Ouse Class Curriculum Letter Autumn Term 2023

Dear Parents,

It has been lovely to welcome your children back to school this week. They seem to have really enjoyed their break and have come back to school full of enthusiasm and ready to begin the new school year. They have made an excellent start to the year so far and I am very much looking forward to getting to know better over the next few weeks and months.

As you may be aware, the children in Key Stage 2 will again be taught in 3 groups for English and maths this year (purple, green and orange groups). This was very successful two years ago and allows for smaller class sizes and more focused teaching. The children in Ouse class will be in either purple or green group, and the coverage for the upcoming term is specified for each group below. In addition, we will be operating a carousel of activities on a Friday in Key Stage 2, with the children being taught music by Mrs Cummings, French by Mrs Dale and PE by myself. For these activities the children in Ouse class will be taught as Year 3 and Year 4 groups. Outlined below is a summary of the areas of learning that Ouse Class will be covering this term.

English

Both Purple and Green group children will base their English learning around a key text. This term, green group will be reading the text Carrie’s War by Nina Bawden with Miss Jones. They will study the plot, characters and setting and develop empathy for what it was like to be a child during World War 2. Over the course of these lessons, they will apply their learning to write letters and diaries, and explore persuasive posters and effective dialogue.

Purple group’s text will be ‘How to Train Your Viking’ by Cressida Cowell with myself. We will develop our understanding of the setting, characters and plot, before we plan, write and edit our own adventure story based on overcoming fears. In our SPaG lessons, we will focus on recapping and securing prior knowledge, including word classes such as adjectives and adverbs, extending sentences and using apostrophes for both contraction and possession.

Spelling tests for all children will continue to be on a Friday, so please make sure you child has their yellow spelling book in school on this day. I intend to try to give the vast majority of pupils the spellings that correspond to their year group but if they are trying to learn them at home and finding it really difficult then please let me know and I will find something easier for them.

Maths

Both green and purple groups will begin this half term with a focus on consolidating the foundations of number and place value. This will include Roman numerals, rounding and negative numbers. Once secure we will move on to both mental and written methods of addition and subtraction, including carrying and borrowing. Throughout the term we will be applying our understanding in these areas to reasoning and problem-solving questions in all mathematical areas. As we move through the next half term we will apply our understanding of times tables to calculate written multiplication and division problems.

Throughout the year, all children will have a strong focus on times tables, in preparation for the multiplication tables check that will take place in June for Year 4 children. You may now be aware that children have a log-in in their reading records for a website called ‘Timestable Rockstars’. Here the children have the opportunity to practice their times tables and earn certificates and rewards for continued practice and progression. Alongside reading at home regularly, probably the most useful thing in my opinion that parents can help with would be to try to help and encourage the children to learn their times tables (up to 12 x 12). The children also have Mathletics activities which if they can complete these at home regularly too it should really help to speed up their progress in maths.

Science

Mrs Huntriss will teach Science on Tuesday afternoons to all of Ouse Class throughout the year. This half term, the children will be covering the topic ‘Animals Including Humans’. They will learn about the right types and amounts of nutrients, understand the function of the skeleton and identify the main bones in the human body. They will investigate the function of the parts of digestive system, identify different types of teeth and learn about a variety of food chains and their components.

Topic

Our Cornerstones topic for this half term will be ‘Invasion’ which has a history focus. This project teaches children about life in Britain after the Roman withdrawal. Children will learn about Anglo-Saxon and Viking invasions up to the Norman conquest. Alongside this the children will do a companion project ‘Fresh Food, Good Food’. This project which has a DT focus teaches children about food decay and preservation. They discover key inventions in food preservation and packaging, then make examples. The children will prepare, package and evaluate a healthy snack.

Computing

Our Computing topic for this half term will be ‘Coding with 2Code’ and will explore coding using our Purple Mash software. Your child will have a login in their reading records if you wish to explore this further at home. There may also be other homework tasks set on this platform throughout the year, which you will be notified of in homework books.

RE

Our topic for this half term will aim to answer the question: ‘What do people believe about God?’ Children will learn about the beliefs of Christians, Hindus, Muslims and Humanists.

PE will be on Wednesdays with Mr Cairns and Fridays with myself. Please make sure children have their kit in school to change in to on these days. The first sports that are covered are football and tag rugby before we move on to basketball and netball after half term.

French – Children will learn French with Mrs Dale and Madame Conroy on Friday afternoons throughout the year. Our first topic will be ‘Les Saisons ‘ and will focus on learning the nouns and determiners for the four seasons, followed by a short phrase associated to each one. . After half term we will move on to the topic of ‘Les Instruments’ which will focus on learning 10 familiar instruments and be introduced to the 1st person singular high frequency verb ‘I play’

Homework – Children will receive homework on a Friday and it should be brought back into school on Wednesday, unless it is a topic homework, which children have 2 weeks to complete.

I look forward to working with you over the course of the year and if you have anything you would like to discuss with me please come and see me or contact me via the class email: ouse@langton.n-yorks.sch.uk

Kind regards

Mr Walker