Mrs Provis
Teacher
My absolute favourite book is The Magic Faraway Tree, written by Enid Blyton. I have such fond memories of reading this as a little girl, imagining that I too would climb to the top-most branches of the tree in search of a different and exciting world. The book follows 3 children who discover new worlds; sometimes they would have wonderful adventures, other times they would get themselves into a bit of a pickle! My favourite character has to be the Saucepan Man with his funny hearing and of course Moonface. How amazing it would be to slide down his slippery-slip! Now, my own children are reading this book and I hope it will create some wonderful memories for them too.
Miss Freight
HLTA/TIS Practitioner
I love to read. I can remember reading many books as a child and one of my favourites was called The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe, a fantasy style book by C S Lewis. This the first book in a series and they have been turned into films.
Four children, Lucy, Susan, Edmund and Peter are sent to a friends house in the country to escape from the bombings. During a game of hide and seek the adventure begins as they go through the wardrobe and enter the frozen land of Narnia. Many characters appear throughout the story, such as Aslan, Jadis the White Witch, Mr Tumnus, a fawn and the beavers. The children bravely join the battle to free Narnia from the evil witch's spell. This leads to a battle....well I won't tell you the end in case you choose to read it.
I loved this book and have read the series many times, I have also watched the films.
Weaved into the story are a variety of morals such as the fight of good against evil, forgiveness and courage. I hope you read this book and enjoy it as much as I did.
Miss Bennallack
Support Staff
As a child, I read (and re-read!) a collection of Jacqueline Wilson novels, specifically 'The Lottie Project'. I enjoyed stories by this author as I found them really relatable as a child. The character would outline their own life and the people or hurdles within it, but would then get lost in a completely new story within the story which is exactly how I felt when reading these books! Often told in a first-person account, it made me feel as though I became the character. I've since passed these books onto my daughter who has read them all and will keep them for future grandchildren as I feel the stories and topics covered are timeless and will always remind me of my own childhood.
Mr Deadman
Teacher (currently on paternity leave)
My favourite book is George’s Marvellous Medicine. George is a little mischievous and I like to think that’s a bit like me but he is also courageous and inventive which I think is pretty cool! I have lovely memories of being read it as a child by my mum and I love creating those memories for my own children and the children in my class!
Autumn 2
Welcome back to perhaps the best half term of the year – Autumn 2 (Christmas!).
Our topic this half term will be Ancient Egypt. We will be spending some time learning about Ancient Egyptian civilisations in history (specifically finding out about Howard Carter, mummification and the Ancient Egyptian writing system) before moving on to a geography unit where we look at famous landmarks within Ancient Egypt and the River Nile.
Our Art will link to our Ancient Egypt topic, and the children will be creating pharaoh self-portraits. These side profile self portraits will be created using different grades of pencil before moving onto to use paint. Children will consider how the Egyptians expressed their wealth to improve our work and learn techniques on how to create a background using a watercolour wash.
Our DT unit is based on technological advancements. Children will design and create a lightweight, powered vehicle which drives, flies or floats autonomously from one place to another, using recycled and craft materials.
In Science, our topic is electricity. Children will learn about circuits and their different components. They will be challenged with creating their own circuits which include switches and bulbs. They will discover how the brightness of a bulb can be changed. Children will also investigate the difference between mains and battery-powered electricity and why we have conducting and insulating materials.
Our key question in RE will be ‘What is the Trinity and why is it important for Christians?’. We will be looking at stories from Gospels in the Bible and offering suggestions about what different texts mean about baptism and the Trinity. As well as this, we will be describing how Christians today can show their beliefs about the Trinity and making links between the Bible and the idea of God in Christianity.
We will be continuing to use Purple Mash for our computing lessons, this time using 2logo. This is a text-based coding programme used to control an on-screen marker to create mathematical patterns. Children were introduced to turtle patterns using 2Go in year 1 and this builds on this.
In English, we will be starting a unit based around the book ‘Counting on Katherine’ by Helaine Becker. Our mastery keys will be to use expanded noun phrases, fronted adverbials (including the comma!), paragraphs to organise ideas around a theme and to choose nouns or pronouns appropriately for clarity, cohesion and to avoid repetition. Children will be working towards writing a fact file about Katherine Johnson which will include a short biography.
In maths, both Years 3 and 4 will be completing their addition and subtraction units before moving on to multiplication and division.
For Year 3 children in the addition and subtraction block they will be applying number bonds within 10 to add and subtract 1s, 10s and 100s including crossing the 10’s and 100’s boundaries. Children will add and subtract two numbers with and without exchange crossing 10’s and 100’s borders. They will add and subtract 2-digit and 3-digit numbers using a variety of representations as well as formal column addition and subtraction methods. In multiplication and division children will build on their knowledge of multiplication as equal groups and the link between multiplication and repeated addition. Children will build and use arrays to enhance their knowledge of the link between repeated addition and multiplication and to explore commutativity. Children will apply their knowledge of equal groups and use a range of concrete and pictorial representations to deepen their understanding of multiplying and dividing by 3. By the end of the unit children will be able to make connections between the 2, 4 and 8 times-tables. They link multiplying by 4 to doubling then doubling again and multiplying by 8 to doubling three times. They will also recognise that dividing by 4 is the same as halving then halving again, and dividing by 8 is the same as halving three times.
Year 4 children in addition and subtraction children will add and subtract 1s, 10s, 100s and 1,000s. They will add and subtract up to two 4-digit numbers with no exchange, one exchange and more than one exchange. They will learn efficient subtraction and the importance of estimating answers and checking strategies. In multiplication and division, children will consolidate their knowledge of multiples of 3 and use this to derive multiplication and division facts for 6 and 9. They will also be multiplying and dividing by 7 and 11 and 12 and acquiring the associated facts. Children will also explore multiplying by 1 and 0 and dividing a number by 1 and itself. Children will also learn how to multiply three numbers.
In French this half term year 3 children will continue the About Me unit using Languagenut scheme of work. Children will be able to give their age and ask others their age. They will recognise and pronounce the sounds EU and AU. Children will be able to say which languages they speak and describe their nationality. They will be able to make sentences about themselves. Children will also learn some words related to Christmas in France.
Year 4 children will focus on their hobbies and interests. They will be able to talk about the things they like to do in French. They will be able to say what days they like to do them and give times relating the hour. Children will learn to recognise and pronounce the sounds CH and J. They will also learn about how the holiday season is celebrated in French speaking Canada.
In music this half term children will explore how to sing with accurate pitch and in tune. They will learn how to show control with their voice and pronounce the words in a song clearly. They will learn what an ensemble is and be able to maintain a simple part within an ensemble. Children will take part in a group performance and show awareness of what others are singing/ playing. They will be able to sing in tune, breathe well, pronounce words, change pitch and dynamics.
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In PHSE this half term children explore the Jigsaw unit Celebrating Differences. In year 3 children will investigate how all families are different and look at differences in their own families. They will explore the topic of bullying and what to do if they witness bullying. They will discuss how words can cause harm to others and how they may affect someone’s feelings. Year 4 children will think about assumptions that people may make and why and how they could become influenced to make an assumption. They will know what to do if they think someone is being bullied and the impact of this. |
Finally, our PE unit this half term is hockey . Children will learn about travelling in hockey and how to effectively control the ball and pass accurately. They will learn the importance of defending and passing and receiving in a game situation. Children will competently participate in a selection of skills based hockey games.