Term 3

English:

In English this term, American Eagles have been learning more about apostrophes, contractions, homophones, word classes and modal verbs in Grammar lessons. In writing, they have been writing a non-chronological report on the layers of the Earth linking in with the topic of Rocks, Fossils and Volcanoes. The children learnt lots of new information about the Earth to help them understand the topic and write a report on the four layers of our planet. The children were able to recall these facts using the Talk for Writing strategy.

Using the information, the children also have written poems about volcanoes using a range of grammatical devices such as rhyming words, similes, personification, onomatopoeia, alliteration and expanded noun phrases. They then enjoyed reading and performing their poetry to the class.

In Maths this term, American Eagles have been working on multiplication and division. They’ve been learning a range of different strategies to calculate problems including multiplying using the formal written method. They have learnt that sometimes there is a remainder in division problems and they have been working on some one-step word and two-step word problems. The children have been seeing some of the relevance of learning these mathematical methods to solve real-life problems.

In Science, American Eagles have been studying forces and magnets. The class discussed pulling and pushing and the force involved to complete these tasks.  The children have also looked at contact forces and friction.

In Topic, American Eagles have been studying about Rocks, Fossils and Volcanoes. They have been really interested in this topic and have studying the rocks lent to us by the Maidstone Museum. The children have written about the layers of the Earth and volcanoes. They have studied about the Earths layers, tectonic plates, the ring of fire, volcanoes and latitude and longitude lines around the Earth.

In assemblies, the children have been learning more about how to be a good friend and behave well while playing in the playground.

Term 2

Our class have continued the topic ‘Through the Ages’ alongside Canadian Bears. We have compared aspects of the Stone Age and the Bronze Age, and have also looked at the Iron Age. We visited Chislehurst caves to see more of how it was to live in the Stone age. We have enjoyed drawing some Beaker pots, copying the special patterns and designs of the age.

In English and grammar, we have been working on writing an historical narrative and looking at past tense verbs. In our reading groups, the children have continued to read from our class reader ‘Stig in the dump’ and they have made overall good progress this term with reading.

In Spanish, we have been learning how to pronounce some names of animals.

In Maths, the children have consolidated what they have learnt in addition and subtraction, and they have learnt about exchanging 10 ones for a 10, before progressing to exchanging 10 tens for a 100. There has been plenty of problem solving this term and the children have used a range of strategies from column subtraction and addition to the bar method, to solve problems. We’ve now moved on to multiplication and division, focussing on the 3, 4 and 8 times tables. By practising times tables in class, the children are better equipped to recall multiplication facts to answer division problems.

In science this term, we have continued to learn about our joints, bones, muscles and skeleton.  The children watched a video on nutrition, skeletons and muscles and where encouraged to work together to generate a scientific question which they could investigate further.

Examples included:

• Do all vertebrates have the same number of bones?
• Why do babies have more bones than adults?
• How do bones repair after a break?
• Do all mammals have the same bone types as humans?
• How many joints do we have in our fingers/thumbs/arms/legs/body?

Term 1

Term 1 has been a busy term for American Eagles as they’ve adjusted to classroom life in Key stage 2 and all the differences that comes with being in year 3 now!

In Maths, we have been learning more about place value and building on our knowledge from year 1 and 2. We’ve been learning about three-digit number and how they’re represented using hundreds, tens and ones. More work has included comparing a range of three-digit numbers and ordering. Now we’re working on addition and subtraction and learning how to exchange 10 tens for a hundred and writing our sums in columns.

In English, we’ve been working on writing a set of instructions and also writing our own cinquains, a five line poem, based on Stone age jobs. Our reading has been centred on our topic work, looking at the Stone age and we’ve really enjoyed reading through the book ‘Stig in the Dump’ which is an interesting story about a boy who meets a character called Stig.

As part of our topic work ‘Through the Ages’, we’ve looked at how Stone Age man lived and how he survived in those times. We’re looking forward to our class visit to Chislehurst caves to get and idea of how it could have been to live in the Stone age. We’ve investigated the five time periods between the Stone Age and the Iron age and how life changed during the Palaeolithic, Mesolithic and Neolithic times.

We’ve had some interesting discussions about the tools used then and how things were done.

In Science, we’ve investigated the food groups and which nutrition the foods give us, our skeletal systems, joints and muscles.

The children especially enjoyed the “knee bone is connected to the thigh bone” song!

In R.E. we have been looking at Diwali and the children especially enjoyed drawing their own impressions of Diwali.

As part of homework, children have been designing their perfect playground.

In our assemblies, we’ve been learning more about the importance of following the High five rules in school and in our class assemblies, we’ve been discussing what makes a good friend.