Year 3 Autumn Term 1

At the start of Year 3, we will be settling the children into their new class and school. The first two weeks will be getting to know you weeks, where we will be slightly off the timetable. In the first few days, we will look at some seaside stories and complete some different activities from across the curriculum including Art, PSHE and Geography. In the second week, we will be moving towards the timetable that the children will follow all year. In English, reminding the children of the skills they need to use when writing in full sentences, including grammar, punctuation and spelling. They will also be starting to use a pen so presentation will also be key.

Our aim is to settle the children into their new school as quickly as we can. We will show them the new routines and expectations so that they feel confident as they start their Year 3 journey. There will be creative, physical and team building tasks as well as activities to build on written and maths skills.

We will then be looking at the picture book ‘Into the Forest’ by Anthony Browne which is a lovely story with lots of links to other familiar fairy tales.  We will look at the characters, plot and making predictions as well as giving the characters advice.

Grammar, phonics, writing and reading will have an increased focus. Whilst we will teach these things, we will also focus on them whilst teaching and learning across the curriculum. We will be introducing the children to Accelerated Reader so that they are able to quiz on the books they read at home.

In History, we will look at different periods in history through the topic ‘Prehistoric Britain’, creating timelines and finding out more about the Stone age, Bronze Age and Iron Age and how people lived and survived.

In Science, we will be learning about ‘Forces and Magnets’. This will involve some investigations and recording of data as well as asking and answering questions about what they have found.

In Maths, we will be using ‘Power Maths’ which is a mastery approach to teaching maths. We will be starting by exploring number and place value before moving onto the four operations. We will be supporting them from where they are and building on their prior learning so they are able to access the maths curriculum. We will also be showing the children how to access and use Maths Flex so that they are prepared for their home learning.

We will be looking at learning French by introducing the use of Linguascope so that the children can use this at home. We will be focusing on singing familiar songs in French and learning how to say hello, ask how someone is and introduce themselves.

In RE, we will be thinking about Christianity. The children will experience different religious artefacts whilst discussing their importance and meaning to Christians. This unit will last all the first term so builds up to learning about Christmas.

In PE this term, the children will be learning about tag rugby. During the term, the children will need to develop their passing and catching skills, movement off the ball and how they communicate with others. They will also learn how tactics are used within rugby. They will be demonstrating these abilities when working as part of a team as they complete a variety of activities each week.

In their second PE lesson, the children will be developing a multitude of skills that can be transferred across a variety of sports. They will focus on hand-eye coordination, agility, pace, stamina and aim. The children will be completing a variety of activities each week and will then create their own activity to promote one of the learnt skills.

Our first PSHE unit is ‘Being Me in My World’, this will help the children to build confidence in their new class and support them being back in school as well as celebrating each other. It will also help the children to create the feeling of being a team and how we all bring something important to that team. We will also be introducing our learning behaviours including flexibility, determination, curiosity and being brave with their learning. The children will be encouraged to see mistakes as being OK and part of life for everyone. They can be very beneficial to their learning so long as they learn from and build on them.