling some tricky reasoning challenges. The children have shown great determination in stretching themselves to solve these problems.
In RE, we have been reflecting on how Jesus is represented in the Gospels and considering the different ways he is presented. In History, we have started to explore the causes of World War One, learning about the Triple Alliance and the Triple Entente and beginning to think about how and why these alliances were formed.
In PE, the focus has been on developing skills and teamwork through tag rugby, while in Art, the children have been experimenting with the colour wheel to explore mixing and creating new shades.
On Thursday, we were pleased to welcome Mr Witter from Newmarket Academy, and we are beginning to receive dates for upcoming open events.
Homework: This weekend’s tasks include some place value practice linked to our classwork and a reading task (this can count as one read). Homework is due on Tuesday. Please remember, I am always available on Monday lunchtime to support anyone who has clearly made an effort to begin but found parts of the homework challenging.
Spelling: this week, we would like the children to select 10 of the spellings from the back of their reading record to practise. We will test the children next Friday on these. If your child has fewer than 10, they can work on the number they have.
Reminders:
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Please do not send metal water bottles into school.
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Year 6 is often when pupils start to experiment with make-up, but we kindly ask that no make-up of any kind is worn to school.
We are so proud of the brilliant start the children have made to Year 6 – they are already showing maturity, positivity, and great progress in their learning.
The Year 6 Team
