Y 3/4 Blogpost Friday 25th June 2021

Dear Parents,

We've reached the end of a very busy week but all the children are still working very hard and we are very pleased with how well they are coping at the end of a long and challenging year! This week, we have been looking at instructions in English and identifying this genre's features. In maths, we have been working on our times tables and fractions. Next week we will be conducting assessments on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday morning. Please go to Google Classroom to see how you can support your child this weekend with some revision tasks.

YEAR 4 TENNIS

A big thank you to the Rayleigh Tennis Club for coming into school and coaching the Year 4 children today. The children had such a fantastic time and told us that it was great fun! Congratulations to the following winners:

OPAL Colby and Daisy

MOONSTONE Luca and Violet

GARNET Carter and Lexi

Here are a few photo's from the

                 

          

SPORTS DAY

Next Friday the children will be participating in our own Sports Day. We will be conducting this event as a Year 3/4 Phase but will remain in our socially-distant class bubbles. Unfortunately, due to Government regulations, we are unable to welcome parents to this event. We understand how disappointed you may be but please understand that we are following the guidance as closely as possible to keep everyone in our school community safe.

PE KIT

Please ensure that your child is wearing the correct PE kit. Thank you.

HARES ABOUT TOWN

This summer, if you head into Southend, you are in for a "hare-raising" surprise! The Hares About Town trail starts on the 1st July. There are 30 hares dotted all around the town, each with their own story to tell. Accompanying the hares are over 50 leverets, including our school leveret Lenny. 

Miss Wakefield and Mrs Holmes were very lucky to have a sneak preview of all the Hares on Tuesday. They are AMAZING and include a hare that has been created by one of the parents at school. Mrs Cairns' hare "View of Lupus" can be found in Priory Park.

We have been given some trail maps to sell, on behalf of Fair Havens. The suggested donation for these is £1 and we will be selling them at the gate, after school next week.

Have a fabulous weekend and see you Monday!

Mrs Hurley, Mr Greenfield & Miss Harvey

Y 3/4 Blogpost Friday 18th June 2021

Happy Friday everybody,

We hope you have had a great week and are enjoying this beautiful weather. Please may we remind you that your children need to come to school wearing suncream and a hat. Likewise, when it is raining please bring in a coat to school. We encourage the children to drink plenty of water during the day also so please continue sending your child in with their water bottles.

This week we have focused on fractions in Maths. In particular, equivalent fractions. Mrs Hurley and Mr Law have also been teaching times tables across the school and we are going to be trialling these methods in each class. Times tables are the foundations of all reasoning and problem solving and children are expected to know these to instant recall and fluency by the end of year 4.

Year 4 Multiplication Check

The multiplication tables check (MTC) is optional for primary schools in 2021.The purpose of the MTC is to determine whether pupils can recall their times tables fluently, which is essential for future success in mathematics. It will help schools to identify pupils who have not yet mastered their times tables, so that additional support can be provided. We have been practising in class so that the children can complete the check in school next Wednesday.

New School Website

Over the past few months we have been working on refreshing our school website. This started with the individual phase group pages and now includes the whole of the website. We have added lots more photographs of our wonderful children and premises and hope to add more in the future. We have also had a little rearrangement of the information available to hopefully make it easier to access the information you need. There is also a "Children's Hub" tab at the end of the taskbar which gives quick links to many of the common learning platforms that your child might find useful to support their learning. We hope you like the changes and a massive thank you to Mrs Balkwill for working so hard in driving this project through to completion! Visit our lovely new site here:

https://www.downhallprimary.com/home

Classes For Next Year

One reason to visit our new website today will be to check out the letter that explains arrangements for classes in September. The letter explains how the classes will be organised in September and, on Monday 21st June, your child will come home with a slip of paper that will tell you exactly which class they will be joining in September.

Homework Tasks

Must Do

• Reading Remember 15-20 minutes everyday and then discuss the text afterwards, asking for opinions, favourite part or questioning what happened so as to ensure that your child is understanding the text as well as reading it.

• Continue logging on to TTRS, Sumdog and MyOn.

• Year 4 - please continue practising your times table check on Mathsframe

Can Do   

• As we have been learning about reflections in Science, can you make a list of any reflective surfaces that you can see outside of school. If you would like to make a diagram of these objects that would be great too.

