Year 3 Curriculum Newsletter – Spring Term 2^nd Half

 

Dear Parents,

 

I hope you have enjoyed the half term break. I Year 3 this we look forward to continuing our theme of                                     ‘ANIMAL KINGDOM’ which will link the work we do in various subjects together.

 

As in the first half of this term Mrs Jones will teach your children on Tuesday mornings when I have                                       planning, preparation and assessment time. As well as this, Mrs Clary will be working with Year 3 on                                         Thursdays for this half term and we are lucky to have Mrs Tidman supporting teaching in Year 3 five days a                                  week.

 

Literacy

This half term we will focus on authors and letters. We will be thinking about our favourite authors,                                        reviewing books and writing formal and informal letters. Towards the end of the half term we will                                                   also do some work on instructions. In spellings we will work through the Year 3 keywords and revise those                                        learnt in Years 1 and 2.  In class, we continue to follow the Oxford Reading Scheme and colour banded                                         reading books.

 

WRITING

As a school we are focusing on raising standards in writing this year and will be finding different ways of                                   including writing in all areas of the curriculum within school. We would be grateful if you could support                                     this at home as well. For example, perhaps you could help your child write a journal, write letters or even                                create their own stories.

 

READING

Supporting your child’s reading at home vital to their learning and therefore a major part of their homework.                                  Your child should be reading with you or another adult every night, and their reading record should                       be signed to show this. Please spend some time at home encouraging your child by listening to them read                                  every day. Each week should start a new page within the reading record. In class, we continue to follow                                      the Oxford Reading Scheme and colour banded reading books.

 

Numeracy

We will be reading, writing and ordering numbers to 1000 and looking at what each digit represents. We will                               be thinking about fractions of shapes and numbers and working on position and direction. We will be                                      working on the operations of addition, subtraction, multiplication and division, and using these to help us                                solve ‘real life’ word problems. We are concentrating on the mental calculation of the 2, 3, 4, 5, 6 and 10                               times tables and any work you can do at home to support this is appreciated.

 

Science

Our topic this half term is Helping Plants Grow. We will be learning about the common features of plants,                                  the importance of the roots, stem and leaves and investigating what affects growth rates in plants.

 

Geography

This half term we continue our work on the local area in a variety of ways. We will be investigating other                               species that have settled in the area, particularly in Oxleas woods, and considering the effect changes to the                                area would have.

 

DT

Our unit of work this half term is called ‘Moving Monsters’. We will be investigating simple pneumatic                                systems, which will involve designing and making a model of an animal that has moving parts controlled by                                    pneumatics.

ICT

In ICT we will be exploring simulations. This unit helps children to understand that computers can                                       represent real and imaginary situations. They will explore simulations, look at options and test                                         predictions. The children will evaluate a simulation by considering its usefulness.

 

Music

This half-term our focus will be ‘Animal Magic’ where we explore how different sounds in music can be                                         used to represent and describe different characters. The children will have the opportunity to use                                       instruments to compose their own music to represent animals and their movements.

 

RE

We will be focussing on the story of Jonah and the Whale this half term and how God loves us even if                                       we don’t always follow him. We will also explore about the consequences of disobedience. Towards the                                         end of the half term we think about Easter, the story of Easter and what it means to us now.

 

French

The children will continue to build on their previous learning, increasing their vocabulary and confidence.

 

P.E.

Our P.E. days this half term are Thursday and Friday. Our outdoor P.E. session will be on Fridays and will                                continue to develop multi-skills and skills needed for team games.

 

Please make sure that your child brings their P.E. kit to school on Monday morning and leaves it in school                                  until Friday. Your child will require black shorts, a white t-shirt and trainers or plimsolls. Winter P.E. uniform                                of a black or dark tracksuit may also be worn.

 

SWIMMING

Swimming started on 11th March and will continue to take place on Thursday mornings. We will be travelling                               by Greenwich coach to the Waterfront centre, where groups will be instructed.

 

Please make sure that your child has a suitable swimming costume or swimming trunks (Bermuda style shorts                      are not permitted), a towel and a swimming hat, which is compulsory for every child. Your child might find                                 it easier to arrive in school on Thursdays wearing their swimming costume underneath their school uniform                              with underwear to change into afterwards in their swimming bag. Girls may also find wearing long socks                                rather than tights on swimming days easier. This will all help with changing before and after the swimming                                lesson.

 

Homework

Homework continues to be given on a Friday and is to be completed and handed in by the following                                 Wednesday. Each week homework will consist of a literacy and a numeracy activity linked to that week’s                               work. It is expected that homework will be neatly presented.

 

Spelling words are given out on a Monday and these words are tested on a Friday. Children have a spelling                                 practice book which should be used at home during the week and brought back into school on Friday                                 mornings. As well as learning to spell the words, it would be helpful if you could challenge your child to use                                their spelling words in context by using them in a sentence. Activities such as putting the words in                                    alphabetical order or using a thesaurus to look up other words with the same meaning are also useful.

 

Thank you for your continued support and co-operation.

 

Mrs Joyce.                                                                                                     February 2010.