Years 3 & 4

Year 3 and 4

Spring Term 2020

 

Welcome back!

We have many exciting learning opportunities planned for the children this half term. Please check the newsletter and website regularly for updates.

 

Our new Spring Term topic is called Magnificent Machines. We will be learning lots about mechanisms, robots and how they work,       programming and electricity.

 

P.E. will now take place on a Friday. The children will take part in Tag Rugby. Please ensure your child has some warm tracksuit   bottoms and a sweatshirt as part of their P.E. kit. They will also need a pair of old trainers to be brought into school in a labelled plastic bag every Friday. They will bring these home with them at the end of the day as they will be getting very muddy!

 

As the school term develops, we will post information and examples of the children’s work on the Year 3 and 4 pages of the school website or our school Twitter account.

 

This term we have an exciting educational visit planned! On 11th February, we will be visiting the Think Tank Museum in Birmingham. Please look out for any further information in your child’s reading packet.

 

 

 

Maths

The units we will be studying this half term are:

Place Value

Addition and Subtraction

Properties of Shape

Multiplication and Division

Fractions

Measures (length)

 

MULTIPLICATION TEST CHECK

In June 2020 all Year 4 pupils will take the Multiplication Test Check. You can prepare for this check using Purple Mash and DB Primary. There is also a  tables check on the Mathsframe website. You can find the Mathsframe link at the bottom of this page.

 

 

English

We continue to teach from our new ‘Read, Write Inc’ spelling scheme’ which has been specifically created to meet the higher demands of the new curriculum spelling requirements. The children take part in daily 15 minute spelling lessons. Please continue to support your child in learning their words of the week at home based on the spelling  patterns being taught in class.

 

'Cliffhanger' by Jacqueline Wilson

 We will be reading this text within our classes and creating some pieces of writing based on our learning and understanding of the story.

 

LITERACY AND LANGUAGE unit 3

•  Literacy and Language  unit 3
• Fiction- ‘A Tale of two Robots’ The children will be writing a new episode for the story
• Non-fiction- writing a balanced discussion.
•  Author Study ‘Cliffhanger’ by Jacqueline Wilson

Grammar, Punctuation and spelling

•  Determiners ‘a’ and ‘an’
•  Conjunctions
•  Adverbial Phrases
•  prefixes

 

End of year 4 expectations for English.

Þ I can spell most words correctly. (Please speak to your child’s class teacher about the Y3 and Y4 National Curriculum spelling lists)

Þ I can write neatly, legibly and accurately, maintaining a joined style.

Þ I can use paragraphs to organise my writing although may not always be accurate

Þ I can use fronted adverbials and use a comma afterwards.

Þ I can evaluate and edit by proposing changes to grammar and vocabulary to improve consistency, including the accurate use of pronouns in sentences.

Þ I can extend the range of sentences with more than one clause by using a wider range of conjunctions, including when, if, because, although.

Þ I can use sophisticated conjunctions, adverbs and prepositions to express time and cause.

Þ I can use the present perfect form of verbs in contrast to the past tense. Present perfect tense is used for activities that started in the past but are still true now, or have an effect on what is happening now. My friend Kashaan has lived in this town for five years. We have been best friends all that time

Þ I can use inverted commas accurately.

Þ I can use the possessive apostrophe accurately in words with regular and irregular plurals e.g. girls’, boys’, children’s.

 

 

Author Study

Each term we will be focusing on a famous children’s Author. Our Key Author this term is Jacqueline Wilson

 

        

R.E.

To start with, we will be learning about Christmas. In this unit, the story of the shepherds provides a focus for children to reflect on the birth of Jesus Christ and who he is. Following that, the children will learn about Reconciliation; this unit involves the children exploring human choices, the consequences of sin, Christ’s teaching on forgiveness and the Sacrament of Reconciliation.

 

Science

•  Conductors and insulators 
•  Being safe with electricity
•  Children will learn that there are 2 types of circuit, and begin building their own simple series circuits. They will investigate what happens if different components are  removed or replaced within a circuit. They will also learn how to draw a circuit diagram

 

Humanities 

•  Anglo-Saxons

Art

Explore patterns and artists who use patterns. To create patterns using printing and stencils. To design a pattern

Music

We will be learning to play tunes on the Recorder. We will be learning songs to perform at the Mousike Ensemble 2020.

 

Computing

We will be learning how to send emails. We will be taking part in Safer Internet Day 2020.

 

Please ensure that your child attends school daily and arrives on time. Classroom doors open at 8.45am.

Please read with your child daily and write a comment in their reading diary every night to show us that they have been reading at home.

Many Thanks.

Some of the Year 4 represented our school at Bishop Ullathorne in a History competition. They gave a presentation on Boudicca and won a gift voucher as a prize.

We enjoyed sewing today. We also made some Roman coin purses.