Term 3 

Maths

Across this term, we have had a primary focus on multiplication and division within our Maths lessons. To begin the term, we recapped our knowledge of 2, 5 and 10-times tables and applied these to creating equal groups and arrays. Following on from this, we practised sharing total amounts into equal groups of 2, 5 or 10 using the __ ÷ __ = __ division sentence structure.

Once we had recapped and secured this knowledge, we proceeded to extend our times table knowledge to the 3, 4 and 8-times tables. We followed similar patterns, first exploring multiples of each number before working on dividing total amounts into equal groups.

Finally, we concluded the unit of work by exploring a range of word problems to ensure children have a good understanding of multiplication and division, and can begin to apply these processes into everyday life scenarios.

English

During our English lessons this term, we have been primarily focused on the genre of non-chronological report writing. As we do with each new unit, we began by exploring and learning a model text. Our model text features information about sedimentary rocks, how they are used and why they are important. Once we had explored the main text and grammar features of our model text, we began to innovate this text to create a new non-chronological report. During the innovation process, we focused on attention on the topic of igneous rocks. Children undertook research activities to support gaining the information required to plan and write a report on this topic. While innovating, we focused on each section of the report separately, and made changes to our model text to support us with structuring our new text. Finally, children were able to use all of this knowledge to plan and write their own reports independently. This process focused on the topic of metamorphic rocks, and begun with another research activity before children began to write their own texts following the learned structure and layout.

Topic

This term, we have begun working on our ‘Rocks, Relics and Rumbles’ topic, which has a geography focus. To commence the unit, we explored the layers of the Earth and labelled diagrams of the main layers: crust, mantle, outer core and inner core. Following this lesson, we began to explore what rocks are, how they are used and discussed examples of rocks from the three main types: sedimentary, igneous and metamorphic.

Next, we explored what a fossil is. To fully understand this, we examined the process animal bones go through to transform into a fossil. We discussed how these bones are covered with multiple layers of soil and rocks, which allows the bones to compact and turn to rock.

Finally, we turned our attention to Mary Anning, a famous fossil collector. We explored why she is considered important, and how her discoveries have influenced scientists and historians. We were able to use our knowledge of Mary Anning to create interesting information posters about her and her work.

Throughout this learning, we also linked learning in English and Guided Reading to our topic, as we focused on texts relating to types of rocks in both areas.

Science

During our Science lessons this term, we have begun to explore what a force is. To begin the unit, we discussed what forces are and discovered two types of forces: pushes and pulls. Following this, we explored a range of everyday movements to determine if the actions used a push force or a pull force. Once children were secured with this understanding, we began to describe and explain what happens to an object once a force is applied to it. We then focused on the concept of friction, and how this can affect the way in which an object is able to move. Once again, we explored a range of movements across different surfaces to observe how friction changes an object’s ability to move.

Term 2

Topic

Canadian Bears have working hard to conclude the second half of their ‘Through the Ages’ topic this term. We began the term by exploring what everyday life was like for people living in the Iron Age. Children made some interesting discoveries about how life began to change as time progressed out of the Bronze Age and into the Iron Age. We continued on this learning journey to discover the Beaker folk, and we focused on how they helped to shape and influence everyday life in Britain. Following on from this, we explored what farming looked like in this time period, and how iron supported tool development to make farming roles easier to manage.

Before finishing our journey of the Iron Age, we explored the importance of Celtic warriors within tribes and hillforts. We discussed how these warriors would have protected their land and tribes from outside invaders and tribes. Children created their own interpretations of what these warriors may have looked like. Finally, to conclude the topic, we discussed how life had change by the end of the Iron Age. To fully answer this question, we discussed all of the knowledge we had learned over the two terms of lessons, and began to compare elements of everyday life from the start of the Stone Age against the end of the Iron Age.

Once we had concluded our learning of these periods of prehistory in Britain, we turned our attention to a piece of local geography that links to this topic. We explored the history of the site of Oldbury Hill – a historic Iron Age hillfort located in Kent.

