Welcome to Year 3!

Year 3 is an exciting year, packed with lots of fun ways to learn and develop.

In year 3 we create a learning environment where the children feel safe, secure and comfortable to push themselves out of their comfort zone, expanding their knowledge further. We adapt our teaching methods to suit all learning styles, encouraging independent and enthusiastic learners.

A typical day

Morning challenge

Our typical day starts with an independent morning challenge that the children complete as they arrive into school.

Collective worship

We hold collective worship which is time for the whole school to reflect and prepare for the day ahead. 

English

We have a thematic approach to our English curriculum where the children are introduced to a text each term. Specific skills are taught during the various texts. 

Break and snack time.

Maths 

We follow the White Rose Maths scheme closely. It is a scheme designed to support the development of reasoning and problem solving alongside fluency to ensure challenge and ambition for all pupils.

Lunch time.

Reading

We are focusing greatly on our comprehension skills when reading. We do this through posing questions that enhance understanding and develop our knowledge of the text. This is carefully tailored to the children’s needs and is heavily supported by the year 3 team.

Wider curriculum. 

We have a cross-curricular approach to our wider curriculum that incorporates art, science, geography, history, religious education, music, drama, modern foreign language (MFL) and social, moral, spiritual and cultural learning (SMSC). This is a very fun way to learn!

The teaching team

Class teacher – Miss Emily Isaacs

Assistant teacher  – Miss Leah Wilson 

Music – Rob Benson 

P.E – Shona Valentine

As readers… we will be looking at a range of fiction and non-fiction texts of different genres. The children will be predicting what might happen next whilst developing their understanding of the text by summarising the key events. We will also be developing our understanding of characters by analysing the author’s writing, allowing us to infer the characters thoughts, feelings/emotions and motives. 

As writers… We will be reading The Iron Man by Ted Hughes. Which will inspire us to write a narrative relating to an unknown threat, whilst improving writing techniques along the way. During our second unit, we will be writing letters that relate closely to the text. 

As mathematicians… we will be learning about the following areas of Maths:

• Numbers and the number system
• Place Value
• Addition
• Subtraction
• Multiplication 
• Division

We will also be learning our times tables. Please support your child with this at home as the children will be taking a national standardised test in year four focusing on multiplication tables. 

Reading at Home

Reading is key to success! Your child will be sent home with a reading log and book. It would be ideal if your child could read to you between four or five times a week. However, I understand that life can be busy! We are focussing this term on improving our understanding of the text. 

Religious Education

Throughout the term, we will be investigating how stories of Jesus encouraged his disciples to live the good news, for this we will use the story of Jesus calming the waves. We will discuss how Christians use symbols to explain what God is like. Just before Christmas, we will look at Matthew and Luke’s different accounts of the Christmas story.

As computer technicians… we will be perfecting our ability to log on and use a number of programmes used regularly within school. This will include familiarising ourselves with Google Classroom. 

As artists…  we will be learning how to create our own painting equipment and paints out of natural materials. This will complement some Stone Age cave paintings allowing us to work using similar methods to Stone Age people.

As geographers… we will be locating places with Stone Age significance around the UK. We will use geographical vocabulary to describe and label their location on a map. 

As historians…. we will be looking into the Stone, Bronze and Iron ages. We will be developing our understanding of artefacts and their impact on the way we view history today. We will also work on our understanding of chronology by adding time periods and key events to our very large class timeline! 

As musicians… In Year 3 music, pupils will create an Iron Man composition in small groups. The children will recreate sounds that a giant mechanical robot might make, using scrap metal or junk. Pupils will be encouraged to use repeated patterns and to record their composition using a graphic score.

As linguists… we will be extending our French vocabulary, learning how to respond and give classroom commands, use basic conversational phrases to tell people where we live.

Physical Education

Miss Valentine will be teaching P.E sessions on a Wednesday and Friday. Due to the sessions being in the afternoon, please bring your child to school in their school uniform.

As  scientists… we will be traveling back in time to learn about rock formation and fossils. We hope to conduct a number of investigations using our scientific skills of observation, grouping and classifying, fair testing and a little research.

House Keeping

Children should have a named water bottle in school, please fill with water only. Please ensure all items of clothes are clearly labelled with your child’s name. As KS2 children do not qualify for free fruit at playtime, your child may bring a healthy (as possible) snack into school to eat during morning playtime. We ask that pencil cases remain in school where possible to ensure the children only use their own equipment. 

Homework 

A homework grid will be sent out on google classroom containing a variety of homework tasks. Your child must pick one Maths and one English task to complete each week. The completed homework tasks can be uploaded onto the google classroom, or alternatively brought into school. I will be sending a copy of the year 3 spelling list home with your child. It contains all the spellings for the rest of the year. There will be a spelling test every Friday.