In English we explore lots of lovely stories including ‘Leon and the Place Between’, ‘The Iron Man’, ‘Charlotte’s Web’ and ‘George’s Marvellous Medicine’. The children use these magical stories to create character descriptions, reports, letters and adventure stories. They also learn through drama and role play. We try to instil a love of reading through our class texts, weekly guided reading and visiting the school library. The children enjoy reading Little Wandle fluency books, 3 times a week. These books help the children to develop their fluency and understanding. Children are encouraged to read at home as often as possible to their grown up.
In Year 3 we continue to develop our joined
up handwriting. The children are encouraged to use joined writing in their daily
work and we are always on the lookout for those children who can be rewarded
with their first handwriting pen and licence!
For Maths we follow the White Rose maths curriculum, developing our understanding of different areas of maths using practical equipment to support our learning. Each morning we practise our arithmetic skills focusing on getting quicker at adding, subtracting, multiplying and dividing. We use TT Rockstars and weekly Learn it challenges to practise our times tables and addition facts. We encourage the children to login and use TT Rockstars at home too. Children complete CLIC and SAFE tests every week to help plan their learning and assess their progress.
In Year 3 we continue to support some pupils with Little Wandle
phonics. These interventions support the pupils with their reading and writing
skills until their confidence and independence develops.
Alongside phonics intervention, Year 3 have a daily 20 minute
spelling lesson. The children learn the Stage 3 Spelling Shed words through interactive
games, counting syllables, recognising graphemes and writing sentences.
The class are encouraged to practise their weekly spelling at
home on Spelling Shed.
Other areas of the curriculum
All our curriculum subjects are carefully planned to enable the children to develop their skills and knowledge from the previous year.
In Science the children learn about Rocks and Soils, Light and Shadows, Forces and Magnets and the Human Skeleton. The children are encouraged to investigate, explore and ask questions to help their learning. We have great fun experimenting and try to use practical resources to make lessons engaging.
Year 3 love to travel back in time and learn about significant people and events in history. They are immersed in times beyond living memory and learn about the fascinating Ancient Egyptian civilisation and The Stone Age to Bronze Age. We also consider the world around us and study map skills, rivers and the local area.
Year 3 are a very creative group of children and their skills are encouraged through music, art and dance. In music they are lucky to have Mrs Brown and James to teach them musical skills through singing, games and using instruments like the Ukulele. Art lessons build on their KS1 skills and the children create art work from clay and mixing paints to make new shades in the style of Georgia O’Keeffe.
The children are taught to look after themselves and make healthy choices through weekly PE sessions. In Year 3 the children develop skills in gymnastics, swimming, ball skills, team games and athletics. We also value the importance of keeping our minds healthy and frequently discuss the values in the Happy Minds programme. We encourage the children to use Happy Breathing and different techniques to help them stay calm and relaxed.
