Monday 30th October

Welcome back everyone! This will be a very busy half term for the children as, not only will they be continuing their curriculum learning, they will also be preparing for the Year 3/4 Christmas production which this year is called 'Tinsel and Teatowels'.

Our focus for Literacy this week challenges your child to look at newspaper - yes, they are going to become journalists over the next couple of weeks! As an introduction they will be exploring the key features of a newspaper, such as headlines, layout, captions, etc. It is also important that they understand the differnece between fact and opinion. In order to further develop their knowledge, skills and understanding check out the following links:

http://www.innovationslearning.co.uk/subjects/english/activities/statements_opinions/state_opin_home.htm - a detective quiz where you work out what the facts are and solve the crime!!

http://www.ngfl-cymru.org.uk/vtc/fact_or_opinion/eng/Introduction/default.htm - this is from a teacher's site but if you check out the starter and the main session you'll be a great detective!

http://www.headlinehistory.co.uk/swf/main_launcher.htm - a quite complicated but very interactive walk through of how to write a newspaper. Have a go - there is lots of help available on it.


For our sentence and word level work we are looking at verbs and whether an event has happened in the past, the future or in the present. Have a go at the links below:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/skillswise/words/grammar/tenses/getting_the_right_tense/game.shtml

http://www.amblesideprimary.com/ambleweb/clickon/dhtml/wordtypes.htm - do you know the difference between a noun, a verb and an adjective?

http://www.crick.northants.sch.uk/assets/Flash%20Studio/cfslit/Word%20Link/word%20link.html - sorting simple verbs

http://dictionary.cambridge.org/reference/irregular.htm - irregular verbs are really tricky so try this activity.


In Numeracy each group will be exploring different topics of mathematics. Have a look through some of these games to keep brushing up your ability.

http://www.crick.northants.sch.uk/assets/Flash%20Studio/cfsmaths/quad/quad.html - sorting polygons.

http://www.crick.northants.sch.uk/assets/Flash%20Studio/cfsmaths/Triangles/triangles.swf - exploring and sorting the different types of triangle.

http://www.innovationslearning.co.uk/subjects/maths/activities/year3/symmetry/shape_game.asp - do you know how many lines of symmetry these shapes have? Have a go - you may be surprised!

http://www.bbc.co.uk/education/dynamo/den/clock/index.htm - can you get the time right?

http://www.bbc.co.uk/education/dynamo/den/matching/index.htm - match the time.

http://www.crick.northants.sch.uk/assets/Flash%20Studio/cfsmaths/Digitworks/digitmenu.html - to keep your mental maths skills sharp.

http://www.innovationslearning.co.uk/subjects/maths/activities/year4/greater_than/start.htm - keep your knowledge of the crocodiles going in this game.

http://www.innovationslearning.co.uk/subjects/maths/activities/year3/dienes_addition/question.asp - want to practise your addition skills then check this one out.

In Science we are continuing the body and skeleton theme by investigating how muscles work.

We will also be examining solids, liquids and gases, in particular the properties of liquids this week.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/schools/scienceclips/ages/8_9/solid_liquids.shtml - how much can you learn?

http://www.bbc.co.uk/schools/revisewise/science/materials/ - have a go at the solids, liquids and gases section.

JUST FOR FUN

http://www.amblesideprimary.com/ambleweb/clickon/rodentchoir/rodentchoirflash3version.htm - a little bit of fun with a musical theme!

http://www.amblesideprimary.com/ambleweb/clickon/rubik/rubik.html - a game that I know your mum and dad will remember!!

http://www.amblesideprimary.com/ambleweb/cyberkid/index.htm#ourgames - how much fun can be squeezed into one blogspot?

The 3/4 Team


A final note

I am interested in finding out how useful this blogspot is. If you or your child uses this during the week can you write a quick little note in your child's diary. I just want to get an idea of the percentage making use of this site. If there are any other things you think it might be useful to have on here let me know too. Thank you.

Monday 16th October

Doesn't time fly when you're having fun. It's hard to believe that already half a term has passed. The children have been very busy so far and I'm sure they are looking forward to the holidays next week (as we are too!).

Don't forget that it is Parent's Evening on Wednesday and Thursday this week. If you requested an appointment then your child should have brought a time slot home for you. If not please feel free to pop in to make an appointment or write a request in your child's diary making sure that they will show it to us.

