Horniman Primary School

Year 3 Information Booklet

Sycamore

Teachers: Ms Newton and Mr Burgess

Welcome to Year 3, Sycamore!

This year we will be learning about lots of exciting topics and will develop our independence and stamina.

There are lots of interesting activities planned to make it a fun year. If you wish to help out in any way (e.g. hearing children read, sharing your expertise etc.) please contact Mrs Maher through the office.

We look forward to working with you to make it a great year for all the children!

The Curriculum at Horniman

The curriculum at Horniman School is engaging, broad and rich. It is a curriculum designed based on the needs of our children and the changes in the world around us. It is a challenging and engaging curriculum which meets the needs and ethos of our school. The curriculum is based upon the National Curriculum and children are taught in line with the National Curriculum’s age-related expectations. ​

Our curriculum drivers are diversity, creativity, enterprise and the environment and these are at the heart of all we do.

The Curriculum is organised into immersive cross curricular topics. The topics vary in length, some lasting two or three weeks, while others may last the whole year and be revisited at different intervals. There is also time and space for whole school topics, topics that reflect contemporary events and topics devised by the children or teachers’ personal interests.

Mathematics and English are taught daily as discrete subjects but link to topics, wherever possible; to allow a comprehensive coverage of skills and provide opportunities to apply what has been learnt in different contexts.

The curriculum is enriched through:

Philosophy

We will have a half term of weekly Philosophy sessions led by Peter Worsley, an internationally renowned educator in this field.

Music

We will have a whole class music session and group sessions with Harry, the music teacher, in which they play a variety of percussion instruments, compose pieces of music, learn songs and appreciate music from different cultures. Children will learn to play the ukulele in Year 3 with Martha in small groups.

Art

Art and creativity will play a very important role in our classroom, not only through our art lessons, but also throughout our learning.

Drama

Children in Year 3 we will use drama in the classroom throughout the year to enhance the curriculum.

Sport

Physical Education is taught on Thursdays by Mr Pickering and Fridays by Adam, our specialist sports coach.

Spanish

Spanish will be taught on Thursdays by Mr Pickering

The Five Keys to Success

At Horniman, we promote the ‘5 Keys to Success’: Confidence – Perseverance – Organisation – Getting Along – Resilience. These are the key skills that all children need to acquire in order to be successful in school, experience wellbeing, and have positive relationships including making contributions to others and the community.

Confidence

The feeling that you can do it. Not being afraid to make mistakes or to try something new. Examples of confident behaviours:

·       attempting hard work independently

·       sharing a new idea with the class

·       taking a risk

Perseverance

Trying hard and not giving up when something feels like it's too difficult to do. Examples of Persevering behaviours:

·       continuing to try even when something is hard

·       not being distracted by others

·       checking work when it's finished to make sure it's correct

Organisation

Planning your time so you're not rushed, having all your resources ready and keeping track of when work needs to be completed. Examples of organised behaviours:

·       making sure you understand instructions before you begin work

·       having resources ready that you need for the day/task

·       having a plan and organising your thoughts.

Getting Along

Working cooperatively with classmates, solving problems without getting too angry, showing tolerance and following the class rules, includes making responsible choices so that everyone's rights are protected. Examples of organised behaviours:

·       being helpful when working in a group

·       listening and not interrupting when someone else is speaking

·       resolving conflicts by discussion rather than fights

Resilience

Being able to bounce back or recover quickly from difficulties. The ability to recognise the need for a different approach and to adapt to solve a problem. Examples of Resilience:

·       trying something different when what you’re doing doesn’t get results

·       learning from mistakes

·       not giving up when something is hard

Year 3 Topics

For more information please see the school website. Parent topic plans will be sent home at the start of each topic.

Stone Age to Iron Age

Rocks, Mountains & Volcanoes

Robots

Animals & Pets

Plants

Ancient Egypt

English

Areas we are covering this year:

Reading

Apply their growing knowledge of root words, prefixes and suffixes (etymology and morphology)

Read exception words, noting the unusual correspondences between spelling and sound, and where these occur in the word

Listen to and discussing a wide range of fiction, poetry, plays, non-fiction and reference books or textbooks

Read books that are structured in different ways and reading for a range of purposes

Use dictionaries to check the meaning of words that they have read

Increase their familiarity with a wide range of books, including fairy stories, myths and legends, and retelling some of these orally

Identify themes and conventions in a wide range of books

Prepare poems and play scripts to read aloud and to perform, showing understanding through intonation, tone, volume and action

Recognise some different forms of poetry [for example, free verse, and narrative poetry]