Science

In science this term, we began by exploring the role of the skeleton, and the role it plays within our bodies. We learned the names of a range of bones within our body, and discussed the main roles for many of these. We built upon this knowledge by conducting a simple experiment to explore how joints help these bones connect and move. Children were given a length of string and a paper straw. To begin with they were asked to place the straw onto the string and bend the string. Next, they needed to cut the straw into two pieces and place them back on the string to bend once again. This process repeated multiple times, until children were left with a length of string with numerous small pieces of straw threaded onto it. Each time the straw was cut into a smaller piece, children were able to visually see how joints help to move and bend parts of our body.

Following on from this, we explored the main roles of some major muscles within our bodies. We primarily focused on the partnership these muscles have with each other in contracting and relaxing particular parts of our bodies. Children were given the opportunity to test these muscle pairs for themselves by conducting simple movements while checking which muscle was responsible for making the movement possible.

Finally, we explored the differences between animals that have internal skeleton, external skeletons and no skeletons. We identified and sorted a range of these animals into these three groups before describe the definitions of the vocabulary ‘endoskeleton’ and ‘exoskeleton’.

English

We have completed two units of writing across the term – cinquain poems and chronological reports. For both units, we began by exploring and learning a model text – this supported the children’s understanding of this style of writing. Once we had learned this model text, and actions to go alongside it, we moved onto the unique features of both these types of writing. While working on cinquain poems, we explored syllables and how to count them within words and sentences. The style of our cinquain poem was focused a specific number of words and syllables per line – this was a difficult task initially. However, as we progressed through the unit, there were some excellent poems written using the correct format.

Following this unit, we moved our attention to chronological reports. We began this by learning our model text, which focused on how clothing changed through the Stone Age, Bronze Age and Iron Age. By using text and grammatical features, we were able to use this text to innovate and plan a new text, focusing on how tools and weapons changed through the same periods of history.

Maths

This term, we have primarily focused on addition and subtraction within 1,000. We have been learning to use the column method to add and subtract 2 and 3-digit numbers. The concept of borrowing and carrying numbers across the columns have needed careful attention and plenty of practice to master. The children have worked hard to understand when and how to use these techniques, and they have applied them successfully to solve increasingly challenging problems. Alongside this, we have also focused on improving mental arithmetic skills, such as estimating answers and checking calculations for accuracy.

RE

Canadian Bears have been focused on the Christmas story this term. We began the term by recapping and exploring the story of the birth of Jesus. Following on from this, we explored traditions that happen at Christmas, and discussed why these traditions often happen. Next, we explored how other countries around the world celebrate Christmas, comparing each tradition to the ones celebrated in Britain. There were many interesting ideas that children were keen to explore further during this lesson. Finally, we use all of this learning to begin to explain how modern Christmas traditions link to the story of the birth of Jesus.

Year 3 were able to offer further support during the Christmas Carol Service, with a select number of children creating the nativity tableau during the service.

Term 1

Topic

This term, we have begun our ‘Through the Ages’ topic; this topic explores the history and life in the Stone Age. During this term, we have explored the timelines of this period of history to begin to understand when this happened. We also developed our understanding of important key vocabulary we will be using throughout the unit. At this stage of the topic, we discovered there were three main eras in the Stone Age: the Palaeolithic, Mesolithic and Neolithic. We explored what life was life in each of these eras, and discovered some changes that happened between them.

English

Canadian Bears have been working hard to learn and write two different genres of writing this term. To begin the year, we focused our attention on the genre of historical narratives. We began this unit by learning a model text with actions to support. We then explored the features of this style of writing, before planning and writing our own historical narratives based in the Stone Age.

Following on from this, we moved onto the genre of instructional writing. Once again, we begun with a model text explaining how to make a Stone Age axe. After exploring the grammatical features and layout of this style of writing we planned and wrote our own instructions based on the steps needed to make a Stone Age bow and arrow.

