Year 3 Curriculum

English

We cover a wide range of fiction and non-fiction throughout the year, ranging from traditional stories and fairy tales, poetry and information texts, including reports, instructions and letters.

English lessons also include plenty of speaking & listening and drama activities as well as ongoing work on spelling, punctuation and grammar.

We also have freqeunt handwriting sessions throughout the week.

Book Study

In Book study the children will read ‘Hotel Flamingo’ by Alex Milway, 'Oliver and the Seawigs’ by Philip Reeve in Spring and ‘The Wild Robot’ by Peter Brown in the Summer. At this current time, we would encourage children to have their own copy of the book, but we do have a few spare copies in school also.

Maths

We build on what children have learnt in the Infants throughout the Autumn term. At the start of the year, we cover place value and number order with an emphasis on making sure that children are really secure in their understanding of these areas. We then go on to cover the four operations - usually week by week - as well as looking at fractions, data handling, shape, space and measure, including time. There are daily times table activities and regular mental maths tests to develop these key areas of Maths.

Science

In the Autumn term children learn all about rocks and soils, as well as healthy eating and skeletons. They learn about good nutrition, and how humans and other animals have skeletons and muscles for support, protection and movement. The children learn about different categories of rocks and soils.

In the Spring term, the children learn about magnets and forces. They learn about magnetic objects and the forces that exist between magnets and these objects.

We will also be learning about light and shadow, as well as plants and how they grow.

Science lessons include regular experiments through which children develop a range of investigative skills and consolidate their understanding of relevant concepts.

We are lucky enough to have a wonderful nature area within our school grounds and each term the children go out to investigate features and changes to this habitat.

History and Geography

In the Autumn term, we will be studying the Stone Age to the Iron Age. We will be learning about how humans moved from hunting and gathering to more modern agricultural techniques. We will learn more about how people lived, the food they ate, their building techniques and cultural practices. As part of this, we will host a Stone Age to Iron Age Day in which we will dress up and take part in activities based on this topic.

In the Spring term we learn about Invaders and Settlers, in which we will look at Celts and Roman Invaders.

In the Summer term, we learn about the UK with a particular focus on UK countries, cities and our local area.

Computing

During the Autumn term, we will be learning about how to use Google Drive, including Google Docs and Slides. We will also be practising our typing using Typing Club.

Throughout the year, we will look at how to stay safe online and are learning all about Google classrooms and how to navigate round the Google suite. The children will also begin to develop their Computer Science skills through the coding software Scratch. As well as this, pupils will get to opportunity to create information videos that make use of our various green screens.

P.E.

Children have P.E. lessons twice a week with one indoor and one outdoor session.

In P.E we cover Exercise and Fitness, Football skills, Netball and Racket skills.

PSHE

In PSHE (personal, social, health education) we discuss and learn how to recognise and manage feelings, solve problems, interact positively with others, set and achieve goals and learn effectively. We also have a key focus on mindfulness throughout the year.

French

In Year 3 we cover greetings, introductions, families, numbers, colours, parts of the body, snacks and food and days of the week and much more.

RE

In the Autumn term, we cover the Creation story and what Christians learn from it and in the weeks leading up to Christmas, we discuss what it is like for someone to follow God as well as activities linked to the Christmas story. In Spring we study the way in which festivals and worship show what matters most to Muslims. We then spend the second half of the Spring term learning about Jewish festivals and family life. In the Summer term we return to Christianity and look at the kind of world Jesus would have wanted, and in the second half, we learn about a range of religious beliefs and practices, and the different ways people try to make the world a better place.

Music

Children will be following the Charanga Scheme to learn how to play instruments, compose and improvise.

Each class benefits from one term's whole ukulele tuition during Year 3. External teachers from Kingston Music Service run these lessons. It is hoped that some will be inspired to continue playing long after finishing Year 3.

Art

Throughout the year children develop understanding and awareness of line, shape, tone, texture, colour, space and form as the building blocks of artwork. They put these skills to use through regular projects which are often linked to other curriculum areas.

DT (Design and technology)

For one week each term children undertake a DT project, which allows focused teaching of each stage in the design process: investigating existing products, designing a product for a specific audience, modifying ideas where necessary and making a prototype before producing and evaluating a finished product. In the Autumn term, the children design and make felt holiday decorations by teaching them sewing skills. In Spring, the children will design and make a sandwich, linking to our work on healthy eating. In Summer, they will make a moving monster using their increased understanding of pneumatic devices.