Check that the text makes sense to them, discussing their understanding and explaining the meaning of words in context

Ask questions to improve their understanding of a text

Draw inferences such as inferring characters’ feelings, thoughts and motives from their actions, and justifying inferences with evidence

Predict what might happen from details stated and implied

Identify how language, structure and presentation contribute to meaning

Retrieve and record information from non-fiction

Participate in discussion about both books that are read to them and those they can read for themselves, taking turns and listening to what others say

Writing

Use further prefixes and suffixes and understand how to use them in context

Spell year 3 and 4 statutory spellings

Use the first two or three letters of a word to check its spelling in a dictionary

Write from memory simple sentences, dictated by the teacher, that include words and punctuation taught so far

Use the diagonal and horizontal strokes that are needed to join letters and understand which letters, when adjacent to one another, are best left unjoined

Increase the legibility, consistency and quality of their handwriting

Discuss writing similar to that which they are planning to write in order to understand and learn from its structure, vocabulary and grammar

Compose and rehearse sentences orally (including dialogue), progressively building a varied and rich vocabulary and an increasing range of sentence structures

Organise paragraphs around a theme

In narratives, create settings, characters and plot

In non-narrative material, use simple organisational devices [for example, headings and sub-headings]

Assess the effectiveness of their own and others’ writing and suggest improvements

Proof-read for spelling and punctuation errors

Read aloud their own writing, to a group or the whole class.

Extend the range of sentences with more than one clause by using a wider range of conjunctions, including when, if, because, although

Use conjunctions, adverbs and prepositions to express time and cause

Use fronted adverbials:

Use and punctuating direct speech

Use and understand grammatical terminology accurately and appropriately when discussing their writing and reading.

Mathematics: basic skills

Basis skills are the fundamental mathematic skills children need to master this year. Accurate and quick recall of these will allow children to access and solve more complex problem solving questions.

Number and Place Value

Read and write numbers to 1000 in words and numerals

Count in multiples of 4, 8, 50 and 100 from 0

Say 10/100 more/less than any number to 1000

Recognise the value of each digit in a three-digit number (245 = 200 and 40 and 5 or 2 hundreds, 4 tens and 5 units)

Compare and order numbers up to 1000

Number – mental addition and subtraction
Recall rapidly number bonds to 100 multiples of 10/5 and any number (e.g. 80+20, 35+65, 43+57)

Mentally add and subtract:

·    a 1-digit and a 2-digit number

·    a 2-digit number and multiple of ten

·    three 1-digit numbers

Number – mental multiplication and division

Know and rapidly recall 2, 3, 4, 5, 8 and 10 times tables (multiplication and division facts)

Number – fractions

Recognise, name and write unit fractions (1/12, 1/7, 1/3, 1/5, 1/9, etc.)

Recognise, find and write unit and non-unit fractions of a set of objects (e.g. ¾ of 16, 1/5 of 20, 3/5 of 20)

Measurement

Write and tell the time using the 12 and 24-hour clocks, am/pm and Roman numerals I-XII

Know the number of seconds in a minute, number of days in each month, in a year and a leap year

Resources/Suggested activities:

Use coins to help with place value 10p = tens, 1p = units. So 3x10p and 4 x 1p = 34

Play bingo times table.

Make number lines to help with counting on and back in different amounts

Draw pictures to help counting in 3s (tricycles), fours (dogs, cats, etc.) and 8s (spiders)

Use a clock, watch or phone showing analogue and digital time. Encourage your child to be telling the time as often as possible, including questions such as ‘how long until dinner?

Make your own clock using card and butterfly clips (use Roman numerals in addition to standard numerals)

Adding amounts when shopping and finding the change from notes

Sharing out items to show division/fractions

Class information

Please make sure you have at school:

· Water bottle

· reading book

· Spelling journal

PLEASE DO NOT BRING IN ANYTHING ELSE FROM HOME.

PE will be on Thursday mornings and Friday afternoons. Your child needs to come dressed for PE on these days.

Please note there is no parent workshop in year 3.

Home Learning

Reading

A minimum of 3x per week.

Spellings

Spellings will be tested on Fridays and should be practiced at home at least 3x per week.

Maths

Mathletics – all children have a mathletics account which we recommend using 3x per week at home to support their learning in school.

Please practise these Year 3 basic skills:

Know 2, 3, 4, 5 and 8 times tables (multiplication and division facts)

Tell the time to 5 minutes

 To practise number bonds: 2+8=10 therefore 20+80+100.    25+75=100.

Topic

There is a list of activities to try with your child on the parent topic plan. Each term there will be a project based on current or future topics.