Reading
Our Class Text and Comprehension
In term 3, our reading comprehension lessons will be based upon our class text, “King of the Cloud Forests” by Michael Morpurgo. Set in China at the beginning of World War 2, we will join Ashley and Uncle Sung as they are forced to flee their home and make a perilous journey across the Himalayas. Food is scarce and they are trapped by a terrible storm. Once the storm ends, Uncle Sung leaves to fetch help. When a strange visitor finds Ashley and takes him higher into the mountain, he wonders if he will ever see his family again.
To find out more about this text, view our King of the Cloud Forests Novel Knowledge Organiser.
In term 4, our reading comprehension will be based upon another book by Michael Morpurgo called, ‘This Morning I Met a Whale’. This is a fictional account of the day a whale swam up the Thames, in which the whale makes an environmental plea to the boy who first sees him.
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 diary, information leaflet and an explanation text.
Firstly we will be writing a diary entry based on our class text, King of the Cloud Forest. Writing a diary entry provides an ideal context for children to describe places and events using the first person. Children will be using expanded noun phrases to add descriptive detail
We will also be writing an information leaflet about Forest School. Writing an information leaflet provides an opportunity for children to gather facts about a chosen topic and organise the content in a logical order. They could use a range of fronted adverbials and conjunctions to vary sentence structure.
Furthermore, we will be writing an explanation of the model water cycle investigation. Explanation writing requires children to explain how or why something works, often using images or diagrams. Children will use fronted adverbials and conjunctions to vary sentence structure and show cause and effect. They will also include technical vocabulary and create a glossary to explain the definitions.
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 learn to edit deliberate punctuation errors; add punctuation to dictated sentences; practise punctuating parenthesis using pairs of commas, dashes or brackets; use a comma for all its purposes e.g. in punctuating direct speech, in lists, for parenthesis and to separate clauses for clarity; begin to use a single dash.
Grammar
This term we will learn to identify different types of determiners; identify preposition phrases in sentences, including prepositions of place and time.
We will also identify adverbials both within and at the front of sentences and discuss how these add cohesion to texts; we will be investigating the effect of moving the position of a fronted adverbial and identifying time connectives. In addition to this we will also identify verb forms, to include progressive perfect tenses.
Spellings
During our spelling lessons this term, we will learn how to spell words with endings spelt -sure and -ture; the g sound spelt gu; homophones; possessive apostrophe; words ending in -tion, -sion -ssion and -cian; the prefixes anti and inter and the suffix -ation.
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.
To view our weekly breakdown of our spellings, please view our Term 3 and Term 4 Homework Grid.