Dear Parents and Carers,
Welcome back to a brand new year at Appleton Wiske Primary. We hope that you have had a fantastic and restful holiday with your children and that they are looking forward to a new and exciting year 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 (Light and States of Matter) and History (Ancient Egypt) and 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. 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 Light during the first half of the term. We will be exploring the dangers of sunlight and how to protect our eyes. We will also be performing investigations to learn about shadows, how they are formed and how the sizes of shadows change. During the second half of the term, we will be investigating solids, liquids and gases and we will observe how different materials change state. We will also identify the part played by evaporation and condensation in the water cycle and associate the rate of evaporation with temperature.
Our History topic this term is ‘Ancient Egypt’. We will be learning in depth about the achievements of this ancient civilisation. We will explore how and where the Ancient Egyptians lived, what was important to the daily lives of the Ancient Egyptians, who Tutankhamun was and how mummies were made. We will also learn about how Egyptian people used hieroglyphs to communicate and compare the powers of different gods.
In Geography we will take a closer look at where the countries of the world are located and some of the ways geographers describe locations. We will learn to locate and describe places using longitude and latitude, and find out about the Equator, the Hemispheres, the Poles and the Tropics.
In Design and Technology, we will design, make and evaluate a mechanical system to help build the pyramids. 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. Through PSHE & C and ‘My Happy Mind’ we will learn about healthy lifestyles, exercise, the importance of sleep, managing time online, mental health and relationships. In RE, children will consider what it means to be a Hindu in Britain today. They will also consider how people from religious and non-religious communities celebrate key festivals. In French, children will learn basic vocabulary and phrases linked to the theme ‘all about me’ as well as numbers, dates, classroom objects and colours.
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 3 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.
We are really looking forward to our new year together in Class 3! Many thanks for all of your help and support. If you have any queries or concerns please contact us.
Mrs Atkinson, Mrs Gudger and Mrs Guyll