Monday 18th December

Merry Christmas to one and all !!!

Well done to all the children in Year 3 and 4 last week. Our Christmas play was fantastic and we were so proud of you all. Another big thank you has to go out to everyone who was involved in making it one of the best performances we've seen so far. We certainly have a lot of up and coming Oscar winners of the future.

It doesn't seem true that Christmas is only a week away and that we only have 3 days left in school. The children will certainly be kept busy though...

Good luck to all the children in the choir for their Carol Concert to their parents and governors on Monday night - I'm sure it will be a very special occassion. The children are so thrilled and excited to show off their singing skills - and there will be opportunities for everyone there to join in with some of the singing so get those throat sweets out ready!

TUESDAY AFTERNOON

Once the children have run through a rehearsal for Wednesday's Carol service it's PARTY TIME! The children have organised themselves into friendship groups and sorted out between them what they would like to bring to share with their friends in terms of food, drink, crackers etc... They should all have brought a letter home on Thursday or Friday of last week. If not please come in and ask any of the Year 3/4 team for details. We hope that the children have a lot of fun!

WEDNESDAY MORNING

At 9 am we celebrate Christmas with our Carol Service, led by the children in 5/6. You are more than welcome to come but please do remember that space is limited as the sevice is for the whole school as well.

The children can bring in their Golden Time toys to play with after the service. Please choose what to bring in carefully as it would be a great shame for anything valuable to become lost or damaged on the last day.

WEDNESDAY AFTERNOON

The children have a real treat in store to finish for the Christmas holidays - the Parent's Panto. A big thank you must go out to all those parents who show incredible courage and a great sense of humour in putting together a pantomine to share with the whole school. The children absolutely love it and it is a wonderful way to end what has been a very busy term.

Do keep an eye on the blog over the Christmas period - I will be adding some websites on to keep your brains ticking over during the holidays.

Have a Happy and Holy Christmas.
All the best!

The Year 3/4 team xxx

Monday 11th December

Goodness - we have a very busy and very festive week ahead of us. It's hard to believe it's only two more weeks and it will be Christmas! A big thank you to everyone who came to the fair on Saturday and to all those involved inorganising it and making it such a success.

Pantomine: don't forget that the children need to be in school for 8:15 am on Monday. The whole school are lucky enough to go to the Chester Gateway theatre to watch 'The Wizard of Oz' - I'm sure it will be magical and an experience the children will thoroughly enjoy. You may want to pack them some snack in a small plastic as they won't be back at school for playtime. They arrive back in time for a late lunch.

The children are so excited about performing this year's Christmas musical to you and I am sure you will not be disappointed at all. The children have worked their socks off and we are all very proud of them. We performed a dress rehearsal to the rest of the school on Friday afternoon and it went down a treat! Thank you so much for getting costumes ready (the children look fantastic!), and helping your child learn lines or dances. And thinking of all things theatrical please try to remember to bring your tickets with you to the Year 3/4 performances this week. There are strict fire, health and safety rules and so entrance can only be with a ticket.


After the incredibly busy start to the week we will be starting to think of all things to do with Christmas, so have a look at some of these links:

http://www.north-pole.co.uk/advent_calendar/index.htm

http://www.santasjournal.com/journal/

http://www.dltk-holidays.com/xmas/crafts.html

http://www.dltk-holidays.com/xmas/games.htm

In R.E. we are exploring the advent stories from the Bible. Please feel free to use the sites mentioned last week to share the story of the nativity with your child or check out:

http://www.metmuseum.org/explore/Christmas_Story/xmas_hmpg.html

http://ngfl.northumberland.gov.uk/christmas/nativity/nativity.html - build your own nativity scene

It's that creative time of year with lots of glitter and paper strewn across floors and we'll be no different! We will be doing lots of crafting this week so if you could send your child in with any cardboard tubes (not toilet rolls) that would be fantastic.

And finally a letter will be coming out later on this week about the Year 3/4 Christmas party in the last week so do keep an eye out for it.

Have a safe and happy week.

We look forward to seeing you all at the performances of 'Tinsel and Tea-towels'

Year 3/4 team

Monday 4thDecember

It's Christmas!!! Well not quite, but we are certainly into full steam ahead with our Christmas production. The children are very busy learning lines, remembering songs and practising dances. We have been really impressed by how hard they are all working and eagerly look forward to our two performances next week.

Your child should have given you a clear idea of what their costume should be by now. We need all the costumes to be in school no later than Friday but we are going to allow the children to practise in their costumes from Wednesday.

http://www.topmarks.co.uk/christianity/nativity/index.htm - a simple online version of the nativity story to share with your child.

http://www.snaithprimary.eril.net/nativity.htm - another version with pictures to print out.

Literacy

We are continuing with our work on playscripts this week, taking advantage with the link to the production. Keep the rest of your skills ticking over using:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/schools/starship/english/index.shtml

Or if you just want to enjoy some stories with a difference check out:
http://www.tosiproductions.com/_amazingadventure/index_fl.asp


Numeracy

http://www.wmnet.org.uk/resources/gordon/Hit%20the%20button%20v9.swf - doubling and halving, multiplying etc - all on this fab website. How many can you get right in one minute?

http://www.mathsyear2000.org/museum/gallery1/tellthetime/index.html - can you get the time right?

http://www.ictgames.com/hickory4.html - a favourite with my maths group.

http://pbskids.org/cyberchase/games/fractions/index.html - start with the fractions activities and then you can move onto the other games. Fancy a challenge? Then try Melvin's Make a Match and Mission: Magnetite to improve your skills at equivalent fractions

Fancy even more of a challenge? Check out some of these maths mysteries and see how you get on as a detective!
http://teacher.scholastic.com/maven/index.htm


And for fun and getting that Christmas feeling have a look at:
http://www.northpole.com/


Notices

With everything that's going on it's easy to miss important information from the newsletter:

Please can you send any outstanding photograph monies into school this week as the photographer will be back in school to collect monies or unwanted photographs.

Pantomine - we will be having early registration that day at 8.15 am. We will be leaving school at 8.30 and walked up by the local police to the Methodist Church car park. The children will be returning to school for a late lunch that day.

And finally don't forget that it's our Christmas Fayre on Saturday! Hope to see you all there!

Have a safe and happy week!

The Year 3 and 4 team