Year Three

Religious Education (R.E.) – We will start the term by learning about Pentecost and the impact that the Holy Spirit had over the Apostles after Jesus has left Earth following his resurrection. Then we will look at how and when the Church celebrates the Holy Spirit in Sacraments. Finally, we will explore the deeper understanding in our questioning and answering about the gifts of the Holy Spirit.

We will end our year in RE by looking more closely at prayer and why we pray, how we pray and what this gives us in our spiritual loves. The children will be able to show this in their work through written responses as well as opportunities to develop their spiritualism in art work.

Writing – We will start the term by learning about Pentecost and the impact that the Holy Spirit had over the Apostles after Jesus has left Earth following his resurrection. Then we will look at how and when the Church celebrates the Holy Spirit in Sacraments. Finally, we will explore the deeper understanding in our questioning and answering about the gifts of the Holy Spirit.

We will end our year in RE by looking more closely at prayer and why we pray, how we pray and what this gives us in our spiritual loves. The children will be able to show this in their work through written responses as well as opportunities to develop their spiritualism in art work.

Maths – We will continue our focus on fractions again at the start of this half term. Following this we will look at shape and their construction by drawing on isometric paper and understating more about rectangles and circles and their properties. Included in this topic the children will be exposed to new mathematical language e.g. parallel and perpendicular.

We will conclude our year in Maths by focussing on time and using the ‘old fashioned’ clock faces on analogue clocks, this will include minutes to and past the hour, as well as exposure to Roman Numerals.

Mental Maths - This half term we will looking at:

• commutative law in addition and subtraction
• commutative law in multiplication and division
• multiplication and division facts linked to the 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 8 and 10 times tables.

 Our focus continues to be knowing and calculating these facts with speed and accuracy to develop fluency. Please help your child to practise these at home.

Geography - This half term we will be taking a closer rivers both here in the UK and from places across the world. We will explore why they are important, how they are useful, what potential issues there could be with them e.g. flooding. Also, the children will learn the advantages of humans settling by rivers and also use maps and atlases to identify rivers.

Science – This half term we will be learning about rocks and their uses. We will look at properties of rock e.g. hardness, being permeable etc. and how they weather and erode over time. The children will also get to investigate fossils and how and why they are formed. Later we will look at geologists, the work they do and why they are important.

Physical Education (P.E.) - This half term the children will have PE on Mondays and Thursdays.

This half term the children will be participating in athletics in preparation for the school sports day and also kickball rounders. These activities will give opportunities to improve both skills working individually as well as being part of a team.

Computing – During this unit, we will explore the links between events and actions, whilst consolidating prior learning relating to sequencing. The children will begin by moving a sprite in four directions (up, down, left and right). They will then explore movement within the context of a maze, using design to choose an appropriately sized sprite. This unit also introduces programming extensions, through the use of pen blocks. Learners are given the opportunity to draw lines with sprites and change the size and colour of lines. The unit concludes with learners designing and coding their own maze tracing program.

Personal, Social and Health Education (PSHE) – This half term in PSHE, the children will focus on the Church’s idea of love, family and how this links to the love of the Holy Trinity and the Catholic Social Teachings of ‘The Common Good’.

We also look at the Catholic Social Teaching of ‘The Dignity of Work’ – exploring how we work for others and how others work for us. Key questions arising here will be discussed, including what is work? How does it differ from other activities? Can work also be fun? Is work enjoyable or something you have to do? The children will then come up with ideas of who helps them in school and how they can show appreciation for this.

D&T – In our D&T lessons this term, the children will be exploring shell structures and how and why they are useful. The children will then design and make their own shell structure with the aim to be able to hold a chocolatey surprise to take home at the end of the end of the day!

Music – A London College of Music Ensemble Examination will be taken. Children will also be invited to perform in concerts in and out of the school setting. KS2 children will be invited to perform as part of an area steel band.

Spring 2

Religious Education (R.E.) – At the start of this half term, we will be looking at and exploring more about the Jewish place of worship. In this we will learn the importance of this place and some of the traditions that take place whilst Jews are in attendance.

We will then take our time to explore the season of Lent, what it means to Christians, why it is an important season in the Liturgical year. During our learning we will also look closely at the important symbols and traditions of this most special of times in our faith journey.

