Year 3
It’s hard to believe we are midway through the half term! We were a close second in star reader this week – let’s aim for the top spot next week! Just a little reminder that each read should be reading a book, or text, rather than spellings or handwriting.
Some children have come to school without a snack on a few occasions and have felt hungry. We do not have a fruit allocation in key stage 2. Please remind your child to bring one. Children in clubs after school may also bring a snack to have beforehand – they are often ravenous by the end of the day.
In a busy week of learning, I was very impressed with the children’s stamina as they tackled their first longer piece of writing. They innovated an instruction text for how to get ready for school, using time conjunctions, adverbs and imperative verbs. We also read a non-fiction text and answered comprehension questions about what constitutes a healthy diet.
In maths, we completed our place value topic with numbers up to 1,000 and did a little assessment today. In science, we looked at what nutritional benefits we gain from each of the five main food groups. We used atlases in geography, to locate the countries we discovered our fruits and vegetable come from – they spanned the globe! We also recapped the continents. This song was very popular: https://www.youtube.com/embed/K6DSMZ8b3LE.
The children drew beautifully during art, copying pencil mark details carefully to recreate parts of Van Gogh’s drawings of the sea, sky and fields. In computing, we explored inputs and used them to programme a Pro-Bot.
Mrs Chittock and Miss Spinks taught RE and PSHE respectively, and we had a special lesson with Mrs Shipp, creating our Christmas card designs (we know, we haven’t even celebrated Harvest Festival yet!)
We wish you a lovely, hopefully dry-ish, weekend. I shall spend this evening wondering whether or not I will be on the sidelines of a soggy football pitch in the morning…
The Year 3 team.
Year 4
The weather may have been mixed and somewhat miserable but it has been fun and sunny in the class. Unfortunately we didn't get Bookster this week, 54% is not going to get there, we were much better last week, some disappointed faces in the room.
In our learning this week;-
English - we are now innovating the text and preparing some really good descriptive sentences.
Maths - continuing with place value with numbers up to 10,000 and area with Mrs Harper.
Topic - this week we looked at how Britain became a Heptarchy. The children identified the different areas of the country labeling appropriately.
Science - the children made detailed observations of the plant life around school.
RE - continuing with our 'Salvation' theme we looked at superheros, why they are superheros and does that make Jesus a superhero?
PHSE - the children looked at what a parish, town and county council were all about, what their duties are.
Art - we learnt how to draw some of the Anglo-Saxon and Celtic shapes.
Please continue with reading, Maths Targets and Times Tables as homework and I have sent home a list of spellings to learn for Monday. Those children that have been on EdShed will already be aware of them.
Have a lovely weekend,
Emma Chittock
Year 5
We started English this week with a reading lesson on Katherine Johnson. She is one of the 'Hidden Figures' of space exploration and a very inspirational woman. She worked on many of the most famous American space flights, including Apollo 11 and Apollo 13! We have come to the end of our biographies unit.
Today the children wrote Skelly's biography (take 2) to see how much better we've got at writing in a biographical style. We borrowed lots of ideas from the astronauts we've learnt about and added some of our own creative spin (think black holes, aliens and landing on Mars).
In Maths, we have continued to develop our understanding of decimal place value. We have also started looking at negative numbers and how to calculate with them.
We started our first DT project this week. We will spend out DT lessons this term designing and making a pop-up book. Yesterday, we had a go at making lots of different mechanisms. The children have lots of ideas so I am sure their eventual books will be brilliant.
Our CWC and JRSOs have been hard at work this week. They've conducted a parking survey, continued planning 4 assemblies, started writing letters and planned a road safety lesson for Y2 next week! They are definitely a force to be reckoned with!
Our Star Reader dominance continues. It is really starting to get to Mrs Gilmore now (haha). Next week, we face a challenge as Reception will be included for the first time. The Reception team are a dominant force in the Star Reader stakes so we need everyone reading and recording!
Have a great weekend - let's hope the weather improves!
Miss Rutter, Mrs Marsh and Mrs Nichols
Year 6
It's been a very productive week in Y6!
In maths, we have been learning to use long multiplication to multiply up to 2 x 4-digit numbers. This is challenging as it requires a lot of precision with regards to place value.
In English, we have been innovating, writing diary entries from Charlie Peaceful's perspective. We have been revising some sentence types already learned and revising how to use expanded noun phrases to improve description.
In history, we have started to learn about the impact of DORA and what this meant for people's lives. We also looked at historical sources and discussed how they helped us to develop our understanding of conscription.
In science, the children have so much fun conducting a series of investigations into light.
Home learning this week is slightly different. Some children have been set a task on www.spag.com Their log in details are stuck into their reading records, and we have looked at what to expect from the first question. We have given the children the option of a paper copy, if they did not think they would be able to access the website. It is accessible by tablet, phone or games console. Some other children have a paper-based homework task.
We know that most secondaries have now held at least one open event. This is just a gentle reminder that the deadline for applications is 31/10/2024. Again, we urge that the applications are completed in good time as the late application process is a long and stressful one for children. Late applications also mean that children are at risk of missing out on transition events.
Just a reminder that when the government introduced the directive to lengthen the day from September 2024, this has required us to adjust our timings to ensure that people can enter and exit drop-off as safely as possible. For this reason, Y6 leaving via the drop-off will be released at 15:20. Please could we ask that parents are mindful of the jam caused by waiting in the drop-off.
Have a super weekend.
Nuala Gilmore, Rebecca Spinks and Rebecca Offley
