Welcome to Year 3/4K!

Teacher: Mr Keegan

Key days

PE: Thursday

Year 4 swimming: Wednesday

Autumn 2 2023

Welcome to Year 3/4K! I hope you have all had a great first half term and looking forward to another in the run up to Christmas.

On our class page, you will be able to find information about this half term's learning.

At the top of this page I have attached this year's topic overview and this half-term's spelling sheet.

English

In English, we will be developing our reading, writing, spellings and grammar skills through a range of fiction writing and non-fiction opportunities. The focus this half term will be on strengthening our learning from this year through texts such as auto-biographies, retells and diary writing. Key speaking and listening skills will be extended through role plays and drama. This half term we will be looking at the discovery of Tutankhamun's tomb using the diary extract written by Howard Carter upon his discovery in Egypt.  Our class read for this half term is Flat Stanley by Jeff Brown

For our Guided Reading sessions, we will be focusing on applying our growing knowledge of root words, prefixes and suffixes, both to read aloud and to understand the meaning of new words that we discover. We will also be reading further exception words, noting the unusual correspondences between spelling and sound, and where these occur in the word. An important focus of our sessions will be checking that the text makes sense and discussing our understanding and explaining the meaning of words in context. 

Maths

This half-term, we will be learning about multiplication and division. We will use different manipulatives to help us multiply and divide as well as learn new strategies to support our learning. We will:

• find factor pairs and use them
• multiply by 10 and 100
• divide by 10 and 100
• use related facts for multiplication and division
• multiply a 2-digit number by a 1-digit number
• multiply a 3-digit number by a 1-digit number
• use efficient multiplication
• divide a 2-digit number by a 1-digit number
• divide a 3-digit number by a 1-digit number

Throughout the year, we ask that children try to play TT Rockstars for a minimum of 5 minutes a day. The year 4 children will be having their times table end of year quiz in June. 

All children should have been provided with logins for TTRockstars and My Maths which will also have math activities for your child to complete.

Topic - Geography

In Geography, we will be studying rivers. We will be locating major rivers in the world, naming the features of a river and explore the different parts of a river as it travels downstream to the sea, explaining the uses of a river and how they have changed over time as well as comparing a local river with the River Nile.

Science 

This term we will be exploring light. During this term's science lessons we will recognise that we need light to see, that the dark is the absence of light, we will also recognise that light from the sun can be dangerous and that there are ways to protect my eyes. Then we will find patterns in the way that the size of shadows change, learn that shadows are formed when the light from a light source is blocked and notice that light can be reflected from surfaces.

Religion

This half-term, our topic is Advent. We will be exploring what it means to be a loving visitor as well as loving our visitors. We start by recognising symbols of advent and their significance, before looking at how to prepare for new arrivals or visitors. Then, we will consider how we can prepare during advent. 

Home Learning

PE

This half term you will need to come into school wearing your PE kit on your PE day which is a Tuesday. You will have 2 PE sessions each day: one in the morning with me and one in the afternoon with our sports coach.

Swimming

All Year 4 children will be swimming every Wednesday - children should come to school dressed in their school uniform on this day.

Clothing requirements for School Swimming are as follows:-

Girls:-

• One-piece swimming costume – no bikinis*
• A swimming hat is required to be worn if the hair covers the eyes or airways
• A towel

* Please note that in order for your child to benefit from the swimming lessons appropriate aquatic clothing must be worn. Should your children wish to wear items of clothing that cover up parts of the body, there are specific aquatic clothing designed for this purpose. Cotton leggings are detrimental to teaching and are a risk to health and safety.

Boys:-

• A pair of traditional swimming trunks
• A swimming hat is required to be worn if the hair covers the eyes or airways
• A towel 

No Bermuda or long shorts are allowed, as these can be dangerous - for reasons of safety the swimwear should be sufficiently tight fitting to allow the freedom of body and limb movement without causing unsafe water resistance.  

Jewellery of any description should not be worn in the School Swimming lesson.  It is important that earrings in particular are removed.

Goggles are only permitted for medical reasons.  Parents must produce a letter from either a Doctor or Optician to state that your child has a medical condition and is required to wear goggles in the school swimming lessons.