Welcome to our Curriculum Meeting For Parents

1. Welcome to our Curriculum Meeting For Parents Years 3 and 4

2. Overview of the meeting • Organisation of Ruby Class • New National Curriculum Expectations in Reading, Writing and Spelling • Ways to support your child in these areas • New National Curriculum Expectations in Mathematics • Ways to support your child in this area

3. LiteracyHow the week is structured • Daily Guided Reading sessions • Individual reading • Daily writing • Daily Grammar input • Weekly spellings lesson and test • Daily handwriting • Daily speaking and listening opportunities. • Weekly class novel used as a stimulus for writing and comprehension skills.

4. Reading • Developing positive attitudes to reading through exposure to a wide variety of texts – fiction, non fiction, poetry, plays, reference books and text books. • Regular individual reading to an adult. • Guided Reading.

5. Guided Reading • Guided reading sessions daily which give children opportunities to discuss a variety of texts in depth, in a small group, with their teacher. • During the week each group will have follow up activities based on the texts, which will encourage them to understand what they have read.

6. Writing -Composition • Write imaginative, interesting and thoughtful texts. • Produce texts which are appropriate to task, reader and purpose. • During the year the children will read a variety of genres in order to understand the skills and processes that are essential for writing.

7. Genres • Adventure stories • Fantasy stories • Stories from other cultures • Instructions • Persuasive writing • Recounts • Diaries • Non- chronological reports • Play scripts • Letters • Poetry

8. Using these genres children will be taught to: • Plan their writing by discussing writing similar to that which they plan to write, in order to learn from its structure, vocabulary and grammar. • Draft and write by rehearsing sentences orally; individually, with partners and with the class teacher who will model the writing on the board. This will encourage the development of a rich and varied vocabulary and a range of sentence structures. Organising writing into paragraphs. Creating settings, character and plot – Story Mountains. Using simple organisation devices such as headings and sub headings. • Evaluate and edit by proof reading their own work and peer marking in order to praise and suggest improvements. Reading aloud their own writing to a group or the whole class using appropriate intonation and controlling the tone and volume so that the meaning is clear.

9. Grammar Taught daily at the start of each lesson. An activity or game which focuses on a specific aspect of grammar, relevant to the writing the children are undertaking. ‘Little and often.’ Pupils will be taught: Extending sentences – using a wide range of conjunctions, e.g because, if, when, although. Using correct tenses – present and past. Choosing nouns and pronouns – to avoid repetition in sentences and to create clarity.

10. Using fronted adverbials in sentences to vary sentence openings e.g Gently, she lifted the sleeping baby. Before I go to bed, I clean my teeth. At last, I reached the finish line. Suddenly, the ground began to shake. At the park, I lost my coat. Every playtime, I play football.

11. Other grammatical features to be taught; • Using commas in lists and after fronted adverbials. • Using apostrophes for possession including with plural nouns. • Using and punctuating direct speech with inverted commas. Other terminology to be taught ; Adverb, preposition, conjunction, prefix, clause, subordinate clause.

12. Spelling • Each week a new spelling pattern or rule is taught. • The Look Say Cover Write Check method is used so that children can practice writing the words each day. They have opportunities to use the words in sentences to reinforce meaning. • A spelling board displays each year groups’ spelling for the week and children are encouraged to use their words in writing during the week. • Word mats covering high frequency words, nouns, verbs ,adjectives and topic words are available for the children to check their spellings and extend their vocabulary. • Children are encouraged to use dictionaries in all subjects.

13. Year 3 spellings • Use further prefixes dis_, mis_, re_, and suffixes _ly, _ous, and understand how to add them. • Add suffixes beginning with vowel letters to words of more than one syllable. • Spell homophones and near homophones. Spell words containing the /ʌ/ sound spelt ou, e.g. young, touch, double • Spell words with endings sounding like /ʒə/ e.g. treasure, enclosure, pleasure. • Spell words with endings sounding like or /tʃə/, e.g. creature, furniture, adventure. • Spell words with the /eɪ/ sound spelt ei, eigh, or ey, e.g. vein, weigh, eight, neighbour, they, obey • Identify and spell irregular past tense verbs, e.g. send /sent, hear / heard, think/ thought • Identify and spell irregular plurals, e.g goose/ geese, woman/women, potato /es Use the first two letters of a word to check its spelling in a dictionary.

