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