Dear parents/carers,

Welcome back, I hope you have all had a wonderful Christmas, we wish you a Happy New Year! It is lovely to be back with  the children, I will be in class Tuesday to Friday while Mrs Rudkin will teach the class on a Monday.

English

In Year 3 we will be exploring a variety of texts to support our writing, vocabulary and reading development. We will use “Nen and the Lonely Fisherman” by Ian Eagleton to write our own narratives. We will then study “The Search for the Giant Arctic Jellyfish” by Chloe Savage and “Cloud Tea Monkeys” by Mal Peet and Elspeth Graham where we will explore writing non-chronological reports. Finally, we will use the book “Small in the City” by Sidney Smith to write extended narratives.

Ensuring your child reads for at least 15 minutes a day will support our English work. It is just as important to read to your child regularly along with listening to audio books. We enjoy finding out about new vocabulary in class and have begun using a thesaurus to improve our writing – if you are able to, support your child with using a dictionary to check spelling & definition and thesaurus for improving word choices.

Maths

To begin the term, we will be focusing on multiplication and division. We will then be moving onto Fractions. Please continue to encourage your child to practise their times tables on Times Table Rockstars to support their class work. The children will also be developing their mathematical vocabulary to complete reasoning tasks. We will also be completing weekly arithmetic tests on a Friday to consolidate our number work from the Autumn term.

History and Geography

We begin the Spring term with a History topic where we will be exploring Anglo-Saxons and Vikings. We will then move onto our Geography topic learning all about mountains.

Science

We will be moving onto Rocks and Fossils. This will give children the opportunity to find out about different rock types and how they are formed.

Computing

We will be continuing with our programming topic using Scratch to plan and create algorithms for an animated scene. We will be beginning a research unit about a chosen topic using laptops and Ipads. The children will then need to create a presentation to share their research. We are hoping to use a green screen and online software to then give the children a background for their final presentation.

Art and DT

In Art, we will be studying the artists Cezanne and Van Gogh and focusing on their landscape paintings of mountains. We will be sketching our own mountain range/landscape scene, and we will then paint it by focusing on colour mixing and also background washing. In DT we will be looking at designing, making and evaluating suitable packaging for an easter egg!

RE

In RE we will be continuing with Theology and looking at what is meant by the Holy Trinity. We will then be thinking about what is philosophy? And how do people make moral decisions?

PSHE

Our PSHE learning will continue to support children’s mental health along with the topic Living in the Wider World which supports ‘Belonging to a Community: The values of rules and law; rights, freedoms and responsibilities’ and ‘Money and Work: Different jobs and skills; job stereotypes; setting personal goals.

Music

In Music we will be using the song “Be Safe Online” to develop musical, creative literacy skills.

PE

The children will have PE twice a week on Thursdays and Fridays. This half term we will be focusing on netball and fitness and after half term we will be learning tag rugby and dance.

French

This term, we will continue to build the children’s confidence and familiarity with simple French greetings and will introduce vocabulary for telling the time and describing equipment and activities in the classroom.

Homework

Learning task- Each week your child will have a learning task. This is set on a Friday on Teams and should be returned/submitted by the following Wednesday.

Spellings- These will be sent home on a Friday and tested on the following Thursday. Please support your child in learning their spellings, these will also be practiced in class.

Times Tables- It is so important all children are practising their times tables. This should be done a minimum of 3 times a week. They should be valued in the same way as all homework activities. We will be recapping the 2, 5 and 10 times tables in class and over this term, the children will begin 3x, 4x and 8x.

Reading- Reading is still crucial, as is listening to your child read, even once a free reader! Books and reading journals MUST be in school every day as they use these whenever there is time for quiet reading. Please ensure you listen to your child read regularly supporting both their fluency and comprehension.

If you have any questions or concerns at any time, please email us via the office and we will get back to you as soon as possible.

Kind Regards,

Mrs Tokeley and Mrs Rudkin