We are thrilled to welcome the children back into school and are excited for our learning this half term.
English
Our class novel for this half term is ‘The Minpins,’ by Roald Dahl. This book is about a boy called Billy who lives with his mother. She always warns him to never go into the Forest of Sin, but one day Billy secretly sneaks out….
The children will explore and reimagine this exciting narrative further in their English lessons. They will also read and write different forms of poetry during Poetry Week and create a non-fiction text to show what they have learnt about their history topic, ‘Ancient Islamic Civilization’.
The children will continue to have daily spelling lessons, so it is important that they are given opportunities to apply what they have learnt at home.
At the start of each unit, the children will record some common exception words in their logbooks and additional words they may find tricky to spell. These words will change each time they learn a new spelling rule.
Please ensure that your child returns their jotter and logbook to school every day.
Maths
The children are going to spend the first few weeks exploring the place value of numbers within our number system. They will find 10/100/1000 more or less than a given number, compare and order numbers, solve number problems and count in different multiples. Year 3 will work with numbers up to 1000 and Year 4 will explore numbers beyond a thousand.
The children will then consolidate and extend their understanding of addition and subtraction. This will involve using mental arithmetic, structural apparatus, jottings and column method to calculate mathematical statements and use the inverse to check their answers are correct.
During their fluency lessons, the children will revisit a range of strategies they can use to solve mixed calculations with speed, efficiency and accuracy.
We are keen for the children to become fluent with all their times tables so extra practise at home is essential.
History
We’re going back in time to Ancient Islamic Civilization during our History lessons. The children will explore how different Baghdad was to London around 900AD, identify the importance of the House of Wisdom and learn about influential people including Ibn Battuta and Al-Zahrawi.
Science
The children have used a range of working scientifically skills to learn about ‘Animals including Humans’.
Year 3 have discussed how animals need the right types and amount of nutrition and identified that humans and some other animals have skeletons and muscles for support, protection and movement.
Year 4 have described the simple functions of the digestive system in humans, identified the different types of teeth in humans and constructed and interpreted a variety of food chains, identifying producers, predators and prey. They had lots of fun exploring the journey of food and investigating ways we can prevent tooth decay.
Art
Linking with our History work, the children are going to look at Early Islamic Civilization geometric patterns. They will explore using a range of equipment to experiment with texture and colour. They will self and peer assess their artwork throughout to identify ways in which they can improve their work before carefully creating their own final piece.
RE
The children will learn ways in which important events are remembered by different faiths. This will include how Jewish people celebrate Hannukah, how Sikhs celebrate Guru Hargobind and how Hindus celebrate Diwali. Children will be encouraged to describe the different festivals and make links between them, such as the shared use of light.
Music
We use Musical Express to guide our Music lessons. The children are going to complete two units this half term which involve learning songs in Spanish and songs from around the world. Throughout, they will learn how to sing songs in rounds as well as combine tuned and untuned percussion instrument. They will also explore the pentatonic scale and read graphic notation.
Spanish
During this term, the children are going learn how to introduce themselves and say how old they are. They are also going to learn how to greet each other at different times of the day including during the morning, afternoon and evening.
PE
The children are going to have baseball and basketball this half term. During basketball, they will learn how to dribble, pass and shoot a ball with developing accuracy, confidence and control. Whilst in baseball, they will learn how to hit a target with power, travel around a space with speed and throw towards a target.
