Mr Caston
Our Humanities focus in Class 3 for this half term is Geography, with our topic being ‘Our European Neighbours – an in-depth study’. We will explore Geographical similarities and differences between Cromer and Andalusia in Spain.
In Maths our focus is to continue working on addition and subtraction with all our hard work culminating in children learning how to use the column method to solve calculations. We will build on all our work last half term before moving on to some multiplication and division work exploring 2,4 and 8-times tables and how they relate to each other.
Our English work will include writing a suspense tale and a persuasive letter about something which will prove to be very important to the children! Throughout this process we will work on learning word types, how to use punctuation correctly as well as how to review and edit our work.
We will be continuing to read ‘The Sheep pig’ by Dick King Smith before moving on to read ‘Jim and the Beanstalk’ and Malala’s Magic Pencil which explores human rights and asks the question ‘What would you change about the world if you had a magic pencil?’.
In Science this half term, we will be looking at the topic of light and space. As you can imagine, these are both vast and complex areas of science and we will be focusing on the initial building blocks of knowledge and understanding necessary for the children to further develop as they move through high school.
In our work on light, we will be thinking about what light is, where it comes from and some of its basic properties. This will link to thinking about night and day and the relationship between our planet, the sun and the moon. We will also learn about our solar system and continue to expand our disciplinary knowledge through our science enquiry work.
We are very much looking forward to our whole school space day on November 8th.
In Computing, we will be learning how to create digital content in the form of an e-comic using text and images to create an engaging and interesting comic book online.
Our newly renamed ‘Religion and Worldviews’ work will see us learn what the ‘Trinity’ means to Christians which will tie in nicely with the festive season ahead and equip the children with an understanding of a worldview which could be contrasting or like their own.
Our topic in Class 3 for this half term is History and will see us learn all about the Roman site of ‘Venta Icenorum’ at Caistor St. Edmund to learn what impact the Romans had on Norfolk. We will learn some fundamental Historical vocabulary as well as how to use timelines to order events in the past.
Our English work will see us working on planning and writing our own cautionary tale inspired by ‘The Stone Trolls’ of Iceland. After this we will work on writing an information text used to describe one of these amazing trolls!
Our reading lessons will begin by focussing on ‘Badger’s Parting Gifts’ which will allow us to discuss how to manage emotions linked to loss as well as getting to grips with different word types. ‘The Sheep Pig’ by Dick King Smith is our next book and will give us our first chapter book to get to grips with and focus in on all areas of the VIPERS framework.
In Maths our focus for the start of the year will be on Place Value including learning how to partition and represent numbers in different ways using a variety of resources and strategies to support us. Following this, we work on Addition and Subtraction to include learning how to use Roman Numerals and round numbers.
We are so lucky to be having Tuesday afternoon Forest School sessions with Mrs Stanbury this half term. Please ensure your child(ren) has all of the necessary items of clothing and footwear for these sessions as they are ‘all weather’.
Across Key Stage 2, we will be looking at forces and magnetism. The children will be thinking about gravity, air and water resistance, friction, and magnets. There will be lots of practical enquiries around these topics, as the children develop their scientific skills and consider how forces influence our everyday lives.
In Computing, across the whole school, we begin by covering the important topic of ‘E-Safety’ so children know how to use technology and the internet respectfully and responsibly.
Our RE work will see us learn how people show commitment towards a religion/ worldview in different ways. There will be time for lots of discussion-based learning and time for children to think about commitments in their own lives.
I’m looking forward to a super year with Year 3 in Class 3. Let’s work hard and enjoy learning!
This half term in Class 3 we will be delving into the Norfolk Broads for our Geography focus. This will teach us all about what the Broads are, how they were formed and what they can be used for. Alongside this we will be learning some more general information about rivers and how land is used in England.
In English we begin by working on planning and writing our own extended mystery story with a focus on writing high quality chapters to tell the whole story. After that we will turn our attention to writing an information leaflet about how something happens or works.
Our focus in Maths will be starting off with some work on time (get your watches at the ready!) before moving on to study Shape and then finishing off the half term with some lovely Statistics work.
The children were delighted to discover that we are re-entering the Forest School on a weekly basis to explore the outdoors and work together as a team in nature.
In PE, children will have the luxury of working with Mr Hall-Galley with Mr Caston doing some Computing work in Class 5. Our Computing focus will be looking into 3D design to tie in with our DT work on building castles.
It’s set to be a very busy half term, let’s enjoy it and learn as much as we can whilst enjoying school.
