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Times Tables and RockStars Relaunch!
As you may have heard us say many times before, knowing key facts such as times tables are at the heart of being a successful Mathematician.
We’ve seen a lot more children log onto Rockstars over the last couple of weeks and it is great to see! After such a long time off school, some children have forgotten or have slowed down when recalling their times tables facts. RockStars is a brilliant program for helping children to learn and practise their times tables independently. By now, your child’s class teacher should have given them their log in details in case they have forgotten them, however they are exactly the same as last year.
To help promote RockStars, we will be announcing ‘RockStar Headlines’ in our weekly Celebration Worship on Friday which will celebrate achievements such as fastest speeds, those who have spent the most time playing on RockStars, how our school is comparing to other local schools and which year groups win the battles!
These were the RockStar headlines from last week:
Rockstars Headlines
Most time playing RockStars:
Year 3: Arthur D, Bethany C, Chloe M
Year 4: Liam J, James S, Iremide A
Year 5: Craig M, Charlie D, Samuel W
Year 6: Ollie R, Joby B, Bela F
A special well done to Liam in 4G who spent the most time practising his times tables on Rockstars in the entire school!
Year group who played the most:
Year 4!
Our ranking compared to other schools:
We have the 7th fastest average speed out of 30 local schools – well done St Mark’s! Can we get to 6th place next week I wonder…?
Battle of the Bands:
Year 4 beat Year 3 as Year 4 spent more time playing
Year 6 beat Year 5 as Year 6 spend more time playing
Next week, we’ll be announcing some different ‘RockStar headlines’ so encourage the children to log on and keep playing! We recommend spending around half an hour per week but some children may benefit from longer or some other activities to support them. If you are having any problems with logging on, please let your child’s class teacher know.
Learning and Testing Times Tables
In class, we have been busy designing some activities to help the children learn their times tables. We are also testing them on a regular basis and have been checking their recall right from the 2 times tables. At Parents’ Evening, you can talk to your child’s class teacher about how your child is getting on with their times tables compared to expectations. The National Curriculum expectations are:
Children should know their multiplication and division facts for the 2, 5 and 10 times tables by the end of Year 2.
Children should know their multiplication and division facts for the 3, 4 and 8 times tables by the end of Year 3.
Children should know their multiplication and division facts for the 6, 7, 9, 11 and 12 times tables by the end of Year 4.
In our school system, we have split these tables into sets and the children will receive a certificate when they pass their Ruby and Emerald award. Once they complete their Diamond set, a certificate will be awarded to them in Celebration Worship as this is such an accomplishment!
Once children know all their times tables, we have lots of further speed challenges that they can have a go at in school.
Year 3 Presentation and Q&As from Key Messages Meeting
Click link Year 3 Curriculum Meeting 2020 for the Power point that was shared.
When will French lessons start?
Our main focus at the moment is English and Maths but we will start French lessons as soon as we can. We are hoping to start these after half term.
When does homework/ reading need submitting?
The children’s homework will have a deadline date on it. As we issue homework weekly in Year 3, we will expect this in on or before the deadline. The reading log was apart of this week’s homework and we will issue a new one as and when to check on reading.
What happens to RP’s?
Across the school, the children all collect RP’s and the class with the most in KS1 and KS2 get reward. They refresh every Friday to Thursday. We also give lots of extra RP’s for Spelling tasks and homework.
Year 6 – Key Information Meeting Slides and questions
Download the slides from tonight’s “key messages” meeting here:
Reminder! – Year 6 Sats Information Evening – Tuesday 24th November, 5:30pm (online)
Will the children have Year R Buddies?
Yes – we are doing our best to work with the Year R team as to how best to allow this. It may be that they ‘meet’ their Year R buddy virtually to begin with as mixing bubbles at the moment isn’t possible. Eventually, we hope that they will meet in real life!!
Being safe in our community – especially building sites
Dear parents and carers,
We received a call from a concerned resident about children playing on building sites and fenced-off areas. Whilst we don’t know who this was or when it was, it would be great if you would be able to talk to your child about being safe outside of school and home, and particularly about avoiding building sites and areas which are fenced off. We will be talking through this with the children in school, but anything you can add would be great.
Many thanks, Mr Applegate