PE
Outdoor and adventurous activities (OAA)
We have had a fantastic afternoon today, taking part in some orienteering as part of our OAA topic.
In groups, children were handed an ariel view of our school with points marked out for them to find. Children then used their map to find the orienteering points. Each point had a letter.
Once children had collected all the letters, they had to work out the missing sentence. After some excellent teamwork and a few clues, they solved the puzzle and discovered the hidden sentence.
OAA is an excellent topic that allows children to be outside whilst solving problems and working together as a team. Communication, listening and perseverance are all skills required to succeed here.
Living and Learning – I use good manners.
This week, our Living and Learning statement was: ‘I use good manners’.
We talked about what good manners look and sound like and why they’re important. We decided that using good manners is a simple way to show kindness and respect to the people around us.
We thought of lots of ways we can show good manners:
We also thought carefully about whether ‘please’ or ‘thank you’ is more important. There were some brilliant ideas and we realised there isn’t always one right answer!
Help at home by looking out for good manners this week and noticing when they happen. You could ask, ‘How did your good manners make someone else feel?’
PE- Catch the Butterfly
This term we are focussing on multi-skills, to support building on our fundamental movement skills. This week we have been working on throwing and catching. Our learning objective for this lesson was to be able to catch an object thrown by someone else.
We started this individually, throwing and catching bibs in the air – this was our butterfly. To make this more challenging for the children they were then asked if they could throw the bib into the air and count their claps before catching it. We introduced more challenges such as touching our heads, shoulders, knees and toes before than practicing in pairs.
Next week, we will be looking at adapting the game by introducing other resources, using different sized balls and seeing if they can come up with their own scoring system, such as allowing the ball to bounce once before they can catch it.
Help at home: Practice catching the butterfly at home. A tea towel or small item of clothing would work in the same way. You could challenge yourself further by seeing how many claps you can do before you need to catch the butterfly.
History – When was Ancient Greece?
This week in history, we have been learning about when the Golden Age of Ancient Greece took place. We worked together to create a large timeline using multilink cubes, placing and labelling some of the important people, events and periods we have already explored in our history lessons.
The children thought that the coronavirus felt like a long time ago so seeing the timeline stretched out in front of us helped us understand chronology and showed us just how long ago the Ancient Greeks lived.
The children were amazed by how far back in history we had to travel to reach Ancient Greece!
Help at home: Can you create your own mini timeline? Include Ancient Greece (800-300 BC) alongside other significant dates for you as a family (this could be the year that family members were born and any other historical events or eras that you find interesting.)
PE – team building
This half term, our focus sport in PE is hockey.
Before getting stuck into developing our hockey skills, we’ve spent some time building our teamwork and communication skills. Over the past couple of weeks, the children have taken part in a range of challenges that have encouraged them to listen carefully, take turns, think strategically and reflect on the decisions they’ve made.
To round off this mini block of learning, the children have designed their own teamwork challenges for their friends to tackle. It has been fantastic to see them putting their communication, creativity and teamwork skills into practice!
Help at home: When working together on a task, take some time to talk about what went well and what could have gone better. Encourage your child to reflect and connect about how they feel when things go well, as well as when things don’t go as planned. This can help them develop confidence, resilience and an understanding of their emotions.
Times Tables information session
Thank you to the parents who were able to join me after school for the times tables information session.
If you weren’t able to come but would like to know about the times tables check that your child will complete at the end of Year 4 please let me know.
Maths – column addition
We’re starting our Year 4 maths learning by recapping column addition.
Before using equipment to model the maths, the children enjoyed exploring the Base 10.
To make sure we really understood the procedure of column addition, we worked with a partner to ‘build’ the addition calculation and link it to the column addition.
We reminded ourselves we always start on the right (in the ones column) and that we have to make sure that the numbers are in the correct place value column.
Help at home: Build confidence by practising column addition either on paper or using an online game such as Transum column addition games (Y4 is up to level 6.)
Reception 2026 have arrived!
Our Reception children have settled in so beautifully and are doing a fantastic job getting to know their new classroom, routines and friends. It’s been wonderful to see how much more confident and comfortable they’re becoming each day! Thank you so much for preparing them so well.
From Monday 14 September, we’d like to encourage the children to start coming into the classroom independently, as they’re now becoming familiar with the morning routine. This is a lovely next step in helping them to build their confidence, independence and sense of responsibility.
We really appreciate your support with this and know that, together, we can help the children feel proud and confident as they begin their mornings independently. If you ever have any questions, concerns or would simply like to have a chat, please don’t hesitate to speak to us, the door is always open and we’re happy to help.
This week the children have had a fantastic time exploring the classroom and garden area, our mini forest school is a big hit as well as our newly developed ‘Dino Land.’ At lunchtime the children have been supported by their buddies, who helped them to collect their tray and lunch and showed them where to sit. We finished the week going on a ‘Buddy Hunt’ the children looked all over the school before they finally found them in their classroom working very hard. It was a really fun way for the children to explore their new school.
Help at home: Next week we will begin talking about our families. To support our learning please can you send a photo of your child with their family. Please can we also ask for any autumn walk donations e.g. conkers, pine cones. acorns and leaves of different shapes and sizes. Thank you.
Reception Email
Learning doesn’t just happen in school! We love hearing about the wonderful things the children are doing at home. Please feel free to send us any ‘WOW’ moments. If you have any photos you would like to share with us, please use our Reception email: [email protected]
Thank you for a wonderful first week and all your support.
Mrs Kendrew, Mrs Linton, Mrs Spearman and Miss Dean
Key information for Year 3
- Teaching Assistants: Mr Smith or Mrs Darracott (at different times throughout the day).
- PE days: Monday and Friday. Please ensure earrings are removed before school. Children need to be able to remove and replace these independently. If they’re unable to do this, please ensure they don’t wear earrings on PE days.
- Snack: Children are welcome to bring a small, healthy snack in their bag if they’d like one at breaktime.
- Reading Records: Please ensure Reading Records are signed by an adult each week and returned by Thursday. They help us celebrate the children’s progress during Book Club every Friday.
- Reading (Little Wandle/Collins Hub): New logins can be found at the back of the Reading Records. I’ll be setting the same texts we’re practising in our reading lessons for children to revisit at home. This week has been set.
- Spelling: Spellings will be sent home each Friday.
- Homework: Homework will be sent home every Friday and we’ll recap the children’s learning from the week. Activities will include Reading, Maths, Living and Learning and Spelling, providing opportunities to practise key skills and continue conversations about learning at home.
If you’ve any questions, please don’t hesitate to get in touch with me. I’m always happy to help!
A great start to the Autumn term!
We’ve had a fantastic start to Year 3. The children have settled brilliantly into their new routines.
- In Maths, we’ve been learning how to add three numbers together and discussing the most efficient ways to solve calculations.
- In Reading, we’ve enjoyed exploring Pandora’s Box, using retrieval, inference and choice skills to deepen our understanding of the text.
- In Science, we’ve started our new topic, Skeletons. The children have been learning about different bones in the human body and their functions through songs and interactive games.
- In our Topic lessons, we’ve begun learning about Ancient Greece, using atlases and identifying physical and human features.
- We also enjoyed our PE lessons as part of our Outdoor Adventurous Activities unit. The children worked together to solve challenges, showing excellent teamwork, communication and problem-solving skills.
Help at home: Ask your child to tell you about our new topics this term. Can they explain what happened in Pandora’s Box, name a bone in the human body, or tell you something they have learned about Ancient Greece?