SUMMER TERM 2020

Dear Parents,

I had a surprise visit from Mrs Hewitt this morning. She came bearing gifts-vouchers, a lovely cup and wonderful garden pots and a beautiful rose. I am really touched and moved by your gift and by all of the kind, supportive messages I've received from you. Lockdown has been a challenging time, and it has certainly been a challenge for me, but I feel very positive, very fit, and I'm receiving amazing care and attention from so many wonderful healers and friends. I've really missed school, missed teaching but I know that I have to use my creative energies in different ways for a while now to get fully well again. I feel good and feel positive, and I'm sure that next school year I will come and visit school and catch up with you. 

Again, thank you so much,

best wishes for the summer

Mr Pritchard

SUMMER 2020 Emerald Class

Monday July 13th

Maths work

Starter- Times tables rock stars.

Follow this link to this week’s lessons

https://whiterosemaths.com/homelearning/year-4/

This week’s work is all about shape and symmetry and coordinates. See below for worksheets.

SUMMER 2020 Emerald Class

Monday July 6th

Spellings for the week

Maths work

Starter- Times tables rock stars.

Follow this link to this week’s lessons

https://whiterosemaths.com/homelearning/year-4/

This week’s work is all about angles and shapes. See below for worksheets.

MONDAY JUNE 29TH

Maybe this is where Wallace and Gromit got some of their ideas?

See below for this week's home learning about inventors.

Monday June 29th

Spellings for the week

Maths work

Starter- Times tables rock stars.

follow this link to this week’s lessons

https://whiterosemaths.com/homelearning/year-4/

This week’s work is all about graphs and charts. See below for worksheets.

Monday June 22nd

This week's tongue twister

There's a chip shop in space selling spaceship shaped chips.

Spellings for the week

Maths work

Starter- Times tables rock stars.

follow this link to this week’s lessons

https://whiterosemaths.com/homelearning/year-4/

This week’s work is all about money. See below for worksheets.

Monday June 15th

Due to server problems at school I'm unable to properly update this page. I'll do so as soon as possible.

If you look below you will find links to this week's maths work after the gallery of work from the children.

best wishes,

Mr Pritchard

Monday June 15^th.

This week’s maths is all about decimals.

Here is the link to the page, and you’ll find the worksheets below.

https://whiterosemaths.com/homelearning/year-4/

If you’d like something easier to support you in getting to decimals go here:

https://whiterosemaths.com/homelearning/year-3/

and find the worksheets below.

Monday June 8th

This week's tongue twister

Nine nimble gnomes nibbling nourishing nuts.

Spellings for the week

Maths work

Starter- Times tables rock stars.

follow this link to this week’s lessons

https://whiterosemaths.com/homelearning/year-4/

This week’s work is about fractions and decimals. See below for worksheets.

If you’d like something easier try this:

https://whiterosemaths.com/homelearning/year-3/

see below for worksheets.

Monday June 1st

Tongue twister- say out  loud!

Five frantic frogs fled from fifty fierce fishes.

Spellings for the week

Maths work

Starter- Times tables rock stars.

follow this link to this week’s lessons -you'll see the 'June 1st' lesson at the top of the page.

https://whiterosemaths.com/homelearning/year-4/

worksheets for the lessons are here below. There are four sets of them.

You may like to use these resources instead, but please, don’t attempt both! .

https://www.bbc.co.uk/bitesize/tags/z63tt39/year-4-and-p5-lessons/1

these are about adding fractions. A new lesson will be available here each day. 

If you’d like something a bit easier use this link

https://www.bbc.co.uk/bitesize/tags/zmyxxyc/year-3-and-p4-lessons/1

where the first lesson is about fractions on a number line. Follow this course of work if the first link’s work is too tricky.

Apologies for this page update being a little late. I have a good excuse, as the school server was down after a power cut! 

It now seems to be working again. I hope everyone is keeping well, being kind and keeping safe.

Thank you for you interesting emails. I love seeing what you have been up to with your home learning.

best wishes,

Mr Pritchard

SUMMER 2020 Emerald Class

Monday May 18^th

The tongue twister, "She sells seashells by the seashore," is based on a song written by Terry Sullivan. It's thought the song is about a real seashell seller named Mary Anning (1799 – 1847). Mary Anning was more than a seashell seller. She collected fossils and contributed important information about prehistoric life to the scientific community. She supported herself selling fossils to geologists and to tourists.

Tongue twister- say out  loud!

She sells seashells by the seashore,

The shells she sells are seashells, I'm sure.

So if she sells seashells on the seashore,

Then I'm sure she sells seashore shells.

This week’s Poem 

We’re going to the seaside,

We’re going on the train.

‘I can see the sea,’ I cried,

‘I hope it doesn’t rain.’

Shoes off, feet bare,

Sand between my toes.

My family hire deck chairs,

We set them up in rows.

I’m hungry now, I lick my lips,

I wonder what’s for lunch.

Sand in the fish and chips,

Crunch, crunch, crunch.

(Can you add any more verses?)

