Welcome to Year Three

A very warm welcome to our new Year 3 class! We hope you have had a wonderful summer and are feeling refreshed and ready for the exciting year ahead.

We are really looking forward to getting started, getting to know you all and finding out about your interests, talents and personalities.

Mr Gould is your class teacher on a Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday. Mrs Wood is your class teacher on a Thursday and Friday.

What can you expect in Year Three?

The times of the school day are exactly the same as Year Two. Please bring a water bottle in every day. We have one morning break where you can bring your own healthy snack in (the fruit scheme is for EYFS and KS1 only).

PE will be on a Thursday but it is better to keep your kit in school all week in case there are any changes to the timetable.

Reading

Reading is a very important part of your child’s learning and development. Even just a few minutes a day can make a significant difference. Developing reading as a daily habit helps children to build fluency, confidence and vocabulary, while also strengthening their comprehension and supporting their learning across the curriculum.

Each day, the children will take part in Guided Reading sessions in school, where they will develop their reading fluency, comprehension and understanding of different texts.

Your support at home is also invaluable. Please encourage your child to read their banded reading book regularly, as well as reading for pleasure. Reading for pleasure can include any book, magazine, comic or other text that your child enjoys – the most important thing is that they are developing a love of reading!

You will find a special reading reward chart at the front of your child’s reading record. We encourage children to record the reading they do at home, including books they choose themselves. Please celebrate their reading achievements with them and help us to foster a positive and enthusiastic attitude towards reading.

Homework

Spellings, Arithmetic and Times Tables

Each week, the children will have a spelling and arithmetic focus, which will be shared with you via email and/or a paper copy. Regular practice at home will help children to develop confidence and secure their learning.

Times tables are also a crucial part of developing your child’s mathematical knowledge and fluency. By the end of Year 3, children should be able to confidently recall the multiplication and division facts for the 2, 3, 4, 5, 8 and 10 times tables.

We will practise times tables regularly in school through games, quizzes and Times Tables Rock Stars (TTRS). Your support at home is invaluable, so please encourage your child to practise regularly. Your child’s TTRS login details can be found in their Reading Record.

During Autumn 1, our focus will be on revising and consolidating the quick recall of addition and subtraction facts to 20. These are our Key Instant Recall Facts (KIRFs) for the first half term. We will then move on to a focus on times tables.

Homework

While reading, spellings and times tables are our main weekly home-learning priorities and benefit from regular practice, we will also complement our curriculum with a selection of  homework activities.

A homework grid will be provided at the beginning of each half term, with a range of activities linked to our learning in class. You can choose as many activities as you would like to complete, allowing your child to explore their interests and extend their learning at home. Some of the activity options can be completed on Purple Mash. Your child's log in details can be found in their reading records. 

Any completed homework activities should be returned to school by the end of the half term so that we can celebrate and share the children's work.

What are we learning in Year Three?

During Autumn 1, we will be time travelling to the Stone Age! We will learn all about what life was like in the Palaeolithic, Mesolithic and Neolithic periouds of the Stone Age, including learning about hunting for food, cave paintings and making tools. We will also explore how the Stone Age moved to the Bronze Age, then the Iron Age. 

In Maths, we will be learning about the place value of 3-digit numbers, plus how to add and subtract 3-digit numbers using formal written methods. We also have a half-termly Key Instant Recall Fact (KIRF) which is a skill to be learnt each half term. Please see files below for this term’s KIRFs.

In English, we will begin with the beautiful book, "The Planet in a Pickle Jar" then move on to writing our own historical narrative based on the book "Stone Age Boy".

In Science, we will be become geologists -learning about rocks and soils.  

In RE, our first unit of work is Creation and Covenant. We will be learning all about God's wonderful creation and how we can be good stewards of the earth.

We will also be learning lots more through Art, PSHE, Music, MFL, Computing and PE.

There is plenty more information about the curriculum on our year group curriculum page https://www.st-pauls-hyde.tameside.sch.uk/page/curriculum-information/5603 

We are here to support you and your families. We are always available at the end of the day for a chat or to answer any questions. You can also contact us on the school email address: admin@st-pauls-hyde.tameside.sch.uk or telephone 0161 368 2934, for a longer chat at a convenient time.

Mr Gould and Mrs Wood