In Year 3, we have 30 lovely Children! Mrs Armitage and Miss Chappel are our teachers and Mrs Russell who help us in the classroom.
We have had a lovely start to the year and cannot wait to get into all that we’ll be learning this year.
Curriculum Evening
Writing
Year 3 - 4 Statutory Spelling List (Accident - Heard)
Cursive Handwriting Support Worksheets
Reading
Reading Comments and Comprehension Guide
Suggested Books to Read at Home
Maths
Other
Spring 2
English
Our class text this half term has been ‘Cinderella of the Nile’ by Beverley Naidoo. We have thought a lot about different versions of fairy tales, and why fairy tales are present in the literary tradition of lots of different cultures.
The children wrote a diary entry in the role of Rhodopis detailing her thoughts about her capture. Then, after exploring the emotions of the characters in the text, they wrote a newspaper article about the disappearance of Rhodopis. They analysed the structure of the tale in comparison to Cinderella and planned and produced a persuasive advert for fairy tale footwear! Finally, they published their adverts using desktop publishing software.
Maths
Length and Perimeter
In Length and Perimeter we focused on measuring length. We looked at the metric system and the relative size of a millimetre, centimetre and metre. We found equivalent lengths and converted different measurements in order to add or subtract them. We learnt how to measure perimeter and how to calculate the perimeter of different closed shapes.
Fractions
In Fractions, we learnt to recognise halves, quarters and thirds and the difference between unit and non unit fractions. We has learnt about equivalent fractions, and used bar models and number lines to help identify these.
We are continuing to practise our times tables in class – Our 2s, 3s, 4s, 5s, 8s and 10s. Remember that you should know multiplication and division facts for all of these times tables by the end of Year 3!
RE
Our RE topic this half-term has been Reconciliation, in order for the children to prepare for their first Sacrament of Reconciliation. Every week, we have discussed virtues that we should try to live out – thankfulness; honesty and bravery; reflection; friendship and respect; and love and forgiveness. We have read Bible stories that show these virtues in the Old and New Testaments, and also learned about what happens during reconciliation.
We have had lots of time for reflection on God’s forgiveness, and how we can follow His example.
In Holy Week the children presented a Collective Worship for the Washing of the Feet. They acted out the Bible passage, and reflected on its meaning for us today.
Science
We have been learning about plants in our science lessons this half term. After discussing the requirements that a plant has for life and growth, we sowed seeds and tested what would happen to a seed if we excluded one of its requirements. We observed our seedings carefully over the next few weeks and noted our findings. We learnt about the function of each part of a flowering plant and designed an experiment to try to see the way water is transported around a plant through the xylem in the stem. Sadly, our experiment didn’t work out as we had hoped and our white flower stayed white! We dissected a (paper) flower and labelled its parts before learning about pollination and seed dispersal.
Geography
This half term we have learnt about the countries of the world. We had a lot of fun singing the continents song to help us to remember the names of the seven continents before learning how to recognise the shape and correct location of each. We used maps to locate countries from the different continents and learnt how to use grid references when using an atlas to help us to identify major capital cities of the world. We went on a fact-finding mission around the classroom to identify the main geographical features of each continent and created a booklet of our findings. We then used a variety of sources to create a fact-file of a country of our choice.
Spring 1
English
This term, we have been reading Leon & The Place Between and using this as inspiration for our writing. The children drafted and wrote their own narratives by creating settings, characters and plots. We also worked on incorporating conjunctions to express time place and cause in our work. In reading, the children identified themes and conventions in different texts.
Maths
We have been focusing on Multiplication and Division this half term. We have consolidated our knowledge of the 2, 3, 4, 5, 8 and 10 times tables, and practised multiplication and division using these factors. We then moved on to multiplying 2-digit numbers by these factors and enjoyed using arrays to aid multiplication and division. We used different methods to represent our number problems.
Our times tables have been invaluable in helping solve these problems – remember to keep practising!
RE
Our RE topic this half-term has been Jesus the Teacher. We have focused on the life of Jesus and how the events of his early life showed his role as a teacher.
We learned about Jesus’ Presentation in the temple and linked Jewish beliefs and Christian beliefs about bringing a baby into God’s family. We also looked at the time that the child Jesus was lost in the Temple and talked about the emotions that Mary and Joseph might have felt.
We looked in depth at the role of John the Baptist in preparing the way for Jesus. We learned about John’s family, his life before he baptised Jesus, and how this had been prophesied by Isaiah.
We then focused on the teachings of Jesus and how he spread the Good News about the Kingdom of God. We learned the Parable of the Sower, and thought about the meaning behind the story. The children thought about what we need to do to be the ‘good soil’ that allows the Word of God to grow and flourish.
