Dangermouse

General 

Elliott was really good today after school and said he'd enjoyed PE at school again today.

Activities

After school we went straight to swimming where Elliott concentrated really well and also practiced getting changed quickly. After we got home he went to play with Amelia for a while and they played rugby and Star Wars in the garden. Then it was time for tea and he had toast before reading some of his Horrid Henry school book and writing that he had in his reading record. After he'd finished reading he got changed in to his pyjamas, did his teeth and watched Dangermouse before bed time.

Curriculum evening

General 

Elliott had a good day at school, particularly enjoying PE and the fact that it was Mrs Davies's birthday today. Elliott was really good after school today. After yesterday I'd challenged him to get changed before and after swimming quickly and to listen extra hard to what his swimming teacher was saying during the lesson and he rose to the challenge. He was also really good after we got home so we used some of his pocket money to download the Lego Marvel Superheroes game on to the iPad as a reward. But we also had a chat about how it's good to concentrate and respond quickly all the time and how he won't get a reward all the time, but if he's naughty he might have things like the iPad taken away for period of time until he's been good again. 

Activities

After school we went to his swimming lesson which went really well and then rushed home for tea (toast and bear fruit) so I could head out to the curriculum evening for Year 3 while Andrea looked after him. He was really good for Andrea and read some more of his Horrid Henry school book and wrote in his reading record. I was home in time for bed time so he asked to play some guitar before bed (quickly) and then after brushing his teeth it was bed time. The curriculum evening was good and they are going to put the PowerPoint slides on the website tomorrow, but the main things I noted were:

• Every day will have an English lesson, a Maths lesson, some reading time for them, some time when they listen to a book being read out (lots of Roald Dahl, etc), grammar, spelling and punctuation every day and rotated other subjects like History, Geography, etc
• There will be themes each half term like last year and available to see in curriculum jigsaws on the website - Stone Age is big at the moment
• The National Curriculum assessment method has now changed and it will now be up to the school so they've devised new assessment methods where they have 3 steps for each year group in the different areas - "entering", "developing" and "secure" - so the idea, I think, is to get everyone into the "secure" step for Year 3 in the different areas by the end of the year 
• Some things will be really important for those assessments - ie being very fluent in 3x, 4x and 8x tables (out of turn, and dividing as well as multiplying) will be key for Maths and we can find out what those are in a document that will be on the website
• There will be some intervention groups set up for pupils like last year if there are areas where improvement is needed and if Elliott is in one we will get a letter in the next week (I'm guessing he might be in a handwriting group)
• There will be Maths and English homework each weekend designed to reinforce learning from the week and due in by Thursday the next week - he should be able to complete it independently but it's a good idea to look at it during the weekend so if he can't do it we can let Mrs Davies know in a note and she can help him remember what to do
• There will be several trips this year including a trip to the theatre, a trip to the cinema, a trip to ancient village, some kind of Roman themed trip, RE inspired trip to church and a trip to the Toby carvery to see how a restaurant works
• In the Spring Term they'll go swimming every Friday which will cost £37 for 10 sessions and in session 1 they'll be assessed and put into 4 or 5 different ability groups for teaching
• They are all going to be learning the ukulele this year and separate music lessons can be organised with Berkshire Maestros at any time - Elliott has been talking about wanting to learn guitar so I was thinking of maybe getting a ukulele for him to practice on at home and seeing how he gets on with it this year and if he seems interested and keeps it up thinking about some kind of music lessons next year, but if he's not that keen I don't want to push things on him
• Holidays during term time will only be approved under special circumstances and if we want to ask it has to be by asking the Head in advance - if he does go on an unapproved holiday the Council will fine parents

Football marking

General 

Elliott was in good spirits today after school and said he'd had a good day. During football training he lost concentration a little bit after the first half an hour and he was messing around a bit not listening to Sally. At one point Sally asked him to either listen or go to the corner in a nice way and he want to the corner (but soon returned!) Afterwards we talked a little bit about listening to Sally when it's the time to listen to Sally and having fun with team mates at the right time. 

