Notes:

AUTUMN TERM 2005

Welcome to the juniors. I am pleased to inform you all that year 3 (and myself) have settled really well into the juniors and I am really enjoying teaching this class again.

Being in the juniors holds lots of new and exciting challenges of things to get involved in and be part of. I hope to outline some the changes that you need to know about in this forecast.

In English we will be studying a few short texts and will be looking at how stories are written i.e., the style, structure, setting etc. We will also be comparing stories and re-writing some well-known fairy tales. There will be plenty of opportunities for the children to respond creatively to stimulus, this is a crucial year to keep up and feed the creative mind so please excuse any strange stories you hear!

I will be focusing on handwriting and presentation skills using the cursive style. Please encourage the children to present their homework neatly and where possible to use joint up handwriting. Spellings will be sent home on a weekly basis, please work daily on these with your children, as this will help them build their vocabulary of known words.

Reading continues on an individual basis, each child will have two library books for you to share with your child.These need to be returned every Monday please! They will also have a reading book, which I encourage you to work on with your child on a daily basis (10 mins). It is as important to still listen to your child read regularly especially if they are not the keenest of readers. Please ensure your child keeps all their books in their book bags and that they are brought into school every day. Can I also encourage you to quesetion your child about the text that they read to ensure that they fully understand the story. You can discuss the pictures too or even encourage the children to predict what may happen next! Please sign their diaries when you have heard them read as this is very informative for me.

In Maths this half term we will be doing a lot of work on place value and will be working on adding and subtracting numbers up to one hundred. We will move onto multiplication and basic division. 2-d and 3-d shape, direction and time are other topics we will be covering. We will also be working with basic fractions. It is crucial that Year Three learn their times tables this year so a lot of the homework in maths will be based around multiplication. Although it is good to learn these in order i.e., 1x2, 2x2, 3x2 etc. it is also important to move onto random oral questioning so that they are also known out of order and at an automatic speed. I suggest you work on just one number at once and only move on when your child is confident with all of the tables within that (for example, the twos). I will be doing regular multiplication tests after half term.

In Science this half term we will be learning about teeth and eating; we will be finding out about healthy food and will be looking at our diets and the nutrition in them. We will learn about the balanced plate and then move onto dental care. Next half term we will be looking at plants and how we can help them to grow well.

In Geography we will be learning about different climates and world weather will be touched on. We will be looking at how the weather determines the way we dress, the things we do and how we live on a day-to-day basis. The class will be learning about extreme weather around the world; how it occurs and how it affects different countries and the people who live in them. If you see any interesting articles please point them out to your children and save them for next term.

This term's History topic is the Romans. We will be doing a mini-project on them this term and I would encourage you to help your child find out all they can about them. If you have any books, posters, videos, etc., please encourage your child to bring them in to school.

In Art this term we will be creating mosaics,clay pots and helping to produce large-scale wall displays. We will also be drawing and painting from observation and imagination and going over colour mixing and exploring different ways of applying paint.

Music this term will focus on rhythmic accompaniment to a range of songs, the children will learn about the characteristics of different types of instruments and will learn to recognise a range of instruments by name. We will build up to composing our own rhythmic accompaniments to known songs. The class will learn about notation and begin to use a range of basic instruments taking into consideration rhythm and dynamics.

P.E this term will be on a Wednesday and Thursday. This will include netball, football, rugby or hockey, gymnastics and dance. Please ensure your child has their full kit on both of these days (please don’t forget a change of white socks!). They need the usual school P.E kit.and everyone is advised to have the school blue ttracksuit especially as the weather gets colder.

In R.E we will be learning about the Creation, The Ten Commandments, The Torah, The Synagogue, Kiddush and the Mezuzah. We also hope to go on a visit to the local Synagogue.

We will have weekly ICT lessons using our mobile ICT suite! This term we will be learning many basic functions needed for word processing like saving, logging on and off and printing. We will also learn to change font, size, and colour and be adding graphics and editing work. We will be using a programme called Primary Toolkit.

Homework this year will be reading on a daily basis, spellings weekly and Maths or English on alternate weeks. Both of these will be based around the work that we are doing in class. Please encourage your children to work on this independently at home and with your help and guidance when needed. Homework needs to be in school on a Wednesday every week without fail. It is crucial, this year especially, that the whole class gets into maintaining good habits and working to a time scale.

I hope you are all looking forward to the term ahead as much as me. If you have any queries about anything please do not hesitate to ask, after school is usually the best time as mornings can be a little hectic! I would like to thank you all in advance for your support.

MRS NINA DEAN

Days to Remember Year 3 Autumn Term

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