Maths

We have begun Year 3 with a focus on place value. We recapped our knowledge of how to use a place value grid to support addition and subtraction methods. Once we were confident with this, we developed the method by including a hundred column into the place value grid, which allowed us to begin working with 3-digit numbers. We used this support to begin to add and subtract 1s, 10s and 100s to 3-digit numbers.

RE

In RE this term, we have focused on the Hindu celebration of Diwali. We explored the origin of this celebration, and learned about the religious story of Rama and Sita. We produced a story map of this story to enhance our understanding of the events in the story. Once we had developed a good understanding of this, we explored what Hindus do to take part and celebrate this festival. We produced our own mehndi patterns, which is traditional artwork often placed on hands during the celebration of Diwali. Finally, we finished the unit by discussing and producing answers to our key question focused on why Diwali is important for Hindus.

PE

We have focused on two units this term in PE - dance and tag rugby. During our dance unit, we have had a focus on the theme of wild animals. Throughout the unit, we have explored how to create a sequence of animal movements, interacting with and reacting to partners’ movements and creating sequences of group movements focused on different animals. Each week, we have produced short performances, which we have shared with our peers at the end of each lesson.

During our tag rugby lessons, we have been focusing on the fundamentals skills and understanding needed to begin to play this game. To begin with, we focused on correctly holding, throwing and catching a rugby ball with partners. We built on from this by exploring the correct positioning of team members when throwing and receiving the ball. After this skill was secure, we began to work with the tag belts and focused on the skill of tagging opponents. Towards the end of the unit, we put all of these skills together and played small sided games.

Term 6 - 2023/24

English

This term French Hares learned about kennings poems. A kennings poem describes a person or object using compound nouns, without directly naming the subject of the poem. First, we learned a kennings poem about Alfred the Great. Next, we worked on analysing some kennings poems about animals and weather. We learned how to turn verbs into nouns in order to describe what something does. After that we applied our knowledge to write our own kennings poems, about teachers at school and about one of the monarchs from our topic learning.

Maths

In maths we learned how to tell the time on an analogue clock to the hour, quarter past, half past and quarter to, and were also introduced to telling the time to the nearest five minutes.

We have also been learning about volume, weight and temperature. We learned about the corresponding units of measure, including centimetres (cm) and metres (m), grams (g) and kilograms (kg) and degrees Celsius. We learned how to read different scales to find out the mass of different objects and how to compare different amounts. We also learned how to read a scale to work out the weight, volume or temperature where not all numbers on the scale are given. This is a useful skill if you have a measuring jug where some of the numbers have worn off!

Science

In science our topic has been ‘Animal Survival’. As part of this, we looked at a microhabitat in our playground and how the microhabitat meets the needs of the plants and animals living there. We enjoyed going out onto the playground to discover what lives under the black mats by the enclosed sports area. We found several different invertebrates, but no plants! We used our previously learned scientific knowledge to help understand that this is because it is dark under the mats, and plants need light in order to grow.

Topic

We continued our learning in our ‘Magnificent Monarchs’ topic.  The children enjoyed learning facts about six significant sovereigns and how their actions affected the people they ruled over, both good and bad. We learned how Elizabeth I was keen to prove that she could be a strong, female monarch, and how Henry VIII set up his own religion in pursuit of an heir. We learned that Alfred the Great didn’t learn to read or write until he was twelve, and that William the Conqueror introduced many French words and customs to England that we still use today.

We used the information we have learned to help us answer our key enquiry question; ‘Which monarch is the most significant?

R.E.

We have enjoyed learning about Islam this term, with a focus on Hajj. Our key question is ‘Does completing Hajj make a person a better Muslim?’ We learned that Hajj is a special pilgrimage completed at a certain time of year. Every Muslim aims to complete Hajj at least once in their lifetime if they are able to. We learned about what is involved in each stage of the journey, and what each part of the pilgrimage represents.