Welcome to Year 3
Summer Term 2013
Our topic for this term will be Ancient Greece.
Topics of work
As always we will be using a cross curricular approach to teach the ancient Greeks and will incorporate learning into all subjects whenever possible. During our topic children use their own experience, particularly of being at school, as a springboard to find out about the influence that the ancient Greeks continue to have on our lives. Children will use a wide range of sources, including archaeology, to find out about the ancient Greeks and compare a past society with society today.
Click on the pictures to find out more.....
LITERACY
We will be following the National Strategies for Numeracy and Literacy lessons. During our Literacy lessons this term we will be focusing upon, ‘Greek Myths and legends’ and ‘Adventure and Mystery’ in Narrative sessions, Instructions in Non- Fiction sessions and Poems to perform. Our author focus for the term will be Tony Ross, we will be sharing this with the class when we have finished our Michael Morpurgo stories. Your child is as always very welcome to bring in books that they have read and recommend just please ensure they have a name in - thank you.
SCIENCE
In Science lessons our first focus will be ‘Magnets’. This unit gives children experience of forces, including attraction and repulsion between magnets, compression and stretching of springs and stretching of elastic bands. They learn that these forces have direction and can vary in size. They also learn which materials are attracted to magnets. The second focus is ‘Characteristics of Materials’. Through this unit children should extend their knowledge of the range of materials we use and of the properties that characterise them. This knowledge should help them recognise what needs to be considered when a material is chosen for a particular use.
ICT
During ICT sessions children will be sharing their knowledge of e-mailing and will use e-mail (electronic mail) to send and receive messages. They will learn about communicating over distances and will need to consider and compare different methods of communication.
Alongside this we will also be using ICTto understand that computer simulations can represent real and imaginary situations. They will learn how to explore simulations, explore options and to test their predictions. They will evaluate simulations by comparing them with real situations and considering their usefulness.
MUSIC
Our Music unit will be working on exploring, describing and composing rhythmic patterns. We will also work on singing games, clapping, tapping and performing actions to the beat of different songs. Recorders will be continued this term; however this will now be on a Monday, so please ensure that recorders and recorder books are in school on this day.
D&T
During DT we will be continuing to follow our Ancient Greece topic by designing pneumatic systems that will make a Minotaur and Cyclops move.
R.E
In R.E. we will be continuing our focus upon Christianity; looking at how different beliefs about God can change the way people live and act and also exploring what is God like for a Christian.
ART
In Art we will be finding out about, observing and describing Greek sculpture. Contrasting this with the sculptures by the current artist Tony Cragg. We will then concentrate on an area for development within the school and draw, plan and create our own sculpture.
In P.E. we will be working on striking and fielding skills and athletics, during which we will be developing good basic running, jumping and throwing techniques.
P.S.H.C.E
We will continue to follow S.E.A.L during P.S.H.C.E lessons covering ‘Relationships’ and ‘Changes’. The children will explore their feelings in difficult situations, when they may feel guilty or to blame and discuss how to deal with these feelings and what to do. In preparation for the transition to the next year group we will start to discuss things that change and things that stay the same; how changes make us feel and what we do.
PLEASE REMEMBER TO ALWAYS ASK YOUR PARENTS IF IT IS OK FOR YOU TO USE THE INTERNET AND THAT THEY ARE ALWAYS WITH YOU WHEN YOU USE IT. REMEMBER TO STAY SAFE!!
Click on the links below to find out more about our science focus...
Magnets & Springs 
Here are some useful websites to help you with Numeracy:
Author Focus
Click on Tony Ross to find out more......
A few things for you to remember are noted below...
Homework
Children will have one structured guided reading session a week, books will be changed accordingly and a planned homework activity based upon the focus text will be given on a weekly basis; to be completed by their next session. We expect pupils in Year 3 to be reading on a daily basis and noting this in their journals.
On Fridays your child will take home a Maths Homework book. It will contain games and activities that are linked with an aspect of the Numeracy lessons taught during the week. This book will be collected each Wednesday. We do ask that children also continue to learn their times tables; these will be tested on a weekly basis.
On Wednesdays your child will take home a Spelling Homework book. It will contain a list of spellings that your child will be expected to learn and will be tested upon the following Monday.
If you want to help your child at home - take a look at the purple mash link which you will find under 'Learning Links' on the right of the home page towards the bottom. Please note that you will need to be logged on with your child's password to use this. Come and see me if you have any problems with anything.
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