Peacocks - Year 3/4

 Summer 1

Welcome back everyone, we hope that you have had a relaxing Easter break. Please find below an overview of our plans for the first half of summer term.

Our Pathways to Write literacy unit for this half term focuses on the book ‘Where the Forest Meets the Sea’ by Jeannie Baker. The story follows a boy and his grandad as they explore a largely untouched wet-tropical rainforest that meets the sea. The pictures contain hidden images depicting past inhabitants, teaching the reader how the forest has supported life beyond just the modern snapshot. Our writing outcome is: To write a non-chronological report based on a  zoo information board for a rainforest exhibit.

“When a young boy visits a tropical rain forest, he pretends it is a long time ago and that extinct and rare animals live in the forest, and aboriginal children play there. But how much longer will the rainforest remain, he wonders?”

Children will practise their spoken language, building their vocabulary through listening and responding. They will ask relevant questions and give well-structured descriptions, explanations and narratives. They will maintain their attention and participate actively in collaborative conversations, monitoring the interest of the listeners. Children will consider and evaluate different viewpoints and select and use appropriate registers for effective communication. To further develop reading comprehension children will read for a range of purposes . They will use dictionaries to check the meaning of words and offer explanations to the meaning of words in context. Children will make predictions from details stated and implied and identify the main ideas drawn from more than one paragraph and summarise. Children will explore and identify how language, structure and presentation contribute to meaning and retrieve and record information from non-fiction. In writing composition, children will plan their writing by discussing the structure, vocab and grammar of similar writing and record their ideas. They will compose and rehearse sentences orally. In non-narrative material, children will learn to use simple organisational devices. Children will proofread for spelling and punctuation errors and read aloud their own writing using appropriate intonation and controlling the tone and volume so that the meaning is clear.

In Maths this half term year 3 will be following the White Rose Maths Unit, Mass and Capacity before moving on to Fractions. Children will be able to use scales and measure mass in grams and kilograms. They will explore equivalent masses (kilograms and grams) and compare these. They will add and subtract mass. Children will be able to measure capacity and volume using millilitres and litres. They will explore equivalent capacities and volumes (litres and millilitres) and compare these capacities and volumes. They will be able to add and subtract capacity and volume. The fractions unit involves adding and subtracting fractions. Children will learn how to partition the whole and find unit and non -unit fractions of a set of objects. Children will be able to reason with fractions of an amount.

In Year 4 children will be working on decimals this half term. Children will be able to identify tenths as fractions and as decimals. They will be able to recognise tenths on a place value chart and on a number line. Children will be able to divide a 1-digit and 2-digit number by 10. Children will investigate hundredths as fractions and as decimals. They will explore hundredths on a place value chart. Children will be working on dividing a 1- or 2-digit number by 100. Children will be able to make a whole with tenths and hundredths. They will learn how to flexibly partition decimals. They will be able to compare and order decimals. Children will be able to round to the nearest whole number and represent halves and quarters as decimals.

In Science this term our topic is Plants- functions and requirements. Children will be able to identify and describe the functions of different parts of flowering plants: roots, stem/trunk, leaves and flowers. They will explore the requirements of plants for life and growth (air, light, water, nutrients from soil, and room to grow) and how they vary from plant to plant. Children will experiment and investigate the way in which water is transported within plants. They will be able to name and explain what the different parts of a flowering plant do; and what a plant need to grow well. Children will learn about the different parts of a flower and be able explain their roles in pollination and fertilisation. They will be able to discuss the stages of the life cycle of a flowering plant. In working scientifically, they will ask relevant questions and use different types of scientific enquiries to answer them. They will be involved in setting up simple practical enquiries, comparative and fair tests and making systematic and careful observations. Children will gather, record, classify and present data in a variety of ways to help answer questions. They will record findings using simple scientific language, drawings, labelled diagrams, keys, bar charts, and tables. They will report on findings from enquiries, including oral and written explanations, displays or presentations of results and conclusions. They will use results to draw simple conclusions and make predictions. Children will identify differences, similarities or changes related to simple scientific ideas and processes and use straightforward scientific evidence to answer questions or to support their findings.

