Dear Parents and Carers,
We hope that you have had a lovely Easter break and a restful and enjoyable time with your families. The children are looking forward to a new and exciting Summer Term ahead full of hard work and fun.
Please read below to see what we will be covering over the next term.
In English, we are continuing with Comprehension Bug. This involves a daily half an hour reading session where the children will complete independent activities to help them to develop their comprehension skills. One of the sessions each week will be to share and discuss their answers with the teacher. We will also be continuing to use Spelling Shed, which we will be using alongside spelling games and activities to practise the year 3/4 spelling list and weekly spellings. We will have a written spelling test each Friday. In writing, we will be exploring a range of Fiction and Non-Fiction texts and the children will be planning, writing and editing these types of texts. We will be basing our writing on a range of subjects such as Science (Sound and Plants), Geography (human and physical Geography) and History (The Romans) and we will also be using Literacy Shed video clips and a range of texts to inspire our writing.
In Convince Me Maths, we will be working on exploring time, visualising and exploring shape and describing position, measuring and estimating length, mass and capacity and we will be investigating statistics. We will be continuing with Schofield and Sims where the children will have a daily 10 minute session to develop and apply their mental maths skills. The children will also continue to be encouraged to practise their times tables regularly using games, activities and computer programs in preparation for the Year 4 Multiplication Tables Check in June. The expectation is that pupils in Year 3 should be able to recall all times tables facts for the 2, 3, 4, 5, 8 and 10 x tables by the end of the year and in Year 4, all of the x tables up to 12x by the end of the year.
In Science, we will be learning about Sound during the first half of the term. To begin with we will explore how sounds are made and how sounds travel to the ear. We will move on to learn about pitch and volume of sound and how that changes and finally we will be exploring how distance affects sound. In our Plants topic during the second half of the term we will learn about the functions of different parts of flowering plants. We will move on to study the requirements of plants for life and growth and then we will investigate the way in which water is transported within plants. Finally, we will be investigating the life cycle of flowering plants.
History will be taught discretely this term. The topic for the whole term is The Roman Empire and its impact on Britain. The children will learn about key invasions during this time. We will then explore Roman Roads, the rebellion of Boudicca, Hadrian’s Wall Roman Gods and Goddesses and also Roman Baths. As part of our Art and DT, we will be exploring Roman mosaics and designing, sketching and creating our own Roman style mosaics using a range of materials.
Geography will also be taught discretely this term. We will be learning about the geographical similarities and differences through studying the human and physical geography of a region of the UK and a region of a European country. Our Computing will be linked to our Science, History and Geography topics. We will be using a range of information technology including the internet and the children will collect, evaluate and present information.
Please ensure that your child continues to read as much as possible at home in order to help them to progress with their reading. When you hear your child read please could you discuss the characters, events and stories, for fiction books, and check understanding of information for non-fiction books. We would be very grateful if you could sign the planner on each day that your child has read at home and add any helpful comments. Also, if your child has read on their own, they can make their own reflective comments in their planner. We are continuing with the reading reward scheme this year. If your child reads 80 times in total they will receive a bookmark and if they read 100 times in total they will receive a book!
P.E. days in Class 2 are still on a Tuesday and Friday. Please ensure that your child continues to come in to school in their P.E. kit on those days. Children with longer hair will need to have a soft bobble to tie their hair up for P.E. If your child wears earrings, please could you ensure that they are able to take them out themselves for P.E.
Homework will continue to be given out to the children on a Friday and needs to be handed in completed by the following Thursday. Spellings will be handed out on a Friday and must be practised ready for our spelling challenge on the following Friday.
Many thanks for all of your help and support. If you have any queries or concerns please contact us.
Mrs Atkinson and Mrs Guyll