Darwin (Year 3)
Mrs Clair Chatwin
Class Teacher (Monday - Thursday)
Mrs Alison Kjaer
Class Teacher (Fridays)
Mrs Cary
Teaching Partner
Darwin Class Timetable Term 4
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
This term, we will continue to read Charlie and the Chocolate Factory as our class story. In addition, we will read some Non-fiction information texts about fair trade farming, exploring the writing style and text features. We will be reading The Iron Man by Ted Hughes and explore how the author creates suspense in this science fiction genre. We will continue reading a daily poem and build on our poetry skills exploring concrete poetry.
- Persuasive Leaflet writing: the children will make a leaflet containing information to persuade people to buy fair trade food.
- Fantasy and Science Fiction: we will base our writing on The Iron Man
- Concrete / Shape Poetry: we will explore shape poetry where the words of the poem form the shape of the subject of the poem, and write some of our own.
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
We are using the White Rose maths scheme to inspire our teaching and learning in maths. This scheme encourages creative thinking and problem solving, developing reason skills. This term, we will study:
Length and Perimeter
- learn how to measure accurately in metres, centimetres and millimetres
- compare and add lengths
- calculate the perimeter of various items.
Fractions
- understand what a fraction is in relation to one whole
- order and compare fractions
- explore numerators and denominators
- look at fractions on a number line and count in fractions.
Mass and Capacity
- explore scales
- measure in grams and kilograms
- compare mass
- add and subtract mass
- measure capacity and volume in litres and millilitres
- add and subtract capacity and volume.
The children will continue to practise key maths skills through their early morning work- a 10 minute session each morning to practise speedy recall of number facts and maths skills learnt in previous terms. We are also following the Number Sense maths program to support fluency and strategies to know key number facts. They 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.
DT
This term, Darwin Class will be learning about mechanical systems. We will look at machinery that makes use of pulleys and levers. The children will design and build their own system that makes use of pulleys and levers.
PE
This term, the children will participate in swimming at Warminster Sports Centre on Tuesday afternoons where they will develop their swimming skills, building on their own starting point. They will explore dance on a Monday afternoon and develop their movement, coordination and teamwork skills. They will create moves to make a dance sequence to the music from the Charlie and the Chocolate Factory film and develop a dance based on the Iron Man by Ted Hughes.
RE
RE is taught weekly and worship is held daily. This term the children will be exploring Salvation. The children will be exploring the key question: Why do Christians call the day Jesus died Good Friday? We will also investigate how Australia and Poland celebrate Easter, comparing with our own British traditions.
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 dakily worship. We will also be listening to music and developing a dance routine to complement the story of the Iron Man.
Falconry
The children will be taught falconry during enrichment this term. They will learn about the biology of the birds, comparing and contrasting various birds of prey. They will have the opportunity to handle the birds carefully, wearing a protective glove and watch them fly.