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Year 3

Mr Jones (Class Teacher)

Mrs Gourlay, Mrs Sweeney and Mrs Lorek (Support Staff)

Autumn 2023

A warm welcome to all the new Year 3 cohort! I have been thoroughly impressed with the way they
have all stepped up to Key Stage 2, and am confident of the year ahead of them.

In our Reading lessons we have started studying fables, using Michael Rosen’s retelling of Aesop’s
Fables as our starting point. We have started looking more deeply at fables in English, unpicking the
common features we have seen so far and developing our storytelling skills by practising intonation
when reading aloud. We will then consider War and Peas by Michael Foreman as a less typical fable,
eventually writing and performing a fable of our own!

In Maths we refreshed representations to 100, before developing new skills in partitioning numbers
and more sophisticated number line work. These skills will help us to level up to four digit numbers,
developing a strong grasp of place value before moving into addition and subtraction.

I’ve been impressed with the scientific minds that have come into Year 3! We’ve begun the term
looking at light, what constitutes a light source, how light moves, and how it is reflected. We will
develop a strong scientific rigor throughout the year, learning to write like the scientists we are
while conducting experiments!

We are learning about the Impressionist movement in Art, and the importance of Claude Monet this
term. As part of our introduction to the class we remade front covers for the books we are currently
reading to complement our reading area.

In Computing we are starting to think like coders, learning how it is that the marvels of modern
technology work and begin to speak the language of computers. We are making simple animations
in Scratch throughout this term to demonstrate the growing fluency in these digital natives.

In History we are looking at prehistoric Britain. From the Stone Age through the Bronze Age and into
the Iron Age, we have been considering the enormity of time, and how we can go about gathering
insights into how people used to live before written records.

In PE we are going for swimming lessons, and back at Manland we are playing tag rugby.

To top it all off are also going to learn to play the violin! We are well on our way to being true
renaissance students!

Summer 2023

Welcome back! I can’t believe we are already in the summer term! Year 3 have started our final term just as excited as ever about all of the new topics for this term.

In our Reading lessons, we have been studying Anita Ganeri’s ’Horrible Geography: Planet in Peril’. We have been learning about the environment and we have been discussing how we can help to save our planet. Alongside this learning, in English, we have been busy writing our own persuasive speeches about plastic use.

In Maths, we have been learning about fractions. I have been so impressed with the aspirational learning from the class, as I know fractions are a tricky topic. This term we are also learning about volume and capacity, money, time, shape and finishing the year with statistics.

In our Science lessons we have started on our topic of ‘rocks’. The children have been able to identify different types of rocks and fossils. As there are some future palaeontologist’s in the class, they have been really interested in this.

Our topic in Geography this term is ‘Our European Neighbours’. We have been enjoying listening to songs about the countries in Europe to help enhance our learning. We have also been identifying different countries based on their features, such as the money they use and the colour or design of their flag.

In our second topic of the term, we will be studying the Roman Empire in Britain. We are really looking forward to going to the Verulamium Museum as part of our learning. 

In PE this term, Year 3 are continuing with their swimming lessons. This year I have been so impressed with the progress they have all made. Alongside this, we will also be looking at throwing and catching, and some athletics later in the term.

Year 3 should all be so proud of the work they have done this year. We are all really excited to see what this final term brings.

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