To access our full curriculum planning, please click this link:

https://www.langdaleprimary.co.uk/curriculum-intent-implementation-and-impact/

Welcome to Year 3 2020 - 21!

The teachers in Year 3 are:

Miss Hall (3H)

 Miss Dunn (3D) 

The Teaching Assistant across Year 3 is Mrs. Capper.

Mrs Smith is a Teaching Assistant in 3D.

Our termly topics are as follows:

Autumn Term: Staffordshire Superstars - What is unique about me and where I live?

Spring Term: Meet the Flintstones - Stone Age to Iron Age

Summer Term: Romans - Rotten or Righteous?  Did the Romans make Britain great?

Science: The curriculum areas covered in Y3 are:

Autumn term - Animals including Humans: skeletons, bones, muscles and diet

Spring term - Forces and Magnets; Rocks and Soils

Summer term - Helping Plants Grow Well; Light and Shadows

Organisation of the curriculum: Mornings are given to the teaching and learning of skills in English (reading; writing; spelling; punctuation and grammar; speaking and listening) and Mathematics. Through the Creative Curriculum approach, we aim to introduce the children to a very wide range of knowledge, skills  and understanding by making as many cross-curricular links through our topics as possible. For example, after investigating different rocks and their formation in Science, the children learn about volcanoes and earthquakes in Geography and also find out about historic cataclysmic events such as the eruption of Mount Vesuvius. They follow an extended unit in English based on the text 'Escape from Pompeii,' which helps provide a rich background context to the 'Romans in Britain' focus in History, as well as having the opportunity to create an exploding volcano in Design and Technology, and perform volcano mimes and dances.  

Reading, Phonics and Spelling: These are taught in groups organised around the children's needs. Reading diaries should be signed by an adult three times a week, and can be backdated to cover the days your child's diary is kept in school. The signature will inform the teacher that you have listened to your child read at home - the reading can be their Accelerated Reader (AR) book, their class library book or their group Guided Reading text. Additional information about reading can be found at the end of General Information.

Homework: In addition to regular reading, your child will have 2 homework tasks per week which consist of a set of spellings that follow a phonic focus or spelling pattern, and a focus Times Table with its related division facts. Spelling lists will be posted on Google Classroom each Monday (paper copies will be provided for children without access to Google Classroom) and a new times table list, if appropriate, will be stuck into the front of your child's Homework book on a Monday morning. This gives your child the whole week to practise spellings and times tables at home, as well as in school. The children will be tested on their spellings and tables the following Monday and this is recorded in the back of the Homework book so that parents can keep track of how their child is faring. The children self-mark their own spellings and tables tests in red pen: this gives the children instant feedback and involves them actively in the learning process, encouraging them to assess their own strengths and identify the areas on which they need to work next.

Tables facts need to be recalled very quickly rather than worked out: your child may not necessarily move on to a new times table each week, but will probably need to repeat a set of number facts until their speedy mental recall develops securely. The aim is for a response time of 7 seconds or less. In Y3, the main focus is learning the 4, 8, 3 and 6 times tables, in addition to the 2s, 5s and 10s from KS1. Many children will also securely reach the 9s, while some will go further and complete all or most of their tables facts up to the 12 times table. Related division facts also need to be learned and are a tricky challenge. Log on to Top Marks Hit the Button, and Times Tables Rockstars, for lots of fun practising against the clock! Hit the Button is also a very good tool for practising doubles, halves and other number facts.

In addition, your child will be asked to do one homework task each term in researching, creating and presenting a project linked to a particular area of learning. Information regarding the first project, about a family tree, will be sent out in due course. 

PE: 

        PE will take place on Wednesday afternoons. All the children should come dressed for the day in their PE kits, so warm joggers and a fleecy hoodie are ideal for the chilly weather as we will do PE outside as much as possible. Please make sure that all trainers fit and, if your child has lace-up trainers, please spend some time teaching them how to tie their own laces. This is a key life skill and needs a lot of practice!

Classroom equipment:

· Children need to bring a water bottle filled with fresh water every day.

· Inhalers should be clearly labelled and will be kept in the classroom.

· All reading, AR and Guided Reading books should be brought to school every day.

