Topic Overview
Extreme Earth
Key Question?
Where would be the safest place to live in our powerful world?
This term, our whole school will embark on an exciting geography adventure entitled “Our Wonderful World.” Building on the foundations laid in our first topic, “NE3 and Our City,” children will take the skills and knowledge they developed when exploring local geography and apply them to places further afield. From the rugged beauty of the UK and its coastal regions in Key Stage 1 to the diverse landscapes, extreme weather patterns and tourism trends of continents across the globe in Key Stage 2, pupils will broaden their horizons and deepen their understanding of the world around them. Through our key concepts—location and place, change, and cause and effect—children will investigate how environments differ, why they change, and how human and physical processes shape the planet. This topic will spark curiosity, encourage critical thinking, and inspire a sense of global responsibility as pupils discover the wonders of our world and their place within it.
Geography
Using a range of mapping technologies, we will investigate where volcanoes and earthquakes happen and the reasons for this. We will be finding out about the different types of volcanoes and the locality of these. We will enjoy some practical geography to show our understanding of how volcanoes and earthquakes are formed. We will be focusing on tectonic plates and how the continents have changed over time and the effects of this. We will then look at how countries have developed to ensure that they can be as safe as possible from natural disasters!
Key Vocabulary:
- volcano
- earthquake
- tsunami
- tectonic plate
- disaster
English
Year 3 will spend the first few weeks looking at stories that have a link to our topic work. The Wizard of Oz starts with a tornado and children will recreate the drama of this scene in their writing before later completing their own version of the full story. Our next book will be Escape from Pompeii which features the eruption of Mount Vesuvius. The children will use their writing skills to show how the characters would have felt and acted in such a dangerous situation.
Guided Reading and Comprehension sessions will take place weekly; children will complete a series of activities and tasks to support the acquisition and development of reading skills. Regular SPAG sessions will involve looking at more complex spelling patterns and their application.
Key Vocabulary:
- prefix / suffix
- speech marks
- homophones
- regular and irregular plurals
Maths
In Numeracy, we will be focusing on multiplication and division. We will start by looking at strategies to help us learn our 4- and 8-times table. We will then move on to the formal method of multiplication which will include using practical apparatus and visuals. After that, we will then focus on division and the formal method. This will incorporate the number line method and we will discover what a remainder is.
As always, children will continue to practise their times tables through a number of morning tasks and flashbacks! Keep a look out for those TT Rockstars battles!
Key Vocabulary:
- multiplication
- division
- remainder
- inverse
- share
- equal to
Science
Children will use a variety of magnets to predict whether magnets will attract or repel each other depending on which poles are facing each other. They will also learn to identify materials that are attracted to magnets. We will also learn about forces and what makes things goes faster and slower. Children will become familiar with the term friction and be able to plan their own scientific experiments to test this.
Key Vocabulary
- force
- attract
- repel
- friction
- north pole
- south pole
Computing
The children will use the computers to develop a weather report in groups. They will select, and prepare reports by cropping, resizing editing and importing still and moving images into a multimedia presentation. This will eventually lead up to a recording of a weather report on camera using green screen to show images of the weather.
Art and Design Technology
Each half term the children will have a week dedicated to art and/or DT.
Art: We will begin our art unit by asking "What is the purpose of art?" Building on our skills from last half term where we colour mixed to make tints, tones and shades; we will match colours to those found in the natural environment. Using a range of natural resources including flour and spices, we will create our own cave art.
Design Technology: The focus for this half term will be structures and product packaging. Children will analyse existing product packaging by looking at its shape, branding and function. They will then follow a simple design criteria to design packaging for a healthy snack. They will use 2D CAD software (sketchpad) to design the nets for packaging. Finally, they will strengthen their packaging and make appropriate modifications before appraising and evaluating.
PE
In PE this half term, children will develop their invasion skills through the game of basketball. They explore the importance of attacking and defending key areas of a court. They will then develop their target skills by playing their own team games. Pupils will also build up their fitness levels through a range of games and activities.
PSHE and Religious Education
PSHE
This half term we will be focusing on what a community is, investigating rules and laws in the wider society. Children will begin to understand what human rights and responsibilities mean. Children will also continue to investigate how to use the internet safely and look at the reliability and information which can be accessed online. We will also complete work linked to our No Outsiders text, We’re All Wonders.
Religious Education
The children will be learning about Sikhism. We will learn about the teachings of Guru Nanak and his leadership qualities. We will discover the culture of Sikhs by learning about their beliefs, place of worship and the 5 K’s
Our Values
Please Instagram us @archibald_1st if you see your child being #AFSCurious #AFSCaring #AFSCreative or #AFSCourageous
If you would like any further details about this half term's curriculum, please speak to your child's teacher.