Class 3

In Class 3, Year 5 and Year 6 are taught by Class Teacher Helen Russell, supported in the mornings by the Class TA, Emily Skinner.

Mornings begin with reading quizzes from our Accelerated Reader Scheme, reading with adults, Arithmetic Ninja and Vocabulary Ninja challenges and targeted grammar work. Mornings in Class 3 see children taking part in Maths and English lessons, as well as daily spelling sessions, taught following the Sounds-Write approach, where children use spelling rules and taught strategies to decode and encode polysyllabic words linked to the Year 5/6 statutory word list, as well as new vocabulary from Science and foundation subjects. We interrogate new vocabulary and break it down to understand the morphology and etymology of words.

A daily class story from our Reading Spine takes place in the school library, instilling a love of reading. The teaching of Reading in follow up sessions, is based on the class reader and includes language comprehension and vocabulary work. Informal book club sessions take place weekly to allow children to discuss authors they have enjoyed and make recommendations to their peers. Class 3 children have set up a reading Padlet to review books and ask each other questions about their books and authors. The class bookshelves invite children to choose from a range of text types, authors and genres to build their love of reading and encourage them to explore new books.

Maths lessons are taught as whole class sessions, where year group objectives are aligned to allow children to recap prior learning and make connections to new learning. Regular Maths On Track sessions allow children to practise new and past learning. NCETM “Mastering Number” sessions 4-5 times a week support children in building their fluency with multiplication and division facts and their application to mathematical concepts. 

In English, our writing units are based around high-quality texts from our Writing Spine, through which we teach fiction and non-fiction language features, underpinned by grammatical structures. Our writing units each run across 2-3 weeks and include opportunities for independent writing in different genres.

The children are set weekly homework which includes: Grammar work using Rollama, Times Table practise, reading and book reviews and spelling. Children are responsible for selecting their own focus spelling words each week in school, which are taken from the KS2 statutory word lists, after practising a selection which focus on a particular sound or spelling pattern, taught in spelling sessions that week.

Science and all foundation subjects are taught on 2 year rolling programmes as a whole class and a carefully structured curriculum ensures progression of skills and vocabulary across all of Key Stage 2.