Week Beginning 12th December

Well here we are again, the final week of the half term and the first term in school this year is coming to a close.  A few reminders for this week:

·        The children will be having their Christmas lunch this Monday.

·        The KS2 Christmas parties are taking place on Tuesday and all children have been placed in groups and have been allocated something to bring in for their party.

·        We have some special visitors coming in on Wednesday ...

·        Friday is our Carol service

The Year 3/4 Production

Well to quote Ceasar from the play, “you were fabulous darlings’.  The staff in the 3/4 team are so proud of all of the children.  The performances which they put on were brilliant and many comments have been made about how ‘professional’ the shows were.  Every single child in Year 3 and 4 should give themselves a pat on the back because they made this year’s Christmas production unforgettable.  Well done everyone - but don’t rest yet because Year 3/4 will be performing one of the songs from our production in the Carol Service on Friday!

Core sessions this week will be based on a Christmas theme as we want to make sure that the children are all smiling during the exciting build up to Christmas.  We will still be working hard though and will be having a very productive week.

 RE

Children will be finishing off their RE topic based on the time of the Church’s year which is currently Advent.  They will continue to prepare for the coming of Christmas and remembering the true meaning of the season.

Week beginning 5th December

We have a busy week for Year 3/4 this week with children performing their Christmas Production for the school and parents.  We have two morning shows on Tuesday and Wednesday and an evening performance on Thursday.  Can I also remind everyone that it is the Christmas fair this Friday in school and so children are allowed to wear their own clothes on this date.

English

Year 3&4

Assessments are being carried out this week as we are coming to the end of the Autumn term.

Maths

Year 3 & 4

Assessments are being carried out this week as we are coming to the end of the Autumn term.

 RE

Children have now started their new RE topic called visitors.  This is a topic which informs us about the time in the Church’s year called Advent.  Children are considering what it is like to have visitors and we will be discussing what this time of year is in preparation of.

Week Beginning 21st November

Not long to go now.  It will be Christmas before we know it.  First thing on Monday the children have a fantastic Mad Science assembly to look forward to.  Just a reminder as well that it is the second of the sessions for the Sacramental preparation programme for the Year 4s this Thursday.  This will be taking place at St Joseph’s at half 6pm.

English

Year 3

This week we will read The Tunnel by Anthony Browne which is an adventure/mystery story.  We will create a story map, thinking about the beginning, the build-up, the dilemma, the resolution and the ending.  We will think carefully about the characters' thoughts and feelings and carry out some drama activities to really understand them.  Following our drama, we will delve deeper into the text and look at some of the grammatical features, in particular, adverbial phrases.  Adverbial phrases give us more information about the verbs in a sentence.  The children will then put these into practice and re-write part of the story, using some of the adverbials that they have learned.

Year 4

Children have spent the last couple of weeks looking at creative extended writing.  This is because all Catholic primary schools have got together recently to compare writing from all year groups.  Consequently, the previous unit of work was put on hold.  However, we are going to start a shorter unit this week based on poetry.  Throughout this unit children will enjoy the range of poems and discuss and explore their uses of figurative language. They will learn and revise metaphor, simile and personification and then identify the features of free verse, haiku and performance poetry. Finally they draft and write their own poems using ones from the unit as models.

Maths

Year 3

Learning Area –            Measures - Time

Learning Concept -          Estimate and read time with increasing accuracy to the nearest minute;

Tell and write the time from an analogue clock, including using Roman numerals from I to XII

                                                               

Teaching sequence -      Read the time to one minute intervals.

Estimate the time to the nearest five minute interval, e.g. it is nearly ten past four.

Recognise the Roman numerals from I to XII.

Place I –XII on a clock face in correct place

Read time on clock with Roman numerals

Show equivalent time from Roman numeral clock face on regular analogue face and vice versa

  

Year 4

Learning Area –            Multiplication and Division

Learning Concept -          Recognise and use factor pairs and commutativity in mental calculations.

Teaching sequence -      Explain the term ‘factor pair’.

Know all the factors within all numbers to 10.

Work out all the factors of any number to 144.

Know the term ‘square number’ and recall all square numbers associated with numbers 1 –144.

 RE

Children will be finishing off their new unit for RE entitled Promises.  This week children will be remembering, celebrating and responding to how belonging to a group involves promises and rules and the meaning of the promises made at Baptism.

Week Beginning 14th November

This week is anti-bullying week and we will be doing a lot of activities related to this during the afternoons.  We hope children are working hard at home learning lines to our Christmas play.  It seems a while away but it will come round quickly. 

English

Year 3

This week we will be carrying out some assessments in Maths, Reading and Writing.  We will be looking to 

find out what the children have learned so far and identify any areas that they need to work on next.  We will also have a spelling focus towards the end of the week, looking at spelling patterns and strategies that we can use to help us to learn our spellings.

