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Anyone teach year 3/4?

Last post 17/01/12 at 23:29 by pottfan, 12 replies
Post started by chocoholic1 on 25/06/08 at 09:47

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  • chocoholic1 avatar
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    Posted by: chocoholic1 25/06/2008 at 09:47
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    Am getting a little stressed about next year. I'm being moved from reception to year 3/4 and I have no idea what to expect. I'm currently on maternity, so it's difficult to speak to the current teachers.

    So my first questions are:
    What behaviour management strategies do you use?
    How strict are you in the beginning?
    What topics do you cover?
    What sort of things do you cover in Maths / Literacy?

    What do you expect from them?

    Please bear in mind I have hardly ever set foot in a Junior classroom, so assume I am a complete dunce. I don't even know how much writing to expect from them. I'm used to it being a major achievement to complete a sentence.
  • CherlyPL avatar
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    Posted by: CherlyPL 03/07/2008 at 21:51
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    Hi, I teach year 3/4 so can give you some ideas (hopefully). I had a really difficult class so they key is consistency for everything!!

    Behaviour management:

    Smiley face/sad face
    Merit points to get smiley faces to get rewards
    Counting to 5 getting quieter as you get to 1 to get chn to pay attention
    Golden time (they start off with 25 mins then lose it/regain it dependent on behaviour)
    Table points
    All these things have rewards that chn aim towards.
    Taking away playtime for time they waste for you.

    Be strict from beginning then ease up or they will
    (epecially year 4) take over the class. Then ease up

    Your school should give you the topics you should be covering. Id contact them to ask. Use QCA documents (available online) and various websites to help with planning and activities. Or see if the school have resources for the topics. If its mixed classes they should have a 2 year rolling programme.

    I plan to cover objectives for year 3 and 4 in literacy and maths. My groups are based on ability, not year, as I have very poor year 4's and high ability year 3's, but you need to show you are covering objectives from both years. My top group are mainly year 3's but they usually cover year 4 objectives.. as they can! My poor year 4's are still covering some year 2 objectives!!

    Always give them you expecations of behaviour and standard of work. Make them do it again if its not good enough, or if they havent done enough...in their playtime!

    Give them time targets to do their work, or they will chat forever!

    With regards to work expectancy, have a look through their current literacy/maths books and go from there. If they are writing stories unaided that are interesting and can use speech marks and various punctuation then build from that. Some of mine still need step by step to putting sentences together!!

    At the beginning of the term do some writing activities etc to see where they are. The school should have schemes of work for literacy and maths anyway?

    I hope some of this helps....

    If you send me ur email address I'll send you some plans etc I have used.

    Im moving to reception next year (have never taught it..so any help/plans/ideas etc would be greatly appreciated?!!)

    xxx
  • chocoholic1 avatar
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    Posted by: chocoholic1 04/07/2008 at 09:40
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    Thank you so much for your reply. It really helps. I managed to get into school to talk to my line manager, and she went through the planning etc. But it's really reassuring to hear what someone else does.

    My email is fryerkaren@hotmail.com

    I will also try to email you some reception planning. My hints are to download stuff from sparklebox especially some number cards. Make sure you have loads of stickers and give them out constantly on the first day - make sure every child goes home with at least one.

    Your expectations at the beginning are: they come and sit down when you ask, they tell you if they are going to the loo, and they keep their hands and feet to themselves.

    Things to be worked on - lining up in a straight line and staying in a line (this takes a lot of practice at first, and putting they're hands up to talk.
  • redredred avatar
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    Posted by: redredred 05/07/2008 at 20:18
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    I teach mixed 3/4 and next year will be my third year with them, I went to look at some of the books that they yr 2s coming up into yr3 are currently working in and nearly cried, you forget how far they come in a year, I would say carrot not stick but be firm and fair, i am keeping some of my yr 3s who will be yr4 I think they will be more trouble than the yr2s hehe
  • Sarahpop avatar
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    Posted by: Sarahpop 10/08/2008 at 20:05
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    Hello CherlyPL

    I too am getting Y3/4 in Sept for the first time (first time juniors too) and would really appreciate the plans you have shared as am bit confused at the mo! Thanks a bunch!

    sazzy95@hotmail.com
  • mich21761 avatar
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    Posted by: mich21761 01/09/2008 at 15:15
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    Hi

    I hope you don't mind but is my first time teaching y3/4 and i am also an NQT, so the thought is challenging yet daunting. I would also appreciate any help with plans, ideas etc.

    mich21761@yahoo.co.uk

     

    Thanks in anticipation
  • lauraburnett avatar
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    Posted by: lauraburnett 02/09/2008 at 20:33
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    Hi,

     I just read this message and I thought it was so helpful and I have taken note of some of the helpful hints as I am about to start my NQT year with mixed 3/4 class. My year 4s are also of lower abiltiy, whereas my year 3s are high too!

     I am easing both the children and myself into the new term. I would like to do some reading, writing and maths assessment to see where they are. Do you have any suggestions for what resources I could use for this and what I could use to help me decide on the levels.

    If I too could have your email that would be fab!

    Thanks again

  • Claireybelle avatar
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    Posted by: Claireybelle 16/09/2008 at 16:24
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    I've just started teaching a yr 3/4 class. It seems a lot of us have very mixed ability. I can cope with teaching to different year group objectives but I do wonder about the content of teaching. In maths for example, I am meant to be teaching negative numbers to the year 4's and I know that yr 3 don't cover negative numbers. Does it matter if I do teach them?
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    Posted by: Phoebe Beeberbe 20/09/2008 at 22:38
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    I taught negative numbers anyway and linked it to number line work. Many of the Y3 got it, many Y4 didn't. I have come from FS so am still getting to grips with differentiation for my Y3/4 lot - who range from P8 to 4c and everything in between.

     grouping them is a nightmare. 2 weeks in and I am still experimenting - which is a shame as we have Ofsted on Monday...

     Dreading it as am worried about challenge, support for less able, differentiation etc etc. On top of the usual stresses. last time we were inspected I was quite a new teacher but at least knew my year group as it was May. This time I feel a lot less confident - but will be expected to be better as I have been teaching longer. GAH!

  • MissBoff avatar
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    Posted by: MissBoff 29/09/2008 at 19:13
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    Hi

    I am in year 3/4 and did my NQT year in 3/4 last year.  Like previous posts - I group by ability rather than age - which is great for your HA yr 3s who need a challenge and the LA 4s who are better working with the younger ones.  We follow a 2yr rolling curriculum but do stream the kids for maths.  Ros Wilson's criterion scale is a straightforward way to obtain writing levels from a piece of writing (can download off internet).  Shouldnt you be given levels from previous class teacher anyway - which will at least give you a starting point for differentiation and groups.  I use lots of paired talk and peer support in my class as have lots of SEN as well, The older, more able kids love being given extra responsibilities such as reading and flashcard tasks with less able.  I award housepoints and we have a class pasta jar but sanction with lost golden time and playtimes etc.  Don;t expect a great deal from your 3s to begin with, lots of mine need to be motivated and supported every step of the way and are very chatty but as previous posts indicate, you have to be firm and can ease up later on.  Hamilton Trust offfer good mixed age maths plans (well, they used to anyway) and you can use the Abacus assessments if your school have the books. Good luck
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