Mrs Gibbons

W/c 12th September in Year 4

It was lovely to see so many of you at “meet the teacher” on Thursday. The slides I used on Google Classroom as a material, along with the year 4 parents’ information booket. If you have any queries please don’t hesitate to contact me, as usual.

This week the children really enjoyed exploring circuits and how to make a working one. Their partner working and sharing of resources were both excellent.

We’ve started reading “The Iron Man” and the children are rightly intrigued by this fantastical character. They all wrote amazing similes and expanded noun phrases to describe The Iron Man. Today Alex was Hogarth and he went down “conscience alley”, when the other children suggested courses of action for the farmers to take against this new intruder. Next week the children will write the options, using modal verbs. Will they recommend blowing the Iron Man up, or shrinking him, or re-educating him, to name just a few examples?

We collaborated to write a prayer of thanks for Queen Elizabeth. The children, as a body, chose to say what an excellent role-model she was for King Charles; and how they will remember her for her kindness to everyone. The class also considered what it means to be a Mercy school and were creative and careful in their artistic expressions of Truth, Mercy or Justice or a quote by Catherine Mc Cauley. Neve and Gabriel read the prayer beautifully in front of the whole school this afternoon.

The class library bookshelves are much emptier now as children have borrowed books from there. These books are chosen by the children “for pleasure” . They do not need to be able to read them all themselves – maybe someone could read it with them, or to them. Please keep reading the school “scheme” books as these will ensure your child encounters vocabulary needed for his/her age range and to ensure that he/she makes progress.

Learning about Maths is much more interesting when it’s done with a partner, or as a “game” and can be when using equipment. Learning about place value, this week we used place value counters, place value cards and – my favourite – using dice to generate 4-digit numbers.

Spelling and Maths home learning tasks are posted, together with the new home learning grid. I’m looking forward to seeing the tasks you submit.

Let’s hope this beautiful autumn weather continues. I hope you have a lovely weekend and look forward to seeing everyone next Tuesday.

Welcome back and to year 4

Everyone made a great start to the new school year. It was fantastic to see everyone, eager and lined-up on time. Everyone seems to have had a good break and rest over the summer holidays and are raring to go again.

During the first week learning got off to a good start. The children have used place-value counters to explore numbers in the thousands, recap times-tables already learnt, use modal verbs in questions, used the bounce pass in basketball and learn why Ancient Greece had a “golden age”, amongst other learning. There are some fantastic books in the year 4 reading corner and we’re all enjoying our new class reader “Odd and The Frost Giants” by Neil Gaiman. “The 39-Storey Treehouse” is in the CD-player and it’s lovely to see the children enjoying listening to it so much. Swimming got underway again. It was just a check to see which groups the children should be in this week and next week the lessons will start in earnest. Well done everyone for coming to school with the right kit on the right days!

It’s really great to see the children again and hear their news. Their independence and self-help skills have improved and we’re looking for children to become more proactive round the classroom.

We’re looking forward to see you all at “Meet the teacher” on Wednesday 14th, just after 9.

A hot, happy end to year 3

It was a very short week this week! And a slow one, to accommodate the heat. The children were super-sensible, drinking lots and taking it easy. We hat “hot play” instead of “wet play”. The children enjoyed playing, amongst other things, chess and shut the box; using the listening post; drawing and chatting to friends and it was a relaxing end to the year. On Tuesday the children also enjoyed finishing off the left-over crisps and biscuits from the First Holy Communion party.

We all joined in wishing year 6 the very best of luck at their new schools. In three years time the current year 3 will be moving on, which seems hard to imagine just now. There’s a lot more learning and fun to be had at primary school before that.

