Hey everyone,

We've had another busy week in Class 4.

We started to use our new spelling journals, which we use daily to practise our spellings in for the week. These are great little books where the children can draw pictures and practise their spellings in different ways. My favourite so far is a caterpillar with different body segments for the different letters in the word.  

We enjoyed another tag rugby session this week. We improved our understanding of the rules of the game and practised our throwing, catching and dodging skills.

This week in maths we have been continuing our place value focus. The children have been focusing on rounding; some children have been focusing on rounding to the nearest 10 and 100 whilst others have been learning to round to any number. We’ve significantly improved our ability to round and have solved problems using our understanding. We were determined to find solutions to our rounding challenge on Friday.

In our English lessons, we continued our focus on sentence structure and punctuation. The children learnt about relative pronouns and relative clauses, with some children using their understanding to write embedded clauses. Towards the end of the week, the children discussed their new writing topic based on non-chronological reports. As a class we created our own learning journey which we will be starting next week. The children were able to articulate what learning needs to take place before they can write a high-quality example of a non-chronological report- including knowing what good examples look like- which we will start to unpick on Monday.

In our science lessons this week, the children learnt to use a dichotomous key, which they used to sort and classify animals into their groups. They then furthered their understanding of the life cycles of various animals in the different groups including both vertebrae and invertebrate. Working in groups, the children then finished their videos where they taught others key facts, which they had recently learnt about animal groups, their key features, and their life cycles.  

In our Religious Education lesson, we started our half term focus on ‘Gospels’. The children learnt about Christian teachings by analysing biblical texts; they tried to find examples of what Jesus wanted for the world and discussed how he wanted people to act. The children then identified what they personally want for the world and what characteristics humans should possess to help get to this end goal. It was great to hear discussions related to being kind to the planet and each other. The children then compared their views to that of what Jesus wanted.

In our French lesson, we recapped greetings, numbers, colours, days of the week and learnt to follow classroom commands in French. In partners, the children asked simple questions and started to hold conversations in French.

Homework has been set on Mathletics and Spelling Shed for you to complete before next Thursday. Don’t forget there is the topic grid in the homework books as well as TT Rockstars which you can access. Thank you to those of you who returned your homework books and completed your homework. There was a great variety of homework from leaf identification, scientific diagrams to even a heart monitor being used alongside some fantastic research! Keep up the amazing effort!

Please initial inside the table at the bottom of the homework grid when your child has completed their homework. Please could books be returned by Thursday each week so that they can be marked and handed out again on Friday. Many thanks in advance for your support with the homework, it helps to consolidate the learning your child has completed in school.

*Don't forget you also have the resources that were sent home in the folder for the home learning during lockdown which can support your child with their homework as well*

Things to remember:

*Homework books to be returned by THURSDAY each week so they can be marked and returned to the children on Friday.

*Bring in named wellies/ outdoor footwear in a carrier bag that can be left on your peg for this half term. 

*PE- our PE session will be on a Thursday afternoon. For this half term, children can wear their trainers in for this day or they can bring in their PE kit and trainers to change into. 

*Forest School will be on a Friday afternoon - children can come to school wearing their forest school clothes. Please ensure they have a waterproof coat and suitable footwear if their wellies are not already in school. 

*Please make sure you have completed the necessary consents for our new school year - we would love to share pictures via the blog each week but can only do so with your permission. 

**Fundraiser – ‘Bags4schools’ on Wednesday 29^th September. If you have any bags of clean clothes, bed linen and paired shoes, please take them to the Pre-school entrance before 9am on the day of Wednesday 29^th September, thank you!**

Have a super weekend,

Ms Porter and Mrs McLaren

I can’t quite believe we are at the end of week two! It seems to have just flown by!

This week, in our art and design lesson we learnt about collage and developed our collaging skills, building on them last year. The children learnt how to create depth within their picture- trying to give the impression that the bee is perched on top of the background. Most children worked in small groups- focusing on our PSHE focus from last week- being kind and respectful. I think you will agree the pictures are fabulous!   

This week we had our first session of tag rugby with Arena. Our skills improved immensely over the session; we are looking forward to the next lesson and learning more about the rules of tag rugby.

This week in our maths lessons we have been building on our understanding of place value. Across the class we’ve been focusing on different size numbers, the individual digits within them and their worth. We compared and ordered numbers and discussed where they would sit on a number line. We particularly enjoyed challenging each other with difficult numbers to place on a group number line! I think we managed to place over 25 numbers in ascending order.   

