Welcome to the Giraffes

Teacher: Mrs Hill
Teaching Assistants who support in KS2 - Mrs Benning, Mrs Blake & Miss Bettney

The school rules of LOVE and RESPECT run through our class where everyone is important and part of our class family and where we share the love of learning together. Working walls support class learning and displays reflect the children's work.

The children in Giraffes are in Year 3. All Year 3 and Year 4 children are in Key Stage 2, and they follow a two year rolling topic plan. This means that no-one in the key stage learns about the same thing twice, regardless of what class they are in.

Reading

Children are expected to read regularly at home, preferably with an adult. Our target is to read every night. Reading books can be changed any day at school, but parents must sign to say they have heard their child read and that the book is finished. The children will get a dojo if their reading book has been signed, 2 dojo points for completing a Reading Bingo square and a Gold for completing a Reading Bingo line. Look at the back of the Reading Record to find the Bingo card. The children will receive a certificate for completing a bingo card.

Maths

At St Mary's we teach maths through Power Maths. We recap and keep different elements of maths alive everyday by completing Mini Maths warm ups, focusing on subtraction, addition, multiplication and division. Instant recall of number facts is an important part of being a good mathematician, so each term we focus on a KIRF target (Key Instant Recall Facts). The children need to practise these facts regularly so they can answer them within a 6 second time frame without using their fingers to calculate. Each week they will be given a timed test on these number facts; the tests are sent home so that they can show you their results and complete extra practice if necessary.

Autumn 1 KIRF is to know number bonds for all numbers to 20.

Test day: Friday

TT Rockstars

It is the government's expectation that by the end of Year 4 the children can recall all their times table facts to x12, and recall them within 6 seconds. At the end of Year 4, the children will complete a SATs multiplication test which is similar to the Soundcheck mode on TT rockstars. Regular practise on TT rockstars at home will ensure the children are prepared for the test and meet this expectation.

TT Rockstars Progress check : Thursday

points will be allocated to children who have been on TT rockstars at home, to those who have gone up the leaderboard and to those who have changed their Rock Star Status!

Spellings

The children learn 5 spellings each week in their spelling booklet. If two or more spellings are spelt incorrectly on test days, they must stay on this set before they move on. For every set they complete, they can colour part of the picture at the back of the spelling booklet.

Test Day: Friday

This half term our topic is the Stone Age. In this history topic, we will be finding out about life in the Stone Age. Our art work will be linked to this with cave paintings, and animal pictures. Our English text will be Stone Age Boy.

Science this half term is Rocks. We will be looking at different types of rocks and their uses and sorting them into man-made and natural as well as finding out some of the properties.

PE is on Tuesday and Wednesday.

Toast Sales: If your child would like toast at playtime please send £1 in an envelope on Monday, which will cover the cost of toast for one week.