Year 3 Curriculum Newsletter Discovery Let’s Plant It Over the next few weeks we will be embarking on our new discovery unit Let’s Plant It. In Science, we’ll be finding out: • What plants need in order to grow • About water transport within plants • About local food chains Why plants have leave The process of photosynthesis The life cycle of a flowering plant. The different ways seeds can be dispersed. • About different rocks and soils In Geography, we’ll be finding out: • Where the plants we eat come from We are really looking forward to this topic and it would be amazing if you could support your child’s learning through discussions at home. RE: We will be learning all about Sikhism and answering the question ‘Why is it important to share?’ The children will learn all about the Baisakhi Festival the festival of Diwali. Literacy This term we will be helping children understand how to edit and improve their writing through a variety of activities. Our writing focus for the term will be persuasive letters and myths and legends. Throughout the term we will be learning key skills within the English Language to include conjunctions, fronted adverbials, subordinate clauses, possessive and contraction apostrophe and inverted commas to punctuate direct speech. You could reinforce these skills by asking your children what they have been learning and encourage them to find examples in their reading books or when you are out and about! It is important to continue to hear your children read and discuss the text. For those reluctant readers, encouraging reading of magazines, newspapers and comics is important. It is not just about your child being able to read the words but also the understanding of what they are reading. Please also practise the children’s spellings every week. Encourage your children to put their spellings into a sentence using joined up handwriting. Year 3 Curriculum Newsletter Summer 1 Important information to support learning: Practise spellings (tested on Wednesdays). Support homework given on a Wednesday to be handed in by Tuesday. Practise times tables, which are tested on Friday – (x2, x3, x4, x5, x8 and x10) Read at least 3 days a week with your child. Make sure children bring in PE kit (Monday - Athletics) and Swimming (Friday) PSHE Healthy Body Health Minds- we will be identifying the key elements of a balanced diet. We will be planning a healthy lunch and considering the cost. We will also think about reasons why people exercise. Values of the Month – Understanding and Responsibility PE In P.E. we will be outside throughout the summer term learning all about athletics. The children will learn many skills in preparation for sports day. Please make sure your child has appropriate clothing that include trainers (not daps) and their house colour t-shirt. We may also need sun cream and a hat on hot sunny days. Numeracy This term we will be looking at number and place value, addition, subtraction, time, multiplication, division and statistics. Please note that children in Year 3 are now expected to know their 2, 3, 4, 5, 8 and 10 times tables at this stage. We endeavour to make as much learning as possible meaningful and ‘real-life’ for example, word problems, shopping and maths investigations. You can also help in all these areas, especially when out and about! It would be really helpful to draw your children’s attention to clocks around the house even those including roman numerals as this is part of our maths curriculum! ICT In ICT the children will continue to use iPads to research their topic. The children will also be learning how to safely use emails. We will learn to create an email and use attachments to send information. Forces: In Science, we’ll be finding out: • How a ball flies through the air • How different objects fall • What gravity is and how it pulls on objects • How air resistance affects moving objects • How water pushes up on floating objects • Why some objects float and others sink In Technology, we’ll be finding out: How to make a sailing boat or flying paper plane  In Music, we’ll be finding out: • How to play our homemade instruments In International, we’ll be finding out: • About sound and light pollution