Darwin (Year 3)
Mrs Clair Chatwin
Class Teacher (Monday - Thursday)
Mrs Alison Kjaer
Class Teacher (Fridays)
Mrs Cary
Teaching Partner
Darwin Class Timetable Term 3
Suggestions for helping at home.docx
OUR CURRICULUM FOR THIS TERM:
Welcome to Darwin class! We hope the information on our class page will help you support your child at home. We encourage regular practise of reading, spelling and times tables outside school as homework.
English
Darwin class will read daily: our class story and a nature poem of the day.
This term, we will be reading Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. We will explore the text to analyse how the vocabulary Roald Dahl uses creates a picture in the reader’s mind. We will investigate different character descriptions, exploring how the reader feels towards different characters and why. We will be working on our inference skills: looking beyond what is actually written down in the text.
- Writing in the first person: the children will complete a piece of writing written in the first person as if they were Charlie.
- Letter Writing: we will be looking at how to lay a letter out correctly
- Story Telling: we will be writing our own story based on Charlie and the Chocolate Factory
Reading
Please listen to your child read aloud daily and sign their link book.
The children should try to read a variety of genres, little and often; to keep up their key skills and develop a love of reading. Warminster library will order books for free if your child is a member; a great way to keep up with the latest authors. They could also listen to audio books, read to younger members of the family, or be read to; in order to immerse themselves in literacy as much as possible. They could read to a Teddy or a pet!
Any type of writing they do will be beneficial. Writing their own weekly comments in their link book is a necessary part of their homework. Try to encourage accurate spelling and punctuation whenever they write, especially when writing their own comments in their link book.
Maths
Darwin class will extend their maths knowledge by:
Multiplication and Division:
- We will be exploring multiples of 10
- Multiply a 2-digit number by a single digit with exchanging.
- Divide a 2-digit number by a single digit, including remainders.
- We will use these skills to problem solve.
Length and Perimeter:
- We will learn how to measure accurately in metres, centimetres and millimetres
- We will be comparing lengths and adding lengths
- We will be calculating the perimeter of various items
The children will continue to practise key maths skills through their early morning work- a 10 or 15 minute session each morning to practise speedy recall of number facts and maths skills learnt in previous terms. The children will continue do a weekly times tables test; moving through the times tables at their own individual pace; supported by work in school.
Science
Our Science topic for terms 3 and 4 is ‘Animals including Humans'. We will be working scientifically to:
- identify that humans and some other animals have skeletons and muscles for support, protection and movement.
- identifying and grouping animals with and without skeletons and observing and comparing their movement
- exploring ideas about what would happen if humans did not have skeletons
- identify that animals, including humans, need the right types and amount of nutrition, and that they cannot make their own food; they get nutrition from what they eat
- compare and contrast the diets of different animals (including their pets) and decide ways of grouping them according to what they eat.
Geography
In terms 3 and 4, the children will explore ‘Chocolate and Cocoa’:
- What is fair trade?
- Where do bananas come from?
- Where does chocolate come from?
- Where is the Caribbean located in relation to the UK?
We will be discussing how fair ‘fair trade’ actually is and the rights of the farmers and why this is important.
PE
Darwin Class will have two hours of PE each week. This term, the children will participate in ball skills on Thursday afternoons where they will develop their ball skills and in turn apply them to a sport. They will explore different skills required depending on the type of ball being used (e.g. tennis ball, netball, football). They will develop their coordination and teamwork skills. They will have tag rugby on Friday afternoons where they will progress through the required skills, understand the main passes and rules of the game before playing some mini matches.
RE
RE is taught weekly and worship is held daily. This term the children will be exploring ‘Hinduism’. The children will be exploring the key question: What is the deeper meaning of festivals?
PSHE (Personal, Social, and Health Education)
During terms 3 and 4, the children will be learning about economic well-being and being a responsible citizen during our weekly PSHE lessons. These sessions promote lots of discussion and will help the children to understand their rights and responsibilities as members of families, other groups and ultimately as citizens. They will develop an appreciation and respect for their own and other cultures (British Values). They will also discuss concerns or worries both within and out of school, key learning behaviours enabling children to follow our school rules of safe, respect and learn. They will continue to explore how to be a good friend and good role model and how to be kind to each other.
Music
The children will explore the lyrics of hymns during our weekly hymn practise and participate in voice tuition this term.
French
Madame Wolsey will be teaching the children French during enrichment. We will be celebrating two seasonal Fêtes: La Fête des Rois and La Fête de la Chandeleur. We will be learning about the French traditions associated with these occasions.
We will be starting a French reading scheme, following the adventures of Luc and Sophie, using basic, familiar vocabulary and some starter French phonics. We will be practising asking and answering simple ‘getting to know you’ questions, singing songs to build our vocabulary and playing games to help us remember new words and phrases.
We will learn to respond to a range of instructions so that French can be used across classroom routines.
Bonne Année!