Marvellous maths!
Over the past couple of weeks, we’ve been working on our knowledge of place value, rounding and exchanging up to 1000.
Ask your child to explain to you how to add or subtract 10, 100 or 1000. Request a tricky one which involves exchanging. We’ve been rehearsing our explanations.
Living and Learning – I can take a safe risk
For our Living and Learning sessions this week, we’ve discussed the importance of stepping out of our comfort zone and putting our hands up to answer questions – even if we might be wrong.
Our classrooms are a safe place to make mistakes so that we can learn from where we might be going wrong. Our brains work harder and grow stronger when we try to find the correct answer and learn from the mistakes we make.
This is just one example of taking a safe risk at school.
Outside of school, other safe risks might be crossing a road, stroking an animal or learning a new skill. It’s all about the pros and cons and accepting the outcomes.
Daily mile!
Each day, between lessons, we take a brain break to do our daily mile. The children really look forward to stretching their legs! The change in activity really supports the children’s ability to concentrate in the following lesson. We love it! Fingers crossed for more dry weather!
Maps and Maths
Map Skills
Not only are we learning to recognise OS map symbols, but children practised an extra maths skill by measuring the distance between two places on a map.
We studied a map of our local area and identified places of interest: our school, the nearest petrol station, picnic areas and parks. The children found particular place names quite amusing, such as Bog Lane and Flying Horse Farm!
To support our learning of our local area, we used a fantastic website called Digimaps for School.
Where in the … Yorkshire County?
Map Skills
As part of our Where in the World topic, the children are learning about cities in the UK. Today, we looked at large OS maps of cities local to us in Yorkshire – York and Leeds.
What can you find?
The children enjoyed finding many physical and human features on the maps. Children enjoyed being able to spot their village and street where they lived!
We’re currently working on a piece of artwork using OS map symbols, so watch this space!
Bringing our class novel to life!
Reading
We had lots of fun today acting out some scenes and situations from our class novel, Around the World in 80 Days. It is the children’s version of the classic by Jules Verne – and we’re loving it!
Role-play games really help the children understand the character’s thoughts and feelings. Today, we used ‘Conscience Alley’ technique, where the children helped our character, Passpartout, decide whether he should tell Phileas Fogg about the policeman who is trying to arrest him!
Will Fogg make it around the world in time? What a dilemma!
Lots of energy today when playing the role of our story characters.
You can try something similar at home. Ask your child to try and understand the thoughts and feelings of a character in one of their books. What would they do in a similar situation? What would the character say?
It really does help their understanding.
Class 3/4F
I’m delighted to update you all with how well the children have settled into our routines and the new school year. Everyone knows just what to do and when!
Living and Learning – I greet people politely.
To start the year, we always establish our rules of Circle Time. Our Year 3/4 children decide on what’s important in our class Living and Learning sessions. Here’s what they came up with …
Our statement of the week -‘I greet people politely’, was a chance to discuss why it is important to be friendly. The children decided that a friendly school was a happy school. We collected our thoughts.
Poetry competition!
This Saturday is the annual Scholes Village Show.
All the children are entering the handwriting competition. They’ve tried their best – now it’s up to the judges!
Good luck everyone!
Living and Learning – I cope with change
Friday 13 July
Yesterday, our children all met their new teachers for September. They had a full morning of activities with their new class and came back buzzing with enthusiasm.
Today, during our Living and Learning circle time, we talked about the emotions we felt and how we could deal with them, ranging from worry and frustration to excitement and relief. The children were quick to acknowledge that they experienced a whole range of emotions as it was hard to identify just one.
The children could talk openly about their feelings and are very much looking forward to the change in September.