1. Year 3 / 4 Spring term– Mr Exley and Mrs Millican
Primary Engineering/Local Inventors
Areas of Learning
This term we are going to be linking two mini topics;
Primary Engineering
and
Inventors
We will make links to all our areas of learning including written work linked to our topics.
We will aim to link our primary engineering work in DT and topic work identifying key inventors with our science topic electricity, where we will investigate how circuits work and create our own.
Year 3 / 4 Spring term– Mr Exley and Mrs Millican
Creativity and a love of learning
Through imaginative topic based
learning, pupils can make real life
links and find a purpose to their
learning. We aim to encourage
pupils to learn about the world
around them. We use the wider
curriculum to enhance children’s
learning and provide a greater
depth of knowledge.
Global citizens
Alongside global citizenship comes
global responsibility. We will learn
about issues surrounding the
destruction of rainforests. Children
will be encouraged to regard
everyone as equal in the eyes of
God. We will continue to learn
about the rights of the child through
our Unicef Rights Respecting
assemblies. We will be raising
money for Cafod.
Skills for life
During the year pupils will have opportunties to explore, imagine and create, while being equipped with many life skills. The aim is to inspire children and develop their imagination and practical skills.
The whole Child
During the year, we aim is to inspire
children and develop their
imagination and practical skills
across the curriculum. This term
children will learn about how to
care and respect the environment
as well as Road safety skills and
measuring ingredients for cooking.
We will use maps and atlases
effectively.

2. Communication, Language & Literacy
In years 3 and 4 through our work in English, we will be listening to and discussing a range of fiction and non-fiction texts; increasing familiarity with a range of books and retelling some of these orally; researching topics, producing information and explanation texts as well as reading and creating our own narratives. In year 3 we will be using How to Train Your Dragon and in Year 4 we will be using Charlie and the Chocolate Factor as our writing stimulus.
Children will continue to learn to read a wide range of words and increase their fluency in reading. As well as reading children will develop their comprehension skills demonstrating an understanding of what they have read within literacy and topic alike.They will be introduced to new grammatical terminology including subordinating conjunctions, complex and compound sentence. Using written narratives as our main focus we will be looking to develop our use of inverted commas to demarcate speech as well as carefully selecting vocabulary to develop detail and description within our writing.
Religious Education
During this term, as always, RE will shape many of the
things we do each day, with Christ being at the centre of
our school. Using the diocesan resource, Come and See,
we will study: Life in the local Christian community and
ministries in the parish; ‘What do Catholics believe and
do?’; Celebrating growth to new life. We will also
continue the Sacramental Preparation programme
learning about the Eucharist. Through feast days we will
learn about other faiths.
Mathematics
This term pupils learning will include the following in year 3 and 4:
Multiplication and division x ÷ using both written and mental methodologies including weekly challenges
We will aim to develop our skills further in representing data using bar charts, pictograms and tables.
Using equipment to accurately measure length and heights in m/cm, measuring mass in g/kg and volume in l/ml.
Solving multiple step word problems
Mental calculations including speed tests calculations without calculators.
Measurement and fractions
In year 3 we will be aiming to continuously consolidate our knowledge in counting forwards and backwards in multiples of 2, 3, 4, 5, 8, 10 and 100.
In year 4, we will be aiming to continuously consolidate our knowledge of counting forwards and backwards in multiples of 6, 7, 9 and 25.
Science
We will be learning about electricity. Through this topic we will learn about common appliances that use electricity as well as developing and creating our own simple circuits using open and closed switches.
Music
Children will have weekly music lessons during which they will learn to read musical notation, play tuned and untuned percussion instruments and compose their own piece of music.
German
Weekly German lessons will be taught by Mrs Bircham on Monday mornings.
Using ICT & I-pads
We will use ICT to present information for a variety of different audiences. We will continue to use Scratch as a programming tool on the I-pad.
D & T Skills and Art
Pupils will have a skills based DT lesson each week. In these lessons we will aim to produce work related to our topic, while developing a functioning car within the guidelines of the Primary Engineering contest.
Physical Education
During the Spring term we will begin to develop our skills within basketball. While developing our understanding of the game, we will look at increasing our understanding of the importance of movement, as well as developing our fine motor skills and co-ordination as we aim to dribble freely within game situations.
PSHCE
PSHCE will be taught through a variety of subjects as well as through stand alone lessons and circle times. The statements of the week will be used to direct circle time activities to help children learn about the world around them and their relationships with others.
Supporting your child at home
The support you give your child at home is invaluable to their progress and appreciated by all staff.
Please encourage your child to:
· Do their homework promptly, to a high standard and return it on time.
· Find a good novel that they enjoy and read it.
· Sign reading records regularly—at least 3 times a week if possible.
· Practise their times tables to support their work in Numeracy.
· Do some independent research into this term’s topics by using books, newspaper or magazine articles and on the internet.
· Practise their spellings for the weekly spelling quiz on Mondays.
We are continuing to encourage independence and responsibility this year, so please encourage your child to organise themselves and know what they need for each school day
Weekly homework
Homework will be given out on a Friday to be returned the following Wednesday. Spellings and times tables will be given out for the half term. Times tables and spellings should be practised regularly throughout the week. Every child should read at least 3 times a week.