I’d like to say a huge thank you for the very generous presents and the lovely, thoughtful cards from children and parents. I have had a fantastic term with year 3 and am delighted to move up into year 4 with them and to see them develop and learn more. I wish you all a very happy holiday wherever you go and whatever you do; and look forward to seeing you all in September

Celebrating in year 3

Year 3 looked stunning on Monday as they dressed up in their best outfits for a party at school to mark their First Holy Communions. We marked the occasion with a prayer in the shade in the prayer garden and then some games in the classroom. The children were free to wear as few layers as they chose, due to the heat. We also stuck to quiet games, the children enjoying “wink murder” and “banana!” Then they tucked into a magnificent spread provided by their very generous parents. I was very relieved that they all took great care with their clothes, which I think escaped the buttercream, sugar and chocolate.

It was very exciting for the children to visit their new classroom on Thursday. They have made their own labels for the lockers which will be in year 4 instead of drawers, so there will already be a little bit of something of their own when they arrive in the classroom in September.

On Thursday the children learnt about the Ancient Egytpians: what were they? Where were they built? Why were they built? They shared their thoughts on their own miniature pyramids.

On Friday the children watched the amazing school talent show. The range of skills and talents held by the children is vast and the children thoroughly watched each other perform.

Thank you for sending in full water-bottles, hats and sun-tan cream every day.

There are just 1.5 days left of year 3 for the children and I’m very excited about remaining with them next year. We will all be ready to hit the ground running and seamlessly continue with the learning. The children are ready for a break and plenty of time to be outside, meet friends and have a break from formal learning is just what they need to give them the energy to start afresh in September. Have a great weekend.

End-of-year activities in year 3

It’s great to be doing the usual end-of-year activities. It was lovely to see children showing their adults learning in the classroom and to get the chance to chat at the end of the day. The cushions and clay can now go home. The clay is quite delicate so I’ve asked the children only to take them if they know that they are going straight home. I have plenty of newspaper to wrap them in which will offer some protection.

Sports Day was very exciting. Every child in year 3 shows fantastic sportsmanship, taking part as well as they can, taking modest pride in winning and pride in participating.

This week the children learnt about Australia, a Commonwealth country. Here are there fabulous dot paintings inspired by Aboriginal art and Australian wildlife. If you play some backing music on the computer, you could sing “Waltzing Matilda” with your child, who should be able to explain the Australian lingo to you.

Tuesday saw the “bounce session” which was enormous fun. The team-building activities were not only fun, but also a real demonstration of how working with others can help everyone achieve a common goal. The children did really well at giving each other good advice, being only encouraging and helpful. Thank you very much for all the generous contributions by you and your extended families via the sponsorship money. It all goes towards making education more enriching for your children.

Please remember to bring in your Holy Communion, or smart, outfits tomorrow for the First Holy Communion celebrations on Monday afternoon.

Have a great weekend before the last full week of year 3!

Active Learning this week

The week started off with much excitement as year 3, with year 2, relived The Great Fire of London. Master Jonathan, from History off the Page, came to school with crates of resources and activities. A well was recreated in the hall! The children were apprentices for the morning, experiencing some of the crafts they may have practised had they been alive on 2nd September 1666. The children had remembered the reasons for the fire and the circumstances well, from their year 2 learning and now – just a bit later than would otherwise have been the case – they got to learn it more deeply that only a well-resourced session, with meaningful activities and an expert like Master Jonathan can bring. The afternoon involved a “mini-dig” excavating finds from a property to establish who had lived there and explaining how the evidence showed this.

We’ve had three lots of visitors, from across the curriculum, the last few days and year 3 showed excellent listening skills and behaviour during all the sessions.

This week the children learnt about “seasonal food” which means different things to different countries. We found out which foods grow in which season in the UK, cooked with some and designed a “fruit plate” with seasonal berries. Thank you to Mrs Solakova for organising the equipment and helping us with the cooking. The children loved preparing the tarts and fruit and tidied and cleaned up well afterwards, too. There is no need to cook an evening meal this weekend – just ask your son or daughter to do it for the family!

The children have been practising races for Wednesday’s sports and look forward to seeing some of you then (weather permitting).

