Year 3/4 Final Post 2021

Dear Parents,

Wishing you all a very happy last day of this rather unusual school year!

It has been an honour and a priviledge to teach such a wonderful team of children and they truly have been a joy to us all!

YEAR 3/4 EMAIL

Our emails will not be checked regularly from today until 1st September. If it is a matter of urgency, please do contact Mrs Nelson via the school office.

PHASE GROUP EMAILS
Please remember that if your child is moving classes then a new email address will be your point of contact. If your child is moving into Year 3 or Year 4 then our email is:

year3_4@downhallprimary.com

If your child is moving up to Year 5 then your point of contact is:

year 5_6@downhallprimary.com

HOMEWORK

Whilst no official homework has been set, it might be an idea to get your child to read regularly and log on to TTRS and SUmdog occasionally. As well, it is still not to late to enter the Summer Reading Challenge by clicking on the link below.

https://summerreadingchallenge.org.uk/

LOOKING AHEAD TO SEPTEMBER

If you have any particular questions about next year, please ask rather than worry about these over the Summer. It might be a good idea if your child is entering Year 3 to have a look at the Year 3/4 class pages of our website to see the overview of learning that will be covered.

https://sites.google.com/downhallprimary.com/year3-4

Also please go to the letters section of the school website. A letter that was uploaded a while ago. It outlines all details for the return of children in September. Please take the time to read this so you know what is happening for the first couple of weeks of the new academic year. 

Thank you to all of you who have supported us this year. It has been a pleasure to teach your children and we are grateful to you for your kind words and gifts. Wishing you a very happy and calm summer ahead.

See you Thursday 2nd of September.

Much love,

Mrs Hurley, Mr Greenfield & Miss Harvey

Happy Friday, everybody!

It is amazing to think that we are entering the last week of such a tumultuous year! Our grateful thanks to you for your support and kind words during some really difficult moments. I am sure we will look forward to some normality in September!

Some very tired children arrived in school on Thursday morning. We do understand how important it is to have watched the football. It is such a positive thing for us all to enjoy together as a nation! We have really loved following England's meteoric rise to the top and we wish them all the luck in the world when they take on Italy on Sunday night! Please see our Facebook or Instagram post for a link to the letter that states that our class registers will remain open until 10am on Monday morning. We would rather your child had some extra sleep and came to school a bit later than not attend school at all!

Parent/Teacher Consultations

Parent/Teacher Consultations will take place via Zoom on Monday 19th July between 8:30am and 3:30pm. This will be to discuss any questions you may have about your child's report which they will be bringing home on Thursday 8th July. You can book your appointment using the usual Scopay system. Please email us if you have any issues with this process. Once you have booked your appointment, Zoom details will be emailed to you during the week before our meeting.

Homework

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.
• Times table practise
• Can you please learn to count to 10 in a foreign language? Choose a country from the Euro Football Team's. You are not allowed to choose ENGLISH or SPANISH!

Don't forget, we are always available on our Year 3/4 email. If you have any questions, please just ask and we will get back to you as soon as we can.

Have a fabulous weekend! (Hoping that finally it IS coming home) 

⚽⚽⚽⚽⚽⚽⚽⚽⚽⚽⚽⚽⚽⚽⚽

Mrs Hurley, Mr Greenfield & Miss Harvey

Year 3/4 Blogpost Friday 2nd July 2021

Happy Friday, everybody! This week, the children have been taking part in assessments and they have done us all proud! Every single child has given it their absolute all and that is all that really matters. We have continued with the daily teaching of multiplication strategies in maths. Our trial across the school has now finished and so starting from September, this will take place every day. I certainly hope that we are in a position to be able to share our efforts across the school and with you, our parents.

PSHE - Changing Me

This half term in Personal, Social and Health Education we are learning about how to cope with change. This includes learning about change in ourselves as we grow from a baby to how we are now. It also includes a lesson next week in which we will be noting the differences between male and female bodies, using the correct terminology. This lesson is very much laying the foundation's for future Relationships and Sex Education, which is now a statutory requirement to be taught in schools. We see this as a crucial part of Safeguarding our children.

Homework

There will be no homework this week due to the intense nature of school this week. Have a well deserved rest!

Sports Day

What a day we have all had. The children had so much fun and said it was the best day ever! Congratulations to all the winners in the sprints and relays, throwing and jumping events. A massive well done to all the children who show such determination and enthusiasm. Many thanks go to Miss Sharman for organising all the events and to Mrs Williamson for giving up her Friday morning to help us. Photos will be available shortly.

PARENT/TEACHER CONSULTATIONS

Parent/Teacher consultations will take place via Zoom on Monday 19th July between 8:30 

and 3:30 to discuss any queries you may have with your child’s report which your child will be bringing home on Thursday 8th July. You can bookyour appointment using the Scopay system from Monday 5th July. Please email your child’s phase group email if you have any issues with this process. Once you have booked your appointment Zoom details will be emailed to you via the phase group email address.
Thank you.

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