Year 3
Summer Term
As we enter the final term with the children, we are left reflecting on how quickly this school year has gone so far. The children have achieved so much since they entered Key Stage 2 in September and we are really proud of how much progress they have made.
Our topic this term is The Romans. As a largely history based topic, we will be looking at some of the most interesting aspects of this period in time, such as the Roman invasion of Britain, Roman inventions, Boudicca's rebellion and Gods and Goddesses. We are really excited to step back in history and look at life then in comparison with life now. Linking with this topic, we will also be visiting Conkers for a Roman-themed trip where we will be building our own colosseum and orienteerring amoungst other thing. Alongside this, we will be asking the children to undertake their own Roman Project as their homework over several weeks. This will see them doing their own research and creating a project of their own choosing which will then be shown to the rest of the school as part of our very own Roman Museum later in the term.
During the term, the children will consolidate their English skills. They will also learn how to use time adverbials, direct speech, complex sentences and other techniques to help strengthen their literacy. They will also continue Whole Class Reading sessions and their weekly spellings. Children will start off the term using The Secret of Black Rock for inspiration. Other genres covered will include myths, folklore and playscripts.
In Maths we will continue to focus on times tables and encouraging children to practise these using Times Tables Rockstars at home to build up their knowledge of multiplication and division facts while increasing their speed of recall. We will also be looking at fractions and measurement (from time, to length, to capacity etc.) While we will be studying these areas of maths, we will continue to do daily arithmetic practise and also looking at problems that encourage children to practise their reasoning and problem solving skills.
PE will se us continuing our swimming lessons. The children are absolutely amazing us with there enthusiasm and determination to become better swimmers. It is a real highlight of their week. We will also be doing athletics in PE, in the build up to sports day, and rounders too.
Science this term is all about plants. It is the perfect time of year for us to explore this as scientists undertakng several investigations in to what different arts of a plant do and what they need to grow. We are also really firtunate to have our own allotment area on site and will be growing our very own produce for the children to take home and eat.
SPRING TERM
After an eventful Autumn Term, that culminated in a fantastic Christmas Showcase, we are really excited for the Spring Term ahead. The children have settled brilliantly into life in Key Stage 2 and we are really proud of all their hard work. We know they will continue to impress us this term.
Our Topic this term is entitled Stone Age to Iron Age. Not only we will be covering this from a historical perspective, looking at changes through time, but using it in our English Lessons using a variety of rich texts such as The Wild Way Home. We will be building upon grammar skills we have been learning this year such as using inverted commas and adverbs while introducing subordinate clauses and opening sentences in a variety of ways.
In Maths, we will continue to work on our times tables which the children can now also practise online at home using Times Table Rock Stars. We will also be covering statistics, measurement and fractions.
In Science lessons, we will be doign rocks and soils. This links perfectly with our topic as we will look at fossils too.
In February we will also start going for weekly swimming lessons. We will let all parents and carers know more information about this as the time approaches. Prior to this, PE will be on Monday and Tuesday every week.
New arrivals
Today the children were very excited to meet the newest arrivals at Weddington Primary School. The school rabbit, Emily, had four beautiful babies a month ago. The children were extremely considerate and made very little noise, so not to frighten the babies or their mum. We had many whispered squeals of delight and I think most of the children would love to have taken one home tonight.
Macmillan Day
Today the children had a fantastic day raising money and supporting the incredible work of Macmillan Cancer Support. We watched Mrs Robertson 'brave the shave' before walking a Macmillan mile (waving our flags with pride) and finishing off the day by eating doughnuts. Fabulous!
Autumn term
Year 3
Hello and welcome to Year 3! Mrs Minchinton and Miss Young are thrilled at how well the children have made the transition from Key Stage 1 into Key Stage 2. It can be quite daunting suddenly being in a different part of the school with the 'big children' but they haven't batted an eyelid!
Topic
This term our topic is Ocean adventures. We are really excited to explore this topic across the curriculum including Geography, Art and English. We will be looking at a variety of texts including pirate themed poetry and a range of fiction and non fiction texts (one of which is Jonny Duddle's The Pirate Cruncher). We kick started the topic this year by creating treasure maps, discovering our own pirate names and drawing pirate ships in the style of the illustrator Rob Biddulph.
Homework
Each week, children will be given homework on Friday. This will include spellings and maths or english activities. Spellings will be stuck by the children into their planners while other homework will be in the homework folders they will bring home. We will also be introducing Times Tables Rockstars at a later date which will enable children to learn their timestables at home in a fun, interactive way. Homework is due in every Friday.
Reading
Reading packs will be sent home with children and will include a book of their choosing (within their assessed reading range) and their reading record. We cannot stress enough the importance of children reading at home. It plays such an important part of their journey through school and your support, in spending time with your child doing this, is invaluable.
PE
PE sessions are on a Monday and Tuesday. We are currently doing dance on Monday and handball on Tuesdays. Please ensure that your child has the appropriate PE kit (including warmer layers such as joggers and sweatshirts for outdoors during colder weather). Children will be asked to either remove stud earrings where possible or, if not, cover them with tape. Long hair should be tied back.
Swimming sessions will commence next year but we will contact parents ahead of this with all the information you will need.
Welcome to Year 3
Autumn Term
Our topic this term is ocean adventures, focusing this term on pirates.
In maths, we have been working hard on our place value knowledge. We have been using lots of different resources to help us represent numbers. These include using place value charts, counters and dienes.
In English, we have been following the day-to-day activities of Jake Carpenter, a young boy who has joined a sailing ship. We have enjoyed pretending to be Jake and have completed an extract from his diary, predicting what he will experience and have learnt about life aboard a ship. We have just reached an exciting part when his ship has been taken over by pirates.
For Science, we will be learning about forces and magnets and how we interact with them. We will also cover light in science. We will take part in many investigations including looking at different reflective materials and their properties to help keep us safe at night.
In Computing, we have covered what makes a safe password, how to keep passwords safe and the consequences of giving passwords away. Following the Purple Mash Scheme of Work, we will be coding to design and write a program that simulates a physical system. Finally, after watching our teachers guide us, we know how to use Google Classroom to complete our homework.
Google Classrooms
The first part of this video shows you how to log into your google classroom. Mrs Haw demonstrates with a Year 6 classroom so ensure you are using the class code given by your own teacher. You won't find the work on the video in every classroom as this was set for Year 6, so once you're logged in you can see what we have set for you in our class. Keep your eyes peeled for our welcome video too!
Daily Dos
Times Table practise - Hit the button
Daily Math lesson by White Rose
Mindfulness / Yoga / Keep fit / Creative
Cosmic Kids https://www.youtube.com/user/CosmicKidsYoga
Go Noodle https://www.youtube.com/user/GoNoodleGames
PE with Joe Wicks, Monday to Friday 9am start for 30 minutes click here.
RJ Academy of Singing and Dramatic Arts - Live singing lessons Monday - Thursday from 11am click here.
Home Learning - Maths
White Rose resources covering current math topic for Spring 2 fractions click here.
Please use the above document to support maths home learning.
It suggests a maths activity, along with a link to a Youtube information video, for each area of learning.
Home Learning - Spelling
There is a link to our weekly spellings at the bottom of our class page.
This document has lots of different fun ways to practise spellings. Lots of these we have already tried in classes, and lots are new! Please try to practise spellings, or the Year 3 'Common Exception Words' daily.