Monday 1st June

Hello everyone, and welcome to the second half of the summer term!

This is usually my favourite time of year in school - there is so much going on, the weather is usually glorious (and I am very good at finding excuses to take lessons outside when the sun is shining!), and we normally have some exciting day trips and sports events to look forward to.  This year it's going to be rather different, but that's all the more reason to make sure we make the most of it. 

I have updated the 3V Google Drive with your suggested home learning activities for this week - our topic this week is 'Around the World' and there are lots of different ideas for you to choose from.  I have also included some extra literacy and maths resources for you, so you can keep brushing up your skills. Try to read every day if you can: it doesn't have to be a story book - you can read non-fiction books, or a newspaper or magazine.  Why not find a shady spot to read outside or even build a reading den in the garden this week while the weather is so fine?

As you may know, children in Reception and Year 1 are allowed to come back into school from this week, so all the teachers will be spending more time in school from now on.  This means that I might not be so quick to spot your emails and reply to them, so please don't think I'm ignoring you if it seems to be taking me ages to respond.  It has been so lovely to hear from so many of you over the weeks!

Take care, and stay safe as always,

Mrs Vaqueiro

Friday 22nd May

Good morning!

Believe it or not, today is technically the last day of the half term - you've managed a whole half term of home learning (plus a couple of weeks before Easter too!) - congratulations!  I certainly didn't imagine back in March that we would all still be at home for this long!

As next week is the half term holiday, I won't be setting up a school work folder for next week in the Google Drive, but you can always dip into any of the other activities if you fancy them.

After half term, it looks as though things may start to return very gradually to normal, and I will be in school much more often than I am now, looking after and teaching the children who are beginning to return to school.  I will still be setting work for 3V to do at home, but I may not be able to respond to emails very quickly during the school day, so please don't think I am ignoring you if it seems to be taking me ages to reply! 

As it's my turn to go into school today to look after those children who are still able to attend, I will leave you with some ideas to help you spend some time outside and do something artistic at the same time, by making pictures from the natural resources that you may find outside either in the garden or on a walk.  If you follow this link, you'll find lots of inspiration for artworks large and small!  If you are choosing flowers to pick, please make sure you check with an adult first (we don't want mum and dad's prize peonies being sacrificed without permission!).

Take care and look after yourselves and each other,

Have a great half term,

Mrs Vaqueiro

Thursday 21st May

Hello everyone!

I hope you are all keeping well and enjoying the glorious weather this week!

Being in lockdown has inspired creativity in people in many different ways - lots of people have taken up new hobbies or rediscovered old ones, painting and drawing pictures, playing music or writing stories and poetry.  This has been happening all over the world.  

During the lockdown in Italy, writer Eithne Gallagher was inspired to write a short story for children to help them through challenging times.  I've put a copy of her story - 'The Cloud-Swing' - in this week's resources for you to read through, along with some suggested ideas for your own activities inspired by the story.  I hope you enjoy them!

With best wishes,

Mrs Vaqueiro

Wednesday 20th May

Good morning everyone!

It's going to be very warm today - I'm hoping to spend some time out in the garden before it gets too hot.  If you'd like to take your learning outside today, there are plenty of outdoor learning ideas in the Google Drive, but please remember not to overdo the sunshine!

It's Mental Health Week this week, and the theme for this year is Kindness.  We can all benefit from being kinder to one another - the quote above is one you might recognise, as it is in our classroom as a daily reminder that it is massively important to choose kindness in our responses to others whenever we can.  

We can show kindness in all sorts of ways - starting with a smile, an offer of help, or taking a deep breath and not snapping back when that would be the easiest response!  I've put a list of 'Random Acts of Kindness' in the Mindfulness folder - maybe you could choose one to try today?

Take care, and as always, try to be kind to one another.

Mrs Vaqueiro

Tuesday 19th May

Hello everyone!

I hope you are all still well and keeping safe at home.

Being at home and away from friends and the wider family can be tough; we are all missing seeing our friends and relatives who live elsewhere, and for children especially it can be strange and unsettling to see everyone so worried about the spread of Covid-19.

With that in mind, Oxford Owl have introduced some free e-books designed to support children's mental health during this time. Winnie and Wilbur Stay Home features Winnie the Witch learning how to make the most of her time at home, while Everybody Worries deals with children's general and specific worries about Coronavirus.  

It can also be helpful for children to talk through their worries, and spend some time in calm reflection. At school, we use the Peace Out series of guided meditations to encourage mindfulness and relaxation, alongside calming activities such as colouring and artwork.  I have created a new Mindfulness folder in the Google Drive with colouring sheets and activities cards for you to use to support your family's mental health both now and going forwards, as we look towards the possibility of children returning to school for part of the summer term.

