Elder Class 2024 - 2025

WELCOME TO ELDER

Class teacher - Mr M Thomas

Learning Support Assistant - Mrs Rowlands

Mrs Turner teaches on Tuesday mornings and Mrs Rowland and Miss Graves on Friday afternoons.

Mrs Harries teaches PE (dance) on Wednesday afternoons and Mr Parrish teaches PE on Thursday afternoons.

Follow us on Twitter @WhitegateElder

Elder class strives to live the values and vision that we have for our school life.  In the thankfulness and trustworthiness we demonstrate around school, we follow our faith that making wise choices and always striving to do the right thing by ourselves and others allows us to grow in confidence and maturity.  The wisdom that comes from endeavouring to make these wise choices enables us to make the most of the many opportunities we have to shine in Elder class.

Elder class are currently embarking on a fascinating exploration of our ancient past with the topic "Stone and Bones." As we journey through history from the Old Stone Age (the Paleolithic era) to the New Stone Age (the Neolithic era), we will delve into the lives of early humans and discover how they adapted to their environments and developed the foundations of modern civilization. Our Big Question for this term will be: 'Can we truly know what life was like in the Stone Age?'

In history, we will start by learning about what Britain was like after the last Ice Age, examining how the earliest settlers were hunter-gatherers who lived in caves and relied on their surroundings for survival. We’ll discuss how few people lived in Britain at this time and explore the idea that when we rely on artefacts as evidence, we only get a partial account of what life was really like. Contrary to the common misconception, we’ll learn that Stone Age people were far from primitive: they made and used sophisticated tools from flint and wood, practiced proper burials, held hunting ceremonies and led organized lives.

As we move into the New Stone Age (the Neolithic period), we’ll identify the major changes that came with the advent of farming, such as the taming of wild animals and the cultivation of crops like wheat. We will also study the fascinating archaeological site of Skara Brae, uncovering what it can teach us about life during this time. Linking to geography, we’ll discuss how immigrants brought new animals and crops to Britain, transforming settlement patterns and land use, and understand how these changes have shaped the United Kingdom’s geographical regions over time. In 

In science, our focus will begin with the study of animals and humans, exploring how animals and humans need the right types and amount of nutrition and how our skeletons and muscles provide us with support and protection. We'll then move on to a study of rocks, including an exciting investigation into erosion in the graveyard at St. Mary’s, our local church. 

Our English lessons will be inspired by two captivating texts: Cave Baby and Stone Age Boy. These stories will immerse us in the world of the Stone Age, providing a rich foundation for our own creative writing and storytelling as we imagine life in this distant past. These books will be read in addition to our class novel, the classic story Stig of the Dump.

In art, we’ll step into the shoes of our ancestors by creating our own cave paintings and gestural drawings using charcoal, exploring how early humans expressed themselves through art. This work will be complemented by our music lessons, where we’ll create compositions in response to animations about the Stone Age, using sound to bring this ancient world to life.

Computing will see us creating our own stop-motion animations, inspired by the art and music we’ve explored. These animations will depict scenes from the Stone Age, allowing us to combine our creative skills with technology.

Our DT (Design and Technology) project will have us cooking a Stone Age meal, using ingredients and methods that our ancestors might have used. At the end of the term, we’ll invite parents to join us in celebrating our learning. They’ll have the opportunity to taste our Stone Age-inspired dishes and marvel at the stop-motion animations and music compositions we’ve created.

Reading plays a fundamental part in all areas of the curriculum and is a gateway to imagation and adventure. Over the year, we will immerse ourselves in high quality texts which will help to drive our learning. In class, we have access to a wide range of fiction and non-fiction books which we are able to use not only within our Guided Reading sessions, but also when appropriate in our curriculum lessons to support our learning. We want our children to develop the love of reading and stories that their wonderful imaginations deserve so we do all tnat we can to encourage positive attitudes towards reading. If you are struggling to motivate your child with reading at home, please feel free to ask Mr Thomas for ideas or pop a note in their home/school contact book.  

Home reading expectations are detailed below, but should your child express an interest in a particular author, series or genre, please let us know and we would be delighted to order books from our library partners free of charge.  Visits to your local library are also encouraged!

PE will take place on Wednesday and Thursday afternoons. Please ensure your child comes to school in their PE kit on these days.

Homework, reading and spelling

We ask that your child reads at home at least four times a week for 10-15 minutes. For those who are still on the reading scheme, we ask that an adult supports them. In Year 3, children may start to record their own reading in their Home-School contact books; parents just need to sign off each entry. Please ensure that your child has also recorded a word or short phrase that they liked and want to use in their own writing or a word or short phrase that summarises their reading.

NumBots or TT Rockstars should be practiced at least three times per week for a minimum of five minutes per session. 

All Elder children will receive personalised spelling lists to practice at home. These are based on the statutory spelling lists, available at the bottom of this page. Please practise these three times per week.

There may also be additional work linked to English, maths or the term’s knowledge organiser, but please don’t spend longer than 15 minutes on those tasks.

If you have any questions or wish to share your child’s out-of-school achievements, please don’t hesitate to contact me through the Home-School book. We love celebrating our children' successes!

Elder’s Introduction Meeting for parents will take place on Tuesday 24th September at 6pm in Elder's classroom. A copy of the presentation willl be available for download via the links below after the meeting.