Class 3 Years 3 & 4
May we take this opportunity to wish you all a very happy and successful New
Year.
English
We are now getting to grips with the New National Curriculum and all is going
well although we both are finding working without levels and APPs difficult after
getting used to them over the years. We are continuing with Literacy and
Language devised by Ruth Miskin and welcome four new members to the class
after finishing the RWI scheme.
The units we are covering this term include stories with a dilemma and play
scripts. Grammar, punctuation and spelling will be covered in the English lessons
and during the weekly Group Read carousel. We have also included a
comprehension activity with this too. Within the Read Write Inc spelling scheme,
the children will have a 15 minute designated spelling activity each day either
before or after lunch so they will not usually be coming home with weekly
spellings to learn. They may however have a spelling challenge to learn during the
holidays and a list of statutory spellings each term.
As the reading diary sweep worked so well, this will be repeated at the end of
the term with the successful children being rewarded with a treat. Please ensure
that you listen to your child read at least three times a week and record it in
their reading diaries as Mrs Morrish and Mrs Southall need evidence of this!
Handwriting will now be taught on Friday with the children working to improve
their presentation as part of the Group Reading carousel before lunch. The year
three children have a particular incentive to work hard because Mrs Southall and
Mrs Morrish will be handing out pens to those children who deserve them. We
feel handwriting presentation and spellings need to be focus area for this class.
English homework will continue to be set on Friday and marked the following
Thursday, giving the children plenty of time to complete the activity. Please
encourage your child to follow this routine, especially if they have problems with
time management as Mrs Southall likes to mark the work in one go. You should by
now have a class timetable
Maths
Number work will take up the majority of time again this term. Place value,
ordering and comparing numbers will be revisited as well as rounding numbers to
the nearest ten and hundred (also the nearest thousand in Year 4). Doubling and
halving numbers and finding fractions of quantities will be practised and
developed until they hopefully become second nature for the class. Just like last
term, we ask that you continue to practise multiplication tables at home on a
daily basis if possible. There’s an achievement chart in class which I know the
children are keen to complete. Pupils will be completing further work on
multiplication, division, addition and subtraction calculations (including decimals)
and will be given the opportunity to apply their knowledge to word problems and
other problem solving activities.
In addition, Time, properties of 2D shapes and angles will be covered.
Homework is given to the class on a Wednesday and must be returned by the
following Tuesday, at the latest.
Science
This term the topic for Science is Plants. The children will be learning about the
different parts of flowering plants and their functions. They will also research
the conditions affecting plant growth and plants as living things. We will plan and
carry out investigations into how water is transported in plants and we will also
be using a variety of resources to learn about plant life cycles, and in particular
how seeds are formed, dispersed and germinate.
PE
Mrs Morrish and Mrs Southall will share PE time and because the weather is
usually unpredictable at this time of the year they will be covering gymnastics
and dance indoors. The children enjoyed the dance Festival at Tenbury High
School last year so this is being repeated later in the term. The Bhangra dance
was particularly popular. There might also be an opportunity to cover some basic
First Aid with the children if the activity pack arrives!
Please ensure that your child has the appropriate kit, which is clearly named and
is in school.
RE
In RE this term we will be continuing with the theme of Christianity and
investigating what is known about Jesus through history, the Gospels and
people's own interpretations of Jesus in art. Children will look at how Jesus is
represented in art in different periods and places and think about what this
shows. They will also have the opportunity to learn about what people in the
Gospels say about Jesus, as well as what Jesus claims about himself. Finally, the
children will evaluate work on their own impression of Jesus in the lead up to
Easter.
PSHE
We shall continue our work with circle time as and when appropriate but we shall
also be looking at a unit of work entitled Going for Goals in the first half of the
term. This will focus on children recognising their worth as individuals by
identifying positive things about themselves. The unit for the second half of the
term is called Good to be Me, where the children look at the feelings of surprise,
disappointment, worry and anger and learn how to deal with them. They will also
learn how to be assertive. These lessons will mainly be covered by Mrs Morrish.
MFL
This term’s unit is entitled “Je me Presente” (All about me) and we will be
covering questions and responses to do with age, nationality and where we live.
Other sessions will focus on numbers to 21, days of the week, the weather and
the French alphabet. Our weekly sessions include singing, dancing, conversation
and art work in addition to recording vocabulary and sentence structure.
Topic
Our exciting topic for this term is The Romans. The children will learn about life
before and after the Roman invasion, early Roman history and what it was like to
be a Roman soldier. From experience, the children love The Roman Mystery
books and we will be reading one about life in Pompeii at the time of the eruption
of Vesuvius. I believe some of the children will be visiting that area of Italy for
their summer holidays. Lucky them!
We are in discussion about a Roman based trip this term and at the moment we
are considering either Chester or Cirencester, both easily accessible in a day but
not as convenient as Harvington Hall!
If you have any problems or issues regarding your child, Mrs.Morrish and Mrs.
Southall will be happy to speak to you, preferably after school. If you need to
speak to us before school we would appreciate if you could make an appointment,
as we are always busy preparing for the day before 9am. You should by now have
been given a class timetable to help with the day to day routine and regarding
any handouts or information…frisk on Friday!!
Many thanks.
Mrs Morrish and Mrs Southall.