Summer Term

                                                                                              April 2012

 Dear Parents,

 Welcome back to the summer term! I hope you all had a wonderful Easter break. Below is some information on what Year 3 will be learning about this term.

Literacy

This term, we will complete poetry work focussing on playing around with language for humorous effect. Our main narrative work will explore a range of different myths and legends from Ancient Greece before writing our own, linking to our history topic this term. In addition to this, our non-fiction work will be based upon writing information books about the Olympics, again linking to history.

Maths

In Maths we will continue to practise and consolidate our multiplication facts, as well as developing our understanding of fractions, rounding numbers to the nearest 100 and 10, recognising right angles, locating positions on grids and understanding division. We will also look at different methods for adding and subtracting 2 digit numbers to and from 2, 3, or 4 digit numbers and will use real life problems to apply this.

Science

This half term we will be looking into how plants grow. In order to understand what factors are needed to make them grow well, we will be growing our own plants using different variables and observing the results. In the second half term we will explore light and shadows, including considering how shadows change over the course of a day, thus beginning to consider the relationship between the Earth and Sun.

ICT

Work in ICT this term will give the children experience of combining images, text and sound in their computerised work to give different effects. We will also look at how we can communicate using ICT, giving the children the opportunity to use an internal email network to email their classmates.

History

Our history topic is Ancient Greece.  We will be finding out about the way that people lived in the ancient Greek empire and will use a range of archaeological and written sources that will help us to interpret the past in different ways. We will also explore the origins and traditions of the Olympic games and recreate our own. This topic links to work in many other curriculum areas and will continue throughout the whole term, meaning we will not have a geography topic this term.

Religious Education (RE)

In RE this term we will be looking at rules Muslims and Christians follow and considering rules we all follow to lead a happy and safe life. We will also look in more depth at the meaning and significance attached to special places such as the Mosque and Church.

Art

In our Art unit we will continue to explore sculpture in public buildings and places.  The children will explore and use shape and form, colour and pattern to make a model of a sculpture for a site in the school.

Design Technology (DT)

Our Design and Technology project this term will be ‘Moving Monsters’. We will be investigating simple pneumatic systems and designing and making a model of a monster that has moving parts controlled by pneumatics.

Music

The children will continue to be taught music by Mrs Wright. This term, they will explore some characteristics of singing games. They will also get the opportunity to accompany, perform and make up their own singing games, consolidating their sense of pulse and rhythm.

The children will also continue to learn how to play the cello with Mrs Dobson.

Physical Education (PE)

The Rising Stars coach will be teaching the children a variety of different games skills, such as tag rugby and short tennis. Games is taught first lesson on a Tuesday morning, your child may come into the classroom early to get changed or arrive at school in their Games kit with their school uniform in a bag. On Thursdays, in P.E. the children will begin to learn their May Day dance routine. In the second half term,  we will begin swimming lessons.

Personal, Social, Health and Citizenship Education (PSHCE)

In PSHCE we will be discussing changes that we make and that occur in life and how we can prepare for them.  We will also discussthe safety rules when using the swimming pooland recognising the achievements that the children have made this year.

Homework

Thank you for supporting your children in completing their homework. I will continue to use the homework diaries to comment on the work, please do feel free to write in these if you would like to comment or raise a question. The children will continue to receive their maths and literacy / topic homework on a Thursday to be handed in on the following Tuesday. The spellings will continue be sent home on a Mondayto be tested the following Monday. Additional activities you can do with your child at home include reading and practising their times tables.

Please do not hesitate to come and see me if you have any queries about any of the above, or issues that may arise during the term.  I look forward to working with you and your child again throughout the summer term.

 Yours sincerely,

 Miss Sarah Uphill