Year 3/4 Curriculum Overview
Our curriculum is bespoke for the children at St. Anthony’s. We have developed an imaginative, broad and balanced programme containing links across the curriculum to ensure a deep and rich learning experience, relevant to the world we live in and our locality. Our curriculum meets the developmental and learning needs of all pupils and is designed to motivate all children to achieve, thrive and to enjoy learning.
All areas of the Lower Key Stage 2 National Curriculum are covered over the course of a two-year cycle. Each year, children build on prior learning and we ensure that they are able to apply the skills they have learnt independently before moving on. Teaching staff collaborate with subject leaders and the leadership team to ensure the curriculum is inspiring, relevant and focused on the needs of our pupils.
Our 3/4 curriculum can be viewed below.
Y3_4 Curriculum Map 2021_23 Feb 23
Home Learning
Our Spring Home Learning menu can be viewed below:
Spring Home Learning Autumn 2023
2022/23
Spring Term 1
English
In English, we will be reading our new novel ‘Train to Impossible Places’. We will spark interest by creating a scene from the book. Through small reading and writing opportunities, children will be planning and writing their own version of a fantasy story.
Maths
Children will be learning about length (mm, cm, m and km), perimeter, including rectilinear shapes, and area. Following this, children will start to build on their knowledge of fractions in Year 2 and 3.
RE
Our RE topic this term is From Desert to Garden. We are looking at the story of the Passover and how this links to the Last Supper, the Eucharist and the general audience by Pope Francis. We will use the bible stories – Exodus 12: 1-14 Luke 22: 14-23 John 13: 1-18 and Acts 2: 42-47. We will also look at the different cultural practices associated with Holy Week around the world.
Science
This half-term, we will be exploring living things and their habitats. This will involve fieldwork in our local area and investigating how living things can be classified based on their characteristics.
Design Technology
Our Design technology unit this half term is cooking and nutrition. We will be developing our understanding of seasonality and where ingredients are grown. We will adapt recipes to suit our individual needs and visit Our Lady’s Catholic High School to use their wonderful facilities to make two dishes – a crunchy winter salad and French bread pizza. We will evaluate our dishes and enjoy eating them.
HRSE
We will be studying Module 2: Created to Love Others, which explores an individual’s relationship with others. Building on our understanding that we have been created out of love and for love, we will explore how we take this calling into our family, friendships and relationships and learn about strategies for developing healthy relationships and keeping safe.
Geography
We will be developing our place knowledge of Europe, looking at different countries in the continent. We will then look at the physical and human features of these countries and complete an in depth study of Hamburg in Germany in collaboration with St Antonius Primary School.
Music
Working with the amazing staff and their facilities at Our Lady’s High School, children will be creating their own drum fill for the song ‘Back in Black’ by ACDC.
Easter Production
We are very excited to announce that the Year 3/4 Easter production will take place this half term. We will retell the Easter Story through drama and song in St Anthony’s Church and parents and families will be invited to attend. We will be in touch later in the term with more details.
Autumn Term 2
English
Our English unit this half term was based on the book ‘The Firework Maker’s Daughter’ by Philip Pullman. Children wrote character and setting descriptions, made predictions and explored vocabulary and the structure of the text before planning and writing their own fantasy quest using all they had learnt as inspiration.
Our grammar focus this half term was main and subordinate clauses and conjunctions, adverbs and fronted adverbials.
Maths
This half term, children moved on from place value to addition and subtraction. Children used concrete and pictorial representations to understand the concept of exchange and progressed to formal written methods with exchange of more than one value up to 3-digits for Year 3 and 4-digits for Year 4.
RE
The title of our Religious Education unit was ‘Prophecy and Promise’. Children learnt what a prophet is and described how religious texts about the prophets Micah and Isaiah reveal Jesus as the Messiah. Children made links between the prophecies of Micah and Isaiah and what the Gospels of Luke and Matthew say about the beginning of Jesus’ life and ministry and gave reasons why Christians believe Jesus is the messiah.
The children also considered how Advent hymns celebrate the arrival of Jesus, described how the oil of Chrism is used in the Sacraments and reflected on how Christians can act like the messiah during Advent.
