• This week in the classroom...

Welcome to Year 3 and 4

Hello, and welcome to our Year 3 and 4 class page! 

We hope you all had a wonderful Christmas and are excited to be starting a new school term!  

Take a look at our 'This week in the classroom' tab for what we have been learning about each week.

General information about Years 3 and 4:

• Homework each week:
  • Reading - daily
  • Spellings - x1 sheet per week
  • Times tables - daily
• P.E lessons will be on Monday and Tuesday. On those days, children should come to school in their PE kit.  On Tuesdays we will go swimming.
• Please ensure that items of clothing are clearly named. 
• Children will have a banded reading book and a 'reading for pleasure' book.  Children should try to read for 5 minutes each day and record this in their reading log.
• All books are signed out to children under a library system and they will be expected to return their current book before they are allowed to take another.
• Children need to bring their own water bottles into school.  Please only send your child in with water.  Other drinks such as juice, smoothies etc should be kept only for lunch.
• Snack will be served in the hall at break times.  Children should bring their snack money in a labelled purse or wallet.

Spring Curriculum

Maths

During the first half term, we will be working on column addition and subtraction strategies and comparing, ordering and rounding four-digit numbers. 

During Spring 2, we will be focusing on counting in threes, sixes and nines as the 3, 6 and 9 times tables and their relationship. We will also learn the 7 times tables, odd and even patterns, square numbers and tests of divisibility.  We will continue to use TT Rockstars to help build your child’s fluency in their times tables knowledge.

English

In writing, your children will be using the Blue John book to retell the story, write letters in role and write poetry.  We will look at including lots of description, adverbials and punctuating speech correctly.   In reading, we will be focusing on The Pebble in my Pocket and The Secrets of Stonehenge.

In Spring 2, we will use the texts The Tear Thief and The Language of the Cat to look at writing biased arguments, job applications and our own modern fairytales. 

In reading, we will be focusing on building our comprehension skills using the books; Blue John, The King Who Banned the Dark, The Tear Thief and The Language of the Cat.

PE

PE days are Mondays and Tuesdays.  PE on Mondays will be with our sports coach for Gymnastics and Badminton.  PE on Tuesdays will be swimming.  Children can still wear their PE kits to school on Tuesdays and bring their swimming kit with them.

Science

Our Science topic this half term is Electricity during which children will learn about circuits, electrical safety and materials which are conductors or insulators.  During Spring 2, our topic will be Plant Reproduction during which we will learn about the structure and function of the parts of flowering plants, investigate how plants transport water and describe the life cycle of a flowering plant.

History

In History we will learn about how life in Britain changed during the Bronze and Iron Age.  We will learn about the differences in settlement types e.g. Bronze Age farming communities vs Iron Age hillfort.  We will also learn about how agriculture and trade changed across the Ages.

Geography 

In Geography, we will compare northern Italy to the North West of England.  We will learn about the key physical and human features of both areas, compare the town of Brescia to Sandbach and compare the climates.

Music

Our Music topics will be ‘Folk Music’ and ‘Paint a Picture’ and includes using musical vocabulary to evaluate and describe music e.g. pitch, duration, texture, dynamics.  We will learn some traditional folk melodies and know how to talk about the instruments used.

Computing

In Computing, we will be learning how to create media using desktop publishing and photo editing.  We will learn how to add content, choose layouts, explain that the composition of digital images can be changed and combine images.

French

In French, we will be learning colours, phonics ‘un’ and ‘on’, how to describe ourselves, the body and easter vocabulary.  We will continue to improve our speaking and listening skills and well as developing our reading and writing skills.

PSHE

In PSHE, we are looking at how friends can communicate safely and how we can recognise our own and other peoples’ feelings.  We will continue to think about our online safety as we use technology both in school and at home.

Religion

In Religion, we are thinking about 'What happens if we do wrong?' and 'Who was Jesus really?'.  We will think about our morals, forgiveness, Christian and Jewish beliefs and Easter.

Art and Design and Technology 

In Art, we will be exploring how shapes and spaces can be represented and creating our own 2D and 3D sculptures.  In DT, our topic will be ‘Shell Structures’ where we will design, make and evaluate our own 3D structures.