Year 3

This term we will be working on the following topics:

English      

Our focus texts will A Voice in the Storm, Stone Age Boy, Ocean meets Sky and The Kapok Tree. While exploring these texts we will learn to extend our sentences using a wide variety of conjunctions. We will create narratives using a range of tenses. We will create characters, settings and plots using descriptive devices efficiently, such as expanded noun phases and fronted adverbials.

When assessing the effectiveness of our writing, we will suggest improvements for spellings, punctuation as well as correct use of grammar. We will also propose changes to our vocabulary to make our writing more interesting and engaging.

Children will have regular Guided Reading and Reading For Pleasure sessions. When reading, we will be discussing new vocabulary, using stem sentences to explain our understanding of a text and justifying our answers, opinions and arguments. Further to this, we will discuss our understanding by predicting what might happen next from details stated and implied. We will also draw inferences and justify them using accurate evidence from the text.

 

Maths        

We will be teaching maths using the NCETM materials and guidance. We will be covering adding and subtracting across 10, numbers to 1000, right angles, securing mental calculations and column addition in the autumn term. The children will be presented with various contexts, representations and manipulatives to support their mathematical learning. We will apply this knowledge to solving word problems, using bar modelling and part-part whole models as a key representation.

We will also be working on practising and learning our 2, 5, 10, 3, 4 and 8 times tables.

 

Science       

We will be studying the science topic Rocks and Soils this term. We will be grouping and comparing rocks according to appearance and texture, learning how rocks are formed, discussing what rocks are used for and how weathering can change rocks over time and planning, carrying out, recording and making conclusions from an investigation into durability. In the second half-term, we will be studying Plants and learning about how plants are formed and labelling the reproductive parts of a plant.

 

History        

In History, we will look at the Stone Age. We will learn about what life was like in Palaeolithic Britain, what was similar and what was different about the Mesolithic period and the Palaeolithic period and find out how and why Neolithic people built huge monuments. We will also be learning about the changes from the Stone Age to the Bronze Age and the Iron Age.

 

Art & Design            

In our Art lessons we will be reflecting upon the purpose of cave art paintings and introducing a sense of proportion when drawing an animal, scaling up drawings in charcoal, to create tones and textures and experimenting with naturally materials to make paint and exploring the colours and effects that can be created.

 

Music       

In Music this term, Year 3 will be working on notation and duration, continuing with recorders. There will be a focus on ensemble playing and music reading. They will be singing and working towards the Harvest Festival and Christmas performances.

Recorders are needed every Wednesday or can be left in school for these sessions.

 

Computing

This term we will be learning about networks and computer systems. We will be explaining that digital devices accept inputs, explaining that digital devices produce outputs and following a process.

 

Design Technology (DT)            

In our DT topic this term we will be discussing that fruits and vegetables grow in different countries based on their climates, understanding that ‘seasonal’ fruits and vegetables are those that grow in a given season and taste best then, learn that eating seasonal fruit and vegetables has a positive effect on the environment, designing our own tart recipe using seasonal ingredients, understand the basic rules of food hygiene and safety and follow the instructions within a recipe.

 

Physical Education (PE)      

Year 3 will be having two PE lessons a week taught by a professional coach where they will learn a variety of skills, to play as a team and will learn how to be competitive in a healthy manner. Additionally, children will also learn game strategies.

               

French       

We will be learning key vocabulary and phrases through the following topics: Bonjour and En Classe.        

 

Religious Education (RE)             

In our lessons we will be learning about Hinduism. This unit will give children an overview of Hinduism, focusing on its origins, core beliefs, festivals, special places. Children will explore the different holy books, identify key Hindu symbols and understand their meanings. We will also be learning about Nature and God where the class will learn about how nature can be important across religions and encourage them to make links between religions.

 

Personal, Social & Health Education (PSHE) and Relationships & Sex Education (RSE)

Our topics this term are: Families and Friendships, Safe Relationships and Respecting Ourselves and Others.

We will discuss what makes a family and features of family life, personal boundaries, safely responding to others and the impact of hurtful behaviour, recognising respectful behaviour, the importance of self-respect, courtesy and being polite.

 

Reminders:

• Your child should read to an adult for 15 minutes three times a week and independently every day. It is also important that an adult reads to your child regularly. Please talk to your child about the book and check their understanding by asking questions about events and the characters’ actions. Please also explain new or unfamiliar vocabulary. Their book bag should come into school every day.
• Your child will have PE on Monday and Wednesday. They are to come to school in a PE kit consisting of a plain white t-shirt, navy blue shorts, black trainers, a black or navy-blue tracksuit may be worn during colder weather.
• Your child needs to bring in a water bottle every day.
• We are a Healthy School. Please do not put sweets or chocolate bars in your child’s packed lunch. Please do not send in sweets or other treats when it is your child’s birthday. If you want to celebrate your child’s birthday with their classmates, you could buy the class a book, send in a healthy snack such as boxes of raisins or buy stationery such as a pencil, but due to the impact on the environment, we ask you not to send in plastic toys.
• If your child is absent from school, please contact the school office: 020 8850 5486 and leave a message detailing why your child is absent. If your child has had an upset stomach, they can return to school once they feel better. Please try to book medical appointments outside of the school day and note that family holidays will not be authorised.

If you have any questions or wish to raise a concern, please contact the class teacher in the first instance. Please use the email addresses above.

Please see the school calendar and weekly newsletters for information about events for Year 3.