The Carey Federation

Class 3 (Y3 and Y4)

Class 3 – Welcome to the spring term 2024!

 

I hope you all had a magical Christmas and I wish you all a healthy and happy New Year. We have another busy and exciting term ahead, including our postponed Tag Rugby festival, class trip and a whole Federation trip to see Aladdin in Plymouth!

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, 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.

We will make links to our History topic last term on the Ancient Egyptians to learn about the Romans. Our learning will have a focus on cause and effect, sequencing, evidence and enquiry, with our big question – What was the impact of the Roman Empire on Britain? We hope to organise a class trip to support our learning later in the term.

We will also forge links between History and Geography, as we explore the country of Italy. Using maps, atlases and globes to locate Italy, it’s major cities, environmental regions, key physical and human characteristics. There will be opportunities to develop our understanding of geographical similarities and differences between a region in Italy and the U.K.

‘Sound’ followed by ‘Electricity’ will be our Science topics, with opportunities to work scientifically within the content taught. Our key questions will be ‘how are sounds made?’ and ‘what is a series circuit?’

Our Art work will link to Italy as we learn about Leonardo Da Vinci whilst developing our art and design techniques in using colour, pattern, texture, loine, shape, form and space.

DT will also have cross curricular link to Geography where we will design our own pizza’s and a cross curricular link to History when we make Roman shields.

For Computing we will learn about creating media and use a range of techniques to create a stop-frame animation

In Music, each unit adapts an integrated approach where games, elements of music (pulse, rhythm, pitch etc.), singing and playing instruments are all linked. In our Religion World Views, we continue to follow units within the Devon Agreed Syllabus. The units: ‘What does it mean to be Hindu in Britain today?’ And ‘Why do Christians call the day Jesus died Good Friday?’ will be taught.

Within RSE (relationships and sex education) we will be discussing ‘Respecting Rights’ – exploring human rights and how to respect the rights of others. Followed by ‘Friendships and Relationships’ – making friends, falling out bullying and teasing.

PE is planned for a Tuesday afternoon and will consist of Games and Dance for the first half term. However, it is always useful if the children have their PE Kit in school for the whole week.

 

Across the term, in Maths, children will look at Multiplication and Division and Fractions (including Decimals for year 4) 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. Please support your children by regularly practising their times tables, 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 next Summer. Pupils are familiar with using both in school.

 

In English, we will begin with the text 13 Words by Lemony Snickett. They will write their own stories based on 13 random words. As the term progresses, Escape from Pompeii by Christina Balti and Survivor: Escape from Pompeii by Jim Eldridge will be used in class to inspire the children to develop their writing and encourage them to apply the various grammar, punctuation, spelling and handwriting content taught. Pupils will also explore non-fiction writing genres such as persuasive writing and formal letter writing which will link to our Geography and History topics.

 

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 this term is Survivor:Escape from Pompeii by Jim Eldridge. 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

Class 3 Long Term Planning

Class 3 Long term plan Year B

Class 3 – Timetable

Class 3 Timetable Spring 24