The Present

Use this link to watch the film

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WjqiU5FgsYc&t=11s

Some things you could do:

1. Describe a scene from two different character viewpoints.

(What do you  think about how the boy’s feelings about the puppy changed during thefilm? Did the puppy’s feelings towards the boy change? The same event can be seen from a different viewpoint. Go to 1.44 of the film, where the puppy brings the ball to the boy. What is the puppy thinking and what is the boy thinking?)

You can use sheet 1 below  to help you.

2.You could  write your own story about a change of heart. It doesn’t have to be this one. If you want to have a go, sheet 2 below might help you.

Spellings for the week

Maths work

Starter- Times tables rock stars.

follow this link to this week’s lessons

https://www.bbc.co.uk/bitesize/tags/z63tt39/year-4-and-p5-lessons/1

You will find a year 4 maths lesson each day. Monday’s lesson is on tenths and hundredths.

If you’d like to try something easier, try this page

https://www.bbc.co.uk/bitesize/tags/zmyxxyc/year-3-and-p4-lessons/1

where Monday’s lesson introduces fractions

Come back to these pages each day for a new lesson.

SUMMER 2020 Emerald Class

Monday May 11th

Well done everyone with all of your amazing home learning.  Don't forget, there is so much here that you could do, but you are not expected to do it all. Do what you can, try just a few things. Have a look at the 'pirates and explorers grid below for some fun ideas. You might do some of these activities and not get around to the english activities I've provided. The important thing is that you keep busy, have a go, and help at home!

Keep sending me your amazing work.

Stay safe,

Mr. Pritchard

Tongue twister- say out  loud!

I saw Susie sitting in a shoe shine shop.

This week’s Poem 

Pirate Pete

had a ship on the sea

had a fish for his tea

had a peg for a knee

and a tiny little parrot called…Polly

Pirate Pete

had a book with a map

had a skull on his cap

had a cat on his lap

and another little parrot called…Dolly

Pirate Pete

had a trunk full of treasure

had a belt made of leather

had a cap with a feather

and another little parrot called…Jolly

Pirate Pete

had a patch on his eye

had a flag he would fly

had a plank way up high

and another little parrot called…Molly

So, Pirate Pete

and the parrots four

they sailed the world

from shore to shore –

collecting gold

and gifts galore.

And that’s their tale –

there is no more!

Pirate Pete

by James Carter

Spellings for the week

English work

Monday

Today you’ll learn about using paragraphs. This link takes you to the work. It has one 

video and 3 activities. (You are not expected to do them all! Choose one.)

https://www.bbc.co.uk/bitesize/articles/zv4j7nb

Tuesday

This lesson will help you to understand what fronted adverbials are and how to punctuate them correctly.

This lesson includes:

one video to help you understand fronted adverbials

and four activities. (You are not expected to do them all! Choose one.)

https://www.bbc.co.uk/bitesize/articles/z7v4kmn

Wednesday

This lesson helps you to understand what coordinating conjunctions are and how to use them when writing.

This lesson includes:

two videos to help you understand coordinating conjunctions and three activities. (You are not expected to do them all!)

https://www.bbc.co.uk/bitesize/articles/z48xt39

Thursday

Using the novel Dindy and the Elephant you will learn about explaining your opinion about a character, summarising information and writing in role as a character.

This lesson includes:

two videos of actor and TV presenter Ed Petrie reading extracts from the book and three activities. (You are not expected to do them all!)

https://www.bbc.co.uk/bitesize/articles/z62fvk7

Maths work

Starter- Times tables rock stars.

follow this link to this week’s lessons

https://www.bbc.co.uk/bitesize/tags/z63tt39/year-4-and-p5-lessons/1  

You will find a year 4 maths lesson each day. Monday’s lesson is on multiplication and division.

If you’d like to try something easier, try this page

https://www.bbc.co.uk/bitesize/tags/zmyxxyc/year-3-and-p4-lessons/1

where Monday’s lesson is about multiplying and dividing by 8.

Come back to these pages each day for a new lesson.

When is the best time for a pirate to buy a new ship?
When it’s on sail!

What does a pirate wear for Halloween?
A Pumpkin Patch!

How much did the pirate pay for his peg leg and hook?
An arm and a leg

Why does a pirate take so long to learn the alphabet?
Because he always gets stuck at “c”

What is a pirates favorite subject in school?
Aaaaarrrrt

What is a pirates favorite letter of the alphabet?
Arrrr

What Star Wars character is really a pirate?
AARRRRGGH-2 D-2!

What is a pirates favorite doll?
BARRRRRRRRRRBIE!

What are pirates afraid of?
The DARRRRRRRRRRK

Knock knock.
Who’s there?
Interrupting pirate!
Interrup…
ARRRRRRRRRR! 

Well done everyone for another week of home learning! Please remember that what I put up here is a suggestion-you won't be able to do all of it! Some days you might do very little and other days you may get lots done! Don't worry if things are tricky-just have a go and do your best. I love to see the work you are doing, and will post it on our class page if you want me to.

best wishes

Mr .Pritchard

SUMMER 2020 Emerald Class

Monday May 4th

Tongue twister- say out  loud!

