Year 3

Such a creative end to the spring term! Music Day was a huge success, and it was fantastic to see all children contributing to the rhythms, sounds, and fun. Each class has also designed and made its own class pop-up book using levers, pivots, flaps, and more to show what plants need to survive and how their life cycle is supported by pollination and seed dispersal.

After writing an alternative ending to George’s Marvellous Medicine (some happy, some unfortunate), we created our own book reviews about Roald Dahl’s version. Across this topic, it has been great to see the development of writing and how sentence structure is becoming more complex and interesting, using techniques such as adding a prepositional phrase to an expanded noun phrase.

Measurement in maths has finished with comparing, adding, and subtracting volume and mass and building upon knowledge of ½s, ¼s, ⅕s, and 1/10s of 1,000. We have also had the opportunity to recap arithmetic skills in column addition and subtraction, as well as multiplication and division of two-digit numbers. Please do keep practising times tables of 2, 3, 4, 5, 8, and 10.

In history, we learned that it is not always how big or powerful you are that helps you win a battle, as we delved further into the reasons why Britain was successful against the mighty Spanish Armada. Sometimes, it is best to have a good strategy (it really wasn’t just the weather).

In RE, we were impressed by how engaged the children were in exploring other religious and non-religious celebrations unfamiliar to their own. There were lots of questions asked, and children relished the opportunity to share their experiences—a wonderful and positive reflection of the respect the children show to everyone.

We wish you all a very happy and relaxing spring break!

  

  

This week: 31.03.25

Spelling rule: /sh/ sound spelt ‘ch’ eg. chalet and brochure

 

Key words: 

Maths:  mass, scale, volume,capacity, millilitres, litres 

English: commas, adjectives, conjunctions, apostrophes, prepositions

Science: Pollen transportation, pollination, seed dispersal

History: Tudors, Francis Drake, Armada, Galleon

 

Maths facts: 4 x tables

 

Next week: 22.04.25

Spelling rule: N/A

 

Key words:

Maths: fractions, numerator, denominator, vinculum, non/unit fractions, partition

English: commas, adjectives, conjunctions, apostrophes, prepositions

Science: transportation, pollination, fertilisation, seed dispersal, stamen

Geography: Cumbria, Lake District, National Park

Maths facts: 8 x tables

 

Key dates: 

7th May - Open Classroom (8.45 - 9.15am)

8th May - Horrible Histories trip

14th May - Kew Gardens trip

24th May - End of term. School closes at 3.15pm

 

Year 4

The children have been focusing on their descriptive language to create a delicious menu of food for the Iron Man and his iron friends. They have been particularly creative with the desserts on offer! Our book next term is The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe by C.S. Lewis.

In maths, the children have picked up the concept of decimals really well and have been comparing tenths as fractions and tenths as decimals, as well as representing decimal numbers in different ways. We are continuing our weekly sound checks in TTRS, and the practice at home is really paying off.

We visited the music room for our science lesson to investigate pitch and volume in different musical instruments. We will be revisiting this in our upcoming class assemblies. The children also created their own “music studio” and investigated which materials absorbed sound the best. In RE, we considered the similarities and differences between Ramadan and Lent and discussed why traditions are important.

We have lots of people to thank this week. Firstly, Cath Cook for organising a fantastic Music Day, in which Year 4 had a starring role creating their soundscape as well as joining in with the whole-school Samba performance. We really enjoyed the day.

Next, thank you to Mrs. Collier, who provided us with compost and seeds to plant in the mini-greenhouses that we made in our DT lessons. Please send in pictures of the plants growing at home—hopefully, you will be able to harvest some peas over the summer.

Swimming lessons have now come to an end. Thank you to Miss Foster for taking the children swimming over the autumn and spring terms and for organising a fun morning out at Marble Hill Park to end our outdoor adventurous activities topic. There was plenty for everyone to do, even if they did not want to go up high!

And finally, thank you to all the parents who have accompanied us on our various trips this term, read with children in school, and supported them at home with their home learning. It really makes a difference.

  

                    

This week: 31.03.25

Spelling rule - Word families based on common words, showing how words are

related in form and meaning:

solve

solution

insoluble

dissolve

solvent

sign

signature

assign

design

signal

 

Key words: 

Maths: tenths as decimals, divide a 1 digit number and a 2 digit number by 10

English: figurative language, alliteration, similes and metaphors

Science: absorb, reflect, insulation 

History: comparison, developments

 

Maths facts: Times tables (1-12)

 

Next week: 21.04.25

Spelling rule - Adding the prefix inter meaning between or among:

interact 

interfere 

intercity 

international 

intermediate 

interconnect 

intergalactic

interrupt 

intervene 

interlude

 

Key words: 

Maths: hundreds as fractions and as decimals, divide by 100 

English: pronouns, nouns, cohesion

Science: predator, prey, food chain 

Geography: Tectonic plates, lava, magma, volcanoes, earthquakes

 

Maths facts: Times tables (1-12)

 

Key dates: 

Tuesday 29th April - Onyx class assembly - 9am

Wednesday 30th April - Zircon class assembly - 9am

Thursday 1st May - Carnelian class assembly - 9am

 

07/05/25 - Open classrooms - 8.45 - 9.15am