Take care of yourselves,

Best wishes

Mrs Vaqueiro

Monday 18th May

Hello and welcome to another week of home learning!  

I hope you are all keeping well and looking after one another at home.  I have updated the 3V Google Drive with another week's suggested home learning activities, and will keep adding to this throughout the week as usual.  

Have you tried out the online resources from the Oak National Academy yet?  The Year 3 lessons can be accessed here: Oak National Academy Year 3.  Although their history topics don't match with ours for Year 3, they are still interesting for you to follow, and the maths and English resources are a very helpful addition to the work that we have been setting for you, and will help you remember everything you have been learning in school and at home.  

Don't forget you can also access the BBC Bitesize Lessons for Key Stage 2 as well, and if you are looking for some more challenging maths resources, White Rose Home Learning might be the answer.

Take care of yourselves and be kind to one another.

Mrs Vaqueiro

Friday 15th May

Hello and congratulations on surviving another week of home school!  I feel as if the weeks are flying by at the moment - are you finding the same?

How did you get on with playing Nim yesterday?  Did you find a winning strategy?  It's a simple little game but it does make you think.

Have you ever made your own board game?  I used to love designing and making board games when I was little - it was almost more fun than playing the finished result!  You can base them on a favourite story, or a magical place, or make it maths-based, or just a race to the finish with different forfeits along the way... the possibilities are endless!  Why not have a go at making one today and over the weekend?  

Have fun this weekend, but as always, stay safe with your families,

Mrs Vaqueiro

Thursday 14th May

Hello everyone!

I hope you are all well and still keeping safe.

Have you been playing lots of board games with your family while you've been at home?  We often think of games as being quite new inventions - and while many of the board games that we enjoy at home are relatively modern, people have been inventing and playing games for centuries.

Nim is a game that is thought to have originated in Ancient China, and can be played with just two people and seven counters (or other small objects that you might have at home, such as Lego blocks).

This is how you play:

Place your seven counters in a pile.  Each person takes turns to take away either one or two of the counters.  The person who takes the last counter wins.

Try swapping who goes first - does it make a difference to the outcome?  Keep playing until you work out a winning strategy.

What happens when you get down to three counters?

How can you make sure you always win?

Does it make a difference if you add more counters?

Have fun experimenting - I will look forward to challenging you to a game of Nim when we are all back at school!

Mrs Vaqueiro

Wednesday 13th May

Good morning everyone!

I hope you are all still keeping safe and well at home.

Have you been enjoying doing more art and craft activities at home over the past few weeks?  I have enjoyed having the time to spend doing more painting and drawing, and so have my own children.  One of the things my children enjoy is painting small rocks and stones which we can then hide out and about for other people to find!  

You can also use painted stones as a creative way to tell stories.  You can paint or use felt tips to draw different characters and features on stones, and then use them to act out a story.  You can choose a well-known story, or make one up for yourself.  The great thing about using the stones is that you can keep changing the story as you go along.  Maybe you could think of a different ending to a well-known fairy tale, or send a well-known character on a completely different adventure?

Have fun with some artwork today if you can!

Best wishes to you all

Mrs Vaqueiro

Tuesday 12th May

Hello everyone!  

I hope you're all still keeping well and safe at home.

How would you like to make something creative today?  I've found a tutorial online for turning an empty cereal box into an aquarium, which looks like fun!  You can design your own fish and decorations, or maybe add in any shells or pebbles that you might have at home to make it even more realistic.  You can find the instructions here - don't forget to send me a picture if you make one!

That's all from me today - stay safe and remember to be kind and helpful to everyone at home.

Mrs Vaqueiro

Monday 11th May

Hello everyone and welcome to another week of home school!  I wonder if it will ever stop feeling so strange?!

I hope you are all well and enjoyed the Bank Holiday weekend with your families, and hope too that you are all managing to keep safe and keep your distance from other people; the better people keep to the rules, the sooner we may get back to normal life!

As it's Monday, I've added another week's work to the Google Drive with some suggested activities for you to do at home.  As ever, I will keep adding extra ideas to the Google Drive through the week so do keep checking back.

Don't forget to keep practising on TT Rockstars as well - I can see that some of you have been scoring amazingly well and are well on the way to becoming Rock Legends!  

Take care and be kind to one another,

Mrs Vaqueiro

P.S. Madame Evans has just sent over some new French activities for you to try; I've put them in the Additional Resources folder.

Friday 8th May

Hello everyone

Today marks the 75th anniversary of the end of World War II in Europe - sadly the war in the far east continued for months after hostilities closer to home had ceased.  For many, it was a day of quiet reflection as well as celebration, since many people had lost loved ones in the war, and many of those who were serving in the forces were still far away from home.

