Beech Class – Year 3/4
Welcome to Beech Class! We are Year 3 and 4 children.
We hope that the information below gives you a good insight into what we will be doing this term.
Class Teachers:
Mrs Mitchell will teach every Monday, Thursday and Friday.
Soon…
Mrs Howells will teach every Monday and Tuesday.
Mrs Mitchell will teach every Wednesday, Thursday and Friday.
Teaching Assistants:
Miss Middle – mornings
Mrs Winchester – mornings and one or two afternoons
Miss Lindsay & Mrs Miles – afternoons
Here is what we are learning about this half term:
Our learning in Terms 3 and 4
In our writing lessons the children will continue to build on their knowledge of sentence construction. Mastering the use of saying sentences aloud before writing them. We will also look at how we use speech in our writing to help us write our own news reports. They will also learn how to write their own play script based on the Greek myth Theseus and the Minotaur which we will read in our guided reading session. We will then continue our Greek inspired learning by reading and completing writing activities based on myths.
In Maths we are continuing with our multiplication and division topic before moving on to fractions. Y3 will learn how to multiply and divide a 2 digit number by a 1 digit number with Y4s learning how to do this with a 3 digit number. Please keep practising times tables at home with your child as confidence with times tables will help them with building their fluency with longer written methods.
We have a History focus for both this term and Term 4 as we learn about the Ancient Greeks. We will cover all 7 of our History ‘Big Ideas’ (main events, evidence and artefacts, power, legacy, beliefs, conflict and society) to give children an overview of many aspects of life during this period and the impact the Ancient Greeks have had on us today!
In Science we are learning about sound. We will learn how sounds are made and that vibrations travel through a medium to the ear. We will also learn about how the inner ear works to allow us to hear sound. We will discuss how some mediums allow vibrations to travel through them more easily than others (e.g. this is why some materials are soundproof). We will learn about pitch and volume and conduct experiments to see how we can change the pitch or volume of a musical instrument.
This term we will focus on Art, rather than DT, as we will be creating papier-mâché Greek pots. We will analyse designs of Greek pots before designing our own. We will create them using papier-mâché over balloons before allowing them to dry and painting them.
Our RE big question is ‘What do Christians believe about the Gospel?’ In Music lessons we will be learning about Pop music and we will start learning how to play the recorder in term 4. In Computing, we will learn how to create stop motion animations using iPads. Our PSHE theme is ‘Dreams and Goals’. In French lessons we will learn the names of fruit and how to say ‘I like..’ and ‘I don’t like…’. In PE lessons with Mrs Mitchell we will be learning how to play hockey and on Tuesdays in Term 3 we will continue to go swimming.
- PE lessons will be on Mondays and Tuesdays (Term 3) Please send your child to school wearing their PE kit. On Tuesdays they will also need their swimming kit (towel, costume, hat, goggles)
- Children need to have in school every day a spare pair of shoes or wellies for our Adventure Play and Paddock area.
- It is important that children always have a coat in school as we will be outside as much as possible in all weathers.
Weekly Home Learning Tasks
Your child’s reading record and scheme reading book needs to come into school every day.
Please ensure your child is:
- Reading every day and noting this in their reading record
- Completing times table practice every day
Reading, Spellings and Times tables
Your child will have two reading books that they use at school. One will be a levelled scheme reading book that will go home and be brought into school every day. The other will be a book that they keep at school to read for pleasure. Your child will be assessed on their book level by the class teacher and teaching assistants at regular intervals throughout the term.
Spellings lists will be shared on Class Dojo weekly, and we will carry out a test every Friday. Sometimes this will take the form of a traditional spelling test, but this could also be in the form of a dictation exercise.
Times table practise will be checked and monitored every week. Children will be tested on their times tables alongside their Maths lessons so will not have a regularly scheduled times table test. We encourage children to use Times Table Rockstars for their daily practise – specifically the Garage mode. Please leave the ‘Gig’ mode for us to use at school, as it forms part of our regular assessment plan. Within these modes the game assesses your child’s speed, accuracy and fluency, and adjusts their difficulty level accordingly. If a child has 100% accuracy but takes too long to answer the questions, they will not progress. Both elements are important when learning times tables. If your child is not yet confident with their times tables, please see the Parent Guide for TTRS which explains how to adjust the settings (e.g. turn the timer off) whilst they build their fluency and confidence. We highly recommend that children practise their times tables using an online resource several times a week, this is because at the end of Year 4 children have to complete a statutory times table test using a Chromebook at school. The test gives the children 6 seconds to read, answer and type their response to a times table question before moving on to the next question.
Login information for any online resources has been stuck into the inside cover of your child’s reading record.
If you have any questions or queries, please do not hesitate to contact Mrs Mitchell on Class Dojo. However to report absences, illness or update on medical appointments or results, please phone or email the school office.