Peter Piper picked a peck of pickled peppers.

Did Peter Piper pick a peck of pickled peppers?

If Peter Piper picked a peck of pickled peppers,

Where’s the peck of pickled peppers Peter Piper picked?

This week’s Poem 

Did you ever wonder about dreaming?

How the pictures get in your head?

Why they’re only there when you’re sleeping?

Why they’re only there in your bed?

You can fly anywhere that you want to.

You can soar above houses and cars.

You can even go higher than that, if you want,

way, way up to the moon and the stars.

You can be someone great, someone special

who has magical powers to use

to save your brother from monsters -

or NOT save, if that’s what you choose.

Dreaming is different from movies.

You don’t get dressed up and go out.

And a dream can be different every night -

you make up what the dream is about.

It’s too bad dreaming's for bedtime,

but I guess that’s just how it must be.

If we walked around dreaming in daylight,

why would we ever need sleep?

Poem by C.J. Heck

Spellings for the week

English work

This week you will use the short animation ‘Dreamgiver’. It can be found at;

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nYwMuM9qFIg

Monday

Today you are going to describe a setting.

After watching the film try to write a paragraph describing the setting. (Just focus on the first 30 seconds of the film for this) Try to use similes if you can.

Tuesday

Today you are going to look closely at a part of the film.

Watch the first minute of the film and then try to answer these questions in full sentences.

Wednesday

Today you are going to describe a character.

Look at this description of the Dreamgiver.

Is it good? What do you like about it?

Have a go at your own description of the Dreamgiver-do a picture to start if you want.

Thursday

Today you are going to invent a dream of your own.

What would you like the Dream Giver to crack his egg on

for you? It might be a lego model or a football boot. It could be a model plane- anything!

Write what happens when the Dreamgiver cracks his egg on your object.

Friday

Here are the bare bones of the story. Today your task is to turn this into an exciting narrative.

Maths work

Starter- Times tables rock stars.

follow this link to this week’s lessons on multiplication.

https://whiterosemaths.com/homelearning/year-4/

Home learning for week starting Monday April 27th

Poem of the week

Tongue twister- say out  loud!

Nine nimble noblemen nibbling nuts!

This week’s Poem-(to read aloud and try to learn-be careful on the bed)

I’m soaring.
I’m sailing.
I’m learning to fly.
I’m leaping.
I’m bouncing.
I’m high in the sky.

I’m jumping.
I’m hopping.
I’m up in the air.
I’m dashing.
I’m diving,
the wind in my hair.

I’m swooping.
I’m whooshing.
I’m light as a kite.
I’m flittering,
fluttering,
floating in flight.

I’m toppling.
I’m tumbling.
I’m falling. I crashed.
And, whoopsie,
my parents
new mattress is trashed.

By Kenn Nesbitt

Reading this week

Read about the first airoplane flight here:

https://central.espresso.co.uk/espresso/modules/news/week_in_history/031210_firstflight.html?source=search-all-KS2-all-all&source-keywords=flight

The links at the bottom give even more information.

Spellings for the week

English work

This week you will keep using   the video ‘soar’ to help you to write reports.

 It can be found on youtube at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UUlaseGrkLc

Monday

Lesson 6

You are  learning about the features of a report writing.

Cut out if you can and organise these facts about model aircraft and give them sub titles.

Sub titles could be;

What are model aircraft made from?

The different types of model aircraft.

The history of model aircraft.

Here are the facts……

1.The construction of flying models is different to making non-flying models as

both their weight and strength need to be thought about carefully.

2.Model aircraft are divided into two basic groups: flying and non-flying (static).

3.Flying models use the same construction techniques as full-sized aircraft

although the use of metal is limited.

4.Gliders are generally made of card or foam polystyrene because of their weight.

This allows gliders to catch the wind and to travel further.

5.Leonardo da Vinci was a scientist, mathematician, engineer, and inventor. Da

Vinci created designs for one of the earliest helicopters

6.Some flying model aircraft can be very large, especially when used to replicate

properties for a real airplane.

7.The first manned flight of Orville and Wilbur Wright fuelled the passion for

model airplanes today. Once the Wright brothers took flight, children put

together model airplanes, flying them and imagining they were either Orville or Wilbur.

8.There are many different types of model aircraft from gliders to radio-controlled aircraft, which are operated using a remote controller.

9.Flying model aircraft are built by forming a frame using thin planks of a light

wood. On larger models, sheets of wood and expanded polystyrene are used.

10The first model aircraft found to date was unearthed in Egypt, during an

excavation in 1898.

11Non-flying airplanes are scale models built using a variety of materials as their weight is not a factor for consideration.

Tuesday

Lesson 7

You are  learning to research information about model aircraft.

You may want to use the internet to do some finding out. You could use this helpsheet below as this shows how your report could look.

Wednesday

Lesson 8

You will be writing a report today hopefully using some of the information you have discovered.

This way of writing may help.

