English
For our first text of the year, we are going to look at How the Dinosaur Got to the Museum. This links to our theme beautifully, and draws the fossils aspect of our Science topic of Rocks into our English work for the first couple of weeks. We will discussing the different people that are involved in bringing the dinosaur from Utah to the Smithsonian Museum in Washington DC, using atlases and the Smithsonian's website to bring this journey to life. Our overall aim is to examine all of the verbs and adjectives that are used throughout the book and then write our own version of the dinosaur's journey, using our preferred verbs and adjectives to describe the different roles of the people involved in the the diplodocus' voyage from river bed to national exhibit. Read here!
Stig of the Dump is a classic text that we will spending most of the Autumn term reading, comprehending and writing pieces that have been inspired by Clive King's remarkable story. We will begin by describing the dump and discussing improvements that Stig could make to his den. We will be working on our writing in the first and third person, as well as developing our use of verbs and adjectives that we have already revised in How the Dinosaur Got to the Museum. We will investigate adverbs and conjunctions and use these in diary entries, letter writing and newspaper articles that are inspired by the events in the book.
In addition to the texts mentioned above, we will also explore the following at various points during the year - during our daily class read - just before lunchtime each day.
Helping at home:
Providing regular opportunities for your child to practise spellings will help support your child’s English work in school. I have attached the year three and four spelling list for you to support your child with, however recapping year two spellings may also prove useful.
Reading regularly with your child will also help your child’s spoken vocabulary, having a varied reading diet - including fiction, non-fiction, poetry, plays and instructional texts, hearing your child read, and asking your child book-based questions will help develop their love of reading and reading comprehension skills.