Science
Our Science unit in the last half term was on light. Children conducted several experiments to recognise that light is required for us to see and that dark is the absence of light. Children explored reflection, learnt that light from the sun can be dangerous, recognised that shadows are formed when the light from a light source is blocked by an opaque object and found patterns in the way that the size of shadows change.
History
In History, children thoroughly enjoyed a unit closely linked to our local area – The Lancashire Cotton Industry and its links to the Atlantic Slave Trade. Children learnt about innovations in technology during this period and researched iconic individuals and their influence across the world and in our local area. Children also learnt about living conditions at that time and made comparisons to our lives today.
Design Technology
In Design Technology, children created their own Christmas toy containing an electrical component. Children evaluated various existing products before designing, planning and making their own product. They used their knowledge of electrical circuits from earlier in the year to incorporate a circuit containing a bulb/motor and they made their own switch.
Music
Children continued their lessons at Our Lady’s High School with a unit on singing. Children enjoyed learning new songs, performing in solo and ensemble, and used their voices with accuracy, fluency, control and expression. The children sang beautifully and thoroughly enjoyed another outstanding sequence of lessons at the high school delivered by Mrs Hayler and Mr Robinson.
HRSE
In HRSE, children explored the importance of respecting our bodies as a gift from God, developed a base-level understanding of what puberty is and why we go through it and discussed how emotions and feelings are complex and sometimes hard to explain. Children also explored the reality that is presented to them on television, in magazines and on adverts and how this can differ from real life and identified behaviour that is wrong, unacceptable, unhealthy or risky.
Computing
In Computing, children learnt about networks and the internet. Children discovered what networks are made of, including the purpose of routers, and explored the internet and its components. Children learnt that not everything on the internet can be trusted and that information can easily be shared on various platforms.
Autumn Term 1
English
Our first novel of the year was A Bear Called Paddington by Michael Bond. The children thoroughly enjoyed reading about the bear’s adventures and were inspired to write their own chapter in the style of Michael Bond. The children developed their very own talking animal and setting for their chapter and wrote about the mischief they got up to. Their stories included lots of descriptive language and humour and the outcome was outstanding.
Maths
This term, children learnt about Place Value and investigated how numbers up to 10000 are represented in various ways. Children used manipulatives and pictorial representations to support their learning and developed their reasoning skills. They investigated fact families and enjoyed learning roman numerals up to 100.
Religious Education
This half term, children learnt about the season of creation by discussing what is meant by God’s Holy Ground and how we are all responsible for respecting and caring for it. Children learnt about bible references and used them to find stories from the bible about creation. Children suggested meanings for artistic expressions of the story of creation and designed their own symbols of creation. The children enjoyed expressing their creativity and reflected on how their creativity shows they are unique and like God. Linked to Philosophy, children discussed why people should be treated with equal dignity and linked their discussion points to the creation story.
Geography
In our Geography unit this half term, children focused on locational knowledge and human and physical features in the UK. They identified names and locations of regions of the UK, including its countries, counties and cities; used compass points to describe locations and identified human and physical characteristics of cities in the UK. Children also compared a variety of maps and made observations about change over time and recognised that the UK is made up of rural and urban areas. The unit is to be completed in the next half term with a field trip to observe different types of land use in our local area.
Science
In Science, pupils in Year 3/4 enjoyed learning about electricity. They investigated battery and mains powered appliances and created their own series circuit and switches. Children also experimented with different materials to develop their understanding of conductors and insulators.
Art
The Art unit this half-term was focused on the famous artists Lowry and Constable. Children reflected on the different styles of art and created their own painting inspired by one of the artists. Children also developed their printing skills by creating their very own coat of arms using foam and cardboard.
HRSE
In HRSE, children reflected on the Bible story Jairus’ Daughter and developed their understanding of the Sacraments and how they link into our everyday lives. Children learnt about the importance of saying sorry and considered what makes us all unique. Children were also introduced to how our bodies change over time.
PE
In PE, children developed a dance routine in small groups based on the theme of electricity. The children’s routines were combined to create a whole class dance and they incorporated different types of movement, stillness, gesture, turns and jumps into their routines. Children also developed their invasion games skills through the sport of Handball.
Computing
Children enjoyed developing their programming skills by creating animations and adding sound commands using Scratch software.
