Years 3/4

Term 2 Reflections

"I liked creating a biography about an inventor. I created my biography on Erik Cassel and David Baszucki who are the creators of Roblox. I researched and collected need to know, nice to know and other facts about their lives. I had fun using Book Creator to type out my paragraphs about Erik and David's Early Life, Loved Ones, The Game and Their Lives After the Game." - Ashleigh in 3/4A

"I really loved making a marble maze for our STEAM project because it is fun to get other peoples ideas and put all of our ideas into the one maze. I also enjoyed using Canva to create the walls for my marble maze." - Isla in 3/4A

“This term, I most enjoyed Maths and Writer’s Workshop. In Maths, I particularly liked learning how to round numbers to the nearest 10 and using the compensation strategy for addition and subtraction. In Writer’s Workshop, I found writing biographies very interesting, and I especially enjoyed publishing them using Book Creator. During STEAM, we had an exciting incursion where we learned about different types of forces and motion.” – Amiysha 3/4B

“This term, I enjoyed learning how to write biographies. I chose to write about Tim Sweeney, the inventor of Epic Games. I'm looking forward to publishing my biography next week, ready to present at the STEAM Expo. I also found spelling fun this term, especially breaking words down into syllables.” – Archer 3/4B

What we are learning - a 'snapshot' of Term Three

Mathematics

In Term 3, our Year 3/4 students will be building on their mathematical knowledge, with a strong focus on developing confidence in everyday maths skills. Students will work on addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division, with plenty of opportunities to apply these skills to real-life situations, such as working with money. They will also be exploring measurement concepts like mass and area, recognising patterns in numbers, and learning about transformations (rotation, reflection, and translation) in geometry. Our goal is to help students become flexible, confident problem-solvers who enjoy the challenge of maths.

Literacy - Reader’s Workshop

In Term 3, students will be exploring a range of fiction and non-fiction mentor texts all about animals, their lifecycles, and the natural world, which links closely to our Inquiry learning. Through these texts, students will build their understanding of how animals grow, adapt, and survive, while practising important reading skills such as comprehension, making connections, and expanding their vocabulary.

A key focus this term will be on exploring the features of explanation texts and information reports. Students will learn how authors organise facts, use technical language, and structure these texts to clearly communicate information about animals, their life cycles, and other scientific concepts.

To further support their learning, students will take part in a hands-on Wildlife Xposure Incursion, where they will see real-life examples of animal life cycles and adaptations.

 During the incursion, students will learn about invertebrate lifecycles and metamorphosis, the differences between marsupials and placental mammals, and why some animals lay eggs while others give birth to live young. They will also explore how animals overcome vulnerable stages in their life cycles, the range of life spans in the animal kingdom, how energy flows through living things, and the importance of DNA and genetic diversity.

Literacy - Writer’s Workshop

In Term 3, students will use their knowledge and skills from Reader’s Workshop and Inquiry to create their own written pieces that link directly to our learning about animals and the natural world. Students will be writing two main text types: an explanation text about the lifecycle of an animal, and an information report about an endangered animal of their choice.

Throughout the term, students will be learning how to use the key features of both explanation and information texts. These include using clear headings, labelled diagrams, technical vocabulary, facts, and structured paragraphs to help inform and educate their readers. They will also practise using tier 3 vocabulary (subject-specific words), complex sentences, and supporting their information with accurate details and examples.

Homework

For take home books, students can read their library books (from main or classroom library) at home for 10-20 minutes, 3-4 times a week. Some students may also come home with decodable texts to read as a take home reader. In Year 3/4, it is expected that parents have sighted their child reading at home and have signed their diaries by Thursday each week. That way when students come to school on a Friday, teachers can check diaries and provide dojo points/house points for students who are reading at home. 

This term, Year 3/4 students can also practice their multiplication facts at home at least once a week. It is important that students have a deeper understanding of multiplication as opposed to rote learning the times tables facts. Here are some of the multiplication strategies that you can practice at home instead of rote learning the facts (see poster).

Students can also login on Essential Assessment and complete My Numeracy activities for homewo

Notes/reminders 

• If you would like to help to improve our Class Libraries, please could you donate children’s reading books to class teachers.
• Continue to sign reading logs in student diaries.

Term 3 Important Dates:

• Parent Teacher Interviews - Tuesday 22 July & Wednesday 23 July -  3:40pm – 5:30pm 
• Wildlife Xposure Incursion Thursday the 24 July
• STEAM Expo - Wednesday 30 July 

All further updates throughout the term will also be in the School Newsletter and through the Compass app. 

Kind Regards,

The Middle School Team

Rhiannon Dalman, Catie Mytton, Michael Neal, Kim Ng & Tom Perkin.