School days in June – primary school year 3
Another month of primary school has gone and we’re less than a month away from the end of year 3. Here’s what’s been going on in June’s School Days.
Assessments
I think N is better on the exam side than general school work. The assessments they did last month, didn’t phase him, so hopefully that will continue through his life. I’m just hoping that he was more careful about the work he did than the effort he usually shows when doing homework, which can be terribly rushed and half-hearted. Trying to get him to re-look at work and correct it (plus admit he might not be right at the first attempt) is a nightmare. So I’m not sure how he’ll have done in them.
I’ll hear at parents evening how he’s been doing this year and in the end of year assessments.
Times tables challenge grids
N loves doing the time tables challenge grids. They do them in class and for homework. But I’m not convinced by how well he thinks he knows his tables. They don’t seem to learn them by rote, and he’ll not recite them. He definitely takes too much time thinking about the answer – as proven by him saying his record for doing his times table grid is just over 8 minutes.
He didn’t believe I could beat him, so I had to do one. No mean feat given when I was at school we only learnt tables to 10x and I’ve not ‘learnt’ them since I left secondary school in ’93. 6 minutes 12 seconds. I’m sure with a bit of practice I could get that down to well under 5 minutes.
Missing cousin
N loves having his cousin at school with him. But in June it was school residential time for his cousin, and N really did miss him. Although they’re 2 school years apart, they tend to play in the same huge group at play times. On Fridays at pick up time, there’s always a massive hug going on before they go home.
On the Thursday evening, N told me his tummy was hurting because he was missing his cousin so much. So sweet. But only one more year of having his cousin at school with him.
Working the equipment shed
N does like to be useful and during the residential week, N and another classmate got to be the equipment shed people. They got to take all the play /sports equipment out at break times for the kids to play with. He was very serious about the job and liked working with his friend. He did point out that it meant less actual playtime for them though.
Author visit
Each year, selected classes get to visit a nearby school for an author visit. N has never been fussed about buying a copy of one of the author books, but this time he was disappointed I’d not sent in money with him to pay for one. One of the things he likes about the author visits at other schools is spotting friends from other schools. This time, he only saw one girl who used to be in his swimming lessons.
Sports day
This year was N’s most successful sports day. He was still in the race with the 3 fastest boys in the year (their year has too many boys to fit on the track so they have 2 races per event) but it seems skipping with a rope might be his thing.
He got 2nd in the egg and spoon (one better than last year), and 3rd in the obstacle race and skipping. Three podium finishes and he was so chuffed. It was nice to see him and another friend who’s in the green team on the podium rather than just red and yellow team members.
In the pre-sports day events they did gymnastics this year. This made me chuckle because N isn’t a fan, and his forward rolls are terrible. It seemed they had to do a twist, roll and jump and were getting awarded points for each one. Subjective of course, but evidently artistry was included in the scoring. He told me, he and one girl were the only ones not to do a forward roll, instead choosing to do a log roll. That made me laugh, but even more so when I heard he got the 3rd place. Well done him.
They also did the 400 metres, although there was a mix up of distance and N’s class only did 200 metres which N reckoned he came joint 3rd in. They had to re-race and he came 5th that time. Not bad, but not enough for a placing.
In the team event N’s team always comes last. Although across the school there were 2 winners from green in their age groups – girls – it’s obviously how few greens there are in some years compared with the other 3 colours. Your team in reception year depends on having an older sibling, then the rest gets split across the remaining teams in that year group. Obviously some children leave through the year, other new ones join.
If one child is sporty, usually the younger sibling is too. At the moment the reds and blues are mostly the sporty children, and greens are noticeably not, at athletics anyway. So unless they get some new children arriving during the school year, or the new reception kids are allocated into green before they can recognise they’re sporty, there’s not much chance of the greens winning during N’s time at the school.
It was a lovely afternoon of sport (although I did have to sit there inbetween races and finish off some work), really warm, and nice to catch up with people.
Sports week
Sports day is always followed up with sports week the week after. The children can wear sportswear each day, and they focus on sports – either playing, or using sports to do their lessons and bring them to life.
Aussie rules football
Our school is very good at giving the children the chance to experience lots of different sports. Even ones that we’d never really heard of when we were at school like dodgeball and Aussie rules football. Yes, N has been playing Aussie rules, because one of the dads plays and has been coming in to teach them. N seems to quite like it, and has requested a rugby ball to play it at home. I’m not sure the OH will play along with him though.
School photo day
N has never been fussy about his hair, but quite a few of his friends request proper and specific hair styles when they go to the barber’s. For school photo day, N wanted to make sure his hair was looking smart, so we had to wet it down to stop it sticking up after he’d slept on it. And he actually brushed it. I’m not sure it would have stayed looking neat, plus his hair cut was booked in for the day after! Bad timing.
Evidently it was a new photographer so instead of the usual frame he had, they were in more of a casual order. It’ll be interesting to see how much they’ve grown in that year since the last.
New boy
They’ve got another new addition to the class, so my excitement at them finally heading towards year group capacity was short lived. Back to 2 over. N got confused at first thinking the new boy was year 4, but he’s year 3 and seems to have settled ok.
VIP
N came home with a sticker for VIP one day during sports week. He couldn’t remember what it was for, and given his lack of excitement about it, I’m presuming VIP status no longer warrants excitement once you’re in Year 3.
It’s been a busy June at primary school, and I’m sure July will be as busy as they head into the last month of year 3 and into summer holidays.
It sounds like N has had a fab and busy month at school! The countdown is certainly on for us now, I am tired of it all now. June wasn’t so easy for us due to a broken wrist caused by the school bully… to say June was fun was an understatement! Let’s hope July flies by quickly with lots of smiles! Sim x
Oh no. Horrible when things go wrong for children, when they should be enjoying school. Hopefully July is much more fun and a lot less stress for all.