Year 3
It’s been a busy, productive week in Year 3. We had a few noticeably tired children at the end of the day and some early nights might be called for (especially given we have the excitement of a trip to Mildenhall Hub next week for an afternoon of indoor athletics). Thursday 23rd January, please ensure your children are dressed for indoor PE and bring a packed lunch to school, as we need to eat lunch at 11am!
Children are continuing to make super progress in times tables (one of the children observed that I am quicker at typing on my laptop than playing Times Table Rockstars, and a number of them are targeting my studio speed), maths targets and reading. Please ensure they read 5 times minimum per week and record it in their reading records. Please do not backdate reading, as we cannot count them.
We have thoroughly enjoyed learning ‘The real story of the 3 little pigs’ by heart, using a text map to guide us. We have identified the key features of this ‘twist’ on a traditional tale, written direct speech sentences for the Big Bad Wolf and the pigs, as well as beginning to complete a story mountain for the tale.
Our whole class read was a non-chronological report about Boudicca (the Celtic warrior queen), with comprehension questions to complete. Boudicca was also the focus of our first history lesson this term, when we learned about her tribe (the Iceni), where they lived and her family life and marriage to King Prasatagus, the leader of the tribe, who made an ill-fated agreement with the Roman army…
In maths, we have spent the week learning how to multiply 2-digit number by 1-digit numbers using the grid method. Please check out the school calculation policy on the website for examples of this. Our science learning was about how shadows are created, how light behaves when it reaches transparent, translucent and opaque objects, and investigated how shadows are affected when a light source moves.
We identified the features of a castle in design and technology, discussing the purposes of each element, e.g. why battlements are formed of crenels and mantels, why curtain walls were tall and thick, etc. In computing we learned what ‘records,’ ‘fields’ and ‘data’ are in our new unit on databases, creating Top Trumps styles cards (each card is a ‘record’, each field must be the same to compare, and data is added for each field). In PSHE, Miss Spinks discussed how we can deal with being ‘put down’ or criticised as part of a unit on ‘resilience’, in French we learnt and used the phrase ‘Je suis’ as well as focussing on the soft ‘J’ sound. Mrs Chittock joined the class to continue learning about Hinduism in RE, and they continue to develop football skills with Mrs Crooks in PE.
Have a super weekend!
Claire Murphy
Year 4
It has been a busy week. Our first full week! The children are feeling tired. I have been asked to include in this week's update about children and snacks. We have had a few children asking for a snack at break time. The children are in Year 4, school provided snacks stop after Year 2. Please could you make sure that your child has a healthy snack, even if they don't think they need it, because a hungry child will struggle to focus on the learning, thank you. Talking of learning . . .
In our learning this week :-
English - We have been looking at poems. We have looked and written a cinquain poem and have looked at Tanka poems, we have started writing our own. They also used their reading comprehension skills on a text about penguins with Mrs Harper.
Maths - We started looking at Fractions this week; integers and the importance of equal parts when looking at fractions on a number line. With Mrs Harper the children were calculating the perimeter of regular polygons.
Art - We have started looking at famous artists and the different styles of painting evaluating their work. This week we looked at Andy Goldsworthy.
Topic - We started our topic of Volcanoes. We looked at the seven continents and five oceans and then looked at the inside of planet Earth; crust, mantle, outer core and inner core. Then we discussed Tectonic plates.
Science - With Mrs Harper the children started looking at how sound travels in waves. They used rice and a drum to observe this happening.
PHSE - the children looked at the importance of Ethical farming, Fairtrade and Seasonality.
RE - Hinduism continues with more investigation into the meaning and importance of Dharma. We also started looking at the festival of Rakshan Bandan.
Date for the Diary - 28th and 29th April - Burwell House. Leaving on the 28th, the children will have lots of fun, sleep over, more fun on the 29th April and then return back to school. More details will follow as we get closer to April. It would be a good idea (if your child hasn't already) for your child to have a sleepover at someone's house for one night, without their parent/carer. It would be good for them to have had at least one experience of a night away without their main carer. It's going to be fun!
Keep up with the reading, we are gradually improving. Times Tables, I want to put up more certificates. EdShed, lots of fun games in Arcade to do. Touch Typing, practice makes perfect.
Have a lovely weekend
Mrs Chittock, Mrs Harper and the year 4 team
Year 5
In Maths this week, we have continued to learn about money, largely focusing on working out how to give correct 'change'. We have used both mental and formal written strategies. In English this week we have began 'reading' Romeo and Juliet. We've covered act 1 (the lovey dovey kissey bit) and act 2 (the angry fighty bit) and stopped at a key point: Juliet's conversation with Friar Laurence where they cook up a devious plot.
The children have planned their own conversations (with some very creative devious plots). We have added description and action to them, before typing them up next week with correct speech punctuation, and some italics to show stressed words for good measure.
In Computing this week, we tinkered with Micro:bits. The children had lots of fun learning what they could do with these devices. Children can continue to code at https://makecode.microbit.org/ where there is a virtual Micro:bit for them to test their code on. Micro:bits can also be purchased for about £15 if you have a child who is really into coding and programming. They are good fun - although I think I preferred the Micro:bits without the speakers.......
We had a really interesting PSHE lesson this week. It was all about online safety. We talked about what that really meant (personal safety, data safety, managing your online reputation, seeing things you don't want to see) and then thought about how we can be safe when we are sharing photos and creating content.
We discovered that you need to make a decision on a post by post basis, asking yourself where it will be posted, who will see it and what information will be shared with it. We then ran through the legal ages for using certain apps and why these apps have the legal age limits that they do. The most important message shared what that if something goes wrong (which it might and probably will), its so important to tell an adult who can help you.
Bikeability letters should have made their way home yesterday. Year 5 won't be completing the course until June, but the letters always come out early to give children a chance to build their confidence with bike riding, check if their bike is in good working order or to find a friend with a bike for them to borrow. We had a long chat about the course and how the week will look this afternoon. There was lots of excited chatter about it.
Have a super weekend. Remember, homework is due in on Monday. I look forward to seeing what you've learnt about the water cycle.
Miss R, Mrs M and Mrs N
Year 6
It's been a very productive week in Year 6!
In English, we have been writing newspaper articles based on 'The Giant's Necklace'. We have been revising direct and reported speech and the passive voice. We have also been learning about how, when and where to use the subjunctive form.
In maths, we have continued to work on developing our knowledge of decimals to three places, including multiplying, dividing and reasoning about decimals. Miss Spinks has also been testing the children to see where they are on times table mountain. We shall communicate further about this next week.
In geography, we have been learning how to read an OS map and then finding landmarks in coastal areas of Suffolk, using an OS grid reference. We have also been researching what it is like in terms of human geography in some Suffolk Coastal towns.
In RE, we have been learning about the concept of 'Atman' and what this means to Hindus and how this guides their lives.
In PSHE, we have started to our learning based about medicine, drugs and alcohol education. Yesterday, we were learning about how and why vaccines are used and why some common medicines are used.
Mrs Offley was really impressed with the knowledge and research skills of some children this week as an introduction to the topic on evolution.
Home learning this week:
-There is an assignment on Spelling Shed - children are required to practise the spellings on there, please.
-For all children, there is a task about commas (15 minutes).
-For all children there is a maths task: for some, the task focuses on the terms 'sum' and 'product'. For others, they are calculating the mid point on different decimal number lines. As always, I am on hand to help with any parts of the home learning the children have found challenging on a Monday lunchtime.
Have a super weekend.
Nuala Gilmore, Rebecca Spinks and Rebecca Offley
