MERRY CHRISTMAS AND A HAPPY NEW YEAR TO YOU ALL

Dear Parents,

We cannot believe 2023 is nearly over! Thank you for all your kind words and gifts. Totally unnecessary of you but gratefully received by us all.

Sady we say a fond farewell to Miss Mkandawire who has been helping in Moonstone class. Thanks for your contribution to our class and we wish you the best of luck on your next steps.

We wish you a very merry Christmas and we look forward to welcoming you back on Monday 8th January 2024.

Merry Christmas everyone!

Love from Mrs Hurley, Mr Greenfield and Miss Harvey xxx

 

Dear Parents/Caregivers,

We have had a lovely week in school and were very luck to watch the fantastic KS1 Christmas production and we will be watching Pearl and Quartz perform their Nativity next week, 

Today, we visited Father Christmas' Grotto and did some Christmas Shopping so thank you to the PTA for organsing such great events for our children. 

In maths, we have been consolidating our learning and in English we have written our own version of The Grinch. We will be completing our rainforest dioramas and Mola art in our last few days.

A reminder that as the cold weather is upon us that as well as coats it would be great to see the children wearing a hat, scarf and gloves to protect them from the chills.

DATES FOR YOUR DIARY

Wednesday 20th December - EYFS Nativity 9:30AM

Wednesday 20th December - Last Day of term

Thursday 4th January 2024 - Non Pupil Day

Friday 5th January 2024 - Non Pupil Day

Monday 8th January 2024 - Return to school

HOMEWORK
Must Do:
Year 3/4  Homework Tasks - Due Wednesday 20th December
Homework Pages:
Year 3
English Pg 68+69 - Prefixes un-, dis- and mis- 
Maths - Pg 30+31 - Solving Calculation Problems
Year 4
English Pg 68+69 - Prefixes dis- and mis-
Maths - Pg 30+31 - Solving Calculation Problems

• Reading: Remember 15-20 minutes at least 3 times a week is super important. Your  Reading Records will be collected by teachers and checked from time to time. Please make sure you bring your book and your reading record in with you every day. As soon as you are ready, you can take a quiz at school. Remember that you need 3x 100% scores to move up a level.

• Times table practice - this week we are looking at 7s. Please practice these as we do in school.

• TTRS - Year 4 please can you log on and complete the MTC check and practise. Thank you.

Can Do:

• Continue logging on to TTRS, Sumdog - your log ins are stuck in the front cover of your Reading Records.

• Next term, our project is The Shang Dynasty so please spend some time looking at where this happened and who was involved. We will be looking deeper into the ancient events over the Spring term. This work can be done on paper or completed on Google Docs and shared with your teacher.

If you have any issues or questions, please, please come and see us at the end of the day. Just come down the steps to see us!

Have a great weekend!

Kind regards,

Mrs. Hurley, Miss Harvey and Mr. Greenfield

Year 3/4 Blogpost 08.12.23

Dear Parents/Caregivers,

We hope you have all had a lovely week and are beginning to think about the upcoming Christmas break. Christmas Jumper Day has been lovely. Once again, thank you for your donations that will go towards Thoko, our sponsored child in Malawi. 

A reminder that as the cold weather is upon us that as well as coats it would be great to see the children wearing a scarf and gloves to protect them from the chills.

DATES FOR YOUR DIARY

Thursday 7th December - Christmas Jumper Day/Christmas Dinner Day

Friday 8th December - PTA Christmas Movie Night

Monday 11th December - PTA Non Uniform Day

Wednesday 13th December - KS1 Christmas Production 2:30PM

Thursday 14th December - KS1 Christmas Production 9:30AM

Friday 15th December - PTA Christmas Grotto

Wednesday 20th December - EYFS Nativity 9:30AM

Wednesday 20th December - Last Day of term

Thursday 4th January 2024 - Non Pupil Day

Friday 5th January 2024 - Non Pupil Day

Monday 8th January 2024 - Return to school

CHRISTMAS JUMPER DAY

All the children looked amazing in their Christmas Jumpers today and we have raised money that will continue to sponsor Thoko and her local community in Malawi. Thank you so much for participating in this and also for donating. Your donation will go towards our continued sponsorship of Thoko. The charity Action Aid use this money to ensure that Thoko and the other children in her community enjoy their right to an education just like all of us at Down Hall. It's amazing to think that from such a small act on our behalf, we can make such a big difference for the young people who live such a long way away but share our right to an education. Thank you all so much!

NO HOMEWORK THIS WEEK

Due to the children having taken part in assessments all week we have made the decision to give them a break from homework.

If you have any issues or questions, please, please come and see us at the end of the day. Just come down the steps to see us!

Have a great weekend!

