Ash Class

September 2023 Welcome Letter

Welcome to Ash class for the 2023/2024 academic year!  We hope you all had a lovely Summer holidays and are raring to go!  We have an exciting year ahead of us with a lot of new topics and activities planned.  This letter is to let you know the general routine in Ash and introduce my colleagues who will be working in the class.

Every morning both English and Maths will be taught.  The foundation subjects will be taught in the afternoons.  On Monday afternoon, Calvin Moorhead will teach a session of P.E.to the children and Mrs Kenyon will teach R.E.   For the Year 3s, I will be teaching their second weekly P.E. session on Thursday afternoon, but on the same afternoon, the Year 4s will be starting swimming lessons for their second P.E. session at Sedbergh School swimming pool.  More details about the swimming will be communicated to you via the ParentsApp. Also, Mrs Phipps will be working alongside me, throughout the week, working either with individual children or groups of children.

Children change for P.E at school.  The P.E. kit includes blue/black shorts, white T-shirt, trainers, spare socks and when the weather gets colder and wetter, tracksuit bottoms, fleece and coat.  Please could you ensure all items of clothing are clearly named.  Long hair must be tied back and all jewellery removed.  If earrings cannot be removed, they must be covered with tape, which needs to be provided please.

Your child will bring home his/her reading book each night, which they need to return to school each day.  It would be greatly appreciated if they could read out loud to an adult on a regular basis, with you asking questions about what they have read to check comprehension.  A reading diary will also be given to your child, where you are free to write comments regarding their reading. If your child reads individually to an adult at school, a comment maybe written in their diary.  Also, during the week a group guided reading session is timetabled where your child has the opportunity to read out loud, but it is not recorded in their reading diary. Reading is the most important skill in life and once it is mastered the world opens up, so it is our aim, with your support, to encourage the love of getting totally immersed in a book!

This term our topic will be “Stone Age to Iron Age”.  I am so looking forward to teaching this topic, and hope the children find learning about this prehistorical period of history fascinating.  I am eager to see their interesting facts they have researched during the Summer holiday.  Shortly, your child will be bringing home a Home-Learning book with a list of tasks connected with both the History topic but also the Science topics. This year, we would like your child to complete a task every two weeks, and bring in their work to share and tick off their name from a register in the classroom.  The aim of these tasks is for parents to work together with their child and talk about the learning linked to the topic.  There is one piece of home-learning (make a Stone Age peg man/woman) that needs to be completed for the first week back after half-term w/c 30.10.23.

For our Art project this half-term, we are studying an artist called Lee John Phillips who sketches items from his grandad’s shed.  We would like to replicate his work and ask for any tools (woodwork/gardening) from sheds that we can sketch, or tools/items from sewing boxes or any crafts/farming tools.  It would also be great if you could photograph your shed/toolbox/sewing box, plus contents.  I will be talking to the children more about this in class. Thank you.

In addition to their Home-Learning, your child will be bringing home a fortnightly list of spellings – for example, your first one will be for Week 1 (challenge on 15.9.23 and Week 2 (challenge on 22.9.23). Please put the sheet on the fridge or noticeboard so that you can practise the spelling rules on a daily basis for each week.  The first half term, we revisit spelling rules covered so far, plus consolidate our learning of the common exception words, so that the children are building on accuracy before moving onto the actual Year 3 and Year 4 spelling curriculum.  On the list, you will see that some words are in bold; these words are on the Year 3/Year 4 Statutory Spelling list, which you will find in your child’s Home Learning book.  Times tables will also be included in their home-learning in preparation for a spelling and times tables challenge every Friday morning.  Year 4s need to be able to recall the times table facts up to 12×12, ready for their Multiplication Tables Check (MTC) in June 2024.

Later on in the term there will be an evening for you to discuss how your child has settled in to Ash class, but if you do have any queries or problems regarding your child, you can either message me via Dojo, email on the class email address, ash@sedbergh-pri.cumbria.sch.uk or phone the office.    Additional events during the term will be put on the school website or communicated to you via the School App or letter.

I am very much looking forward to working with your child this year and eager to see them try their very best and enjoy their learning.

Kind regards,

Mrs Davies and Mrs Phipps.