Welcome to Beech Tree Class!  We hope you have all had a relaxing and enjoyable summer.  We are very much looking forward to working closely with yourselves and the children this year.

Have a read through our welcome letter and curriculum overview to see all the exciting things we have planned for the Autumn term.  Attached below are also our curriclum knowledge organisers for the Autumn term.  

On this page, you will find some useful information about the term ahead and any key messages that you need to be aware of.  If you scroll to the bottom of the page, you will see our class Twitter feed and link to Google Classroom. We love to use Twitter to share some of the excellent things going on in class and will use Google Classroom to support learning at home - spellings, homework and useful documents will be uploaded and made available on there.  If you are on Twitter, please follow @beechtreeGSP to see regular updates.

We are set to have a great term and have some really exciting things planned and lots of new things to learn about.  If there are ever any questions or concerns, please don't hesitate to get in touch, either by popping in or telephoning.  The support you give is essential for your child's progress and the closer we can work together the better it will be for them.

Kind regards

Mrs Rowlands and Miss Heywood

Our Curriculum:

In English, the children will use a variety of different stimulus throughout the term to engage and inspire the children’s writing.  As always, we will start the term with our Together We Learn and Grow topic.  This year we will be focusing on our schools values - particularly resilience.  The children will them look at the Stone Age Boy and Ug, linked to our History topic, and will cover a range of writing such as a setting description, persuasive leaflets, letters and poetry.  Children will also focus on spelling, punctuation and grammar.

In Maths, the children will be studying the topics: place value, addition and subtraction, perimeter, area and multiplication.  In Year 4, children are expected to know their times tables up to 12x12 ready for their mutiplication check which will take place in June.  To help the children practise their times tables, they need to be using TTRS at least 3 times a week at home.  Useful MTC links can also be found below.

Children will start the term by learning all about Rocks!  Children will discover the different types of rocks and how they are formed. Children will compare and group rocks based on simple properties. They will learn how fossils are formed and will understand how soil is formed and then investigate the permeability of different types of soil. 

We will then be learning all about the human body.  Children will learn about the different foods needed to keep our bodies healthy and the groups they belong to.  They will then learn about the skeleton and its functions and will then investigate the correlation between the length of a femur and how far a person can jump.

What makes a good Geographer?  In this topic, children will explore the range of maps available to geographers and to develop their understanding of the key features of maps.  They will study a range of maps and atlases and compare their features.  They will learn to use the eight compass points to give directions and give grid references to locate places on a map.

Which era is the most impressive – Stone, Bronze and Iron Age? In this topic, the children will learn about how the Stone Age to Iron Age period impacted on life in Britain. They will learn about how early man survived in a harsh environment; how homes and roles developed; why Skara Brae was important for understanding life in the Stone Age and why Stonehenge was built.

Reading:

Please make sure that you read at least 3 times a week for 10 minutes.  This can be your school book, own book, newspapers, comics, shopping list etc and record in your planner.

Spellings:

Spellings will focus on a particular spelling rule/pattern or will be taken from the statutory word list and will be taught and practised throughout the week. Tests will take place each Friday and new lists posted on Google Classroom and Spelling Frame.

PE:

Children will have Indoor PE on a Tuesday and Outdoor PE on a Friday and should come to school in their PE kits on these days. PE kits should be their house colour t-shirt, black shorts/leggings/joggers and a black jacket/hoodie. 

This term our outdoor PE will be swimming. Parent helpers are needed so that we can walk to Penketh Swimming Pool.  If any family members would be willing to help, either on a regular basis, or as a one-off then please let us know.  Everybody is always welcome!  We aim to leave school at the earlier time of 9:00am and will return back to school for 11:15am. Please remember to tie back long hair and wear no jewellery for safety reasons. 

Homework:

Homework will be set on a Friday and this should be returned by the following Wednesday. Homework will consist of a Maths activity and an English activity linked to the unit of work they are covering in class, so they should be able to complete the activity independently. 

Some useful websites, resources and links: