Y3/4 2018 - 2019

Mrs Mace

Diary of an Elworth Kid - Who was John Norman Pring?

Year 3 and 4 Summer Term Information

Welcome back! Our topic this term is ‘Diary of an Elworth Kid’ – a local study of the geography and history of our local area. We will be looking at the diaries of John Norman Pring, the son of the owner of Pring’s Wire Works and following his tales of life in Elworth over 100 years ago. We’d love to know if you have any links to or information about the changes in the local area (historical or geographical) so please feel free to send in any information which may help the children with this topic.

Staff

Mrs Mace is our Phase Leader and Class 5 teacher. Miss Hall will be working as teacher of Class 4. Mr Heaton is the Class 6 teacher.

English and Maths groupings

Children in Year 3 and 4 are put in to sets, based on their age/ability levels. There will be 4 groups for maths, taught by Mrs Mace, Miss Hall, Mr Heaton and Mrs Wilson and 3 groups for English.

Spellings/Phonics

Children will still have spelling lessons within their English groups, and National Curriculum spelling lists will now be given out at the start of the year for the children to learn for the half-termly spelling test. Children will be expected to learn one column of spellings per half term and will require help and support at home to ensure the children achieve well. We realise that some of these spellings may appear quite demanding, but every child in the country has to be proficient in the spelling of the relevant age-related words. (See attached list)

PE Timetables

Outdoor PE will remain timetabled for Tuesday afternoon for all classes in Year 3 and 4 this term. Whilst the weather should be milder, always send your child in with the appropriate PE uniform (please refer to the school PE uniform policy on our website for guidance). May we remind you that all uniform should be labelled to avoid any confusion and missing kit.

Swimming returns next week for all classes. In some classes we still desperately need parent support to supervise swimming – we are always really grateful for any support given. If you can spare an hour at the end of the day please let your child’s teacher know. We need at least 2 volunteers per class each week to enable the children to swim. The swimming timetable is:

Class 4 (Miss Hall) Thursday afternoon – 2-3pm

Class 5 (Mrs Mace) Monday afternoon - 1-2pm/2-3pm alternating

Class 6 (Mr Heaton) Monday afternoon - 1-2pm/2-3pm alternating

Reading

All children are expected to read for up to 30 minutes three times per week as part of their homework and have their reading diary signed by an adult. These will be checked by their teacher during daily Guided Reading lessons. Children are responsible for telling their teacher when they need to change their book, to promote independent learning; it is no longer done on a set day for them, as it may take one child a number of weeks to read their book. All pupils in Year 2/3/4, when reaching a suitable standard, will have access to Accelerated Reader, where children read their choice of book and complete a comprehension quiz online at the end. These results are tracked by teachers and the children achieve points for good test results.

Homework

Each week on a Monday your children will receive:

Age related Year 3/4 spellings to learn (from list given out at start of half term or see download list)
Times tables to learn (new program ‘Time Tables Rock Stars’)
Spelling Shed assignments for regular practise linked to our learning in school and games for fun
Topic-related homework to be handed in every two weeks (see attached)

This is all to be completed by the following Monday, in addition to reading 3 times. Please support us in making reading a part of your child’s daily routine and signing their reading record books.

If you have any further questions or queries about life in Year 3 and 4, please arrange to see your child’s class teacher or Mrs Mace after school.

Thank you for your continuing support,

Miss Hall (Class 4), Mrs Mace (Class 5), Mr Heaton (Class 6)