Darwin (Year 3)
Mrs Clair Chatwin
Class Teacher (Monday - Thursday)
Mrs Alison Kjaer
Class Teacher (Fridays)
Mrs Cary
Teaching Partner
Darwin Class Timetable: Term 2
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. Please see below for the objectives we will be learning in each lesson this term.
English
Darwin class will read daily: our class story and a nature poem of the day.
- Reading Comprehension: we will be focusing on finding literal information and deducing and inferring information from a text
- Poetry: we will be exploring poems that play with language
- Adventure Structures: we will be looking at what makes a good adventure story, reading the class text Stone Age Boy and Cliff Hanger
- Instruction Texts: we will be looking at the features of instruction texts and writing our own instructions on how to catch a woolly mammoth
- Story Writing Workshop: we will be exploring how different stories start and how they end and how authors create suspense. We will use different ideas to write our own story
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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 practise their maths skills, by the following units this term:- Addition and Subtraction: adding and subtraction 1, 10, 100 and going across 10s, and 100s, adding and subtracting 2 and 3 digit numbers.
- Multiplication and Division: learning the 3, 4 and 8 times tables and their associated division facts and using known tables to multiply a 2-digit number by a single digit. We will use mental methods progressing on to formal written methods. We will use these skills to problem solve.
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 the term is 'Magnets and Forces'. We will be working scientifically to:- explore and compare how objects move on different surfaces
- explain how some forces require contact and magnets do not
- predict whether objects will be magnetic and carry out an enquiry to test this out
- explore how magnets attract some materials and not others
- explain how magnets attract and repel in relation to other magnets
- describe magnets as having two poles
- predict whether magnets will attract or repel each other depending on direction
History
In terms 1 and 2, the children will explore ‘The Stomping Stone Age’:- How long ago was the stone age?
- The three eras of the stone age were the mesolithic, paleolithic and neolithic periods.
- How do we know about the Stone age? Cave paintings and archaeology
- How did lifestyle change during the time? People moved from hunting and gathering to farming.
We will be enriching our Stone Age topic by attending a discovery day at Stonehenge where we will gain hands on experience of how people survived in the Stone Age.
PE
Darwin Class will have two hours of PE each week. This term, the children will participate in hockey on Monday afternoons where they will develop their hockey skills. They will learn how to hold a hockey stick, how to hit and dribble a ball, maintaining ball control and how to pass the ball. They will develop their coordination and teamwork skills and play some mini games. They will have handball as their enrichment on a Wednesday afternoon where they will develop their ball skills, learning how to pass ball, developing their coordination, aim, speed of reaction and work as a team.
DT
In DT we are exploring structures. We will design and build our own versions of Stonehenge to with stand the elements, using knowledge and understanding of how to strengthen, stiffen and reinforce a complex structure (henge). The children will select from and use a range of tools to perform practical tasks accurately and use a range of materials and components, including construction materials, according to their functional properties and aesthetics. They will evaluate their ideas and designs and think about how the design might be improved.
Computing
This term the children will revise internet safety and how to use the laptops and iPads respectfully at school. They will also develop their coding and programming skills by using Lego Wedo, Textease and Probots. They will learn to write specific instructions debug them moving on to developing an algorithm to create simple shapes.RE
RE is taught weekly and worship is held daily. This term the children will be exploring ‘Incarnation and the Holy Trinity’. The children will be exploring the key question: What is the Trinity? They will learn what the gospels are and what baptism means and how the Christians view of the Holy Spirit affects the way they live.
PSHE (Personal, Social, and Health Education)
During terms 1 and 2, the children will be learning about healthy relationships during our weekly PSHE lessons. They will be developing class rules and class climate following our school rules of safe, respect and learn. They will explore how to be a good friend and good role model and how to be kind to each other. They will develop the skills to form a good working relationship with anyone and understand the process of decision making.
Music
The children will explore the lyrics of hymns during our weekly hymn practise and prepare for their Christmas production.