Dear Parents, Carers and Children,
Welcome to Year 3 and Key Stage 2! We have had a wonderful week with the children as they settle into their new classes. The children have already impressed us with their kindness, positivity and resilience! These half termly newsletters will provide you with useful information about the weeks ahead and will also share and celebrate with you our learning from the previous half term.
On our first newsletter of the year you will find a topic overview that outlines what we will be learning this half-term and information about daily routines in Year 3.
We are also looking forward to meeting many of you at our class coffee mornings.
Squirrel Class— Friday 12th September at 9am
Deer Class— Monday 15th September at 9am
If you are not able to attend, a copy of the information shared will be sent home with the children.
Classroom Organisation
Deer Class: Deer Class are taught by Ms Henderson and supported by Mrs Francisco everyday. Mr Richardson will teach the children PE twice a week this term. For Deer Class this will be on Monday and Thursday.
Squirrel Class: Squirrel Class are taught by Mrs McMeekan on Monday, Wednesday, Thursday and Friday and Mrs Walker and Mr Richardson on Tuesday. They are supported by Mrs Liu and Mrs Kaliyamoorthy. Mr Richardson will teach PE on Monday and Thursday.
Morning routine: Mrs Francisco will open the East Stairs door that the children enter school through each morning. We will meet the children upstairs as we start our learning as soon as the children enter the classroom.
End of day routine: Class teachers will dismiss the children at the East Stairs door and we are available should anyone need to speak to us.
Learning
Times Tables
The children will be continuing to work on their times tables this year. They are encouraged and supported to develop a rapid recall of the times table number facts, as this helps them use their knowledge in Maths to solve calculations and problems. They will be assessed on a particular multiplication table each week. The children will build up gradually to be able to answer the questions within about 10 seconds to encourage this speed. To help the children, they will be given details to log on to ’Times Tables Rockstars’. Logins for TT Rockstars will be stuck in the front of planners and it would be great if you could encourage the children to practise at home.
Spelling
Spelling is an integral part of writing, so your help would be appreciated in encouraging your child to regularly learn the set spellings, to enable them to use them in their writing. The children will be set 5 spellings each week given to them on a Friday using a specific spelling pattern. They will be assessed on these words and an additional 5 words that follow the same pattern the following Friday. You will also receive a copy of the on-going key word list for Year 3 and Year 4 children. It would be wonderful if the children could learn these words alongside their weekly spellings so that they will have a solid grasp of how to spell them by end of Year 4.
Reading
The children read individually on a regular basis and it is also important that they read on a daily basis at home. Reading books, which have been chosen by the children, will be sent home every night, to be returned the following day, whether the book is finished or not. Planners will be checked regularly, with children being encouraged to record the pages they have read in their own reading planner and asking an adult to sign this as well.
Homework
Homework will be set on a Friday. The children will bring this home in their homework folder and should return it to school by the following Tuesday. The homework will be a range of activities from different curriculum areas throughout the year. The activities will be set to support learning in class.
Curriculum Overview
English
Traditional Tales— Fables - ‘The Ant and the Grasshopper'
During this topic, we will be reading and discussing a selection of fables, including ‘The Ant and the Grasshopper’, and working on writing tasks linked to the text including speech punctuation, character and setting descriptions and narrative writing.
Non-chronological Reports
As we write our non-chronological reports, we will further develop our learning from KS1. We will focus on reading and writing reports on a familiar subject, linked to another area of the curriculum. We will identify the language choices made by the author and how the way in which the writing is organised helps the reader to navigate the text.
Maths
Place Value
Children will learn to:
- Represent, partition and use a number line for numbers to 1,000
- Find 1,10 or 100 more or less than
- Estimate, compare and order numbers to 1000
- Round numbers to the nearest 10, 100 and 1000
Addition and Subtraction
Children will learn to:
- Add and subtract 1s, 10s and 100s
- Add up to two 3-digit numbers with and without exchanges
- Subtract two 4-digit numbers with and without exchanges
- Estimate and check answers and strategies
Science - Skeletons and Muscles
In Science this half term, we will be looking at the human skeleton and how bones and muscles work together to help us move. We will classify animal skeletons and set up a fair test to draw conclusions from. We will also explore the advantages and disadvantages of different types of skeleton, as well as naming the main parts of the human skeleton and give simple explanations of how muscles work.
Geography - Mapping Our World
In this unit, we will revise our prior learning about continents and oceans from Year 2, and then focus on the lines of a map—the equator, the Tropics of Cancer and Capricorn , latitude and longitude. We will also learn about the impact the location of a country has on the weather which is typically found there.
PE - Hockey and Gymnastics
In P.E. this half term, we will be working outdoors and developing our teamwork and resilience in the context of hockey. As our hockey lessons take place outdoors, please ensure that children have appropriate outdoor clothing, including waterproof coats, available. We will also be continuing to develop gymnastics skills, following on from sessions in Key Stage 1.
Computing - Digital Literacy and E-Safety
In Computing this half term, we will be working on keeping safe when online, discussing online relationships, how I.T. can affect our health, well-being and lifestyle and also how to keep personal information safe online.
Music - Developing Notational Skills
In Music this half term, we be exploring how music can bring people together and share ideas as well as develop skills such as kindness, responsibility, charity and diplomacy.
PSHE - Being Me in My World
In PHSE this half term, we will be thinking about how we can make other people feel welcome in our school community while also thinking about how to work well with others.
RE - Expressions of Identity
In RE, we will be learning about how we express our identity and how our identity is formed by membership of groups and our qualities.
Spanish - Me presento
In Spanish , we will be learning facts about the Spanish language and about Spain. We will also learn how to introduce ourselves.
Art - Formal Elements
In Art this half term, we will be identifying shapes in everyday objects and using this knowledge to help us draw drinks cans. We will also be following instructions to manipulate wire into shapes as well as developing our use of the four types of shading.
Credits:
Created with images by vichie81 - "autumn Background" • tab62 - "Back to school concept including books and stationery supplies with green chalkboard in background" • Atlas - "Multicolored books,Many books textured background, top view." • amazing studio - "Math Number colorful on white background, education study mathematics learning teach concept." • Fotograf - "human skeleton isolated on white background" • paisan191 - "blue watercolor world map isolated on white background"