Year 3 Poplar Class 2024 - 2025

Mrs Williams	Mrs Madden	Mrs Newton	Miss Choy

Year 3 Poplar Class 2024-2025 

In Summer 1, we will be learning: 

Writing: 

 In English we will be exploring the story ‘Adventure at Sandy Cove’ . We will be using Talk for Writing techniques to learn the text. Within this unit, we will be looking at the character and dialogue toolkit. We will be learning how to use characterisation to create characters that sound real and the reader can imagine in our character toolkit. We will be learning how to create dialogue that sounds real, reflects character and moves action forwards in our dialogue toolkit. We will be focusing on how to punctuate speech and use stage directions, how to drop in extra information, how to paragraph our writing into sections independently and show how a character is feeling through their actions and reactions.  

Guided Reading: Pathways to Read- we will be reading ‘Usborne Illustrated Atlas of Britain and  Ireland’ by Struan Reid and Megan Cullis. Within this unit, we will focus on identifying how language, structure and presentation contribute to meaning. We will learn how to retrieve and record information from non fiction and fiction text. We will continue to use dictionaries to check the meaning of words that we have read.  

Maths:  This half term we will be working on Unit 10, Unit 11 and Unit 12. 

 In Unit 10,  we will be learning about Capacity and the different units of measure e.g. l,ml.  

In Unit 11, we will be learning how to add and subtract fractions and how to find unit fractions and non-unit fractions of amounts.  

In Unit 12, we will be learning about money. We will convert between pounds and pence, add  money, subtract money and find change.  

Science: This half term, our Science topic will be plants. We will be learning about what plants needs to grow best. We will be explaining and identifying the different parts of a plant and what they do. We will explain the importance of bees and insects. We will identify the 5 stages of a plant’s life cycle and the different ways of seed dispersal.  

History: In our History lesson we will be answering the question ‘Why should we preserve our locality?’ We will be thinking about what makes a building or site special and understanding what listed buildings are. We will be researching and finding out about listed buildings near us in Ellesmere Port. We will be debating about which sites should and should not be preserved around our local area.  

To enrich our learning in this unit, we will be visiting a local listed building in Whitby Park.  

PE: In PE we will be learning how to play fitness and athletics.  

In Athletics we will be learning how to develop jumping for distance, taking part in relay activities, throwing a variety of objects, learn how to improve our sprinting techniques and show determination to achieve our personal best. 

In Fitness we will understand that there are different areas of fitness, demonstrate balance when performing fundamental skills, learn to lean forward to speed up and take small steps to change direction. We will develop our perseverance when faced with difficult challenges.  

Art and Design: We will be learning about Sculpture and 3D with a focus on abstract shape and space. We will define what sculpture means and explore different ways to join card shapes to build a 3D structure that stands up on its own. We will look at artist Anthony Caro and work with a partner to make larger 3D structures. We will identify 2D shapes in 3D shapes and understand the difference between positive and negative space and how artists use it to create their ideas for abstract sculptures.  

Computing: This term we will be learning about Desktop Publishing. We will becoming familiar with the terms ‘text’ and ‘images’ and use desktop publishing software to make choices about font size, colour and type to edit and improve premade documents. We will add text and images to create our own pieces of work and experiment with a range of page layouts. We will understand how desktop publishing is used in the real world.  

RE: We will be continuing our learning about Christianity and finding the answer to the key question ‘What is my point of view about God and why do people have faith?’ We wil be thinking about God and what we believe about God. We will discuss how Christians describe God using quotes from the bible. We will find out about symbols used in Christianity e.g. the trinity. We will learn about what philosophers say about God and compare it to our viewpoints.  

Music: This term we will be continuing our learning on Pentatonic Melodies and composition linked to the Chinese New Year. We will also be learning our songs and dances for our Amasing World Tour in July.  

PSHE: This term we will be learning about Safety and the changing body. In this unit of learning we will be finding out about First Aid. We will understand the role we take in emergency situations and how to help someone if they have been stung or bitten. We will learning about internet safety, the importance of being kind online and what this looks like. We will understand what cyberbullying is. We will discuss how to make choices and recognise who and what can influence our decisions. We will also develop an understanding of how to keep safe on or near roads.  

MFL:  This half term we will be learning about colours and family. We will learn to name common colours (red, blue, yellow, green, white and black) in French and use these to answer questions about objects. We will identify family members (mum, dad, brother, sister) in French and  introduce our family in French. We will recap parts of the body and describe our family members (eyes, ears, hair, mouth, nose, head) in French.  

Important Information for Summer 1

Our PE days are Mondays and Wednesdays. Please be reminded of Whitby Heath's PE kit: 

• Team colour t-shirt ( Donaldson- yellow, Dahl- red, Suess- green, Rowling- blue)
• Plain black shorts
• Black pumps for indoor PE
• Trainers for outdoor PE
• Tracksuits, sweatshirts and leggings can be worn for outdoor PE in colder weather 
• Ear rings must be removed and long hair must be tied back

Reading Book Changes

Expectations

It is expected that all children will read at home at least five times each week. This can be a mixture of reading with support from an adult and independent reading. It can be their home reader, a magazine, newspaper, library book, or any other book that your child would enjoy reading. All home reading should be recorded in home-school diaries, this can be as simple as individual date and signature and the book that has been read as well as comment about how your child has read.

All children at Whitby Heath read daily in class whether it be on a 1:1 basis or working within group. As a school, we aim for ‘Strive for Five’. Using our Dojo reward system to celebrate this achievement. As a result, parents will receive a notification of this via the Dojo app as well as children receiving a stamp in their Reading Record indicating their total number of reads each week. 

Each child has an allocated day that their book/s will be changed, linked to their house teams:

Donaldson- Monday

Seuss- Tuesday

Dahl- Wednesday

Rowling- Thursday

In school, we use children’s Reading Records to keep a record of what the children are reading rather than a dialogue between parents and school. We love to see parent comments about how they have got on if you have listened to them reading aloud or have asked them some questions about what they have read. We look forward to catching up with parents about children's reading progress in our parent’s evenings. 

Homework Information

Maths homework is set each week on Mirodo

English homework is set on Dojo and alternates between Oracy and Spelling.

Times Tables

Please also practise the times tables that your child is on. Children are tested twice every week and cannot move on to the next times table until they have passed their current level three times. This includes multiplication and division.

ClassDojo

Should parents need to contact the Year 3 team please send a direct message through ClassDojo. All communication from school will be shared in this way. 

Other useful websites for learning at home

• Mirodo

• Timestables Rockstars

https://play.ttrockstars.com/auth/school/student
All children have a login for this website.

• Hit the Button

https://www.topmarks.co.uk/maths-games/hit-the-button
A great way to practice times tables at home.

• Newsround

https://www.bbc.co.uk/newsround
A place for children to keep up with current events!

• National Geographic Kids

https://www.natgeokids.com/uk/
A lovely website for children to learn more about animals, wildlife and the world around them.

• BBC Bitesize

https://www.bbc.co.uk/bitesize/primary
A place full of information that covers the range of the subjects and topics we study in school.