Year 3
It’s been a lovely week in Year 3, full of learning, and a few chapped lips! On Monday afternoon, the children showed independence and focus - perhaps our best afternoon of learning so far this year. It felt like real “lower key stage two” work. As the weather turns colder, we are noticing lots of dry lips appearing; please do send in a plain (non-coloured) lip balm or Vaseline if your child can apply it independently. We were runners up to win Bookster for a second week – please keep up the home reading 6/7 times a week!
English
The children have begun planning their own innovations of the non-chronological report we studied - this time all about elephants. We’ve spotted thoughtful adjective choices, accurate technical vocabulary, and plenty of enthusiastic facts (“Did you know…?” has become a popular line!). We also completed a reading comprehension based on our class text, The Wild Way Home, which is proving very popular with the children.
Maths
Year 3 have dived into the 8 times table, with the help of a very catchy song that may or may not be stuck in all our heads. The children have also been multiplying and dividing by 3 and 4, becoming increasingly confident with key mathematical terms such as product, divisor, and dividend.
Science
Our budding geologists examined different rocks with care, sketching and describing their textures, colours, and patterns. There were thoughtful observations - some children even suggested how each rock might be formed.
PSHE
With Miss Spinks, the children explored the different forms bullying can take.
RE
After reflecting on the sounds they heard last week with Mrs Chittock, the children continued thinking about the Adhan. They discussed whether they would obey certain sounds and why, before writing or drawing the word Allah with thoughtful attention.
PE
A real highlight of the week! Mrs Crook awarded the entire class a raffle ticket for their fantastic engagement and enthusiasm during dance. Spirits were high, and teamwork was even higher.
French
We have begun to learn to count, looked at the ‘un’ sound, and used our new learning to count animals.
Computing
And finally, the children were challenged to create repeat algorithms to draw regular shapes with the Probots – some great teamwork, precision and tinkering around the room.
Have a lovely weekend all!
Miss Murphy and the Year 3 team
Year 4
Brrrrrr!!!! What a cold end to the week! We have had a great week in Year 4, lots of learning and fun going on. The children were very pleased that I lost my last life on Tuesday and said 'Christmas' for the 10th time. So, as promised on Thursday the children had a cupcake at breaktime as a treat. I'm still trying not to say it until the start of Advent on Sunday 30th November. Just a little reminder for warm coats etc. We get lovely and snug in our classroom but then the cold of the playground/field comes as quite a shock. Please make sure your child has something warm to put on at playtime, I don't want them to not enjoy themselves because they are cold. We have had an absolutely great week in our learning . . .
Our learning this week;-
Maths - We have been looking at multiplying and dividing by 0, 1, 7 and 9 using arrays and problem solving questions With Mrs Murray the children have been looking at area of shapes.
English - We have been concentrating on our text. We have mastered the start and are well on the way through the rest of the text. With Mrs Murray the children had a reading comprehension about electrical inventors.
Topic - We talked through our trip to West Stow and then discussed what we have learnt about the Anglo-Saxons so far in preparation for moving on.
RE - We thought about the question that starts our topic and what we thought it meant.
French - We looked at how the spelling of adjectives changes to make them agree with nouns, describing body parts with colours and size, and remember to put them after the noun (although, this rule does not apply to all adjectives!
Science - Electrical circuits, the children made a circuit that enabled them to light up a bulb.
Computing - The children were using SketchUp to create a house.
DT - Moving on with the sewing project this week the children planned their booksleeve.
School trip - What a great day! It was great, thank you for making sure your children were wrapped up nice and warm, it really made a difference.
The children have chosen to bring home the text maps for the remaining text for English to learn at home whilst I'm away. They can add their own actions. It would be great if you could support them in this as they are really keen to know it for when I return and it would be really helpful if they did know it so we can move on with the text. (This isn't anything I can pass on to another teacher to continue with in my absence.)
I have told the children that I am away next week. They are being left in the more than capable hands of our brilliant school team. I think they are due to have a lovely week. And then it will be December! Where has the year gone?
Have a lovely weekend
Mrs Chittock and the Year 4 team.
Year 5
It has definitely started to feel wintery this week!
In English this week we have planned and written our persuasive speeches as one of the 1066 contenders. We had lots of Edgar the Athelings and Harold Godwinsons and a select few choose to be Harald Hardrada and William of Normandy. Mrs Grosvenor and I had so much fun reading the speeches - they really were very good. On Wednesday, Reverand Chris popped in to see us as he is our class governor. He was very impressed with Y5's speeches. If his sermon this weekend is more stirring that usual, you know where he's got some of his phrases from!
In Maths, we have been short multiplying! The children have really taken to this new, efficient method. So far, we have only been multiplying two-digit by one-digit to make sure we really understand the method. We'll push to three and four-digit multiplication next term! Confidence and fluency with times table facts are so important - so if your child has a times table or 2 that they aren't confident with, get them on TTR this weekend. There are lots of different ways to practice on TTR (they aren't all competitive or timed games).
In History this week, we got to our first battle in 1066 - the battle of Fulford Gate. This was where the Vikings snuck down the Humber and took York without Harold Godwinson even knowing they'd arrived. You might want to ask your child about the Saxon Sandwich that the Vikings formed with their forces - a key military strategy that led to them winning this battle. Let's see what happens when Harold finds out the Vikings (and his annoying younger brother Tostig) have invaded his realm!
In Science this week we conducted an experiment about absorbency. We tested 6 different materials to see how much water they could absorb. Our scientific method definitely improved with practice and we were able to get the right result to our experiment. Today, we have used Excel to make graphs to show our results (and then spent lots of time making them all sorts of wild colours). It had to be done! In Computing this week children had the opportunity to 'tinker' on TinkerCAD. This is a computer-aided design system. The children worked out how to do lots of things on TinkerCAD (including throwing lobsters and bananas). The huge QR code you might have seen in your child's reading record book will take them to our class page for TinkerCAD if they'd like to use it at home.
This week we have spoken to the children about the school's reading expectation, which is 5 at-home reads a week. We have told children if they do not meet this target, they will need to attend completion club at Monday break time. Yesterday, we let children count their reads so they all knew exact how many reads they need to do to aviod completion club. If you child could squeeze a 6th read in and be a star reader, I'd be delighted. We were last in the class standings this week!
Have a wonderful weekend,
Miss Rutter, Mrs Grosvenor and Mrs Marsh
Year 6
This week in maths, the children have been working hard on converting, adding and subtracting both improper and mixed number fractions. In their sessions with Mrs Offley, they explored how to tackle questions involving BIDMAS, developing confidence in selecting the correct order of operations.
In History, we have continued our learning about World War Two, focusing on the key Allied and Axis leaders and the roles they played throughout the conflict.
During RE, the children learnt about Bilal, the first Muezzin, discussing how he showed great courage in standing up for his beliefs and why his story remains significant today.
In English, we have been experimenting with a range of sentence types to build drama, create tension, and reveal a character’s introspection. We have now begun to innovate the short film German in the Woods, using it as a flashback text to inspire thoughtful and atmospheric writing.
This weekend’s home learning offers another opportunity for the children to practise a variety of sentence openers, which will support the development of their next written piece.
A huge thank you to our wonderful team of librarians, who confidently led an assembly on Wednesday about the importance of looking after our library.
Wishing you all a super weekend!
Nuala Gilmore