In Class 3 this half term we will be exploring a Geography topic all about water! This will include learning how to locate countries of the world using maps especially within Europe, revising the seven continents and five oceans and learning about how erosion affects the land.
In English we will be learning how to plan a spectacular setting which links to our work in Reading which will see us sharing the classic text ‘The Iron Man’ by Ted Hughes. This text will also form a playscript which we will study and learn to perform to the school and parents for our class assembly.
In Maths we are to focus on fractions which will begin by learning what a fraction is and what each part of a written fraction means and how it relates to number and shape.
It is still so important for your child to learn their times tables at home, so please refer to my handout issued last term if you need some help with this. Year 4 children will be undertaking the times table test in June so please continue to work on this!
In Computing we will be exploring ‘Kodu’ to learn how to create a 3D place and programme characters just like video game designers!
In Art & Design, our focus turns to textiles. Cross stitch and Applique will test both mine and the children’s ability to manipulate a needle and thread.
Our PE focus will be on developing our creative skills including working on sending and receiving and counterbalance
Learning about ballads in music will teach us to identify features of a piece of music, sing in time with music and to write a verse with rhyming words to tell part of a story.
I’m looking forward to an exciting half term in Class 3 as Spring edges towards us.
In Class 3 this half term we will be delving into the world of the Ancient Egyptians for our focus in History including a super trip to Norwich Castle on Thursday 12th January!
In English we will be focussing on learning how to write a non-chronological report before moving on to write a story idea based on a real setting.
In our reading sessions we start off with ‘The Day the Crayons Came Home’ before moving on to ‘Amazing Grace’ which should initiate some super discussion around our school value of individuality.
Maths will see us develop our multiplication and division knowledge further for a few weeks to include learning different strategies to solve problems and reasoning. It’s still vital for your child to learn their times tables at home so please refer to my handout issued last term if you need some help with this. Length and Perimeter will then be our focus towards the end of the half term.
In Computing we will be exploring ‘Kodu’ to learn how to create a 3D place and programme characters just like video game designers!
In Art & Design we will link our work to our Egyptians topic and create our own papyrus paper and ancient scrolls.
Our PE focus will be on developing cognitive skills so we can identify our own areas for improvement, explain what we are doing well and work on ordering instructions, movements and skills.
Learning about pentatonic melodies in music will inspire us to compose our own pieces using layered melodies.
It’s set to be an exciting and busy start to 2023 in Class 3
Our topic in Class 3 for this half term is the United Kingdom, its Countries and Cities. We will be learning about the different countries within the UK alongside learning the difference between a city, town, village and hamlet.
In English we will be exploring the book ‘Bill’s New Frock’ by Anne Fine to work on planning and writing our own ‘wishing tale’ inspired by the story. After this we will write our own Four Seasons Haiku to develop and express ourselves through poetry.
In Maths we will work on Multiplication and Division which will be especially useful for year 4 children and they make their way towards the times table test later in the year!
We will be continuing to work on our French skills by learning more French Phonics! This will help us begin to explore the language further and improve the way we pronounce our French words.
In our Art & Design work we will be working on our drawing skills including how to use shading to show texture in what we draw.
In Computing we will be learning about E-safety and how to stay safe online. Lessons will include how to manage a situation where someone to find help if something upsets you online.
Our PE work will see us focus on developing our social skills alongside jumping and landing and working on static and seated balances.
Our topic in Class 3 for this half term is the Stone Age to the Iron Age. We will base a large amount of our English work around the fabulous book Stone Age Boy by Satoshi Kitamura. This will also be a key text for our studying of reading before we move on to read the classic ‘George’s Marvellous Medicine’ by Roald Dahl. These lessons will work to teach the children all aspects of reading from learning new words, predicting, and making links between books they read.
In Maths our focus for the start of the year will be on Place Value to include learning how to partition and represent numbers in different ways using a variety of resources and strategies to support us. Following this we move on to work on Addition and Subtraction to include learning how to use Roman Numerals and round numbers.
In History we will be exploring the changes from The Stone Age to The Iron Age and learning key skills such as how to use timelines, know the difference between primary and secondary sources of information and know what a historical question is and how to write our own.
In Computing we will be exploring Scratch and learn how to design, write, and debug programs that accomplish specific goals. Our PE work will see us focus in on developing our personal skills as well as our co-ordination and balance.
I’m really looking forward to my first half term teaching Class 3 and I know we’re going to learn lots and enjoy ourselves whilst doing so.
