Year 3 and 4 2023 - 2024
Mr Rogers
A warm welcome to Years 3 and 4!
Welcome to the new school year! It has been so fantastic to see all the children again after the summer holidays, fresh and ready for the new school year. The Y3/4 children have returned with a positive attitude and have worked very hard this week. Mr Rogers is the Year 3 & 4 class teacher. Supporting Mr Rogers and the class are Mr Snell each day, Miss Beaton each morning and Miss Holdbrook each afternoon.
General information about Years 3 and 4:
- Please ensure that items of clothing are clearly named. This will ensure that if anything goes missing, it can be quickly reunited with its owner.
- P.E lessons will be on Monday and Friday so please ensure that your child comes into school in their PE kit on this day. Monday will be with a sports coach and Friday with Mr Rogers. Kit should not be worn on the other days of the week.
- Over the last few years, the school has invested a great deal of money in new book band reading books as well as reading for pleasure texts. We have encouraged all children to take great care of these and make sure they return to school in the condition that they left. Children will have a banded reading book and a ‘reading for pleasure’ book, along with a reading record. Reading at home should be a ‘little and often’ approach e.g. 5 minutes each night instead of 30 minutes on one day only. Please record in the reading record when your child reads to you. If you read some of their ‘reading for pleasure’ book to your child, this can be recorded too
All books are signed out to children under a library system and they will be expected to return their current book before they are allowed to take another. This system was in place for the Year 4s at the end of last year and they did a fantastic job with returning and taking care of the books. I am sure that our Year 3s will be the same!
- Homework will go out on a Friday to be returned to school by the following Wednesday. There will be weekly spellings (tested on a Friday) alongside another piece of homework which will be related to work completed in English or maths..
- Children need to bring their own water bottles into school which they can access throughout the day and they will change their water regularly. Please do not allow other drinks such as juice, fizzy drinks etc. If children bring juices, smoothies etc. they should be kept only for lunch.
- Snack will be served in the hall at break times. Children will be responsible for this money and are advised to bring it to school in a clearly labelled purse or wallet.
Autumn Term Curriculum
History
We are beginning the year by looking at the achievements of the earliest civilisations We will discover where the Ancient Sumer, the Indus Valley, Ancient Egypt and the Shang Dynasty of Ancient China were located and the name of the modern day countries. We will investigate where the Ancient Civilisations appear on a timeline and which achievements all the early civilisations had in common We will also look at which river each early civilisation was located on
Geography
This term we will take an in-depth look at the UK’s cities and regions. This will involve knowing the name of another major city from each country in the UK, using maps and atlases to locate another major city from each country, using the eight compass directions to describe where the cities are in relation to each other and the capital cities and much more.
P.E
P.E lessons will be on Monday and Friday so please ensure that your child comes into school in their PE kit on this day. Monday will be with a sports coach and Friday with Mr Rogers. Kit should not be worn on the other days of the week.
Art
In art we will look at the artist Claude Monet and try to create our own pieces of work following his techniques. This will feature techniques such as dabbing, stippling, pointillism and washes.
Music
Music lessons will be working towards a special event named ‘Singfest’! It is a celebration of music skills in partnership with other schools. This year’s theme is Heroes and Villains. The work culminates in a live performance of songs and music, which parents are invited to in the Spring term.
RE
In RE we will be finding out about Christianity and considering questions such as; How do people decide what they believe is right or wrong? Is there a right way to welcome a new baby? How important is it to people that people that they re-enact the nativity every year? Why do Christians call Jesus saviour at Christmas? Children will be able to explain how many Christians see Jesus as saviour and relate this to texts studied.
French
This year, we will be teaching French through the digital language programme, Languagenut. Their lessons are designed to follow the National Curriculum objectives for KS2 and ensure clear progress in language development. For the first half term, the children will be working on the following skills; Know how to say hello and goodbye, know how to greet other people, know how to introduce themselves, know how to ask someone else’s name, know how to ask and say how they are, know some basic classroom instructions, know how to give some basic classroom instructions, to know and correctly pronounce the sounds UN and ON and know how to count from 1-10.
Science
In science this term, we will be learning about animals including humans, understanding the function of a skeleton and muscles, understanding the importance of nutrition for animals, including humans and to know animals do not make their own food. Lessons will be a mixture of experimenting, investigating and learning new knowledge.
PSHE
In our PHSE lessons, we will be learning about our responsibilities and duties including why it is a shared responsibility to contribute to the classroom, school life and home life. We will also be beginning our ‘My Happy Mind’ learning where we will be learning all about the human brain, mental well-being and how to develop positive mental well-being – this is a whole school initiative and every class will be taking part in this programme.