In our English lessons we have been focusing on sentences and their structure. We learnt about key punctuation used at the end of sentences and within more complex sentence structures. The children also learnt about presentational and organisational devices to guide the reader through pieces of writing. During our reading sessions we used non-fiction books, along with internet sites to retrieve interesting facts to help us write our own fact files.

In our science lesson, we learnt about the groupings of animals and key words associated with their classifications. Not only did we improve our understanding, we also tried to teach others important facts that they might not have already known. We pretended we were hosts of our own tv show and worked in groups to impart our knowledge.

 
Homework books were given out yesterday - inside the books on the back cover- you will find your child's login details for TT Rockstars, Mathletics and Spelling Shed. At the front of the homework book you will also find a multiplication grid, the common exception words and a homework grid for this half term. It is important that children continue to learn their times tables and practise the spelling of the common exception words at home.

Homework will be set each week on Mathletics and Spelling Shed and there are tasks linked to our new topic, which focuses on living things, that we will start officially this coming week.

Please initial inside the table at the bottom of the homework grid when your child has completed their homework. Please could books be returned by Thursday each week so that they can be marked and handed out again on Friday. Many thanks in advance for your support with the homework, it helps to consolidate the learning your child has completed in school.

*Don't forget you also have the resources that were sent home in the folder for the home learning during lockdown which can support your child with their homework as well*

Things to remember:

*Homework books to be returned by THURSDAY each week so they can be marked and returned to the children on Friday.

*Bring in named wellies/ outdoor footwear in a carrier bag that can be left on your peg for this half term. 

*PE- our PE session will be on a Thursday afternoon. For this half term, children can wear their trainers in for this day or they can bring in their PE kit and trainers to change into. 

*Forest School will be on a Friday afternoon - children can come to school wearing their forest school clothes. Please ensure they have a waterproof coat and suitable footwear if their wellies are not already in school. 

*Please make sure you have completed the necessary consents for our new school year - we would love to share pictures via the blog each week but can only do so with your permission. 

Have a super weekend,

Ms Porter and Mrs McLaren

A big welcome back to school to you all!

We’ve had a busy week in Class 4 welcoming back our now year 6 children and saying a big hello and welcome to our new year 5 students.

Mrs McLaren and I have both said what a lovely group of children we have in Class 4. It has been a true delight to start to get to know them. Each child has shown great focus and a positive attitude in our sessions so far.

The children enjoyed sharing memories from their holidays and playing games to get to know each other better. Throughout the week we have been getting to know each other with group activities and pushing ourselves with individual challenges too.  My favourite was when the children drew an improved version of a bee, they had previously drawn. They focused on the tiny details following many challenging and tedious instructions. Some children were ready to give up- eventually everyone persevered and with encouragement, showed determination to produce a finished bee- the outcomes were fantastic (some shown in picture)! I hope to use this example of their perseverance as a reference point over the next few weeks highlighting how proud they felt when they didn’t give up.

This week we’ve also discussed our class charter and have been deciding what characteristics classmates should try to demonstration in lessons and during break times. It was decided that one of our main focuses should be kindness. We shared different ways people can and have been kind and we focused on following these characteristics throughout the week especially in our outdoor session.

Things to remember:

* Bring in named wellies/ outdoor footwear - something you don't mind getting muddy in a named carrier bag which can be left on your peg for this half term.

*PE - our PE day will be on a Thursday led by our sports provider Arena. Children can wear or bring in their PE trainers for this day. Our PE focus this half term is tag rugby and will mostly happen on the field.

*Forest school will be on a Friday afternoon - children can come to school wearing their forest school clothes. Please ensure they have a waterproof coat and suitable footwear if their wellies/outdoor footwear are not already in school.

*Reading books and reading records - every child has now been issued with a book and reading record. The reading records are a way for us to communicate about the children’s reading between home and school. These records also have spelling lists and other useful information in! Please write in the reading record with any comments when your child/children read at home. 

Whether the children read their school book or a different book at home, keeping a record of their reading is really useful, not only so we can help encourage those who are not reading regularly but so we can also try to encourage reading a variety of genres too.

*Please make sure you have completed the necessary consents for our new school year - we would love to be able to share pictures via the blog each week but can only do so with your permission. 

If you have any questions or queries please do not hesitate to email me on sporter@pelyntprimary.co.uk 

I hope you have all had a lovely weekend,

Ms Porter and Mrs McLaren