Year 3

Welcome to Year 3!

Welcome back! We are looking forward to a wonderful start to the year as we begin our exciting Autumn 1 topic, The Mediterranean. Throughout the half term, the children will be exploring different Mediterranean countries, learning about their geography, culture and food, whilst developing new skills across the curriculum. We have lots of engaging learning planned and can't wait to share it with you.

English

This half term, we will be studying the beautiful story Grandad's Island by Benji Davies. Through this text, the children will explore themes of adventure, family, travel and discovery.

The children will:

• Develop their reading comprehension skills through discussion, prediction and inference.
• Write their own stories inspired by the text.
• Create letters to and from characters in the story.
• Write instructions for building a shelter.
• Design and write a persuasive advert for their own island.
• Learn how to use speech punctuation and adventurous vocabulary to improve their writing.

Mathematics

In Maths, we will begin by developing our understanding of place value before moving on to addition and subtraction.  

Children will learn to:

• Read, write and represent numbers up to 1,000.
• Understand hundreds, tens and ones.
• Compare and order numbers.
• Find 1, 10 and 100 more or less than a given number.
• Add and subtract numbers using mental and written methods.
• Explain their mathematical thinking and solve problems using reasoning skills.

Science

Our Science unit is Animals, Including Humans: Skeletons and Nutrition.

The children will:

• Learn about the nutrients our bodies need to stay healthy.
• Explore healthy foods, including those found in Mediterranean diets.
• Investigate different food groups.
• Discover how skeletons support, protect and help our bodies move.
• Compare human skeletons with those of other animals.

There will be lots of opportunities for practical investigations, model making and scientific discussion.

Geography

As part of our Mediterranean topic, children will become geographers and explore this fascinating region of the world.

They will:

• Locate Mediterranean countries on maps, globes and atlases.
• Identify the surrounding seas and oceans.
• Compare human and physical geographical features.
• Use digital maps and atlases to develop map-reading skills.
• Research different Mediterranean countries and create fact files.

Art and Design

Our artist focus this half term is Antoni Gaudí, the famous Spanish architect and designer.

Children will:

• Learn about Gaudí's life and artwork.
• Sketch buildings inspired by his designs.
• Explore patterns and shape.
• Create colourful mosaic artwork inspired by his famous creations.

This work links beautifully to our Mediterranean topic and helps us learn more about Spanish culture.  

Computing

This half term's Computing unit is Stop Frame Animation.

The children will:

• Discover how animations are created from a sequence of images.
• Create flip-book style animations.
• Plan stories using storyboards.
• Create and edit their own stop-frame animations.
• Evaluate and improve their work.
• Add sound and other media to enhance their final film.

Religious Education (RE)

Our RE unit asks the question:

What is it like for someone to follow God?

Children will:

• Learn about key figures from the Old Testament.
• Explore the story of Noah and God's covenant.
• Learn about Abraham and his relationship with God.
• Discuss what Christians believe about following God today.
• Consider why the Bible remains important to Christians.

PSHE

Our topic this half term is Being Me in My World.

Children will explore:

• Personal goals and aspirations.
• Self-worth and identity.
• Rights and responsibilities.
• Rules and routines.
• Rewards and consequences.
• Making positive choices.
• Understanding and respecting the views of others.

These sessions help us build a happy, respectful and supportive classroom community.

PE

This half term, Year 3 will be developing their skills in Hockey.

Children will learn:

• How to hold a hockey stick safely and correctly.
• Dribbling and ball-control skills.
• Passing and receiving techniques.
• Basic attacking and defending strategies.
• The importance of teamwork, communication and fair play.

We are excited to develop our confidence and sportsmanship through a range of fun games and activities.

Spanish

In Spanish, children will begin learning the basics of conversational Spanish.

They will:

• Learn greetings and introductions.
• Ask and answer simple questions.
• Talk about their feelings.
• Count from 0-11.
• Learn colours.
• Take part in songs, games and speaking activities to build confidence and pronunciation.  

Music

We are delighted that Tameside Music Service will be working with Year 3 this half term to teach the children how to play the recorder.

Through these exciting lessons, children will:

• Learn how to hold and play the recorder correctly.
• Develop their listening and performance skills.
• Begin to read simple musical notation.
• Practise playing simple tunes and songs.
• Develop their understanding of pulse, rhythm and pitch.
• Build confidence performing as part of a group.

This is a fantastic opportunity for the children to begin learning a musical instrument whilst developing the skills needed to read music and perform together.

Alongside recorder lessons, they will continue to enjoy listening to and discussing different styles of music. Our Musicians of the Month are Oasis. Children will learn about the band and their contribution to music while developing listening and appreciation skills. The whole school will also continue to enjoy weekly singing practice in the hall.

We are looking forward to a fantastic first half term full of learning, creativity and new experiences. Thank you for your continued support and we can't wait to see all the wonderful progress the children make during their first weeks in Year 3!

Miss Daulby, Miss Davies and Mrs Owens 😊