Activities

After school we went home and had toast for tea before he got changed for football training. Then he read some of his Horrid Henry school book before we headed off to football training. At training they spent about three quarters of an hour in their teams with Martin coaching Tigers and Sally coaching Panthers. Sally focused on practicing marking opposition players and staying goal side of them and they did some defence verses attack. Then for the last quarter of an hour they played a game against the Tigers which was good, although there are more of them in each team than in actual games so it was a bit all over the place. After football we went home for a quick bath before bed time.

Birthday lunch

General

Elliott was mostly good again today. He got upset again today about doing his Maths homework after promising to do it yesterday, but after a chat he calmed down and got on with it using all his focus.

Activities

We had a lazy morning before you came to pick him up for your birthday lunch. We watched some Deadly 60 and he played with Transformers and watched some Lego Star Wars cartoons on the iPad.

When we got home after picking him up from your birthday lunch, as he's promised yesterday to do his Maths homework, I asked him to do the rest of his homework. He got sulky to begin with and wasn't concentrating but after a chat about how he had to do his homework sometime and how it wouldn't take long if he focused he got down to it. It was adding up money from sums and from sentences and he did it without help, although I had to remind him to concentrate on writing the numbers as clearly as he could. After his homework he went outside with his light sabers to play and Amelia came out as well. They played together for a while and she came in to see his bedroom at one point, and he went to her flat to see her bedroom. They played stone age times as well as playing with the light sabers and she lent him some of her Horrid Henry books. Then it was time for tea and he had toast before reading some more of his "Horrid Henry's Revenge" school book and recording that he'd read some more it in his reading record himself. Then it was time for his bath and bedtime.

Man of the match

General

Elliott was mostly good today. He did get a bit upset about doing his homework after promising he would do it today but after we had a chat he calmed down and got on with it.

Activities

Football was really good today and he seemed to really enjoy it and was proud of being man of the match and how he'd played. He was very proud to have played for the whole game and even though they lost I think it might be the best Panthers game yet in terms of teamwork and football played. After we got home he watched some of the Arsenal verses Chelsea game while we had ham sandwiches for lunch.

Yesterday he'd said he would do his homework after lunch and football today so after lunch I asked him to do his homework. He didn't want to and spent quite a while getting slowly more upset about his homework but after we'd had a chat he did the English part (writing instructions for how to make a Lego model) and we agreed he could do the Maths part after your birthday lunch tomorrow. Then we watched some rugby and tennis while he played with Lego Star Wars toys and then we went outside to play rugby. While we were outside Amelia from the flat below us (who is in Year 5) came and started playing with him and it wasn't long before he was showing her his Match Attax and Star Wars toys and they were getting on really well. Then it was time for sausages and mash for tea and he had some broccoli as well. After tea it was bath time and then he read some of his new "Horrid Henry's Revenge" school book and recorded it in his reading record himself. Then it was time for a bit of iPad watching before bedtime.

The Three Frogs

General 

Elliott was good today after school and said he'd had a good day at school. He'd made a "stone age necklace" out of clay objects and string.

Activities

After school we went to The Three Frogs for tea where Elliott had some chicken nuggets and lots of ice cream with chocolate sauce which I was impressed by. Then we nipped in to Wokingham to buy a card and present for your birthday and then, after we got home, we watched the first part of "How to train your dragon 2" before bath time. He watched some iPad before bed time.

Rugby

General 

Elliott was good today. He'd really enjoyed PE at school again where they'd been learning more about rugby. After we got home he went on a search for his battle damaged X-Wing and I was a bit worried that he would be upset if he couldn't find it (I had told him I'd looked for it and couldn't find it) but after he didn't find it after briefly looking like he'd get upset he was fine.

