Class 3 (Y3 and Y4)

Class 3 – Welcome to the summer term 2024!

 

I hope you all had a great Easter break, despite the rain! I am looking forward to another busy and exciting term, including swimming lessons, a beach festival in Bude, Sports Day and hopefully a class trip!

I (Mrs Rothery) will continue to teach the class on Monday, Tuesday, Thursday and Friday each week and Mrs Matthews will teach on Wednesday. We are also very lucky to have Madam Clark teaching French on Thursday, Mr Hayler to teach PE on Tuesday, Miss Midwinter delivering WildTribe sessions, Miss Hayes teaching the recorder and Mrs Baily to teach Dance and Music.

Across the Carey Federation, we pride ourselves in the way we: ‘Aim High, Be Resilient and Take Care Of Each Other’ and strive to consider the Carey qualities ‘Be Respectful, Be Resilient, Be Resourceful, Be Reflect and Build Relationships’ in all that we do.

 

Curriculum

We plan the curriculum carefully to capture the interest of the children and build upon prior knowledge. Forging cross curricular links, where possible, helps to provide context and meaning to children’s learning.

In Geography, we will be learning about ‘Mountains, Volcanoes and Earthquakes’. We will use atlases and maps to locate mountain ranges and areas of higher ground around the world and in the UK. As well as learning about key features of mountain ranges and how different mountains are formed. Children will explain what causes earthquakes and how they are measured, explore how volcanoes are formed and describe what you find underground.

‘States of Matter’ followed by ‘Rocks’ will be our Science topics, with opportunities to work scientifically within the content taught. We will observe how some materials change state when heated or cooled, exploring evaporation and condensation. I am looking forward to comparing and grouping different kinds of rocks by their appearance and physical properties. Do you know how soil is made? How fossils are formed?

Our Art work will focus on sculpture. Learning about different artists, particularly the works of Barbara Hepworth and improving our own sculpting techniques with different materials.

We will be practising our sewing skills in DT, and the sequence of learning includes researching, designing, making and evaluating products.

For Computing we will learn about programming, specifically about sequencing sounds through using the app ‘Scratch’. We will also explore branching databases after half term. We include lessons on internet safety within each unit.

In Music, (which will be taught by Mrs Baily) each unit adapts an integrated approach where games, elements of music (pulse, rhythm, pitch etc.), singing and playing instruments are all linked. The instrument after half term will be glockenspiels. In addition to this, the children will have Miss Hayes teaching them the recorder on Wednesday mornings. Please bring in your recorder if you purchased one last year in year 3. Current year 3’s will have the opportunity to purchase one from school.

In our Religion World Views, we continue to follow units within the Devon Agreed Syllabus. We will explore how and why people mark the significant events of life, making comparisons between the Christian, Jewish and Islam faiths.

Within RSE (relationships and sex education) we will be discussing ‘Growing and Changing’ – our changing bodies and emotions.

WildTribe is planned on Tuesday afternoons for the first half term and PE (athletics and Dance) after half term. However, it is always useful if the children have their PE Kit in school for the whole week. Pupils will also have swimming lessons for four weeks on Thursday morning, beginning the first week back.

 

Across the term, in Maths, children’s learning will focus largely on Fractions (including Decimals for year 4). We will also be developing our understanding of telling the time, shape work and statistics. There is some variation in coverage depending on the Year group. Fluency in number facts including times tables are a priority. Quick recall of number facts is a crucial skill that supports learning in all areas. Therefore, this is an area we regularly consolidate. Please support your children by regularly practising their times tables, + and – single digits and multiples of 10, pairs to 10, 20, 100 and basic doubles and halves. Of course, this will vary according to year group. Hit The Button is an excellent, free on-line resource and Times Tables Rock Stars has lots of games and will help prepare pupils for the Year 4 Multiplication Check. The Multiplication Check will take place in the first two weeks of June.

 

In English, we will begin with exploring the picture books by Anthony Browne, resulting in a range of writing opportunities. We will also enjoy a modern take on a traditional tale with ‘The most wonderful thing in the world’ by Vivienne French where pupils will plan and write their own traditional tale. As the term progresses, we will look at non-fiction texts linked to topics and poetry. The grammar, punctuation, spelling and handwriting content is taught alongside our writing sequences.

 

Reading is a high priority. Pupils will have daily opportunities to read and develop the skills within the reading curriculum through Whole Class Reading. We use VIPERS (Vocabulary, Inference, Predict, Explain, Retrieve, Summarise) including written comprehension activities. Our novel after half term will be The Boy at the Back of the Class by Onjali Q. Rauf. For the first half term, we will be using shorter, stand alone texts with written comprehension to provide pupils with opportunity to read a range of genres before starting another novel.

Please support your children’s learning by hearing them read, reading to them or discussing what they have read five times a week and initialling in their reading record. It is so exciting that we will have access to Reading Buddies to support independent reading at home. Please can records and books be bought into school every day.

 

Class Routines

Homework will be posted on Dojo on Tuesday. This will be:

• Maths challenges through Mathletics usually linked to work covered that week in class. Once the children have completed the tasks set they can then explore all the other exciting games on these very valuable online learning platforms. I will also continue to encourage times tables practise and number facts.
• Learning spellings. These will be written into spelling journals each week based on the common exception words, (spelling rules will be taught and practised in school). The words will be specific to your child according to assessment. The spelling journals are for use at home to practise spellings but it is vital they are bought into school on Tuesday for new spellings to be written in. There will be no formal ‘test’ of spellings each week, we look for evidence within class written work. However, I will carry out spelling checks to see how children are progressing with their year group list. A copy of this assessment will be stuck into their spelling journals. The highlighted words are the words the children spelled correctly in the check.
• Reading five times a week with an initial from a parent in reading records. Reading regularly to develop fluency, comprehension and stamina is essential to enable pupils to make progress across the curriculum, not just within reading. The five reads will be counted each week. So that we can support those pupils not reading regularly, they will have additional opportunities to read to an adult. This is not seen as a ‘punishment’ – it allows us to ensure all pupils make progress.

 

Children receive stars as a reward point. Rewards may link to our Carey Qualities, it may be for listening well, being independent, great work or home learning, it may be for a lovely smile….the possibilities are endless! Pupils receive a sticker but it is not just an individual reward. They also receive a point for their team (Bells or Owls) which get counted up as a whole school each week, and a counter in our ‘working together’ jar. When the jar is full the whole class receives a treat.

 

In Key Stage 2 we no longer have ‘show and tell’ or a special bear….but we do have ‘Fluffy Friday’!! Where children can bring in one soft toy to join them in class for the day.

 

The children’s well-being is of the utmost importance and we aim to create a happy, kind and healthy environment for all. If you have any worries or questions, please do not hesitate in coming to see us. You can message via Dojo but this is not checked regularly, so if it is something urgent, please email the school office to ensure we receive it straight away.

 

Many thanks,

Mrs A Rothery (Class Teacher), Mrs S Matthews (Teaching Assistant/Apprentice Teacher