Class information
Good afternoon everyone and a warm welcome back to school. We are looking forward to the school year ahead and have enjoyed listening to all the amazing stories from the children about their summer holiday memories. It sounds like you have all been very busy!
Our topic this term is the Vikings and more information about this will be available on our class page soon. Monday and Tuesday is taught by Mrs Thomas and Wednesday, Thursday and Friday is taught by Ms Reeves. We are also extremely lucky to welcome Mrs Smith, our new LSA, and Mrs Walker to Kingfishers class.
Reading books
Reading has many benefits. It can help children escape to fantasy worlds or become friends with new characters. It helps with memory, communication skills, imagination and focus. It can help with mental health as well as help to exercise your brain. In Kingfishers we continue to promote reading skills and a love for reading.
The children will bring their reading book home every evening to share with you. Please could you sign their reading diary to say they have read to an adult and record the page number. We will continue with the Reading Vipers system. Please can you ask your child at least one reading viper question when they have finished their reading session. If anyone needs copies of the reading vipers again please just ask and we will arrange this for you.
Reading challenge
In order to continue promoting the children’s love for reading we will be setting them a reading challenge each half term. The children will have a target that they have to achieve by a set time. This will be a number of times that the whole class needs to read. Each Friday the reading diaries will be taken in to count up the amount of times the children have read to an adult and then added to the ongoing amount. If they achieve the target then they will have an end of term reward. In the past we have had a movie morning with snacks and drinks, a water fight and a games afternoon! The children take this very seriously so forgive us if they ask to read at very inconvenient times.
PE
PE is on Wednesday and the children need to bring in their PE bag to leave in the cloakroom please. Earrings cannot be worn in PE lessons so please can you make sure your child can easily remove them by themselves as we are unable to do so. It may be worth keeping a small pot in their bag for them to put their earrings in once they have removed them. Many thanks on this issue.
Swimming will continue on Thursdays and starts this week on Thursday 14th September. Please can the children bring in their swimming bag to the classroom on the day as we have little room in the cloakroom to store them throughout the week unfortunately.
Homework
Homework will go out on a Friday and be due in the following Thursday. It will be based on the learning the children have been doing throughout the week and will alternate between Maths and English. Spellings will be a part of their homework with their tests on Thursdays.
TTRockstars
At the start of June all year 4 pupils in the country take part in the Multiplication Timestables Check where they will be tested on all tables up to 12. In Kingfishers class we use TTRockstars both in and out of class. The children will continue to use their log ins from last year and will need to complete a minimum of 10 minutes on TTRockstars outside of school as part of their homework. In class we will be completing a timestables check everyday. I will stick a copy of the log in details into the front of their reading diaries this week in case anyone has misplaced theirs. Please can we ask that you practice all times tables up to 12 with your children as regularly as possible. A poster is on the window that will keep you updated on which tables we are focusing on that week.
Pencil cases.
This is always a difficult area for us as we know how excited the children are about bringing in their own pencil cases. Due to issues in the past we have unfortunately had to stop the children from having them on their desks. We will, however, allow them to keep their pencil cases in their bags for use in the afternoons if needed.
Dojos
We continue to use the Dojo system in class. The children are awarded Dojos throughout the day and these are added to the system. Please do not get disheartened if your child does not appear to be receiving many as a lot of the children like to swap their Dojos for Table of the Week points to help them win Table of the Week. Any messages you need to get to us can be easily done through Dojo as it is checked regularly throughout the day.
We look forward to working alongside you all this year.
Mrs Thomas and Ms Reeves