Monday 5th February

It's hard to believe that we have already reached the final week of this half term. The children have worked really hard, and following our recent assessments you may notice some changes perhaps to where your child sits for Numeracy or the Guided Reading group that they are in.

Last week the children all impressed us with the effort they put into their Book Week Literacy Homework. The quantity and quality of work they submitted was incredible and we were overwhelmed by how enthusiastically they were able to talk about all the things they had done. If you haven't popped in at the end of a day to visit the Book Fair itself it is still running on Monday and Tuesday after school.

LITERACY

In Literacy this week we are targetting childrens writing based on our assessment findings and are focussing our attention on using connectives to link ideas together in a sentence, and identifying simple features of non-fiction texts.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/schools/revisewise/english/spelling/15_act.shtml - can you use connectives?

http://www.bbc.co.uk/skillswise/words/grammar/sentencebasics/whatisasentence/quiz.shtml - do you know what a sentence needs? A quiz on 3 levels.

Alongside this we will be continuing our cross-curricular links and asking the children to delve into the delightful world of mummification in Egyptian times! As this is a subject they have all been desperate to cover we will be requiring the children to polish up their skills in writing instructions on the mummification process. I'm sure they have already checked out the Egyptian links from previous weeks but the ones below look in particular at MUMMIES!

http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/ancient/egyptians/launch_gms_mummy_maker.shtml - can you play the mummy making game and survive? Lots of graphics to show what went on with hooks and brains and other gruesome things...

http://www.salariya.com/web_books/mummy/index.html - you wouldn't want to be an Egyptian mummy - the gory facts! Follow the story through clicking the next button.

http://www.nationalgeographic.com/media/tv/mummy/index.html - lots of facts on the process of mummification.

NUMERACY

In Numeracy this week each group will be picking up on elements and topics drawn from the assessments and reviewing children's learning so far. Please check back through previous weeks blog links to consolidate your skills. Just to help here are some of our favourites:

http://www.woodlands-junior.kent.sch.uk/maths/ - you name the topic and this site will normally have at least one game to help you practice.

http://www.mathsisfun.com/ - a little bit of everything - especially more times tables practice!

http://www.bbc.co.uk/schools/digger/7_9entry/7_9.shtml - we do like theses adventure games. How about checking out the English and Science ones too while you're there!?

SCIENCE

We will be continuing to explore habitats so if you're fed up with the fantastic links from other weeks check out the ones below to keep you going:

http://www.nwnet.org.uk/pages/ict_curric/science/downloads/science_unit4b.ppt - a super powerpoint style presentation with lots of information - you just need to open the file when prompted.

http://www.hhmi.org/coolscience/

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

http://ngfl.northumberland.gov.uk/ict/AAA/AAA.html
http://ngfl.northumberland.gov.uk/ict/AAA/habitats.htm

DESIGN AND TECHNOLOGY

Next half term we are linking our main Science topic of Habitats with our Design and Technology project and we are really looking forward to it. We are sure that the children are going to love it!

This week we will be planning a boxed environment in all the classes. Over the holidays the children will need to collect a shoe box and some of the materials /things that they would like to put in it. They may like to do a rainforest, desert, seascape etc. This is a follow up activity to our Science topic on habitats. So children start collecting those things you need!

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

The following web site gives a list of habitats and animals which could be useful too.

http://www.uen.org/utahlink/activities/view_activity.cgi?activity_id=3792

R.E.

In Religious Education this week we are starting a new theme called Memories. It would be great if you could chat about some of their best memories and even their earliest memories.
The Year Three children have started their Holy Communion Books and need to bring in a photograph of themselves/family. Also it would help them if you wrote down in their diary the special dates / any birthdays in their family.

¡Hola!

We are all trying really hard this term to learn some Spanish! Have a look at the link below and then you can come and teach us new words!

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

As you can see we will be working hard to the very last moment. Thank you for all the effort that you have put in this half term.
Have a fantastic week.

Take care.

The Year 3/4 team