Year Three 2017-18
Dear Parents,
We have had a very enjoyable start to the year. This next half term promises to be even better! Here is what we will be learning:
Topic
Our topic for this term is ‘Weather Around the World’. The children will be learning about hot and cold climates and how animals cope with surviving in extreme conditions. We will also learn that the Earth has temperature zones, varying from the North and South Poles to the Equator, and how this influences the weather and the types of animal that live in these areas. The children will also be lucky enough to attend a Weather and Seasons Workshop in November.
English
The genres we will cover this term are poetry, narrative and reports. We will be continuing to develop our writing skills, with an emphasis on visual literacy, using a short animation as the focal point. Not only does this very popular unit of work cover the English curriculum but also links seamlessly to our topic of Weather Around the World.
Can we ask that you ensure that your child continues to read regularly at home, as this has not only been shown to be one of the most effective ways of improving reading skills but it also helps children make progress in many other aspects of school life!
Maths
This half term children will be continuing addition and subtraction, leaning how to use formal written methods to calculate answers. Following this, we will move onto multiplication and division. We would like to take this opportunity to remind you to encourage your child to learn the 2, 3, 4, 5, 6 and 10 times tables. Our Year 3 maths Inspire will be held on Thursday 9th November. Please save this date in your diary and remember it is carried out in the children’s maths sets.
Science
We will be learning about ‘Plants and Growing’. We will plan and carry out investigations into what plants need to be able to grow, moving on to learn about how they get nutrients and water and noting how plants respond to different conditions. We will take into account the role that weather plays in the lifecycle of a plant, particularly the effect of the sun and rain.
P.E.
Depending on the units covered last half term, the children will be participating in dance, gymnastics, orienteering skills or swimming. 3BM and 3P boys will be going to Moseley Swimming Baths for their swimming lessons up until Christmas and will require a swimming costume and a towel. Please make sure that the children have the correct kit of a white t-shirt, black shorts/trousers/leggings, pumps for indoor PE and trainers for outdoor PE.
R.E/PATHS
In RE, we will be learning about the meaning of community and the similarities and differences in different religions as well as visiting a Sikh Gurdwara. This will be followed by thinking about Christmas and different ways it is celebrated around the world.
We look forward to another successful half term.
Regards.
The Year 3 team
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Year 3 Recommended Reading List
Parents often ask us for suggested books for their children to read so we have put together a list of books which are recommended for children in Year 3. It is by no means an exhaustive list but represents a cross section of books suitable for your child. Please do take your child to borrow books from their local library. (They can take TEN books out at a time for free!) Please also encourage your child to read for 20 – 30 minutes every evening as it will impact hugely on their writing ability and general learning.
Fiction
Anything by Dick King-Smith as this is Year 3’s special author.
eg The Hodgeheg, The Sheep Pig, Dragon Boy, The Golden Goose, The School Mouse
The Children who smelled a Rat/Woof Allan Ahlberg
Awful End Philip Ardagh
Railway Cat Phyllis Arkle
Wasim in the Deep End Chris Ashley
Where the Forest meets the Sea Jeannie Baker
The Monster Crisp Guzzler Malorie Blackman
Mrs Armitage and the Big Wave Quentin Blake
Secret Seven/Famous Five Series Enid Blyton
Happy Ever After series) Tony Bradman
Agent Amelia (series) Michael Broad
Flat Stanley Jeff Brown
Fungus the Bogeyman Raymond Briggs
The Julian Stories Ann Cameron
Mr Majeika Humphrey Carpenter
Clarice Bean (series) Lauren Child
Wicked Day! Rob Childs
The Tree House Gillian Cross
The Twits, Matilda, The BFG Roald Dahl
Jamela’s Dress Niki Daly
Animal Ark (series) Lucy Daniels
The Dragons of Wayward Crescent Chris D’Lacey
The Starburster Berlie Doherty
The Gruffalo Julia Donaldson
