Welcome to Year 3 and 4!

Our value this term is: Generosity

Staff

Year 3: Miss Weatherley

Year 4: Mrs Van As

Year 3 and Year 4 will combine in the afternoons.

Year 3 and 4 Weekly Overview

In English, this week, we began our new writing unit, focusing on writing a formal thank-you letter to the staff at Verulamium Museum. To help us prepare, we created memory maps of our trip, discussed ideas to include in our letters, learnt how to use commas in a list, and practised choosing the correct determiner, a or an.

In Mathematics, Year 3 have started our addition and subtraction unit. The children have been recapping their number bonds to 10, whilst linking their knowledge to their number bonds to 20. We started looking at adding and subtracting in our Ones column, as well as practising counting in amounts of 50 by creating a number line with dienes!

This week in Year 4, our focus in Maths has still been Place Value. The children have been learning how to round numbers to the nearest 10, 100 and 1,000, and they completed their end-of-unit assessment. We also completed a mock Times Tables Test, which helped us realise just how quickly six seconds can pass! It highlighted the importance of continuing to practise and build fluency with our time timetables over the coming months.

In other exciting news, Year 4 won the TTRS Cup this week. A fantastic achievement and a wonderful reward for all their hard work and enthusiasm. Well done, Year 4!

In Guided Reading this week, we continued reading Escape from Pompeii and focused on the dramatic events surrounding the eruption of Pompeii. We explored effective and unfamiliar vocabulary to help deepen our understanding of the text and bring the story to life.

In Georgraphy this week, the children learnt how volcanoes are formed and what causes them to erupt. To bring this learning to life, we carried out a volcano experiment using vinegar and bicarbonate of soda. As the substances reacted, carbon dioxide gas was produced, causing pressure to build up until the foamy "lava" erupted from the volcano model. This helped us understand how pressure from molten rock and gases can trigger real volcanic eruptions.

We also explored how earthquakes are measured using the Richter Scale and investigated the impact earthquakes can have on people and the environment. Using a case study of an earthquake in Christchurch, New Zealand, the children analysed photographs and mapped out the short- and long-term consequences. We further developed our understanding by watching footage of an earthquake and tsunami in Japan, which helped us appreciate the powerful forces that shape our planet.

In Science, we learnt about the different types of soil and investigated their properties through a practical science experiment. We tested a variety of soils to discover which was the most permeable, measuring how easily water could pass through each type. They made predictions, recorded their results and compared their findings, helping them to develop their scientific enquiry skills and understand how different soils affect drainage.

 

PE Kits

This term, we'll begin with: Football.

Our PE days will be Tuesdays and Thursdays.

Children will need to be dressed in full PE kit when coming to school. 

Please ensure children have a sun hat and water bottle for when it gets warmer!