Dear Parents,

We are delighted to welcome you and your children back to the new school term and trust that you all had a restful and sunny spring break! This term we are pleased to welcome to the Juniors two new students, William and Nicholas, and hope they settle comfortably into our warm and friendly community. The children have some exciting learning to look forward to this term as outlined below.

General Reminders

Could we remind parents that punctuality is very important. We have a few children in the Juniors who are still arriving too late in the mornings. This means they are unsettled when they arrive and time is wasted. It is better for the children to be in school by 8.45am so they can settle themselves in quickly and make a start on morning routines.

Please be aware that some stationery items are now available to buy from Mrs Rigby in the office, this includes glue sticks, pencils and erasers.

We are also keen to promote healthy eating within the school. Snacks and packed lunches should reflect this, please. Crisps and chocolate bars are not to be encouraged. Children should bring a piece of fruit for Morning Break.

Please ensure your child has a water bottle in school, specially important in the summer term, some sunscreen as they spend a great deal more time outside during this term and , of course, a hat to provide additional protection from the sun.

Aral and Aegean

English - Throughout reading lessons this term, Aral children will maintain a focus on strengthening and extending their comprehension skills through Reading Group rotations. The use of ICT will continue to be a large part of daily lessons where children will be using designated websites on the Internet to read and research various topics. Students will also be expected to continue practising their reading skills at home on a daily basis. Aegean students will be working on specific aspects of comprehension this term, including locating key-words, inferencing and evaluating text. Reading strategies will be strengthened with researching, discussion, use of ICT and a range of reading activities.

This term both Aral and Aegean students will take more ownership of their goals in writing. Children will be provided with writing rubrics and will reflect on their progress regularly, choosing goals that are specific to them and conferencing with the teacher and their peers. Aral and Aegean class be working hard on surface features such as full stops, capitals, and paragraphs. We will then move on to deeper features such as editing, smilies, metaphors, and personification. We will be practising these skills through narratives, poems and creative writing.

Regular practice of spelling will continue take place within the classroom, based around specific spelling patterns and chunks. Children will have weekly spelling lists and sometimes activities to practise at home to help consolidate classroom activities. At times, students will learn words related to our topic work.

Maths

This term the Year 3 children will continue working through the KS2 math curriculum with the following outcomes being the main focus. Everyday practice of oral math skills will also still occur.

Aegean will be working very hard to complete the year with sound knowledge in basic facts, including addition and subtraction to 20, and 2s, 3s, 4s, 5s, 6s, 7s, 8s, 9s, and 10 times tables and related division facts. This will take some dedication from home as well, but it will pay off when the children are in Year 5 next year.

We will continue to work on partitioning numbers when adding and subtracting, and will revisit fractions, geometry and multiplication and division towards the end of the term.

I.P.C. Topic: The Active Planet

Following on nicely from our topics last term, we will continue looking at a number of aspects of the active planet which span over both geography and science learning areas. Some of the objectives the children will achieve are:

• Know how particular localities and people groups have been affected by earthquakes and volcanoes.

• Be able to use geographical terms when describing earthquakes and volcanoes.

• Understand that earthquakes and volcanoes fit into a wider geographical context.

• Be able to distinguish between solids, liquids and gases in connection with earthquakes and volcanoes.

Spanish

This term we will be doing lots of outdoor games to build/reinforce the children’s knowledge of animals, numbers, the alphabet, foods, parts of the body and colours.

Art

This term we will be printmaking using various methods, string patterns stuck onto wooden blocks, roller prints and lino printing.

Music

In Music, Aegean will move onto tuned percussion, playing boom whackers, xylophone, glockenspiel and marimba. Aral will continue to learn recorder.

Nature Studies

We have managed to dig the entire allotment and have planted parsnips, spring onions, broad beans and potatoes. Inky, with the help of some of the senior boys have erected a wonderful shed - we will now be able to collect water. We continue to bird watch and butterfly watch and will be doing a ladybird survey over the next few weeks.

Sport

With the good weather upon us, the range and variety of sport being taught this term is broader than ever before. The Juniors will consolidate existing skills and gain new ones through cricket. They will plan, use and adapt strategies for small team activities, developing their knowledge of the principles behind them and applying rules and conventions. All sessions will incorporate a good balance of fun and games, coaching, skills and drills.

KINNERZ COACHING hopes that the Juniors thoroughly enjoy their sport in the term ahead, with friendly games, tournaments and events planned and organised when possible.

General

We think this will be an exciting term ahead and are looking forward to the positive relationships that will be made between students, teachers and parents. Assemblies and P.S.H.C.E. (personal, social, health and citizenship education) will emphasis our Golden Rules and encourage the children to develop their social skills and strengthen their self-esteem.

If you have any questions please don’t hesitate to see your child’s classroom teacher and note that we are available for parent meetings on Wednesdays after school.

Kind regards,

Heidi Hannan and Becky Hamilton

Ben Beeston and Louise Mieszkian

Aral and Aegean

English

Reading –the students will continue to take part in reading activities everyday to strengthen their decoding and comprehension skills. Students will also be expected to practice their reading skills daily at home. The use of technologies such as laptops, the Internet and our Listening Post will be used to strengthen learning and keep children interested and motivated.

Writing –this term both year 3 and 4 students will focus on report writing. This ties in nicely with our archaeology topic, and we are aiming to produce an Aral and Aegean Newspaper with our findings. Children will learn about the various aspects of news reporting, including: headlines; using IT to draft and lay out; editing, and organising writing into paragraphs.