End of term reports

On the 8th of July, your child will receive their end of term report detailing their progress and areas for future development. Although there are no formal assessments made this year, due to the National lockdown at the beginning of the Spring Term, the report will contain an indication as to whether your child is working towards or working at national expectations. There will be an opportunity to discuss this report in a Zoom parent/teachers meeting after you have received the report. Further details of all of this will follow shortly so keep an eye on the weekly newsletter!

Have a wonderful weekend and see you all on Monday.

Mrs Hurley, Mr Greenfield & Miss Harvey

Y 3/4 Blogpost Friday 11th June 2021

Happy Friday everybody,

We hope you have had a great week and are enjoying this beautiful weather. Please may we remind you that your children need to come to school wearing suncream and a hat. We encourage the children to drink plenty of water during the day also so please continue sending your child in with their water bottles.

This week we have focused on fractions in Maths. In particular, making a whole, tenths and tenths as decimals. The children have really enjoyed these lessons and showed excellent learning behaviour's. In English we are going to be writing stories based on a mystery. It is great to hear such vivd imaginations...

Homework Tasks
Must Do

• Reading Remember 15-20 minutes everyday and then discuss the text afterwards, asking for opinions, favourite part or questioning what happened so as to ensure that your child is understanding the text as well as reading it.
• Maths Homework Book - this week we would like you to complete any pages on fractions if you have not already done so.
• Continue logging on to TTRS, Sumdog and MyOn.
• Spelling and Reading Common Words - keep looking at these words often, doing a chunk at a time. The lists can be accessed from our Key Stage web page "Useful Information" tab - use the link below and scroll down to see the menu of word lists.  Practise how to spell them by looking at 5-10 words at a time.

Can Do
Euro 2020 Country Fact Sheet 
Use the Internet and non-fiction books to research a country that is participating in
Euro 2020.
Record your answers using notes and illustrations.
Colour in the country on the map below and draw its flag next to it.

End of term reports

On the 8th of July, your child will receive their end of term report detailing their progress and areas for future development. Although there are no formal assessments made this year, due to the National lockdown at the beginning of the Spring Term, the report will contain an indication as to whether your child is working towards or working at national expectations. There will be an opportunity to discuss this report in a Zoom parent/teachers meeting after you have received the report. Further details of all of this will follow shortly so keep an eye on the weekly newsletter!

Have a wonderful weekend and see you all on Monday.

Mrs Hurley, Mr Greenfield & Miss Harvey

Y 3/4 Blogpost Friday 28th May

Happy Friday everybody! This week we have been thinking about mass and capacity - how we measure it and how to read scales. This is a very challenging skill and well worth spending some time on at home if you can. We have also been creating Meerkat factfiles and writing from the point of view of a vulture. Click on this link if you'd like to watch the short film that our writing has been based on this week. https://www.literacyshed.com/catchit.html

Holiday Homework Tasks

Must Do

• Reading Remember 15-20 minutes everyday and then discuss the text afterwards, asking for opinions, favourite part or questioning what happened so as to ensure that your child is understanding the text as well as reading it.

• Maths Homework Book - this week we would like you to complete: Year 3 page 14-15 Year 4 page 42-43 if they have not already been completed.

• Spelling and Reading Common Words - keep looking at these words often, doing a chunk at a time. The lists can be accessed from our Key Stage web page "Useful Information" tab - use the link below and scroll down to see the menu of word lists.  Practise how to spell them by looking at 5-10 words at a time.

Can Do

• Continue logging on to TTRS, Sumdog and MyOn.

Head to Toe Clubfoot Charity

During the half term holiday there will be an art installation in Rayleigh in conjunction with the Head to Toe Clubfoot Charity. Children from several Rayleigh schools, including Down Hall, have created colourful feathers and these will form part of the decorations in the High Street. All of the children in Year 3/4 have made their own feather so you may like to go and take a look.

Wishing you all a fantastic holiday and see you back in school in June.

Take care,

Mrs Hurley, Mr Greenfield and Miss Harvey

Y 3/4 Blogpost Friday 21st May 2021

 Dear Parents,

We hope you have had a lovely week and that you are all well. We have had an extremely busy week in Year 3/4 and the children have undertaken a number of assessments. They have all tried really hard and given it their best effort so well done to you all!

HOMEWORK

Thank you to all those children who completed and shared their homework this week. This week there is no homework (you need a rest after the week that you have just had!)  but 

Please can you also make sure that your child is reading for at least 15 minutes every night and learning their times tables.

