Year 3

AUTUMN TERM Learning

English

In Autumn 1, our theme is ‘Magic and Wonder’. We will explore these through the texts Leon and the Place Between by Angela McAllister, The Lost Spells by Robert MacFarlane, The Heart and the Bottle by Oliver Jeffers and Arthur and the Golden Rope by Joe Todd Stanton. In Autumn 2, our theme will be ‘Dreams and Curiosity’. The texts here will be: The BFG by Roald Dahl, The Tear Thief by Carol Ann Duffy and I Am the Seed that Grew the Tree by Fiona Waters. Through these texts, we explore a range of writing, grammar, spelling, vocabulary and handwriting objectives. Additionally, we will be reinforcing vital KS1 objectives and skills like simple punctuation.  We have already started the term with grammar and vocabulary activities, focusing on expanded noun phrases, adverbs and adverbial phrases and subordinate clauses. Simultaneously, we will have lots of opportunities to promote creativity and story-telling, by developing our own fantasy and dilemma narratives, as well as many drama and roleplay activities in the classroom. We will look at key aspects of formal writing, including newspaper articles, letters, advertisements and diary entries. We will maintain a clear focus on continuous cursive handwriting; ensuring letter formation and pencil grip are well formed. Reading skills will be taught through our whole class reading sessions, as well as throughout the curriculum, focusing on evidencing comprehension, clarifying vocabulary and developing independent reading habits.

Maths

 In Maths, we will be continuing with the mastery approach, allowing the children to develop secure number sense. We will focus on the “making ten” strategy for addition and subtraction, the composition of numbers to 1,000 and exploring additive, subtractive and multiplicative structures. We will develop relationships between number bonds to 10, 100 and then 1,000, building the children’s abilities to make comprehensive links between their known number facts, and unknown calculations. The children will learn to add and subtract 3 digit numbers effectively and apply these skills to different contexts: these could include analysis of statistics; problem-solving using measurement; geometry-based reasoning and increasingly complex arithmetic.

Science

Our topics are: ‘Movement and Nutrition’ (Biology) and ‘Forces and Magnets’ (Physics). In Autumn 1, children will develop key scientific skills like grouping, recording and reasoning whilst learning all about the makeup and functions of the human body. This will lead us on to think about how the makeup of the human body connects to our nutritional needs and how we might select materials for replacements to the human body e.g., prosthetic limbs. In Autumn 2, the key scientific skills we will be developing include understanding the structure of experiments, recording data accurately and using evidence to support conclusions. We will do this through our learning about forces. We will conduct investigations that look at contact and non-contact forces such as friction. We will use scientific vocabulary and experiment with magnetic and non-magnetic materials to understand these forces from a practical viewpoint.

Computing

In Autumn 1, we will be looking at how computing systems and networks function, starting from the school network to mapping a website’s journey to your computer. We will look at key components of the world’s information infrastructure, including servers, wired and wireless connections, data and data packets. In Autumn 2, we will use the online software, Scratch, to create an animated story. This will allow us to think about programming instructions, debugging, algorithms and decomposition. This unit provides a preliminary introduction to coding.

Geography

In Autumn 1, we are answering the question, ‘Why do people live near volcanoes?’ We’ll start by developing our understanding of the four layers of the Earth and then look at tectonic plates in more detail. We’ll explore how tectonic plates form different types of mountains and earthquakes and use maps to identify the continents and mountain ranges within them. We’ll learn how to classify volcanos and consider the negative and positive consequences of living next to a volcano, including looking at the effects of a volcanic eruption.

History

This will be taught in Autumn 2. Our question in History this term is: ‘Would you prefer to live in the Stone Age, Bronze Age or Iron Age?’  The key historical skills we will be practicing here are comparison, evaluating evidence and presenting arguments. This will be a really hands-on unit, connecting with our school trip to Butser Farm where we will experience what life might have been like in these ages. We will also be able to handle some replica artefacts in the classroom, learning about proper handling and how to infer from these objects how people would have lived. It will also involve learning about many key archaeological sites and artefacts from across the UK, including Skara Brae, the Amesbury Archer and the Mold gold cape.

Art/DT

This half term, our art topic is called ‘Growing artists.’ We’ll start by looking at drawing: the difference between organic and geometric shapes and using simple shapes to form the basis of a detailed drawing. We will be using shading to demonstrate light and dark and attempt blending tones to create images. We will generate ideas, mostly independently and use a range of different drawing materials. For our DT project we will be making cushions by using cross-stitch to join two pieces of fabric. After designing our cushions and creating a template, we will experiment with different fabrics and materials to finally make our cushions using cross-stitch and applique to add decorations to our final piece.

PSHE

We begin this term by looking at families by understanding that families are all different but they support each other and problems within families can occur. This links us onto looking at conflicts within friendships, talking about conflict and what we can do to solve them. We look at what bullying is and what to do if we are being bullied. We consider what makes a good listener and how this links to friendships. We will talk about how people have differences and similarties but difference can be a positive thing. We will also consider stereotypes and how they arise from a range of different factors.

Music

We are starting our whole class instrumental lessons which will provide our music curriculum. 3D will learn the saxophone and 3R will learn the clarinet throughout the year and each child will have their own instrument loaned to them to learn with! More details to follow.

PE

There will be two sessions of PE per week (Monday and Wednesday). In Autumn 1, we will be doing netball with Mr Haughton and yoga with the class teacher. During Autumn 2, we will be doing tag rugby (Mr Haughton) and dance (class teachers).

RE

In Autumn 1, we will be focusing on the question: ‘What makes us human?’ We will consider what different religions think and discuss what the soul is, leading up to thinking about what might make us unique as humans. In Autumn 2, we will be asking: ‘Where do our morals come from?’ We will look at the moral codes of different religions and consider similarities and differences between them.

Reminders

Both Year 3 classes have PE on Mondays and Wednesdays.

Music lessons – Children will need to bring their instruments to school when they have been distributed. More details to follow regarding instrument loans and allocations.

Homework expectations – Daily: 15 minutes reading with an adult, 5 minutes Doodle Maths, 5 minutes Times Table Rockstars, 5 minutes spellings practise. Doodle Maths tasks will be set weekly to complement our learning in the classroom.

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