Hello and welcome to the Maple Class page for 25/26!

We have a fabulous team of 27 children in the Maple Class this year, made up of year 3 and year 4 children. Mr Eustace, Miss Neale and Mrs Prescott will join the team for parts of the week, and the class teacher is Mr Starkey - me!

ClassDojo is the main route of communication for daily updates, but the website will be updated termly for links to our documents and anything else that comes along.

Thank you!

Term 3

Welcome back to another term! We have a fabulous term, full of learning and experiences for the children to dive into and enjoy.

Our main topic of the term will focus on history. We will ask the question: Elizabethan times - All banquets and no fun? In this unit of work, the children will understand where the Elizabethan era fits into their understanding of historical events/eras, learn about the key historical figures of the time as well as some of the key historical events. We have also planned to go to Burley House this term to enhance this learning, so please look out for a letter early in the term!

In maths, the Maple class will be taught seperately this term in their year groups. This is because the year 3 and year 4 children will both focus on their times table knowledge, and the children learn the times tables in a particular order. The year 3 children will work in the Maple classroom with Mr Starkey, and the year 4 children will work with Mr Alfieri. 

In literacy, the children will focus on 2 books: Oh! Maya Gods - Maz Evans, and The Chocolate Tree - Linda Lowery and Richard Keep. These stories will remind us of learning we have already done this year all about the Mayan civilisation. We will also write our own folktale, using The Chocolate Tree for inspiration. The children will end the term by becoming journalists! The class will learn all about newspaper reports, eventually creating their own.

In RE, the class will learn all about what it means to be a Sikh in Britain today. We will learn about Sikh beliefs in God, and how and why they show their religious faith.

In PSHE, the children will learn all about health and safety. This will include learning about dangers in the home and when we are out and about, as well as understanding road safety and how to make the right decisions.

We also have a fantastic art project to complete this term! We will take inspiration from Rae Smith, who is a fantastic set design artist. We will explore set design techniques, before designing and creating our own ones.

In PE, the children will complete a gymnastics unit of work and a yoga unit of work. In gymnastics, the children will explore a range of different gymnastic techniques, including movements and balances. Eventually, the children will create their own gymnastics routines. In yoga, the children will learn the importanceof core strength and flexibility. 

The children will also complete some French learning this term with Madam Honorez, learning new French vocabulary and exploring different elements of French culture.

Our learning and Christian values this term are resilience and tolerance. Our British Value this term is tolerance.

Anything else...

• PE will be on Tuesday and Thursday, so please wear PE kit for these days. The sessions will be indoors.
• Please make sure children have their learning journals, reading books and reading records in school each day to support our learning. 
• The children will need a coat and wellies/other outdoor trainers to use the field at playtimes and lunchtimes, and we will also need water bottles to keep hydrated!

As always, if their are any questions, please contact me via ClassDojo or the school office. 

Thank you, 

Mr Starkey