1^st TITLE

2^nd INTRODUCTION

3^rd SUB TITLE AND PARAGRAPH OF INFORMATION

4^TH NEXT SUB TITLE AND PARAGRAPH OF INFORMATION.

(You should also add pictures with captions)

Thursday

Lesson 9

Today try to make your own model aircraft-it could be a paper airplane!

Make it look good-test it-try again-experiment!

This link has good ideas...but it can be any type of model remember.

https://www.origamiway.com/paper-airplanes.shtml

Friday

Lesson 10

How did you get on with your model? Write something about it-it could be instructions on how to make it, or a description of it…whatever you like.

Maths work

Starter- Times tables rock stars.

follow this link to this week’s lessons about fractions  and decimals.

https://whiterosemaths.com/homelearning/year-4/

Week beginning

Monday April 20th 

This week Mr Pritchard will be available to answer questions related to your home learning on Tuesday, Wednesday and Friday between 10 am-12  noon.

Dear Parents, 

This is such a challenging time for us all. In producing this page for children to work on this week please, please don't feel it has all got to be completed! I realise how difficult is is having to deal with computers, printing sheets and so on, so I've tried to include only a few links to resources and printing is not really necessary. Do use it as a guide but please don't feel you have to stick to it. The 'family learning opportunities ' resource can be found below.

Best wishes,

Mr. Pritchard

Begin your day with some exercise.

ENGLISH

This week’s Tongue twister- say it out  loud!

Black background, brown background,

Brown background, black background,

Background background, black, black, brown, brown.

This week’s Poem-(to read aloud and try to learn)

(Have you seen any birds building nests lately?)

The skylark's nest among the grass

And waving corn is found;

The robin's on a shady bank,

With oak leaves strewn around.

The cuckoo makes no nest at all,

But through the wood she strays

Until she finds one snug and warm,

And there her egg she lays.

The sparrow has a nest of hay,

With feathers warmly lined;

The ring-dove's careless nest of sticks

On lofty trees we find.

The blackbird's nest of grass and mud

In brush and bank is found;

The lapwing's darkly spotted eggs

Are laid upon the ground.

This week you will use the video ‘soar’ to inspire your writing.

It can be found on youtube at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UUlaseGrkLc

Day 1-Watch the film. Divide  a large piece of paper into 8 boxes. Use this to make a storyboard of the main events in the film. You’ll have to decide for yourself what they are.

Day 2-Watch the film again. The girl’s name is Mara. Write a character description of Mara. There is a wordlist below to help.

brown, large, bright, big, wide, beautiful, open, clear, soft, watchful, resolute,curious, brilliant, intelligent, hopeful

expressive, gentle, optimistic,framed, thin-rimmed, enormous, round dark, brown, straight, short, bob, thick, fringe, soft, beautiful, fine, silky, brushed,

shiny, light, sleek, tidy

aviator, fleecy, fleece-lined, tartan, purple,

patterned, patchworked, baggy, skin-tight,

puffy, small, petit, thin, slight, slim, skinny, slender,

lean, strong, muscular, powerful determined, resolute, driven, ambitious, steadfast, unshakable, single minded,

forceful, unshakable, smart, clever, intelligent, reasoning, thoughtful, selfless, kind-hearted, sincere, helpful.

Aim to write with a range of sentence types.

Day 3-Watch the film again. Today try to write some dialogue between the two characters. Remember the rules of dialogue, make sure to use “ when someone speaks and always go to a new line for a new speaker.

Day 4-Watch the film again! Read this description of Mara. What do you think? After reading it go back and read your own character description. Do you think it could be improved? I’m sure it could. Write your new improved description and make a detailed picture of Mara to go with it.

Mara

Mara, a teenage girl, wears rather large, thin rimmed glasses. Her eyes, which are filled  with determination, are intelligent and

curious. She has mousy brown, straight hair with a short, messy fringe. She wears a purple, patterned aviator hat which is fleece

lined and warm. Her hat’s long ear flaps hide her short bob underneath. Mara wears a patchwork airplane on her stripy top and a pair of brown culottes. On her feet, she wears comfortable, purple high tops which she can run in, easily. Mara longs to be an airplane designer. She is resilient, which is shown bythe fact that she doesn’t give up despite having problems with her airplane designs. She is ambitious and driven because she perseveres, even when things aren’t going her way.

Day5-Watch the film again. Let’s start thinking about writing the story as a playscript. It might go like this (I’m calling the small boy Lucas)

SOAR  SCENE 1

[The scene opens at the park. MARA is on stage, kneeling down to wind the propeller

on her brand new plane.]

Narrator: It was another beautiful, sunny day and Mara was out at

the park, trying out her latest aircraft design.

[MARA stands up and pushes her plane]

MARA: (Whispering) Fly! Please, please fly!

[The plane dips and crashes, Mara walks over to the park bench]

MARA: Oh, I’ll never do it! Why won’t they fly? I don’t understand

what I’m doing wrong.

Narrator: Suddenly, a small, mysterious object hit Mara on the head.

