Dear Parents and Carers,
Welcome back to a brand new year at Appleton Wiske Primary School. We hope that you have had a lovely holiday with your families and that the children are looking forward to a new and exciting year ahead full of hard work, challenge and fun.
In English, we are continuing with Comprehension Bug. This involves a daily half an hour session where the children will complete independent activities to help them to develop comprehension skills. One of the sessions each week will be to share and discuss their answers with the teacher. We will also continue to use ‘Spelling Shed’ which we will be used alongside spelling games and activities to practise the year 3/4 spelling list. In writing, we will be exploring a range of Fiction and Non-Fiction texts and the children will be planning and writing these types of texts. We will be basing lots of our writing on our topic, ‘First Railways’, but we will also be using ‘Literacy Shed’ video clips and a range of texts to inspire our writing.
In maths, we will be looking at place value of numbers, including 3 and 4 digit numbers and decimals. Year 4 will be learning to solve problems with Roman Numerals. We will be investigating patterns and sequences in numbers and then we will move on to learning calculation strategies for addition and subtraction and applying this to problem solving. The children will also be encouraged to practise their times tables regularly using games, activities and computer programs. The expectation is that pupils should be able to recall the 2, 3, 4, 5, 8 and 10 x tables facts by the end of Year 3 and all the times tables facts up to 12x by the end of Year 4.
In science, this half term our focus will be animals including humans. Children will describe the simple functions of the basic parts of the digestive system in humans. They will identify different types of teeth in humans and their simple functions. Children will construct and interpret a variety of food chains, identifying producers, predators and prey. Next half term, the focus will be rocks. Children will compare and group together different kinds of rocks on the basis of their appearance and simple physical properties. They will describe in simple terms how fossils are formed when things that have lived are trapped within rock. Children will recognise that soils are made from rocks and organic matter.
Our history topic in Class 2 this term is ‘First Railways’. The children will be learning all about this significant turning point in British history using a wide range of resources and learning materials. Where possible, history learning will link to other curriculum areas. In geography, children will develop their locational knowledge by naming and locating counties, cities and geographical regions of the UK. They will identify human and physical characteristics, topographical features and land use patterns, developing an understanding of how some of these have changed over time.
In art and design, children will create railway art posters, developing their skills in drawing and painting. In computing, we will learn about E-Safety so that we can use technology safely, respectfully and responsibly. Children will also develop their digital literacy by using computer networks including the internet. In music, all children will learn to play the ocarina and they will use their voices with increasing accuracy. In PE, children will improve their stamina and take part in a range of invasion games as well as developing their skills in dance. The focus in PSHE & C is families, friends and safe relationships. In Re, children will consider what different people believe about god and they will consider why the bible is important to Christians today. In French, children will learn basic vocabulary and phrases linked to numbers, dates, classroom objects and weather.
Please ensure that your child reads 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 reading record 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 going to be Tuesday and Friday. Please ensure that your child continues to come in to school in their P.E. kit on those days. Girls 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 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.
We are really looking forward to our new year together in Class 2! Many thanks for all of your continued help and support. If you have any queries or concerns please contact us.
Mrs Atkinson and Mrs Guyll