Autumn Newsletter – Year 3
Autumn Newsletter – Year 3 Hedgehog Class
Welcome back to school. I hope you have all enjoyed a wonderful summer holiday and that the children are ready for a busy term ahead. This newsletter outlines the curriculum areas to be covered this term as well as ways you can support your child to get the most from their time in Year 3.
English
This is an exciting time in your children’s development in literacy; they are beginning to be able to express themselves more fully, both verbally and in writing, and they are now able to access a far wider range of reading material. Listening to your child read continues to be very important, as does discussing their understanding of the texts they are reading. Daily classroom time will be given to reading, as well as handwriting and spelling activities and writing skills will be developed within the context of recount writing ;linked to our history topic – The Victorians, traditional tales, producing information texts and creating images using words in our poetry unit.
Maths
This term, we will be building on the children’s existing mental maths skills, with an emphasis on times tables (x2, x3, x4, x5, x10) and adding and subtracting 2-digit numbers with increasing speed and accuracy. Knowledge of number bonds up to 20 (ie 7 + 5 = 12, 9 + 7 = 16 etc) will continue to be important and any support with consolidating this at home would be very much appreciated. The children will be working on doubling and halving numbers to 100+ and learning to tell the time to the nearest 5 minutes. We will also be working on units of measurement (length and mass) and reading scales with increasing accuracy. The children’s learning will be re-enforced with practical work both within the classroom and at home through homework activities.
History and Geography
Our history topic this term is the Victorians and we will be investigating how the Victorians lived and their impact on life in Britain today. We will be studying – Queen Victoria’s life and major events during her reign, researching the lives of poor and rich children. Discussing how they were the same or different and comparing them to children’s own experiences now, we will be learning about the story of Barnardo’s and finally the children will research Victorian customs at Christmas. We will also be finding out about settlements in geography and exploring why certain locations have been chosen for major towns and cities.
Science
To begin the term, we will be looking at how animals including humans, need the right types and amount of nutrition, and they get nutrition from what they eat. Also we will identify that humans and some animals have skeletons and muscles for support, protection and movement. In the second half term, we will be studying light and shadows.
French
The children will begin to learn French formally this year, starting with revision of basic greetings and learning of numbers and moving to learning animal names. French will be taught by Mrs Rudkin on Wednesday mornings.
Computing
We will be using the school laptops to teach the children to combine text and graphics and will be consolidating their word processing and keyboard skills. We will be learning to animate graphics using Scratch and e-safety will be an ongoing theme when using the internet.
Art and DT
The focus of our art this term is Victorian art and artists including William Morris. We will be researching examples of Victorian art and use a variety of techniques to produce our own versions. To begin the year, we will also be sketching fruits and vegetables grown on our allotments for the harvest festival. In DT, we will be developing our sewing skills to produce a small piece of embroidery similar to ones produced in the past by Victorian children.
RE and PSHE
In RE, we will be visiting our local church and studying ideas and beliefs about God. Our PSHE learning is linked to our science topic on Keeping Healthy in the first term and in the second half term we will be discussing citizenship and values, discussing how we can make a positive contribution and considering our feelings and relationships with others.
Music
Year 3 will be developing their musicality with Mrs Ford on Thursday morning. They will be learning to play the recorder and each child should bring their own recorder to school on a Thursday, if possible. As part of Wider Opportunities the children will be learning to play brass instruments with Mr Clay on a Monday,
PE
Year 3 has swimming this term and will this take place on a Monday morning. The pool requires children with long hair to wear a hat as well as their own swimming costume/trunks. Whilst additional adults accompany the children to the pool, we would appreciate it if you could work with your own children to improve their speed and independence getting changed. The children will need their PE kits in school for PE on a Thursday afternoon with Mr Snelling. This term they will be working on cross country running followed by gym and invasion games as the weather turns colder. Each child will need trainers suitable for use on the field as well as the playground and warm outer layers to be worn over their PE shorts and T-shirts.
Homework
In addition to hearing your child read whenever possible, the children will be set spellings to learn each week on Friday , ready for a test on the following Friday; please assist them with look, cover, write, check activities to consolidate their learning.
The children will normally have one piece of homework to complete each week to allow time for reading. Maths. English or Topic homework will be set on alternate Fridays for return the following Wednesday. Occasionally additional homework may be set to support classroom learning, although this will be the exception rather than the rule, and any whole school homework activities will also be sent home on a Friday where possible. Please support your child to ensure that they understand what has been asked of them and to make sure that their work is clearly and neatly completed.
If you have any concerns or issues you would like to discuss regarding your child, I am always available at the end of the day (except Thursday) so please don’t hesitate to ask me any questions.
Finally, I would like to welcome two new children and their families to Class 3; Myles Dewar and Brooke Goane.
I look forward to meeting you at our annual Meet the Teacher meeting on 21st September 7-30 and 7.30 to 8pm.
Mrs Hall