Sept Parent Presentation 2017.notebook The Children We currently have 95 children in our phase. They are split into 3 teaching classes: Welcome to Year 3 and Year 4 Swans, Badgers and Kingfishers. September 2017 Aug 31 19:25 Additional Teachers Class Teachers Mrs Sprawson Mrs Crossman Mrs Namur/Mrs Broach Swans' Class Badgers' Class Kingfishers' Class Mrs Turian PE Mrs Davis PE and French Mme Millard French All KS2 children receive 1 hour a week of French lessons. Aug 31 22:14 The Teaching Assistants We are lucky to have 3 wonderful, experienced TA's working within our phase, supporting the children with their learning. Mrs Parkes Mrs Herrington Mrs Burling The Curriculum We plan very closely as a team during weekly meetings to ensure that all children within the phase experience similar teaching activities. We aim to provide a varied and stimulating curriculum to capture the interest of our pupils. 1
Topics Each term we have a main topic focus that we endeavour to integrate into all areas of the curriculum. This term our topic is history based and is titled 'From Cavemen to Celts' and looks back in time at life in the Stone Age, Bronze Age and Iron Age. Our Spring Term topic is Science based and is called 'Rocks, Fossils and The Jurassic Coast.' The Summer Term topic is Ancient Greece. Trips and Visitors We aim to develop our pupils' understanding and increase their curiosity by taking the children on visits within the local area and by inviting visitors who have an expertise within the subject into school. We would be extremely grateful if you have any knowledge or know of someone who would be happy to share their expertise with the children. Last term we had a group of archaeologists visit the phase talking about their work and sharing some artefacts with our pupils. Swavesey Scavenger Hunt As hunter gatherers from the early Stone Age period we are going to explore Swavesey village collecting natural objects such as twigs, rocks, stones and leaves. On return to school we will use the resources to make tools, weapons and other objects. Swans and Kingfishers Monday 25th September Badgers Thursday 28th September If you are able to help supervise please let us know. Trip to Hinchingbrooke Country Park October 19th and 20th 2017 We have planned a visit to the park to develop our survival skills. The day will involve making shelters, cooking on a fire and map reading. We will be needing parent helpers on both days so please keep the dates free if you think you may be available to help. Kingfishers and Year 4 Swans Thursday 19th October. Badgers and Year 3 Swans Friday 20th October Sep 5 10:07 English and Maths English and Maths lessons will be taught within the pupils' own classes every day, usually in the mornings. The new curriculum is demanding and challenging, therefore additional support at home would be very beneficial. TA's will support groups within each class. Mathletics is a valuable on line tool that the school subscribes to. Assessment Your child will be assessed continuously throughout the year against Key Performance Indicators (KPI's) for their specified year group in Maths, Reading and Writing. In order to be 'at' the expected level they must have met more than 85% of these assessment indicators consistently and independently in their lessons. A Parent Guide detailing your child's KPI's will soon be sent out as a paper copy and also electronically to you. They are also available on the school's website. Sep 10 18:10 2
Homework We really appreciate your support and we cannot stress the importance of helping your child at home. Weekly homework will consist of regular reading practice (ideally daily), learning weekly spellings and learning times tables for weekly tests. Year 3/4 From Cavemen To Celts Homework - Autumn Term 2017 Choose at least one activity to be presented during the term. All work must be completed by Friday 1st December. We will be sharing work in a Year 3/4 gallery during the last few weeks of the Autumn Term. Have fun and enjoy completing your task. Are you a journalist or news reporter? Are you a Prehistoric artist? Fancy being a jewellery designer? Imagine that you are a Time Traveller and have been Make up your own story, it can be about anything you Make your own Prehistoric jewellery using natural whisked back in time to Prehistoric Britain. like, but the story must be told through a series of resources such as twigs, bones, shells and stones. Record what you see and who you meet in a diary or a cave paintings. news report. Are you good with your hands? Do you want to become a song-writer? Are you a computer whizz? During the Stone Age, people lived in caves. Write a poem or a song about the hunter gatherer Create a Power Point or animation about any aspect Be creative and use your imagination to design and way of life, maybe about struggling to survive, of Stone age, Bronze Age