Writing – As with our reading text, the focus book for our writing this half term will also be The Sheep-Pig. We will use this text to develop writing skills including writing in the correct tense (present), fronted adverbials, prefixes, suffixes, pronouns, conjunctions, adverbs, the use of descriptive language to create a character description of Farmer Hogget. In our Free Write, the children will use these skills to create a character description of Babe the pig, which will also include parts of his personality.

Maths – In what will be a busy half term in Maths, the children will look at the following mathematical topics; understanding and using right angles, understanding and using different strategies within additive relationships of numbers and finishing up the ½ term by introducing working with addition in the column method.

Mental Maths - This half term we will continue looking at:

• continuing counting backwards from a number.
• continue our understanding of multiplication and division facts linked to the 3, 4 and 8 times tables.
• fluently knowing number bonds to 10 and to 20

Our focus is on knowing and calculating these facts with speed and accuracy to develop fluency. Please help your child to practise these at home.

Geography

In Geography, we will be investigating different settlements, these lessons will include;

• settlement features
• villages, towns and cities in the UK
• location and growth of settlements
• change in our local area
• our local town
• designing a new settlement

Science – This half term we will be learning about magnets. This will include investigating both contact and non-contact forces, different magnets and their parts, magnetic and non-magnetic materials. We also learn and use scientific language linked to magnets e.g. attract, repel, poles. We will end the unit by investigating what can block a magnetic force. 

Physical Education (P.E.) This half term the children will have PE on Mondays and Tuesdays. Children will need kit both days to participate in lessons with Mr Davies’ replacement.

This half term the children will be participating in dance and dodgeball. These will help the children to develop skills in both individual disciplines as well as being part of a team.

Computing – The children will develop their understanding of stop frame animation this half term. This will include using iPads to take pictures and create sequences of these to show a short clip of the picture ‘moving’ as he children change the position of the picture in the frame.

D&T –

In our D&T lessons the children will be learning about levers; what they are, how they work and real life examples of levers in action!

After this learning, the children will be designing, creating and decorating their own moving levers – which will be taken home to show you how they work!

French – During this half term the children will learn to recognize and to use vocabulary relating to clothing. They will learn to apply their understanding of noun and adjective agreement in French. They will create their own outfit and describe in French.

Music – Classes will prepare a repertoire of pieces for the London College   Examination and assessment. Harmonies will be introduced to previously taught repertoire and children encouraged to challenge themselves to achieve the best possible performance.

SNOW DAY! Friday 9th January!

Good morning and Happy Snow Day!!

Some suggested learning ideas are listed below - please take advantage of the additional day with your child to learn, explore and have fun together!

* Build a snowman

- Ask how your child wants to build it.

Can you measure the size of your snowman?

Can you take a picture of your snowman with your child?

Challenge your child to write a descriptive story involving them and their snowman.

* Maths

- Get into TTRockstars and challenge themselves to work on 2, 3, 4, 5 and 10 times tables.

* Reading

- Choose a book and take advantage of the the snow day to sit down for additional reading time with your child.

* LBQ

- There are 3 tasks added on LBQ (the children know how to log in)

- Click on the 'independent study' icon and have a go at what you can!

Please feel free to support your child with any of the learning they engage with.

I look forward to seeing the children on Monday with any of the work they manage to compete .

Have a wonderful day spending time with your child, bit inside and especially in the snow! 

Take care and God bless.

Mr Black :)

Spring 1

Religious Education (R.E.) – At the start of this half term, we will be looking at the season of Christmas in the Church calendar and the key people involved during the Nativity story. We will give particular focus to the shepherds and their experiences of Jesus’ birth as well as the impact that had upon them. Finally, we will consider the importance of the crib which helps us to remember Jesus’ continued presence in our world.

We continue our faith journey when we begin learning about the Mass and the Liturgy of the Word. Within these lessons, the children will explore more Bible stories and the relevance these continue to have upon us today. We end this unit of work by exploring the importance of attending Mass, the reasons to attend Mass and what we can achieve by listening to the Word of God.

