Welcome to Year 3!

The Year 3 team:

3 Crystal  - Miss Higginbotham (You can call me Miss H) 

3 Lion -  Mrs Davis and Mrs Haden Bedford

with Mrs Walta, Mrs Graham and Mrs Hicks 

Important information:

PE: Please remove earrings for these days or send in a small pot if children can take them out themselves. Plasters are not allowed instead of removal and we are not permitted to take them out for children. Please ensure that children are wearing the correct P.E. kit (black shorts, joggers or leggings, red polo shirts, black trainers, black socks, red fleece for the colder months) and that long hair is tied up and earrings are removed on these days.

Bring a water bottle with a sports top each day.

Reading diaries and reading books should be in school every day.

Reading book change day will be Thursday. (This may change.)

Spellings will be set weekly on Doodle (usually on a Friday). The children should aspire to remain in the green zone by working on the little but often principle. We expect them to complete maths and spelling weekly. Rewards will be given for staying in the green zone as well as a bonus award for 1000 stars. 

English

English 

We have been learning the conventions of instructional writing in English this term. We will be finishing off our text about how to look after a guinea pig before writing our own instruction texts. After that, we will look at recount texts.

Our class readers will be: Pages and Co, by Anna James, Planet Omar- Accidental Trouble Magnet by Zanib Mian and the Miraculous Journey of Edward Tulane. 

We will also look at a different text in our comprehension crusher sessions each fortnight. Children have their reading scheme book and may also occasionally borrow a book from our school library. Book change for reading scheme books will be on a Thursday.  We encourage the children to record their own reading in their Reading Diary - pages read and short reviews would be lovely to see. We also encourage adults to record in this diary when hearing children read. 

Our Reading Bugs is our reading rewards system in Year 3. Children will move their reading bug stick along the pots each day that they read at home. Rewards will be given to those children whose reading diary is signed by an adult to acknowledge that this reading at home has taken place. Five signatures from the weekend to the Friday are what we are looking for.

Maths

Our maths understanding starts with practical apparatus before children move onto drawing or writing. Problem solving and explaining their reasoning is an important part of showing mathematical understanding. 

This half term we will be working on Length and perimeter, working with Metres, centimetres and millimetres to measure, add and compare length. We will then be working with fractions- comparing and ordering them and finding equivalent fractions (we will continue to learn about fractions in the summer term), then off to do some more work with measures, but this time with Mass and capacity. 

To support in maths, please work on number bonds and times tables, specifically 2,3,4,5,8 and 10. Using money and telling the time are also valuable activities that can be practised at home.  Pizza or cake cutting can easily reinforce our work on dividing equally and fractions.

Our RE will focus on the idea of salvation- and our question will be- Why do Christians call the day Jesus died ‘Good Friday’? In PSHE, we will be thinking about our community. We will discuss what our community is, and how to make everyone feel welcomed and valued within it. 

In Science, we will be studying the different states of matter, introducing the terminology of solid, liquid and gas as well as boiling, freezing, condensation and evaporation. We will engage in roleplay, experiments and observations to make predictions and draw conclusions. Through DT, we aim to plan and build bridges. 

In one of our PE units, children will develop and improve techniques with cricket. Our other PE unit is yoga.  
Our Geography topic this term asks "Why are there so many canals in our region?" We will be looking at how canals arrived in Stourbridge and the huge impact they had on trading and industry. We will be off for a field trip to experience life on the canal first hand, as well as using maps and primary resources to help us to compare how they have left a permanent mark on our landscape. 

Our ICT lessons will be about branching databases as well as to design some objects to spread the word about Fair Trade.. 

In French, we will learn about les saisons and Le Carnaval de Nice.

Lessons for Music with Kapow we will learn about the pentatonic scale.