Year 3,4 Class News
Today, we have had a drop-down morning where we spent time learning all about Buddhism. The children learned where and when Buddhism began and the core beliefs of Buddhism. We spent time learning about the festival of Wesak and how Buddhists celebrate.
Help at home by asking your child to recall some of the knowledge they have learned.
Year 3/4 Reading
This week in Year 3/4, we explored the poem “I Opened a Book” by Julia Donaldson. The children loved diving into the imaginative world the poem describes. We turned our classroom into a retrieval treasure hunt and searched for hidden questions around the room to test our understanding of the poem. To finish, everyone had a go at performing the poem to the class with great expression and enthusiasm. A fantastic week of reading and creativity!
Help at home: Read the poem aloud and try to use intonation, tone and actions.
I Opened a Book
by Julia Donaldson
I opened a book and in I strode
Now nobody can find me.
I’ve left my chair, my house, my road,
My town and my world behind me.
I’m wearing the cloak, I’ve slipped on the ring,
I’ve swallowed the magic potion.
I’ve fought with a dragon, dined with a king
And dived in a bottomless ocean.
I opened a book and made some friends.
I shared their tears and laughter
And followed their road with its bumps and bends
To the happily ever after.
I finished my book and out I came.
The cloak can no longer hide me.
My chair and my house are just the same,
But I have a book inside me.
Year 3, 4 – Writing and Maths
Well done, everyone! What a great start to this half term.
This week in Writing, we’ve been using our imaginations to explore an abandoned house! Our purpose is to describe the eerie setting in detail so that an illustrator can bring it to life through artwork.
We’ve been focusing on using Expanded Noun Phrases (ENPs) to add depth and detail to our writing. You need a determiner, adjective and noun for it to be an ENP.
Think “a crumbling, ivy-covered wall” or “a broken window with jagged glass.” Our goal is to paint a picture with words!
The classes have loved getting creative and spooky with their ideas. We can’t wait to see how our setting descriptions inspire some fantastic illustrations!
In Maths, we have been counting money and converting money from pence into pounds. At home, why not count up the change that you have? You could also explore how to make different amounts of money. For example, how many ways can you make 85p?
Living and Learning: Physical Health and Fitness
In our recent Living and Learning topic, we learnt all about physical health and fitness.
We learnt that being…
- 60 active minutes a day is needed
- being physically active helps us both physically and mentally
- being physically active can help improve our mood
- being physically active can give us more energy to help our learning
… and much more!
Well done, Y3,4!
Living and Learning: Healthy Eating
During our recent Living and Learning topic, we learnt all about healthy eating.
We know that in order to eat healthily, we need foods from all the different food groups to ensure we have a well balanced and healthy diet.
The image below shows the different food groups and how much of each should be included in our diet to make sure it is healthy.
Help at home: see if your child can remember the different food groups.
Year 3, 4 Topic
Year 3/4 took part in an exciting drop-down morning where we journeyed through Geography, History, and Art all in just one morning!
In Geography, we explored the theme ‘Where in the world am I?’, learning about the countries and capital cities of the UK and the surrounding seas. The children impressed us with their map skills and were able to use grid-references to locate areas on a map.
Next, we travelled back in time in History, diving into the fascinating worlds of the Ancient Greeks, the Romans, and the Anglo-Saxons. Pupils explored what life was like during these periods and discussed the lasting impact these civilisations have had on our lives today. We played a game of cops and robbers where you were able to steal facts from other teams and add it to your own!
In Art, we looked at the amazing work of George Seurat and Bridget Riley. We compared and contrasted Seurat’s pointillism and Riley’s optical illusions.
It was a fantastic morning of discovery and we were so proud of the enthusiasm and teamwork shown by everyone!
Walk to school week
Next week, we are taking part in ‘Walk to school week!’
The children are being encouraged to be more active next week and avoiding travelling to school in a car. We would love the children to walk, cycle or scoot to school. We would really appreciate parents support on this. If you live further afield, maybe you could park near to school and walk the last part of your journey.
The children will be signing a pledge in their classes this week and will receive an activity book they will complete in school. Each day the classes will tally up the active journeys. If you have any photographs of your children completing their active journey to school, please send them to sarahhogarth@spherefederation.org.
Let’s make next week active, happy and healthy!
Help at home: If you are interested in finding out more, check out the following website.
Living and Learning: Health and Prevention
In the first two weeks of this half term, we’ve been learning all about health and prevention during our Living and Learning sessions.
Our two weekly statements were:
- I know the importance of personal hygiene; including handwashing.
- I know the importance of sleep.
During these sessions, we explored the importance of personal hygiene and the effects it could have on us if we don’t have good personal hygiene. Help at home: see if your child can explain why good personal hygiene (including handwashing) is important).
We also discussed the importance of sleep and the negative effects it can have on us if we don’t get enough sleep and if we aren’t in a good bedtime routine.
We concluded that these two things can be linked as well – for example: a good bedtime routine would involve brushing our teeth for two minutes on a night which is an example of good personal hygiene.
Help at home: see if your child can list some positive effects of a good nights sleep.
Working with decimal fractions!
This week in maths, we’ve been learning all about decimals—especially how to recognise tenths and hundredths as a decimal. We explored how 1/10 is the same as 0.1 and 1/100 is the same as 0.01. We used number lines and place value charts to help us understand. The classes did a fantastic job connecting their knowledge of fractions to decimals. Well done, everyone!
Help at home by continuing to support your child access TT rockstars
Living and Learning – Year 3,4
This week during our Living and Learning lessons and circle time sessions, we have discussed:
- the allergies that people may have and some of the signs of an allergic reaction
- how allergies can be managed and treated
- how we can help people who have an allergy
We have also discussed the importance of hygiene and ways to be hygienic such as washing our hands regularly and cleaning our teeth.
A great start to the new term year 3,4! Well done.