Autumn Term
A very warm welcome to Blakemere! We hope you had a lovely summer and are excited to start the year together.
Literacy
To start the term, we will be exploring the book ‘Big Blue Whale’ by Nicola Davies. This unit of work will provide your children with a wide range of writing opportunities whilst engaging them through an inspiring non-fiction text. The children will write a non-chronological report about Blue Whales after conducting their own research. They will also create some inspiring poetry by playing with language, pattern and rhyme. To link in with our topic ‘Who inspires us?’, we will also be exploring the text ‘Somebody swallowed Stanley’ by Sarah Roberts. This unit of work will allow the children to explore the effect that plastic pollution is having on our oceans by following the journey of Stanley, a plastic bag, who gets washed up into the ocean and is eaten by many animals who mistake him as a jellyfish. By the end of the topic, the children will have written a newspaper article based upon this issue and offering possible solutions (En3/3.1, 3.2, 3.3).
After the half-term, the children will be looking at ‘The Great Kapok tree’ by Lynne Cherry. This brilliant text highlights the issues of deforestation in an engaging and thought-provoking way and links in with our topic on inspiring people in nature and conservation. The outcome of this unit of work is for the children to write a piece of persuasive writing which encourages people to save and protect the rainforest (En3/3.1, 3.2, 3.3).
Incorporated within Literacy, the children will be developing and building upon previously learnt key high frequency words/spellings and the spelling patterns for Year 3. There will be a strong emphasis on handwriting, grammar and reading comprehension. The children will read regularly in school whether it be individually, guided in a group or as a whole class reader (En3/2.1, 2,2, En3/3,4).
Maths
Number and Place Value Ma3/2.1
We will be counting on, finding 10 or 100 more or less than a given number. We will be recognising the place value of each digit of a three- digit number (100’s, 10’s and 1’s) and reading, writing, comparing and ordering numbers up to 1000 in numerals and words.
Addition and Subtraction Ma3/2.2
Using our three-digit number knowledge, we will be enhancing our mental arithmetic skills through addition and subtraction. They will develop and use written methods to record and explain addition and subtraction of two-digit and three digit numbers. Inverse operations will support checking answers to these calculations.
Multiplication and division Ma3/2.3
We will be exploring multiplication and division facts for 3’s, 4’s and 8’s multiplication tables using mental and written methods to work out the sums using a range of activities.
Measurement Ma3/3.1
In the Measurement unit they will be measuring the length and perimeter of a variety of items, working in mm, cm and m.
All the units will involve many problem-solving opportunities, including identifying and estimating numbers using different representations.
Science
Sc3/2.2 Animals including humans
This unit brings together and consolidates work that children have done before about animals and the human body. The children will sort, group, label and order elements of healthy living both for animals and humans. The children will recognise and label the different parts of the body and skeleton- suggesting explanations for observations, using scientific knowledge and understanding. They will understand and identify that humans and some other animals have skeletons and muscles for support, protection and movement and how nutrition is important.
Sc3/2.1 Plants
Within this unit the children will be exploring the life-cycle of plants and learning to identify the different parts of a plant. They will also explore the requirements of plants for life and growth but also how water is transported within them.
Topic
This terms topic is ‘Who inspires us?’. During this topic, we will be exploring the life and history of inspiring people within nature and animal conservation. The children will look at people such as: Jane Goodall, Dian Fossey, Birute Galdikas, Dr. Eugenie Clark, Dr.Daphne Sheldrick, Robert Falcon Scott and Roald Amundsen.
We also have educational trips, cooking days and art days based around our topic so that the children can learn as much as they possibly can about these inspiring people.
R.E and CARE
In RE, will be focusing on Christianity this term; looking at the description of God through language, symbols, stories and songs that describe God. We will also be exploring the ways we understand God through the life of Jesus, through biblical teaching.
In CARE, we will be focusing on creativity and aspirations.
Languages
Mr Hunt will be teaching Italian on Wednesdays. (FL2/1.1, FL2/1.2, FL2/1.3, FL2/1.4).
PE
This year PE will take place on Mondays and Fridays, please ensure kit is in school all week should any session slots change in the week due to competitions, trips etc. The whole school will go swimming on Thursdays, please make sure your child’s swimming kit is in that day. PE2/1.1/2
Homework
Homework will be given out in a 6-week jigsaw. Complete one task per week and to be handed in on a Wednesday.
Spellings will also be available online and in the homework folder. Each test takes place on a Friday (En3/3.1).
Reading: Please read with your child as frequently as possible and ask them questions about the text (even if they are a free reader, as this is proven to improve a child’s comprehension skills).
Miss Lewis and Mrs Campbell.