What a wonderful week we had in Maple last week! The children have already begun to settle into their new classroom, learning the new routines and working hard. It is a big step, moving from year 2 to year 3, with lots of new things to learn and, most importantly, the need to be more independent. The children have all embraced this, and I am very proud of them all.

This week in English, we will be starting to look at instructions, both following them and writing them. To do this, our learning will be focused on the book ‘How to Wash a Woolly Mammoth’, by Michelle Robinson. We will begin by reading/sharing the book and discussing the story. The children will look at some non-fiction facts about mammoths and then move on to using imperative (or bossy) verbs.

Whole Class reading this week will be an extract from ‘The Reluctant Dragon’, by Kenneth Grahame.  We will read the extract together to build familiarity, and then we will use questions to discuss the narrative and language features. The children will then complete independent work to confirm their understanding of the text.

In Maths this week we will be continuing to focus on place value, revisiting some year 2 concepts, including representing numbers to 100, and tens and ones using addition. Times tables will be an ongoing feature, with the children completing a times table challenge each week.

In science this week, we will start looking at Animals, including humans, investigating skeletons, joints and dietary requirements. We will also start the ‘Time and Place’ unit about Stone Age, always a very popular subject!  

Mrs Banner will be teaching our RE on Friday, and will be continuing with the unit, People of God and what it is like to follow God, using the story of Noah. Mrs Banner will also do a spelling test, computing and elements of the maths curriculum.

Maple class have PE on Mondays and swimming on Wednesday mornings. I was so impressed with the children during their first swimming lesson last week. They all showed great determination during the initial assessments. From this week, the children have been put into groups, depending on the result last week and guidance from parents/carers. However, there will be lots of movement between groups in the first few weeks, partly as the children gain in confidence and partly due to advice from the swimming pool staff. If you feel your child has been placed in the wrong group, or have any questions regarding this, please do email! Many thanks to those parents/carers who responded to the request for this information, it is not too late to let me know what stage your child is at in swimming. Each week, they will need swimming costume/trunks, a towel, swimming cap - this is required by the swimming pool, and goggles (although these are optional). There will also be occasions when we do additional PE sessions, so please can the children have their PE kit in school all week.

Homework will commence this week and Reading Records should have been sent home Friday (these will generally be changed on a Monday and Thursday). We would ask however, that children bring their reading books and Reading Records in to school each day and that they aim to read daily, ideally with an adult – details of this can then be recorded in the Reading Record. The books coming home initially, will be based on advice from the Year 2 team. However, we do understand that children progress at different rates during the summer holidays, so pleased do contact me if you feel your child’s book is either too easy or too difficult. Homework will be sent home most Tuesdays and will need to be back in school by the following Monday.

I am always happy to answer any questions you may have, so please do contact me if you have any queries, using the class email address:

maple@st-barnabas.kent.sch.uk

Best wishes

Mrs Smallcombe and the Maple Team