Activities

Swimming after school went well and he had a ham and cheese toastie in Costa in Tescos for tea on the way home. After we got home and Elliott had finished searching for his battle damaged X-Wing he did his English homework for this week (still has Maths to go). This involved drawing a dragon and then writing down it's name, what it eats, it's hobbies, etc. He drew a Star Wars themed dragon named after X-Wing fighters. After his homework he played with Lego and showed me some rugby he'd learnt in PE (popping the ball) before he brushed his teeth (no bath as he'd had a shower after swimming). Then he read the end of his school book "Vampire across the way" before bed time.

Vampire across the way

General 

Elliott was good after school today and had especially enjoyed PE at school where they'd played rugby .

Activities

After school we went straight to swimming lessons and he got back in to the groove nice and quickly. After we got home he had some toast for tea and we re-arranged his binder to take to school. As he had a shower after swimming he didn't have a bath but he read some of his new school book "Vampire across the way" before bed time.

Debi Evans

General 

Elliott was good after school today and got changed for football quickly. He was really interested in dragons because they'd had a visit and talk from Debi Evans today, an author who wrote books about dragons. He had some very imaginative stories about dragons to tell. He also said he'd had a good day at school and was thinking of trying out choir and maybe music lessons on an instrument - he said a music teacher had been talking to him today.

Activities

After school we went home for tea and Elliott got changed for football training. Then we went to training which was taken by Sally and Martin and was pretty good. They practiced passing, dribbling around cones and shooting and then played a game and Elliott concentrated and did really well. After we got home he had a quick bath and then it was straight to bed.

Pitch and putt

General

Elliott was good today. Unfortunately he got very upset before bath time as he dropped his remote control arial down the sink plug hole in the bathroom and realised it was lost forever. He was upset for quite a long time and I sat with him and cuddled him and we talked about the arial and other toys he had and how things break or get lost sometimes.

Activities

After a lazy morning watching television and playing with toys we went to The Tally Ho near Eversley for lunch to celebrate Andrea's Dad's birthday. Elliott had a hamburger and chips. Harry and Jack Jenkins also came and they all played together in the garden of the pub where there were swings, a disused tractor and a hammock.

After lunch we went to the Family Golf Centre in FInchampstead on the way home where we played pitch and putt with Andrea which was good fun. Elliott was getting better the more he played and enjoyed it. After we got home we had cheese on toast for tea before it was time for his bath and he got upset after dropping the arial down the sink plug hole. After he'd had his bath, put his pyjamas on and calmed down we read some more of his "Plant Attack" school book together and then it was time for bed.

England game

General

Elliott was pretty good today. He did take quite a long time to clear up his room before bath time and after I told him off we had another chat about trying to do things he's asked to do quicker, but apart from that it was a good day.

Activities

In the morning we went to football training in Woodford Park. Although he was a bit worried about us being late as soon as we got there he was training with the other Panthers and enjoying himself. He caught a little of the warm up and then the majority of the time was spent with the 4 teams playing each other in games. Panthers did pretty well against everyone apart from the best team and Elliott played well in midfield and at the back. Also Tobias was very good so we're looking forward to the new season. Panthers are in the 4th division to start this year so hopefully the games will be at the right level and the games this year will be 11.30am at Goals. After training we dropped in to Wokingham to buy a birthday card and present for Andrea before going home for sausage and mash for lunch.

After lunch he played with Lego and watched some toy reviews on You Tube. We even watched some of the England football game together (definitely the longest I've ever seen him watch football for). Then he had some toast for tea before taking much longer than ideal to put his Lego away. After our chat about doing things quicker it was bath time and he read some more of his school book "Plant Attack". Finally he watched the iPad for 10 minutes before time to go to sleep.

Thunderbirds

General 

Elliott was really good after school today and was pleased to team up Thunderbird 2 and 4 with the Lego X-Wing.

Activities

After school we went shopping in Tescos where Elliott had a ham and cheese toastie in Costa Coffee for tea. After we arrived home Elliott watched Thunderbirds while he played with his Thunderbirds toys and then it was bath time. After he'd got into his pyjamas he read some of his new school book "Plant Attack" before a bit more playing and then some watching iPad and time for sleep.