This half-term in class 3, our topic we will be exploring both historical and geographical factors related to the topic of the Vikings. We will be finding out who the Vikings were, where they originated from and whether the Vikings’ reputation as violent brutes is justified or if they were simply misunderstood! We will be focusing upon the Anglo-Saxon resistance that awaited the Vikings by zooming in on some key events, such as the Viking raid of Lindisfarne. Finally, we will be looking at the Vikings’ legacy in Britain, with a particular focus upon East Anglia. Our Art and Design lessons will also be heavily influenced by the Vikings as we attempt to draw, design, and make our very own Viking Longboats! In RE we will be learning about the oldest religion in the world - Hinduism. We will be learning about the beliefs that Hinduism is based upon; and how these beliefs influence the lives of people and communities that practice Hinduism.
In English our first unit of work will be based around the ‘Princess and the Pea’ by Lauren Child. We will be looking at the features of the text by deconstructing it and zooming in on the key plot points within the story. We will be focusing upon writing at sentence level and on expanding our vocabulary by identifying synonyms for key words and ideas within the traditional tale. At the end of the unit, we will be writing our very own traditional tale, using the structure of ‘Princess and the Pea’ to help us develop our own plot points and ideas. We hope to embed our knowledge of adjectives, nouns, verbs and adverbs and to develop our use of expanded noun phrases and conjunctions. Our non-fiction unit will have a strong PSHE element to it as we focus upon instruction writing. Our key text will be ‘My Strong Mind’ by Niels Van Hove and we will be constructing a set of instructions to help us develop mental resilience when faced with difficult challenges. Our grammar focus for this unit will be on Imperative (bossy) verbs and on ensuring that our instructions are clear and concise. Finally, we will be delving into the realms of poetry as we write our own Autumnal-based verses.
We will begin our half-term of Maths by re-capping and expanding our knowledge of place value. We will be practising how to say and write numbers up to 1,000 and on partitioning numbers into 100s, 10s and 1s. We will be exploring the importance of the number 10 within our numerical system and examining the different ways in which different numbers can be represented. After this, we will be developing our addition and subtraction skills. We will use our partitioning skills to help make seemingly difficult calculations much easier and will identify how we can use addition to help with subtraction and vice versa. Throughout the course of the school year there will be a focus upon multiplication tables. Knowing the times tables is the key to unlocking so many areas of maths and the children will need to practise these regularly both in school and at home. For this reason, the children will be completing weekly ‘speed table’ activities.
Our PE focus this half term is on Gymnastics and Cricket. In Gymnastics, the children will be developing their balance skills and on how they can extend their limbs to support their balanced stances. On Fridays, we will be making the most of the remaining good weather (what good weather, I hear you ask!) and developing our fielding, bowling, and batting skills in Cricket. In Computing we will be learning how to write programmes using the SCRATCH website. Finally, we are once again blessed to be joined by Mrs Cuthill for Science; the scientific focus for this half-term will be on the structure and function of plants.
Curriculum Statement Class 3
Our topic for this half term is the Stone Age to the Iron Age. We will base most of our English teaching, reading comprehension and drama activities around the fabulous book Stone Age Boy by Satoshi Kitamura. We will be learning to write setting descriptions, questions and answers, sense poetry and non-chronological reports.
In maths, we will be beginning with number sense, place value and calculation. This will involve adding/subtracting 10s, 100s and 1000s, placing numbers on blank number lines and partitioning numbers. We will then move on to strategies for addition and subtraction, focusing on number lines to begin with.
Our humanities work will include work on timelines, sources of evidence and researching a topic using the internet. In art, we will be looking at the Perch Merle cave paintings, Stonehenge and Stone Age tools (amongst other things). Mrs Cuthill will teach science this year. PE will be gymnastics on Mondays taught by Mr Care, and football on Fridays taught by Mr Hall-Galley. The children will learning basic programming and paint skills in ICT. They will also have the opportunity to take part in Forest Schools with Mrs Stanbury on Thursdays.
We are excited to welcome you back!
ENGLISH: During this half term, we will journey from the Bronze Age to the Iron Age. We will begin by studying newspaper reports and our teaching will be based around the brilliant book The Stone Age Sentinel by Paul Dowswell and Fergus Fleming. Our story - Stig of the Dump by Clive King - will continue to be read in our story time each day. Once we have become confident with writing newspaper articles, we will learn to write a set of instructions and then finish the half term by studying poetry, widening our descriptive language.
