Welcome to our class page! My name is Miss Patchett and I am the class teacher based in Lapwings four days a week. We also have Mrs White who will be teaching Lapwings all day on a Thursday.

On this page, I will outline what our Spring Term 2 curriculum looks like. If you have any questions about this or anything else, please do not hesitate to contact me; my door is always open. Otherwise, please email:  admin@starcross-primary.devon.sch.uk

Key information

• PE days are Monday and Thursday. Please come in wearing your PE kit.
• Spelling is set on a Monday via Spelling Frame, where children can practice their spelling. We will then complete a spelling test at school on a Friday.
• TTRS is to be completed at least three times a week as well as reading at least 4-5 times a week. Please record any reading at home in their reading records. Records are checked every Friday morning.

Here is a weekly timetable for Lapwings. This term our school theme is ‘Britain through the ages’ and our Year 4 topic is ‘What was rotten about the Romans?’

Reading

Our Whole Class Reading focus on a Monday and Friday will be ‘Queen of Darkness’ by Tony Bradman. When sisters Rhianna and Eleri are thrown out of their home by their stepmother, Queen Boudica takes them in, believing fate has brought the Iceni girls to her. The sisters live in the palace, serve Boudica loyally and take lessons in combat from Garwen, a female guard – but when the king dies the Romans are furious at Boudica, who wants to break tradition and rule alone as queen.

Our WCR sessions are supported by the Ashely Booth reading scheme and this term, Tuesday-Thursday, we will be looking at texts exploring international women’s day, Romans, poetry, mental health and scientists.

English

In English this term, our first text is called ‘Boudicca’s Story’ which is a focus on fictional writing linked with historical events. Our key objectives will be to:

• Use noun phrases expanded by the addition of modifying adjectives, nouns and preposition phrases e.g. the teacher expanded to: the strict maths teacher with curly hair.
• Use inverted commas for direct speech
• Use commas after fronted adverbials
• Plan, draft and proof-read a story with the purpose of entertaining the reader

After this first unit, we will complete a second unit on persuasive writing, looking at ways to persuade people to join the Roman army.

Maths

This half term in Maths, our focus will be length and perimeter and fractions. We use the White Rose Maths scheme for Maths lessons, as well as daily flashbacks to ensure that previous learning is embedded. We also have a times table focus in preparation for the multiplication times table check in the Summer as well as mastery maths for 10 minutes a day.

Science

We will be celebrating ‘British Science Week’ 9th-13th March. The theme this year is curiosity: what is your question? This will be an exciting week of science with lots happening in school.

Art

In Art, our outcome this term is to create a mosaic style mixed media piece that is inspired by roman artwork and the work of artist Gary Drostle. Children will experiment with a range of collage techniques (tearing, overlapping and layering) to create images and represent textures.

PE

Lapwings PE days are: Monday and Thursday. This half term our focus will be dance and handball.

French

In French this half term, we will be focusing on ‘Je me presente’ (presenting myself). In this unit pupils focus on asking questions as well as providing accurate replies. They will demonstrate a growing understanding of grammar to manipulate language and start to create sentences of their own using a range of personal details including name, age, where they live and nationality.

RWE

In RWE this half term, we will be exploring the key question ‘Why do Christians call the day Jesus died ‘Good Friday’?’

Computing

Children will understand how to use a search engine to effectively answer questions. They will understand how to assess whether a source is true and reliable. We will also be focusing on online safety.

PSHE

In PSHE, we use the scheme Jigsaw. This half term, we will be looking at ‘Healthy Me’ where we will focus on the importance of healthy friendships and group dynamics and looking at the impacts alcohol and smoking have on our health.