24th February Weekly Review

Thank you to all who came to support the children with their Class Assembly this morning. It was lovely to see so many of you and I’m sure you will agree; Maple Class did very well to present their learning from last term! I am extremely proud of their achievements and their attitude to learning.

Maple Class children have made a fantastic start to Term 4. Our Topic learning this term is based on a ‘Shake it’ theme – we will be looking at the different states of matter of solids, liquids and gases. This week, for their DT learning, the children have considered the importance of eating five portions of fruit and vegetables a day. They have thought about the different food types and why it might be difficult to maintain a healthy diet. Children then researched and created their own recipe for a ‘smoothie,’ including equipment and the method they would use to make it. Children will be creating their own smoothie soon – I’m sure they will be very keen to tell you all about it!

To link with their DT learning, children learnt about the particles within a solid, liquid and a gas within their Science learning. They considered the states of matter within three different balloons; one with frozen water, one with water and one with air. Children learnt that the particles within each state of matter are different and that there can be a reversible effect – for example ice, when melted, changes from a solid to a liquid state.

For their Maths learning this week, both Year 3 and 4 Maple children have been learning about units of measurement. On Monday, Year 4 estimated how many metres the length of the playground measured. They also estimated the distance in metres between Cherry Class and Holly Class. The children then accurately measured the distances to compare them with their estimates. I was impressed with their estimating skills! Children have also learnt that the distance around the outside of a 2D shape is perimeter. They have calculated the total perimeter of different shapes – Year 3 have used regular quadrilateral shapes including rectangles and squares; Year 4 have also measured the perimeter of rectilinear shapes and shapes with missing measurements.

Literacy learning this week has focused on our new text for this term, ‘George’s Marvellous Medicine.’ Children have created their own adjectives based on the text to use within their own compound and complex sentences. They also created their own poster of ‘word classes’ to demonstrate their understanding of a noun, verb, adverb and adjective, using our focus text as inspiration for their example sentences. For example, one of the sentences within a poster was ‘George’s Grandma, who was a wicked, selfish old woman, sat silently frowning in her chair.’ This sentence shows a relative clause, an adverb, adjectives, nouns and verbs.

Our PE focus this term is ‘tennis.’ This week, the children learnt how to aim and catch a ball accurately into a space. As the term progresses, they will learn about racket control, footwork and anticipation of their opponent’s strategy.

Reminders:

Next Thursday, 2^nd March is World Book Day. Children are invited to come to school dressed as a book character.

Swimming is on as usual next Monday. All children are expected to attend as swimming lessons form part of the National Curriculum. If there is any reason why your child cannot attend, please inform me via email or telephoning the office first thing on Monday morning.

I hope you have a lovely weekend!

Mrs Chapman