MARA: (Rubbing her head) Ouch! What on earth…a tiny bag?

Narrator: From out of nowhere a tiny aircraft flew past Mara and

crashed into a tree. At that moment, a miniature man

dropped out looking worried.

LUCAS: (Breathless) Oh no, oh no, oh no! Where is it?

LUCAS: (Gasping and looking up) Oh my…a giant! Please don’t hurt

me! Stay back, stay back!

I’m using the rules of playscripts to do it. Do you see? I use a colon after each name. I only write what they say. I don’t use speech punctuation!  I use some stage directions in brackets. I have a narrator to give the audience more information.

Have a go at writing the story like this.

Maths

Starter- Times tables rock stars.

Session – follow this link to lesson 1 White Rose Maths

The address is here below if there’s a problem with the link.

https://whiterosemaths.com/homelearning/year-4/ 

Daily reading – use this time to either read to your family or share a book with them.

Family Learning Opportunities

Please see this week’s grid  (below) with the theme ‘Food glorious food’.

SPRING TERM 2020

Monday March 9th

This week in english we continue to hear  a range of Roman myths, and use them as a springboard for our reading and writing.  As it's Enterprise week in maths we will be learning about banks, and trying to start a little business selling smoothies at the Enterprise market on Thursday 12th March. We have been loaned a small amount of money to start our business, and now we will research recipes and costs to see what we come up with! Do come to the market on Thursday afternoon.

In history we will learn about the Roman invasion of Britain and the part Boudicaa played.

On Friday we are at Ashdown Forest for the day.

Hindleap is fast approaching, so do look closely at the kit list.Do contact me with any questions concerning the trip.

best wishes,

Mr Pritchard

Monday March 2nd

This week in maths we leave fractions for a while and move on to time. We be looking at calendars and timetables, and at telling the time using both analogue and digital clocks. The aim is to tell the time to the nearest minute by the end of the week. Do support your child with this at home!

In english lessons we will be using the stories of the founding of Rome, of Romulus and Remus, to practise our own skills of story writing, changing tenses, trying different sentence starters and polishing our punctuation skills. In our history lessons we will learn about life as a soldier in the Roman army, and also about life for Roman children, looking at what they would have learnt at school. 

best wishes,

Mr Pritchard

Monday February 24th

Welcome back to a new  half term. In this first week back we will be introduced to the Romans. In english lessons we will use Roman myths to develop our writing skills using different types of clauses, different tenses, and develop our descriptive writing skills. In history we will learn about who the Ancient Romans were, and where they came from. We'll look at some of the buildings and roads left by the Romans, and learn about their building techniques. In maths we will continue our work on fractions, learning to add and subtract fractions, and using fractions to solve a range of problems. 

Please ensure children have a fully stocked pencil case, PE kit and art apron. Thankyou!

Best wishes,

Mr. Pritchard

Monday February 10th

This last week of this half term is Science week. Each class will be exploring a different environmental topic. Our class will be focussing on energy, and over the week we will learn about fossil fuels and about renewable energy sources. We'll learn about how electricity is produced by using a dynamo, and also about solar, wind and wave energy production. On Friday at 2-45 parents are invited to come and see what's been going on around the school.

Our maths work on fractions is well under way, and this week we will continue and develop our work in writing and comparing fractions and in finding equivalent fractions. Our geography topic has now ended, after a visit to the deserts of Spain and the glaciers of France. We've painted trains passing through the Alps, had a try at Swedish traditional art, and on Friday we learnt about the famous Spanish artist Pablo Picasso and tried to make a version of his cockerel using oil pastels. 

best wishes,

Mr Pritchard

Monday February 3rd

In english lessons this week we will explore the theme of bullying using a short animation 'For the birds'. Along the way we will work to improve our persuasive writing skills. In maths we leave our study of area, and now begin to explore the mathematical challenges of fractions. 

Our geography lessons take us to a desert in Spain and to glaciers of France. 

best wishes,

Mr Pritchard

Monday January 27th

In literacy this week we will continue to develop our skills using the short animation 'Taking Flight'. Last week we explored characters and settings, and learnt about writing dialogue and using prepositions. In our maths lessons we now move away from division, and start to explore area, beginning by counting squares and then moving on to more formal ways of calculation. 

In our geography lessons we learn about the water cycle, and followed the River Rhine from source to mouth. Along the way we learnt about why the Rhine is such an important European river, and also why tourists love to visit. This week we travel to the snowy north and learn about Sweden, the vast snowy forests, and the Sami reindeer herders. We then travel south and visit the warm and sunny land of Greece.

We had a great day at the forest last Friday. Lisa set us the task of clearing a piece of land, using the fallen and cut branches to create a fence around the area. The children loved to be so busy. In the afternoon the children selected wood for a wand, and then whittled their wood to create a nice finish. 

As the school server is down again, I'll attach homework on Monday.

best wishes,

Mr Pritchard

Monday 20th January

This week we will continue our new work looking at division, and tackling the tricky problem of remainders. In english we move from the jungle to the air, as we go on an adventure in the skies to polish our writing skills.  We have travelled from the Netherlands to Switzerland learning about amazing feats of engineering along the way. This week we begin our journey in the Alps and follow the course of the mighty River Rhine. 

