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Belton Lane Primary School

Belton LanePrimary School

Year 3

Welcome to Year 3!   

Here are some people that you may meet during your time in Year 3: 

3T - Miss Timson

3L- Mrs Lee

Year 3 is the first year group in Key Stage 2. Children are encouraged to become more independent and take increased responsibility for their belongings, behaviour and learning. 

We love learning in Year 3. We take part in different, fun activities to help us learn. Sometimes these may be hands-on activities. At other times, we may be discussing something in a small group or creating a short drama. Our learning is enhanced through a range of educational visits throughout the year. 

The Year 3 Curriculum

Autumn Term: Stone Age, Bronze Age, Iron Age

We start the year by travelling back thousands of years to the Stone Age, Bronze Age and Iron Age. We create a timeline of key events, look at what people ate and how they got their food, examine artefacts, explore the mystery of Stonehenge, consider who the Beaker People were and how they changed things and research Hill Forts. We then put our learning together and consider key changes during this time period. Our learning is enhanced by a trip to Flag Fen - a Bronze Age site in Peterborough. 

In English, we introduce the Year 3 Spine Books. The Abominables by Eva Ibbotson is our first choice. We are transported to Nanvi Dar and we are inspired to write our own character description based on one of the Abominables. As the leaves change colour, we write our own shape poems based on Autumn. We write setting descriptions based on a Stone Age village picture in the book 'A street through time'. After creating our own woolly mammoths from milk bottles, we write a set of instructions telling someone 'How to Wash your Woolly Mammoth'. Finally, we write a non-chronological report based on the Stone Age. 

In Maths, we learn about: place value, addition and subtraction, multiplication and division, measure, geometry, statistics and fractions. Additionally, we encourage children to be able to speedily recall their multiplication acts. 

In Science, we first look at Rocks and Soils. We carry out investigations about the rocks properties and ask 'Which soil is the best for the garden?'. In the second half of the term, we look at Forces and Magnets. We compare how objects move across different surfaces and ask 'Which magnet is the strongest?'.

Children take part in P.E. twice a week. Units include: ball handling skills, fundamentals, dance and gymnastics. 

Our Art & DT lessons link to our History lessons. In Art, we create cave paintings using natural paints and simple outlines. In DT, we create a Bronze Age Roundhouse.

Within music, the children will learn to play the recorders and get basic understanding of notation.

In Year 3, children begin their French lessons. This starts with basic greetings and phrases so that we can start to hold a simple conversation in French.

Spring Term: Ancient Egypt

Many children say this topic is a highlight for them in Year 3!

In History, children will find out about life during this time period. They will be able to place key events on to a timeline in chronological order and be able to compare when it was to other time periods studied. They will use maps to locate Egypt and key places within Egypt. Children will consider why the River Nile was important in this time period. Methods of communication will be looked at and children will research the Rosetta Stone and understand why this is an important artefact. Rituals like mummification will be looked at and children will carry out their own mummification on a tomato to understand the process. Key figures like Tutankhamun will be studied and this will help children to understand why the discovery of his tomb was so significant. They will gain further insight of this time period during an educational visit to Leicester Museum & Art Gallery. 

In English, we use the Mummies of Ta-Bes and Bes-en-Mut (found at Leicester Museum & Art Gallery) to inspire our poetry writing. After reading Egyptian Cinderella, we write our own playscripts. We learn about the discovery of Tutankhamun's tomb and write our own newspaper reports. Finally, we read Marcy and the Riddle of the Sphinx and write an adventure story.

In Maths, we revisit topics from the Autumn term. We secure methods of calculation whilst continuing to improve our fluency and problem solving skills. 

In Science, our first unit is light. We sort light sources in to natural and artificial and explain how shadows are made. We investigate how we can make shadows bigger and smaller. We then look at plants. In groups, we label parts of plants and consider their functions. We investigate how water is transported in plants and what they need to grow.

Children continue with their twice weekly P.E. lessons. This time we focus on: football, dance, basketball and hockey.

In DT, we consider which foods are seasonal and prepare some dishes using seasonal food.

We expand our French vocabulary by looking at the names of colours and shapes.

Summer Term: Our Local Area 

As the summer arrives, we make use of the good weather and explore our local area. 

In Geography, children will look at Grantham. They locate the town on a map of the U.K. and look at where other major towns and cities are in relation to Grantham. They use compass directions to describe these. Children create a map of the school and local area and will include ordnance survey symbols on it. They look at the difference between human and physical features and identify some of these during our visits around the local area. Through pictures, maps and visits, children will look at how Grantham has changed through the years and what has remained the same. 

In English, we listen to the poem 'Walking with my Iguana'. We enjoy performing it with our friends before writing our own performance poem. Later in the term, we explore the local legend of 'Byard's Leap'. From this 3 part legend, we write diary entries, persuasive letters and our ending to the legend.

In Maths, we once again revisit previous topics. There is a heavy focus on problem solving and reasoning as well as securing methods of calculation.

In Science, our unit is 'Animals including humans'. Children will explore the nutrition that different animals need and how we get nutrition from what we eat. They will look at skeletons, their function and be able to name key bones. Our final unit, is an investigative unit based on nappies. Children will consider how they can investigate their question scientifically and will work in groups to answer their question.

As it gets closer to Sports Day, children practise different athletic events during P.E. They also learn tennis, OAA and rounders

Children's French skills continue to improve as they learn numbers to 12, ask how old someone is and respond.

Curriculum Links

  1. READING CHALLENGE GRID KS2
    PDF File
  2. Y3 Stone Age KO
    DOCX File
  3. More non-screen activities – from Pobble
    PDF File
  4. Non Screen Activity
    PDF File
  5. Top-tips-for-dealing-with-anxiety
    PDF File
  6. KS_2_Grammar_Glossary
    PDF File
  7. Construction challenge
    DOCX File
  8. Share-A-Story-Reading-At-Home-KS2-leaflet
    PDF File
  9. Share-A-Story-Reading-At-Home-KS1-Leaflet
    PDF File
  10. 100-books
    PDF File
  11. t2-e-3099-statutory-spellings-word-mat-years-3-and-4-word-mat_ver_1
    PDF File