Mrs Mead Welcomes you to Badger's Class
Summer Term in Badgers
We have had a great adventure this year so far learning about the Stone Age to Iron Age and then travelling back to Ancient Egypt. We began to answer the question, 'What makes a civilisation?' A question we will return to again through our learning in later terms.
We deepened our history learning with linking our Art work making our awesome 3D death masks, check out the pictures below! In DT we made a model Egyptian Shaduf and began to explore simple levers. We enjoyed our Class Novel that followed the much loved Wolf Brother, Secrets of a Sun King.
We also got into our Geography Topic exploring the Nile and the Tamar and the Great Rivers of the world and as always I was really excited by how much we all loved exploring maps and finding out about the world.
You had great fun in Science learning about the Digestive system and making model systems, and then exploring electricity which ended with your DT project to make a Buzz wire game in your groups for the Science Fair. It was great to see how independent and creatively you all worked in your teams to make really fun games for others to enjoy.
This term there is lots going on again. We will have a new history Topic of Transforming Transport for the first half term, where we find out about changes to transport from sail, to rail and sea to sky, and how the Steam and Trains transformed Britain and accelerated the industrial Revolution. We learn about the impact of Railways on Devon and Cornwall and key local engineers of the time.
We will then move onto our Topic of 'Breath-Giving Biomes' and explore the Rain forests of the World; their biodiversity, unique habitats, locations and threats. We will visit Eden and find out more about Plants following our Science unit on Plants and How to Save our Habitats through the summer term. In Art we will be trying out Printing techniques and in DT exploring Structures. There's the residential and enrichment days to look forward to, and the outside sunshine action that the summer term brings.
Below is a link to this term's Bubble map for learning and knowledge organisers for Topic and Science. These show the key knowledge we want the children to have embedded at the end of a unit.
Weekly Routines
Children need to know all their times tables fluently by the end of Year 4, and at the start of year 3 we have weekly times table tests and our competitive Club 99 weekly challenge. We also have spelling tests weekly.
There will be additional emphasis on Times table fluency this term leading up to the Year 4 Tests in June, with daily practice sessions and use of the testing system to develop familiarity. Children who have really learned them show significant improvement and confidence in all areas of maths and it is really is a huge support to them to learn them well.
We are using the Accelerated Reader scheme at school which means children are tested 6 times a year to ascertain their reading level and choose books within a range from our library that matches their current skills. Children can quiz on the books they read to monitor their comprehension and to track their progress and support their difficulties more closely. Children are rewarded for word count milestones building to become millionaire readers. Children need read for 20 minutes a day to make progress in reading: reading underpins all their learning and is critical to their progress across the curriculum. We strongly encourage families to read to children regularly above their reading level to build vocabulary and pleasure, and to use audio books and offer fiction and non fiction to support this also. They can also quiz on books they share with adults.
As a class we use Class Dojo to reward behaviour and learning day to day as well as our class traffic light system to reward consistently good behavior over the half term.
Our timetable is
9-9.30 - Reading Skills (Reading for Pleasure Fridays)
9.30-10.30 - literacy
10.45- 12 - Maths / Handwriting
1-3 - PE and Comouting with Mr Lewin (M) Topic (T) Science and PE (W) RE/PSHE and Music (T) Weekly tests and Art/DT (F)
Children therefore need a PE kit in school each week for 2 weekly PE sessions on site.
Children need a coat everyday - we tend to go outside in most weathers and we are in a windy spot on the hill and an unpredictable climate. As it gets warmer please think about providing a hat and putting on sun cream in the mornings as the field has little shade at lunchtimes.