RICH TASK WEEK

This week your child will be learning more about India and Hinduism in particular, through a wide variety of creative activities. I don't really want to give too much away as we hope it will be an exciting, engaging and stimulating week that your child will want to tell you about themselves. They will have the opportunity to develop skills in art, music, stories, R.E. and possibly even drama! This will culminate on Friday when the children will be involved in a Dance workshop on the theme of Divali (the Hindu festival of light).

It is going to be very creative and doubtless rather messy at times too! It would be a good idea to send your child in with an old t-shirt or shirt this week to be messy in.

We also need your child to bring in a large white cotton hankey (or hanky sized material). Your child will be bringing it home again (probably after the half term) , but it will look very different, and it certainly won't still be white!!!!

If you want to do a bit of swotting up in preparation for all the excitement then check out the websites below - they cover a large range of information and present it in very different ways.

http://www.hinduism.fsnet.co.uk/

ttp://www.sanatansociety.org/hindu_gods_and_goddesses.htm

http://www.hindukids.com

http://juniors.reonline.org.uk/nframe.php?http://www.cleo.net.uk/resources/displayframe.php?src=200/consultants_resources%2Fre%2Ftemplel%2Findex.htm

http://atschool.eduweb.co.uk/carolrb/Hinduism/hindui.html

http://woodlands-junior.kent.sch.uk/Homework/religion/hindufestivals.htm

If you want to practice your skill in creating Indian patterns (definitely useful this week) then do check out these step by step guides:

http://www.hennapage.com/henna/what/gallery/index.html

In Numeracy there will be an Indian theme in some of the lessons but as this is also the last week of this half term we will be assessing the children's progress in what they have learnt so far.

And finally on behalf of the Year 3/4 team can I say a big thank you to those parents who have continued to work with their children on their reading, their high frequency words and their homework.

Have a safe and happy half term holiday!
See you all again on Monday 30th October.

Monday 9th October

We have an incredibly busy week this week with lots of things going on besides the normal weekly curriculum.

On Tuesday we must say a fond farewell to two of our children (one in Year 4 and one in Year 6), as they leave us to go and begin an exciting new life in Australia with their family. We wish them all the best of luck! There should be a note in your child's diary regarding special arrangements for that day.

On Thursday morning we are off to visit Penketh South to watch a Science show by the Kinetic Theatre company.

On Friday we celebrate our Harvest Festival with a Mass at 9am in the Hall. Parents and friends are more than welcome to join us in our celebration. A big thank you must also go out for the very generous donations brought into school last week.

If we have time in amongst all this(!) these are the things we will be learning this week.

In Literacy we are completing our study of Grandpa Chatterji - the children have already been making connections between the characters and will be bringing this to a conclusion before the week is over, and reflecting on all that they have learnt.
We are looking closely at adverbs this week as our sentence level work. We will be making collections of words ending in ly that would be super for descripions, e.g. quickly, confidently, etc. Perhaps you could have a go at collecting some at home.
For our word level work we are going to be exploring and investigating the effect the letter e can have on a word. As well as keeping going with all the previous spelling activities you may also like to try:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/education/dynamo/den/index.shtml
http://www.bbc.co.uk/schools/spellits/

In Numeracy we are continuing to all develop our skills in the basic understanding of place value as well as moving towards individual class topics. Can I suggest that for this week you encourage your child to explore the different topics on the mathszone site:
http://www.mathszone.co.uk/

http://www.artsconnected.org/toolkit/ - grade 2 is the equivalent to Year 3 roughly

We are also beginning our push on your children knowing their times tables with quick recall. If you feel confident already check out:
http://www.northwood.org.uk/times%20table%20trivia%20x%205.swf

In Science we are concentrating on pulling together all our learning from the last couple of weeks and making sure we know the functions of a skeleton and the names of the main parts of the skeleton. Now would be a good opportunity to review:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/schools/scienceclips/ages/8_9/moving_growing.shtml

http://sv.berkeley.edu/showcase/pages/bones.html

http://www.bbc.co.uk/schools/podsmission/

As well as this we will be looking at solids, liquids and gases as part of our practical science. In particular we will be testing different liquids to see their consistency. You may want to have a go at classifying liquids around your house. Try pouring different liquids down a tray and talk to your child about what they notice about how it moves - quickly, slowly, thickly, etc.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/schools/revisewise/science/materials/08_act.shtml

In Art we are exploring Indian patterns. The children will be creating a simple pattern and testing it to see what happens if they try to keep using it on a piece of paper. Check out these sites for a bit of experimenting:
http://www.artsconnected.org/toolkit/ - check out the activities on shape and symmetry in particular

http://www.hennapage.com/henna/what/lineart/index.html - some traditional henna patterns from India for you to look through.

