This term, the children will be exploring the big question: How has electricity improved our lives? To help us investigate this, we will work through a series of mini-enquiries:

● What do you know about electricity?
● How can we use electricity?
● How do you make a circuit?
● What’s important about shadows?
● How do we conserve energy?
● What if we cut off all the power?
● What game can you make using light/electricity?

Through talk, learning about significant scientists, practical investigations and having an
electricity free day, children will develop skills as Scientists. This term's learning enquiry is all Science based, no Geography or History this term.

Phonics 
Some children in our class follow the Read Write Inc. phonics programme. Children are assessed regularly and work in groups that closely match the sounds that they need to learn. Families can support children at home by reading the books that are sent home multiple times across the week so that the children become fluent story-tellers.

English
We will be doing daily handwriting, first ensuring that letter formation is accurate and then beginning to join when children are ready. Students will also participate in daily spelling sessions to ensure they consistently improve their spelling accuracy and apply their phonetic knowledge confidently. The reading lessons this term are based on two books: ‘The boy who harnessed the wind’ by William Kamkwamba and Bryan Mealer and ‘Too small Tola’ by Atinuke. These lessons will develop children’s retrieval skills, help them to understand new vocabulary and enhance their inference skills. The class writing lessons this term will be based upon two books: ‘Home for Grace’ by Kathryn Ivy White and ‘Mrs Noah’s pockets’ by Jackie Morris. These lessons will explore literary techniques as well as grammar, and will provide opportunities to create fiction and non-fiction pieces of work.

Maths
Across the term, the children will develop themselves as mathematicians through focusing on mastering the techniques and achieving fluency in addition and subtraction, alongside advancing their knowledge and methods related to multiplication and division. Furthermore, students will engage with the concepts of geometry by developing a thorough understanding of the properties and classifications of various shapes. The children will also have daily mastering number lessons. Families can support at home by encouraging children to complete short sessions on either Numbots or TTRockstars.

R.E
In R.E., we are exploring where our morals come from and understanding what happens if we do something wrong. We will investigate where our personal morals and values come from and examine how different religions define right and wrong, recognising that not all beliefs are the same. We will also focus on understanding the consequences of wrongdoing, exploring how individuals seek forgiveness from God or a higher power, and discussing the concept of how such actions and reconciliation can affect our inner selves or 'soul'. 

PSHE
This term's unit on Citizenship and Economic Wellbeing is designed to equip students with crucial life skills. We will study rights and responsibilities within the community, explore the function of local democracy, and learn about the importance of charity. The economic component will focus on practical skills such as budgeting and managing personal finances, and introduce students to considering various future career paths.

PE

Our P.E. days are Thursday and Fridays.
This term, our P.E. lessons will be gymnastics. We will focus on developing dynamic balance to agility by learning jumping and landing skills and static seated balance. Our second PE unit in term 4 will be tennis, and we will be developing coordination and ball skills.

Science
Our first unit is electricity. We will be learning to identify common appliances that run on electricity. We will construct a simple series electrical circuit, identifying and naming its basic parts, including cells, wires, bulbs, switches and buzzers. We will also identify whether a lamp will light in a simple series circuit, based on whether or not the lamp is part of a complete loop with a battery. We will be able to recognise that a switch opens and closes a circuit and associate this with whether or not a lamp lights in a simple series circuit. We will also learn some common conductors and insulators. Our second unit is light- recognising, that they need light in order to see things, noticing that light is reflected from surfaces and recognising that light from the sun can be dangerous and that there are ways to protect their eyes. We will be learning that shadows are formed when the light from a source is blocked by an opaque object and finding patterns in the way that the size of shadows change.

Art
In term 3, students will focus on enhancing their drawing skills. They will be learning to 'See as an artist'; to improve observation, mastering shading and tonal techniques to create depth, and experimenting with various tools through dedicated digital drawing sessions.

DT
In term 4, students will focus on practical engineering and digital skills. We will learn about mechanical systems by designing and building functional pneumatic toys using air pressure for movement. They will also undertake a separate project involving the design and creation of a piece of digital technology using Microbits.

Music
We will be learning about ballads. What is a ballad? Performing a ballad, learning about the story behind the song and writing lyrics.

Computing
This term, our Computing curriculum will cover online safety and digital wellbeing, where students will learn to recognise upsetting online situations and develop strategies for dealing with them. We will also journey inside a computer to understand computing and network systems, including how components work together and how devices connect. Finally, students will acquire practical skills in data handling and databases, learning how to organise, manage, and use information effectively.

Home Learning

For home learning, children should be doing the following every week: 

• Reading as often as possible - ideally 10 minutes daily. Please make a note of which book and which pages your child has read (older children can do this themselves)
• Practising times tables on TT Rockstars (go into Garage to practise at the right level) 
• Spelling Shed - Complete spelling games and complete the assignment (specific words) set by Miss Smith 

Children have logins for the websites above in their reading records. Please let Miss Smith know if the children need another copy of their log-in details.