This Friday is our first trip to the forest. Don't forget, our meeting about the forthcoming Hindleap Warren trip takes place in the classroom after school tomorrow. If you can't make it, don't worry, I'll get the paperwork to you.

best wishes,

Mr Pritchard

Monday 13th January

We had a great first week back, with the children eager to learn and lots of hard work and play.

This week in maths we continue to investigate multiplication. In english lessons we will continue with the story 'Ride of Passage' , exploring types of sentences, conjunctions and exciting story writing. Our geography work takes us to the Netherlands and then Switzerland this week. 

On Monday 20th January there will be a meeting in our classroom to discuss our forthcoming Hindleap Warren trip. We'll start at about 3-25, and I'll give you information about the trip and a few forms that need completing. Don't worry if you can't make it. I will get forms to you.

best wishes

Mr Pritchard

TUESDAY JANUARY 7TH

Dear parents,

A Happy New Year to all of you. It was lovely to see so many of you in our classroom for our little concert. Thank you so much for the card and gifts. Your positive messages and kind thoughts are really appreciated.

We start this new term with our English lessons based around an exciting story 'ride of passage'. We will continue to explore and develop our creative writing skills. In maths we begin by developing formal methods for multiplication. Our geography work will take us on a tour of Europe, travelling from the flat Netherlands to the high Alps, and journeying along the mighty River Rhine. We will travel from the snowy forests of Sweden to the hot islands of Greece, and from the icy glaciers of the French Alps to the burning deserts of Spain.We start this week by looking at the shape of the land, discovering the mountains and seas of Europe.

HOMEWORK

Maths and spelling homework start on Monday January 13th. A homework overview is attached below.

EQUIPMENT

Many children don't have an old shirt or apron for art lessons. It's essential unless you'd like your children to return from school in multi-coloured clothes.

Children need a small pencil case with a pencil, centimetre ruler and a pencil sharpener. Those who now use a pen should have their pen safely in their pencil case.

I'm looking forward to another exciting new term with the class. As always, you can contact me by email with any questions using the link below.

best wishes,

Mr. Pritchard

MERRY CHRISTMAS FROM EMERALD CLASS

DECEMBER 2019

Dear parents,

In spite of the terrible bug going around the school, the children have been working hard right up until the end of this long term. I'm very pleased with the progress we've made this term, and your children really do deserve a holiday.

This week we have our Carol concert at St John's church on Tuesday morning, please do come along and sing with us! In the afternoon we will have our class party, so children can bring their party clothes in a bag and change at lunch time. On Wednesday at 2-45 the class hope to see you in our room where we will share some festive music and poetry, and you can have a glimpse of some of our artwork.

On Thursday children can bring in games as long as no electricity is involved! We will be tidying up our room, packing everything ready to go home. In the afternoon there will be a certificate assembly. Then that's it for this term. 

I'd like to thank all of the adults who've supported me this term. Mrs Bennett and Mrs Gault, Mrs Wood and Mrs Lochhead have all been amazing. And thank you parents for your encouraging words and support. I look forward to seeing your children raring to go again on TUESDAY 7TH JANUARY. 

I wish you all a peaceful and Happy Christmas.

Mr. Pritchard

Dear parents of Emerald Class,

We invite you to our classroom on Wednesday December 18th at 2-45 for a small Christmas celebration. We’ll share our Christmas music and show off some of our art work from this term. We look forward to seeing you.

Mr Pritchard and Emerald Class.

Monday December 9th

In english this week we follow the story of a robin trying to find its winter home. Using a short video as our starter, we will polish our story writing and descriptive writing skills. In maths we are continuing our work on multiplication and division. We will continue with our Christmas art projects and we'll be woorking hard to prepare for the Carol concert at the church next week. 

best wishes,

Mr Pritchard

Monday December 2nd

Advent is here, and now we are preparing for our carol concert for the last week of term. Art week went very well, we are in the middle of making our recorder cases, learning running stitch, back stitch and blanket stitch, and our oil pastel works look amazing. Friendship day was lovely as always, with the children split up and spending the morning in different classrooms, working together to help make our building look festive in the run up to Christmas. 

This week in maths we are looking at multiplication and division, learning how to multiply and divide by multiples of 10. In english lessons we continue to hear Old Testament stories. We reach the story of Noah's ark this week. We wil be learning how to describe setting carefully using a range of sentence starters. We will also be learning about clauses and trying to distinguish main and subordinate clauses.

best wishes,

Mr Pritchard

Monday November 25th

This week is ART WEEK, and we will be exploring the world of oil pastels, colour mixing  and fabric. We'll be making recorder cases, and we'll explore the art of Silvia Silberzweig and Paul Klee. Thursday is friendship day, when children fro all classes work together to make our school look Christmassy. We will continue maths lessons, working on solving addition and subtraction two step problems. 

On Friday we go to the forest. 

