Year 3 & 4 - Miss Cottle 2025 - 2026

Autumn Term

Reading

This term, our class novel in the Iron Man by Ted Hughes. The Iron Man is a huge metal figure who appears out of nowhere and frightens the people because he eats their machines. A boy named Hogarth befriends him and helps everyone see that he isn’t dangerous if he’s given scrap metal to eat. Later, a giant space creature comes to threaten the Earth. The Iron Man bravely challenges it, wins, and makes it promise to live peacefully. In the end, the Iron Man becomes a hero and protector of the world. Themes within the story: friendship, fear of the unknown, bravery, peace, and coexistence between humans, nature, and technology.

We will also be using the non-fiction text You Wouldn't Want to be a Victorian Miner by John Malam where we will focus on retrieval. We will also be using an alternative fiction text Hansel and Gretel by Anthony Browne within reading lesson where we will focus on inference. Our poem for Autumn term is Firework Night by Enid Blyton where we will focus on language.  

Writing

The first half term, we are writing to entertain. We are starting with a character description of the iron man focusing on using expanded noun phrases and adverbs. Our second piece of writing is a diary entry – writing in role as Hogarth on the night he first met the iron man. The skills we will be using in this sequence are: Emotive language – using 3_ed sentence starters; questions – multiple questions for effect to build tension and conjunctions to keep flow and link ideas together. Our final piece for writing to entertain is a conversation. Children will write a conversation between Hogarth and the Iron Man for the first time. Hogarth approaches the Iron Man in a quiet field after the villagers have trapped him in the pit. This is the first moment they communicate directly. The Iron Man is damaged and quiet, and Hogarth is nervous but brave. Skills children will be using: Inverted commas for direct speech; other speech punctuation including new speaker new line, commas inside speech, full stop end of speech sentence and varied words for said to show effect.

Maths

This term in maths, we will be covering place value, addition and subtraction, multiplication and division. We complete 4 Maths No Problem lesson a week along with an arithmetic lesson where we practice basic skills on the four operations. We practice times tables for 10 minutes at the start of every lesson. This half term, we are practicing quick recall on the 2s, 5s and 10s and learning the 3s, 4s and 8s.

Science

This term in Science, the children will be learning about Electricity and States of Matter. In their Physics work on electricity, they will find out about everyday appliances that use electricity and learn how to build simple circuits. They will explore the different components of a circuit, such as bulbs, wires, switches and buzzers, and will practise drawing circuit diagrams. The children will test whether a lamp will light within a circuit, investigate how switches work, and discover the difference between conductors and insulators. In Chemistry, the children will be exploring States of Matter. They will learn to group materials as solids, liquids or gases and investigate how some materials can change from one state to another. They will measure the temperatures at which these changes happen and develop their understanding of the water cycle, including the important roles of evaporation and condensation.

History

The children will be learning about the history of coal mining in the North East and how it shaped the lives of people and communities. They will begin by finding out what coal mining was, why it became so important in this region, and what the work of a miner involved. The children will then explore what daily life was like in and around the mines, including the tough working conditions, the risks miners faced, and the strong sense of community that developed. They will also learn about life for children and families in mining villages, looking at school, home life and daily routines in the past. Finally, the children will investigate how mining influenced the landscape, culture and identity of the North East, including our own local area of Peterlee. To enrich their learning, we are also taking a trip to Woodhorn Museum, where the children will be able to see real artefacts, hear stories, and experience what life was like for mining families.

Geography

The children are learning about the geography of the North-East of England. They will explore the region’s counties — Northumberland, Tyne and Wear, County Durham, and parts of North Yorkshire — and learn about key features such as hills, rivers, coastlines, towns, and cities. Through maps, atlases, and digital tools, the children will practise mapping skills, identify physical and human features, and compare different landscapes. They will also complete activities like colouring maps, creating fact sheets, and using compass points and map symbols to deepen their understanding of the region.