Spelling –regular practice of spelling will continue take place within the classroom, based around specific spelling patterns, e.g. ‘sh’ words. Children will have weekly spelling lists and sometimes activities to practise at home to help consolidate classroom activities. At times, students will be asked to learn words related to our topic work.

Maths

Both Years 3 and 4 will have a continued focus on the automatic recall of number facts such as times tables, doubles, near doubles and fact families.

Aegean - Students will be expanding and broadening their knowledge of the topics covered in term 1. This includes studying numbers to 1000 and beyond and their place value, looking and 2D and 3D shapes in more depth, continuing to gain accuracy in using formal units such as millimetres and metres and revising the 4 operations (+, -, x & ÷).

Topic Work (I.P.C and Science)

This term children will take part in a unit of work called Archaeology-Treasure. The students will be involved in activities across a broad range of subject areas including History, Geography, Art, ICT and Social Learning. The children will learn about treasure and valuable items that have been created, lost, buried, destroyed, found and displayed in different places and at different times. They will also learn about the people involved in all these activities.

To complement this unit, students will be involved in 2 excursions to strengthen and extend learning. One will be to the Fitzwilliam Museum in Cambridge and the second will be to the British Museum in London. Both trips will take place in the second half of this term.

Our science focus this term will be on Rocks and Soils. Children amongst other things will learn to:

• consider whether a test is fair

• measure volumes of liquids using appropriate apparatus

• make comparisons

• draw and suggest explanations for conclusions.

Spanish

In Spanish this term we will be learning some new songs, but also having lots of ‘dialogue races’ and other games to ensure that the children can speak as well as sing!

Art

Egyptian treasure: making a Canopic Jar using papier mâché. Also working on drawing skills studying tone and shading using pencils.

Music

Aral - We will continue to learn recorder - moving on to playing notes using both hands! - and to read and write music, including a composition project. We will complete the composition and rehearsal of our own musical jointly with Aegean class, leading to a performance by the end of term. We will also think about opportunities for learning orchestral instruments next year, with a particular focus on tuned percussion and on brass. To support this we will play the marimba we have on loan, and attend a visiting brass performance.

Aegean - We will continue our year-long project of developing ensemble playing and performance skills. This term our focus will be on playing gamelan - a collection of instruments from Indonesia and Java. We will attend a gamelan workshop. We will complete the composition and rehearsal of our own musical jointly with Aral class, leading to a performance by the end of term. We will also think about opportunities for learning orchestral instruments, with a particular focus on tuned percussion and on brass. To support this we will play the marimba we have on loan, and attend a visiting brass performance.

Nature Studies

Making use of the winter landscape, we are studying animal tracks, identifying birds and trees and also looking at the topic of hibernation. Towards the end of term we will be planting seeds for the allotment.

Sport

KINNERZ COACHING will be supplying a wide range of sports and activities this term from Dance to Dodgeball. All classes & sessions are focused on improving the children’s team work, communication and individual skills. Training, learning, fun & games from start to finish!

English

Reading – the students will be taking part in reading activities everyday to strengthen their decoding and comprehension skills. Students will also be expected to practice their reading skills daily at home.

Writing – this term both Year 3 and 4 students will focus on extending their understanding of writing narratives (stories). The students will revise the structure of narratives while sharpening their use of punctuation and sentence structure.

Spelling – regular practice of spelling will take place within the classroom based around specific spelling patterns, e.g. ‘sh’ words. Children will have weekly spelling lists and sometimes activities to practice at home to help consolidate classroom activities.

Maths

Both Years 3 and 4 will have a continued focus on the automatic recall of number facts such as times tables, doubles, near doubles and fact families.

Year 4- Students will be building on their knowledge of the year 3 curriculum. They will study numbers to 1000 and their place value, look and 2D and 3D shapes, measurement using formal units such as millimetres and metres and revise the 4 operations (+, -, x & ÷).

Topic Work (I.P.C and Science)

This term children will learn about the Habitats of all living creatures. Briefly, students will study the different types of habitats and how habitats have been affected by human and natural activities. The unit of work will involve children using their research skills to locate information. Students will also improve their ability to communicate what they have learnt. This topic work will be complimented by an excursion to Colchester Zoo.

Music- Mrs Gold

Having focussed on individual practice and performance last year by learning recorder, this year students will concentrate on ensemble musical skills, by working as a group in a percussion band. This will be a year-long project, in which this term we will play untuned percussion, including a drumming workshop from a visitng percussionist. There will be a strong focus on reading rhythm notation. I hope to find opportunities for them to perform as a group. Jointly with Aral we will explore musical theatre, listening to and singing examples of the genre and writing a small one of our own.

Spanish – Mrs Fernandez

This term we will be continuing with our songs, dances, silly stretches and other physical activities, while incorporating a grammar-based approach to give the children the basics they need for effective communication. For example one song focuses on the various forms of ’ser’ (to be), another one on forms of ‘estar’ (the other verb ‘to be’) etc. The children will learn the songs and then practice the language actively in the classroom, the emphasis still being on oral communication skills. Homework will be given periodically, although it will be rather different from usual written work as it will incorporate NLP principles - this basically means that I would ask you to encourage and help your child to use the body as much as possible (instructions will be given of course!)

Nature Studies – Mrs Rigby

While the weather is good, we will be tidying up the allotment and preparing the soil in readiness for next Spring’s planting. We will be looking at wildlife habitats as well as studying the effect of the changing seasons on our surroundings. Please ensure children bring a coat and wellies for this subject area.