Reading
Our Class Text and Comprehension
In terms 1 and 2, our reading comprehension lessons will be based upon our class text, “The Saga of Erik the Viking” by Terry Jones. A Viking warrior and leader called Erik goes on a voyage to find the land where the sun goes at night. Journeying on their ship, Golden Dragon, Erik and his crew
encounter many challenges, from mythical creatures and extreme weather to Death himself.
To find out more about this text, view our The Saga of Erik the Viking Novel Knowledge Organiser.
For further information about the reading skills we will focus upon this term, please view “Shakespeare’s Sequential Reading Curriculum”
Independent Reading
In class, we will continue to use the Accelerated Reader program. For further information about this, please view a Parent’s Guide to Accelerated Reader. (https://help.renlearn.co.uk/AR/ARParentGuide) If you need your child’s AR password, please contact me (Mrs Bromfield).
Writing
Over the course of the term, we will be writing a poem, playscript and a Norse myth.
Firstly, we will be writing a poem in the style of Anglo-Saxon poetry. Writing an Anglo-Saxon poem makes children use precise words to suit a particular style. The children will incorporate imaginative descriptions, alliteration, kennings, noun phrases and powerful verbs. They will also edit and improve their work.
We will also be writing playscripts. Writing playscripts encourages children to convey characterisation and plot through speech alone. They will present their work in the layout of a playscript, selecting vocabulary to suit different characters. Children will be challenged to specify the delivery of the speech and to vary sentence structures.
Furthermore, we will be writing a Norse myth. Writing Norse myths can help children understand the purpose behind many of the famous myths we know today. The children will use adjectives to create well-developed characters and settings. They will create a plot that inspires heroic deeds in the face of danger. They will include pronouns, conjunctions and dialogue written as direct speech. They will also start sentences with fronted adverbials.
For further information about the writing skills, we will focus upon this term, please view “Shakespeare’s Sequential Writing Curriculum”
Grammar, Punctuation and Spelling
Punctuation
This term we will revise use of inverted commas (and commas) to indicate direct speech; use commas in a list; use apostrophes for singular and regular plural nouns and irregular plural nouns.
Grammar
This term we will learn to identify common and proper nouns; revise vowels and consonants; determiners; identify and compose a range of sentence types, punctuating appropriately; revise the present perfect / past tense; collect nouns made from verbs using the suffixes; identify direct and indirect speech; use collective nouns; pronouns; expanded noun phrases; identify and use main clauses and subordinate clauses and revise past tense verbs.
Spellings
During our spelling lessons this term, we will learn how to spell common exception words; adding –ed, –ing, –er and –est ; prefixes; words ending in –able and –ible; words containing the letter-string ough; words with ‘silent’ letters; homophones; adding –s, -es and –ies to words and words ending with –gue and –que
words with the /s/ sound spelt c before e, i and y; the /r/ sound spelt wr at the beginning of words; the /l/ or /əl/ sound spelt –le at the end of words; the /l/ or /əl/ sound spelt –el at the end of words; the /l/ or /əl/ sound spelt –al at the end of words; words ending in –il; adding –ed, –ing, –er and –est; the /i/ sound spelt y other than at the end of words; words with endings sounding like –sure and –ture; words ending with –gue and -que; homophones ; vowel digraphs and trigraphs; adding suffixes; the /ow/ sound spelt ou; prefixes; words with the /sh/ sound spelt ch; words with the /eɪ/ sound spelt ei, ei or ey
To view our weekly breakdown of our spellings, please view our Term 1 and Term 2 Homework Grid.
In addition to these weekly spelling rules, we will continue to learn and spell words from the Year 3 and 4 statutory spelling list. For an overview of these spellings, please view the Spelling word list for Year 3 and Year 4.