Curriculum Bulletin: Year 3

Year 3 is already underway and all children have made a brilliant start.

Oakwood Live: Year 3-Yes we can!

Topic



Our topic this term is 'A Long way from Home' which focuses on children's experiences of life in WW2.  It is an important and engaging topic which is taught sensitively and is cross curricular: therefore it is not only taught in history lessons but is incorporated into lots of other subjects such as English, Maths, Science, P.E and Art. It is taught in Year 3 because it is hoped that children will be able to learn first hand from  members of their extended families personal stories of life in WW2. Visitors with any stories to share are always gratefully welcome-just see your child's class teacher.

During this topic Year 3 will represent Oakwood at a Remembrance Day service at Hollybrook cemetery. It is a very moving experience for the children who will lay wreaths as part of the service. Our topic culminates in our V.E celebratory tea dance which family members are invited to join their children for an afternoon of celebratory jitterbugging and wartime fare. Date below. Take a look the the fun we had last year here.



Reading

As in all other year groups, reading is an important focus on Year 3.  As well as still focusing on decoding and reading words on a page, central also to Year 3 is comprehension skills- getting children to infer and read between the lines. There is also a focus on authorial intent-why has the author chosen that word, what does the author want the reader to think, what technique has the author used to draw us in etc. For these reasons we encourage parents to try to find time to read with their children as much as possible-even with more independent readers.

Reading roundabouts happen everyday in Year 3 with children working on different reading skills each day-including a fun read in the book corner and exploring different literature like the children's newspaper First News.

Reading Logs are an important way of evidencing what the children are reading and gives the children a sense of achievement on their reading. Time is always given in school for the children to record their independent and class reading. Reading logs are checked once a week by the class teacher and we ask that they make 4 entries a week.

Our Class Novels this half term are: 'The Twits' by Roald Dahl and Once  by Morris Gleitzman. 



We base our English work around our WW2 theme. As well as continuing to embed key grammatical skills, spelling patterns and ensure fluency of handwriting, we also write our own WW2 diary which is inspired by 'My Secret War Diary, by Flossie Albright: My History of the Second World War 1939-1945 by Marcia Williams .





This term we will be consolidating key number skills from Year 2 and ensuring that all children have a secure written method for addition and subtraction. They will be presented with lots of problem solving opportunities so that  they can apply these key skills and use their mathematical reasoning in different real life situations.  WW2 will also play a part of our maths problems when we solve devilish WW2 inspired word problems, crack secret codes and work out recipe quantities for our WW2 cooking.

We try to make sure that, as well as making brains ache, maths is fun and engaging. Central to this is the use of maths games, songs and ICT. Children will often access specific online resources via our Google Classroom

Logs



Logs are an integral part of Year 3 homework and we ask that children work on a different log for no less than 10 to 15 mins at least x3 a week. We also ensure that children have opportunity within school time to work on their logs. The logs system not only supports key English and Maths skills but allows children to achieve them through a series of small steps which installs confidence and a sense of pride when they achieve the different badges. The Year 3 teaching team do our very best to test children's logs daily, in dedicated curriculum time but often in breaks and lunchtimes. We are always impressed with our children's enthusiasm for their logs and but this can mean that we have children waiting to be tested. We have reminded children that it is not only their Year 3 teachers that can test them, but that any adult in the school.

How we work though and test children on their logs will be exemplified in our upcoming Year 3 and 4 phase afternoon on Monday 10th October.

Home Learning



This year your Year 3 child will bring home a range of home learning tasks from reading comprehension and maths tasks to mini projects. We greatly encourage parental involvement in your child's homework: often a home learning task might be a speaking and listening activity centered around talking to an adult about their learning and researching topics a little deeper. Homework tasks are usually given out on a Wednesday and collected in/discussed/shared on a Monday. There are times - like when children have been on a trip - this might change but we endeavor to ensure that ample notice for any task is given.


PE

Tuesday -Multi-skills (outside)
Thursday- WW2 dancing-Jitterbug and Waltz (inside)

Dates for your Diaries

Tuesday 4th October- 3LD to Testwood Lakes
Wednesday 5th October- 3NM to Testwood Lakes
Thursday 20th October-Year 3 VE Day Tea Dance