Author: Sarah Bellicoso

Dear Parents,
Over the next term we will be following a unit of work on a theme that focuses on ‘Sparks’. During this unit we will be focusing on History, Science, Technology and Global.
Children will be reading, researching, writing, illustrating, working on their own and working in groups. We will be checking to see how well your child has learned through particular activities and asking children to explain their work, perhaps to you. In addition the children will complete a quiz on the key vocabulary and powerful knowledge . You can see in advance what we will be asking the children (quiz) and what they need to know ( knowledge organiser) ,they are attached in this booklet.
We already know the interest you take in your child’s work. If you can, please discuss with your child the work they have done as the term progresses and let them teach you. If your child has some work to research, please help them, but without actually doing the work. If you have the chance to further their interest in the ideas of this theme please take it, but your enthusiasm and interest is most important. By the end of the unit, we hope your child has achieved all of the learning targets. We hope they have had an enjoyable time in the classroom. And we hope you have enjoyed seeing your child work with enthusiasm. If you have any comments or questions about your child’s learning, please get in touch.

In Global, we’ll be finding out:
How we produce electricity in our country
Why saving electricity is good for the planet

In History we’ll be finding out
About the history of the electric light bulb

In Technology, we’ll be finding out:
How to make a house with lighting and a door buzzer

In Science we’ll be finding out
Which common appliances run on electricity
How to make an electrical circuit
Which materials allow electricity to pass through them
What happens when we change a circuit
How to build bigger circuits
About magnetism and electricity
About using electricity as heat
How to keep safe around electricity

Powerful Knowledge
The word ‘electricity’ derives from the Greek ‘electron’ meaning amber.
Amber is the sap of trees that lived millions of years ago. The ancient Greeks realised that if you rubbed / amber with a cloth, other materials such as feathers and woollen threads would stick to it. We now know / that this is because amber becomes charged with static electricity.
Electricity powers our modern lifestyle. In our home, work, travel and leisure time most of us are / dependent on electricity. It is hard to imagine our lives without it – we would, literally, be stumbling in / the dark. However, we only need to go back 200 years (before the invention of the light bulb) to find everyone / living without any electricity. They used other things instead, e.g. candles for lighting; wood for heating; / horses for transport.
There is one type of electricity that has always been with us: lightning. Long ago, lightning was thought / to be a punishment from the gods. People knew lightning was powerful but they didn’t understand where it came from or know how to use it.
We now know that lightning is formed when the movement of air currents causes storm clouds to / become charged with static electricity. The negative charge in the clouds builds up until eventually it / forms a massive spark – a flash of lightning – that passes through the air. Then we hear thunder – this is / a crackle of electricity.
A similar thing is happening when you take off a woolly jumper and hear a crackle – this is static / electricity too. In the dark, you might even be able to see tiny sparks.

Taddington and Priestcliffe
Y3/4 Knowledge organiser
Cycle 2 Autumn term 2

Overarching theme
Magic, mysteries and discoveries
Inquiry into rights and responsibilities in the struggle to share finite resources with other people and other living things; human-made systems and communities; and the environment, past present and future

Explanation of the theme
Electricity is an energy that flows along wires in our homes, schools, offices, towns and cities to power lights, televisions, computers, cars and trains, and hundreds of other things that we use every day. Let's find out what we can do with electricity.

Key Vocabulary
produce
depend
determine
evaluate
method
relationship
represent

Curriculum drivers

Enterprise	Possibilities
Inquiry	Community

Key Images
Our solar system

Taddington and Priestcliffe

Will these circuits work?
Explain why or why not in as much detail as you can. Use the correct vocabulary for the components of the circuit.

Give the meaning of the following electrical terms:
Component-
Conductor-
Current-
Energy-
Insulator-

Key sentence type
As– ly sentence
RULE: The first part of the sentence opens with an action description which starts with the word As… and ends with an adverb. The second part of the sentence is a description of a related, and often consequential, action.
EXAMPLES:
As the rain came down heavily, the children ran for shelter.
As the wind screamed wildly, the lost giant lumbered along the path.
As the water heats up quickly, a change of state happens called ‘evaporation’.

Overview
This is a two-week sequence using Cautionary Tales by Hilaire Belloc in which children begin by exploring a range of scenarios and their consequences, in order to make predictions about the contents of a number of tales. Children then go on to read a number of these tales, eventually innovating upon a known cautionary tale before planning in detail.
Main Outcomes
:Warning poster,
alternative endings,
performance poetry,
narrative poem