14. Year 4 spellings • Use further prefixes, e.g. in- , im- ir–, sub–, inter–, super–, anti–, auto–. • Use further suffixes, e.g. –ation, - tion, –ssion,–cian. • Investigate what happens to words ending in f when suffixes are added, e.g. calf/calves. • Identify and spell words with the /k/ sound spelt ch (Greek in origin), e.g. scheme, chorus. • Identify and spell words with the /ʃ/ sound spelt ch (mostly French in origin), e.g. chef, chalet, machine. • Identify and spell words ending with the /g/ sound spelt –gue and the /k/ sound spelt –que (French in origin), e.g. tongue, antique. • Identify and spell words with the /s/ sound spelt sc (Latin in origin), e.g. science, scene. • Understand how diminutives are formed using e.g. suffix - ette and prefix mini-. • Investigate ways in which nouns and adjectives can be made into verbs by the use of suffixes e.g. pollen (noun) and –ate = pollinate (verb). • The /ɪ/ sound spelt y elsewhere than at the end of words, e.g. myth, gym, Egypt. • Use the first three letters of a word to check its spelling in a dictionary. • Explore and use the possessive apostrophe, e.g. boy’s books (books belonging to a boy) and boys’ books (books belonging to more than one boy).

15. Handwriting There are four handwriting sessions a week. Pupils will be taught the four basic joins; • Diagonal joins to letters without ascenders E.g. ai, ar, un, ac • Horizontal joins to letters without ascenders. E.g. wi, vi, ou, wo • Diagonal joins to letters with ascenders. E.g. ab, ul, it • Horizontal joins to letters with ascenders. ol, wh,ot Children should be using joined writing throughout their independent writing. Once children have demonstrated a clear flowing style they can write in pen.

16. How to support your child at home • Regularly read with your child; school books or anything they are interested in. Take turns to share the reading. Discuss exciting vocabulary. • Practise spellings with your child and encourage them to tell you the meanings of the words they are learning. • Have a good dictionary and thesaurus at home to encourage them to look up spellings and synonyms. • Encourage your child to do their neatest handwriting in their homework.

17. MathematicsHow the week is structured • Daily mental maths warm ups and starters. • Weekly times tables tests • Weekly problem solving skills – using and applying. • Weekly target practice

18. Addition • Children should understand that addition is commutative and therefore calculations can be rearranged, e.g. 4 + 13 = 17 is the same as 13 + 4 = 17. • Ensure that children understand the = sign means is the same as, not makes, and that children see calculations where the equals sign is in a different position, e.g. 3 + 2 = 5 and 5 = 3 + 2. • Children should be encouraged to approximate before calculating and check whether their answer is reasonable.

21. Subtraction • Children should understand that subtraction is the removing or taking away one quantity from another (not necessarily the smaller number from the larger one) or finding the difference between two separate quantities. • Children should understand that, unlike addition, subtraction is not commutative. • Ensure that children understand the = sign means is the same as, not makes, and that children see calculations where the equals sign is in a different position, e.g. 9 – 5 = 4 and 4 = 9 – 5. • Children should be encouraged to approximate before calculating and check whether their answer is reasonable.

27. Number – multiplication and division • Children need to understand that multiplication is commutative and use this information to rearrange calculations knowing that 4 x 6 = 24 gives the same answer as 6 x 4 = 24. • Children need to understand that multiplication is repeated addition. • Ensure that children understand the = sign means is the same as, not makes, and that children see calculations where the equals sign is in a different position, e.g. 3 x 5 = 15 and 15 = 3 x 5. • Children should be encouraged to approximate before calculating and check whether their answer is reasonable.

