• Homework
• Key Dates

Mrs Maguire and Miss Jones.

Welcome to Year 3

Summer Term

Class Saint: St Paul

Dear Parents,    

Welcome back to school and I hope you have had a wonderful Easter with your lovely children and I hope the children feel ready for the new term.

This term, the children will learn the following:

Geography

This term in geography, we will be studying ‘The Rainforest’. The children will take a trek into the depths of the jungle and explore the geography of the rainforests. They will explore where rainforests are located in the world, what the different layers of the rainforest are like, who lives in rainforests and much more, all through a variety of engaging activities that will hopefully turn the children into rainforest geography experts!

History

This term in geography, we will be studying ‘The Maya Civilisation’. The children will go on an exciting journey into the fascinating Maya civilisation. Children will discover where the Maya lived, learn about their daily lives, explore how their society was structured, investigate the evidence they left behind and delve into some intriguing Maya mysteries. We even have a super exciting trip planned to Cadbury’s World on Wednesday 11^th June where we will take part in a Mayan workshop!

Religion

Our Religious Education topics will be ‘Ends of the Earth’ and ‘Dialogue and Encounter’.

In the ‘Ends of the Earth’ topic, the children will learn about Jesus on road to Emmaus, the mission to the world, Pentecost, the early church, Saint Paul and the mystery of God.

In the ‘Dialogue and Encounter’ topic, the children will learn about the Hebrews in Egypt, Exodus preparations, Jewish celebration of Passover, the last supper, Islam and our Christian beliefs.

Our class assembly about ‘Saint Paul’ will be on Friday 27^th June at 9am. The children have been given a script before Easter so they can learn their lines for this.

Mathematics

In Maths, we will continue to work through the Power Maths Scheme that I am sure many of you are now familiar with. The units we will be focusing on in the summer term are: Fractions, Money, Time, Angles and Properties of Shapes, and Statistics. Children will be expected to continue to learn their times tables ready for their weekly tests. They also have access to Times Tables Rockstars to help with their times tables practise.

English

In English, we will mainly work on a text-based approach, and enjoy reading a range of quality picture books, non-fiction texts and extracts from longer novels. This term, we will be focussing on the texts: ‘Journey’ by Aaron Becker and ‘Zeraffa Giraffa’ by Dianne Hofmeyr. Now that many of the children are becoming confident decoders, the reading focus begins to shift in Year 3, and concentrates more on developing comprehension skills.  Our shared texts will also inspire writing in a range of genres including, narrative, poetry, and instructional text types.  In addition, discrete grammar, spelling and handwriting lessons will also be taught.

Science

In Science, we will be learning about ‘Plants’ and ‘Light’. Through these topics, the children will develop their scientific enquiry skills, making observations, predictions, and conclusions.

In our ‘Plants’ topic, the children will identify and describe the functions of different parts of flowering plants and explore the requirements of plants for life and growth. The children will also investigate the way in which water is transported within plants and explore the part that flowers play in the life cycle of flowering plants.

In our ‘Light’ topic, the children will recognise that they need light in order to see things and that dark is the absence of light. They will recognise that light from the sun can be dangerous and that there are ways to protect their eyes. Children will investigate how shadows are formed when the light from a light source is blocked by an opaque object and find patterns in the way that the size of shadows change

Computing

The children will have the opportunity to use laptops and IPads. We follow the Purple Mash scheme of work and this term the children will be learning about emails, branching databases and simulations.

PE and Swimming

P.E this term will be on Tuesday. Please ensure your child has their P.E. kit on this day.

Swimming will be on Thursday; however, this will be on a bi-weekly basis. Please see the below dates for when your child will need their swimming kit:

• 8/5
• 22/5
• 12/6
• 26/6
• 10/7

We hope you find this information useful, and it will enable you to discuss with your child what they have been doing at school.

What homework will my child have to complete in Year 3?

All homework tasks are intended to benefit your child’s learning, by consolidating work done in school, and encouraging them to work more independently. Each Friday, I will update the Year 3 page on the school website to provide details of the homework set each week.

In Year 3, your child’s homework will include:

• Daily reading;
• Spellings (tested on Wednesday);
• Times tables (tested on Friday) practise on Times Tables Rockstars;
• One Maths or English task per week, which will set in CPG homework books (which will be sent home on Thursday/Friday and due in the following Thursday so they can be marked).
• Occasional Science, Topic or Religion based

Parents often ask if there is something they can do at home to support their child’s learning. Ensuring they complete their homework tasks to the best of their ability, and supporting them where necessary, will really help them to make good progress. Daily spelling practice, using the ‘look, say, cover, write, check’ approach, is invaluable in helping them to learn their weekly spellings and daily practise of times tables will also be essential.

I simply cannot emphasise enough the importance of continuing to hear your child read at home on a daily basis and in particular, to begin to support the development of comprehension skills, through discussion and questioning.

The following websites provide excellent online resources to support with homework too:

https://www.oxfordowl.co.uk/for-home

http://www.bbc.co.uk/bitesize/ks2/

https://www.timestables.co.uk/

https://ttrockstars.com/

When will my child be heard to read?

Your child will not necessarily be assigned a specific reading day in Key Stage 2. Therefore, please could you ensure your child has their reading book and yellow reading record in school every day.

This allows for greater flexibility with our timetable and more opportunity for your child to change their book more regularly. Once they have finished their book,    your child is welcome to change their book on any day of the week, provided their record has been signed.

What does my child need to bring to school each day?

Please ensure that your child has the following items in school on a daily basis:

• Their reading book and reading record carried in a blue school book bag;
• A named water bottle;
• A coat (even if the weather is a little inclement, we try to get outside at playtime as much as possible);
• A piece of fruit or a vegetable snack for break time (please be reminded that Year 3 children are no longer provided with a piece of fruit, as they have been used to in For those of you who are not familiar with our school policy, only fruit or vegetable snacks are permitted, including dried fruit);
• Break time snacks and drinks ranging from 20p – £1 will also be available to buy.

End of The Day Arrangements

We will be exiting through the hall fire doors, near the main school office, so please collect from there promptly at 3:10pm.

Any children attending Whizz Kids or The Den are handed over at their designated meeting points. 

Please do not hesitate to contact me directly, with a query or concern, by emailing smaguire@stgabriels.cheshire.sch.uk .

Please note teachers are no longer being contacted via messenger on Class Dojo. However, Class Dojo will be used for updates on the Class Story page.

I will endeavour to respond at the earliest opportunity, but since this email address cannot be monitored whilst I am teaching, if your concern is of an urgent nature, you may need to telephone the school office or email admin@stgabriels.cheshire.sch.uk

Yours sincerely,

Mrs S. Maguire (Class teacher)