Year 3 – Parent Letter -Term 5

Dear Parent/Carer,

Welcome to Term 5 and hopefully the start of the warm sunshine. We hope that you have had a lovely break and enjoyed all of the Easter celebrations. As usual, we ended our previous term with our end of block assessments and once again the children worked so hard to complete the different activities. This term we will continue to build on the learning we have covered so far, and using the recent assessments to inform our future planning.

Topic: I am not sure how we will top our Roman topic but we will be travelling further along the timeline and will be learning about The Tudors, one of my favourite periods of time. We will be squeezing as much Tudor history in to our very short 5 week term. We will be looking at the Tudor timeline and the monarchs of this time period, including the magnificent Henry VIII. We will compare houses, clothing and food to other periods of time that we have studied this year. We will also be looking at Henry VIII’s favourite castles and those that he built.  

Art: This term we will be looking at portraits, linking to our famous Tudor King, Henry VIII. We will be studying two famous Tudor artists: Giuseppe Arcimboldo and Hieronymus Bosch. We will look and some of their famous pieces and the techniques that they used. We will then experiment with recreating portraits in their style and will work over the term to create our own portraits of Henry VIII or Elizabeth I.

Science: We will be learning about light. During this term we learn about shadows, light and reflections and plan and conduct our own investigations. At the end of the term we will create our own shadow puppet play using our expert knowledge and skills on light and shadows.

Numeracy:  This term we will be learning about fractions. We will be recapping our knowledge of halves and quarters by finding ½ and ¼ of shapes and amounts. We will then extend our knowledge of fractions by finding thirds and tenths. Once confident we will look at ordering, comparing, adding and subtracting fractions and will also look at equivalent fractions. There is a lot to be done this term and we will try to make it as fun and practical as possible.

As ever, times tables will have an important role to play in ensuring your child feels confident in number.  Please continue to help support your child at home by focusing on fluency in recounting times tables.

Literacy: This term we will be flexing our creativity and imagination and as we create mesmerising and enchanting story settings. We will be looking at features of writing an exciting portal story, focusing on descriptive story settings. We will use the story ‘Elf Road’ by Pie Corbett to inspire our ideas. We will also be reading ‘The Enchanted Wood’ by Enid Blyton to fill our heads with all the fun and imagination that has lasted for generations.

R.E: We will be studying Sikhism this term. The big question is ‘What is important to Sikh people’. During this unit will be looking at key features of the Sikhism religion, who founded it and where. We will also look at symbols and their meanings. This term we will also have a Judaism focus week and will be learning about features of the Jewish religion.

P.E: Will be on Tuesdays and Fridays. We will be going swimming alternative Fridays. This term we will be exploring a unit of hockey. We will be looking at passing and receiving the ball accurately, whilst still and moving. We will also be focusing on hitting and shooting the ball safely and with accuracy. All of the skills will build up over the term will help ready the children for a class hockey tournament.

COMPUTING:  This term we will be learning about coding, using Purple Mash. The children will learn techniques for how to successfully programme software to perform different actions. I am sure the children will be quick to pick this up and will be ready for transferring these skills to different programmes.

Notes:

PLEASE make sure your child has their FULL PE kit in school at all times and that it is clearly named.  PE is a vital part of the curriculum and children hate to miss out when they do not have the correct kit with them.

Homework and Spellings

As always, the children will be asked to complete at least two pieces of homework this term, with the option of completing more if they wish. This term we will continue to upload the options to our Google Classroom. Your child should be able to access their Google Classroom by logging in to Google with their details. If you need any help then please do let us know, we will be happy to assist.
If you would like an additional paper copy of the homework to be sent home then please do pop a note in their contact book.

Spellings will continue to be uploaded to Google Classroom. We ask that you please continue to encourage them to write out their spellings and complete extra activities at home. The new spellings will be uploaded each week to our Google Classroom and you will also find different activity ideas there too.

The children will be quizzed on their spellings each Monday and new spellings will then be set.

If you have any questions or concerns then please do not hesitate to get in touch. We look forward to working with you together this term.

Thanks for your continued support,

Miss Willson and Mrs Purver.