There will be no homework set this week.

best wishes,

Mr Pritchard

Monday November 18th

This week in english lessons we continue to hear old testament stories and legends, and learn about writing in the role of  different characters. We will continue working on descriptive writing and continue to develop our understanding of paragraphs..

In maths we have tackled column addition and have moved on to column subtraction. We will continue with this in this coming week, looking also at estimation, and developing skills in checking our work.

In science we are looking at a range of wind, string and percussion instruments and looking at how sound is produced. We are exploring how to change pitch and volume. 

best wishes,

Mr Pritchard

Monday November 11th

Our first week back went very well, and the children showed themselves off at their very best while OFSTED inspectors were here on Tuesday and Wednesday.

In maths this week we make a start looking at addition, reviewing the strategies we've previously used, and moving to the use of column addition. We will the do the same for subtraction. 

In english we will continue to use old testament stories to inspire our writing. We will be learning about adjectives, similes and metaphor, about how to use speech punctuation and how to use paragraphing. 

In our science lessons we will be finding out more about how sounds are produces, and how this relates to a range of musical instruments.

See below for this week's spellings. Maths homework is on paper sheet which I'll hand out on Monday. 

Children have all now been given information on how to log into the 'times tables rockstars' website. On Friday they should all have brought home an information sheet with user names and passwords. 

best wishes,

Mr Pritchard

Monday November 4th

Welcome back! This week in maths the class will be exploring issues around money. Throughout the week we'll learn about different aspects of money including banks, saving and  budgeting. We'll be exploring scenarios where we need to think carefully and make choices. 

In our english lessons we'll be writing stories and exploring different points of view. We'll also be polishing our descriptive writing skills . I will be telling the children many of the fantastic  ancient stories from the old testament and from Hebrew legends. This week we begin with stories of the creation.

In science we will be learning about sound, and how different sounds are produced. We'll listen to many mystery sounds, and try to recognise them . This week will explore singing glasses and musical bottles and learn how a glockenspiel produces sounds. 

Maths homeworks are only available as paper copies this half term.

best wishes,

Mr Pritchard

Monday October 21st

In this last week before half term we will continue and finish our work on houses around the world. We will learn about log cabins, Venetian palaces, French chateaus and half timbered houses such as you can see in East Grinstead. Along the way we will continue to develop our explanatory skills. 

In maths we finish our work on ordering and rounding larger numbers and attempt a range of problems using them. Our weaving projects continue, with children gaining real confidence in this detailed work. 

Parent consultations are on Wednesday and Thursday after school and our Junior harvest celebration is at the Baptist church on Wednesday morning. I look forward to seeing you there. 

best wishes,

Mr Pritchard

Monday October 14th

In english lessons this week we will be practising our explanatory skills. Through our houses topic we will be trying to find reasons for the great variety of types of houses around the world, and we will be learning how to write careful explanations. Along the way we will learn about adobe houses in Mexica, houses on stilts in Chile and yurts in Mongolia. In clay modelling we will try to make an adobe village. Our weaving project is continuing nicely, with children really developing their confidence with this fine work. In maths we  be learning how to round numbers , and we will continue to use the skills we're developing with place value to solve a range of problems.

Do remember that parent consultations are coming up the week after this. Do sign up if you haven't already. I look forward to seeing you then.

best wishes,

Mr Pritchard

Monday October 7th

We had a great day in the forest on Friday. Thank you so much Mr Webster and Mrs Quinn for coming along and helping. It's always lovely to see the children so engaged and so happy being 'out in nature'. 

This week in our housebuilding topic we learn about the work of the plumber, the electrician, the plasterer and gardener. Along the way we will learn how to use titles, subtitles, paragraphs, captions and labels in presenting our written work. 

In maths this week we will be ordering and comparing numbers beyond 1000. We will continue our weaving, with some children now at the stage of taking their work off the loom. 

best wishes,

Mr Pritchard

Monday September 30th

This week in english we move away from storytelling and story writing, and start to look at homes and housebuilding. In this first week we will look at how houses are built, and explore how many different people are involved, working together to create a finished home. This week we look at the work of architects, builders, bricklayers, and carpenters. This work will hopefully inspire our english lessons as we learn more about how to write information texts.

In maths we continue to look at place value, learning to recognise the place value of each digit in 4 digit numbers. We will also be learning how to order and compare larger numbers.

Our weaving projects continue, with children now learning how to finish off and remove their weavings from their card loom. We will be using clay to model houses, learning about concave and convex forms. 

On Friday we will spend the day at the Ashdown Forest. Please do let me know if you'd like to help.

best wishes

Mr. Pritchard

Monday September 23rd

 This week in english we have our final week of 'The King of Ireland's Son'. We will continue our work on story writing, and along the way keep working on dialogue, paragraphs, adverbs and description. In maths we are focussing on place value, finding ways to represent 4 digit numbers, and then exploring what happens when we count backwards and include negative numbers. 

