Monday 25th June

Goodness - isn't this final half term just flying by. It's hard to believe we only have a few more weeks left of this school year. And there's still so much to fit in!!!

What a wonderful day! The Year Three had a lovely day on Saturday at their Holy Communion and were very well behaved especially when waiting for their photographs to be taken. All the children looked wonderful and did very well with their readings. Please remember that St Joseph's children's Mass starts at 10.30 every Sunday. We must say a big thank you to all the people who gave lifts up to church, the operation ran very smoothly considering there were 44 children to transport! Thank you to the Year Four parents who came in to set up the hall on Friday afternoon as it looked beautiful.

The Year 4's gave a brilliant performance of their Kingswood experience and must be congratulated for the hard work and effort that went into it. I don't know what was more fun - watching the parents faces as the children performed or watching all the enthusiasm come flooding out of the children-one comment was that it was like the children had just come back.

Lots of diary news this week too:

On Tuesday we are very fortunate to be learning about tribal art as part of our RICH TASK WEEK on AFRICA.

On Thursday we have a Science show which is always extremely useful and exciting for the children to watch.

Due to the Science show there will be no swimming at all this week.

On Thursday we will be celebrating Mass in the hall at 2.15pm to celebrate the feast of St Peter and Paul.

As Sport's Day fast approaches can you also ensure your child has a P.E. Kit in school every day and that their pumps still fit. We'll be trying to get out for practices whenever the rain holds off.

RICH TASK WEEK

Now that all the tests are done and dusted we can have a week of pure creativity! We are building our theme for this week around the African Tribal Art workshop that will involve all children in Year 3 and 4.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/cbbcnews/hi/static/find_out/specials/newsround_extra/africa/html/default.stm

In Literacy we will be looking at the tradition of storytelling in Africa and will be listening to different kinds of stories. By the end of the week the children will have the opportunity to continue the story-telling tradition by re-telling a story in their own words and creating a mini-book to record it in.

In Music we will be learning African songs and exploring Africa rhythms. WE will also be learning how to read and use graphical notation as a way of recording our ideas. There will be lots of opportunities for composing your own music and working with others to create a performance.

http://www.units.muohio.edu/dragonfly/sounds/

http://www.kids-space.org/HPT/menu.html - a bit 'cute' but some fantastic music making activities.

In Geography we will be learning where Africa is and about how it is made up from lots of countries. Africa is a land of contrasts and the children will be learning about the diversity there. We will be finding out what some of those countries are like and a little bit more about life in Africa.

http://www.yourchildlearns.com/dirmpafr.htm - download this Africa puzzle map and you'll soon know some of the different countries. Can you fit the pieces together?

http://www.geographia.com/indx06.htm - a little information about some of the countries.

http://exploringafrica.matrix.msu.edu//teachers/curriculum/m3/activity2.php - lots of information if you spend a little time exploring.

http://www.primaryresources.co.uk/geography/powerpoint/kenya_webquest.ppt - this is fantastic for exploring Kenya. What can you find out? Download the question sheet form the link below and test yourself!
http://www.primaryresources.co.uk/geography/docs/kenya_webquest.doc

In Art we will be inspired by the workshop on Tuesday I am sure, but as well as that we will be looking at mask making, printing and even landscape painting! The week will be very busy so each class may do something slightly different so we can combine what we have learnt at the end.

http://www.zyama.com/ - how much do you want on African art?

http://www.zyama.com/duma/index.htm - lots of examples of African masks

http://www.ezakwantu.com/ - more examples of African tribal art

Numeracy is continuing as normally as possible. I'm still waiting for children to write down their favourite times table game of this year and give it to me. Don'[t forget you must know as many tables as possible before you go up to your next year group!!

In Miss Robinson's group this week we will be reviewing column addition and subtraction.

http://www.mape.org.uk/startower/sums/index.htm

http://www.woodlands-junior.kent.sch.uk/maths/numberskills.html

http://www.woodlands-junior.kent.sch.uk/maths/interactive/index.htm#Addition

http://www.woodlands-junior.kent.sch.uk/maths/interactive/subtraction.htm - subtraction

http://www.mathszone.co.uk/ - NUMBER FACTS +/-

Mrs Bethell's group will also be exploring subtraction this week so use some of the sites above. As well as this they will also be learning about position and direction:

http://perso.orange.fr/jeux.lulu/html/anglais/flvoyage/fleches4.htm - can you guide Lulu safely?

http://perso.orange.fr/jeux.lulu/html/anglais/flcoccin/coccinel.htm - how about the ladybird?

http://www.mathszone.co.uk/ - SHAPE - have a go at some of the games in the DIRECTION or CO-ORDINATES lists.

http://www.woodlands-junior.kent.sch.uk/maths/shape.htm#Coordinates - learn about co-ordinates playing thses games.

