Welcome to Year 3!

Who's who

Ms Robbins - Class Teacher

Mrs DeLancey

Miss Pearson

Reading

Children should be reading regularly to an adult at home - at minimum of 3 times a week.  Year 3 home reading books can be changed every Tuesday and Friday. Reading Records are checked every Friday and the number of times your child had read is noted down. Reading certificates are awarded every 20th log in their record. 

Spellings

Year 3 children will take home one piece of homework every Friday which will have a spelling focus. These words will be tested in a written spelling test in school the following Friday.  We recommend that spellings are practiced every day.

Children will also take home a new reading book every Friday.  This book will correspond with their reading level in school.  Children are encouraged to read for 10 minutes every day.  Reading can be recorded in their reading logs.  

P.E and Swimming

P.E will take place every Tuesday. Children should come into school wearing their full P.E kit (navy/black joggers or shorts, house colour/white t-shirt and dark jogging top or blue school jumper).

Swimming will not take place this term. 

Autumn Term 2024

English

In our lessons, we will delve into an engaging exploration of various narrative styles and genres. We will begin with the picture fiction book Stone Age Boy by Satoshi Kitamura, which will serve as a vital context for understanding the Stone Age period. Following this, we will examine the non-fiction text Explore! Stone, Bronze & Iron Ages by Sonya Newland to enhance our factual understanding of these historical eras.

Later on in the term, we will explore traditional tales through The True Story of the Three Little Pigs by Jon Scieszka, enabling students to appreciate narrative perspective.

Our writing focuses will encompass several forms: narrating by rewriting stories in their own words, creating non-chronological reports about daily life during the Stone Age, and writing character descriptions, particularly of the Wolf.

We will also practice journalistic recounts of events, employing conjunctions, adverbs, and prepositions to express time, place, and cause, alongside an introduction to the use of paragraphs and headings for better organisation. Furthermore, students will learn to apply the present perfect tense and utilise inverted commas for direct speech.

Maths

Place Value

In the beginning three weeks, our focus will be on enhancing our understanding and application of numeracy skills, particularly with numbers up to 1,000. We will commence by learning how to represent numbers to 100 and subsequently partition these numbers, allowing us to break them down into more manageable components. Utilising a number line to 100 will aid in visualising numerical relationships and will be a foundational skill we build upon.

As we expand our focus to include numbers up to 1,000, we will explore the concepts of hundreds, tens, and ones, and apply this knowledge by representing and partitioning numbers in this larger range. Our lessons will incorporate flexible partitioning strategies, enabling students to approach problems with varied methodologies.

Additionally, we will learn how to find 1, 10, or 100 more or less than a given number using both practical and visual aids, including an extended number line to 1,000. Estimation skills will be honed as we practise placing numbers accurately on a number line. We will also compare and order numbers effectively, culminating our studies with counting in increments of 50. This comprehensive approach will solidify students' confidence and competence in numeracy as we progress through the term.

Following on from this, we will spend approximately 5 weeks on improving our addition and subtraction skills and knowledge. 

Science

For the first half term our learning focus will be on the classification of animals and the importance of nutrition, alongside the function of the human skeletal and muscular systems. Students will develop the ability to distinguish between herbivores, omnivores, and carnivores, enabling them to group animals accordingly. We will also explore animal classifications based on key characteristics, such as birds, mammals, fish, amphibians, and reptiles.

A significant aspect of our learning will involve understanding a healthy and balanced diet. Students will organise food into the five main groups and explain the benefits associated with each, with an emphasis on the roles of protein for growth and repair, and fats and carbohydrates for energy.

Furthermore, students will classify animals into vertebrates and invertebrates, highlighting the advantages and disadvantages of possessing a backbone. We will label the human skeleton, identifying key structures and joint types, such as ball-and-socket joints. In addition, students will learn how muscles function—attached to bones by tendons—and how they contribute to movement. Through practical activities, students will create models demonstrating how muscles contract and relax, deepening their understanding of locomotion in both humans and animals. This comprehensive exploration will enrich their scientific knowledge and critical thinking skills.

Topic 

Our topic for this term will be Early Britain. Children will be learning about the fascinating periods of prehistoric Britain, commencing with the Stone Age, which dates back nearly one million years. This era marks the first time humans settled in Britain, a significant milestone in our history. The term "Stone Age" originates from the predominant use of stone to create tools and weapons, which were essential for survival.

During this time, people resided in structures primarily constructed from straw, wood, and mud, as well as stone. To combat the cold, clothing was often fashioned from animal skins. The community's sustenance was derived from hunting, undertaken by men, while women gathered and cooked food. Noteworthy artefacts include hand axes, hammers, and sharpened sticks utilised for hunting.

A particular focus will be on Skara Brae, a remarkable Stone Age village that provides insight into the living conditions, tools, food, and hobbies of its inhabitants. As time progressed, Stone Age communities evolved to establish farms, leading to a shift from hunting and gathering to cultivating crops and rearing animals for sustenance, a practice that paved the way for the subsequent Bronze Age and Iron Age. The latter saw the introduction of metal for tools and weapons, evolving the societal structure into chiefdoms before coming to an end with the Romans' invasion of Britain.

Autumn 1 Highlights!