Welcome to Badger class! Our teacher is Mr Jones, who has joined our school this September, after 10 years working at other schools in Stevenage. He really enjoys sport and English, and is keen to make sure that our lessons are fun, inclusive and inspirational!    

• Our curriculum map - find out about our current topics
• Our latest school newsletter
• Meet our school councilors, Lacey and Daniel

Home learning ideas:

• As always, tables facts will be really important to us this term, so it would be brilliant if you could work on learning these at home. Focus on one table at a time and try:
  • Making-up rhymes to help remember number facts (“4 x 6 is 24, bears growl and lions roar!”) 
  • Looking for numbers in that table in the world around you - on doors, car number plates, in phone numbers or when you’re out shopping. 
  • Writing-out tables with finger paints, chalk or water-on-tarmac, or make them from playdoh. 
  • Chanting, singing, whispering... Say tables out loud together whenever you have the chance. 
• Each week we are set spellings to learn. Click here for guidance on strategies you can use to support your child in learning these at home.  
• Later in the term we will be exploring newspaper reports, so reading and sharing examples at home would be really helpful. Does the report tell you who, what, when and where and why? Why do you think the editor chose to run this story first? What differences can you spot between newspapers?
  
• In geography this half-term we’re learning about the water cycle - there are resources to support this topic on the BBC Bitesize site at www.bbc.co.uk/bitesize/articles/z3wpp39. Learning where the world’s water can be found is a really important part of this topic, so break out a map and track down the Pacific, Atlantic, Indian, Arctic and Southern Oceans - and for bonus points see how many famous rivers you can find, too.
• We’re learning about plants this half-term, so see how many different types of plant you can spot while you’re out and about. What’s the same (and what’s different) about the flowers, trees, crops and grasses you can see?
• There’s some great advice on talking to children about online safety on the NSPCC website at www.nspcc.org.uk/keeping-children-safe/ We also use lots of resources from the UK Safer Internet Centre: saferinternet.org.uk/ 

Our latest news:

• In history, we have learnt about the Romans and how they shaped Britain. To accompany our history learning, we have looked at a vast range of Roman mosaics, studied how they have been created and then designed and created our own mosaics. We explored the story of Boudicca and what challenges she faced. We spent three lessons studying, designing and creating our own Roman shields, which you can see below. 
 

 
• At the beginning of December, we went to our school trip to Hazard Alley. Through hands-on scenarios - like crossing roads, spotting fire risks, and learning about stranger danger - we discovered how to stay safe in everyday situations. The immersive environment gave us the chance to practise real-life skills in a fun and memorable way, boosting awareness and confidence. It was a day filled with teamwork, laughter, and valuable lessons that will stay with us long after the visit. 
 

 
• Our Year 3/4 Boccia team took part in the Stevenage tournament which took place earlier this term. The event, organised by Stevenage Sporting Futures, saw 9 schools from across town competing in the sport, which is similar to bowls. Our team put in a great performance and won a special ‘Passion’ award for the spirt that they showed throughout the competition. 
 

  
• We were delighted to be joined by so many of our parents and carers for our Stay and Read event in October. We talked about the reasons why reading regularly at home is so important, explored some of the things we can do to make it an enjoyable experience and shared lots of our favourite books. A big thank you to everyone who made time to join us in class. 

We have been learning about... 

Science - In science, we have studied the topics Light and Shadow and Busy Bodies. In the first topic, we learnt how a shadow is formed, what the words opaque, translucent and transparent mean and how shadows act when you move the light source. In Busy Bodies, we learnt about healthy eating, what a human skeleton is and its function and how it compares to an animal skeleton.

English - This term, our class has been working hard to develop and refine our writing skills. Most recently, we have focused on explanation texts. As part of this unit, we designed imaginative inventions aimed at making everyday life easier. Some of us chose to write about a snack machine, while others came up with clever ideas like a homework-completing device! We are incredibly proud of the creativity and effort that everyone showed - take a look at some fantastic examples of our finished work below:

The Mark-a-tron 7000, by Aung-Thuta

Are you fed up with endless piles of marking? Do you want an automatic marking machine? Then meet the Mark-a-tron deluxe. This is the latest model. Enter any question then press the tick button and it will tick the work, just like yours! Isn’t that unbelievable? 

