LITERACY
Using the Talk 4 Writing approach, which is a writing approach that enables children to write independently for a variety of audience and purposes. By learning the story ‘The Stone Age Boy’, which links to their topic of Stone Age, the children will imitate and internalise quality language structures that will help them when writing their own portal story. In the second half term the children will look at the features on an instructional text ‘How to trap the Stone Giant’ and then go on to write their own instructional text.
Our reading text for this term is ‘UG, the Boy Genius of the Stone Age’. At St Michael’s we follow a whole class reading approach in Key Stage 2, which teaches children reading strategies to support their comprehension. We also have a dedicated ‘reading for pleasure’ slot after lunch as we want to foster in the children a life-long love for reading .
Please continue to encourage your child to read regularly at home, as reading develops the children’s vocabulary and thoughts, keeps their minds active, it can provide endless knowledge and by promoting reading at home you give your child the message – reading is worthwhile!
NUMERACY
We teach the National Curriculum and in Year 3 children will learn about number and place value, all 4 maths calculations (addition, subtraction, multiplication, division) and fractions. After half term we teach properties of shapes; measures; statistics and position & direction.
Every lesson will start with ‘Big Maths’, which is a systematic and structured approach to embed number and calculation knowledge.
Please could you support your child’s learning at home by practising their x3 and x4 timestables at home.
WIDER CURRICULUM
History: Last term our focus was on Geography, when we learned about the continent ‘Oceania’ and this term the focus will be on History. In our aim to develop the children’s understanding of British history, our topic this term is Stone Age. We are currently looking into arranging a very exciting trip linked to this topic – we are just waiting for final confirmation, so watch this space… more information to follow.
Science: We will be finishing our unit about Rocks and then move onto learning about Forces and Magnets. The children will have the opportunity to develop their scientific enquiry skills by conducting some exciting investigations.
Religious Education: In the Spring Term, our unit of study is around the Christian religion. The children will look at Jesus’s Miracles and after half term they will be learning about Easter, with the focus on Good Friday.
At St Michael’s we have 7 school values and each half term we focus on one of our values in more depth – this half term we will discuss the value of Hope, and after February half term it will be the value of Resilience.
PE is on Tuesday afternoons and this term our focus is on Gymnastics and Invasion Games. If your child has a school tracksuit, they may wear their tracksuit over PE clothes to school on a Tuesday. We had a few timetable changes last term, which caused confusion, so we will do our very best to avoid changes to the PE slot this term. Swimming is on Fridays, so please remember to send in their swimming kit. Not only is swimming a way to stay healthy and a fantastic sport to enhance fitness, but it is also an essential life-saving skills.
Art & DT: In addition to art work the children will be doing in class, we also do termly ‘whole school art project’ at St Michael’s and this term our topic will be Sculpture, which we will definitely share on the blog, so watch this space! We also have a Design and Technology project around food technology planned for after half term, which will be super exciting!
Music: We use the Charanga scheme of work to teach music. In addition to our music lessons, the children also enjoy singing in our collective worships.
Computing: Our children are growing up in a digital world and in the Autumn Term the children were learning about online safety. It is important that parents monitor the content that children are accessing on the digital devices at home to ensure it is age appropriate. Also, please continue to remind them of how they can keep themselves safe online. NetAware has a great website which offers parents expert advice on the top apps, sites and games children are using as well as advice how to set up parental controls.
https://www.net-aware.org.uk/
This term in computing our focus is on computer skills such as word processing and presentation skills.
Modern Foreign Language: Research has shown that learning a second language has cognitive benefits and that learning another language gives children a new perspective on the world, encouraging them to understand their own cultures and of others. In Key Stage 2, at St Michael’s, we are teaching French and we are using resources to ensure that the learning of French is easy and fun!
Let’s Talk: At St Michael’s we have designed a ‘Healthy Body, Mind and Spirit’ curriculum and we deliver our teaching in what we call a ‘Let’s Talk’ session once a week. The theme for this term is ‘Be Yourself‘, with the aims to enable children to identify their strengths and achievements as well as help them to recognise different emotions they experience.
Homework
Matheletics: One Mathletics task will be set based upon the work from the coming or previous weeks class learning. If there is not access to a computer and/or the internet at home, please send a note in so that we can arrange for your child to access a computer during the week.
Spelling: Spelling words must be learnt over the week and will be tested on a Friday afternoon.
Reading: Reading logs are to be signed at least once in the week by somebody at home (any family member or adult).
Project: This work is to be completed over a number of weeks this term. Time management should be encouraged so it is not all left until the last minute! A separate letter will follow with a folder which should be used to collect your work. Please do keep it safe!
GENERAL – LABEL ITEMS OF CLOTHING
Whilst the school cannot accept any liability for loss of school uniform items, we will do our best to return lost items of clothing… However, we can only do that if the item of clothing is LABELLED! So please ensure you have put your child’s name on especially their jumper or coat, as they often take it off during play and then forget it in the playground when they go back to class.
HOW TO STAY INFORMED
We post blogs on our school website every week, so please use that platform to ‘check in’ on what is happening at St Michael’s. More information about the curriculum can also be seen our website.
We have our next parents meeting planned for the 25th March, but if you have any concerns, please feel free to book an appointment to see Ms Obels, or alternatively, Ms Gillespie (Deputy Headteacher) or Ms Asante (Inclusion Manager) via the school office.
