Dear Parents and Carers,   

Welcome back! I hope you had a wonderful half-term. We are looking forward to seeing everyone and to embarking on our new topic.

During this coming half term, our History project will be based on a study of the Vikings and particularly on their influence on British history. We will find out about where Vikings came from, their way of life and their beliefs, and we will try to answer the question whether the Vikings were raiders or peace-loving settlers.

Our focus in English will be on explanation texts, focusing on the book How To Be a Viking. We will then move on to revisiting description techniques, particularly how to describe settings in stories. In maths we will consolidate our work on all of the calculation strategies we have developed this year with a particular focus on division. We will also revisit fractions and we will look at measurement in practical contexts.  Please see our project map for further details about this term’s learning in all subjects.

Staffing: Mr Pengelly teaches Year 2, 3 and 4 for English and Maths every morning supported by Mrs Lovejoy. In the afternoons, children in Years 3 and 4 are taught alongside Years 5 and 6 by Mr Pengelly (Monday, Wednesday and Friday) and Mrs Edwards (Tuesday and Thursday). Mr Waters supports the class Monday to Thursday, and Mrs Eagles assists on Fridays. Mrs Lindsell teaches the PE session on Wednesday afternoons.

Routines: PE lessons will be on Wednesday and Friday this term. Children’s PE kit should be kept in school at all times if possible. We try to get outside as much as possible so we also ask that children should keep outdoor shoes/wellies at school if possible.

Home Support

Reading

Please support your child with reading at home as much as possible. The benefits of reading and discussing what they have read are huge, and it is always wonderful to see the progress that children make, especially as they move onto longer and more complex books. When children have finished a book, they can take an Accelerated Reader quiz on it at school – this helps to check their understanding and keeps a record of what they have read. Most published books are on the AR system so if your child reads a book that is not from school, they are very welcome to take a quiz on that – all books that they read contribute to their half-termly target.

Times Tables

Having confident rapid recall of times tables is extremely useful in all areas of maths and is a very good thing to practise at home. Your child will be given a Login to Times Tables Rockstars – an online game that is very good for practising tables and for tracking progress. For those who are confident with multiplication facts, TTR can also be used to practise rapid recall of division facts. In addition, the free game Hit the Button is a very good way to practise individual tables and other key number facts. As a general rule, children should try to target getting at least 15 correct in a minute to demonstrate that they know a times table well.

https://www.topmarks.co.uk/maths-games/hit-the-button

We will also be sending home booklets for children to practise times tables at their own pace.

Other Maths Games:

During our work on money we use Toy Shop Money Game to practice working out totals and change:

https://www.topmarks.co.uk/money/toy-shop-money

During our work on time-telling we use:

https://mathsframe.co.uk/en/resources/resource/116/telling-the-time

During our work on fractions we use:

https://phet.colorado.edu/sims/html/build-a-fraction/latest/build-a-fraction_en.html

All of these games should be easily accessible and are an excellent way to practice knowledge and skills in maths.

Spelling

These are the statutory spellings for Years 2, 3 and 4. Any help you can give your child with learning and retaining the spelling of these words will be very beneficial.

Children also learn spelling rules every week. There are some very good games online that are helpful in practising these rules and for helping children to practise words that are exceptions to these words.

Spelling games:

Spelling Frame has lots of free games and activities for practising the spelling rules that we learn at school:

https://spellingframe.co.uk/

Spooky spellings is a fun way of practising Common Exception or “Tricky” words that might not be written phonetically.

https://ictgames.com/mobilePage/spookySpellings/index.html

Topic:

I always love to see anything that your child enjoys doing at home that is related to our topic. This term this could include research into any aspects of Viking history and culture or the impact they had on Britain. The Vikings is also an excellent project for craft activities, so if children fancy having a go at making a Viking shield, boat or helmet, I’d love to see their efforts!

Please do let me know if you have any questions. Thank you for all your support.

 

John Pengelly