Year 3

Dear Parent,

Year 3 will be taught by Miss Thompson.

I am delighted to continue working with Year 3 this Spring Term as part of the Dame Dorothy community. My goal is to create a vibrant and supportive learning environment that encourages curiosity, independence, and confidence. Lessons will be closely linked to our curriculum topics and will include practical activities, hands-on experiences, and meaningful discussions to deepen understanding. As the children progress through Key Stage 2, we will focus on developing their resilience and problem-solving skills. I am confident that this term will be both productive and inspiring.

SPAG/Literacy

This term we will focus on making writing clear and interesting. We will practise writing dialogue and punctuating speech correctly, as well as using fronted adverbials to start sentences in different ways.

In addition to working on our Y3/4 Statutory Spellings, we will focus on homophones and near-homophones, while continuing to deepen our understanding of prefixes and suffixes.

In handwriting, we will continue to focus on joining letters and work towards earning our pen licences.

Reading

This term our class reads will be The Chocolate Factory Ghost.

Our weekly reading sessions will focus on fluency, comprehension and oracy.

Ensuring children have the opportunity to explore books that link to their interests is important in developing a love of reading.

Maths

Dame Dorothy Primary School has an exceptional track record in the teaching of mathematical concepts.

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.

This term, we will continue to strengthen our understanding of multiplication and division while becoming more fluent with our times tables. Alongside this, we will also focus on length and perimeter, fractions, and capacity.

Library

Each week, Year 3 students will be given a home reading book. If your child finishes their book before the week is over, they are welcome to bring it back earlier for a more frequent swap.

Miss Thompson will often have opportunities to read with the children, but please ensure that your child has completed their book by Wednesday each week. This will allow them to change it during our Thursday library session.

Topic

Our topic this term will be chocolate. We will explore the fascinating history of chocolate, learning about the Maya and Aztec civilizations and their role in its origins. The children will investigate how chocolate evolved over time and became the treat we know today. In Design and Technology, we will take this learning further by designing and creating our own chocolate bar, combining creativity with practical skills. This topic will also provide opportunities to link with science, geography, and history, as well as include hands-on activities and outdoor learning experiences.

ICT

This year, we are excited to enhance our ICT curriculum with the introduction of new iPads, offering students greater opportunities for interactive learning. Throughout this term, the children will be focusing on key areas of Computer Science, including coding with Micro:bits, allowing them to develop valuable problem-solving and computational thinking skills.

This term we will learn how the internet works and the services it provides, like the World Wide Web, and how it helps us communicate and work together. We will practise searching online effectively, understanding how results are chosen, and checking if information is reliable. We will also focus on using technology safely and respectfully, knowing what is acceptable online and how to report anything that worries us.

PE lessons are on a Wednesday afternoon. Please make sure your child comes to school with the correct kit and can remove any earrings and/or jewellery they may be wearing.

This term our PE focus is tennis and will be delivered via expert teaching from our PE coaches. Please note, it is essential that your child has suitable footwear for PE sessions.

Music

Y3 have biweekly music lessons taught by Mr Kyle/Miss Baker. They learn to use musical language, for example tempo, pulse, rhythm and pitch and are encouraged to use this language when talking about the musical examples they listen to from the Model Music Curriculum. Y3 begin to learn to play the recorder and will use other tuned and untuned percussion instruments. They take part in weekly singing lessons, and they are working towards being able to sing a simple round.

Reminders

Homework will be handed out on Fridays and should be brought into school on Monday.
PE is Wednesday.
Home readers will be changed on Thursday, please return to school in time to be given a new book.
Spellings will be sent home on Monday and should be returned for the test on Friday.
Please encourage your child to read at home and when they read, try to read alongside them, support them with understanding word meanings and ask them some questions about what they have read.
Please do not hesitate to get in touch with me if you have any queries or concerns; I’m happy to help!
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