Fantastic Fours

Edith`s Wartime Scrapbook
Thank you for all the hard work you have put in during half term- the children have obviously learnt their lines and they speak them so clearly ! They are getting very excited about the performance ,especially after we practised on the stage for the first time this week. Your letter about the play -with tickets attached -will be arriving shortly if you haven`t already received it.

Polar Expedition
Our Science this half – term will include a day of activities based around a polar expedition, carried out in the comfort of our lovely warm school!

Reading Challenge
Our reading challenge is proving really successful, with the number of children winning prizes increasing each half –term .For this four week half term, the target is 10 points. Can we achieve a 100% success rate?!

Homework
Here is the homework timetable for this half term.

If  you ever have trouble with I Am Learning, you need to contact the administrator but do send me a note or a Dojo if your child has been unable to access the programme.

A Happy New Year to you all. I hope that Christmas was enjoyable and even relaxing for everyone!

Reading
Our reading challenge has been a great success, with even more children winning a prize last half term. The children have been preparing their new bookworm record cards ; we will start counting how many times they have read  from next Friday 12 Jan .  It would be great if you could hear your child read twice a week – three times a week would be brilliant. There are 6 full weeks this half term so the target will be 14 stars on their cards.

.We are continuing to pilot Reciprocal Reading until the Summer ; my aim this term is to enable each group to discuss the texts together more independently. We will also be starting Cracking Comprehension- a scheme designed to improve the children `s ability to understand texts and answer written questions. We look forward to seeing a group of you on Mon 15^th Jan from 9am to 9.30am when we will be having a go at this new scheme.

Here are this term`s Guided Group reading targets:

Homework
Here is the homework timetable for this half term for year 3 and year 4.

If o you ever have trouble with I Am Learning, you need to contact the administrator but do send me a note or a Dojo if your child has been unable to access the program. Please could you check they have remembered to click on the Save button- I have had one or two cases of children completing their homework but  there being no record when I checked the report.

Maths and English are always sent out on Fridays to be done by the following Weds. Spellings go out every Weds to be tested on the following Mon .Children must get at least 5 out of 6 correct.

Topic
We are on a Flight to Florida for 4 weeks in our Geography lessons this half term. Thank you for the homework you did with your children this holiday.

After that, we swap over to our History topic on World War II which will continue until Easter .(Next half term is only 4 weeks long.)

We are grateful to all those parents who replied to our letter about a possible trip to Eden Camp Museum. Unfortunately, the response was not sufficient to cover costs and so the trip will not go ahead. Instead, we will be launching the World War II topic with a special World War II day of activities on Thurs  8^th February. If possible , we would like the children to dress up as a  wartime schoolboy or girl and to pack a small suitcase with items they might take if they were  evacuated. They could even make a gas mask box. I enclose an information sheet with this letter to give you some ideas. You are invitedto come into class at 3pm on that day to see what we have been doing.

LKS2 show : Edith`s Wartime Scrapbook
Our show this year has been chosen to link  to our WWII topic .The actors and dancers will be chosen firstly from the year 4 children  .The year 3 children will mainly sing in the choir (although we may need a few extraperformers.) The year 4 WWII costumes will therefore be worn twice.

I will be holding auditions next week .Once I have allocated parts, I would be most grateful if you would help your child learn their lines by heart and say them clearly and with expression. We will also send home song words to be learnt by all the children. The performances will take place on

Thurs  15^th March at 2pm and Fri 16th March at  2pm .We will send out a letter about tickets soon. 

Awesome Egyptians
Thank you for helping your child do their homework about Egypt- we have had some  good pieces of work which will look great on our new display.

Visit to Derby
The trip to Derby is coming up next Thursday 9^th November. Don`t forget that your child needs to wear trousers as part of their school uniform and bring a scarf or plain hat to cover their head. They will need to bring a warm outdoor coat. Remember that the children need to be in school by 8.30am ready to leave at 8.45am prompt.

Class Dojo
It was great to see that some of you have already “liked” what the class got up to on Monster Day. I will do my best to check your messages and reply regularly from this week onwards, but remember- if you need to talk to me urgently, you can always to pop in after school to see me or arrange an appointment before school. Good old –fashioned notes are still very effective as well!

Homework timetable

Reading at Home
We had a good response to our Read at Home initiative- I will be giving out prizes to those who read at least 9 times during the half term. Hopefully, even more children will receive prizes at the end of this half term. It`s a seven week half term so I am raising the target  to  reading at least 12 times with a maximum of 3 points a week. Thank you for all your time and hard work- I`ll check what`s happening about the parents` raffle!

Reading targets

Mission: Explore

Thank you for helping your child with their project about famous explorers- we have already had a look at some of the work they have produced. On Monday 18th Sept at 1pm, I would like to take the class out on a map reading trail around the streets in the vicinity of school. If any parents or grandparents are able to come and give us a hand , would  you let me know as soon as possible. The  activity will last about an hour. We will have a celebration of some of the work we have been doing this half term on Friday 20^th  Oct at 3.05pm after Golden Time. Do put the date in your diary.

PE
PE lessons will take place on Thursdays and Fridays until further notice.

Reading at home
We are starting a school initiative to encourage all children to enjoy spending more time reading at home to a parent or grandparent. In years 3 and 4, we are aiming for three times a week at home whenever possible. Please would you date your child`s reading record and write a comment in their reading diary. There will a competition in class each half term and the winners` families will also be entered into a prize draw!