Monday 22nd January

Hello and so begins another busy week. Well done to everyone for being so organised for our first swimming session last week. The children had a super time and now that they have been assessed and grouped according to swimming ability we know they will continue to develop their skills.

This week will be slightly different for the children as we will be sitting some assessments tests in Reading, Writing and Numeracy. We are aware that the children have only been with us for a little over a term but we are keeping a close eye on the progress they are making. As a result this weeks blog will concentrate on reviewing their learning from previous weeks.

Literacy

http://www.harcourtschool.com/menus/auto/18/49.html - how far can you go?

http://www.amblesideprimary.com/ambleweb/clickon/television.htm - how many words can you make? A very popular game with my class!

http://funschool.kaboose.com/fun-blaster/games/game_dungeon_escape.html?g=des_ds1 - a different way of looking at your spellings! Check out the other activities on here too.

http://www.funbrain.com/brain/ReadingBrain/ReadingBrain.html - lots of ideas for choosing interesting words for your writing.

http://www.amblesideprimary.com/ambleweb/jungle/intro.htm - a choose your own adventure story - can you solve it?

http://www.cogcon.com/gamegoo/gooey.html - a really strange and unusual website for building up various word skills and knowledge. Weird but definitely memorable!!

Numeracy

It's so hard to fit in all the sites we've used this year so far, especially with each Numeracy group doing topics at different times. Scroll through the activity links below and choose the areas you know you want to get better at.

http://www.northwood.org.uk/times%20table%20trivia%20x%205.swf - times tables

http://www.transum.org/Software/Tablesmaster/Tablesmaster.asp - times tables

http://www.crickweb.co.uk/Flash%20Studio/cfsmaths/Digitworks/digitmenu.html - work on +, - and x.

http://www.funbrain.com/cracker/index.html - practise your number patterns.

http://www.bgfl.org/bgfl/custom/resources_ftp/client_ftp/ks2/maths/time/index.htm - telling the time a problem? Work through these activities and you'll be an expert!

http://www.teachingmoney.co.uk/wb/ClassPresentsUK.html - how are you at spending money?

http://www.woodlands-junior.kent.sch.uk/maths/fractions/index.htm - fractions games from last week - and lots of them.

http://www.woodlands-junior.kent.sch.uk/maths/measures.htm#Measure - lots of activities on measuring

http://www.woodlands-junior.kent.sch.uk/maths/wordproblems/index.html - have a look at these if you want to get the hang of test style questions.


We will be continuing with our History and Science topics an so here are just a couple more sites to keep you going! (Don't forget to use the last couple of weeks links too).

http://www.hitchams.suffolk.sch.uk/habitats/ - explore different habitats

http://www.planetarkive.org/games/designAHabitat.html - can you design the right kind of Habitat?

http://www.bbc.co.uk/education/dynamo/lab/wheredo/index.htm - where do they live? Can you crack both levels in this habitat quiz?

http://www.sandiegozoo.com/kids/games/index.html - a fun animal site with lots of games.

http://www.horus.ics.org.eg/en/Default_HTML.aspx - another great site full of info on the Ancient Egyptians.

http://edweb.sdsu.edu/courses/edtec670/egypt/TitleScreen.html - an adventure game to solve based in Ancient Egypt.

http://www.diduknow.info/nilefile/ - explore the super Nile file from the World Museum in Liverpool.

Lots of interactive sites to keep you busy. Hope you enjoy!

Take care and have a happy week!

Year 3/4 team

Monday 15th January

Exciting things have been happening in school this week with the start of the building work for the new classroom. Well done to the children for coping with the changes in space and routines this week - obviously the work will be ongoing for quite some time.

Swimming

This week the children in Year 3 and Year 4 will start their weekly swimming sessions on Thursdays. Please make sure your child comes swimming kit, towel, etc. The girls who have long hair will need their hair tied back on that day. The Year 4 children will go for the first session and the Year 3's for the second session.

Literacy

This week we are continuing with our narrative theme. The children investigated and explored scary stories last week and this week move onto science-fiction.

http://pbskids.org/cyberchase/how_started.html - combines reading science fiction stories with solving a range of problems. There are also games and quests on the site too. Check it out.

http://goodnightstories.com/stories.htm - a huge range of story activities not necessarily linked to sci-fi but you can read, see, hear, finish or decide stories.

All the children are keen to imporve their reading skills and so we are working on improving comprehension skills. You can help at home by checking out the sites below. There are a variety of different levels so find the one that suits where your child is at.

http://www.manatee.k12.fl.us/sites/elementary/palmasola/psmain.htm

http://www.eslbears.homestead.com/Map_and_Directions.html

We have been continuing to develop our spelling skills too - check out the language game site below for some different ways to work on your spellings.

http://resources.kaboose.com/games/read2.html - check out Aton-Ra - a word game with an Egyptian feel. There's lots more games too.

http://www.english-online.org.uk/games/gamezone2.htm

Numeracy

In Numeracy the children will be continuing to work on basic skills, as well as continuing to plug away at learning their times tables. Check out websites mentioned last week to keep all these ticking over.

http://www.woodlands-junior.kent.sch.uk/maths/fractions/index.htm - a fantastic range of games to help you get to grips with fractions. A real must to check out.

http://www.freewebtown.com/weddell/mw/measures/Understand%20&%20Convert.swf - challenge yourself to link fractions and measurements.

http://www.bgfl.org/bgfl/custom/resources_ftp/client_ftp/ks2/maths/measures/index.htm - do you know your measurements well enough to help Jack?

http://www.freewebtown.com/weddell/mw/ruler/ruler_cm.swf - a great tool for using rulers.

http://www.woodlands-junior.kent.sch.uk/maths/shape.htm#Angles - have a go at angles - do you know your acute from your obtuse? A range of games to help you know the difference.

http://www.funbrain.com/brain/MathBrain/MathBrain.html - a range of activities - log in and begin to work around Grade 2 or 3 - how far can you go?

