Welcome to Class 4, 2023-24.

We hope you have all had a wonderful summer break and are ready to try your best, support each other, dream big and learn lots! We are lucky to have Mrs Saunders and Mrs Pearce helping out in Class 4 this year. We have lots of brilliant learning experiences planned so it's going to be an exciting year ahead. 

Here are a few things you need to know for the coming term;

HOMEWORK- We expect you to read, practice spellings and times tables/division facts daily at home. 

Use your red spelling practice book in any way you want to, to help you practice. We will use lots of different strategies in class that you could also use at home. For times tables- use games, songs or the grids. Check DB Primary for details. 

MONDAYS- you will have Mrs Saunders and Mrs Pearce in the morning (I will be in school but will be doing my planning and preparation) and I will be with you for the afternoon.

THURSDAYS PE- Come to school in your PE kit and please make sure you have removed earrings at home and all long hair is tied up (boys too!). 

FRIDAYS- SPELLING TEST AND TIMES TABLES CHECK. New Spelling words will be uploaded to DB and put into your red practice books. Tables/Division grids available on DB. 

Fast Timestable.

The idea of FAST tables is that the children have a maximum of 10 minutes to complete as much of the blank grid as possible. However, they also have the answer grid beside them and are encouraged to use the grid to look up any tables they don't know, filling in the correct answer.  (This works on a similar basis to learning spellings; where we look at the correctly spelt word to help us learn it e.g. LCWC- Look, Cover, Write, Check).   

We use  https://www.online-stopwatch.com/ in class, so the children can record their speed, noting when they finish the grid. Most children will need  the full 10 minutes to begin with and may not complete the entire blank grid. When they reach 10 minutes, they stop even if the grid is incomplete.  Then they need to correct their work and record their score and speed. 

With daily practice at school and at home, children will begin to increase accuracy and speed; completing more of the grid correctly in less time. There is one main rule...children must work down the page doing one column at a time or across the page doing one row at a time. No column or row must be left out- if they don't know that table set, they use the answer grid to fill it in. Use a different grid each day.

The childen have used this method in class last year, so they should know exactly what to do at home too! 

Aim high- Our end goal is to score at least 140/144 in under 4 minutes!

Parent challenge- Mums and Dads can brush up on their tables knowledge too- can you beat your child?