We will continue our weaving project using card looms that we set up last week. 

best wishes

Mr Pritchard

Monday September 16th

Dear Parents,

This week we begin a fresh look at place value in maths. We'll investigate multiples of 6, 7, 25 and 1000. We will also be exploring different ways to represent numbers, and be finding ways to find 1,10,100 and 100 more or less than any number. I feel that our maths introduction in the first week went very well, and it's encouraging to hear the children using language such as 'growth mindset, mistakes help you learn, and my brain is growing when I make mistakes and have a go'. One of my favourites, 'It's not speed that is important, but deep thinking', and we'll keep returning to this over the course of this term.

In english lessons we continue using the story of  'The King of Ireland's Son' to inspire our writing. This week we will continue to look at ways to write interesting and varied sentence starters, and we will be creating storyboards, mapping out the plot of a story, and then writing our final story. 

This week we will start our weaving projects, learning how to make 'eyes of God' using wood and wool. We'll then move onto using weaving boards to create more complicated pieces. These activities are fantastic for developing general coordination and detailed hand -eye coordination. The skills we learn here will support our work with drawing more complicated forms, perfecting our handwriting, and developing our thinking skills.

French started last Friday, and lessons will be each Friday morning with Mrs Wood.

Children did well to remember to bring in their first homework on Friday. This week's maths and spelling homework can be found using the link below.

See links below for this term's spelling bee. See also the 'reading stars ' link. Miss Carter has set a new challenge for this term. There are bookmarks and lottery tickets  to win if a child completes all their reading targets this half term (ie read at least 4 times at home each week, and get parents to sign their reading diary). There are also lottery tickets given weekly if a child completes on of the star reading tasks. At half term a prize draw will be held.

On Thursday 19th September there is a Year 3 and 4 parent information session in the school hall at 9am for half an hour. Do come along if you can. It will be for me to say a proper hell, and for you to ask any questions about this new term at school. Of course, there will be no time for detailed talks about your children. If you would like to talk to me about your child please don't hesitate to email me following the link below, or contact the school office.

Best wishes,

Mr Pritchard

Monday September 9th

We had a lovely couple of days starting this new school year. Children are keen to learn and very enthusiastic. I've used string games to 'wake up' our hands and minds to finer detail, and these have proved very popular. 

In this first full week back we will continue our introduction to maths. The aim is to focus on helping the children to see that we can all be good at maths, and we have already learnt that our brain is growing, and that, most importantly, making mistakes is a key to success. Each time we make a mistake our brain makes more connections and grows. Mistakes are great! This week we continue with the theme of making mistakes, and also we'll be considering the power of 'believing in yourself' and the important role this has on our learning. Later in the week we'll be thinking about speed in maths, and learning that 'speed is not important'. We'll finish this series of lessons looking at how we think about maths visually. These activities are taking place across the school in these first days back, and will help children to see that there's much more to maths than getting the 'right' answer!

In English lessons we will continue to use the story 'The King of Ireland's Son' to inspire and inform our work. We have looked again at the need for a confident joined handwriting style, and we then looked at how we can identify and use nouns, verbs and adjectives in our work. This week we will explore adverbs and 'adverbials', dialogue and speech punctuation, similes, and different ways to make our sentence openings have more of a zing.

We will continue our work on speech and poetry, which helps us wake up in the morning, and we are building up our recorder skills with new pieces. Our first philosophy lesson is this Friday, and French also starts this week. 

In PE we are playing team building games- games requiring cooperation and imagination. We have made a start learning about colour families and colour mixing, and this week we'll be working on challenging forms that we'll be drawing, shading, and putting up to start livening up our classroom walls.

The school server is out of action, so I'm unable to provide links to this weeks' homework. However, children will all be given paper copies. Tomorrow they receive spelling homework and maths homework, both should be returned to school on Friday. 

best wishes,

Mr. Pritchard

Thursday September 5th

Dear parents,

Welcome back to a new term in Emerald class!

I hope you had a wonderful summer, and that after the long break your children are ready for new challenges.

Equipment

Children will need an old t- shirt or apron for messy art and craft lessons. They will also need to have their PE kit at school throughout the week. Please, please  ensure your child’s uniform and PE kits are named clearly! This year small pencil cases should contain; a black handwriting pen (not biro), an HB pencil, ruler , sharpener, pritt stick type glue and whiteboard (dry wipe) pen. Children do not need to bring felt tips, coloured pencils or any other ‘glitzy’ pens!

Homework

Spelling homework will be sent home on Mondays and we will test ourselves on the Friday following. Children will also receive a times tables homework.

Please look on our webpage for other homework suggestions that could be completed over this term and returned to school at any time.

Reading

Children should always have a reading book to use at school. Our library has a good range of books, but please encourage your child to use your local library too. Please encourage your child to read at least 5 times a week for about 10 minutes. 

Topics

I will put an overview of the first term’s topics on our class  webpage. As always I can be contacted via email on the link at the bottom of this page. I really appreciate it when you talk to me about your children and I greatly value your support. Please do come to me with any concerns you may have this year-together we can do wonders with our children at this age!

Best wishes,

Mr Pritchard