National Curriculum Coverage
Word Reading / Phonics revision from Y1/2: - alternative pronunciation of known graphemes, e.g. & call and bawl.
Reading Comprehension / Develop positive attitudes to reading and understanding of what they read by: - Listening to and discussing a wide range of poetry - Preparing poems to read aloud and to perform, showing understanding through intonation, tone, volume, action - Recognising some different forms of poetry [for example, free verse, narrative poetry] Understand what they read, in books they can read independently, by: - Checking that the text makes sense to them, discussing their understanding and explaining the meaning of words in context - Predicting what might happen from details stated and implied
Vocabulary, Grammar & Punctuation / Expressing time, place and cause using conjunctions and adverbs [if and then] - Relative clauses beginning with who, whose, which or that (Y5) - Use fronted adverbials for time, place and manner, e.g. later that day. - Choose nouns or pronouns appropriately for clarity and cohesion and to avoid repetition
Writing Transcription (Spelling and Handwriting) / Phonics revision from Y1/2: Revision of alternative spellings of known phonemes, e.g. liar and fire
Writing (Composition) / Plan their writing by: - Discussing writing similar to that which they are planning to write in order to understand and learn from its structure, vocabulary and grammar - Discussing and recording ideas Draft and write by: - In narratives, creating settings, characters and plot Evaluate and edit by: - Assessing the effectiveness of their own and others’ writing and suggesting improvements - Reading aloud their own writing, to a group or the whole class, using appropriate intonation and controlling the tone and volume so that the meaning is clear

Taddington and Priestcliffe
Knowledge organiser

Literacy
Cycle 2 Autumn term 2
Year 3 and Year 4

Key sentence type
-ing, -ed
RULE: The sentence must begin with a subordinate clause which begins with a verb ending in ‘ing’, followed by the location of the action. Focus on the use of prepositions in the first part of the sentence (subordinate clause) to explain where the action is happening.
EXAMPLES:
Walking in the bush, she stopped at the sight of a
crocodile facing her.
Running near the beach, he halted as the ground gave way.
Jumping quickly through the air, she landed on her feet before sprinting away

Overview
This is a two-week planning sequence using Until I Met Dudley by Roger McGough and Chris Riddell. Children write their own explanation texts for everyday objects, inventing their own imaginary responses to the question of how they work, before researching and describing them properly. They also write letters to a fictional ‘Dudley’ character asking for his help to get to the bottom of some more complicated items. .
Main Outcomes
Explanation texts
Letter writing

National Curriculum Coverage
Word Reading / Apply their growing knowledge of root words, prefixes and suffixes as listed in English Appendix 1, both to read aloud and to understand the meaning of new words they meet
Reading Comprehension / Reading books that are structured in different ways and reading for a range of purposes - Discussing words and phrases that capture the reader’s interest and imagination - Identifying main ideas drawn from more than one paragraph and summarising these Retrieve and record information from non-fiction
Vocabulary, Grammar & Punctuation / - Formation of nouns using a range of prefixes [for example super–, anti–, auto–] (Y3) - Word families based on common words, showing how words are related in form and meaning [for example, solve, solution, solver, dissolve, insoluble] (Y3) - Expressing time, place and cause using conjunctions [for example, when, before, after, while, so, because], adverbs [for example, then, next, soon, therefore], or prepositions [for example, before, after, during, in, because of] (Y3) - Headings and sub-headings to aid presentation (Y3) - The grammatical difference between plural and possessive –s - Noun phrases expanded by the addition of modifying adjectives, nouns and preposition phrases (e.g. the teacher expanded to: the strict maths teacher with curly hair) - Fronted adverbials [for example, Later that day, I heard the bad news.] - Use of paragraphs to organise ideas around a theme - Appropriate choice of pronoun or noun within and across sentences to aid cohesion and avoid repetition - Apostrophes to mark plural possession [for example, the girl’s name, the girls’ names] - Use of commas after fronted adverbials
Writing Transcription (Spelling and Handwriting) / -Use further prefixes and suffixes and understand how to add them (English Appendix 1) - Place the possessive apostrophe accurately in words with regular plurals [for example, girls’, boys’] and in words with irregular plurals [for example, children’s] - Use the first two or three letters of a word to check its spelling in a dictionary
Writing (Composition) / Discussing writing similar to that which they are planning to write in order to understand and learn from its structure, vocabulary and grammar - Discussing and recording ideas - Organising paragraphs around a theme - In non-narrative material, using simple organisational devices [for example, headings and sub-headings] - Assessing the effectiveness of their own and others’ writing and suggesting improvements - Proposing changes to grammar and vocabulary to improve consistency, including the accurate use of pronouns in sentences Proof-read for spelling and punctuation errors Read aloud their own writing, to a group or the whole class, using appropriate intonation and controlling the tone and volume so that the meaning is clear

Taddington and Priestcliffe
Knowledge organiser

Literacy
Cycle Autumn term 2
Year 3 and Year 4

Taddington and Priestcliffe
Knowledge organiser

Year 3 Maths
Autumn Term 2

Taddington and Priestcliffe
Knowledge organiser

Year 4 Maths Autumn Term 2
Au
Autumn Term 1

friendships

friendships

friendships

friendships

friendships

friendships

friendships