Amina’s Blanket Helen Dunmore
Bill’s New Frock/Diary of Killer Cat Anne Fine
Witch in Training Maeve Friel
Harry Rabbit on the Run Adam Frost
Meerkat Mail Emily Gravett
The Runner Keith Gray
Daisy (series) Kes Gray
Dear Max Sally Grindley
Amazing Grace Mary Hoffman
How the Whale Became Ted Hughes
Red Planet/Lost in the Jungle Roderick Hunt
The Abominables Eva Ibbotson
Pandora’s Box Rose Impey
Leon and Bob Simon James
Invisible Brother Peter Johnson
Myths of the Norsemen Roger Lancelyn Green
The Great Piratical Rumbustification Margaret Mahy
The Librarian and the Robbers Margaret Mahy
Judy Moody (series) Megan McDonald
Fierce Milly and the Amazing Dog Marilyn McLaughlin
Winnie the Pooh A A Milne
The Dancing Bear/Cool/Tom’s sausage/Cool Michael Morpurgo
Henrietta the Great Gogetter Martine Murray
Invisible Vinnie/The Owl Tree Jenny Nimmo
Winnie the Witch (series) Laura Owen
Football Academy Tom Palmer
Impossible Parents Brian Pattern
The Battle of Bubble and Squeak Philippa Pearce
Hue Boy Rita Phillips Mitchell
Soccer Squad: Stars (series) Bali Rai
Horrid Henry (series) Francesca Simons
My Granny’s Great Escape Jememy Strong
The Hundred Mile an Hour Dog Jeremy Strong
The Littlest Viking Sandi Toksvig
Boy Racer Ian Whybrow
The Owl who was Afraid of the Dark Jill Tomlinson
The Deathwood Letters Hazel Townson
Li Fu’s Great Aim Karen Wallace
Stuart Little/Charlotte’s Web E B White
Poetry and Rhymes
Please Mrs Butler Allan Ahlberg
Let’s Twist Again Paul Cookson
Raps, Riddles and Concrete Pie Corbett
Football Crazy : poems, raps and beats Tony Norman
Juggling with Gerbils Brian Patten
You can’t catch Me Michael Rosen
Or any book connected with a topic which is being studied in school or which interests your child. What is most important is that your child is reading and developing a love for reading.
Happy reading!
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Dear Parents
Autumn 1 Overview for Year 3
We would like to welcome you all to Year 3 and look forward to getting to know you and your child over the coming year.
As the children are now in Key Stage 2, we would like to bring a few changes to your attention. School no longer provides a morning snack, however children can bring in food to eat during the morning break. We would like to continue the healthy eating habits started in Key Stage 1 and encourage your child to bring in a piece of fruit or vegetables and a bottle of water.
Also, as of next Wednesday, the children will be starting swimming lessons at Moseley Swimming Baths. A rota system has been set up whereby two of the three classes go swimming and the remaining class has PE sessions in school. Classes are then swapped around each term, so please keep an eye out for your child’s class in the Wednesday letter. We will be starting off with the girls in 3BM and 3P.Please ensure that your child comes in with the appropriate kit on the day.
Our topic this term is the epic story of Rama and Sita and how that is linked to the festival of Diwali. We have a cross-curricular approach and the children will be learning about different aspects of this story via the different subjects. In R.E., we will be thinking about how the Hindu celebration of Diwali is an expression of joy and happiness and how other religions celebrate important occasions. The dance element of PE looks at synchronizing movements using traditional Indian music as well as practising and developing football and swimming skills. The children will also be making a series of pictures using collage and other art techniques to make diva lamps as well as doing rangoli patterns and mendhi designs. Finally, in science we will be looking at light and shadows and will carry out a range of investigations to find out more about how shadows change. In keeping with our theme of Diwali, the children will then produce a shadow puppet show about Rama and Sita.
English
In English, we will be covering narratives and some work based on Black History.
Maths
We will start the year in maths, by counting in 2’s, 3’s, 5’s and 10’s, both going forwards and backwards as well as starting from different numbers. Following on from this, we will be partitioning numbers and using number lines to help calculate additions and subtractions.
We also have 3R’s assembly to look forward to on Tuesday 3rd October.
We thank you in advance for your continued support with your child’s education at Park Hill.
Regards.
The Year 3 team.