Welcome to Year 3!

Mrs Higton	Mrs Felicity Morgan	Mrs Williams	Mrs Faith Morgan (Mrs M)
Class Teacher (Mon-Wed)	Class Teacher (Thur-Fri)	SEND Teaching Assistant	Teaching Assistant

This half-term our topic is:

‘Mighty Metals’

This term our model text will be ‘Iron Man’ by Ted Hughs. We will be focussing on writing an explanation of text (non-fiction) e.g., how do magnets work? What are forces? The group must include key features such as title, time conjunctions, present tense, chronological order, diagrams/illustrations, passive voice, paragraphs and ambitious vocabulary. We will then move on to writing a character description (fiction) and then finish off the term by looking at a list of poems. In SPAG we will focus on using fronted adverbials, using commas after fronted adverbials, prefixes (re, sub, inter), time conjunctions, word families and homophones. We will continue to practice common exception words daily, improving our handwriting fluency and be able record a short dictated passage independently.

In Science, we will be looking at forces and magnetism. We will explore different forces such as push, pull, gravity, air resistance and friction through lots of practical investigations. We will then look at magnets and how they work. The class will group materials for magnetic properties, investigate what friction does, why magnets attract and repel, discuss how mighty magnets are and distinguish if they can block magnetism.

For more information on what we are learning, please see the topic overview.

Homework; Your child will receive a piece of Maths or English homework each week in their CGP booklets. The children will write the pages that they need to complete in their reading record every Thursday and it should be returned to school by the following WEDNESDAY so that we can mark it. Please support and encourage your child to do their homework as independently as they can; we are really striving for that independence and personal responsibility now we are Juniors. If you are finding something about your child’s homework difficult, please come and speak to us and we can show/explain the best way to support your child.

Times Tables; Each child has an individual login for an app called Times Table Rockstars where they can practice their times tables. If you go to the Arena, you can play against your friends! If you lose your login details, please let us know and we can reissue them. By the end of Year 3 the expectation is that your children will know their x2, x3, x4, x5, x8 and x10 tables and the related division facts.

Reading; Now that your child is in Juniors, we will not be listening to them read on an individual basis as often. However, please be assured we will be monitoring the progress of their reading very carefully through activities such as group reading during ERIC time, comprehension activities and discrete English lessons dedicated to developing reading skills. The expectation is that your child still reads for 10 minutes every night at home. Please record this in your child’s reading record. We will be monitoring how often children are reading at home. Books can be changed any morning, first thing.

Snacks; Your child can bring a healthy snack to school to eat at break-time (fruit or vegetables). Please ensure your child has their own water bottle in school daily and that it is named. (No juice or cordial, just water).

Spellings: We no longer set weekly spellings for your child to practise but we do encourage them to continue to practice the statutory spellings for Year 3/4. Take some time to practice these with your child; little and often is best.

PE is on Wednesday mornings at the Leisure Centre. Children need to come to school in their PE kit and trainers.

Swimming will take place on Friday mornings in the Spring Term. Children will need to bring their swim kit, towel, swim hat (and goggles if preferred) in a separate swim bag.