Welcome to Class 3/4 - Mrs Parr
Welcome to Class 3/4!
The children have made a fabulous start to the term and have already shown a great attitude towards their learning which will undoubtedly develop into some amazing work over the coming months. We are looking forward to a year of fun and learning in Class 3/4. Please see below the areas the children will be studying during the Autumn term.
Reading: In class 3/4, children are expected to read at least 3 times a week using schoolbooks or using their own books from home. We are continuing to use the ‘Boom Reader’ app to log any reading that children complete at home which will be checked weekly on a Friday. It is still important for children in year 3 and year 4 to read aloud to someone at home and to be asked questions as they read, to ensure they understand the meaning of any new vocabulary that they encounter. Your child will bring home the password they require to log into Boom Reader. As you read with your child, encourage them to make predictions, inferences and deductions about characters or author’s intent as this will support their understanding. Please try to encourage your child to read books and other text that they have not come across before – hearing and learning new vocabulary and grammatical structures and discussing this with them will greatly improve their reading and writing skills. In class we are reading ‘The boy who grew dragons’ by Andy Shepherd as our end of day class read.
English Writing: This half term, our English lessons will be focused on the book ‘Return’ by Aaron Becker. The children will use the book and model texts to learn punctuation and grammar elements before writing a ‘Setting narrative’ and a ‘Travel report’. They will cover aspects of grammar including expressing time, place and cause using conjunctions, adverbs and prepositions and using inverted commas to punctuate direct speech.
During the second half term, we will be reading the book ‘Seen and not heard’ by Katie May Green. The children will read the text and work on many punctuation and grammar elements before writing a ‘Character narrative’ and ‘Instructions’. The children will focus on the structure of these genres of writing alongside using the forms ‘a’ or ‘an’ correctly and learning how to use paragraphs to group related material.
English Reading: This half term we will be reading texts about ‘Habitats’ in our shared reading sessions. These sessions take place every day and build on the child’s ability to use evidence from the text to answer questions. It has a focus on vocabulary, understanding of language, fluency and comprehension. Next half term, we will be reading texts about ‘The Egyptians’ and ‘Forces, magnets and rocks’ to continue building our reading and comprehension skills.
Spelling: Children will have additional spelling sessions alongside our daily English sessions, where we will focus on different spelling patterns and continue to build on the statutory word lists for year 3 and 4. Our new spelling programme links together handwriting, phonic knowledge, spelling rules, grammar and punctuation. The children will have spellings sent home each week and be tested on them the following week.
Maths: In maths, we will continue to develop children’s arithmetic, fluency and mental maths skills as well as applying their understanding to a variety of problem-solving contexts. Across the term, we will look at place value, addition and subtraction and multiplication and division.
The children in year 3 will be encouraged to learn their 2, 5, 10, 3, 4 and 8 times tables using ‘Times Table Rock Stars’ to reinforce their rapid recall skills. The children in year 4 will continue to learn all times tables and related division facts up to 12 x 12 using ‘Times Table Rock Stars’ to reinforce their rapid recall skills as they work towards their multiplication tables check which they will complete in the spring term.
Science: During the first half term, our topic will be ‘Plants’. The children will learn to identify and describe the functions of different parts of flowering plants. They will investigate what plants need to grow. They will also investigate the way in which water is transported in plants and explore pollination, seed formation and seed dispersal in flowering plants.
In the second half term, our topic will be ‘Forces and Magnets’. The children will carry out various investigations to observe, compare and group materials which are attracted or repelled by magnets and compare how objects move on different surfaces. Children are encouraged to work scientifically and will have plenty of opportunities to explore questions they may think of throughout the topic as well as presenting and explaining their findings.
P.E: Class 3/4 will have PE on a Monday and Wednesday. PE kits will be worn on PE days with plain black or navy jogging pants or leggings if the weather is cold. School sweatshirts and cardigans can also be worn. During one lesson per week, children will develop skills and learn rules to play games such as hockey and basketball. The second PE lesson will be a skills-based session developing children’s sporting skills with a variety of challenges.
R.E: This term in RE the children will focus on both Christianity, considering how people serve God, and in the second half term, looking at Islam and why the prophet Mohammed was a good example for Muslims. The focus is on learning about religions as well as from them and how we can link positive messages into our own lives.
Design & Technology: During the first half term, our topic is ‘A healthy and varied diet’. Children will research where our food comes from, learn how to prepare food safely and then design, create, and evaluate a healthy meal. Following this, we will move on to our next topic which is ‘Shell structures’. During this topic, we will explore materials used to make and strengthen packaging and use them to create a box with a purpose. Throughout both topics, children will be encouraged to investigate different ideas and make changes where necessary to create a high-quality product. Once complete, they will critically evaluate our products to see if any further improvements could be made.
History: Our topic for the Autumn term is ‘Ancient Civilisations’. During the term, we will be learning about and comparing four of the oldest civilisations: Ancient Sumer, Shang Dynasty, Ancient Egypt and the Indus Valley. During the second half term we will be looking at Ancient Egypt in more detail and developing our historical enquiry skills through looking at artefacts. The children always enjoy learning about times gone by and love investigating more about Egyptian mummification and pyramids.
French: In our French lessons, we will be learning how to greet each other, sharing information about ourselves and being able to ask questions of others. The children will learn the names for colours and numbers up to 20. In the second half term we will use our knowledge of colours to write bonfire poems in French as well as learning classroom commands. We will also look at how Christmas is celebrated in France.
Computing: During the first half term, we will be exploring how to keep safe online; in particular, what information is safe to share online. We will then be developing our coding and programming skills.
Music: The year 3 children will be learning how to play keyboard in their music lessons this term taught by an outside provider, Su. The year 4 children will be learning how to play the recorder. All children will have weekly lessons where they will learn how to read music, interpret rhythms and use musical features to enhance their performance. We hope you look forward to listening to them in concert.
PSHCE: Our PSHCE work focuses on building good relationships in the first half term and looks at different families and how people care for each other. In the second half term the children focus on Respectful Relationships and Health and Wellbeing. Alongside all of this the children will complete the My Happy Mind programme which helps children to understand their brain and their emotions.
Homework: Children are asked to read three times a week and complete an activity on Spag.com or Maths.co.uk each week for their homework. The children will have Spag.com homework for the first half term and Maths.co.uk homework for the second half term. Homework will be set on a Friday and is due the following Friday. Children also need to practise their spellings which have been sent home in preparation for their test. They will also have access to the online platform ‘Times Tables Rock Stars’ which they can use at home as often as they like.
We look forward to an enjoyable, happy and successful year of learning together. If you have any questions, queries or concerns during the course of the year, I will be happy to discuss them with you via email, or on the phone at a mutually convenient time.
Mrs Parr