The National Memorial Arboretum has put together an activity pack for children in Key Stage 2 to help them explore the topic of VE Day further, and I have put a copy of the activity pack in the Google Drive for you to work through.

However you choose to spend today, I hope it is enjoyable - keep in touch, and be kind to each other.

Mrs Vaqueiro

Thursday 7th May

Hello again everyone

Just a quick update from me today, as once again it's my turn to head into school to help look after those children who are still able to attend.  

All the beautiful sunshine has meant that I am spending more time outside than usual at the moment, and have had the chance to explore some different walks around Evesham with my family - we are very lucky to have such lovely countryside on our doorstep, and you can walk for quite some way without ever meeting another soul!

When we were first locked down, one of the tasks that I asked you to complete was to look for signs of spring and create your own scavenger hunt.  In nature, nothing stands still for long, so there will be many different plants and creatures around now. Next time you are out and about, why not see how many different spring flowers from this list you can spot?  Remember to keep safe though - make sure an adult is with you and that you keep your distance from other people.

That's all from me - keep safe and well, and remember to help around the house as much as you can.

Mrs Vaqueiro

Wednesday 6th May

Hello everyone

I hope you're all still safe and well at home.

Mr Batts has had a communication from Severn Arts inviting the children from Swan Lane and their families to take part in Islands in the Sky, a new online #CreativeConnections arts project. 

Severn Arts and Worcestershire County Council have selected 20 Worcestershire artists to be part of #CreativeConnections which is a new initiative where each artist is receiving a small grant to create a piece of work in response to the current situation and which can be shared digitally.

Artist Andrew James Round is working on his project called Islands in the Sky. He is creating a game where you can explore a series of interconnected islands floating above the city of Worcester.  These islands will be made up of rooms created (they hope!) by children and their families from Worcestershire and the surrounding areas. Players will be rewarded as they explore.

Andrew would like the rooms/islands in the maze to be designed by other people and so has created templates for children and families to add their designs to. Information about the project along with instructions about how to create a room design and the templates are in the 3V Google Drive.  

If you would like to participate, the deadline for artwork is 15 May 2020.

The plan is for the completed game to be available to play at the end of May.

I hope you enjoy  making your designs!

Mrs Vaqueiro

Tuesday 5th May

Hello everyone!

I hope you are all well and still enjoying being at home.  Although it's sometimes hard - because we can't do everything we'd like to do - there are some good things about it too: we all have much more time to do the things we enjoy.

Since it was Star Wars Day yesterday, I thought you might like to have a go at some online coding games.  These are similar to the Minecraft coding that we did in class all those weeks ago, with different challenges to work through in order to build a Star Wars Galaxy.  You'll need to watch the tutorial video first, and then you can have a go at the challenges.  The link to the video tutorial is here.

That's all from me today - I will keep adding resources to the 3V Google Drive as the week goes on, but please don't feel that everything must be done at once - try to pick and choose a variety of different activities every day, to fit in with your family life.  If you can keep your basic maths skills ticking over, and do your best to read a little every day, then you will be doing fine - we'll soon pick things back up again when we're all back in school.

With best wishes

Mrs Vaqueiro

Monday 4th May

Good morning and Happy Star Wars Day!

I hope you are all well and enjoyed some family time this weekend.  Today, apparently, is Star Wars Day (May the fourth...) but the theme of this week's home learning concentrates on the past rather than the future!

This Friday, 8th May, marks 75 years since the end of World War II in Europe - VE Day - and this year, the day will be a Bank Holiday in the UK.  But what is VE Day and why might we choose to remember it?  

Your learning tasks this week should help you find out a little bit more about WW2 and what 'Victory in Europe' really means - you will need to look in the VE Day Resources folder alongside this week's timetable to complete some of the activities. When you get into Year 4, you will study this period of history in much more detail, so you could also think of this week's work as some advance planning for next year!

I have also updated the general 3V Google Drive with our usual weekly tasks for you to complete when you can.

Take care and stay safe,

Mrs Vaqueiro

Friday 1st May

Good morning everyone and happy Friday! 

Another week is drawing to a close, and I hope you are all still keeping safe and well at home. 

Today is 1st May, and the Book Trust organisation has decided to bring forward its annual 'Pyjamarama' reading  festival in order to provide some special, book-themed activities for children working at home during the Coronavirus Lockdown.  They have arranged a fun-packed schedule of live events for children to access online, beginning at 9.30am today.  In addition to the timetabled events, there are a number of fun resources which you can download from the website whenever you like.  You can access the site here.

Even if it's not Pyjamarama Day, you can use the Book Trust website for interactive games and stories at any time, by accessing the Home Time section - here is the link for you to follow if you would like to find out more!

Have fun, look after yourselves and stay safe!

Mrs Vaqueiro