Welcome to Otters Class!
The Otters Class (made up of our Year 3 and 4 pupils), work together every morning, covering the core subjects of English, Maths and Science. They are taught by Mrs Cheers.
In the afternoon sessions, our Year 3 pupils join Years 1 and 2 with Mrs Shaw and Mrs Rose (Class 2). Year 4 pupils join Years 5 and 6 with Mrs Cheers (Class 3).
Year 3 Curriculum Overview
Year 4 Curriculum Overview
In Class 2.5, to help support our teaching of spelling, we set assignments on Spelling Shed on a Friday for Y3 and Y4. Spelling Shed is a game-based tool that can be used at home to boost children’s confidence in spelling. Children enjoy playing the games and practise their spellings in a fun, interactive way. Your child has been given their login information and they can access Spelling Shed online here: https://play.edshed.com/en-gb/login. The website can be accessed using a computer, phone or tablet; as ever, please do carefully supervise your child when they use the internet.
In Year 3 and 4, we work through a two-year rolling programme which you can find below:
Spelling Shed Parent Guide
Year 3 and 4 Statutory Spellings
Class Texts: 'Africa is not a Country' by Margy Burns Knight, 'Mufaro's Beautiful Daughters' by John Steptoe and 'The Pot of Wisdom - Ananse Stories' by Adwoa Badoe and Baba Wague Diakite
This term, Year 3 and 4 are reading stories from Africa. They will learn about some of the different countries within Africa and also read some traditional African folktales. They will look at all three of these books over the term, culminating in writing an 'Ananse the Spider' story of their own (based on similar ones that they will have read). Along the way, they will take part in paired reading, choral reading, echo reading and more!
Year 3/4 Reading Menu
This document outlines our Year 3/4 reading curriculum for this academic year. It also offers some additional texts that your child might like to explore!
We use White Rose Maths planning and resources to ensure that our maths lessons meet all national curriculum guidelines in a fun, inclusive and age-appropriate way. All our material is designed to support primary children as they have fun with maths, exploring everything from times-tables and number bonds, to money and multiplication.
These are the units that will be covered during the Summer Term:
During Summer 2, Year 4 pupils will sit the statutory Times-Tables test. The following link will help pupils prepare for this:
Year 3 - Spring 2 Homework
Year 3 Spring 2 Homework
Year 4 - Spring 2 Homework
Year 4 Spring 2 Homework
Maths - Telling the time on analogue clocks - 13.5.25
We have been learning to tell the time on analogue clocks. We are getting really good at it. Today, we played a game on the field and had to show the right times on our clocks.. It was fun!
Science: Rocks and Soils
We are enjoying looking at the properties of different rocks and what they are used for. We have sorted rocks into Venn diagrams and tables.
'Alien Encounters' Report Writing
Following their reading of 'Real-Life Mysteries' by Susan Martineau and Vicky Barker, Year 3 and 4 have been learning all about the features of report writing. They have applied their knowledge to write some fantastic 'hoax' alien encounter reports in their English books, and then have creatively presented them as final pieces, in their Writing Journals. They did a brilliant job!
Shared Reading Session
This week, we have been reading a new non-fiction book, 'Real-Life Mysteries' by Susan Martineau and Vicky Barker, which is all about mysterious, unexplained events. We have been continuing to improve our Oracy skills by having debates about whether we believe some of the recounts, trying hard to give reasons for our opinions. As part of this, we have been learning to listen more carefully to each other and be respectful when people have different opinions about things. It has been really interesting and we have had lots of fun.
In this session, we read the text in different ways - taking part in paired reading as well as choral reading. They all did brilliantly!
Next week, we will write a recount of a 'hoax' unexplained event...watch this space!!
Science - 4.4.25 - 'Animals, including Humans' Topic
In their Science learning today, Year 3 and 4 pupils were finding out about the diets of different animals. They collected data in the form of a tally chart and then presented their findings in pictograms and bar charts (applying Maths skills in their Science work). They did a fantastic job!
Creative Writing based on a Poem - 28.3.25
Year 3 and 4 have been reading lots of humorous poetry, inspired by Joshua Seigal's 'I Bet I Can Make You Laugh' poetry collection. During the unit, they have created some poems of their own. They have also enjoyed writing some stories based on the funny poems that they have read - 'Wattle I Do?' and 'Yetification'. Today, they all produced high-quality written work, in a creative and attractive way. The finished pieces all looked fantastic!
Well done everyone!
Setting Description Writing
Year 3 and 4 pupils have been reading 'The Dragon Snatcher' by M.P. Robertson. This week, they looked at the different settings within the story and used all of their senses to describe a particular scene. As they wrote, they listened to atmospheric music and used their special candles to help get them in the mood for this style of writing. They all worked really hard and produced some excellent pieces, using their neatest handwriting too.
Well done, everyone!
This Week's Science Learning...
Our exciting new Science topic is 'Magnets', which leads on nicely from last term's 'Forces' unit. Pupils have been searching the classroom for objects that are magnetic and non-magnetic. As part of their learning, they investigated putting North and North poles, South and South poles, and North and South poles together, to see what happened. Afterwards, they talked about what they had learnt and tried hard to use their new scientific vocabulary. Fantastic!