Writing – The focus book for our writing this half term will be The Egyptian Cinderella where we will be looking at using the information from the text about Greece and Egypt to create a setting description about Egypt in our learning and develop our skills to create our hot write to use the correct tense, expanded noun phrases to describe, co-ordinating conjunctions (and, but, or, so), subordinating conjunctions (when, if, because), emotional language; use of feelings, sensory description.

In our second text of the half term, we will use the classic tale of The Iron Man by Ted Hughes to retell the story from Iron Man’s perspective using correct writing structure, adverbs, prepositions, inverted commas, expanded noun phrase, prefixes, descriptive language. For our hot write, we will use our knowledge to create a retell from the point of view of the man character Hogarth.

Maths – This half term the children will look at the following mathematical topics; mass and capacity, right angles, developing strategies in adding and subtraction number.

Mental Maths - This half term we will continue looking at:

• continuing counting backwards from a number.
• continue our understanding of multiplication and division facts linked to the 3, 4 and 8 times tables.
• fluently knowing number bonds to 10 and to 20

Our focus is on knowing and calculating these facts with speed and accuracy to develop fluency. Please help your child to practise these at home.

History -

In History, we will be completing our topic from Autumn 1 on Pre-Historic Britain. This will include looking in more detail at Stone Age settlements and developing a greater understanding of the era as these people developed.

• The first use of bronze.
• How bronze changed life in Britain.
• The beginning of the Iron Age.
• Changing agriculture in Britain during the Iron Age.
• Changing settlements and trade in Iron Age Britain.
• Comparing and contrasting Bronze Age and Iron Age Britain.

Science – This half term we will be learning about the human body, focussing on the skeleton – its job to protect and support us. We will explore the make-up of the human skeleton and different bones within it. We will also look at muscles and how they work to allow us to move and support our bodies to do what we need it to do.

Physical Education (P.E.) This half term the children will have PE on Mondays and Tuesdays. Children will need kit both days to participate in lessons with Mr Davies.

This half term the children will be participating in dance and dodgeball. These will help the children to develop skills in both individual disciplines as well as being part of a team.

Computing – The children will develop their understanding and use branching databases. In this unit, children will look at how databases can be constructed and use this learning to identifying hat branching databases can be used for.

Art - In our Art lessons the children will be exploring shape and colour. We will be cutting directly onto paper to explore shapes in our art, use stencils and add to our work creating a collage.

French – During this half term the children will learn to recognize and to use vocabulary relating to clothing. They will learn to apply their understanding of noun and adjective agreement in French. They will create their own outfit and describe in French.

Music – This half term in Music, the children will be looking at the history of music, relative to the pieces played in the class. Rock and Roll from the 1950s; shake, rattle and roll etc. We will look at iconic rock n roll artist Elvis Presley as well as explore music in America in the 1950s.

Welcome to Year 3! 

The Year 3 members of staff are Mr Black and Mrs Rasool. We will also be joined by Mr Davies, Miss Edwards, Miss Scoines, and Mrs Cornes who will help us with our learning as well.

Children are required to be at school between 8.40 and 8.55am each morning. 

Our PE days are: 

Monday and Tuesdays (Swimming).

Please ensure children have their PE kit with them on these days-  a red round-neck PE t-shirt, navy blue shorts and black pumps and appropriate swim wear and a towel for swimming lessons.

Outdoor PE kit with warm jogging bottoms and a jumper can be worn when/if the weather starts to get colder. 

Please ensure children have sensible and plain black or white trainers for outdoor PE.

Reading Books

The children need to bring their reading books into school every day. The more they read - the more quizzes they can complete. Please continue to read with your children at home for at 15-20 mins.

Key Instant Recall Facts (KIRFS) and Multiplication Tables

To help with their fluency and understanding of number, please practise KIRFs daily.

Useful websites...

Home - Times Tables Rock Stars

Polypad – The Mathematical Playground

Primary resources, homework help and online games - BBC Bitesize

National Poetry Day

Friday 3rd October

Our poem is Puddles by Edward van de Vendel

We will be learning this poem and using it as our inspiration on Friday 3rd October for our learning. If the children can get familiar with it before Friday, this will support in the activities on the day.

A copy will be stapled into planners too!