Year 3 Curriculum Newsletter – Spring Term 2019

Happy New Year and welcome back Year 3!

I hope everyone had a wonderful and restful Christmas. I would like to say we were all touched by your very generous gifts and are sending a huge thank you for all the lovely cards and gifts we received from the class. They were much appreciated and I wish you all the very best this year.

Here is an outline of what year 3 have in store this term:

Literacy

We will be focusing upon suspense stories through the use of tales of fear. Our core text for this term is ‘The Door.’ There will be a strong focus on short-burst creative and descriptive writing in our literacy lessons to develop the tools required to write a successful suspense story. It will also enable children's confidence in writing in different styles to increase and encourage the use of a wide range of vocabulary. Punctuation and grammar will be integrated into these short-burst writing sessions.

We will be practicing handwriting three times a week and spelling two times a week. A weekly spellings and times tables test will take place every Thursday. Please ensure your child continues to practice spellings (including high frequency words) and times tables each week.

Reading

We will continue to take part in guided reading comprehension sessions as well as grammar, spelling and comprehension activities as a whole class. Children will still receive banded books to take home and will be encouraged to change their books at the end of the day. Please continue to listen to your child reading regularly at home as this is vital to their reading development and confidence.

Numeracy

This term we will be again having a strong focus on core operations; multiplication and division. We shall be starting with the column method for multiplication and the bus stop method for division. We shall also be looking at division with remainders. Throughout the topic, children will be exposed to problem solving and reasoning tasks. After covering these key operations, we shall be learning about how to tell the time. The children will also be applying their mathematical understanding in real life situations and open ended tasks. For example, looking at timetables. We will continue to work on the quick recall of times tables in class and I encourage you to practice these with your child at home.

I will continue to set the children different activities on IXL for their homework. I expect all of the class to be accessing these activities regularly at home with an adult.

RE

We will be learning about Buddhism this half term in RE. The children will learn about Siddhartha and the circumstances that led to him becoming Buddha and achieving enlightenment. The children will be introduced to Buddhist virtues and beliefs using the stories that Buddha told.

Our school value word for the half term is 'wisdom'. This will form a central focus to our collective worship as well as a starting point for discussion in class. We will be thinking about times we have shown or needed wisdom and using examples from our own lives and the Bible to deepen our understanding.

Science

This term we are learning all about rocks and soils. We will be examining different materials and their uses and learning about rock formation and fossils. We will carry out scientific enquiries and experiments into types of rocks. As part of this topic, we will be going on a trip to Chislehurst Caves to take part in a tour related to rocks and soil formation.

History

This term we are learning about the Stone Age to the Iron Age in Britain, where it all began! We will be looking at the development and use of tools and materials and early settlements such as Skara Brae. We will be imagining what everyday life was like in this very different time, using the clues left behind such as tools, the bones of prehistoric beasts, and places of importance and mystery such as Stone Henge. We will also be going on a day trip to Woodlands Farm for a day of introductory Stone Age learning.

Art

We shall be exploring and examining buildings in a range of architectural styles and exploring the work of Sir Christopher Wren. We will be looking at the colours, patterns and features of St Basil’s Cathedral, the Taj Mahal and The Sydney Opera House.

PE

PE lessons will continue to take place on Tuesdays and Thursdays. After February half term, year 3 will begin their swimming lessons every Thursday, more information will follow soon. Therefore, after half term, children will only have PE on Tuesdays. Please ensure your child has their full winter PE kit in school every week. There is information on the school website about kit expectations for you to reference if needed. Please make sure that all of your child's PE kit and school uniform is clearly labelled, we will continue to encourage all children to put their PE kits away carefully to ensure no missing items.

Homework

As I previously mentioned, homework will be given on a Friday, with children being asked to access IXL online each week as well as a reading comprehension and spellings.

Thank you for your continued support and, as always, please do not hesitate to contact me if you have any queries and I greatly look forward to another wonderful term with Year 3.

Kindest regards,

Sonia Kaur