Monday 20th November

First of all a big well done to all the children last week when the Ofsted inspectors visited - their behaviour was exemplary and the inspectors commented on how pleasant and articulate they were. We felt very proud of them all! A big thank you to those parents who returned the questionnaire - it is lovely to know that you support the work we do with your children.

Now that the inspectors have gone we can get back on with preparations for our Christmas production. Year 4 children should have come home on Friday knowing what part they are in the play. We will be having our first read through on Monday but it would be fantastic if you could help them at home with learning their lines (remember it's also important for them to know the line before so they can come in in the right place). Details of costume will follow shortly but it is about a school putting on a nativity so hopefully no complicated costumes will be required. Although once the teachers start putting it all together we can get occassionally carried away! Year 3 (as I mentioned in previous weeks) will be the choir and the dancers in our show - details will be coming home as the week progresses! We appreciate that time is definitely ticking on and so we will be working very hard over the next couple of weeks to get our performance just right.

Because of the demands on hall time between the Year 3/4 and Key Stage 1 production preparations it is really important that your child has an outdoor P.E. kit in school with them.

Alongside the Christmas play we will be continuing with 'normal' lessons as much as possible. The children did some fantastic writing last week and we will be continuing to work on this further. Have a look at the links below to inspire creative writing:

http://www.kidsonthenet.org.uk/diff/index.htm

http://www.midlandit.co.uk/education/interactivestoryguide.htm - story writing tips and a chance to write your own pirate story.

I found these great stories with lots of different activities attached - develop your reading and writing skills in one go:

http://www.nwlg.org/pages/resources/owl/OWL4Book1/Book10/default.htm - year 4
http://www.nwlg.org/pages/resources/owl/OWL3Book1/Book01/default.htm - year 3
There's even a year 5 one if you want to really challenge yourself. http://www.nwlg.org/pages/resources/owl/OWL5Book1/1/story/index.html

If you could continue to work on spellings that would be fantastic. Here's just a reminder of some of the useful spelling links we've used so far this year:

http://www.funbrain.com/plurals/index.html - can you remember your plural rules?

http://www.fekids.com/kln/games/whomp/whomp.html - how many words can you make? (think Boggle).

http://www.vocabulary.co.il/

http://www.bbc.co.uk/schools/spellits/index.shtml - lots of spelling games.

http://www.funbrain.com/brain/ReadingBrain/ReadingBrain.html - some funny games to try.

In Numeracy we will be continuing the work started last week so be sure to check back on those links.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/education/dynamo/den/index.shtml - lot's of games for all different maths topics.

Don't forget one of our favourite sites for all things mathematical:

http://www.mathszone.co.uk/ - the children really enjoy working and playing on this site.

Thank you to those parents who continue to try and hear their child read three times a week and sign their child's diary.

And finally just for fun:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/doctorwho/

http://www2.warnerbros.com/web/games/index.jsp?frompage=wb_homepage

Have a good week!

The Year 3/4 team