I am so impressed with how quickly the children have settled into their new classroom! There are lots of new routines to learn and lots of new ways of doing things, but they have all embraced this, and I am very proud of them all.

In English this week, we will continue to base our learning on the book, The Artist, by Ed Vere, a delightful book about a brave little artist who shares her creativity with the world. The children will be writing their thoughts and ideas, finishing some artwork and building on creating their own stories, based on the text.

Our Whole Class Reading this week will be about Louis Braille, with the children discussing the vocabulary and answering comprehension questions, both as a group, in pairs and independently.

In maths the main focus will be Place Value, revisiting some of the year two concepts before moving on to the year three steps. By checking understanding of the year two concepts, the children will have all the necessary underpinning knowledge moving forward.

We will begin our topic work this week, investigating what is meant by prehistoric and considering what we already know about the Stone Age.

In science, we will start by identifying a grouping rocks, whilst in computing, we will begin learning about computer networking.

Mrs Johnson will be teaching the children RE on a Wednesday, starting this week with People of God - Make clear links between the story of Noah and the idea of covenant.

PE is on a Monday and Friday this term, and we have already begun the Tag Rugby unit, last week having lots of fun with some of the basics of the game. We will develop this further this week. Please ensure your child has their full PE kit in school.

Reading records will be coming home this week and, ideally, the children should read daily to an adult. If you feel a book sent home is either too hard or too easy, however, please do get in touch. The levels will initially be based on the advice from the Year two team.

If you have any questions, at any point in the year, please email the class email: maple@st-barnabas.kent.sch.uk. For any urgent messages, please email the main office email.

Kind regards

Mrs Smallcombe and the Maple Team