Year 3
Autumn 1 Curriculum Newsletter
Obama Class
Welcome to Year 3 Obama class!
We hope that you and your child had a wonderful summer break. We are thrilled to share information about all the exciting things that our first term together brings.
Uniform and Water Bottles
Please make sure your child is wearing the correct school uniform, including their tie. This should be labelled to reduce the chances of lost property. Thank you for your help with this. Uniform guidelines are outlined on the school website – please contact the school office if you have any questions. All children should bring a labelled water bottle to school every day, especially during this warmer weather.
Jewellery: A reminder that only stud earrings and wristwatches may be worn to school. Earrings must be removed or covered for PE. Children should not wear bracelets or necklaces to school, unless for religious reasons.
PE
Our usual PE days this term are Wednesday afternoon (Outdoor) and swimming on a Thursday morning. Your child should bring in their PE kit on Monday, which can typically stay in class ready for their lesson on Wednesday. For swimming, the children can bring their swimming costume, towel and swimming hat with them on Thursday morning. The costumes must fit nicely and not be too baggy or loose.
Indoor PE: Children will need plain shorts/jogging bottoms, a plain t-shirt in their house colour and suitable indoor footwear.
Outdoor PE: Children will need plain shorts/jogging bottoms, a plain t-shirt in their house colour, a plain jumper and suitable outdoor footwear.
Homework
Children will have one homework book which will be used for all homework. They will have weekly maths, spelling and reading homework. Each term, a new Topic homework menu will be sent home, relating to our termly project. If you have any queries about the homework, please do not hesitate to come and speak to us. Homework will be collected in each Thursday and given out on a Friday.
Maths: Times Table Rock Stars
Cherry Fields Primary School is signed up to the Times Tables Rock Stars programme to support your child with their multiplication and division facts. The curriculum states that all children should be able to recall accurately their multiplication and division facts up to 12x12 by the end of Year 4. Therefore, daily practice is crucial. When it comes to times tables, speed AND accuracy are important – the more fluent they are with their facts, the easier they will access other aspects of the curriculum. For their maths homework in Autumn term, children are expected to complete at least 20 minutes on Times Table Rock Stars. If you have any concerns or queries, please let us know.
Reading
We expect children to have daily opportunities to read to, or with, someone at home, as well as independently. Reading can include books, newspapers, magazines, online reading, eBooks, reading tablets, information books, adverts, menus, poems, song lyrics – the list is endless! The important thing is that your child reads regularly and is engaged with the reading.
All children have a reading record, which they should bring to school in their book bag every day. Please record your child’s reading (as well as any additional comments) in the reading record including the date and page numbers read. This should be handed in everyday to be checked. The children will be put into a raffle prize if they have read 4 times within a week.
Spellings
Seven spellings will be set each week based on the spelling pattern we are learning in class and our Year 3 common exception words. These are words in which their spellings do not follow typical rules – we just have to learn them by practising. As with times tables, daily practise is recommended to improve your child’s recall and accuracy of their spelling. We appreciate that this is not always possible, but 4-5 times a week would be highly beneficial for supporting your child’s progress.
A recommended strategy is Look, Say, Cover, Write, Check. Some children may prefer to write out their spellings in columns or practise writing them in sentences. It could even be turned into a game, with children ‘competing’ against adults or turning spelling practise into a gameshow-style quiz. I remember practising spellings each morning over breakfast! The possibilities are endless. Children should record each practise in their purple homework books, ready to hand in on Thursdays.
Topic Homework Menus
Children will have a termly topic menu with additional homework options based on our wider curriculum project. We would love if all children could bring in at least one piece of homework that is based on our project topic each term. This homework will also be showcased at our showcase at the end of term.
Curriculum
Wider Curriculum |
This term our focus is maths, and we will be exploring the question is ‘How can data help us understand the world around us?’ Children will design and make a model car that is powered by magnets. Children will present their findings in investigations. During this project, we will answer the questions:
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English |
Narrative – writing a character description based on ‘The Iron Man’ by Ted Hughes. We will:
correctly.
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Maths |
Place Value – recognising the position and values of digits |
Computing |
Computer systems and networks |
HRE |
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Music |
Using the Charanga musical programme, we will focus on the song ‘Let Your Spirit Fly’ to develop the following skills:
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MFL |
Getting to know you
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PE |
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RE |
Term 1 Big question: Do you shape your own destiny?
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If you have any questions or concerns, please do not hesitate to get in contact with us.
We are very excited for the year ahead and we all look forward to working with yourselves and your children in Year 3!
Best wishes,
Mr Woods