Attenborough Class
Welcome to Attenborough class. We hope you had an amazing summer and feel refreshed ready to start the new academic year. Now we are ready to tackle the autumn term with plenty of challenges and learning!
Our main autumn term topic is From the Stone Age to Iron Age in history and art, English and Reading. We begin in art by drawing prehistoric animals and learning how stone aged people used colour.
We shall be Investigating Rivers in geography in the second part of the term.
Reading: During Active Read sessions, four times a week, we will explore a variety of texts which include fiction and nonfiction, as well as song lyrics and interesting extracts linking to many of our curriculum topics. We will develop various reading skills and work on extension of vocabulary throughout. Our reading vipers work will run through this and we work as a whole class. Phonics sessions will run at this time for those children continuing with phonics learning.
Our first class text to read aloud and enjoy is ‘Stone Age Boy’ followed by ‘Ug’. We shall also read ‘The Hodgeheg’ this term, which is always popular with the children.
The children will also explore a range of Monty Read texts, which they will eventually share with our early years’ children.
At home, to help your child's development of reading, we encourage you to please read with and/or listen to your child at least five times per week. Please record in the orange reading journal and ensure that your child brings this to and from school every day! Each time your child reads, please number it in the margin of the journal, as this will be counted towards an award; 25 reads = bronze, 50 = silver and 75 = gold.
In English, we will begin work on our GPS (Grammar, Punctuation and Spelling) targets and our lessons will use some super texts such as ‘Leon and the place between’ (which is a really fun and engaging text) and ‘The first drawing’, a lovely book which links to our history and art work. With these texts as stimuli, we can practise our GPS skills and to produce some exciting writing pieces.
Spellings; words from the year 3 scheme of work will be set on a Friday with a test the following Friday. Please see the new homework book for the weekly words as well as the half-term overview. We follow this exactly. The homework book will now be used instead of the spelling journal. We will learn keywords, known as ‘tier or wow words’. The focus of these is to understand the meaning and be able to use these orally and in writing. Common exception words (cew) are also worked on regularly and tested at intervals through the year to track progress.
Handwriting sessions will be planned for each week as we are always looking to improve letter formation and presentation.
In mathematics, we will have weekly arithmetic lessons and arithmetic tests on a Monday. We will send home the test reflected on this. Autumn KIRFS, (Key Instant Recall Facts) are based on knowing all number bonds to 20 and know the multiplication and division facts for the 4 times table. A copy will be sent home in the homework book when we start a new block each half term. Please help your child to learn these facts well.
Power maths this autumn term begins by focusing on place value within 1,000; this unit is important as it explores 3-digit numbers in depth. For many children, it will be the first time they have met these numbers. This builds on the place value work they did in year 2 and they will extend many of the models and images that they have used previously. Addition and subtraction; the children explore additions and subtractions gradually, by considering in detail the adding of 1s, 10s and 100s separately. They then explore the need to exchange where addition or subtraction may cross the next place value column. This unit and the next are the real foundations for addition and subtraction for children’s whole mathematics career. Multiplication and division begins by asking children to show their understanding of equal groups. They will take time to look at arrays and how they can show two different multiplications. This unit also provides the opportunity to recap multiples of 2, 5 and 10 and explore if a given number is a multiple of one of these numbers. Finally, there is an opportunity to recap work on sharing and grouping and ensure that children know the difference between the two concepts.
Maths homework will be largely linked to the Times Table Rock Stars (TTRS) website. There will be a weekly task set on the website.
Initially we will set 10 minutes a week, increasing through the year. Please encourage your child to log on to complete this task, as it will help their number work hugely.
In science, our unit for the first part of the autumn term will be based on animals including humans; identify that animals including humans, need the right types and amounts of nutrition, and that they cannot make their own food; they get nutrition from what they eat. They will also learn how to identify that humans and some other animals have skeletons and muscles for support, protection and movement.
The second part of autumn is studying rocks where the children learn how to compare and group different kinds of rocks based on their appearance and simple physical properties. They will learn how to describe in simple terms how fossils are formed when things that have lived are trapped within rock and finally recognise that soils are made from rocks and organic matter.
Attenborough class will also be covering the following units in other areas of the curriculum;
Music – Ballads where we engage with the story behind songs and even have a go at writing our own!
Personal, Social and Health Education - ‘Being me in my world’ – we learn about celebrating ourselves and our achievements
Physical Education - Netball and fitness- we aim to beat our personal bests and develop invasion game skills.
Religious Education – Hinduism and Christianity, covering belonging and asking about true meaning of Christmas.
French - French greetings with puppets where we learn some basic greetings and have short conversations.
Computing – Internet safety- beginning with facts and opinions and how we can trust what we find out on the internet.
Finally, it would be wonderful to celebrate personal achievements so therefore any extra work the children complete at home, whether it is written, maths or creative, is welcomed in class.
Reminders:
- Extended learning (homework) will be set on a Friday and books should come back into school on Wednesdays for review.
- PE days are Thursday and Friday for this half term.
- Full P.E kit is needed with navy jogging bottoms/shorts/sweatshirts. Trainers keep our feet protected and ready to move!
- Hair must be tied back if shoulder length or longer and earrings must be removed for P.E.
- Ties must be worn
- A named water bottle should come into school every day with fresh water only please (no juice).
- A healthy snack can be brought in for break time. We ask for fruits and vegetables please.
We look forward to seeing the children progress and become successful learners throughout year 3.
If you would like to speak to one of the teaching team, this can be arranged via the school office.
Please do not hesitate to contact us should you have any queries.
The Attenborough Team