32. Fractions Year 3 Pupils should be taught to:  count up and down in tenths; recognise that tenths arise from dividing an object into 10 equal parts and in dividing one-digit numbers or quantities by 10  recognise, find and write fractions of a discrete set of objects: unit fractions and non-unit fractions with small denominators  recognise and use fractions as numbers: unit fractions and non-unit fractions with small denominators  recognise and show, using diagrams, equivalent fractions with small denominators  add and subtract fractions with the same denominator within one whole (for example, 5/7 +1/7 = 6/7)  compare and order unit fractions, and fractions with the same denominators  solve problems that involve all of the above.

33. Fractions Year 4 Pupils should be taught to:  recognise and show, using diagrams, families of common equivalent fractions  count up and down in hundredths; recognise that hundredths arise when dividing an object by one hundred and dividing tenths by ten.  solve problems involving increasingly harder fractions to calculate quantities, and fractions to divide quantities, including non-unit fractions where the answer is a whole number  add and subtract fractions with the same denominator  recognise and write decimal equivalents of any number of tenths or hundredths  recognise and write decimal equivalents to ¼, ½, ¾  find the effect of dividing a one- or two-digit number by 10 and 100, identifying the value of the digits in the answer as ones, tenths and hundredths  round decimals with one decimal place to the nearest whole number  compare numbers with the same number of decimal places up to two decimal places  solve simple measure and money problems involving fractions and decimals to two decimal places.

34. MeasurementYear 3 Pupils should be taught to: • measure, compare, add and subtract: lengths (m/cm/mm); mass (kg/g); volume/capacity (l/ml) • measure the perimeter of simple 2-D shapes • add and subtract amounts of money to give change, using both £ and p in practical contexts • tell and write the time from an analogue clock, including using Roman numerals from I to XII, and 12-hour and 24-hour clocks • estimate and read time with increasing accuracy to the nearest minute; record and compare time in terms of seconds, minutes and hours; use vocabulary such as o’clock, a.m./p.m., morning, afternoon, noon and midnight • know the number of seconds in a minute and the number of days in each month, year and leap year • compare durations of events [for example to calculate the time taken by particular events or tasks].

35. Measurement Year 4 Pupils should be taught to: • convert between different units of measure [for example, kilometre to metre; hour to minute] • measure and calculate the perimeter of a rectilinear figure (including squares) in centimetres and metres • find the area of rectilinear shapes by counting squares • estimate, compare and calculate different measures, including money in pounds and pence

36. Geometry – properties of shapesYear 3 Pupils should be taught to: • draw 2-D shapes and make 3-D shapes using modelling materials; recognise 3-D shapes in different orientations and describe them • recognise angles as a property of shape or a description of a turn • identify right angles, recognise that two right angles make a half-turn, three make three quarters of a turn and four a complete turn; identify whether angles are greater than or less than a right angle • identify horizontal and vertical lines and pairs of perpendicular and parallel lines.

37. Geometry – properties of shapeYear 4 Pupils should be taught to: • describe positions on a 2-D grid as coordinates in the first quadrant • describe movements between positions as translations of a given unit to the left/right and up/down • plot specified points and draw sides to complete a given polygon.

38. StatisticsYear 3 Pupils should be taught to: • interpret and present data using bar charts, pictograms and tables • solve one-step and two-step questions [for example, ‘How many more?’ and ‘How many fewer?’] using information presented in scaled bar charts and pictograms and tables.

39. Statistics Year 4 Pupils should be taught to: • interpret and present discrete and continuous data using appropriate graphical methods, including bar charts and time graphs. • solve comparison, sum and difference problems using information presented in bar charts, pictograms, tables and other graphs.

40. How to support your child at home • Help your child to practise their times tables tests weekly. • Encourage them to use the websites we use at school for games http://www.interactive-resources.co.uk/ Log on – richard Password – durnings http://www.topmarks.co.uk/ • Use every day situations to support their progress Ask them the time (both digital and analogue) and encourage them to use a watch Calculate change when buying goods Use bus and train time tables to work out length of journey and time of arrival Look for angles and shapes around the home or examples of different types of lines