How to use 

The Mark-a-tron 7000 deluxe is easy to operate. To turn the device on, you press the green button then it will send a message. Within a few seconds, the machine will tell you that it is ready for a question. The piston and the transformer move causing a humming sounds. The AI technology will scan the learning. Then, it will take a few seconds to generate a response. After a few seconds, you will have to pick one and press the tick button to confirm your choice. If it is a maths question, enter the question using the calculator on top of the machine. 

Things to note 

Once a week, replace the batteries and put red ink into the red pen. This is very important. Don’t play, break or throw the device because the filters, fans and the machine itself will break. Pen, calculator, filters and fans! It’s so simple. The Mark-a-tron will never make your hand tired again! 

The Charge-a-tron, by Sai

Are you sick of waiting for your device to charge? Then get the Charge-a-tron 5000, it takes 30 minutes to charge your device. Make sure to charge the robot for 15 minutes to ensure you receive the full charge. Did you know that a table pops out and you can play while it charges? You can also eat sweets while it charges! 

How to use 

First, you have to charge the Charge-a-tron then turn the glowing, button on. After, a small table, will pop out from the middle of the robot so you can put your device on it. Next, turn your device on and start playing. Finally, a sweet dispenser will pop out and you can eat sweets while it rapidly charges in thirty minutes. To turn it off, press the glowing, purple button twice, to turn it on, press the glowing, purple button once. You could use your voice to turn the machine on and off, just talk to the screen. Lastly, you can program it with the instruction booklet. Points to note This is important, do not put your device in when the robot isn’t charged otherwise it will explode! Please don’t be rude or angry towards the device or else it will not charge anything for a week! 

Safety information 

You will need to replace the batteries, you can get them from www.robobatteries.com or it will malfunction! Also, you will need to give it a rest for thirty minutes. Please put on sleep mode if it is not in use.   

This term's topics

English - Our next unit is based around a fantastic story called Leon and the Place Between, by Angela McAllister. In this adventure, Leon wants to prove that magic exists and volunteers to take part in a famous magician’s show. He vanishes and is transported to the incredible Place Between… We will use the text to develop our use of dialogue, making sure we punctuate speech correctly, as well as exploring the structure of stories with more complex plots. We will then use all these skills to write our own magical stories. After that, we will be focussing on poetry. We will look in particular at haikus, a form of poem from Japan that has just 17 syllables, split across three lines.

Maths - Our focus this half-term will be on multiplication, division and fractions. We will begin by revising doubling and halving, developing the range of strategies we use so that we can quickly find doubles and halves of any 2-digit (and eventually 3-digit) number. Alongside this we will continue to develop our knowledge of multiplication facts, focussing in particular on the 3x and 4x tables. After that, we will move on to explore fractions. We will begin by finding fractions practically, chopping and sharing out items into halves, thirds, quarters and fifths. We will then us this understanding (alongside our knowledge of tables facts) to help us to find fractions of numbers, quantities and amounts.

Science - We will be investigating the way that plants grow over the next few weeks. We will begin by identifying and describing the function of different parts of flowering plants (including roots, leaves and flowers), and will then explore the different things that plants need in order to grow well. Finally, we will learn about the life cycle of plants, discovering how they make and disperse seeds.

Humanities - Water is all around us and vital to every type of life, and in this topic we will be learning about the way that the Water Cycle means that it is constantly being reused and recycled. We will locate the world’s major oceans, seas and rivers on a variety of maps, and discuss the difference between fresh water and sea water (and why it matters). We will also investigate the impact of water on environments, both shaping landscapes and effecting the growth of many towns and cities.

Take a look at our curriculum map for more information on our topics.