Dear 3EE parents,
Summary of key points:
Contact once a week please, in some form; Mrs Trevitt will be available to respond on Thursdays
You can choose to do the work set on google classroom or use other video lessons - maths and reading are priorities
Work from Mrs Trevitt will publish on Google classroom on Fridays at 3pm
Topics on white rose and power maths will be in a different order to each other
Be forgiving of yourself and your children, this is hard, and thank you
Expansion of key points:
It would be great to hear from pupils at least once a week just so we know they’re ok, either by submitting work, emailing using their school accounts or by parents emailing a short note to Sofia and I. You do not need to submit everything in google classroom - just submit if you/your child finds it helpful. I will endeavour to respond to submitted assignments and any questions or comments from the children either in the comment box or via email. I am working in school on a Thursday supervising yr4-6 and thanks to a brilliant band of children in that mini-class, who generally get on with their tasks, I have a good opportunity to respond to 3EE on that day. Hence Thursday will be my main chance to check 3EE work, help where children are stuck and respond to queries. I will try to respond in-between Thursdays but am also mindful that my 3 yr old has told his Mummy off for spending too long typing on days we’re at home!
If you prefer to use other lessons such as those on BBC bitesize, or there are now video lessons from experienced teachers who have combined to provide resources under the title the Oak National Academy https://www.thenational.academy/ , then please feel free to do so. I will not, in general, be setting work from the oak national academy and BBC bitesize simply because it relies on each child having a device available and I know this is not the case for all children all the time, nor is it desirable for them to be on screens all day. So most of the resources and lessons I put up can be done by printing them on paper if that is preferred. That said, a lot of children engage better if they can have some visual input so I will not be at all offended if you choose to use lessons from alternative sources. I have just checked out an Oak Academy English lesson for reception, with my daughter in mind, and I must say it is fantastic - very engaging video lessons with the opportunity to pause and do short tasks independently during the lesson so check them out if your children are struggling to engage with English tasks. I will also add alternative English DoW activities about the growing bantams and chicks as and when Mrs Elliott shares them, you can do these instead of the English lessons if you find them more interesting.
If you are struggling to fit in the Mon-Wed work I would suggest focusing on maths tasks, as it is harder to pick this up after a gap, and then just keep some reading going.
I know some people like to organise work for the week ahead so I will publish the google classroom assignments on Fridays at 3pm. Also this would give you the option, if you prefer, to spread the core maths lessons out over 5 days Saturday - Wednesday with one a day rather than trying to squeeze in two on Monday and two on Tuesday. You could of course do Mon-Fri as an alternative. At present I am assuming we are not back to school before half term and am preparing work up to that point. Who knows what happens after that!
I am trying to organise well in advance (to better balance my own work/homeschool/child care), however looking at the white rose maths topic plan it will not match the power maths book order. At this point I would suggest you EITHER decide to continue following white rose home learning (or BBC bitesize or Oak academy as they are all on the same plans) OR power maths workbook pages. I cannot plan ahead for power maths AND make it fit the same topic as the white rose for that day anymore (white rose is only published a week in advance). It really doesn’t matter which set of lessons you choose - just stick with the same type if you want to ensure children have covered the whole year 3 curriculum. In essence white rose (and therefore BBC and oak academy) will revise some previous topics alongside new topics and power maths will instead finish looking at new topics and then I will spend a few weeks at the end of term revising previous topics (hopefully we’ll be back in school for this but if not I’ll put it on google classroom). Lastly if you’re looking for further or different challenges I would direct you again to the nrich website. Email me if you have any questions or want advice on what set of maths lessons is best for your own child.
A lot of us feel like we’re not managing any of our roles well and feel we are struggling at being good parents, good employees, good partners, good people! Forgive yourself and others, this is not easy; most of us are tired, fed up of living quite so close to our nearest and dearest (much as we love them), in need of a proper holiday or even just a proper weekend. There is a lot of pressure and despite the news stories that talk about us all having ‘lots more time’ now we’re in lockdown I know that the opposite of this has been our experience in the Trevitt household. “Love is patient and kind… it never gives up” - just make sure you are loving yourself as well as those around you.
With really warm regards, thinking of you and your children often, and many thanks for your support,
Ruthy Trevitt