Year 3 Curriculum Page

Welcome to the Year 3 curriculum page! I am Miss Mc Dermott, the year 3 class teacher. Throughout this page, you can find out about all the fun and exciting things that we will be learning throughout this year. 

Miss Mc Dermott 

English

Over the year the children will explore a wide range of different genres and texts. Through these different texts, the pupils will exercise a variety of skills including: word reading, comprehension, Grammar, spelling, drama/performance, text mapping, planning, editing and re-drafting.

Autumn 1: The wolves in the walls by Neil Gaiman

Autumn 2: Man on the Moon by Simon Bartrum

Spring 1: Dragon Rider by Cornelia Funke

Spring 2: You're a bad man Mr Gum Andy Stanton

Summer 1: The Iron Man Ted Hughes

Summer 2: Journey to the Centre of the Earth JUles Verne

Reading

We encourage you to read at home with your child whenever you can. Every morning, the children will have a 30-minute Guided Reading session. Each Reading group will have a focused session with me once a week. While I am working with a focused group, the other children will work on a variety of activities based on reading, comprehension and writing which will help them to develop their understanding of the text focus for that week.

On Friday, the children have 20-25 minutes of Reading for Pleasure – where the children can read any book they like. For our reading corner we are choosing our own books to read and then making recommendations to others explaining why they should read the books too!

To find information about different children's authors, click the link below:

http://clubs-kids.scholastic.co.uk/authors

Maths

The maths curriculum requires pupils to focus on reasoning and problem-solving skills through a range of real-life and mathematical topics. Therefore, the children will focus on applying the number skills they will learn in throughout the year through a range of investigations and real-life problems.The children in Year 3 have been given their Mathletics login so they are able to complete Maths activities and improve their mental maths skills on using Mathletics at home as well as in school!

Autumn

During the Autumn Term, Year 3 will focus on:

• Number - Place value in numbers to 1000
• Number - Addition and subtraction
• Number - Multiplication and division

Spring 

During the Spring Term, Year 3 will focus on:

• Number - Further multiplication and division
• Length
• Mass
• Volume
• Money
• Time

Summer 

During the Summer Term Year 3 will focus on:

• Picture Graphs/Bar Graphs
• Number- Fractions
• Angles
• Lines and shapes
• Perimeter of figures 

We will also spend a term recapping our learning and getting ready for Year 4!

*Throughout the school year, the children will continuously practise their mental maths skills through our weekly basic skills sessions, mental maths lessons and 'Mathletics'.

History 

In Year 3, the children will be learning a range of different subjects through Opening Worlds. Opening Worlds is a knowledge-rich humanities programme for teaching history and geography. 

Autumn 1: Ancient Egypt

Autumn 2: Cradles of Civilisation 

Spring 1: The Indus Valley

Spring 2: Percia and Greece

Summer 1: Ancient Greece

Summer 2: Alexander the Great

Geography

Autumn 1: The Indus River

Autumn 2: Mountains

Spring 1: Settlements

Spring 2: Agriculture 

Summer 1: Volcanoes 

Summer 2: Climate and Biomes

Religious Education

The children will be following the 'Come and See' curriculum. They will cover a range of different RE topics through the year.

Autumn

• Homes 
• Promises 
• Visitors 

Spring

• Journeys 
• Listening and Sharing
• Giving All

Summer

• Energy
• Choices
• Special places

In addition to this, the children will also be looking at World Religions to include Judaism, Islam, Hinduism and Sikhism

Physical Education

Autumn 1: Invasion games- Football

Autumn 2: Invasion games and Dance

Spring 1: Gymnastics and Swimming 

Spring 2: Rugby and Athletics 

Summer 1: Gymnastics and Striking and Fielding 

Summer 2: Rugby and Net and Wall

Art and Design and Technology 

Autumn

Painting portraits

Spring

Printing

Summer 

Drawing 

The children will also be completing cooking lessons during Spring 2. Parents will be invited to attend these sessions with the children. 

Science

 Year 3 will cover a range of exciting and interesting Science topics through the year, including; Rocks, Animals inc Humans, Plants, Forces and Magnets and Light.

Rocks

During this topic, children will learn to:

• Compare and group together different kinds of rocks based on their appearance and simple physical properties.
• Describe in simple terms how fossils are formed when things that have lived are trapped within rock.
• Recognise that soils are made from rocks and organic matter.

Animals Including Humans

During this topic, children will learn to:

• Identify that animals, including humans, need the right types and amount of nutrition, and that they cannot make their own food; they get nutrition from what they eat
• Identify that humans and some animals have skeletons and muscles for support, protection and movement

Light

During this topic, children will learn to:

• Recognise that they need light in order to see things and that dark is the absence of light
• Notice that light is reflected from surfaces
• Recognise that light from the sun can be dangerous and that there are ways to protect their eyes
• Recognise that shadows are formed when the light from a light source is blocked by a solid object
• Find patterns in the way that the sizes of shadows change.

Forces and Magnets

During this topic, children will learn to:

• Compare how things move on different surfaces
• Notice that some forces need contact between two objects, but magnetic forces can act at a distance
• Observe how magnets attract or repel each other and attract some materials and not others
• Compare and group together a variety of everyday materials on the basis of whether they are attracted to a magnet, and identify some magnetic materials
• Describe magnets as having two poles
• Predict whether two magnets will attract or repel each other, depending on which poles are facing.

Plants

 During this topic, children will learn to:

• Identify and describe the functions of different parts of plants; roots, stem, leaves and flowers.
• Explore the requirements of plants for life and growth (air, light, water, nutrients from soil and room to grow) and how they vary from plant to plant.
• Investigate the ways in which water is transported within plants.
• Explore the role of flowers in the life cycle of flowering plants, including pollination, seed formation and seed dispersal

PSHE

Our PSHE topics throughout the year will cover a wide range of topics-

• Keeping ourselves safe
• Healthy eating
• Physical Activity
• Citizenship/Global Citizenship
• British Values
• Radicalisation and extremism

We will also be participating in the following SEAL Topics-

• New beginnings
• Say no to bullying
• Getting on and falling out
• Relationships
• Going for Goals
• Good to be me
• Changes

The children will also be exploring diversity, inclusion, equality and discrimination through the following books.

British Values

Throughout the school year the children will be taught about 'British Values', which they will practise this in all subjects across the curriculum. It is an important aspect of their learning, and will include focus on; democracy, the rule of law, individual liberty and mutual respect, and tolerance of those with different faiths and beliefs.The class have taken part in an election of school councillors  and ambassadors that will represent Year 3  on the school council and for different subject areas. This exposed the children to democratic practice; the children who wished to be elected presented a speech to the rest of the class. The class then voted for the people they wanted to elected.