Summer Newsletter – Year 3

Dear Parents

The summer is here and hopefully the weather will be drier and warmer this term! Class 3 have a busy term ahead below is an outline of what we will be covering.

Geography/History: Topic- WWII

This term we will be learning about World War II. We will learn about the events leading up to the war, countries involved and life during this time. This will also include a trip to Duxford Imperial War Museum.

English we will be studying a variety of text types to help develop your child’s writing skills including: Using video stimulus ‘Marshmallows’ children will explore a range of sentence structures to write setting descriptions, structure and organise paragraphs creating narrative and non -chronological pieces of writing. We will use The Hodgeheg by Dick King-Smith, for children to look for examples of adverbs and adverbial phrases. They will memorise a section of dialogue and use it as a basis for their own writing, we will also learn about complex and compound sentences and children will write an animal adventure story.  We will be fully immersed in poems all about animals as we read, discuss and perform different styles of poems, comparing then collecting ones we like to our own anthologies resulting in write our own additions to our poetry collection.

Listening to your child read continues to be very important, as does discussing their understanding of the texts they are reading. There will be daily classroom time for reading, handwriting, grammar and spelling activities.

Maths – This term we will continue to build on their addition, subtraction, multiplication and division skills as well as developing the children’s times tables knowledge of 2,3,4,5,6,8,10 times tables and improving their speed and confidence in mental calculations.

Some of the objectives we will be covering this term are: Revise using column, addition, subtraction dn the formal methods of addition and subtraction. Measure in multiples of 100 millilitres. Convert between whole/half litres and millilitres. Measure perimeters of 2D shapes to the nearest centimetre. Understand am and pm. Tell the time to nearest minute. Compare time durations. Use calculate change from £5, £10 and £20. Identify whether angles are greater than or less than a right angle. Identify horizontal, vertical, perpendicular and parallel lines. Understand tenths and find tenths of amounts Find fractions which are equivalent to ½ and to ¼ Add and subtract fractions with the same denominator within one whole. Use column addition subtraction for amounts of money and finding the change from £5, £10 and £20. Interpreting and creating bar charts and pictograms.

At home it would be helpful if you practiced telling the time both analogue and digital and continued practicing times tables and related division facts.

Science – This term we are studying Plants: identifying and describing the functions of different parts of flowering plants: roots, stem/trunk, leaves and flowers. Exploring the requirements of plants for life and growth (air, light, water, nutrients from soil, and room to grow) and how they vary from plant to plant. Investigating the way in which water is transported within plants. We will be exploring the part that flowers play in the life cycle of flowering plants, including pollination, seed formation and seed dispersal.

French – We will be continuing to build on the work on numbers learning numbers 12- 31 and using them to give the date, together with days and months.  The children will learn the names of body parts and will follow instructions to play simple games.

Computing – The children will learn to use data logging as part of their science experiments. We will continue to build on their research and word processing skills too.

Art and DT – Both subjects are linked to our topic work and we will be looking at rations and food that was eaten during the war. We will also be designing and creating artwork based on the World War 2.

RE– We will be studying different Hindu gods and goddesses and both Hindu and Christian family celebrations and ways of worship. In PHSE we will talk about how new responsibilities come as you grow and grow up. What they can to improve their local environment, about long and short-term consequences relating to habitat loss and how such damage can be prevented and what responsibilities they now have.

Music – Year 3 will have a brass lesson with Wider Opportunities Essex music service the children.

PE will take place on Tuesdays and Wednesdays.  Mr Dyce will be developing athletics skills on Wednesday afternoon.  On Friday, we will be playing team games – cricket and rounders.  Each child will need trainers suitable for use on the field as well as the playground. Children need to have their kits in school all week.

Homework – As previously, 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.  Children who take part in Spell Attack groups will continue to have work set regularly. Maths, English or Topic homework will continue to be set on Fridays for return the following Wednesday.

Times tables will be tested on Fridays with personalised tables being set each week. 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. When reading with your child please date and initial (and comment if you wish) in their reading journals so that we may keep track of who is reading at home.

If you have questions or concerns, please make an appointment to speak to me before or after school.

Best wishes

Miss Turner