On Wednesday morning we walked to church for the feast of Saints Peter and Paul. I hope the children passed on the message from me that they all behaved impeccably and sang beautifully during the service. It was a lovely service and the children were credits to their families.

Our theme in RHE is living with and loving others. Today we talked about being like God which means aspiring to qualities such as wisdom, kindness, mercy, compassion. (The children thought of their own words to describe God.) We thought of examples where we could very practically live these out in our daily life, such as in the dining hall or classroom. Maybe you could ask someone to sit at your table? These are the sort of actions which helps other people else feel good about themselves. We also watched a youtube version of a book called “Have you filled a bucket today” which covers similar themes. It also discusses “filling someone else’s bucket” can make you feel good. The story is available via this link https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3EuemNAo6XE if you’d like to share it with your child.

Next week will be another busy week. At open evening on Wednesday you can come and see what the children have made recently – some things have been sent home already. Thank you for remembering reading books and diaries on Thursdays and also keeping them in book bags on other days. It’s great to see more regular reading of school books happening and – importantly – children taking ownership and recording what they have read themselves.

Have great weekend and let’s hope for some sun!

This week in year 3….

… has been full of variety and creativity.

On Monday the children sculpted Tutankhamun’s death mask from clay

On Thursday the children painted the tiles, using brilliant blues and golds like in Ancient Egypt.

The finished results look stunning; and are mounted, ready for you all to view on Open Evening.

Learning can be a sedentary affair, increasingly so the older children get. You need to be still when concentrating hard on equivalent fractions, for example. It’s also important, and fun, to break this up with movement. The class likes to dance to i-moves tracks in-between other sessions. This week we’ve all enjoyed dancing to “Count on Me” and “Celebrate”

On Thursday and Friday, year 3, like the whole school, was treated to fantastic interactive learning to help understand Judaism. After a couple of years’ absence, Ruth returned and helped year 3 understand all about the synagogue – what it looks like, contains, what Jewish people do there. The children were able to wear Jewish clothes, explore Torahs (artefacts), learn about Hebrew letters and even eat and drink some traditional Jewish cookies and grape juice. The children created their stained-glass windows, remembering that they must not contain images of God or people. Today, Vincent and Pauric shared what they had learnt with the whole school, presenting their knowledge in confident, expert ways. Year 3 listened beautifully to the contributions by other classes today, too.

Pollination was an important theme this week. In Science we learnt what flowers are for. And on Friday Dr Lyal came in to talk about minibeasts, which is what he spent his career studying. To be specific, he spent his career at The Natural History Museum collecting, categorising and naming weevil beetles.

These are some of the pieces of equipment Dr Lyal uses to collect insects, which has taken him to all sort of exciting places like the jungle in Belize, Indonesia and…. Hertforshire…

Yesterday, he went on safari in his own back garden and collected some minibeasts to show us and talk about. Amongst the huge amount of knowledge shared, the children learnt about the number of legs minibeasts have, the names for different types of minibeasts, why minibeasts are certain colours; and much more.

We talked about the fascination and wonder of nature. There is always something new to learn, question, discover and rediscover. Professions working with animals, plants and other aspects of nature are open to anyone who is interested and commits to understanding the world around us, both by working hard at Science and also in taking any opportunity to explore and understand at home – for instance by doing a bug hunt at home. A magnifying glass or plastic tub with magnifier at one end is a cheap way to explore local minibeasts more easily.

The children have drawn and written a card to say thank you to Dr Lyal which I will post.

The homework is on Google Classroom. Please also remember the RE homework on the Quicklinks.

I hope to see you at the school fair tomorrow. Have a lovely weekend.

As hot as Egypt…

This week we’re having temperatures to understand what it would have been like in Ancient Egypt. The children enjoyed drawing their plans for the Egyptian death masks they will make. While they did that, they also examined some beautiful replica artefacts – a winged scarab, ushawbti figure which the Egyptians believed would do the work for the deceased in the afterlife and an eye of horus. The children handled them very carefully and were fascinated by the Egyptian beliefs – for example, that the scarab beetle pushed the sun across the sky.

