Year 3
Happy New Year to you all!
It has been a real pleasure to welcome the children back to school, and we have been thoroughly impressed by their enthusiasm, positivity and engagement this week.
As we begin our second term, I wanted to take a moment to gently remind you of the ways you can continue to support your child's learning at home – something I discussed with many of you during Parents' Evening. As you know, there is a school-wide expectation that children read and record their reading at least five times a week (with six or seven entries earning 'Star Reader' status). We also ask that children regularly practice their maths targets; our aim is for as many children as possible to complete Sheet C by the end of Year 3. By the end of the year, children should be fluent and confident in recalling the 2,3,4,5,8 and 10 times tables. Times Table Rock Stars and Hit the Button are both excellent tools to support this at home. Finally, we send home weekly spellings to practice for testing on a Wednesday.
In English, we began our new text, The True Story of the Three Little Pigs, learning the text map and identifying its key features. We also had an extended handwriting session, as this remains a key focus - ensuring children are joining correctly (or forming cursive lead-ins and lead-outs accurately). We examined this week's new spellings too, which the children agreed were rather tricky! A highlight of the week was a visit from the wonderful Widdershins Puppet Theatre. Andy's brilliant performance of Snow White, Rose Red, Bear Brown tied in beautifully with our new unit on twisted tales – traditional stories told from an alternative perspective.
In Maths, we have begun our journey a new multiplication calculation method. We started by ensuring children can confidently multiply by 10 and understand how calculations using multiples of 10 are related. For example, knowing that 3 x 4 = 12 helps us solve 3 x 40 = 120.
In Science, the children completed a write-up of our soil permeability investigation, analysing results and drawing conclusions based on their findings. We then launched our new topic, Light, by exploring what light is, identifying light sources, and discussing why light is essential.
In PE, the children began their football unit. With Miss Spinks, they also learned about Chinese New Year, listening to and watching the traditional music associated with this celebration. In RE, the children explored Epiphany, what it means to Christians around the world, and how it is celebrated in different countries. They shared their own 'wonder' questions before imagining they were one of the Magi and packing a bag for their journey.
In French, we focused on the article 'a' - un and une - learning that some nouns are masculine and others feminine, and using these correctly to form sentences about animals. In DT, we carefully studied the features of a castle, revisiting learning from Year 1 and extending it further. The children identified relevant 3D shapes and designed a detailed 2D castle incorporating all the features they had learned.
Thank you, as always, for your continued support.
Have a lovely weekend!
The Year 3 team
Year 4
HAPPY NEW YEAR!
And welcome back.
What a lovely start to the week. I was surprised but pleased to see the snow on Monday as this gave the opportunity for the children to end their holiday playing in the snow. How lovely! We have had a chatty start to the week, but only to be expected, as the children reconnected with friends and shared their news of their Christmas Holiday, and I rearranged the tables and moved people around! But I have to say, they have all returned with a positive attitude to their learning and have swept the cobwebs off and have been working hard.
In our learning this week:
Maths – we started with some calculations and then began a unit on fractions, recognising parts and wholes. With Mrs Murray, the children started looking at angles.
English - we swept the cobwebs off of last terms sentence types and wrote descriptive sentences using the different styles. With Mrs Murray the children had a reading comprehension about
French - writing sentences using the conjunction ‘parce que’ (because) to give an opinion about the foods and reasons why.
RE - we talked about Epiphany and what it means to Christians around the world, the different ways it is celebrated in different countries and discussed our 'wonder' thoughts around Epiphany.
Music - the children have started a new unit in which their focus is 'Japanese Cherry Blossom'.
Art - we are starting a unit about different artistic styles and this week we looked at Pablo Picasso, the father of Cubism, and the children drew a picture of themselves in the style of 'The Weeping Woman'.
Just a little reminder to equip your child for the weather conditions. Unless it really is wet or dangerously windy we will go out to play and it will be a shame for your child to miss out on the fun outside just because they haven't got spare shoes or a coat.
A gentle reminder of homework;- Reading 5 times a week is expected, 6 times a week gets Star Reader, 7 times a weak gets Star Reader and Super Star certificate. 7 reads over the 11 weeks will entitle your child to the star reader treat.
Maths targets, work on these at home, make sure your child tells an adult in school when they have achieved and we can listen and mark it as completed.
Times Tables, keep working on these, there is an official test this year on all the times tables. The more familiar your child is with times tables the easier maths will become.
Spellings, these must be returned every week, it says when on the top of the sheet, I have told the children that as of next week if I do not receive their spellings back they will miss some of their playtime.
Have a great weekend
Mrs Chittock and the Year 4 team
Year 5
I hope you all had a lovely Christmas break. It was wonderful to see all the children back at school this week (although we're looking rather tired today!) I think we're all in need of a relaxing weekend!
In English this week, we have begun our Shakespearian study - Romeo and Juliet. We wrote a story that included dialogue as our cold task to help us work out what we need to focus on in the coming weeks. Yesterday, we completed a reading activity all about William Shakespeare. His work has sold over 4 billion copies! We also completed last half term's writing assessment which was to write a letter to become Santa's new elf. Possibly the wrong season for it now, but we didn't think it was going to happen in the last 2 weeks of term! In Maths, we have focused on factors, common factors and prime numbers. Times table knowledge has been very important this week (as always). We've recommenced our climb up times table mountain. Some of us have lost some 'match fitness' but we are working hard to get it back!
We started our geography unit this week: rivers! We recapped the water cycle and labelled the features of a river. There are a lot of words involved so the children did really well to wrap their heads around as many as they did. We also had quite a fraught game of 'find the feature on the river' - which is a bit like pin the tail on the donkey, except without pins, or donkeys, or tails.
On Thursday we were treated to our annual Widdershins puppet show. This year's offering was 'Snow White, Rose Red, Bear Brown'. Andy was fantastic as always and Y5 were a great audience. They asked some very interesting questions when we got to speak to Andy at the end of the show.
Next Monday, we have been invited to Newmarket Academy for a PE and Science session. This is a great opportunity for children to see what secondary schools are like. We will be back at school just after 11am, so lunch won't be affected.
Have a great weekend,
Miss Rutter, Mrs Grosvenor and Mrs Marsh
Year 6
Happy New Year
This week in English, the children have been reading The Giant’s Necklace by Michael Morpurgo. We have been focusing on how writers leave clues for the reader, encouraging pupils to read between the lines and infer meaning. Building on this, the children are now preparing to write their own argument texts, in which they will apportion blame for what happened to the main character. This has prompted some thoughtful discussion and debate in class.
In Maths, we have been calculating the whole when given a part, as well as revisiting some of the key skills we learned during the autumn term. We have also been revising place value with decimals to ensure confidence and accuracy with these important concepts.
The highlight of the week was definitely the Widdershins performance yesterday – a fantastic way to ease back into school and a wonderful experience for the children.
Homework for this weekend is set on spag.com. Paper copies have been printed for any children who are unable to access this at home. There is also a maths challenge consisting of a few problem-solving questions.
In PE, the children have moved on to a dance module, which has been perfect for this rather inclement weather.
Finally, a reminder to please return the purple Horstead forms as soon as possible. We are sending out the kit list today – please read it carefully, as we are expecting the weather to be cold and wet. Further information will be shared at the Horstead meeting, which will take place on Monday 19th at 15:20 in the hall.
Thank you for your continued support.
The Year 6 Team