Kind regards,

Mrs Hurley, Miss Harvey and Mr Greenfield

Year 3/4 Blog Post 1.12.23

Dear Parents,

We have had a very busy week this week finishing off our poetry in English and moving on to looking at Christmas stories. Next week is Assessment week and the children will be completing assessments in English and Maths. Below is a link to the spellings that the children will be tested on:

Autumn 2 Spellings

ESSEX YEAR OF NUMBERS

The Lord Lieutenant competition has launched across schools in Essex

The Lord Lieutenant has launched a competition to kick-off the Essex Year of Numbers. We’re inviting children and young people to create a 2D/3D display (maximum size 1m2 or 1m3), with a short video presentation creatively showing the many ways numbers are used in everyday life.  

Entries can include number patterns, diagrams, calculations, explanations, photographs and models. The competition offers students the chance to think creatively about maths and its everyday use. Further information and terms and conditions are available in our latest news article.

Jennifer Tolhurst, Essex Year of Numbers Competition - Essex County Council

CHRISTMAS JUMPER DAY

Our Christmas Jumper Day is Thursday 7th December.  On this day children can wear their fabulous festive jumpers and donate £1 which goes to our continued sponsorship of Thoko in Malawi.  The charity Action Aid use this money to ensure that Thoko and the other children in her community enjoy their right to an education, just like all of us at Down Hall. (Articles 28&29)

 

                                  

HOMEWORK
Must Do:
Year 3/4  Homework Tasks - Due Thursday 7th December
Homework Pages:
Year 3
English Pg 10
Maths - Pg 27
Year 4
English Pg 7
Maths - Pg 28

• Reading: Remember 15-20 minutes at least 3 times a week is super important. You will have taken your Reading Record home for your parents to comment on. These will be collected by teachers and checked from time to time. Please make sure you bring your book and your reading record in with you every day. As soon as you are ready you can take a quiz at school. Remember that you need 3x 100% scores to move up a level.

• Practise the spellings for next week's assessment. 

• Times table practice - this week we are looking at 6s. Please practice these as we do in school.

• TTRS - Year 4 please can you log on and complete the MTC check and practise. Thank you.

Can Do:

• Continue logging on to TTRS, Sumdog - your log ins are stuck in the front cover of your Reading Records.

• Earlier this week, the children had an assembly all on Railway Safety. Can they create a poster reminding others of some of the important facts they learnt? 

Have a lovely weekend!
Mrs. Hurley, Miss Harvey & Mr. Greenfield 

 Dear Parents,

We looked at a lovely poem in English this week which ignited fabulous discussions about our emotions. We continued with multiplication and division and we have thoroughly enjoyed creating our rainforest dioramas.

Upcoming Events
A few notes for your diary - more details will be on the newsletter as we get nearer to the time:

Thursday 7th December - Christmas jumper day
Friday 8th December - PTA Christmas Movie Night
Friday 15th December - PTA Christmas Grotto
Wednesday 20th December - Last day of term

HOMEWORK
Must Do:
Year 3/4  Homework Tasks - Due Thursday 23rd November
Homework Pages:
Year 3
English Pg 14+15
Maths - Pg 26
Year 4
English Pg 16+17
Maths - Pg 27

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 because as your children move through school they need to ensure that they understand a text as well as be able to read it. 

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

Vocabulary    Infer    Predict    Explain    Retrieve    Sequence

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

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?
• What do you think this book is about?

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?
• How do you know ____?

Retrieve - discuss the characters, events and setting of the story or answer questions about a text you have read

• Who did _____?
• Where did _____?
• How many _____?

Summarise - retell the key events in the story

• What happened at the beginning?
• What happened at the end?
• Can you retell this story in your own words?

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

• Reading: Remember 15-20 minutes at least 3 times a week is super important. You will have taken your Reading Record home for your parents to comment on. These will be collected by teachers and checked from time to time. Please make sure you bring your book and your reading record in with you every day. As soon as you are ready you can take a quiz at school. Remember that you need 3x 100% scores to move up a level.

• High Frequency Words - Learn the words in your Reading Records. Practice spelling them out loud and writing them down.

• Times table practice - this week we are looking at 6s. Please practice these as we do in school.

• TTRS - Year 4 please can you log on and complete the MTC check and practise. Thank you.

Can Do:

• Continue logging on to TTRS, Sumdog - your log ins are stuck in the front cover of your Reading Records.

• Create a poster on your favourite book. Imagine you had to sell it to us. What do you like about it? Why? What is your favourite part? Who are the characters? Why should we read it?
  **EXTRA CHALLENGE** Rewrite your own blurb for your favourite book on the back of your poster.

