Happy New Year! 

Please find attached to this letter an overview of the exciting learning theme we have planned. For this term, we will be focusing on learning about Robots and Superheroes, from well-known robots and superheroes in books and films to new ones created by the children. We will be reading ‘The Iron Man’ by Ted Hughes as our class book, and combined with our research, this will inspire our own story writing, non-fiction writing, science and design work.

We will be immersing ourselves in the amazing, futuristic world of robotics and all the specific tasks they perform.  Superheroes will lead the way to inspire heroic characters and our own positive impact on our community.

If your child has a book at home based on an aspect of robotics, they are very welcome to bring it in to share with the class to support our learning.

How can you help at home? 

MyMaths

Homework will be mainly linked to MyMaths. MyMaths has tutorials/lessons linked to the homework given, as well as fun games to practise mathematical skills. MyMaths is set every Wednesday and is due on the following Wednesday. This will commence from 12^th January.  Please encourage your child to complete their homework, which can be provided as a paper version on request although the online format is . The children will be able to mark their homework straight away; if your child has scored below 70% they will be expected to try again.

Maths Passports

To support their daily session in school, your child’s Maths Passports should be practiced at least 3 times a week at home. Copies of the children’s passports are sent home when they move to a new one and will also be being stuck into the back of their reading records. Use of the children’s Numbots or TTRockstars account will assist in securing their number facts.  Once they get to the Africa passport, they will need to practice multiplication and division, and you can help by asking tables questions, mixing up the order and asking division facts, for example “How many 5s in 25?” Online resources to help include a very good site called “Hit the Button” where they can practice multiplication, division addition and subtraction facts. Targets, guidance sheets and links to online games can be found on the school website http://www.lydbrook.gloucs.sch.uk/curriculum/maths_passports/maths_passports.html .

Reading

Please listen to your child read at least three times a week to support your child's progress for the Class Reading Challenge.  Their three reads must be from their school scheme book, although enjoying other stories and types of texts in encouraged to create a real love of reading.  It is also really beneficial to have times where you read to, and enjoy stories with your child.

Please ask them a range of questions about what they have read to check their understanding, examples of questions can be found on their ‘Totally Pawsome Reading Gang’ bookmark which was sent home with their new reading record in September. We will keep a close check on the reading books and check their home/ school books. To develop your child’s fluency we will ask them to practise re-reading some of the pages. This can also be done at home. The book will be changed regularly once your child has developed good understanding and has improved their rate and accuracy.  Children are encouraged to put their reading book and record together in the book box as they come into the class in the morning, if their book needs changing.

The children’s reading record books will be checked every Monday for their three reads a week, please ensure an adult signs for each of the reads.

Copies of the children’s log-in details for MyMaths are in their reading record books. 

Equipment. Please can the children continue to bring the minimum into school.

PE kit: Please ensure that your child is wearing their PE kit every Thursday, that earrings are removed (if the child can’t do it themselves) and long hair is tied back.

Outdoor trainers: A pair of trainers for outdoor sessions to be kept in your child’s locker all week.

Water bottle: Please ensure that your child has their named water bottle filled with water at the beginning of each day.

Reading books and Home School Contact Book. These items should be brought into school every day.

Personal equipment: Each child is provided with a school pencil case with all the equipment they need for learning; therefore, personal pencil cases and equipment from home are not necessary.

Staff in Magpies

Mrs Fellows will be teaching the children on Mondays, Tuesdays and Wednesdays, with Miss Sprawson in the class on Thursdays and Fridays.   We also have Mrs Townsend and Mrs Atanasova, as teaching assistants, in class supporting the children’s learning.  Wednesday afternoon, the class will enjoy French and RE with Mrs Russell.

Finally, if you ever have any concerns or questions, please do not hesitate to continue to contact us via email, magpies@lydbrook.gloucs.sch.uk, or by phoning the school.

We look forward to working with you and your children this term,

Miss Sprawson and Mrs Fellows

After some recent training, Magpie class have been using the method of 'Talk for writing' to develop our creative and non-fiction writing.

The core of the method involves children learning a model text, which includes language, sentence structure, grammatical features and text style that is to be covered that term.  

The text is learnt through regular practice, as well as prompts from a story map (pictures to remind the children of key points within each sentence) and actions, which help the children to learn but also highlight key language features.

The children have used this method to learn a fairy tale, news report and an information text so far, but we are now using the website to share the current story with you.  This means the children can learn and practice the story at home and hopefully we can record the story (with actions) when learnt to share with you on this website.

Below is a photo of our current story map (please excuse my drawings) and recordings of the story being read in five parts linked to the five paragraphs.

It does take time to learn but any support and encouragement will help the process.

Many thanks for your time and help!

Enjoy!