Year 4

Children are moving onto a new topic in their English this week and the overview of it is as follows:  Children are going to be introduced to the idea of an audio story or podcast. As a class, they listen to a spooky story podcast in three episodes, asking questions and listening out for sound effects to develop their listening and comprehension skills. They will focus on the use of language and the way it is used in conjunction with the narrator’s voice and sound effects to create atmosphere and character. After some help they will practise mind mapping and planning a story as a class. They will then build on this experience to plan and write their own three-episode spooky story podcasts in groups. Time is given at the end of the unit for the children to practise reading their stories aloud and incorporate sound effects. The podcasts will then be recorded or performed so that they can be shared with one another.

Maths

Year 3

Learning Area –            Multiplication and Division

Learning Concept -          Write and calculate mathematical statements for division using known multiplication tables, including 2-digit x 1-digit, using mental and progressing to formal written methods.

                                                               

Teaching sequence -      Divide 2, 3, 4, 5, 8 into any multiple of ten with no remainder.

Divide 2, 3, 4, 5, 8 into any 2-digit number with no remainder.

Year 4

Learning Area –            Multiplication and Division - Mental

Learning Concept -          Recall multiplication and division facts for tables up to 12x12.

Teaching sequence -      Count in 6s; forward and backwards.

Recite the x6 tables up to x12, without error.

Answer any calculation involving x6, out of order.

Know that 2x6 is the same as 6x2 etc.

Answer any calculation involving ÷6, out of order.

Count in 7s; forward and backwards.

Recite the x7 table up to x12, without error.

Answer any calculation involving x7, out of order.

Know that 3x7 is the same as 7x3 etc

Answer any calculation involving ÷7, out of order.

Count in 9s; forward and backwards.

Recite the x9 table up to x12, without error.

Answer any calculation involving x9, out of order.

Know that 4x9 is the same as 9x4 etc.

Answer any calculation involving ÷9, out of order.

Recall multiplication facts for all tables up to 12x12 out of order

Recall division facts for all tables up to 12x12 out of order

RE

Children will be continuing with their new unit for RE entitled Promises.  Throughout the next couple of weeks they will explore:

·         The sacrament of Baptism

·         The Word of God

·         Litany of Saints

·         Promises made at Baptism

·         The Baptism and Anointing

·         The symbols used within Baptism

Week Beginning 7th November

Ready for the second week of the half term?  Last week we started introducing our Christmas play to the children and the acting roles, dance and songs which are involved in the production.  We won’t say too much on here as we want to leave some of it as a surprise.  However, this week children will be receiving their acting parts (Year 4 children) and all children will be receiving a print out of the song words.  We would ask that the children work very hard over the next few weeks to learn these lines and songs – we are counting this as part of their homework up until the time when the performances start.

English

Year 3

This week we will be carrying out some assessments in Maths, Reading and Writing.  We will be looking to find out what the children have learned so far and identify any areas that they need to work on next.  We will also have a spelling focus towards the end of the week, looking at spelling patterns and strategies that we can use to help us to learn our spellings.

Year 4

Children are moving onto a new topic in their English this week and the overview of it is as follows:  Children are going to be introduced to the idea of an audio story or podcast. As a class, they listen to a spooky story podcast in three episodes, asking questions and listening out for sound effects to develop their listening and comprehension skills. They will focus on the use of language and the way it is used in conjunction with the narrator’s voice and sound effects to create atmosphere and character. After some help they will practise mind mapping and planning a story as a class. They will then build on this experience to plan and write their own three-episode spooky story podcasts in groups. Time is given at the end of the unit for the children to practise reading their stories aloud and incorporate sound effects. The podcasts will then be recorded or performed so that they can be shared with one another.

Maths

Year 3

Learning Area –            Multiplication and Division

Learning Concept -          Write and calculate mathematical statements for multiplication using known multiplication tables, including 2-digit x 1-digit, using mental and progressing to formal written methods.

                                               

Teaching sequence -      Multiply a multiple of ten by a single digit mentally, using 2, 3, 4, 5, 8 and 10x.                                      Multiply a 2-digit number by a single digit using 2, 3, 4, 5, 8 and 10x.

Year 4

Learning Area –                Measures Time

Learning Concept -          Read, write & convert time between analogue and digital 12-and 24-hour clocks.

Teaching sequence -      Know how to set out each analogue time in digital format

Know how to set out each digital time in analogue format.

Convert between analogue and digital and vice versa

Explain how the digital clock system works, e.g. 10 past 2 in the afternoon = 2:10pm = 14:10.