Have a lovely weekend!
Mrs. Hurley, Miss Harvey & Mr. Greenfield 

Year 3/4 Blogpost 16.11.23

Dear Parents,
This week we have had a very busy week across all 3 classes. In English, we have begun to write more formal recounts based around the story of Helen Skelton's Amazon Adventure. In our maths groups, we have been looking at Area and Multiplication and Division.

Upcoming Events
A few notes for your diary - more details will be on the newsletter as we get nearer to the time:
Friday 17th November - Non Pupil Day
Tuesday 21st November - Flu immunisations
Thursday 23rd November - Individual photographs
Friday 8th December - PTA Christmas Movie Night
Friday 15th December - PTA Christmas Grotto
Wednesday 20th December - Last Day of term

CHRISTMAS CARDS
Thank you to everyone who returned Christmas card designs.  If you placed an order online, it will be delivered in time for the end of term and will be given to you child when it arrives in school.

DESIGN TECHNOLOGY
Thank you for everybody who has kindly brought in a shoe box for Project lessons. If we could ask that you could please keep the shoeboxes and card coming in as we will be beginning this over the next few weeks. If you have any of the following spare it would be greatly appreciated also:
Pebbles
Real leaves
Toilet roll tubes
Sticks
Bark

HOMEWORK
Must Do:
Year 3/4  Homework Tasks - Due Thursday 23rd November
Homework Pages:
Year 3
English Pg 67
Maths - Pg 29
Year 4
English Pg 67
Maths - Pg 26

• Reading: Remember 15-20 minutes at least 3 times a week is super important. You will have taken your Reading Record home for your parents to comment on. These will be collected by teachers and checked from time to time. Please make sure you bring your book and your reading record in with you every day. As soon as you are ready you can take a quiz at school. Remember that you need 3x 100% scores to move up a level.

• High Frequency Words - Learn the words in your Reading Records. Practice spelling them out loud and writing them down.

• Times table practice - this week we are looking at 8s. Please practice these as we do in school.

• TTRS - Year 4 please can you log on and complete the MTC check and practise. Thank you.

Can Do:

• Continue logging on to TTRS, Sumdog - your log ins are stuck in the front cover of your Reading Records.

• Children in Need - https://www.bbcchildreninneed.co.uk/fundraising/introducing-pudsey-bearpees/ Time is running out- sign up for the Pudsey Bearpees Challenge today and recieve a FREE Pudsey sweatband if you’re in the first 10,000 to sign up and raise £50*

  Our brilliant new challenge has options for almost any level of physicality, so you can fundraise while getting fit. Joe Wicks can tell you all about it below, and scroll down for links to sign up to the challenge and our How to Bearpee guide.

Have a lovely weekend!
Mrs. Hurley, Miss Harvey & Mr. Greenfield 

Year 3/4 Blogpost 10.11.23

Dear Parents,

This week we have had special lessons lined up to celebrate Remembrance Day, including in Guided Reading sessions we have been looking at the poem 'Lest We Forget' by Angela Marie Jameson. In English, we have finished writing recounts based around the story A Forest Next to the Sea and will now be moving on to writing more formal recounts such as reporting as a news reporter.

REMEMBRANCE DAY
This week we took sometime away from English to write poetry around Remembrance Day. The children participated in the BBC Remembrance Day Live Lesson and used this to explore the significance of Remembrance Day through poetry and real-life accounts from veterans. On Thursday afternoon, we all came together to share our poetry.

DESIGN TECHNOLOGY
Thank you for everybody who has kindly brought in a shoe box for Project lessons. If we could ask that you could please keep the shoeboxes and card coming in as we will be beginning this over the next few weeks. If you have any of the following spare it would be greatly appreciated also:

Pebbles

Real leaves

Toilet roll tubes

Sticks

Bark

HOMEWORK
Must Do:
Year 3/4  Homework Tasks - Due Thursday 16th November
Homework Pages:
Year 3
English Pg 30
Maths - Pg 23
Year 4
English Pg 29
Maths - Pg 54

• Reading: Remember 15-20 minutes at least 3 times a week is super important. You will have taken your Reading Record home for your parents to comment on. These will be collected by teachers and checked from time to time. Please make sure you bring your book and your reading record in with you every day. As soon as you are ready you can take a quiz at school. Remember that you need 3x 100% scores to move up a level.
• High Frequency Words - Learn the words in your Reading Records. Practice spelling them out loud and writing them down.
• Times table practice - this week we are looking at 8s. Please practice these as we do in school.
• TTRS - Year 4 please can you log on and complete the MTC check and practise. Thank you.

Can Do:

• Continue logging on to TTRS, Sumdog - your log ins are stuck in the front cover of your Reading Records.
• Create a poster for Anti-Bullying Week which is next week. Please watch the video below to find out more information.

Anti-Bullying Week 2023

Have a lovely weekend!

Mrs. Hurley, Miss Harvey & Mr. Greenfield