Monday 15th September

Welcome to this week’s blog. Thank you to all the parents who attended our Induction meeting last Wednesday. We had lots of positive feedback as to how useful it was. Some of the important issues mentioned were:

HOMEWORK

Homework will start this week. Literacy will be sentences.
Year 3 will be mostly writing five sentences. Year 4 will be putting all their spellings in a sentence. Please remember Year 4 to use punctuation, connectives and interesting vocabulary. Numeracy homework will be provided by your child’s Math’s teacher.

READING

We are trying to get 100% of children being heard read with comments in their diary every week.

P.E.

Please remember that the children need to have PE kits in school. As the weather changes they will need to have an outdoor kit too.


During these first two weeks we have set the routines and discussed class rules as well as golden rules as part of our Induction period. The children have settled very well and the Year 3's in particular have adjusted quickly to the routines and expectations of being a Junior.

DATE FOR YOUR DIARY

The Friends of St Vincent are having a cake sale on Thursday after school.

LITERACY


The children really enjoyed watching Carrie's War on Friday and this week we will be using the story as a starting point to learn about RECOUNTS. By the end of the week the children will know the features of a recount and will have had a go at drafting their own. They will be basing their recount on the characters seen in Carrie's War, but never fear there will be plenty of opportunity for drama, interviewing and talking about what happened first. If you want to know what a recount is all about then follow the link below to a powerpoint we will be using this week.

http://www.primaryresources.co.uk/english/powerpoints/recount2.ppt


http://www.lancsngfl.ac.uk/curriculum/literacy/lit_site/html/non_fiction/war/index.htm

The children will be exploring adjectives this week and we will be encouraging them to write 2A sentences in their recounts. Check out the link below to find out more on 'THE GRAMMAR SHOW':


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



We are also going to be brushing up our Spellings every week with a fantastic game called SPELL WELL which I'm sure the Year 4 children may remember. Every week the children will go into small groups within the class and practise spellings appropriate to their level. Have a look at the link below to refresh your spelling knowledge:

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

NUMERACY

It's that time of year again were you need to start brushing up on your times tables facts ready for those all important BRONZE, SILVER and GOLD awards. Check out the link below - it's one of our old favourites to get you back in the mood:

http://www.wmnet.org.uk/wmnet/custom/files_uploaded/uploaded_resources/851/Hitthebuttonv7.swf - on this site you can practice your times tables and division facts!

In Miss Robinson's Numeracy Group this week we will be exploring partitioning and place value, as well as moving into comparing and rounding numbers. Play the games below to practice your skills:

http://www.mathsonline.co.uk/nonmembers/gamesroom/awards/awardc.html - want to really challenge yourself - you can choose to try to order numbers up to 1 million! All with a sporty theme.

http://www.crickweb.co.uk/assets/resources/flash.php?&file=ncmenu - practise using your crocodile signs. Can you complete all the levels?

I would also like to stress to my group how important we realised it was to know our number bonds to 10 with rapid recall this week. Once we know those facts we can solve so many more sums - we realised that our number bonds to 20 and 100 all rely on knowing how to make 10. Here's a site to make sure you're quick and confident with those facts.

http://www.wmnet.org.uk/wmnet/custom/files_uploaded/uploaded_resources/851/Hitthebuttonv7.swf - click on number bonds and see how many MAKE 10 DIGITS you can solve in one minute. When you are feeling confident have a go with bonds to 20 and 100!

In Mrs Bethells Numeracy group the children will also be continuing to work on numbers. They will be working on:

Counting up to 100 objects by grouping them and counting in tens, fives or twos
Reading and writing two-digit and three-digit numbers in figures and words; describing and extending number sentences and recognising odd and even numbers
Reading, writing and ordering whole numbers to at least 1000 and position them on a number line; counting on from and back to zero in single-digit steps or multiples of 10
Partitioning three-digit numbers into multiples of 100, 10 and 1 in different ways
Ordering two-digit numbers and positioning them on a number line; use the greater than (>) and less than (<) signs.

The links below should be useful:

http://www.ictgames.com/sharknumbers.html

http://www.ictgames.com/arrowcards.html

http://www.ictgames.com/dinoplacevalue.html

http://www.ictgames.com/abacusInteger.html

Mrs Harding's group

We will be continuing with four digit numbers. We will be rounding, ordering, partitioning and be using negative numbers too. We also started the 100 timetables test last week and the children did very well. Hopefully their scores will improve so that they will get certificates. See sites above to practise their tables.

80 - 89 correct is a bronze award.

90 - 99 correct is a silver award.

100 correct is a gold award.

The children have to get three gold awards before they move onto a division test.

By the end of the week the children:

MUST be able to partition and order a set of 4 digit numbers.

SHOULD be able to use symbols and negative numbers to understand number sentences.

COULD be able to solve number problems and be able to explain their methods.

Here are a few links to get us all started:

http://www.crickweb.co.uk/assets/resources/flash.php?&file=4dsequencer

http://www.321know.com/cmp33_x2.htm#section3

http://www.amblesideprimary.com/ambleweb/mentalmaths/mentalmachine2.html

TOPIC
This week we will start some new topics. As I'm sure you've already heard by now our main History topic is WORLD WAR TWO.
This week we are introducing the war and key dates. The children will become more familiar with key leaders, key events and where the war took place.
To find out more click on:

http://www.nettlesworth.durham.sch.uk/time/war.html - Britain at war

http://www.worldwar2exraf.co.uk/Online%20Museum/Museum%20Docs/Homefrontmuseum.html - lots of info on WW2 generally

CITIZENSHIP
We have been learning about dictatorship and democracy. We have linked this to us voting for the class representatives for the school council. We are going to continue learning about national and local elections and voting.

SCIENCE
We are starting the topic on conductors and insulators. The children are going to learn or review what a circuit is. The children are problem solving why circuits don’t work and finding out the parts of a circuit.

By the end of the week the children:
COULD know how to construct a circuit using the correct parts.
SHOULD be able to find out why a circuit won’t work.
MUST know what a circuit is.

To find out more click on:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/schools/ks2bitesize/science/activities/conductors.shtml


http://www.bbc.co.uk/schools/ks2bitesize/science/activities/changing_circuits.shtml

DESIGN AND TECHNOLOGY
Our theme for this half theme is Shelters. We will be thinking about what a shelter is and all the different types of shelters. We will be listing all different shelters such as tents, bus shelters, garden shelters, umbrellas etc.

A final note

We are interested in finding out how useful this blogspot is. If you or your child uses this during the week can you write a quick little note in your child's diary. We just want to get an idea of the percentage making use of this site. If there are any other things you think it might be useful to have on here let us know too. Thank you.

That’s all about it for this week. Have a good week.

The Year 3 and 4 team.
xxx