Welcome to Moles class! Our teacher is Miss Wood, who is now entering her third year at Bedwell. She brings lots of new ideas with her, and is really keen to make our lessons as active and engaging as possible.

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

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 term we are learning about the USA. There are loads of resources online to help you find out more about the climate, people, landmarks and landscapes found across this enormous country - a good place to start is the BBC Bitesize website, where there’s a unit focussing on Florida which you can find here.
  
• Go on a rock hunt in the garden or around town. What different types can you find? Can you spot any of the rocks we’ve met in class (like chalk, slate, granite and marble)? Can you tell if they are igneous, sedimentary or metamorphic?
• 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:

• 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. 
 

 
• 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. 
 

 
• 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 have been learning about... 

Art - In art, we combined oil pastels and watercolours to create vibrant aquarium scenes. We used bold black lines to outline our designs and create striking geometric patterns, before adding watercolour to form our background. We had to think about perspective and how things appear bigger in the foreground and smaller as we got to the middle. We then worked on creating sunrises and sunset with oil pastels.

English - We have explored explanation texts this term, learning how to clearly describe how things work. To make our learning meaningful, we designed our own imaginative contraptions based on inventions we thought were needed in the real world. You can read two fantastic examples of our work below: 

The Money Printe, by Bonnie 

Are you fed up with running out of money? The money printer 8200 will print out money in one minute. The printer can print as much money as you want, even one thousand pounds! 

How to Use 

The Money Printer 8200 is easy to operate. First, you click a small orange button and you place a pitch black charger in a charger cable. Then you plug the other end of the charger into the back of the machine. Next, you press the amount of money you want on the screen. After that, the cogs in the machine start to whirr and you pull a lever down which activates the conveyer belt inside the printer. Next, you open a drawer at the bottom of the machine and put paper in it (if needed). Then, to shut the drawer you press a large, blue button on the side of the machine and it will slam shut. When this happens, make sure you mind your fingers! After that, the conveyer belt will pick a piece of paper up from the pile. Next, a stamp at the top of the machine pushes down on the paper and there is a picture on the paper. Finally, the paper comes out of a drawer on the side of the machine. You have your money! 

Safety information 

Make sure you mind your fingers when you open and shut the drawer. Remember to clean your machine every two weeks so it doesn’t break. Make sure that you read the instruction manual carefully. We are sure you will be happy with your purchase. 

Robot On Wheels 121, by Freddie 

Do you want to go ten times faster on the motorway? The Robot On Wheels is so much comfier and more enjoyable than a boring old car. This machine is so comfy that you can fall asleep for a relaxing journey! 

How to Use 

The Robot On Wheels is very comfortable to use! First, you get in the machine and turn it on by pressing the enormous red button. Also turn the handles on the steering wheel to get it started up. Secondly, get the controller and tell it where you want to go then pistons will start to move. After, it will take you wherever you have asked it to go, like Jamaica. Then pull the handle backwards and it will go fast, like 370mph to wherever you want to go. Also, the Robot On Wheels will dance if you want it to! 

Pistons, wheels, cogs and sofas! It’s so simple. The Robot On Wheels 121 will never let you down with its comfiness! 

This term's topics

English - We will start the term by completing our study of the stories Starbird by Sharon King-Chai and Zeraffa Giraffa by Dianne Hofmeyr. We will be investigating the way that settings and characters are described, and will contrast the endings of the two stories. We will finish this unit of work by writing alternative endings for Zeraffa Giraffa After that, we will shift to focus on newspaper reports. We will think about the way that they answer the ’Five Ws’ (who, what, when, where, why) and use direct speech to give information and show how people who witnessed the events felt. We will then write our own newspaper reports based on a mystery that we have read about or experienced ourselves.

Maths - We will start the term by exploring shapes, starting by developing our understanding of perimeter (the distance around the outside of a shape) and the way we can calculate it. After that, we will be revising the properties of 2d shapes and learning to identify different types of quadrilateral, including trapeziums, parallelograms and kites. Building on that, we will look at symmetry, identifying lines of symmetry in shapes and plotting symmetrical patterns. Later in the term, we will be returning to decimals, ordering, regrouping and rounding numbers with up to two decimal places. We will also investigate the link between decimals and fractions, writing and representing numbers in a range of ways.

Science - Our next topic will see us exploring the rocks and soils beneath our feet. We will begin by comparing and grouping different types of rock, carrying out simple tests and looking in particular at the difference between igneous, sedimentary and metamorphic rocks. We will then look at different types of soils, investigate how they are formed and design our own tests to find out how quickly they absorb water.

Humanities - We will be taking a virtual ‘road trip’ across the USA this term. It’s a huge, diverse country, so we will explore the different landscapes and habitats, from the Rocky mountains of the west to the deserts, plains and forests of middle America, to the bustling cities of the coasts. We will use photos, videos, maps and first-hand accounts to investigate weather, food, schools and homes, and begin to compare life in the UK with life in USA. We will then use all this information to make reasoned choices about where we would like to visit and where we would prefer to live. Throughout the topic we will also be developing our map skills, locating the USA (as well as the UK, the 7 continents and 5 oceans) on a variety of maps and globes.

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