NEXT WEEK

We will be focusing on Mass and Capacity in Maths and in English our writing will be based on a short film clip. 

Have a lovely weekend and see you Monday.

Kind regards,

Mrs Hurley, Mr Greenfield & Mrs Hurley

Y 3/4 Blogpost Friday 14th May 2021

Dear Parents,

We hope that you had a great week and are looking forward to a lovely weekend. It certainly is getting back to some form of normality and with Monday 17th fast approaching, it is great that finally we will be able to mix with another household and perhaps even hug our closest family and friends! This week the children have definitely been a lot more focused and displaying more positive learning behaviours. No sleepyheads during lessons!

HOMEWORK

Thank you to all those children who completed and shared their homework this week. This week's homework can also be found on Google Classroom

Below is a list of things that we would like you to complete for your homework. You need to complete the Must Do tasks and if you would like to challenge yourself some more, than you can complete the Can Do tasks.
Must Do
1. Practise your times tables. Click on the link below.
https://mathsframe.co.uk/en/resources/resource/477/Multiplication-Tables-Check

2. Read every day for 20 minutes.  

3. Maths Homework - Place Value
Please see Google Classroom. You can either print out and take a photo or write out on paper or type out on a Google Document and share it with your teacher. 

4. Spellings - please can you go through these words over the weekend.

Can Do
PSHCE - We will be celebrating Dementia Week and in class, we will be creating Forget Me Not posters and including a memory we have of a lost loved one. Please use the weekend to think of a cherished memory you may have with a lost loved one that you might like to include on your poster. This can be written down on a Google Doc or if you can remember what you want to write down just bring your special memory with you.

Please can you also make sure that your child is reading for at least 15 minutes every night. If you have read all the books in you house the local libraries are now open!

NEXT WEEK

Looking ahead to next week, we will be completing some assessments Maths, Reading and GPS. Could you please take the time to test your child on the spellings that are on Google Classroom? Thanks for your support.

Have a lovely weekend and see you Monday.

Kind regards,

Mrs Hurley, Mr Greenfield & Mrs Hurley

WHOLE SCHOOL NATIONAL NUMERACY SUMDOG CONTEST

Calling all of you amazing mathematicians! 

You have been entered into the National Numeracy Sumdog Contest. It is taking place on 14 - 20 May

I will be monitoring how well each class is doing. The winning class will be announced in the school newsletter.

Let's show our Down Hall community what great mathematicians we are!

Good luck.

Mrs Hurley 

Y 3/4 Blog Friday 7th May 2021

Dear Parents,

Hopefully you have all had a good week, albeit a very short one. 

It is lovely to have all of the children back at school so we can continue with their learning journey. However, some of our children are coming into school extremely tired. This makes it difficult for them to concentrate and engage with their learning. We appreciate that the children have not necessarily had strict routines at home in the previous months but we would urge our children to have regular bedtimes so that we can ensure they are able to make the progress that we know they are capable of. If you have any concerns or need support, please do not hesitate to contact us at our phase email address.

HOMEWORK

Thank you to all those children who completed and shared their homework this week. This week's homework can also be found on Google Classroom

Below is a list of things that we would like you to complete for your homework. You need to complete the Must Do tasks and if you would like to challenge yourself some more, than you can complete the Can Do tasks.

Must Do
1. Practise your times tables. Click on the link below.
https://mathsframe.co.uk/en/resources/resource/477/Multiplication-Tables-Check
2. Read every day for 20 minutes.  
3. Maths Homework - Multiplying by 10 and 100 - an area we all struggle with this week.
Please see below (Choose *  **  ***) You can either print out and take a photo or write out on paper or type out on a Google Document and share it with your teacher please. 
Can Do 
In Science we have begun to learn about Sound. Please can you make your own poster on how we hear sound? Think about how the rice moved when the drum was tapped (vibrations)
It can be done as a Google Document or on a piece of paper and you can bring it into school for our Science display if you wish.

NEXT WEEK

Looking ahead to our lessons next week, we will continue measurement in Maths. We have had to pause converting measures as it soon became apparent that the majority of the children had forgotten how to multiply and divide by 10 and 100. This being the case, we will be refocusing in on length and how to add and subtract measures next week.

In English we are going to be writing a recount about an ancient Egyptian slave. The character of Narkt is one that is inspiring and the children have been engrossed in his life story.

Have a lovely weekend.

Kind regards,

Mrs Hurley, Mr Greenfield & Miss Harvey