Year 3/4 Mr Parsonage 2020 - 2021

Welcome to Year 3/4

Our topic this term is
“Oh The Places We'll Go…”

Our wow starter!

A culinary tour of the U.K!

We will learn about the countries which make up the United Kingdom including their cultures, landmarks and traditions. As we explore each country, we will make and eat food from each country- ending with a traditional afternoon tea!

How we will do it!

A lonely girl draws a magic door on her bedroom wall and through it escapes into a world where wonder, adventure, and danger abound.

Our text in the first half-term will be a wordless picture book by Aaron Becker called ‘Journey’. Whilst exploring the book, we will use drama techniques, infer, make predictions and ask questions about the story. 

We will select appropriate grammar and vocabulary to describe settings, character and atmosphere and write in role as characters using imaginative vocabulary and varying sentence openers.  The children will finally plan and write a sequel to the story applying their writing skills.

This term, our comprehension work will be on Michael Morpurgo’s Kensuke’s Kingdom. Throughout our reading, the children will discuss their understanding and explore the meaning of words in context and make predictions and inferences about characters’ thoughts and feeling-justifying their inferences with evidence from the text. 

They will also continue to read for pleasure and participate in discussions about the books they read, recommending books to their peers with reasoned choices.

Maths

This half term the focus will be on multiplication and division

Grid method

Bar modelling and number lines can support learners when solving problems with multiplication alongside the formal written methods. 

Summer 1- Time

The children will explore time over the course of the half term. They will learn the practical skills of telling the time in order to use this in everyday life. They will gain the skills to understand the passing of time and explore lengths of time. The children will use their knowledge in practical contexts and justify why they have given certain answers. 

Summer 2- Money 

The children will explore the topic of money in order to gain skills for life. They will work both practically and in problem solving situations where they will work through adding/subtracting amounts/finding change etc. The children will become more confident using the language of ‘pounds and pence’. 

Geography

As part of our work on the European Championships, the children will research a different country involved each week including France, Italy, Spain, Germany and Russia seeing where the planned stadia in the host countries are located, diving as well into their cultures through food tasting, music and entertainment. 

The children will find out about the geographical location and features of Japan (The host nation for the Olympics) with a focus on its physical features including volcanoes and earthquakes.

All children across Key Stages 1 and 2 will take part in our Rivacre Olympics.

The children will be split into the major countries across the World that are competing.  These countries will be researched.

The children will prepare a bid for their country to host the tournament after researching various geographical features including where the stadia are located, transport links and time zones.

We will find out if their location presents difficulties for the hosts – temperature/time zone/topographical features.

Key Vocabulary 

World countries   Japan    Map   Time Zone  grid reference  compass points  river  train  bus  road physical human earthquakes volcanoes

History

We will immerse ourselves in the daily life of the Ancient Greeks – looking at houses, jobs, children and education.  We will chronicle the birthplace of democracy.

We will look at the origins of the Olympic Games and explore the Ancient Greek culture of the day using sources such as pottery, ancient writing sources and modern interpretations.

The children will imagine what it would have been like for the first athletes as they prepared for competing looking at and tasting the kinds of foods they ate before competing. 

We will understand the role Baron de Coubertin played in establishing the modern Olympic Games

We will explore Coubertin's beliefs that sport could bring peace and harmony among countries

We will understand more about the International Olympic and Paralympic Movement and how they decide the host nation for each games – the children will research Olympians and Paralympians for presentation.

Key Vocabulary

 IOC       Ancient   Greek  Olympic     Paralympic    Baron de Coubertin   higher      stronger   faster   peace      harmony   men   women

Art

We will design the emblem for our Olympic team badge.

Make origami Olympic rings and understand the significance of each ring. 

We will look at the popular art movement of Manga. The children will create their own Manga character.

We will investigate and re-create Japanese Cherry Blossom paintings.

Key Vocabulary

Anime  Print  bold  graphic  design paint  perspective

Colour     technique      style     font     draw       sketch emotion

subjective   origami    folding   precise   instructions

D.T.

Make Komboloi, Ancient Greek worry beads.

Make a collective Olympic torch in the style of London 2012, considering the need for inclusion and teamwork.

Science

Summer 1: Plants

Children will-

Hunt for plants/trees in the school grounds and investigate the different parts and functions of these plants. Get hands on will real plants to fully understand the parts of a plant. Create an information sheet/leaflet to show the different parts and functions of a plant.

Enjoy creating/planting/growing their very own grass heads! Work together to carry out an investigation to test the perfect growing conditions for plants. Make daily observations/recordings of plants to check growing conditions. Summarise findings and write a conclusion. 

Predict what might happen in an experiment to test water transportation in plants. Carry out an investigation with flowers (including their stems) and water/food colouring. See how quickly the petals change colour. Test whether temperature affects the speed in which water is transported. 

Explore the life cycle of a plant by acting out each stage of the process. Use diagrams to show the stages. 

Key Vocabulary

Flower, petal, stem, leaf, roots, seeds, grow, air, light, water, nutrients, water transportation, life cycle, germination, pollination, seed dispersal 

Summer 2

Solids, Liquids and Gases

Children will

• Explore and investigate the differences between Solids, Liquids and Gases
• Play an active game to simulate the arrangement of particles in solids, liquids and gases.

Changing State

Children will

• To look at and record the changes in state in an ice pop by independently placing them in different areas of the classroom.

The Water Cycle

Children will

• Create a water cycle looking at evaporation and condensation
• Make a sealed indoor garden that creates an internal water cycle that mirrors what occurs naturally on planet Earth

Key Vocabulary

Solids                    liquids                   gases     particles      evaporation condensation    changing state     Water Cycle        temperature

R.E.

SHINTO

Children will learn about the religion Shinto by discovering rituals that are completed and how it works in Japan during everyday life. Children will play charades and whispers to highlight how religions can communicate without people being able to speak face to face. Children will come to learn that the heart of Shinto is family and to a wider scale the community before learning about Amaterasu and Susanoo and how the story reinforces the idea of family. Children will link this to their own family and communicate and see how closely they are related to that of the Shinto faith. 

Key Vocabulary

                Shinto    Buddhism  Japan   rituals   community   family

Amaterasu Susanoo deity

The World of Music!

Delivered by a specialist music teacher.

We will use musical instruments with control and expression to recreate traditional Japanese music linking to our topic.

We will listen to famous Japanese composers and musicians and discuss the different instruments that we can hear.

We will also create our own opening ceremony using our voices, instruments and dance.

Key Vocabulary

Pitch      duration               dynamics             tempo  timbre  texture anthem                folk        ceremony           expression                ongaku

P.E.

The children will take part in the Rivacre mini Olympics along with weekly athletics and games sessions.

Languages

SUMMER 1

We will explore foods of Spain and take part in a food tasting. This will include Paella, Chorizo, Gazpacho, etc.

We will continue our work on labelling with a focus on animals and clothing and seek to ask and answer questions relating to our favourite animals and food.

SUMMER 2

We will look back on our prior learning of labelling various focuses to apply them into games and practise songs. We will explore the numbers song, greetings song and the colour song. We will also practise and perform the dance to the Macarena.

Computing

SUMMER 1

We will take part in a Mr Andrews Online project to create our own country. During this project children should be encouraged to use their imaginations and to think about what their country would be like. For example its location in the world, its flag, climate and the animals that inhabit their country. The project concludes with a documentary style movie explaining about their country and its features.

SUMMER 2 

We will bring together all of the individual projects completed this year such as game design, stop motion animation and the country design project. We will share and evaluate projects in cooperative groups discussing the strengths and weaknesses of each app culminating in a Dragon’s Den style pitch.