Friday 14th March 2025

  Dear Parents

Well it's been another busy week and a changeable one weather-wise.  Please could we ask that you check your child's clothing is clearly labelled as they are beginning to peel off layers and leave them around our school - unfortunately, many items have no names, meaning they are now being claimed by other children.

DATES FOR YOUR DIARY

Friday 21st March - Comic Relief (see below) 

Monday 24th March - Friday 28th March - Assessment Week 

Friday 28th March - PTA Mother’s Day Sale 

Tuesday 1st April - Parent Consultation Evening

Wednesday 2nd April - Parent Consultation Evening 

Thursday 3rd April - Mother’s Day Cream Tea 3.15pm 

Friday 4th April - PTA Easter Egg Hunt 

Friday 4th April - Wellbeing Day (come to school wearing comfy clothing)

Last Day of Term

Red Nose Day - Comic Relief Big 40th Birthday Bake!

This year marks 40 years of Comic Relief. Next Friday there will be a cake sale to raise money and children are asked to bring in a few cakes if possible (homemade or shop bought) to be sold during the day. 

Cakes will be sold at 50p a cake so if you would like your child to take part please bring in money for this and a box if they are buying more than one cake to bring home.

Below is a link to our Just Giving Page if you wish to donate money in this way but please note that this is separate to the cake sale - children will need to bring in money if they wish to buy a cake!

Down Hall Just Giving Page 

Year 4 Multiplication Tables Check

This year the children in Year 4 will be participating in the multiplication tables check (MTC) in June. The purpose of the check is to determine whether the children can fluently recall their times tables up to 12, which is essential for future success in mathematics. It will also help your child’s school to identify if your child may need additional support. The Times Table Club is taking place on a Thursday after school (3:15 to 4:15), to help them prepare for this.

Spelling Frame Rule 21 - https://spellingframe.co.uk/

This week we would like the children to focus on: Spelling Rule 21 (Year 3 are looking at 20) Your child has their login details glued into their reading diaries. They will be tested at the end of every week on these spellings so PLEASE practise at home. These have been stuck in your child's little blue book. If your child did not have theirs in school, they were given the spelling list.

Times Tables

The children have these stuck in their little blue books already and we are now revisiting the tables. Please practise a set you are not confident in. The children will be tested and taking part in times table activities throughout the week. Using TTRS is an excellent way to practise these.

Year 3/4  Homework Tasks

Year 3

English - Pages 14 & 15 - Phrases & Noun phrases

Maths - pages 34 & 35 - Ordering Fractions

Year 4

English - Pages 16 & 17 - Noun phrases

Maths - Page 33 - Equivalent Fractions

Must Do

Reading: 

Remember 15-20 minutes everyday is super important but we understand this is not always manageable. Make sure you are reading as much as you can - at least 3x a week and recording what you read in your child's reading record. These will be collected by teachers and checked regularly.  When you have finished your Accelerated Reader book, you can take a quiz at school. Remember that you need 3 100% scores to move up a level.

Times table practice - Please log on to TTRS and complete your challenges.

Can Do
Continue logging on to TTRS and Sumdog -  your logins are stuck in the front cover of your reading records. 

Reading Skills

Every week we encourage you to keep up all your reading at home as this makes such a huge difference. We wanted to spend a little time this week speaking more about reading skills.

Understanding what they have read (or comprehension) is vital for the children  and we support this through our VIPERS reading skills. This stands for:

Vocabulary    Infer    Predict    Explain    Retrieve    Summarise

You can explore these ideas with your child after reading using some of the following question prompts:

Vocabulary - have a good range of vocabulary in order to understand the text

• What does the word _____ mean in this sentence?
• Find a word that means _____ on this page.

Infer - understanding reached through reasoning about what you have read

• Why was _____ feeling _____?
• Why did _____ happen?
• How do you know?

Predict - what you think will happen based on what you have read

• What do you think will happen next?
• How will this character's action affect what will happen next?

Explain - what your thoughts and opinions are about the book

• Who is your favourite character? Why?
• Would you like to live in this setting? Why?

Retrieve - discuss the characters, events and setting of the story

• Who did _____?
• Where did _____?

Summarise - pick out the key events

• Retell the story in your own words.
• Pick out the important parts.

We hope this helps you discuss the books your child reads at home as the more they practice these skills the more fluent in comprehension they will become.

Have a lovely weekend.

Miss Harvey and Mrs Devlin