Welcome to Year 3/4!
Please come to school in full P.E. kit on those days. If you do not have PE kit for any reason, please come to school in plain sports kit. Any changes to this will be sent out on Class Dojo ahead of time!
Homework will be set each Friday and should be completed by the following Thursday. Please upload completed homework to your portfolio on Class Dojo
At the end of Year 4, the children will have a multiplication tables check.
The multiplication tables check (MTC) is statutory for primary schools in the 2021/22 academic year.
The purpose of the MTC is to determine whether pupils can recall their times tables fluently, which is essential for future success in mathematics. It will help schools to identify pupils who have not yet mastered their times tables, so that additional support can be provided.
Schools will have a 3-week check window in June to administer the MTC. Teachers will have the flexibility to administer the check to individual pupils, small groups or a whole class at the same time.
To help prepare for this, the children are doing weekly times table races and practice tests in class. At home, children should be practicing their times tables regularly on TimesTable Rockstars.
In English we are writing two units this half term:
A poem inspired by ‘The River’ by Valarie Bloom.
A narrative inspired by ‘Charlie and the Chocolate Factory’ by Roald Dahl.
In Maths this half term we are learning about decimals, mass and money.
For more information on what we will be covering in this topics, please find the lesson overviews attached.
White Rose Maths has produced ‘Maths with Michael’ to help support parents!
These short videos go through the methods we teach in school.
https://whiterosemaths.com/maths-with-michael
They also provide free workbooks to use at home.
https://whiterosemaths.com/parent-resources
Our RE topics this half term are:
Building bridges (Reconciliation)
God’s people (Universal Church)
Our Whole Class Reading book is The Boy at the Back of the Class by Onjali Q. Raúf.
There used to be an empty chair at the back of my class, but now a new boy called Ahmet is sitting in it.
He’s nine years old (just like me), but he’s very strange. He never talks and never smiles and doesn’t like sweets – not even lemon sherbets, which are my favourite!
But then I learned the truth: Ahmet really isn’t very strange at all. He’s a refugee who’s run away from a War. A real one. With bombs and fires and bullies that hurt people. And the more I find out about him, the more I want to help.
That’s where my best friends Josie, Michael and Tom come in. Because you see, together we’ve come up with a plan. . .
Our reading for pleasure book is Lightning Mary by Anthea Simmons.
One stormy night, a group of villagers are struck by lightning. The only survivor is a baby – Mary Anning. From that moment on, a spark is lit within her. Growing up poor but proud on the windswept Dorset coast, Mary follows after her father, hunting for fossils uncovered by waves and landslips: ancient creatures, turned to stone. Ignoring other people’s taunts, Mary faces danger to bring back valuable treasures to help feed her family. But tragedy and despair is never far away. Mary must depend upon her unique courage and knowledge to fulfil her dream of becoming a scientist in a time when girls have no opportunities for such ambitions. What will happen when she makes her greatest discovery of all…?
Statutory spellings for Year 3 and 4 – These will be tested regularly throughout the year.
Class long-term plan – This shows what we will be covering as a class over the whole year.
Our geography topic for this half term is Rio and South East Brazil.
The children will develop their knowledge of map work and locations to look in depth at South America and Brazil in particular. They will have opportunity to identify key physical and human features as well as developing place knowledge. They are also introduced to time zones.
Our science topic for this half term is Rocks.
In this unit, children will discover the different types of rocks and how they are formed. Children will compare and group rocks based on appearance and simple properties. They will learn how fossils are formed and learn about the contribution of Mary Anning to the field of palaeontology. Children will understand how soil is formed and then investigate the permeability of different types of soil.
The EXTRA-ORDO-NARY calendar is the liturgical calendar we use as a school. Each week has an accompanying word and theme for our collective worship. We display the calendar and the accompanying word of the week in the classroom and discuss them each week.
For further information on this great resource and many other equally great resources please visit the Nottingham Diocese Catholic Youth Service website.
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