English: The Magic of Blue John

This week, we put on our author hats and completed a brilliant narrative based on the story Blue John. The children used the prompt of the stone's creation to practice some fantastic descriptive writing. We had great fun examining different crystals and gems to inspire their writing.

We focused on several key features to make their writing shine:

• Fronted Adverbials: We used these to start sentences and add variety, timing, and excitement. Example: Deep beneath the thunderous waves,
• Expanded Noun Phrases: The children successfully added detailed adjectives to make their descriptions much richer. Example: The magnificent, shimmering blue and purple stone was finally formed.
• Direct Speech: We brought the Queen of Darkness to life by using inverted commas when writing her warning to the child she created.
• Alliteration: The use of repeating sounds made the description of the precious stone sound almost poetic! Example: The fish ducked, darted and dived through the swaying seaweed.

RE

In Religious Education, we explored the important concept of Seva, which means selfless service. We discussed how people of different faiths help their communities without expecting anything in return. Following this, the children developed their own creative ideas for an act of service we could undertake as a class. Ideas ranged from tidying the school grounds to creating welcome packs for new students—a wonderful display of empathy and community spirit!

Maths: Tackling Arithmetic and Reasoning

This week was all about assessing our progress in Maths! The children faced arithmetic and reasoning assessment papers. They showed great perseverance in tackling multi-step problems and enjoyed the challenge of applying their knowledge of place value, multiplication, and fractions. The focus now shifts to reviewing any tricky areas to ensure everyone is confident as we move forward!

 Learning Means the World: Introducing Democracy

Our Learning Means the World focus this week has been fascinating! We focused on democracy and what it means to be a good citizen. The highlight was forming our very own political parties!

• Children worked in groups to create a party name, a logo, and, most importantly, a manifesto describing what they stand for.
• They discussed why they would make a good political leader, focusing on qualities like fairness, communication, and listening skills.

PE

In PE, our focus moved to hockey. We've been working hard on fundamental skills:

• Passing: Learning the correct push-pass technique to send the ball accurately to a teammate.
• Controlling the Ball: Using the stick to trap and receive a pass successfully.

The children have shown fantastic teamwork and spatial awareness on the pitch!

Guided Reading

We continued our journey with Ted Hughes' classic, The Iron Man. Our Guided Reading sessions culminated in the task of writing our own final chapter. The biggest challenge? Trying to work out what the Iron Man's stupendous idea was! The creativity was incredible, with children designing everything from intergalactic peace treaties to a spectacular conflict in the sky. Their imaginative responses were a joy to read!

Our class librarians this week were Sienna and Kai. Sienna read a book she brought from home called ‘My Family and Other Animals’, which she highly recommended! Thank you for sharing this with us!

This week your child will bring home a letter with what they will need to wear under their costumes for the Christmas Performance. Please bring these to school in a named carrier bag by Thursday 4^th of December.

Key dates:

Dress rehearsal (all costumes must be in school!) Monday 8^th December

Christmas Performance: 2pm and 5.30pm Tuesday 9^th December. Y4 children to be at Holy Trinity Church at 5pm and Y3 children to be at church 5.15pm.

Christmas Party Wednesday 17^th December. Children are welcome to come to school in festive clothes!