Year 3

Welcome to Year 3 Class Page!

Welcome to our information page, the first year of the Key Stage 2 journey.

Key Stage 2 (KS2) is the National curriculum delivered to pupils in England during Year 3,4, 5 and 6 (ages 7-11) and a very important part of primary school. It covers lots of different topics including art, computing, geography, history, RE, foreign languages, PE and, of course, English, maths and science. Your child is going to learn a lot and hopefully really enjoy the experience.

It’s fair to say that there is a strong focus on maths and English. This is for good reason as these subjects are gateways to so much of the learning that will come in the future. So, by the end of Year 6, the goal is for all children to have a secure understanding of English and maths and that is what the KS2 exams (SATs) will test for.

Maths

 We follow White Rose maths scheme of work as a foundation to our maths teaching. This ensures that our children revisit key concepts of learning regularly in order to commit knowledge to our long term memories. We use a Maths Mastery approach that encourages children to question and explore maths in a fun and exciting way. Manipulatives are essential to our teaching and learning, and these key tools help our children in knowing and remembering more.

We aim for all children to be fluent with their number facts and have multiple strategies to choose from when problem solving and calculating. Being able to make efficient strategy choices, alongside fast recall of number facts are what we need for confident, young mathematicians!

Homework

This will be sent out on a Friday (Numeracy or Reading focus) and is due in the following Wednesday. The children will also bring home weekly spellings to learn and will be tested each week.

Reading

Your children are becoming fluent and expressive readers, but understanding the text that they are reading is just as important. Every week, your child will bring home a colour-banded book, which supports targets for your child's reading level. Please aim to read the book at least 3 times with your child to consolidate and secure their understanding as repetition is key to closing any gaps. In addition, questioning and encouraging your child into a discussion about what they have read will assist their progress. Alongside their colour-banded book, the children should also be reading a book for pleasure, which can include novels, magazines, comics and poems. 

When reading with your child, please remember to sign their home reading record so we can assess their progress.

I ask that you aim to read with your child 5 times per week - I know that finding the time can be tricky, but even a 5 minute read can make a difference!

Autumn Term Year 3

Through the Ages - This project teaches children about British prehistory from the Stone Age to the Iron Age, including changes to people and lifestyle caused by ingenuity, invention and technological advancement.

Animal Nutrition and the Skeletal System - This project teaches children about the importance of nutrition for humans and other animals. They learn about the role of a skeleton and muscles and identify animals with different types of skeleton.

Colour Theory - This project teaches children about colour theory by studying the colour wheel and colour mixing. It includes an exploration of tertiary colours, warm and cool colours, complementary colours, analogous colours and how artists use colour in their artwork.

Cook Well, Eatwell - This project teaches children about food groups and the Eatwell guide. They learn about methods of cooking and explore these by cooking potatoes and ratatouille. The children choose and make a taco filling according to specific design criteria.

One Planet, Our World - This essential skills and knowledge project teaches children to locate countries and cities, and use grid references, compass points and latitude and longitude. They learn about the layers of the Earth and plate tectonics and discover the five major climate zones. They learn about significant places in the United Kingdom and carry out fieldwork to discover how land is used in the locality.

Prehistoric Pots - This project teaches children about Bell Beaker pottery. It allows the children to explore different clay techniques, which they use to make and decorate a Bell Beaker-style pot.

Spring Term Year 3

Rocks, Relics and Rumbles - This project teaches children about the features and characteristics of Earth's layers, including a detailed exploration of volcanic, tectonic and seismic activity.

Forces and Magnets - This project teaches children about contact and non-contact forces, including friction and magnetism. They investigate frictional and magnetic forces, and identify parts of a magnet and magnetic materials.

Ammonite - This project teaches children about artistic techniques used in sketching, printmaking and sculpture.

Making It Move - This project teaches children about cam mechanisms. They experiment with different shaped cams before designing, making and evaluating a child's automaton toy.

People and Places - This project teaches children about the genre of figure drawing. They study the figure drawings and urban landscapes of the artist LS Lowry and create artwork in his style to show scenes from their school.

Summer Term Year 3

Emperors and Empires - This project teaches children about the history and structure of ancient Rome and the Roman Empire, including a detailed exploration of the Romanisation of Britain.

Plant Nutrition and Reproduction - This project teaches children about the requirements of plants for growth and survival. They describe the parts of flowering plants and relate structure to function, including the roots and stem for transporting water, leaves for making food and the flower for reproduction.

Beautiful Botanicals - This project teaches children about the genre of botanical art. They create natural weavings, two-colour prints and beautiful and detailed botanical paintings of fruit.

Greenhouse - This project teaches children about the purpose, structure and design features of greenhouses, and compares the work of two significant greenhouse designers. They learn techniques to strengthen structures and use tools safely. They use their learning to design and construct a mini greenhouse.

Light and Shadows - This project teaches children about light and dark. They investigate the phenomena of reflections and shadows, looking for patterns in collected data. The risks associated with the Sun are also explored.

Mosaic Masters - This project teaches children about the history of mosaics, before focusing on the colours, patterns and themes found in Roman mosaic. The children learn techniques to help them design and make a mosaic border tile.