Welcome to 2020 in the Swans class

***Please can you ensure ALL uniform, PE, Woodland kit and water bottles are labelled so we can return any lost property!***

Our topic for the term is

The Awesome Egyptians  

We will be using our historical research skills to find out about life in Ancient Egyptian times and we will use an atlas and google maps to locate and plot Egypt and its famous landmarks on a local and world map.

Literacy

The children will be following and writing instructions to make models of various Egyptian artefacts. They will use a variety of resources including non-fiction books to research information and will write several topic pages using this information. 

Maths

We will have a strong focus on number for the first half term with an emphasis using more formal methods. We will have weekly problem solving and puzzles lessons where the children will need to apply their thinking skills. The children will investigate perimeter and area and will learn to measure accurately to the nearest mm. We will revisit fractions and the link between fractions and decimal numbers. Throughout the year there will be a heavy emphasis on the children learning the timestables. Year 3 will need to be confident at recalling the 2,3,4,8 and 10's whilst the year 4's need to be able to rapidly recall all tables upto 12 and will be tested on this in May when the new Year 4 SAT test launches.

Science

Our first topic in science rocks and soils, the children will conduct a variety of investigations on permeabiity, hardness and suitability of rocks for different purposes. After half term we will be learning all about light and shadows.

PE will be on a Wednesday and the children will need to have their kit in school.  We will also be doing a daily 5 minute work out. 

We will continue having a weekly Woodland session on a Friday and the children will need to bring a change of clothes including wellies and waterproofs as we will endeavour to go out in all weathers.

The children will need to have their reading diary and book in school every day and they are expected to record their reading at least 4 times a week. Books can be swapped in morning registration when needed. 

The main homework focus is for your child to read regularly both with an adult or independently. Please discuss their reading with them asking questions about the book to encourage their understanding. 

They will have weekly spellings and timestable practice to be sent out on a Thursday. A weekly spelling test will be taken every Friday where we will focus on tricky words and homework spellings. 

In addition to the above, the children can choose different projects and homelearning tasks from the sheet in the front of their homeleaning book. These can be sent in as your child completes a piece. Please make sure any posters produced are no larger than A3 and can be stuck in their books folded.