MATHS: We will be studying graphs, before moving on to place value and finishing with addition and subtraction strategies (including an introduction to column method). Added to this, it will be very helpful if children are given support at home with learning to tell time (in analogue and digital formats), as we will also be practising this throughout the half term.
HUMANITIES: How did life change from the Stone Age to the Iron Age? Why was Iron so important? What ended the Iron Age? These are all questions that we will attempt to answer as we bring our topic to a close.
RE: Festivals of Light- Jewish festival of Hanukkah.
ART: We will be creating our own Stonehenge, Celtic artefacts and artwork themed around Hanukkah.
SCIENCE/MUSIC: This year science and music will be taught by Mrs Cuthill. Magnets will be this half term’s topic. This will include: identifying magnetic and non-magnetic materials, making predictions, devising tests and discussing ways magnets are used in everyday life.
ENGLISH: Our topic for this half term is the Stone Age to the Iron Age. We will base most of our English teaching, reading comprehension and drama activities around the fabulous book Stone Age Boy by Satoshi Kitamura. We will also be reading the children’s classic Stig of the Dump by Clive King in our story time each day. Descriptive writing and character descriptions will be created using an ever increasing range of vocabulary, before we write our own Stone Age stories. Children are being encouraged to speak in sentences, helping them to practice before they write.
MATHS: We will be beginning with number understanding, place value and calculation. Times tables will quickly be introduced as regular part of our maths lessons and the children will be expected to learn these at home as well as in school.
HUMANITIES: Next Tuesday we have our trip to Gressenhall to develop our learning on the Stone Age period. Children will use timelines to understand the sequencing of historical periods, as well as use different sources of evidence and research a topic using the internet. If your child has any topic related books at home then we would love to see them.
ART: We will be looking at the Perch Merle cave paintings, Stonehenge and Stone Age tools (among other things).
SCIENCE/MUSIC: This year science and music will be taught by Mrs Cuthill. Rocks and Soils is this term’s topic which links in nicely with Stone Age Man.
PE will be gymnastics, taught by a guest instructor and football taught by Mr Care. We hope you are excited for this half term!
ENGLISH: This half term in Class 3 we will be basing our learning around the beautiful children’s story Charlotte’s Web, by E.B. White. We will use this story to write in a variety of genres we have covered this year, including; letters, diaries, newspaper articles and fact files.
MATHS: In maths we will be revisiting addition and subtraction techniques and consolidating our understanding ready for next year. We will be focusing heavily on times tables, so please continue to support your children by using Rock Star Maths at home.
SCIENCE: Our Science will be focused on how plants have adapted to survive in different habitats, and we may have time to conduct one or two spider themed experiments.
HUMANITIES/ART: Our art and Humanities will be themed around spiders and farms, starting with Pop Art spider webs!
There are several trips planned for this half term and the summer half term is always very busy, so please read any letters we send home, check the VLE for updates and come in to see us if you are unsure of anything.
Mr Care 🙂
English: This half term we will be learning about Roald Dahl and we will be writing some gruesome stories in the style of the beloved author. Many of the children have read Fantastic Mr Fox and Matilda this year, which will no doubt be a huge help with their writing. I can also highly recommend reading George’s Marvellous Medicine as this will form the basis of part of our stories.
Maths: This will be focused on shapes and angles. This will include work on right-angles, acute and obtuse angles and drawing 2D and 3D shapes (with rulers). However, we will also be revisiting: time, fractions and weekly times tables will continue to be sent home. Being able to recall times tables quickly and accurately greatly supports children with their calculations. Due to popular demand, Mr Care will be hosting an after school maths session for Class 3 parents to discuss new methods taught this year.
Science: Our topic for this half term will be Plants and their habitats. This will be taught by Mr Care on Wednesdays as Mr Barnard will be taking PE on Thursdays, which is a small change to our timetable. We will be learning the parts of a plant, how plants reproduce, what plants need to survive and how plants are adapted to different habitats.
Humanities: Local history work will be centred around the Paston family, and will involve work with the Paston Heritage Society and the UEA. Children will learn about the history of Norfolk while using local maps to identify places connected with the Paston family. Later in the term, we will hopefully have a class trip linked with this topic (more details to follow).
Art: Linked with our history topic, we will explore coats of arms and design our own. Also, we will explore the illustrations of Quentin Blake through our Roald Dahl work.
