Welcome to our fabulous class for Year 3 and 4 pupils!
A bit about us…
Class 3 is made up of year 3 and year 4 pupils, who are transitioning into KS2. Miss Murphy is the class teacher and she is supported by Mr Hull.
In Class 3, we do a lot of fun activities throughout the year in all of our lessons, which you will see on our regularly updated Class Dojo Story. This is also an important time for year 4 children who complete the multiplication check, to assess their recall of multiplication tables to 12. In years 3 and 4 we spend plenty of time preparing children for this assessment.
As children move into KS2, they develop their confidence and independence. Although we work extremely hard, we have a lot of fun too with our exciting, engaging curriculum. To find out more about our curriculum, you can view our Long Term plans below or read the whole-school curriculum offer by clicking here.
Things you should know:
*Each child is given a reading book to read at home. Children will be listened to reading during shared reading sessions, as well as by different adults in school. Reading at home is expected and encouraged; we aim for at least 3 times a week as this will really help your children’s progress.
*Your child will bring home ten spellings each week to learn for a spelling test on Friday.
*One of our key focuses in numeracy is times tables, ensuring children are ready for the multiplication check in year 4. Every child, from Year 2 onwards, is expected to complete 20 minutes of multiplication practise each week on the TTRockstars app.
Class Three’s Planning Documents
English Long Term Planning
Y3 & 4 Cycle A Y3 & Y4 Cycle B
Foundation Subjects Long Term Planning
Class 3 Cycle A Class 3 Cycle B
What have Class Three been up to?
February
February has been another busy month for class 3! We have been doing a lot of cooking and baking this month, both as part of Children’s Mental Health week and our DT topic. For Mental Health week, we competed against the other classes to create balanced, healthy meals. We made a starter of bruschetta and a main of spaghetti bolognese. In DT, we have been making basic biscuits and looking at how we can adapt the recipe further in our topic.
As part of our learning in RE, we visited St. Stephen’s Church in Willington. We learned the names for different things in the church, like altar, pews and lectern, as well as having a chance to ring the church bells! We learned all about communions that take place at the altar and got a sneak peek in the vestry to see the different robes worn for different occasions!
In science, we’ve been learning about animals, including humans. We conducted a fair test to answer the enquiry question: Do people with longer legs jump further? After planning our fair test in groups, we carefully measured the length of each person’s leg and then the distance they could jump. Our results showed there was no pattern between the length of leg and distance jumped.
A New Year!
2024 has got off to a flying start with an incredibly busy January! In art, we have been exploring the importance of plinths. We designed and created our own plinth people. Using a cork as the plinth, we used an additive technique, in which you build from the bottom up. We shaped the wire into that of a person and then started to add material for the clothes. Everyone showed lots of resilience. As part of our learning in DT, we have been evaluating biscuits. We looked at six different types of biscuit and described the packaging, texture and taste. They were very yummy!
We have been reading The Firework-Maker’s Daughter by Philip Pullman. In the story, Lila is determined to become a firework maker. We used persuasive techniques to write our own firework maker job advert. Our new geography topic is all about natural disasters. We began looking at the different types of flooding, and then explored the factors that might encourage flooding. We drew some diagrams to illustrate this, and then used our key topic vocabulary, like vegetation, to explain why flooding could be encouraged.
We started our topic on animals, including humans, by exploring skeletons. After looking at the names of bones and the structure of skeletons, we discussed why we need bones (for support and protection). We explored the different organs that bones might protect, for example, the skull protects the brain and the ribcage protects our heart and lungs.
The Festive Season in Class 3
We always have fun in Class 3 and the learning never stops! December has been a really busy month-here’s what we’ve been up to!
In art, we have been designing our own tessellations. We created stencils and then drew around them to create a repeated pattern. Then, we thought about complementary colours and rules we could apply to our work, such as colours of the same cannot touch.
In computing this half-term, we have been using 2Logo on Purple Mash to code. Once we had become familiar with the coding abbreviations and how the system works, we were able to make shapes. Then, we created procedures for different shapes and repeated the procedures to make patterns. They looked really interesting!
In December, we learned all about the Jewish festival of Hanukkah! We decorated lolly pop sticks with blue pens and gold paint, then glued them together to create the Star of David. We’ve also heard lots of new poems in December, as our reading ambassadors read us a Christmas one each morning!
Having fun in November!
Class 3 have had a blast this month. It’s been action-packed, full of fun, laughter and lots of learning! We have worked with Jack Drum Art to create costumes for Crook Winter Light Parade and some of the children wore our costumes and took part in the parade on Sunday 26th November. It was a magical night. The costumes were fantastic and the music was outstanding.
In Science, we’ve been looking at rocks and fossils. We’ve learnt that the Earth’s crust is made of rocks and soil and how fossils are formed. In Art, we have been exploring pattern and shape.
October
It’s been a busy month in Class 3. In DT, we have been designing and creating our own slingshot cars. After building and attaching the chassis and axles, each group designed the body of the car, keeping in mind what we know about air resistance. Then, each group took a vote on the car design they thought was the best and began creating the body. After, we tested each car to see which would travel the furthest distance. Then, everyone evaluated their finished product and thought about what could be done to improve it.
We love Science in Class 3 and we’ve been enjoying getting out and about for our plant topic! We took a visit to the nature area and pulled up some weeds to have a look at their roots. We took measurements of the roots and discussed how different plants may have different lengths of root depending on their needs, for example a cacti would have very long, wide roots as they live in deserts. We also conducted an experiment to see how water is transported in plants. We put some flowers in dyed water and left them over night. In the morning, we could see that the water had travelled up the stem to the petals and leaves!
The First Three Weeks of School (22.09.23)
Welcome back to our new school year! Time flies in Class 3 as we learn lots and have fun doing it! Art is always one of our favourite lessons. This term, we are looking at famous illustrators. So far, we have created an artist profile for Laura Carlin, illustrator of King of the Sky and Iron Man. Then, we’ve looked at a comic artist called Irina Richards, who creates stories through everyday experiences and poetry. We chose a well-known poem to make our own illustration booklets, using pencil and charcoal. Look at our creations!
In music, we have composed our own piece of music in groups, using the notes C, D, E, F, and G on the glockenspiels. After listening to ‘Night on the Bare Mountain’ by Mussorgsky, we sketched out a story to match the piece of music. As it had such a quick tempo and diverse dynamics, we decided that the story should be fast-paced, and maybe include a chase. In small groups, we each took a section of the song and acted out how this might look.
Computing lessons are always a firm favourite too. We have been exploring how to format different text types. So far, we have formatted a newspaper article (which involved editing the font size and style), and created a book cover (which involved changing the font size, style and alignment). We have also been exploring how images can be used within different text types.
Archived Class information
You can view our archived Class Information on our website.