In RHE, the children are learning about living with each other and this week they were working in groups to consider actions which make you feel cared for by others.

I hope you were as proud of the children this morning as I was. They learnt the many words to a complicated song very well, performed the actions clearly and performed everything with the enthusiasm. They did have pictures they’d carefully drawn – of parts of the song, or to show their feelings for their own Dad or God the Father – but we forgot to show them this morning. Here is a photo of them all holding all the drawings.

The class is loving reading and writing rhyming couplets about children who get up to dastardly deeds and come to sticky ends. We’ll finish them next week and start a new book. The learning about fractions has moved into the area of equivalence which is quite tricky but the children listened and reasoned really well in our first session of this.

Well done for coming to school with suntan cream and for those children with caps. Please keep remembering the water. Have a great weekend.

It’s time for rhyme…

Year 3 has a whole new collection of topics for this last half-term. We are reading tales with warnings or morals and will be focusing on “Jim – A Cautionary Tale”. Written in rhyming couplets, it is a great opportunity to experiment with rhyme, rhythm and metre.

In English, we are also focusing on becoming absolutely clear on the definitions of word classes, and to be able to talk about grammatical features confidently. This means knowing the difference between an adjective and adverb, for example; and between a noun and a proper noun, amongst other things. We’re doing lots of practise in “early morning work” to embed this knowledge. Here’s a link to this learning if you’d like to do some recapping at home.

We’ve started learning about the Ancient Egyptians, with much enthusiasm and interest shown by the children. The only issue is going to be how to cover enough of the topic to do it justice and to listen to all the contributions and ideas of the children. Here is our collaborative timeline; and below is the children’s initial list of thoughtful questions.

We started outdoor athletics activities this week; and the children energetically jumped and ran across the field in different ways. I’ll post photos over the coming weeks.

Homework is on the Google drive. The spellings are tricky this week. We will have another session exploring ways to remember them and practise them again on Monday. I look forward to seeing all the children’s reading books on Thursday. Their reading has progressed well so far this year. Let’s make the most of day of every week left of this academic year. At the same time, the weather surely will stay nice and warm for lots of fun outside and the traditional, exciting end-of-term activities we’re all delighted to see back. I also look forward to seeing lots you at next Friday’s Father’s Day assembly. Our class song is one which reflects on God, the Father as well as Dads. The children have made a good start learning the words. Please keep practising over the weekend. Have a good few days off.

Sew good….

The children completed sewing their cushions today and they look fantastic! Just as importantly, the children showed amazing perseverance and teamwork in completing them. Today we talked about how well they did when things didn’t go well, when they had had problems and what they did to overcome them. Everyone did this with this sewing projects and the next time the children encounter setbacks or disappointments they should remember the tenacity and determination they used in their sewing and channel that energy into the new problem. The children could all name the skills they have learnt and improved. The cushions will come home after they’ve been displayed in the classroom.

The red, white and blue clothes looked stunning today. Here they all are, in red, white and blue in front of their red, white and blue display. Every child has a painting in the montage.

We’ve still been learning about light and dark in Science and this week explored how fabrics can be transparent, translucent and opaque – it’s only opaque materials which make shadows by blocking the light completely. The children worked out that the properly cut out all light and make good shadows they would need to use two fabrics together – just like lined curtains do. These photos show the children carrying out an investigation to see how light only travels in straight lines. They needed to line up the holes in the card exactly so see the light shining through. If card was in front of the light a shadow was created because the card is opaque.

We’ve continued to learn about North and South America in Geography and debugging in Computing. Next half-term there will be new topics in each subject – a new book in English and a new topic of fractions in Maths. It’s been a busy half-term and the children never cease to impress me with their marvellous co-operation, love of learning and enthusiasm for everything at the school. Wishing you all a safe, happy – and warm! – half-term holiday and I look forward to seeing everyone on ten days – on Tuesday 7th June.