In Maths this week Mrs Harding's group will be carrying on with percentage and problem solving.

http://www.primaryresources.co.uk/maths/mathsD1.htm

http://www.teachingideas.co.uk/maths/files/solvingproblemsnumbers.pdf

http://www.mathsisfun.com/percentage-menu.html

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

http://www.mathplayground.com/mathhoops_Z1.html

We are all really looking forward to this week-there are so many interesting and fun activities going on. I can't wait!!! Can you???

Have a safe and happy week.

The Year 3/4 team

xxx

Monday 18th June

Hello! Hope you all managed to settle in to a new half term last week. There's another busy week ahead of us especially for our Year Three! They celebrate their First Holy Communion this Saturday and are busy going through all their preparations in school and at home for the big day. So there's lots of housekeeping to get through this week:

Communion Preparations

Thursday and Friday morning will be the last practices for our Year Three children up at church. We have now allocated all the children to a car on both days but if you would like to be a reserve please let one of the teachers know. A letter has also gone out to everybody regarding car seats needing to be sent into school with their names on please.

Could parents remember to send in flowers/food etc for the Communion breakfast on Saturday?

Also we could do with a few Year Four parents to help set out the hall on Friday afternoon. Please be in school for 1.30 pm if you are available to help.

Communion Day

Details for Saturday

9.00 Arrive at Canon Malan centre for medals etc. You do not need to stay with your child.

9.30 Children process into church and take seats.

After Mass the children need to be taken back to St Vincent's. There will be individual and a group photograph taken as soon as the children arrive. Please send them straight into the Infant area. Thank you.

The children will then enjoy sharing their Communion Breakfast with each other. After this the certificates are handed out.

Can the boys please leave their sashes in school at the end?

That just leaves us to offer up all our prayers for the Year Three children at this very special event in their lives.

YEAR 4

While the Year 3 have been preparing for their special days the Year 4 children have been incredibly busy too. They are eagerly waiting to perform their Kingswood presentation to their families on Thursday at 4pm.

Year Four will also be having a double swimming session this week and a few parents have already agreed to accompany the Year Four. Again if you are available to help the times are 9.30 - 11.30am.

LITERACY

In between all the hustle and bustle this week the children will be continuing to explore persuasive writing and will complete their radio adverts and move onto creating leaflets.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/schools/ks2bitesize/english/activities/leaflets.shtml

We want the children to continue improving their descriptive writing using adjectives and adverbs so check out the sites below:

http://www.learnatglobal.com/assets/applets/grammar.swf

http://www.lgfl.net/dbmaterial/web/learning%20objects/ls/Year%204%20%20Literacy%20Adverbs/home/?verb=view

NUMERACY

Tables, tables, tables......

Please take the time to go through all the blogs and find your favourite game for learning your tables with. I would love to know which ones you found most useful!!!

Miss Robinson's group got a little carried away with our tessellation investigation last week and so are only moving onto review and extend our learning on data handling this week so look back at the links for venn diagrams, tally and frequency tables, carroll diagrams, etc from last week.

In Mrs Harding's group in Maths this week we will be starting a topic on percentages which will continue for a few weeks.

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

http://www.bbc.co.uk/skillswise/numbers/fractiondecimalpercentage/

http://www.mathsisfun.com/percentage.html

http://www.bbc.co.uk/scotland/education/bitesize/standard/mathsI/number_gen/percentages_rev1.shtml

With so much going on we'll all need a lie-down at the end of the week! However we all look forward to seeing our Year 3 children on Saturday. And don't forget if you're in the choir or want to support the Year 3's then come and join the singers in church - I'll be there, Mr Barker and Mrs James will be too, but it would be fantastic if we could have lots of children from St. Vincent's joining and supporting the celebration.

Have a safe and happy week.

Take care

The Year 3/4 Team
xxx

Monday 11th June

WELCOME BACK!

It's hard to believe we are moving into our final few weeks of this academic year. We hope you have all had a fantastic time off and are coming back to school all refreshed, revitalised and ready for work!

The children will be having a busy week this week. Year Three will be practising for their Holy Communion during the afternoons and be doing more work on the Eucharist and the Holy Communion book. Details about the transport needed for a week on Thursday and Friday morning will be sent out this week too. Thank you for all the kind offers of help with the transport. Those people who are needed will receive confirmation this week and details of who they will be transporting in their car.