Topic

This week children will be starting their new topic considering Map work – Map and Plan skills.  This week will have the children considering the difference between a plan and a drawing of an object or place.  They will be attempting to draw plans from side, front, back and overhead views.  They will then challenge themselves by trying to draw missing views of a plan.

RE

Children will be continuing with their new unit for RE entitled Promises.  Throughout the next couple of weeks they will explore:

·         The sacrament of Baptism

·         The Word of God

·         Litany of Saints

·         Promises made at Baptism

·         The Baptism and Anointing

·         The symbols used within Baptism

Week Beginning 31st October

Welcome back to another half term.  We have got loads to do and we will be getting stuck in straight away.  Make sure you come in prepared Year 3/4 because it is going to be straight back to it from where we left off.  Can I just say a big thank you to everyone who donated before the half term break for the head shave fundraiser which was to raise money for Cancer Research UK.  We managed to raise over £1300 which is massive and a lot more than I was expecting, so thank you so much.  Don’t forget to get you PE and swimming kits back into school this week.

English

Year 3

We will be learning about shape poems or "Calligrams".  We will read a variety of shape poems and look at their structure and language.  We will then read a poem about Bonfire Night called "Crackle! Pop!" by Marie Thom and identify the sound words (onomatopoeia) and any interesting vocabulary.  Using a bonfire night video clip to stimulate ideas, we will then generate lots of interesting onomatopoeia words ourselves as well as adjectives and verbs.  These words will be formulated into poems and then transferred onto firework shapes to create our very own Calligrams.

Year 4

Children are moving onto a new topic in their English this week and the overview of it is as follows:  Children are going to be introduced to the idea of an audio story or podcast. As a class, they listen to a spooky story podcast in three episodes, asking questions and listening out for sound effects to develop their listening and comprehension skills. They will focus on the use of language and the way it is used in conjunction with the narrator’s voice and sound effects to create atmosphere and character. After some help they will practise mind mapping and planning a story as a class. They will then build on this experience to plan and write their own three-episode spooky story podcasts in groups. Time is given at the end of the unit for the children to practise reading their stories aloud and incorporate sound effects. The podcasts will then be recorded or performed so that they can be shared with one another.

Maths

Year 3

Learning Area – Multiplication and Division

Learning Concept -          Recall and use the multiplication and division facts for the 3, 4 and 8 tables.

                                               

Teaching sequence -      Count in 3s; forward and backwards.

Recite the x3 table up to x12, without error.

Answer any calculation involving x3, out of order.

Know that 2x3 is the same as 3x2 etc.

Answer any calculation involving ÷3, out of order.

Count in 4s; forward and backwards.

Recite the x4 table up to x12, without error.

Answer any calculation involving x4, out of order.

Know that 3x4 is the same as 4x3 etc.

Answer any calculation involving ÷4, out of order.

Count in 8s; forward and backwards.

Recite the x8 table up to x12, without error.

Answer any calculation involving x8, out of order.

Know that 4x8 is the same as 8x4 etc.

Answer any calculation involving ÷8, out of order.

Year 4

Learning Area –           Measures Time

Learning Concept -          Read, write & convert time between analogue and digital 12-and 24-hour clocks.

Teaching sequence -      Know how to set out each analogue time in digital format

Know how to set out each digital time in analogue format.

Convert between analogue and digital and vice versa

Explain how the digital clock system works, e.g. 10 past 2 in the afternoon = 2:10pm = 14:10.

Topic

This week children will be finishing and rounding of our topic of Stone Age before we start on our next topic which will have us focusing on Geography and the United Kingdom.

RE

Children will be continuing with their new unit for RE entitled Promises.  Throughout the next couple of weeks they will explore:

·         The sacrament of Baptism

·         The Word of God

·         Litany of Saints

·         Promises made at Baptism

·         The Baptism and Anointing

·         The symbols used within Baptism

Week Beginning 17th October

Are you ready for the last week of the first half term of the year?  We know; it has gone very quickly.  We just want to remind you that there is no swimming this week because of parents evening.  From Mr Hughes, thank you to those kind parents who have made a donation to my justgiving page.  The head shave is taking place this Friday in school.  We have these few weekdays left and I would be very grateful for any more donations which will go straight to Cancer Research UK.  The page is www.justgiving.com/Martin-Hughes23.

English

Year 3

We will be concluding our unit about information texts, "Where would you like to live?"  In groups, we will research a chosen country using ipads and record our information on a spider diagram.  Once we have gathered all our information, we will begin to write all about our chosen country, making sure that it is written in the present tense.   We will give our piece of writing a suitable heading and begin to organise our ideas into paragraphs with relevant subheadings.  To end the topic, the children will present their ideas to the class. .

