Mrs John - Juniper Tree Class
1/6
Juniper
2/6
Mr Monro - Mountain Ash Tree Class
3/6
Mountain Ash
4/6
Ms Sharpe - Willow Tree Class
5/6
Willow
6/6
A Year 3/4 classroom
Welcome to year 3/4
Willow Tree Class, Juniper Tree Class and Mountain Ash Class
Here are some of the things you might find in a year 3/4 classroom.
Literacy
In literacy we have been learning about the Place Value of Punctuation, ensuring we have a really good understanding of the building blocks of sentence construction. This will mean that we can become both extremely creative AND accurate writers.
After this we have moved onto story-writing, inspired by the classic storybook, "Sam and Dave Dig a Hole" by Mac Barnett and Jon Klassen. In our own versions of the stories out new characters have been finding all sorts of incredible things in their back gardens: really showcasing incredible imagination!
Our next piece of literacy was based upon The Book of Bones - a book all about facts and riddles telling us some incredible information about different animals. We imitated this style to create our own non-fiction writing about different British Birds and did some fantstic artwork to do with it!
Some examples of recent literacy work.
Maths
Maths at The Grove is taught using a mastery approach. The intention is to encourage all pupils to participate and contribute, and to develop their understanding of mathematical concepts through depth, not acceleration. The importance of connecting one are of maths to another is recognised in the way the sequences are planned throughout Year 3 and 4. The Autumn term starts with Place Value and the Number System before moving into Addition and Subtraction and then on to Multiplication and Division.
The Number System in action!
Music
Spring Term
This term we have been set a challenge by English National Opera to finish a composition that one of their composers have started. We have decided on a colour which our movement will be based on and have been writing graphic scores which we will perform and send to ENO. We'll put our recordings here to hear them!
Autumn Term:
We have been using Charanga as the basis of our musical learning, acquiring technical terminology and musical skills. We always ensure we listen to a wide range of high-quality music and use this to inspire compositional or improvisational work.
Some of the piece we've listened to this term have been classical, like "Aquarium" from the Carnival of the Animals by Saint-Saens:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IyFpZ5MZ7kk
Some have been pop, like "Treat People with Kindness" by Harry Styles:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L0X03zR0rQk
Some have been Disco and Soul like "We Are Family" by Sister Sledge:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uyGY2NfYpeE
We don't always have to add them to our class playlists but we can always learn something from them!
Science
In the first half of the Autumn term we looked at what Light is, different sources, both natural and artificial and how we can create shadows. We discovered how we need Light to see, how light travels and how we can change shadows depending on how close we are to the light source, the type of material the object blocking the light source is (transparent, transluscent and opaque).
We experimented with shadow puppets and creating mirror mazes, reflecting the beams of light to make it travel around an object.
In the second half of the Autumn term we explored Rocks and Fossils, learning about the different types of rocks, how to classify them as igneous, sedimentary or metamorphic and explored how fossils are formed over millions of years. We also learnt about Mary Anning and her amazing discoveries.
In the Spring term we are learning about Electricity. We are discovering what electricity is, how we can store it and how it travels. We are learning about the different components of an electrical circuit and will be building working circuits to tie in with our DT project at the end of term.
Simple circuit design - Switch off
1/12
Simple circuit design - Switch on
2/12
Soil types experiment
3/12
Soil types experiment
4/12
Soil types experiment
5/12
Soil types experiment
6/12
Soil types experiment
7/12
Computing
In the Autumn term we looked at Networks, how they form the Internet and help us to sending messages or find information across the World Wide Web. We will also explore how we can change and add content to the Web.
In the Spring term we will focus on Creating Audio Media using an online programme to create a short podcast. We will learn the record, save and edit audio content before planning and recording a podcast about an aspect of our learning this term.
History
In the Autumn term our history topic was actually prehistoric! We visited the Stone Age - amongst other things we have been learning about stone age tools and weapons, animals, hunter-gatherers and the first Neolithic farmers. We even enjoyed a fantastic school trip to Kent's Cavern in Torquay. If you haven't been, it is highly recommended!
In the Spring term we have learnt about the Ancient Egyptians, with a particular focus on the discovery of Tutankhamun's tomb by Howard Carter in 1922. We had a go at writing in hieroglyphics, learnt about the gods and goddesses and even mummified a child!
GEOGRAPHY
In the Autumn term our geography topic was Totnes and Dartmoor. The children learned about different types of maps including globes, atlases and electronic versions. We reminded ourselves about the points of a compass and learned about how different map symbols are used to represent actual features on the ground. Field trips took us into the town to draw our own maps of Leechwell Gardens and St Mary’s churchyard and we also designed and followed our own routes to visit the tourist sites of Totnes (including Cranch’s!).
This term our geography topic is Italy. We will be using maps to identify the key towns and physical features such as mountains, forests, lakes and rivers. We will also be learning about the Mediterranean climate and the habitats it supports and also the varied native wildlife lives there. Later we will be learning about the produce that Italy has exported around the world – olive oil, wine pizza, pasta, fast cars, high fashion and opera. We will also take a closer look at Rome to see why it is such a popular tourist destination.