Unit 2 (Year 3 and Year 4)
Unit 2 is a time of transition from infants to lower juniors. The children have left Key Stage 1 (KS1) and are being introduced to the Key Stage 2 (KS2) curriculum. Although routines change and expectations and workload increase, we want our children to enjoy their learning experiences.
The curriculum covered in Unit 2 includes literacy, numeracy, science and ICT as the core subjects and history, geography, P.S.H.E and PE as the foundation subjects. Our curriculum is not taught from a text book but rather builds on the primary strategy and material collected from a wide range of experiences. Within this curriculum we aim to provide a broad and balanced education. The teaching and learning that takes place allows all children to access the curriculum. We aim to incorporate a wide range of activities and vary teaching methods to promote learning through enjoyment.
Literacy
We follow the National Curriculum for England and implement our English programme through the revised primary framework. The interactive whiteboard and the introduction of "Big Writing" have helped engage children with their learning. The children are concentrating on speaking, listening, reading and writing skills in a fun and interactive way.
In Year 3 and 4 units of learning focusing on narrative, non narrative and poetry are spread across the year:
| Narrative, plays and scripts | Non-fiction | Poetry | |
| Year 3 | Stories with familiar settings Myths and legends Adventures and mysteries Dialogue and plays |
Instructions Authors and letters Reports Information texts |
Shape poetry and calligrams Language play Poems to perform |
| Year 4 | Stories with Historical Settings Stories set in imaginary worlds Stories from other cultures Stories which raise issues and dilemmas Plays |
Recounts: Newspaper/ magazines |
Creating images Exploring form |
Each unit and genre encompasses elements of the following:
- Speaking and listening for a wide range of purposes in different contexts
- Listening and responding
- Group discussion and interaction
- Drama
- Reading and writing for a range of purposes on paper and screen
- Word recognition - decoding (reading) and encoding (spelling)
- Word structure and spelling
- Understanding and interpreting text
- Engaging with and responding to text
- Text structure and organisation
- Sentence structure and punctuation
- Presentation
- Mathematics
We follow the National Curriculum for England and implement our maths programme through the revised primary framework for mathematics. This programme places an increased emphasis on using and applying maths in a variety of problem solving contexts. We work on the same spiral teaching method as KS1, revisiting areas several times over the year and building in a range of tasks that require understanding and an application of the taught mental and written methods.
The curriculum consists of 7 strands, which are covered at different levels in each year group:
- Using and applying mathematics
- Counting and understanding number
- Knowing and using number facts
- Calculating
- Understanding shape
- Measuring
- Handling Data
These strands are organised into five blocks which are visited approximately once a term:
- Block A: Counting, partitioning and calculating
- Block B: Securing number facts and understanding shape
- Block C: Handling data and measures
- Block D: Calculating, measuring and understanding shape.
- Block E: Securing number facts, relationships and calculating
Other Subjects
Other subjects focus on a skills based curriculum and, where appropriate, cross curricular links are made. The subjects are approached from a thematic viewpoint. Our aim in these subjects is to provide opportunities for the children to become independent learners and enjoy the learning that takes place.
Learning a Language
At ICS children have the opportunity to study another language as part of our broad and balanced curriculum. Children in Year 3 and Year 4 can choose between Arabic or French. These languages are taught three times a week as part of our Primary curriculum. Children who join us with very little English are offered additional English classes at this time until they are confident enough to learn another language.
Year 3 and Year 4 follow a two year rolling program as outlined in the Unit 2 topic cycle.
Download the Primary handbook for Parents.
Download the Foundation stage handbook