Dear Parents and Guardians,

Welcome back to a new school year! It is a privilege to be teaching Year three and four this school year and I am excited to get to know all of you and your children! I hope you all had a good break and were able to relax during the summer. I hope the children are ready for an actioned packed, activity-filled term ahead and ready for lots of fun learning!

SMART LEARNING

Children are rewarded (house points, and privileges) for getting involved in their learning and following up their schoolwork at home.

We believe in every child really knowing what their talent or area of strength is by the time they leave in Y6. Amazing opportunities are there for every child so that they can identify what they really love and/or are great at. It could be sport, maths, singing, acting, playing the piano, creative writing or showing care and kindness and interpersonal skills. Please support your child to be SMART and take responsibility for their own personal growth and education. I have attached to this letter a grid of possible home learning activities for year 3 &4 children to try. They could highlight them through the term. I cannot wait to see their fantastic work and share it with the rest of the class. It is not compulsory, but I strongly recommend and encourage children to be a SMART LEARNER and try to do as many activities as they can.

Reading. Children are encouraged to be SMART and read daily. All reading is valuable, particularly investigating new vocabulary and answering questions about the text. Please could all reading be recorded in their reading record book? I do check these every Friday to reward regular readers and encourage good habits. I set up a cinema ticket prize for the reader who will improve the most in his/her reading through the term. Please read with your child regularly and sign the record book, even if your child is a fluent reader. Feel free to write positive comments or new words that have been discussed. Children can change their reading books every morning if needed and during snack time.

Spellings are set and tested on Monday. Children mark their own spellings using a typed list. Pupils are given a set of ten words (usually taken from the new curriculum common exception words list). Children are expected to practise spelling daily at home. Please encourage your child to do this as spelling practise falls under our non-negotiables along with regular reading and times table practise.

Times tables

Key stage one usually focuses on the 2, 5 and 10 times tables. Typically, during Year 3, pupils recall and use the multiplication and division facts for the 3, 4 and 8 multiplication tables and year 4 – recall and use multiplication and division facts for multiplication tables up to 12 x 12. However, this will depend on the knowledge of recall facts for each individual child and whether they have achieved the expectations from key stage one. All children have an opportunity to practise Mathletics each week but daily practise at home is recommended! In Maths lesson, several times per week I will set a Times Tables Mental Maths challenge for those who want to practise and challenge themselves. This is highly recommended as there will be mandatory times table tests (online) as part on their end of key stage 2 maths tests.

Homework

“From Year 2 to Year 6, homework will typically include the following:

1. daily reading (ten minutes daily during the school week);
2. weekly spellings to practise at home;
3. Mathletics tasks (50 minutes - the equivalent of ten minutes daily during the school week);
4. an optional piece of work related to class topics as enrichment.”

PE lessons

Monday (sessions with KAS)

Wednesday (year 3- lesson with Miss Gabenyte; year 4 - swimming)

If you have any questions or need any help with anything, please feel free to ask and I will try my best to support you and your child.

Thank you all for your support.