Beech Class

In English this term, we will explore both narrative and information texts, applying the ‘I’m a Clever Writer’ approach. Our writing themes are closely tied to our ongoing topics. The first text we’ll dive into is “Rooftoppers” by Katherine Rundell – it’s such an exciting adventure! You’ll be captivated by Sophie’s journey to find her mother, navigating the rooftops of Paris with her new friends. What do you think it means to live on the rooftops? After that, we’ll explore “Totally Chaotic History: Ancient Egypt Gets Unruly!” This fun and engaging book brings ancient Egypt to life with quirky facts and illustrations.

Parents are encouraged to have talk opportunities at home to support their children by asking them to recall the narrative or information text they are learning about. This will reinforce their understanding of key writing concepts while building confidence in retelling and summarizing information.

In Mathematics, our focus starts with place value, followed by addition and subtraction strategies. We will also cover geometry, where children will learn about shapes, angles, and their properties. Children will develop their problem-solving and reasoning skills throughout the term to strengthen their understanding of these key concepts.

In Science, we’ll begin our unit on "Light and Shadows," where children will explore how light behaves, how shadows are formed, and the nature of reflection. Following this, we will start our unit on Rocks, where children will investigate different types of rocks, their properties, and how they are formed.

In RE, we will begin with the topic “Belonging – We Gather as God’s Family.” This unit will explore the themes of community and family, focusing on how we gather together in faith and celebrate our connection as part of God's family. Following this, we will move into a unit on prayer, and then transition into the study of Advent and Christmas, reflecting on the spiritual significance of these seasons​.

Our Geography topic, “A European Study,” will cover a broad range of activities, such as mapping out key European countries, studying climate zones, and exploring the physical and human geography of Europe​.

In the second half of the autumn term, we will dive into some ancient history by studying our topic “Tomb Raiders: The Ancient Egyptians.” This history-based unit will focus on learning about Egyptian culture, the construction of the pyramids, and their fascinating religious practices.

In Art, during the second half of the autumn term, we’ll be creating Egyptian death masks, learning about the symbolism and techniques used in Ancient Egyptian art.

For DT, we’ll be working on making cushions inspired by various design techniques, allowing the children to develop their sewing and textile skills​.

Autumn 2 has been an incredibly exciting and eventful half term jam-packed with events and learning.  We welcomed Mrs Rushton back – she now teaches Mondays to Wednesdays, with Mr Daniel on Thursdays and Fridays. The learning in Beech Class has been stratospheric! In English, pupils studied the renowned poem “I Am a Roman Soldier”, by Josiah Wedgewood. Children approached the reading of the work with the knowledge of their topic learning and were able to empathise with the character, his bravery and his melancholy. They also produced their own poems from the opposing point of view titled, “I am a Celtic Soldier.” After their unit of work on poetry, Beech Class looked at non-chronological reports and even produced one of their own comparing and contrasting Mounts Etna and Vesuvius.
In Mathematics, children tackled Multiplication and Division. Applying their ongoing learning of the multiplication tables really helped them to grasp new concepts. This really showed the day of the big ‘Top of the Rocks’ showdown with all the other schools in the Our Lady of the Magnificat MAC. Using the TT Rockstars website, Beech class scored brilliantly up against their challengers, representing their school superbly.
Beyond the classroom, year four pupils have been fortunate enough this half term to take swimming lessons every Friday. On Friday, 8^th December, pupils went to see a pantomime at the Roses Theatre in Tewkesbury … and, as if all that wasn’t enough, to supplement their studies, Beech Class took part in a full-day's Roman workshop, during which we learnt lots of additional knowledge about The Romans from an ‘actual’ Roman centurion! It’s been a great half term and we can’t wait for Spring when we begin our new Topic “Reign Over Us: the Tudors!”

Spring term this year is all about the 'Terrible Tudors'. In our history topic we will be going back in time to learn about the Tudor monarchs, how their influence can be seen today and what Tudor life was like.

Charlie and the Chocolate Factory by Roald Dahl is the text that we are studying in English. The children will be developing their inference skills, writing for a range of purposes and challenging their reading skills by retrieving information from within the text. 

In our maths topics this term the children will be tackling fractions, perimeter and measures.

Physical Education this term will have the children testing their balance, rhythm and grace in gymnastics and dance.

In French, the children will be learning about how to say and follow instructions within the classroom setting. 

In our science lessons, the children will be completing their animals unit before starting the new unit - electricity.

We are very much looking forward to the exciting term ahead!

This term we are continuing our Tudor topic focusing more closely on the key Tudor monarchs, what life was like for people living in Tudor times and important events that have shaped life today. 

In science we have just started our new unit all about electricity. The children will be learning about what powers appliances, how to create a simple circuit and how to add motors and buzzers into a circuit. 

Maths this term will focus on multiplication, division, mass, capacity and decimals.

Computing will see us begin our animation unit where the children will work to create their own mini animations. 

Finally, we are very nearly at the end of our class text, Roal Dahl's ‘Charlie and the Chocolate Factory’ (which has been a fantastic read) and we will begin our new text, ‘My Friend Walter, by Micheal Morpurgo, which we will also be using as our writing focus. 

This term is all about the beautiful world that we live in. We are going to become more expert geographers as we will be learning about countries, continents, oceans, seas, and capital cities. We will also be learning about map reading and how to use Atlases to research our planet.

In English, we have started our new class text, 'The Matchbox Diary'. Over the next seven weeks, the children will be writing detailed setting descriptions, writing letters and diary entries and delving into poetry.

Our science unit is ‘sound’. We will be investigating how we hear, as well as completing investigations to build on our understanding.

In maths we are revisiting fractions and decimals. We will then be moving onto money, time and shape.

We have an exciting final term ahead!

English:

We will be exploring the text, The Night Sky Dragons by Mal Peet and Elspeth Graham. This is linked to our geography topic of Around the World. A beautiful story about Yazul, who loved making kites with his father.

Geography:

In the Summer Term the children will be learning all about ‘Around the World’. We have so far learnt about different continents and countries with a focus on South America. This term we will continue our unit by exploring geographical similarities and differences of the United Kingdom. Finishing with a celebration of different countries to link with the 2024 Olympics.

Maths:

Year 3 will start learning about geometry, statistics and problem solving.

Year 4 will be learning about statistics, position and direction and continuing to focus on our multiplication recognition and recall.

Science:

This term in science we will be finishing our topic of sound. The children have been learning about how sound travels, how our ears hear, and we have been experimenting to see how we can change pitch and volume.

Our final area of learning is living things and their habitats. The children will be learning to recognise that living things can be grouped in a variety of ways and use classification keys to help group them. We will be identifying and naming a variety of living things in our local area and wider environment and learning about how environments can change and that this can sometimes pose dangers to living things.

Art

In Art and Design, children are looking at the architecture of Antoni Gaudí, particularly the Sagrada Familia, and other iconic buildings such as Casa Batlló, La Pedrera and the national Parc Güell.

RE

In RE, our topics are 'Sharing in the Life of Christ' and 'Special Roles and Responsibilities.'

PE

Our PE learning will be to learn striking and fielding games as well as practice for Sports Day!