"Believing you can run a marathon is more than half the battle"

We have been to some exciting places this week. We investigated the rise of Athens and then experienced the Battle of Marathon!! We now know why a marathon is called a marathon and why it is 26 miles long (not the extra bit for the king!). We have been to the Garden of Eden and witnessed Adam and Eve’s moment of indecision! Then we went off to Wales to the homestead of Prince Llewelyn and his faithful hound Gelert - some tears were shed as this was a rather sad legend! We’ve been Rockstars in maths and- we can all round numbers with aplomb! Unfortunately the wind interfered with our PE lesson this morning - my equipment got blown all of the place- chaos!!!! I have to say though the children are working hard and showing a great deal of enthusiasm.

Awards went to: Eli and Lorna-Jane

Reminders: Homework (books or on-line) needs to be handed in on Thursday - thank you.

I have written an important message on the homework page and I have posted it again here below so I catch you all. Being able to learn online and produce our best work at home is (in these times) crucial. Please read on:

Dear parents,

I have spent some time this week sharing the children’s online work. We have been evaluating the quality of it. We have recognized that it needs to reflect the effort we give our work in class. Formatting carefully and presenting the work with care is extremely important and we looked at some great examples (well done Jessica). We have also looked carefully at what the teacher sees on the platforms we use to support learning. On Purple mash we have discussed and how the teacher will be marking written work in the future (oral and written feedback through recorded messages). We have also looked at how IXL sends data to me. It shows me which children have mastered a unit and which specific questions caused a problem and for whom. This allows me to feed this information into a future lesson. It also alerts me to children who are inactive. We have also explored TTRockstars a new maths platform to help the children master those tricky multiplication and division facts- see this weeks homework.

The homework page will look similar to the “Lockdown Learning”, we became so used to. In the future we may have to close the class for two weeks - however the children will still be able to follow my lessons as I film them and share them on our Home Learning page and set work through our website and online platforms.

Being independent and valuing home learning has never been more important. I want to support you as much as possible and for the children to feel how the lessons are blending together online and in class.

Have a lovely weekend - Mrs H xxx