Welcome back, Otter Class! We hope you had a lovely break and are ready to get started with term 4. We were so impressed by the hard work and perseverance of the class last term and cannot wait to see the work that will be produced this term!
See below some pictures of our classroom, we hope you love it as much as we do.
Learning in Term 4
In English this term we are finishing our learning on ‘The Great Kapok Tree’ and then moving on to ‘Danny the Champion of the World: The Plays’. Whilst looking at this new text, we will be incorporating both reading and writing skill learning across our English lessons. I have been so impressed by the VIPERS skills being demonstrated last term. The children demonstrated an in depth understanding of deforestation when looking a range of texts. During our English lessons we will be continuing to improve our VIPERS reading skills (vocabulary, inference, prediction, explanation, retrieval and summary). We cannot wait to start exploring our new key text!
This year we are continuing to follow Power Maths for our mathematics learning. The Year 3’s will continue to look at length and perimeter and will be moving on to Fractions later on in the term. The Year 4’s will also be learning about length and perimeter and then moving on to fractions.
The main overarching cornerstones topic for Term 3 and 4 is a Geography unit called ‘Misty Mountains, Windy Rivers’ Within this topic we will learn about the characteristics of rivers and mountain ranges and then moving on to the ecosystems and how they are formed. Throughout term 3 the children really enjoyed beginning this topic and we cannot wait to continue it in term 4.
Whilst we are following our overarching topic, we will also have smaller units that will mostly run for 6 weeks. The smaller units that we will be following are:
Grouping and Classifying – a Science unit exploring the idea of grouping living things. We will study animal and plant kingdoms and use and create animal classification keys to identify living things.
Vista – an Art unit exploring the techniques that artists use when creating landscape images. This topic may even link with our overarching topic!
Functional and Fancy fabrics – a DT topic learning about home furnishings whilst looking at the designer ‘William Morris’. We will learn techniques for decorating fabric including block printing, hemming and embroidery. Lastly, we will use this techniques to design and make a fabric sample.
Whilst all of this fun learning is going on, we will also have our other wider learning subjects running alongside our Cornerstones units. PE this term will be taught by Charlton Athletic and will be on Wednesday afternoons. The topic title is called ‘The Joy of Moving’, how exciting! Please ensure that your child wears their PE kit in to school on a Wednesday ready for PE in the afternoon.
Reading for pleasure will continue on Monday afternoons. Your child is able to bring something in to read in this time. This session allows the children dedicated time to be able to immerse themselves into the world of a book in a calm environment. Teaching staff will also be bringing in books for this time so we can share our passion for reading as a class.
What a busy but exciting term we have ahead of us!
Home Learning
We were so impressed by the amount of homework handed in last term. This will continue to be set on a Tuesday and is to be completed by the following Monday. This will be set on Google Classroom. The home learning task will be based upon learning that we are completing in school in order to develop a secure understanding of the content
Your child is also expected to be reading regularly. Accelerated reader has been proving very popular within the class and it has been amazing to see the love of reading develop. We are very proud of the progress being made within the class. This term we will continue with this reading scheme and your child is still able to quiz at school if needed. To find the version of the AR website that works, it is best to go through Bethersden School website by clicking CHILDREN where there should be a direct link to Accelerated Reader.
To help develop our knowledge of times tables we also encourage children to be accessing Times Tables Rockstars at home. Having a secure knowledge of the times tables will support all areas of mathematics. Year 3’s should be secure in their 2 ,5 and 10 times tables and are currently learning their 3, 4 and 8. times tables. Year 4’s should be working towards being secure in all of their times tables. If this is not the case, practicing on TTRS for at least 15 minutes a week will definitely support this.
You can access TT Rockstars on this link https://ttrockstars.com/
Reminders
Children should arrive at school between 8:30am and 8:45am as we would like to start our learning as soon as possible. Children will be dismissed from the school playground at 3:10pm
Break times this term will now be at 11:15am (15 minutes later than they are used to) due to some timetable changes. This highlights the importance for a piece of fruit or vegetable for break time as this is essential to maintain the learning focus throughout the morning.
Contact us
We are always available on the playground after school if you need to talk! Alternatively, if it is not urgent, you can email the families email. This email is checked regularly and will be forwarded on to the class team. You can find the email here: families@bethersden.kent.sch.uk
We are looking forward to the exciting term ahead of us!
Miss Robinson