Tiger - Miss Robertson/Mrs Loxley
Summer Term
It's all Greek to me!
This term our topic is the Ancient Greeks. Did you know many words in our language come from Ancient Greece? We get many words such as 'theatre', 'temple', 'slaves' and 'myths' from the Greek language. Perhaps you can you find out some more? As well as learning about the Greek language and its alphabet, we will be discovering how Ancient Greeks lived and learned - including their home life, food, clothes schooling, leisure activities and towns. We will also be reading some Greek myths and even having a go at writing some of our own!
Our Power of Reading text this term is 'One Plastic Bag' by Miranda Paul, which tells the real life, inspiring story of Isatou Ceesay from the Gambia, who decided to tackle her village's recycling problem, when she noticed how many plastic bags were littering her local environment.
Isatou worked together with a number of other people from her village, and together they created a recycling business that transformed the life of local women and girls, Reading this book, we will be finding out about Isatou's character and learning all about the award winning 'recycle and reuse' business she created. We will be using our inference skills to understand character and using our prediction skills to think how Isatou's story might end.
In maths this term we will continue to improve our recall of the times tables to 12x12. Keep practising at home on Times Table Rockstars as this will support other areas of maths too!
We will also be exploring fractions. We will be looking at unit and non-unit fractions, comparing and ordering fractions, finding equivalent fractions and adding/subtracting fractions.
Later in the term we will move on to decimal numbers and looking at time including telling the time and calculating durations.
In French we begin this term with 'Quelle heure est-il?' where we will be learning to ask and tell the time, talk about leisure activities and talk about what time we do leisure activities,
Our computing lessons this term will develop our programming skills as we use scratch to build and develop our own maths games! This will involve analysing the algorithms behind existing online games, building a prototype for a game, developing the interface to add animation/sound/graphics, building in levels/progression and regularly testing and debugging our games.
Scratch is available online and is great for developing programming skills at home. The websites below provide useful information to help you keep your child safe online.
https://saferinternet.org.uk/guide-and-resource/parents-and-carers
https://www.thinkuknow.co.uk/parents/
Spring Term
Y3 Computing - Virtual Roman Ruins!
Chinese New Year - Year of the Tiger
Rampaging Romans and Marvelous Mosaics
Happy New Year to Tiger Class and their families!
Spring Term
We are very excited to welcome the children back to school, for what promises to be a fun-packed and very full term!
This term our topic is Romans - one we know the children will love! We will be looking at the impact of the Romans have had on our history and culture, and examine what life would have been like for ordinary citizens at this time.
In our Power of Reading and Reading workshop lessons, we will be looking at a wide range of fiction and non-fiction texts that focus on the Roman period of History. In addition we will be focusing on performance poetry through Valerie Bloom's excellent collection ; 'Hot Like Fire'. Performance will also be a strong feature of our Oracy lessons. We have high expectations of the children's skills and are trying our hand at a children's version of William Shakespeare's 'Julius Caesar'.
In our assembly, the children will be showcasing their ability to speak to an audience and communicating with passion, interest and enthusiasm, as they perform the famous 'Friends, Romans, Countrymen' speech from this iconic play. We think you will be impressed!
In Maths this term, we will be using our addition, subtraction, multiplication and division skills and applying them to new topics such as area and perimeter. We will of course, be continuing to improve our rapid recall of times tables, with weekly targeted lessons and regular 'Times Tables Rock stars' challenges. Please encourage your children to engage with these activities - they are a vital part of the children becoming accurate, quick and confident with their Times Tables recall. This is especially important for the Year 4s, who will be among the first cohort of children in the country to sit the National Multiplication Tables Check in the Summer term.
In Art and D.T we are focusing on Mosaics - and be using a wide variety of tools and techniques to explore this art form, which typifies the Roman period. The children will be designing and making their own Mosaics and will be collaborating in a school wide design Art project.
Science this term promises to be lots of fun. We will be learning about 'Sound' and we have planned lots of practical experiments that will support the children's understanding of the topic and provide them with exciting opportunities for scientific inquiry and exploration.
We will of course, as always be looking after the children's physical and mental well-being. As well as our brilliant P.E lessons, the Year 4 children will continue to have weekly swimming lessons and continue to build the fantastic skills they are already developing. In addition there are numerous opportunities for the children to participate in after school clubs, that will build on their skills learnt in class. In our weekly Jigsaw lessons, we will be focusing on well-being and developing resilience to cope with life's hurdles and challenges.
If this wasn't enough fun already, we are already planning an exciting itinerary of activities for World Book Day on the 3rd March (focus on stories from around the world) and Number Day on 4th February. Keep an eye on the news letter for more details to follow.
We hope this gives you a little taster of all the wonderful learning opportunities on offer for the children in Tiger class this term. We are always happy to discuss the curriculum, the children's learning and any aspects of their health, happiness and well-being - just speak to us on the playground or message us on the class email.
Have a happy Spring term
Miss Roberston and Mrs Loxley
Homework continues from Autumn term. Spellings and either English/Maths homework will be sent home every Friday and the children will be tested on their spellings the following Friday. Reading was a fantastic focus during the Autumn - with many children making wonderful progress due to the time and commitment they put into practising at home - thank you so much for your help and support; it makes a real difference! Please continue to read with your child 4 x per week. All children who read regularly are entered into our Golden Ticket Draw at Celebration Assembly on a Friday morning, and a number of children have already been lucky winners of a book of their choice. Keep it up Tigers - you are brilliant readers!!!!
P.E for Year 3 and 4
Swimming for the Year 4 children is on a Tuesday.
P.E for Tiger Class is on a Wednesday
Read a more detailed overview of our curriculum for this term by reading the attachment below.
Autumn Learning
Spring term Curriculum
To find out every thing we learned about in Autumn term read the attached curriculum document above.
Pictures from our amazing Plastic Pollution Day at Sizewell Beach in Autumn term. We found lots of rubbish on the beach and felt pleased to leave it a cleaner place. In the afternoon we had fun building sandcastles and creating art projects with natural objects we found. We also learnt about some of the wonderful sea creatures that inhabit this special environment.
Year 3/4 Long Term Plans
More about us!
Supporting Children's Learning
The following websites have some great ideas and tips for supporting children's reading at home;
BBC Bitesize is an invaluable resource, with lots of support for parents;
https://www.bbc.co.uk/bitesize/articles/zbxby9q
The BookTrust are experts in children's reading and can help with all your queries;
https://www.booktrust.org.uk/books-and-reading/tips-and-advice/reading-tips/
Oxford Owl is a wonderful source of information on children's learning across the curriculum. On this website you can find information, help and resources on reading, phonics, writing, spelling, punctuation and grammar, as well as Maths.
Ideas for parents for supporting their children with Maths is available from the charity National Numeracy;
https://www.nationalnumeracy.org.uk/about-us
Day to Day
Please make sure children always have a full PE kit in school. Long hair should be tied up and any earrings should be removed or covered with tape. Children are encouraged to take responsibility for their own PE belongings. Please support your child to do this by ensuring that all of their clothing is fully named.
PERSONAL BELONGINGS, PE KITS AND WATER BOTTLES: Please ensure that all children's belongings are named so that any misplaced items can be returned to your child.