Year 4

For the final week of this half term we will be reviewing some of the skills which we have been introduced to through our English topic and our Grammar sessions.  We will be developing our ability to up level our writing with a focus on understanding types of sentences which can improve our compositions.  Children will be strengthening their understanding of phrases, clauses, sentence types, conjunctions, a range of punctuation, homophones, word classes and they will have the opportunity to put this into practise through a creative piece of writing.

Maths

Year 3

Learning Area – Addition and subtraction

Learning Concept -          Add and subtract numbers with up to 3 digits, using formal written methods of columnar addition and subtraction.

               

Teaching sequence -      Add two 2-digit numbers using columnar addition without exchanging.

Subtract a 2-digit number from a 2-digit number without exchanging.

Add two 3-digit numbers using columnar addition without exchanging.  

Subtract a 2 or 3-digit number from a 3-digit number without exchanging.        

Add two 2-digit numbers where the units make more than 10

Add two 3-digit numbers where the units and/or tens make more than 10

Subtract a 2-digit number from a 2-digit number where exchanging is required

Subtract a 2-digit number from a 3-digit number where exchanging is required

Year 4

Learning Area –            Geometry Shape

Learning Concept -          Compare and classify geometric shapes, including quadrilaterals and triangles, based on their properties and sizes.

Teaching sequence -      Sort shapes according to their properties using correct vocabulary

Draw and classify shapes based on given criteria, then sort

Topic

This week we will be continuing with our first topic of the year – the Stone Age.  Children will be learning about Skara Brae and also Stonehenge.  They will explore:

·         How Scara Brae was discovered

·         Some of the items which were discovered there

·         How Skara Brae shows that  Stone Age people were beginning to change the way in which they lived

·         How Stonehenge changed from the Stone Age onwards

·         Why Stonehenge may have been built

·         How Stonehenge may have been used

RE

Children will be starting a new unit for RE titled Promises.  This first explore week will have the children knowing and understanding what it means to belong to a group which involves promises and rules.

Week Beginning 10th October

Welcome back to another week Year 3/4!  This half term is going to be over before we know it.  Let’s have another great week children and keep trying our best. 

English

Year 3

This week in English we will continue our non-fiction unit on Information Texts entitled "Where Would You Like to Live?"  We will look at a range of information, focusing on a different country each day and finding out about what it is like at home, at school and at play.  We will look again at the layout of the pages and practice our comprehension skills to answer questions about the countries.  As we go through the week, the children will think about which country they might like to live.

Year 4

In English we are continuing with our unit of work called ‘A Huge First Step’.  Children have now tried their hand at recount writing and have been thinking about what features are needed to write a great diary entry. We are now going to be looking in more depth at features of biography texts.  Children will continue to focus on making good and effective use of pronouns as well as thinking about time connectives.

Maths

Year 3

Learning Area – Addition and subtraction

Learning Concept -          Add and subtract numbers mentally, including:

-3-digit number & ones

-3-digit numbers & tens

-3-digit numbers & hundreds

Teaching sequence -      Mentally:

Subtract any 1-digit number from a greater 1–digit number

Add any 3-digit number to a 1-digit number

Subtract a 1-digit number from a 3-digit number

Add any 3-digit number to a 10s number

Subtract a 10s number from any 3-digit number

Add any 3-digit number to any 100s number.

Subtract any 100s number from a 3-digit number

Year 4

Learning Area –            Addition and Subtraction

Learning Concept -          Estimate and use inverse operations to check answers to a calculation.

Teaching sequence -      Estimate the answer to any given addition involving two 2-digit numbers to the                                                         nearest 10.

Estimate the answer to any given addition involving two 3-digit numbers to the nearest 100.

Estimate the answer to any given addition involving two 3-digit numbers to the nearest 10.

Estimate the answer to any given subtraction involving two 2-digit numbers to the nearest 10.

Estimate the answer to any given subtraction involving two 3-digit numbers to the nearest 100.

Estimate the answer to any given subtraction involving two 3-digit numbers to the nearest 10.

Explain the term ‘inverse’ and exemplify with an example.

Check the answer to any calculation with 2 and 3 digit numbers using the inverse.

Topic

This week we will be continuing with our first topic of the year – the Stone Age.  Children will be learning about Skara Brae and also Stonehenge.  They will explore:

·         How Scara Brae was discovered

·         Some of the items which were discovered there

·         How Skara Brae shows that  Stone Age people were beginning to change the way in which they lived

·         How Stonehenge changed from the Stone Age onwards

·         Why Stonehenge may have been built

·         How Stonehenge may have been used

RE

Children will be finishing off their work covering the topic of ‘Homes’.  They will be reflecting on everything that they have learnt from the topic so far and completing a short assessment piece.