This is a topic introduction day (‘wow’ day/‘launch’ day) for a Y3 or 4 pupils who are about to start a topic on rivers and the water cycle. The morning involves lots of new learning - including an introduction to the key content of the topic. There are two practical experiments (obviously you will need to source the items for these beforehand) - one a simple evaporation/condensation demonstration and the other is the well-known ‘shaving foam cloud’ experiment! The afternoon is more art/music based, featuring a look at the inspiration French impressionists took from rivers/water and the inspiration many classical composers took from this topic. Finally, if you have a copy of Wind in the Willows to hand, this is an ideal topic-themed way to round the day off. Alternatively, show them the 1983 screen adaptation (available on various online platforms).

This resource works best when enlarged to A3 and/or printed on card rather than paper. You then cut along the lines (or ask your TA very nicely!) to create a reasoning puzzle for your pupils. This puzzle can be done in mixed ability pairs or set as an extension. A great way to assess your pupils’ grasp of fraction-related content near the end of a unit, I’ve found tarsia puzzles to be great for engagement - and for those who complete it, perhaps they can create their own!

A lesson for Y3/4 all about rhythm in poetry and the syllables in words. The context is water-themed poems constructed with rhyming couplets. The activities are differentiated three ways with an extension challenge. Challenge 1 requires pupils to count the syllables in each line of a poem and then choose the best line to finish it off. Challenge 2 requires pupils to write their own additional lines, as does Challenge 3 but a syllabic limit is imposed for them to work within.

A complete lesson on reading retrieval for Y3/4 with instructions on how to get to a fairytale city as the text. The powerpoint pre-teaches tricky vocab and outlines the strategy pupils should use. There is then an example question before the pupils answer the questions themselves. The questions are differentiated 3 ways but all are retrieval questions as this is the target skill.

A complete lesson for Y3/4 in which pupils complete an assessed written piece to either begin or end a unit on nature-inspired poetry. In this lesson, pupils complete a poem with a summer theme. The resources comprise: a basic wordbank, planning template and a step-by-step powerpoint.