English: During the second half of the Spring Term, Class 3 will continue to focus on Explorers. We will consider how it might feel to arrive in a strange land; these emotions will be represented through drama, and the children will create play scripts. We will be learning to use adverbs and prepositions, to help us develop our writing, and provide stage directions for our performances. Following on from this, we will be writing poetry throughout the second half of the term. We will use the effect of the experience on the character’s senses, to inform our writing. Performance will again be the focus, and we will consider how to improve our oral poetry through changes in pace and volume.
Reading: With World Book Day this half term we would like to share some of our favourite books with the children and will be encouraging them to share their own favourites with the class. We will be asking the children to review some of their favourite books.
Maths: We will consolidate our understanding of time focussing on analogue and then digital time. This will be followed by fractions, where we will be learning to recognise equivalent fractions and add fractions with the same denominator. We will also be improving our number fluency, by continuing to work on our number facts, including times tables. Your help practising these at home is greatly appreciated.
Science: We will be continue our work with forces, focusing on magnetism, which will support our work in Geography. We will be exploring magnetic materials, and comparing magnets’ strengths. We will also link this to our work on explorers by learning to use compasses and testing magnetic materials in water.
Humanities: Our topic work will link to our English work, with a focus on mountainous regions. We will be developing a greater understanding of where mountains can be found in the world and features of their climates. If anyone has any information to share please pop into class.
Art/DT: We will be using collage techniques to produce textured artwork, which will represent the environments that we will have been describing in our English work. It would be very helpful if parents could bring in any non-perishable, recyclable items (cardboard boxes and tubes, magazines, foil wrappers etc) for us to use!
PE: This half term the children will be lucky enough be visited by two guest instructors, who will share their expertise. On Tuesdays they will be learning to create a dance routine based on robots, and Fridays they will be learning about discipline, concentration and self-control by studying Karate.
ENGLISH: In Class 3 our topic this term will be Explorers and our English work will be based around the fabulous book Shackleton’s Journey. We will be learning to write letters, diary entries and we may even have time for a newspaper article or two. If parents have any expert knowledge of Shackleton they would like to share or anything interesting to bring in please let Mr Care know. This English topic will be linked with geography work on map reading, exploring different climates and locational knowledge. It will also provide the basis of PSHE work themed around teamwork and collaboration.
MATHS: We will be learning about multiplication and division. Times tables will be sent home weekly and regularly used in class, so it is very important the children begin to learn them off by heart. Remember, you can help your child with division by using the language of dividing and sharing at home. For example, when cutting a cake or a pizza.
Our music and ICT will link to our topic work this half term and our DT project this will be designing a sea worthy vessel to explore the Antarctic! Our PE will be dance and hockey. As we will be outdoors please bring some tracksuit bottoms and a hoodie or warm top to keep warm.
English: This half term, we will begin a new unit of work based on newspaper reports linked to natural disasters. The children will have a chance to interview witnesses and write their own reports based on a real event in school. We will then record our own news broadcasts.
Maths: We will be learning how to read and interpret graphs and then moving on to addition/subtraction strategies using 3-digit numbers. Children will be applying their understanding of place value, accurately using their number bonds.
Humanities: we will be finishing our topic on the Romans, focusing on the eruption of Pompeii. We will then explore Diwali and Hanukkah - Festivals of Light. We will begin rehearsing for our first performance in the Christmas panto!
Science: This will be focussed on healthy eating and what animals and humans need to survive.
Art/DT: We will be learning to use shade, tone and tint to improve our painting and drawing skills.
English: Our topic for this half term will be the Romans. We will be focusing on story writing and using the book Across the Roman Wall as our inspiration (coupled with plenty of drama work). We will use this to learn about writing descriptively, settings and characterisation. We will also be learning to write postcards and letters.
Maths: We will be following the national curriculum for year 3 maths, the term will begin with work on numbers within 100 and consolidating our understanding of base ten. We will be learning to use known facts (doubles, times tables, 1 more/ less, number bonds, etc) to help improve our mental calculation. We will be using bar models to represent addition and subtraction problems.
Humanities: We will be learning about The Roman Empire, Boudicca, Hadrian’s Wall and Pompeii. We will also be learning about the life of a Roman soldier and having a Roman day at the end the topic.
Art/DT- We will be researching, designing and making our own Roman mosaics out of clay, as well as shields later on in the term.
Science: we will be learning about light and will be investigating shadows and reflection. It would be great if children can bring their own torch for these lessons and if they have anything interesting they would like to share for show and tell in this topic Thursday afternoon is the time to bring it in. Children will learn how to present information in tables, graphs and diagrams. There will be lots of opportunity for learning new spellings of scientific vocabulary.
We are very much looking forward to an exciting year in Class 3!