St Elizabeth's Class 2025 - 2026
Welcome to St Elizabeth's Class
Year 3 and Year 4
Class Teacher: Miss Williams
Spring Learning:
English - Reading
Daily reading is a key priority in primary school and we actively encourage children to read as much as possible at home to help further develop their fluency and comprehension skills. Every child will be able to bring home a banded reading book from school. These will be assigned to children by their class teacher following a short reading assessment. These can be changed regularly in school. Every child is also encouraged to have a 'Reading for Pleasure' book.
Within our Whole Class Reading lessons, we will be exploring a variety of texts within a variety of genres. This will give children plenty of opportunities to practise their reading comprehension skills and learn about new things.
Our class novel for This Half Term is 'An Alien in the Jam Factory' by Chrissie Sains.
English - Writing
Our focus text for this half term is 'When the Giant Stirred' by Celia Godkin. Using our key text, the children will work towards writing an historical narrative. Throughout the unit, children will work towards the Mastery Keys outlined below.
Mastery Keys (Year 3)
Build an increasing range of sentence structures
Use adverbs to express time, place and cause
Choose nouns or pronouns appropriately for clarity and cohesion and to avoid repetition
Use inverted commas to punctuate direct speech
Mastery Keys (Year 4)
Build an increasing range of sentence structures
Expand noun phrases by the addition of modifying adjectives, nouns and prepositional phrases
Choose nouns or pronouns appropriately for clarity and cohesion and to avoid repetition
Use and punctuate direct speech
Use commas after fronted adverbials
Maths
In Maths, we follow Power Maths. This allows children to develop their fluency, reasoning and problem solving skills.
During this term, our topics are:
Year 3: Multiplication & Division, Length & Perimeter, Fractions, Mass and Capacity
Year 4: Multiplication and Division, Length and Perimeter, Fractions, Decimals
Throughout the week, children are given many opportunities to practise their arithmetic skills. Each morning, all children complete a 'Flashback 4' and each Maths lesson they will complete an arithmetic session.
Science
Our Science topic for Spring 2 is Physics - Sounds. Throughout this unit, children will practise using a variety of scientific skills to help them learn:
Sound is produced when an object vibrates.
Sound travels through all materials by making them vibrate.
A stronger vibration makes a louder sound.
A sound source is something that produces sound.
Sounds get fainter the further away they are from the sound source.
Some materials absorb sound better than others.
Pitch is the measure of how high or low a sound is.
History
This term, we will be exploring: Anglo-Saxons and the Vikings - Was Alfred the Great great?
In this unit, pupils will learn about the Anglo Saxons and where they came from. They will learn about how the Anglo Saxons invaded Britain from Northern Europe and settled near to rivers and seas. Using mapwork, children will explore the names of Anglo-Saxon towns. They will discover the hierarchy that existed in Anglo-Saxon Britain and comapre how this is different or similar to today's society. AS the topic progresses, pupils will be introduced to the Vikings and learn about the fighting between the two peoples. Finally, they will learn about Kind Alfred the Great and his role in dividing land.
Geography
This term, we will be exploring: Why are rainforests important to us?
In this topic, pupils will learn about the lines of longitude and latitude, progressing into the Tropics of Cancer and Capricorn. Using maps and atlases, they will discover which countries are closest to the equator and what this means for their climate. Pupils will then begin to learn about rainforests, doing a case study into the Amazon rainforest and then thinking more deeply about their key features. They will learnt that rainforests are made up of 4 layers, and will consider some of the threats that rainforests face.
Art
This half term, we will be focusing on Painting and Mixed Media - Still life using Monet as an artist focus.
In Year 3 we will:
Choose the correct paintbrush grip for purpose. E.g. holding the paintbrush with three -finger grip close to the tip to add detail.
Use directional brush strokes following the outline of the shape.
Mix different tones of a base colour.
The application of tone shows a clear contrast between dark, mid and light within a base colour.
Place objects in their relative positions onto the paper.
In Year 4 we will:
Learn that lines and shapes can be applied with increasing accuracy, showing control using appropriate painting medium.
Use directional brushstrokes that can influence a shape's appearance.
Create objects in the foreground that appear larger than those in the background.
Explore texture in an artwork using different techniques such as layering, differing brush strokes or varying equipment such as a sponge or palette knife.
Music
Music sessions will be delivered by Junior Jam. This half term, we will be focusing on 'Singing'.
Computing
Computing sessions will be delivered using Purple Mash. This half term we are focusing on Online Safety.
PE
Our P.E. day for this half term is Thursday. Children should come to school in their kit. All kit must be clearly labelled, and appropriate footwear must be worn. Jewellery, including earrings, must not be worn during P.E. days. School hoodies and jogging bottoms can be purchased online with school uniform.
Personal Development
At St Luke's, RHE is taught using a scheme created by 'Ten:Ten'. Our topic this term is Created to Love Others. Created to Love Others explores the individual’s relationship with others. Building on the understanding that we have been created out of love and for love, this module explores how we take this calling into our family, friendships and relationships, and teaches strategies for developing healthy relationships and keeping safe both online and in our daily lives.
Homework
Spelling and Maths homework will be set weekly.
Useful websites to support home learning:
We encourage all pupils to access these websites on a weekly (and sometimes daily) basis.
Communication
Messages will mainly be sent using School Spider; please turn on notifications for the app so that you are alerted to new messages/emails. I am always happy to discuss any worries, concerns or general queries you may have. Please feel free to send an email or make an appointment through the school office.