We begin our music topic this week which also looks at patterns, but this time in sound. Have fun on this super site from the bbc:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/northernireland/schools/4_11/music/mm/

As part of our Citizenship we are continuing to talk about things in the news. It would be great if you could find time for your child to catch at least one Newsround on BBC1 this week. We will be talking about how newspapers show the news compared to television.

If you could continue to try to hear your child at least three times a week and write a comment in their diary each time that would be fantastic. Also don't forget your child's spellings and High Frequency Words. They will be checked sometime after the Half Term holiday.

Monday 2nd October

We hope that you all enjoyed the extended weekend. The teachers attended a very interesting course on Friday which looked at ways of enhancing children's learning. So without too much waffle let's get straight on with what your child will be concentrating on this week.

In Literacy we are continuing to read Grandpa Chatterji - it is leading us to explore not only the story itself but also our own thoughts and ideas of the themes we are coming across. We are looking at what is important in our own lives and what affects the lives of those around us. We will be spending a lot of time this half term talking about characters. Try creating your very own wanted poster with:
http://www.deltamicro.co.uk/primary_online/wanted.html

Alongside this we are continuing to concentrate on spellings. Check out these sites if you're already bored with the ones from a couple of weeks ago:

http://www.saintambrosebarlow.wigan.sch.uk/erljun.htm - phoneme blends

http://www.bbc.co.uk/skillswise/words/spelling/plurals/pluralrules/index.shtml - plural rules activities

http://www.crick.northants.sch.uk/assets/Flash%20Studio/cfslit/Spellings/spellings.html - if you want to really get to grips with the weekly spellings you need to learn.

We are exploring verbs adn tenses more this week. Check out the game on:http://www.bbc.co.uk/skillswise/words/grammar/sentencebasics/verbsubjectagreement/game.shtml
- once you've read the instructions it is quite straightforward and has 3 levels to go at.

Before we move on, if you want a bit of fun try:
http://pbskids.org/readingrainbow/bookem/silly_sentence.html

and if you want a challenge have a go at:
http://funschool.kaboose.com/fun-blaster/games/game_dungeon_escape.html?g=des_ds1

In Numeracy we will be continuing to practise the basics. To build up your skills try some of the activities at:
http://www.woodlands-junior.kent.sch.uk/maths/numberskills.html

We will also be branching out into other mathematical topics as the weeks go by so here's websites to get you thinking:
http://www.ngfl-cymru.org.uk/vtc/ngfl/maths/maerdy_2d/frames.asp - 2D shape

http://www.bgfl.org/bgfl/custom/resources_ftp/client_ftp/ks2/maths/time/index.htm - time

http://www.teachingmoney.co.uk/wb/ClassPresentsUK.html - money

In Science we are continuing to explore animals that have skeleltons.

Try building animal skeletons at http://insideout.rigb.org/ri/anatomy/skeleton_territory/index.html
and if you want to see how tricky a human skeleton is to rebuild go to http://sv.berkeley.edu/showcase/pages/bones.html

http://www.sciencenetlinks.com/interactives/class.html - looks at different ways of sorting animals

This week in Science we are also exploring sound and vibration:
http://www.crick.northants.sch.uk/assets/Flash%20Studio/cfsscience/sound1f/sound1f.html

http://www.engineeringinteract.org/resources/oceanodyssey/oceanodysseylink.htm - have a go at the Ocean Odyssey. An interactive game meant for older children but is so well explained year 3/4 should be ok although some may want adults around to help them with any big words.

In Geography we are continuing to compare our experiences with those of children in Chembakolli, and this week we are looking at housing.

As well as all of this, we are spending quality time thinking about our feelings and learning to walk in other peoples shoes as part of our SEAL work. This fits in particularly well with our topic on India and our text in Literacy.

If you could all remember to try and listen to your child read three times a week if you can and write a comment in their diary that would be fantastic!