Year 3

Meet the teacher

My name is Mrs Booth and I am the year 3 teacher. After a long period in Year 1 and Early Years I am really enjoying teaching older children and helping them to develop their skills and knowledge across the curriculum.

SPAG
The literacy lessons consist of the teaching of a number of key elements; Spelling, Grammar and Punctuation (SPAG) and text level work, which involves reading a text and then exploring it through shared writing and independent writing. The SPAG element will involve using prepositions, subordinating conjunctions, speech marks, paragraphs and much more.

Maths
Dame Dorothy Primary School boasts excellent mathematics skills. Each morning, the children have mental maths to complete. It is important that the children get to school promptly at 8:45am so they don’t miss out on their mental maths. I would also encourage the children to access a number of online games at home which will help develop their stamina towards their knowledge of times tables and related division facts as well as number bonds and quick fire addition/subtraction mental maths.
In maths teaching, we are working in line with the New Curriculum and the children are being taught more formal written methods.

The children need to learn their 2, 3, 4, 5, 8 and 10 times tables thoroughly, as well as the related division facts to support them in their work. Support at home would be very helpful with this.

ICT
We have the opportunity to use a wide range of ICT resources such as laptops and iPads. We ensure that the children are aware of how to keep safe when using the internet and they are always extremely responsive to this. On a weekly basis, the children are learning basic programming skills and are learning to write simple instructions (algorithms) to make things happen; the children are really motivated by this. They will also learn to use their school email account to send and receive emails to their teachers and peers and some word processing skills.

PE
P.E lessons are on a Thursday afternoon. Please make sure your child has the correct kit and can remove any earrings they may be wearing. It is essential that your children have suitable footwear for PE sessions. Trainers or well-fitting sand shoes must be worn, please don’t forget socks if you have a girl who wears tights.

Swimming is on a Monday afternoon, children should be able to change themselves without support or fuss, please remind your child to keep their clothes neatly when they take them off so items are not lost. We will let you know in advance when swimming lessons are due to start.

Literacy
We are approaching literacy mainly through the study of novels. Most of our literacy work will be based on a novel which we are reading together in class. The children will learn to read aloud with appropriate expression and written work will be based on the class novel we are currently reading.

This term we will be reading Stig of the Dump by Clive King. We will be using this as a basis for comprehension and lots of discussion about characters and events in the novel.

Spellings
Y3 have a list of Statutory Spellings, which are part of the National Curriculum. Spellings are given out on a Friday for children to learn over the weekend. Children will be tested on these the following Monday. Please help your child to practise these at home.

Topic
Our topic this term is called Stone and Iron. It will include study of, life in prehistoric times and study of soil, rocks and volcanoes and forces and magnets, so lots of science work this term!

Music

Year 3 will be continue recorder tuition this term; they will continue to use Charanga Music in their lessons and extend their knowledge of notes. As part of a whole school topic, we will listen to the music of Mason Bates – a modern composer. His music paints a picture of a mythical creature and we will listen and imagine the creature. Following this, using dragons and Chinese New Year as a focus point, we will be investigating pentatonic (5 note) scales.

Library
We go to the library on a Thursday. Our books are colour banded depending on reading ability. These books will be changed weekly on a Thursday, along with library books. We invite you to read with your child and make comments in their reading journal. The children will also have the opportunity to take a library book home to read at their leisure. We urge our children to read every day for 15-20 minutes and we are encouraging a variety of reading both in and out of the classroom.

A few reminders
Homework is given on a Friday, there will be spellings to learn every week and usually just one more item related to work being done in the classroom. Homework must be returned to school on Tuesday at the latest. The children will be tested on their spellings on Monday mornings. All homework set will be relevant to learning in class. Homework is a great way of keeping parents informed about class learning as well as giving the children the opportunity to consolidate their skills. Please feel free to see me or write in your child’s homework book if there are any issues. It is essential that home and school communicate effectively, working in partnership to ensure that the children receive the very best from school.

Year 3 will continue to have termly trips to Broomhill Farm and parents will be informed of dates for these prior to the visit. Our next trip is scheduled for Friday March 20th, look out for a letter containing information in the coming weeks.

If parents have any concerns, however trivial you feel they may be, then please don’t hesitate to speak to me – the office will be happy to make an appointment.