Year 3 

The past two weeks have flown by, with plenty of new and exciting ‘back to school’ tasks as the new classes have been settling into their new routines and getting to know their new classmates. Writing has got off to a flying start, inspired by our charming whole-school text, Flotsam, which is picture-based and encourages the children to use rich vocabulary to narrate the story themselves. We have been working hard on our setting description, practising using high quality adjectives and sensory detail to paint an evocative picture in our reader’s mind and impress our classmates. 

In maths, we have been adding three numbers, consolidating prior knowledge of doubles and near-doubles to build a deeper understanding of why maths works, rather than simply repeating steps. The children have taken pride in applying their new mathematical vocabulary, such as addend, sum and commutative. Ask them about what these words mean! 

We all enjoyed our new science topic: forces and magnets and got hands on in our first lesson, investigating whether sports equipment requires a push or a pull force, or both. Geography has also started well, with the children building their understanding about rivers, starting with the knowledge that a river is a moving body of water. Our focus river is the Thames.

A highlight has been the Wider Opportunities, which has seen the children receive the first of eight lessons in stringed instruments, courtesy of the Richmond Music Service. We saw such good listening and respectful behaviour and can’t wait for lesson two next Tuesday. 

Coming up:

We look forward to seeing whose work will feature on our writers’ wall and to starting our new English text, Sparky, featuring a sloth hero. We find out how our heroine, April, fares in our reading book, The Last Bear which is set in the Arctic and has quickly got the children hooked. In maths, we will continue to revisit foundational fluency, such as number bonds to ten as well as building our mathematical vocabulary.

         

 

                                                  

 

Key messages from the Year 3 team:

• Please send your child/ren’s reading folders every Monday so we can swap their reading book and stamp their reading record. 

• Reading records should have five signed comments each week.

• Please continue with the excellent uniform standards and healthy break snacks we have enjoyed these past two weeks! The children have looked so smart and been so well nourished! 

• If you have any board games from home that you could donate to your child/ren’s class, we would love to build our wet play resources.

 

Key dates:

• Wednesday 23rd September - Individual and sibling photos

 

Useful links: 

• This half term’s learning bulletin which contains the knowledge and skills that your child is being taught, key vocabulary and suggested activities/reading.

 

 

Year 4

A very warm welcome back to the Vineyard! It has been wonderful to see the children settle into their new classrooms so quickly. The children have shown great enthusiasm for their learning and we are excited to share some of the highlights so far.

In maths, we have been exploring place value. The children have been representing numbers in different ways and beginning to show real confidence in explaining their thinking. We have been focusing on sentence structure and grammar in English, ensuring that children build strong foundations for their writing. The children’s imaginations have been sparked by reading Flotsam by David Wiesner, a beautifully illustrated book, about which they have written their own setting descriptions.

In geography, our topic is biomes. The children have been learning about the different types of biomes around the world, from icy tundra to lush rainforests and locating biomes on a world map.  In science, we have been looking at the features of living things through the acronym MRS GREN (movement, respiration, sensitivity, growth, reproduction, excretion, nutrition), helping the children understand what makes something alive.

Our art lessons have begun with a new topic on geometry. The children are exploring patterns and symmetry with a focus on Islamic tiles – a wonderful opportunity to combine mathematical thinking with artistic creativity.

We are delighted with the positive start the children have made.  

Next week, the children will be starting our new book The Barnabus Project, progressing their programming skills in our computing topic and looking at different ways of classifying living things.

                                    

  

Key messages from the Year 4 team: 

• Please ensure your child has a healthy and delicious snack with them for break times!

• Please record five reading record comments per week, ready for checking on Mondays 

• A reminder children should also practise spellings and times tables - TTRS is a fantastic resource. 

 

Key dates (year group specific):

• Wednesday 30th September - Trip to Wetland Centre - volunteers needed.

 

Useful links: 

• This half term’s learning bulletin which contains the knowledge and skills that your child is being taught, key vocabulary and suggested activities/reads.