Year 3 Autumn Term 2011
Topic: The World around us: Looking at Pontyclun, what it is like? Who lives here? Where it is in Wales? Where it is in the world?
Dear Parent/Guardian,
We would like to welcome your son and daughter into Year 3. We are sure that they will have an enjoyable year ahead with us as we have lots of fun and interesting lessons planned.
Below, we have put together a grid highlighting the work that your child will be covering over the next half term . We hope that it provides all the information that you require. To keep you informed on what your child is doing over the coming weeks please visit our class blog at: www.pontyclunpri3.blogspot.com
In addition to the blog your child has also been given a moodle account. Over the year homework, links to educational sites and information will be put on the moodle for your child to access. If you do not have internet access at home your child will be given additional opportunities to access the internet in school, or will be given alternative paper based homework.
Your child has been given a reading day when they need to bring their school reading book and reading record to school. As far as we can, we will make every effort to listen to your child read on that day. At Pontyclun Primary School we encourage our parents to read daily with their children in order to develop their reading skills. Please sign your child’s reading book if they have completed a book and we will be delighted to change the book on any day of the week.
Your child has also been given a small yellow book to write spelling words in. These words are given out each Monday and we encourage the children to learn them to the best of their ability by Friday. On a Friday we will carry out a short dictation in our literacy books which will include the focus words. Please encourage your child to learn the words each week. The words will also be posted on the year 3 blog.
As part of the transition between year 2 and year 3 we are trying to enhance the children’s learning by maintaining elements of the Foundation Phase. We have designated role play, construction, small world, ICT, reading, writing and maths areas in our classrooms. This is a similar setup to what the children experienced in Year 2. As this is a relatively new approach to teaching in the Juniors, we could really benefit from any of the following if you no longer require them:-
Construction: Knex, lego, etc
Small world, dolls, doll houses, little action people, small farm animals, castle and knights, pirate ships etc.
Role play: Any dressing up clothes. Princess costumes, fur coats, cowboy costumes, play kitchens, play tents etc.
Yours sincerely,
Mr Llewellyn and Mr. Burgess.
PE Days
J1 – Mr. Llewellyn Wednesday (Outdoor) Friday (Indoor)
J2 – Mr. Burgess Friday (Outdoor) Monday (Indoor)
If possible, please could your child wear their “house” t-shirts for PE.
Half Term Overview
Numeracy
· Adding on 1s and 10s
· Adding on 1s, 10s and 100s
· Place value
· Addition facts
· Shape
· Symmetry
· Measuring length using decimals
Literacy
· Introduction - myself
· Familiar story settings :
· The structure used when describing settings,
· Vocabulary used to describe settings
· Writing our own setting to a story
· Instruction writing
· Shape poems
· Geography
· Where in the world is Wales and Pontyclun?
· Drawing plans and looking at land use in Pontyclun
· Jobs people do
· What changes have taken place in the village?
Welsh
· Revision - numbers
· Who are you? Where do you live?
· Clothes
· Work on Y Ty
RE
· Who are leaders?
· Qualities that make a good leader
· What made Jesus a good leader?
· Story of the paralysed man – role play
· Make model
· What is a parable? – Worksheet – the Mugging
· Read ‘The calming of the Water’
Science
What is a force?
Magnets repel and attract
Is it magnetic?
Magnets and their uses
Magnetic toys
Springs in every day objects
We can create a force by compressing a spring / elastic band
INFORMATION COMMUNICATION TECHNOLOGY – ICT
Moodle training
Revision work- font, size and colour
Changing fonts to suit product
Deleting and changing words
Creating leaflets
PE Outdoor activities – Ball skills
Indoor – gymnastics
Art
· Self portrait
· Primary colours – how to use paint
· Mixing colours and matching
· Make prints using polystyrene
· Print repeating picture
Homework
Some homework will be set via the moodle
(access via blogwww.pontyclunpri3.blogspot.com)
Spelling words will be given out on a Monday for the following Friday’s dictation.
Reading – We expect each pupil to be reading at home on a daily basis. Please update your child’s reading diary weekly.
Literacy – literacy work will be sent home as and when the teacher feels that it is appropriate.
Numeracy – Numeracy work covering the topics above will be sent home as and when the teacher feels that it is appropriate.