Year Four meanwhile will be finishing off their Kingswood presentation and a date will be set for the performance this week.

There were a few children who missed their tests so hopefully this week we will finish off any testing. So far the children have worked very hard and there have been some great results across both year groups!! We have been very pleased and impressed. Well done everyone!

LITERACY

In Literacy we are going to continue for a bit longer on our theme of persuasive writing. We will be continuing to think about advertising and the children will have the opportunity to create a radio advert, hopefully complete with jingle to sell the product they worked in groups to design last half term.

NUMERACY

This last half term is a chance for us to really push our knowledge of the times tables. The more you know before you go up to your next year group the better off you will be when tackling the Numeracy lessons. Keep using the sites below:

http://www.wmnet.org.uk/wmnet/custom/files_uploaded/uploaded_resources/851/Hitthebuttonv7.swf
http://www.amblesideprimary.com/ambleweb/mentalmaths/tabletrees.html

And here's a couple of new ones for you to have a look at.

http://www.sgfl.org.uk/games/games/maths/multiplicationstation

http://www.oswego.org/ocsd-web/games/SumSense/summulti.html - set your own challenge.

In Miss Robinson's group we will be continuing to build on our mental maths skills and will also be spending this week reviewing and building on our learning for symmetry and data handling. Use the sites below:

http://www.crickweb.co.uk/assets/resources/flash.php?&file=Symm - sort the shapes according to symmetry.

http://pbskids.org/cyberchase/games/symmetry/index.html

http://www.ngfl-cymru.org.uk/vtc/ngfl/maths/greg_morgan_symmetry/index.htm

http://pbskids.org/cyberchase/games/area/tangram.html - use your knowledge of shapes and symmetry.

http://pbskids.org/cyberchase/games/bargraphs/bargraphs.html - catch the bugs and create a graph - great fun!

http://www.crickweb.co.uk/assets/resources/flash.php?&file=NumberVenn - can you remember how to use Venn Diagrams?

http://www.ngfl-cymru.org.uk/vtc/carroll_diagrams/eng/introduct/default.htm - we'll be using this in one of our lessons.

http://www.wmnet.org.uk/wmnet/custom/files_uploaded/uploaded_resources/850/carrollv4.swf - practice your skills using Carroll Diagrams.

http://www.amblesideprimary.com/ambleweb/mentalmaths/grapher.html - design your own graph.

Mrs Harding's Math's group will be going over their recent Maths exam to see where we need to brush up our skills! The children worked really hard and the results are very promising. We will be concentrating on ordering decimals and the four rules again as they caused a few problems in the tests.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/skillswise/numbers/fractiondecimalpercentage/decimals/introductiontodecimals/activity.shtml
http://www.mathsisfun.com/ordering_decimals.html

http://www.mathszone.co.uk/interactivemaths.htm

http://www.freewebtown.com/weddell/mw/long_multiplication/long%20multiplication.swf

http://www.freewebtown.com/weddell/mw/division/3x1%20division.swf

Mrs Bethell's group will be exploring vertical addition and subtraction, as well as solving word problems. Check out the sites below:

http://www.mape.org.uk/startower/sums/index.htm

http://www.buildabear.com/_graphics/games/flashcards/flashcards.swf

http://www.playkidsgames.com/games/apples/default.htm# - can you complete the hard level of the apples game?

http://www.woodlands-junior.kent.sch.uk/maths/numberskills.html - lots to play for addition and subtraction

http://www.woodlands-junior.kent.sch.uk/maths/wordproblems/index.html - word games, word games, word games....

SCIENCE

We will be continuing our work on the topic of Electricity. My class found the website below incredibly helpful for learning all about circuits and symbols. Can you pass all the challenges?

http://www.andythelwell.com/blobz/

DESIGN AND TECHNOLOGY

In Design Technology whenever we get the chance we will be making our money containers. Please could you make sure that your child has materials to make a purse. They have already designed one and had a go at their design in paper too. They should be able to talk to you quite easily about what they need. Hobby craft have some really reasonable small pieces of material for as little as 40p. We wait for their finished designs with anticipation and excitement.

Miss Robinson's class are only in the early stages of preparing to make their money containers (we've been a little carried away with the Roman theme in History!). This week they will be practising their sewing skills and making a sampler bookmark. Next week they will be making the paper mock-ups and then in future weeks they will be creating their money container. They will be coming home this week with a list of materials and things they will need to create thier finished product.

Have a safe and happy week

The Year 3/4 Team

xxx