Science

We are continuing to explore Habitats as our topic this half term so check out:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/schools/scienceclips/ages/8_9/habitats.shtml

http://www.activescience-gsk.com/games/index.cfm?module=2

http://www.bbc.co.uk/schools/teachers/ks2/blueplanet_ks2.shtml

http://www.show.me.uk/topicpage/teachers/tNatural-World.html

http://www.channel4.com/apps26/learning/microsites/E/essentials/science/life/habitats_bi.jsp

http://www.naturegrid.org.uk/explorer/index.html

History

As I'm sure you've all heard by now our topic is Ancient Egypt. As well as the excellent sites linked in last weeks blog have a look at these too:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/schools/teachers/ks2/historyegyptians.shtml - another excellent BBC site.

http://library.thinkquest.org/4368/ - lots of information

http://www.bgfl.org/bgfl/custom/resources_ftp/client_ftp/ks2/history/egyptians/index.htm - really interactive site - cartoon style

http://www.icteachers.co.uk/children/cyberhunts/egypt/egypthunt.htm - want to hunt for your own information about the Egyptians rather than been told all the answers then check out this cyberhunt.

http://www.eyelid.co.uk/

Hopefully that's enough to keep you going through the week.

Have a great week.
Take care.

The Year 3/4 team

Monday 8th January 2007

A belated Happy New Year to all of you! After our gentle introduction into a new term last week we start our main topics and work this week. All the children came back to school with lots of energy adn we are sure they are going to enjoy this half terms activities. I'm sure they have informed you by now of some of the little tweaks we have introduced and on behalf of the staff can we thank you for sending your children back to school looking so smart in their uniform.

Literacy

We are lucky to be able to start this term building up to some story writing - we hope you're not scared easily because this week we are going to work on writing horror stories.

http://www.sutton.lincs.sch.uk/pages/playground/zone/story/spooky.html - try a spooky story start.

http://www.nettlesworth.durham.sch.uk/castle/castle.html - explore examples of other children's spooky stories by visiting the different rooms in the castle.

http://www.nwlg.org/pages/resources/owl/OWL6Book1/1/story/index.html - a story that links to our super history topic too. Suitable for challenging confident readers or to work through with your child.

We continue to build up our confidence in spelling different words. Have a look at the two links below - each one has stories in it that have spelling mistakes - can you spot and correct them?

http://www.saintambrosebarlow.wigan.sch.uk/LowerJuniorActivities.htm
http://www.saintambrosebarlow.wigan.sch.uk/upperjuniors.htm

Keep practising those basic skills on:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/schools/starship/english/index.shtml

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

Numeracy

Keep plugging away at learning those tables - it really does make a difference if you know them forwards, backwards, upside down and inside out and here's a reminder of a couple of sites to get you going again:

http://www.wmnet.org.uk/resources/gordon/Hit%20the%20button%20v9.swf
http://www.woodlands-junior.kent.sch.uk/maths/timestable/index.html
http://www.bgfl.org/bgfl/custom/resources_ftp/client_ftp/ks2/maths/a_mental/index.htm

Each group will be starting fresh topics in Numeracy this week but as usual a couple of great places to start are:

http://www.eduplace.com/kids/mw/ - check out the activities on Grade 2 and Grade 3.
http://www.coolmath4kids.com/
http://www.mathszone.co.uk/ - find your group's topic - how many games can you find to play? If there are any you really like - let your maths teacher know!

Science

For Science this half term we will be learning about animals and where they live and why in our topic on Habitats. Have a look at the links below to begin to explore this topic:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/schools/scienceclips/ages/8_9/habitats.shtml

http://www.bbc.co.uk/nature/animals/planetearth/

http://www.sandiegozoo.com/kids/games/index.html

History

This term we are going to be exploring one of my favourite history topics ever - the Ancient Egyptians. Through the course fo the term you will find out all about the pyramids, read hieroglyphics, learn about mummification, and so much more. Check out the sites below to get you started:

http://www.ancientegypt.co.uk/ - the British Museums site for children.

http://www.show.me.uk/topicpage/Ancient-Civilisations.html - lots of interactive pages

http://www.woodlands-junior.kent.sch.uk/Homework/Egypt.html - full of information for you to swot up on.

http://www.snaithprimary.eril.net/egindex.htm - another good site.

As well as all of that don't forget to have some fun on :

http://www.bbc.co.uk/education/dynamo/home.shtml

http://www.woodlands-junior.kent.sch.uk/Games/educational/index.html

Have a good week

Year 3/4 team