Science
Our topic this half-term has been Light. We have learnt about the properties of light, such as the fact that it always travels in a straight line. The children experimented with torches to explore shadows and used different materials to understand reflection and which surfaces are the most reflective. We learnt about the uses of retro-reflective surfaces and the ways in which these are used in road safety. We sorted objects from the classroom according to whether they were opaque, translucent or transparent and explained the scientific vocabulary we had used. We learnt about natural and artificial sources of light, and the danger of direct light from the sun before designing an experiment to test the effectiveness of different sun creams.
History
We have continued our topic about the Stone Age to the Iron Age this half term. After looking in depth at the Stone Age, we moved on to consider what impact the development of the use of metal had on tools and weapons. We learnt how bronze was made and why iron subsequently became a more popular metal. We also learnt how the developing skills changed the daily way of life through the ages and, through considering the benefits and drawbacks of each, we thought about which would be the most appealing way to live.
Autumn 2
RE
Our RE topic this half term has been Mary, the Mother of God. We have looked in depth at the stories of the Annunciation and the Visitation, and begun to find Bible passages ourselves using the book, chapter and verse reference. In advent, we reflected on how to prepare ourselves for the birth of Jesus and wrote our own advent prayers. We have learned about the mystery of the Incarnation, and analysed the language and meaning of the ‘Hail Mary’.
English
In Autumn 2, we have loved exploring our class book ‘The First Drawing’ and using this as a basis to write a diary entry in role. We have also been learning how to use and punctuate speech accurately and to create character descriptions which all formed part of our historical narratives. In Guided Reading, we have been focusing on making plausible predictions from context clues, as well as from details stated or implied in a text.
Maths
We have been focusing on Addition and Subtraction this half-term. We have used a lot of our prior knowledge of place value and addition of 1- and 2-digit numbers to help us spot patterns and partition 3-digit numbers to aid our sums.
We have learned the formal column method for adding and subtracting 3-digit numbers, and are now aware of exchange in addition and subtraction. We have enjoyed using place value counters to really visualise what happens in an exchange.
Science
This half term, we have continued to look at the topic of rocks and soils in our Science lessons. We looked at the formation of soil and experimented with the permeability of different soils before creating our own compost bins to see how the components of soil break down. We finished the topic by learning about fossils and the contribution that Mary Anning made to palaeontology.
History
We started our study of the Stone Age to the Iron Age in History this half term. First, we explored the meaning of ‘pre-history’ and found out how we know about it. We then looked at different artefacts from the different periods of the Stone Age (the Palaeolithic, Mesolithic, and Neolithic periods) and thought about what it told us about humans’ lives at each stage. We discussed what changed and what stayed the same through the Stone Age and explored the impact of the shift from hunter-gatherer to farmer.
French
In French, we have been learning the names for objects around our classroom and how to respond to simple instructions. We’ve loved practising accurate pronunciation and have started to read and understand short sentences in French.
Autumn 1
In English this term, Year Three’s focus text is ‘The Pied Piper of Hamelin’ by Michael Morpurgo.
We used role play to understand how the characters were feeling when the town was invaded by rats. We then wrote a diary entry as if we were a mother living in the town and rats began infesting our kitchen.
We then researched facts about rats to ‘report back’ to the Mayor of the town to explain the severity of the situation.
After that, we decided we needed a rat catcher to help solve the situation. We created persuasive adverts to display around Hamelin town to employ a rat catcher.
Our ‘big write’ for this unit was to write our own version of ‘The Pied Piper’.
Geography
We have been studying our local area in Geography this term. First, we identified which continent we live on before locating Otley on a map of the United Kingdom and, using compass points, we described our location compared to surrounding towns. We discussed human and physical features before identifying those that can be found in Otley and located them on a map. Then, we discussed what services are, which we have in Otley and which we think are most important and why. We interviewed friends and family to discover how far people travel for work and which mode of transport they use before plotting this information on a map and analysing the results. Finally, we used everything we had learned to evaluate our local area and presented the information in a poster to attract visitors to Otley.
Science
Our topic in Science this term is rocks and soils. We began by examining and comparing different rocks, both natural and human-made, and described their properties before thinking about how we could sort them in different ways. We learned about metamorphic, sedimentary and igneous rocks and how they are formed and identified examples of each rock type and what they are used for. We performed a series of experiments on different types of rocks to test their durability and permeability, and made conclusions using our findings. We then moved on to look at soil and it’s relationship with rock. We labelled our own soil profiles and identified what can be found in each layer.