or make your own cave. This could be 2D or 3D. being desperate to find food or about the harsh Iron Age life. What would it look like? weather conditions. One piece of termly topic based homework is set. Your child can choose from a selection of activities to complete and will present their work to the class. Smiley faces will be awarded for super work and effort. Can you write a code to crack? Do you fancy yourself as a chef? Stone Age people did not understand maths as we do During Prehistoric times you could not pop to the today. Archaeologists found markings in caves that they shops for food. Everything you ate had to be caught believe was a form of counting. Can you come up with your and collected. Design a menu OR make a prehistoric own method of counting? You might want to choose dish using the sort of ingredients that would be symbols to represent different amounts. Will you count in sets of 10 or will your counting system work another way? available during those times. Are you creative and do you like making things? Using ONLY natural materials from the environment make a tool or a weapon that would have been useful during prehistoric times. Sep 7 16:30 Reading Homework Please make time to hear your child read aloud every day. This helps develop confidence, fluency and expression. Also, more importantly, ask your child questions about the text as this develops comprehension skills that are crucial to understanding and enjoyment. Reading to your child also enhances key vocabulary skills and is an enjoyable and valuable one to one time. We encourage children to be more independent in their reading choices; choosing their own books from the classroom, school library and ideally out of school libraries. Spelling Homework Each week your child will be given a set of spellings to learn for a weekly test. The majority of these spellings will follow a given pattern and then later in the year there will be additional spellings that focus on words from the Year 3/4 Word List. We encourage you to help your child learn their spellings through Look, Say, Cover, Write and Check. Aug 31 20:08 The Year 3/4 Spelling List This is a list of 109 spellings set out in the National Curriculum. They are challenging and will require a substantial amount of time to learn. We will be regularly addressing these words at school during the year but your child will need to practise them at home regularly. Termly tests will be given and results will be shared with you. Year 3 are aiming to spell 50% of the spellings correctly by the end of the year. Year 4 are aiming to spell 80% of the spellings correctly by the end of the year. Times Table Homework Times Tables are an essential part of the Maths Curriculum. Time will be spent at school focusing on learning times tables but it is essential that you support your child at home learning their tables and the related divisions. Weekly tests will focus on specific times tables. By the end of the year: Year 3 are expected to accurately recall their 2,3,4,5,6,8 and 10 x tables and related division. Year 4 are expected to accurately recall all of their times tables up to 12x by 12x. Termly tests will assess the children on all times tables and their progress will be shared with you. Aug 31 20:52 Aug 31 20:08 3
School Bags and Pencil Cases A small school bag is allowed; children no longer require Book Bags. Please make sure bags are clearly named and are not too large as our cloakrooms have limited space. We allow small pencil cases in school but your child must take responsibility to look after them and not fiddle or play with equipment during lessons. Toilets, Snacks and Water Bottles Toilets Pupils in Year 3/4 are encouraged to go to the toilet during play time and lunch time, rather than lesson times. Snacks Fruit is not provided in KS2 but children are allowed to bring in their own piece of fruit for a snack. Water Bottles We encourage children to bring water bottles to school. These will be kept in a designated place in the classroom. Sep 5 11:35 PE It is essential for your child to have the correct PE kit in school. Your child requires a T shirt and a pair of shorts for indoor PE and additional track suit bottoms, sweatshirt and trainers for outdoor PE. Badgers' Class Monday and Tuesday Swans' Class Tuesday and Wednesday Kingfishers' Class Tuesday and Wednesday Swimming Your child will swim at St Ives Leisure Centre for 6 sessions during the year. The curriculum aims for all pupils to swim unaided for 25 metres. Kingfishers and Badgers 6 weeks commencing 12th September Swans Class Summer Term Please talk to us if you have any concerns. Sep 5 11:40 Thank you Thank you for supporting us today. We hope it has been useful and informative. We encourage you to get in touch with your child's class teacher if you have any concerns. Sep 5 11:23 4
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