In RE this term our key question is ‘When Jesus left, what was the impact of Pentecost?’ Pupils will learn that Christians believe that Jesus inaugurated the ‘Kingdom of God’ — i.e. Jesus’ whole life was a demonstration of his belief that God is King, not just in heaven but here and now (‘Your kingdom come, your will be done on earth as it is in heaven’). Christians believe Jesus is still alive, and rules in their hearts and lives by the Holy Spirit, if they let him. Christians believe that after Jesus returned to be with God the Father, he sent the Holy Spirit at Pentecost to help the Church to make Jesus’ invisible Kingdom visible by living lives that reflect the love of God. Christians celebrate Pentecost as the beginning of the Church. In making sense of this belief children will be able to make clear links between the story of Pentecost and Christian beliefs about the ‘kingdom of God’ on Earth. They will be able to offer informed suggestions about what the events of Pentecost in Acts 2 might mean and give examples of what Pentecost means to some Christians now. In understanding the impact, children will make simple links between the description of Pentecost in Acts 2, the Holy Spirit, the kingdom of God, and how Christians live now and describe how Christians show their beliefs about the Holy Spirit in worship. In making connections children will make links between ideas about the kingdom of God in the Bible and what people believe about following God today, giving good reasons for their ideas.

In ICT this half term we shall be asking the question What is a search engine? Children will learn how to use search engines effectively to find out information. They will be able to locate information on the search results page. They will learn how we can assess whether an information source is true and reliable and how can we use search engines effectively to answer questions.

For topic this half term we shall be investigating British history beyond 1066 looking at changes over time focusing on Crime and Punishment. Children will continue to build a chronological knowledge of British history, the Roman justice system and crime and punishment through the Anglo-Saxon, Tudor and Victorian period. Children will find out what the Romans defined as punishment and what their legal system was really like. They will learn about the Roman laws called the ‘Twelve Tables’, written around 450 BC. They will learn how lawbreakers were punished in Anglo-Saxon times and how typical Anglo-Saxon punishments were carried out in public to make an example of the guilty person and to deter others from committing the same crime. Children will investigate what different punishment methods were popular during the Tudor period and why vagrancy (being homeless) was a crime and punished by being whipped or even hanged. Children will learn about Dick Turpin, one of the most famous criminals in British history. They will use different historical sources to build a picture of events in the life of Dick Turpin and form their own opinions. Children will learn how in Victorian times the police force was first introduced by Sir Robert Peel in London in 1829. They will know that during this period, prison became the main form of punishment for lots of different crimes.

This half term, children will be exploring expression and improvisation in music. They will learn how improvisation can be a powerful way to express feelings and emotions, discovering that music truly comes from the heart. To help make their improvisations even more expressive, they’ll be focusing on dynamics — learning how changes in volume and intensity can bring their musical ideas to life.

In PHSE this half term we will follow the Jigsaw unit Relationships. Year 3 children will  revisit family relationships and identify the different expectations and roles that exist within the family home. They identify why stereotypes can be unfair and may not be accurate e.g. Mum is the carer, Dad goes to work. They also look at careers and why stereotypes can be unfair in this context. They learn that families should be founded on love, respect, appreciation, trust and cooperation. Children are reminded about the solve-it-together technique for negotiating conflict situations and the concept of a win-win outcome is introduced. Online relationships through gaming and Apps are explored and children are introduced to some rules for staying safe online. Children also learn that they are part of a global community, and they are connected to others they don’t know in many ways e.g. through global trade. They investigate the wants and needs of other children who are less fortunate and compare these with their own. Children’s universal rights are also revisited.

Year 4 children will focus on the emotional aspects of relationships and friendships. Children explore jealousy and loss/ bereavement. They identify the emotions associated with these relationship changes, the possible reasons for the change and strategies for coping with the change. The children learn that change is a natural in relationships and they will experience (or may have already experienced) some of these changes. Children revisit skills of negotiation particularly to help manage a change in a relationship. They also learn that sometimes it is better if relationships end, especially if they are causing negative feelings or are unsafe. Children are taught that relationship endings can be amicable.

Children will use Languagenut  for our French lessons this term. Year 3’s unit is Birthdays and Opinions. Children will be able to name the months of the year and give the date of their birthday in French. They will be able to say their families ages and birthday months. Children will learn to recognise and pronounce the sounds AN and IN. They will revise the vocabulary previously covered. Year 4’s unit is all about Food and Drink. Children will learn how to say what they like to eat and drink and learn words for foods from the different food groups. Childre will learn how to pronounce the sounds EU and AU. They will revise mealtime vocabulary and practice speaking the French language.

In art this term the outcome will be to create a mixed media collage of photographs of a plant linking to our science topic. Children will be exploring art through technology. Children will develop their skills using printed images taken with a digital camera and combine them with other media to produce art work. Children will take photographs and explain their creative vision from an unusual or thought-provoking viewpoint, discussing what angles create a thought-provoking perspective. They will then create a piece of art, which includes integrating a digital image they have taken.

In PE, this term our PE Unit is Athletics. Children will learn about running pace and techniques. They will know what it means to sprint effectively and how running fluency effects performance. Children will learn about jumping techniques and those that different animals use. Children will learn about different throwing techniques, and which are most useful in relation to different sporting events and games. They will understand what a push throw is and develop their throwing skills.