Year 3 - Chawla Class and Obama Class

STEAM  

This term our STEAM focus is Science. We will be exploring the question ‘Can I develop an understanding of the living world around me?’  

Over the course of the term, the children will: 

• Learn how plants grow by considering the factors that affect their growth and planning an investigation to explore this. 

• Draw a generalisation of what conditions allow plants to grow most effectively.   

• Develop an understanding of the parts of the plant and their functions with a particular focus on how they transport water.   

• Develop a basic understanding of how seeds are made. They will then explore the life cycles of plants focusing on wind dispersal, animal dispersal and water dispersal.   

• Understand that art can take many forms including structure, installations, paintings and pictures and textiles. They will also explore a range of techniques used to represent parts of plants focusing on drawing and texture.  

• Practise sketching a range of different parts of plants from a range of different stimuli. They will then choose which plant parts they will use to generate their final design, justifying why based on the function of that part.    

• Create a prototype of a wire sculpture using their design from the previous lesson to support them.   

• Learn techniques in adding texture and detail to their wire structure using a range of materials and joining methods.  

• Evaluate their prototypes and use these reflections to create a final design.  

• Apply their learnt skills to create their final product using previous reflections to inform their thinking.   

• Evaluate their final product and in groups design and create the interactive element for their display.  

Our final product will be Create an interactive sculpture display of flowering & non-flowering plants and their parts   

Maths 

This term we will be continuing to work on unit fractions. The children will learn that: 

• A whole can be divided into any number of equal parts. 

• Fraction notation can be used to describe an equal part of the whole. One equal part of a whole is called a unit fraction. Each unit fraction has a name. 

• Fractional notation can be applied to represent one part of a whole in different contexts. 

• Equal parts do not need to look the same. 

• Unit fractions can be compared and ordered by looking at the denominator. The greater the denominator, the smaller the fraction. 

• If the size of a unit fraction is known, the size of the whole can be worked out by repeated addition of that unit fraction. 

The children will then move on to explore finding fractions of quantities. They will learn to: 

• identify the whole, the number of equal parts and the size of each part as a unit fraction 

• quantify the number of items in each part and connect to the unit fraction operator 

• calculate the value of a part by using knowledge of division and division facts 

• calculate the value of a part by connecting knowledge of division and division facts with finding a fraction of a quantity 

• find fractions of quantities using knowledge of division facts with increasing fluency 

After this, the children will explore how we identify, represent and compare non-unit fractions. The children will learn that: 

• All non-unit fractions are made up of more than one of the same unit fraction. 

• Non-unit fractions are written using the same convention as unit fractions. A non-unit fraction has a numerator greater than one. 

• When the numerator and the denominator in a fraction are the same, the fraction is equivalent to one whole. 

• All unit and non-unit fractions are numbers that can be placed on a numberline. 

• Repeated addition of a unit fraction results in a non-unit fraction. 

• When the numerator and the denominator are the same, the value of the fraction is one. 

• Non-unit fractions with the same denominator can be compared. If the denominators are the same, then the greater the numerator, the greater the fraction. 

• Non-unit fractions with the same numerator can be compared. If the numerators are the same, then the greater the denominator, the smaller the fraction. 

Writing 

Our writing this term will orient around the book ‘The Tin Forest’ by Helen Ward. Within the first writing unit, the children will work towards writing their own setting description based on the building of the tin forest. The children will continue to work on their skills in subordination and coordination, as well as other key Year 3 objectives including: adverbs of time and place, writing in past tense and maintaining third person. Within this unit, we will also introduce how to punctuate speech using inverted commas. Later in the term, we will begin persuasive letter writing. The children will write a letter to their school community to encourage them to reduce litter and recycle more. 

Reading 

Our whole class reading lessons will be based on the book ‘Sam Wu is afraid of the dark’ by Katie and Kevin Tsang. Throughout the term, the children will continue to build upon their retrieval, summarising and inference skills. They will also look at how the author uses a range of layout techniques to appeal to the reader. Later in the term, the children will consider how atmosphere is the overall feeling, emotion or mood created.  

Computing 

Within computing this term, the children will be using desktop publishing. Throughout the unit the children will consider how text and images communicate messages clearly and how the font and layout can be edited. They will also learn how to create their own template and add their own content. Finally, they will explore why desktop publishing is used in the real world and how it is a helpful resource. 

HRE 

In HRE this term our lessons will begin by us learning about the rules of society and human rights.  The children will be encouraged to express their opinions and show an understanding of the community around them.  They will learn how they fit into their community and why diversity is important.  We will be discussing stereotypes and how this can negatively affect attitudes and behaviour towards others.  We will then look at the influence of social media on society and how it influences our beliefs.  The next area we will discuss is about money and how it influences life and how we can ensure we keep our money safe. The final area will be about careers and aspirations and how people measure success in life and society. 

MFL 

In French this term we will be learning vocabulary about our school.  The children will learn how to identify what is in the classroom and everyday items that they use.  We will also be learning how to expand our ability to ask and respond to simple questions in French. 

Music 

We will be continuing our Ukulele lessons this term.  The children's skills are progressing well and the more we practice the better we get! 

PE 

This term in PE we will be doing netball and athletics.  In netball the children will be learning the different ways of passing and catching the ball and about the rules of the game.  They will then learn about different positions and play small games and drills with their classmates.  

In athletics the children will be learning about running and field events.  We will be doing long and short distance races and hurdles to prepare for sports day!  The children will be performing the shot, javelin and discus.  They will learn which technique works the best and how to improve distance. 

RE 

For RE our big question will be ‘Is there a higher power?’ We will be focusing on Sikhism. Within our RE lessons, we will identify the key features of a Sikh place of workshop as well as learning about the five Ks (Kesh, Kara, Kanga, Kaccha and Kirpan). Will will also consider how the five Ks affect a Sikh’s life.