· All reading diaries need to be brought in on a Monday but will not be returned home until later in the week for safety reasons in the current health crisis.

Routines and expectations: You may find that some routines and expectations are different from KS1; this is because we aim to start building greater independence in Year 3. However, we think that it is very important that all children are still released to an adult by a staff member at the end of the day for safety reasons. This will be through the main school entrance for the foreseeable future.

We would ask that all important messages and information are emailed or phoned through to office since face-to-face discussions with parents are not part of our daily routine at the present time. Please note that forgotten items will not be accepted and passed on by the office, so help your child check that they have everything with them that they need for the day.  

Expectations of behaviour remain high. There are several ways that you will know when your child’s behaviour is good: they will receive certificates from the class teacher or Head teacher or they may receive special stickers

and class rewards. The school follows the 'Good to be Green' behaviour system, whereby children earn Golden Time through their good behaviour all week and join in with chosen activities on a Friday afternoon. However there are also Warnings and Consequence cards for repeated misbehaviour: afternoon 'Golden Breaks,' and fortnightly Friday afternoon Golden Time, may be lost and cannot be redeemed in order to reinforce the consequences of making poor choices. In the case of repeated undesirable behaviour by a child, the class teacher contact parents to discuss issues and formulate a way forward to best address the situation. 

Christmas gingerbread

The children have really enjoyed making Christmas cookies over the last few weeks as a Christmas treat from Miss Dunn and myself. We felt sad not to be able to do provide many of the fun party games and prizes that we would usually do at Christmas time, so instead we bought all the ingredients for making and decorating gingerbread cookies. They were a very big hit with the children - take a look at the photos!

Merry Christmas everyone!

Clarice Cliff art

To finish off our topic about Staffordshire and Stoke-on-Trent, the children found about some famous 'pottery' names of the past such as Wedgwood and Doulton, then went on to focus on the designers and artists Emma Bridgewater and Clarice Cliff. As we have been unable to visit Gladstone Pottery Museum this year due to the Coronavirus, I managed to source biscuit ware plates from the museum on which the children could create their own Clarice Cliff-inspired design. The children chose one of the iconic styles for their own theme - either Bizarre, the country cottage landscape, or Crocus. Here are a few photos of the children at work - with very impressive results, too!

                                                Smoky Stoke

The children have been learning all about the Potteries of the past in History lessons, from the rapid growth of the Six Towns to the experiences of child workers on the pot banks. The urban landscape has made an impact on the children, who have been fascinated with the iconic bottle oven skyline; they have also considered many photos of a bygone era showing the famous Potteries' "fresh air." In Art, the children studied the fantastic artwork of much-missed local artist Sid Kirkham, who some years ago had very generously allowed our school to make copies of original sketches from his own sketchbook. The children were really inspired by Sid's work based on his postwar childhood in the Potteries, and, over a few weeks, planned, sketched and created their own artwork using charcoal with the theme of Smoky Stoke. Take a look at the creative process of Y3 artists in action! 

What has Y3 been up to in the first few weeks of term?

The children have had a very busy time so far and have settled into their new classes and new routines very well. The focus in Maths has been consolidating understanding of Place Value in 2-digit numbers from Y2 before moving onto numbers to 1,000. The children have been learning new skills and strategies in practical, pictorial and active ways to really master this crucial and fundamental aspect of Mathematics. Our class text in English is 'Flotsam', a brilliant wordless picture book by David Wiesner, which is providing many opportunities in language and writing. The children are creating their own noun phrases (i.e. a noun with an adjective, such as 'amazing sandcastle' or 'vast ocean') to describe events in the story, as well as extending their use of a variety of verbs and describing the movement with an adverb. Our Science focus has been on diet in humans and animals, learning the names of the five food groups and appreciating the need for a balanced diet. This week, the children were taught how to use a knife safely and correctly to prepare their own healthy fruit plates - which they then enjoyed scrumptiously! In other curriculum areas, the children have developed their sketching techniques by drawing portraits with different starting points, in Computing they have been learning about internet safety and dangers online, and in French they have been mastering some conversations and colours . . . a brief mention of what the children have been doing in just a handful of subjects! Take a look at the photos below of us in action . .