Welcome to Lower Juniors!

Years 3 and 4 are taught in this class by Mrs Roberts, supported by Miss Lord, Mrs Wynne and Mr Elliot. Our bright and cosy classroom is in The Nook and benefits from plenty of lovely sunlight.

Geography: Where in the World?

This half term we turn our attention to Geography and are studying the topic, 'Where in the World'. This unit of study will enable pupils to become more familiar with traditional maps and atlases, learning to identify the equator as well as lines of longitude and latitude. They will use this information to locate countries and cities across the world. Pupils will then focus on the Arctic circle and Antarctica, identifying their key features and understanding their significance in world mapping. We will look at the Greenwich Meridian and learn why it is so important before finally applying their knowledge to developing an understanding of time zones.

Science: Grouping Living Things

Pupils will start by developing an understanding of what a 'species' is by researching newly discovered species. They will then learn how scientists groups living things according to their characteristics and develop an understanding of how living things are grouped together into categories. Pupils will apply this knowledge to their local environment and learn to create and use a key to classify existing plants and animals. 

Homework

Children will receive English and Maths homework every Friday in their homework books. This is to be completed for the following Monday. Homework is always based on work children have been doing in school and set to suit their abilities. If something is sent home that a pupil needs more help with, please inform us as soon as possible so we can help!

Spellings and Times Tables

Spellings and Times Tables are set on Friday and the children have their test on the following Friday. Children write their spellings in their book and have time to practise in school during the week. All spelling rules are taken from the National Curriculum statutory word list for Year 3 and 4. A selection of games to help pupils practise their spellings can be found below:

https://wordwall.net/en-gb/community/y3/4-statutory-spellings

Pupils are taught times tables in school and time is dedicated to this on a Friday as well during maths lesson during the week. Pupils were given times table sheets (with times tables up to 12×) at the beginning of the year. They are to use this to practise at home. While children are given time to practise in school, it is important they take the time to practise at home too. There are some excellent resources and links below that will help the children to practise recall of times tables below, including Times Tables Rock Stars which all children have a log in for:

https://play.ttrockstars.com/auth

https://www.timestables.co.uk/

https://mathsframe.co.uk/en/resources/resource/477/Multiplication-Tables-Check

https://talkingtimestables.uk/y4_ks2_mtc_practice_tests_multiplication_tables_check.php

https://www.topmarks.co.uk/maths-games/7-11-years/times-tables

ActivLearn

Sometimes we use resources, both paper and digital, from Pearson's ActivLearn platform. Pupils can access their own ActivLearn page via the link below:

https://www.activelearnprimary.co.uk/login?c=0

All pupils have a log in for this which is in the following format:

Example name: Joe Bloggs. Format: firstname all lowercase followed by first letter of surname

Example username: joeb

Example password: joeb