Year 3

YEAR 3 2022/23

Welcome to the Spring term  in Year 3.  We are looking forward to an exciting term of learning.

We have three Year 3 classes: Juniper, Hawthorn and Cedar.  Meet the class teachers on the right.

Please take a look at our Twitter account and use #Year3UHPS, #HawthornUHPS, #CedarUHPS or #JuniperUHPS to see what the children have been doing at school.

Themes for Spring 1

We follow the Pathway to Read and Pathway to Write schemes, by the Literacy Company.  Our topics are linked to these English units including all history, geography, DT and art.  Our Science units are also linked to reading and writing units as much as possible.

In English, we will be following a text called “Stone Age Boy” by Satoshi Kitamura.  This is a beautiful book stepping  back 15,000 years ago as a modern boy enters a Stone Age village and learns a few prehistoric tricks of the trade. One day a boy falls down a hole, and an amazing thing happens — when he wakes, he’s in a camp full of people wearing animal skins!   Most of the children’s writing this half term will be based on this book and their final task will be a historical narrative story.

As writers, we will be developing our mastery writing skills:

1) Form nouns with a range of prefixes

2) Use present and past tenses correctly and consistently including progressive and present perfect forms

3) Use inverted commas to punctuate direct speech (using dialogue to show relationship between characters)

4) Build a varied and rich vocabulary

Pathways to Read:  Our reading text is called “The Iron Man” by Ted Hughes.

As readers, we will:

1) Draw inferences (inferring characters’ feelings, thoughts and motives from their actions); justify with evidence

2) Identify themes and conventions in a wide range of books

3) Discuss words and phrases that capture the reader’s interest and imagination

Our main theme for Spring 1 is a History-based topic .  We will explore the Changes in Britain from Stone Age to Iron age. As historians, we will:

1) describe events and periods using the words: BC, AD and decade.

2) use a timeline within a specific time in history to set out the order things may have happened.

3) Explain some of the changes in Britain from Stone Age to Iron Age

4) Recognise the part that archaeologists have had in helping us understand more about what happened in the past

4) Use various sources to piece together information about a period in history.

Our Science unit for Spring 1 is ‘Rocks and Soils’.   As scientists, we will

1) be comparing and grouping together different types of rocks on the basis of their appearance and simple physical properties

2) describe in simple terms how fossils are formed when things that have lived are trapped within rocks

3) recognise that soils are made from rocks and organic matter.

In Maths we use a CPA and Mastery approach, following the Power Maths scheme of work.  Our first unit for Spring 1 will be  ‘Multiplication and Division’ Please see knowledge organisers for more detail.

SPANISH:  The children will start learning Spanish in Year 3 and continue throughout KS2.  Lessons are practical and fun with the children learning through songs, games and role play.

 Seesaw | Elevate Learning in Elementary 

We use Seesaw to set weekly home learning tasks and to post photographs and samples of the children’s work.  School announcements and notices are also posted on Seesaw to keep parents up to date.   It is an invaluable form of communication between school and home and individual posts are completely private.  Seesaw is the easiest way to message your class teacher.

Top tips for year 3

PE:

Spring 1

Cedar and Juniper will have PE on Wednesday. Cedar will be learning Hockey and Communication/Tactics and Juniper will be learning Dodgeball and Communication/Tactics. These classes will be taught by Activity for All coaches.  Hawthorn will have PE on Thursdays and will be learning Gymnastics and Hockey.

Please send your child into school wearing their school PE kit (weather appropriate) on PE days.  The children will spend the whole day in PE kit.

Our PE days will change each half term.

Reading books:

Please ensure that reading records and reading books are in bags every day to allow children to read to an adult whenever possible.  Reading records are checked regularly and it is the expectation that your child should show their record to their teacher a minimum of once a week.  Once children have finished a reading book, they need to change it.  For some children, changing books will be daily but for other children who are reading longer texts this will be less frequently.   The children will complete Accelerated Reader quizzes on each book that they read.  This enables us to monitor progress and to ensure that the children continue to read books appropriate to their level.  Parents are able to log on to Accelerated Reader at home in order to see how their children are doing with their quizzes.

Home learning: We set home learning tasks on Seesaw every Friday.  The home learning tasks are based on what the children have been learning about in school and the expectation is that children complete a minimum of two tasks per week, Maths is now on ‘MathsFlex’.  These home learning tasks are in addition to home reading, Times Tables Rock Stars (or learning times tables in another way) and Numbots.

Times Table Rock Stars: Children will be tested on times tables at the end of Year 4, by which time they are expected to know all times tables up to 12 X 12.  It would be incredibly beneficial for your child to work on times tables at least once a week at home and Times Table Rock Stars is a fun and effective way to do this.

Spellings: In addition to spelling lessons in class, we will send home a spelling activity most weeks on Seesaw with a list of words to learn.  These lists will be made up of a mixture of spelling pattern words and Y3/4 statutory words.  The Y3/4 statutory word list is attached and the children are expected to know all of these words by the end of Year 4.

Water bottles: Your child will need a bottle of water in class every day.

Snacks:  Children are encouraged to bring a healthy snack to eat during morning break time.

Our knowledge organisers give more detail about what the children will be learning and what they need to know.  Knowledge organisers for Maths, English, Science, Computing, RE and Curriculum are available on the links to the right.

Thank you for your support, from the Year 3 team.