I hope everyone had an enjoyable half term and managed to refuel for this term. We have had an exciting week back so far with our Christmas play auditions on Wednesday afternoon. I could see how committed some children had been when learning their lines in preparation for the auditions. We were very impressed with every child who had a go at standing up in front of the rest of the children; they all did a great job so well done to them. Those who don’t get allocated a speaking part (or didn’t want one) will still be involved in the play singing songs, acting and making props.
This term we are starting a new topic in English focused on performance poetry. So far we have looked at two poems ‘A school kid’s rap’ by John Foster and ‘Louder!’ by R. Stevens. During the week children have created a check list for a successful performance and have had a go at performing in front of the rest of the class. We will continue looking at performance poetry next week. This unit is designed to enhance children’s speaking and listening skills as well as boosting their confidence. Naturally, it also allows for lots of phonics and rhyming practice.
In Math’s this week we have been looking at units of measurement, in particular focusing on time. We have covered small units of time (e.g. seconds) to larger units of time (e.g. months, years, centuries and even millenniums.) Telling the time on both an analogue and digital clock is the main focus of this unit. This is a concept that a lot of children find difficult. You can support your child in learning this concept by regularly asking them to tell you the time at home. This will help secure their understanding.
Spellings – In Class 3 we will continue to do our weekly spelling test on a Friday until we have covered all of the first 100 high frequency words. Then we will join the rest of the school in implanting the spelling knowledge throughout the week rather than the traditional test. This should embed the knowledge firmly and therefore children will be more likely to transfer this knowledge into their writing.
Clock game (stop the clock on the correct time) http://resources.oswego.org/games/BangOnTime/clockwordres.html
Clock game (match the digital time to each analogue clock) http://resources.oswego.org/games/stoptheclock/sthec2.html
Timestable games (these are not timed games) http://www.ictgames.com/spitfireufo.html or http://www.amblesideprimary.com/ambleweb/mentalmaths/tabletrees.html
