Welcome to Robins' Class Page    

Our class teachers are Mrs Whittingham (Mon - Thurs) and Mrs O'Marah (Fridays). Our Teaching Assistant is Mrs Westland.

PE days are Wednesday and Friday (Mr Ault). 

              Look what we learn about in Year 3:

Year 3 Pupil Voice:

"I like the reading corner in Robins Class because we have lots of books to choose from and my favourite author is Anne Fine'. 

"I love art lessons and I am proud of the work that I have done in my sketchbook."

"We are all friends in Robins Class as we show respect to each other and are always kind."

"The best thing about Year 3 is learning about the Stone Age. We will visit Beeston Castle and pretend we are hunters with 'real bow and arrows'."

Phase 1 (September-February)

Writing

During Phase 1 we be focusing on three lovely texts to inspire our writing. First, we will be writing a series of diary entries and letters based on the book 'Seal Surfer' by Michael Foreman. During this unit of work, we will group related ideas into paragraphs, build a varied and rich vocabulary, use prepositions to express time, place and cause and introduce inverted commas to punctuate direct speech. 

Following this text, we will explore 'Winter's Child' by Angela McAllister. The children will become authors and write an adventure story of their own. Our mastery keys associated with this text are to use conjunctions and adverbs to express, time, place and cause. We will learn how to use a or an according to whether the next word begins with a vowel or consonant. We will also be creating characters, settings and plot through our narrative writing as well as continuing to use inverted commas to punctuate direct speech.

Finally, we will explore ‘Stone Age Boy’ by Satoshi Kitumara. This beautiful historical narrative allows us to further explore our Stone Age topic and will inspire the children to write their own story from the point of view of the boy. We will focus on using direct speech and a variety of tenses in our writing.

 Reading

During our shared reading lessons, we will focus on increasing our vocabulary and understanding of an increasing range of words. We will use both fiction and non-fiction texts to improve our ability to predict, retrieve and infer information.  In our whole class reading sessions, we will use the text The Sea Book by Charlotte Milner to make predictions and explore the meaning of new vocabulary through asking questions and using dictionaries. The children will retrieve, record and present information in a variety of ways. They will identify main ideas drawn from more than one paragraph and summarise, draw inferences (inferring characters’ feelings, thoughts and motives from their actions) and justify with evidence. We will learn how to identify themes and conventions in a wide range of books, identify how language, structure and presentation contribute to meaning and discuss words and phrases that capture our interest and imagination.

Maths

During Phase 1 we will be working to consolidate our maths learning from Year 2 and introduce new Year 3 concepts. We will be focusing on Place Value of numbers within 1,000, the four operations (addition, subtraction, multiplication and division) as well as Measures (length and perimeter).

History and Geography

In Phase 1 we will introduce our class theme 'Time Travellers'. We will be developing our inquiry skills by asking and answering historical questions about the Stone Age, Bronze Age and Iron Age. We will explore what happened during these times and how daily life differed or remained the same. We will use timelines to order events during this time. We will use our locational knowledge to locate Stonehenge and will investigate how it was created and why. 

Science

In Phase 1, we will explore the topic ‘Rock Detectives’. We will work scientifically to make systematic and careful observations of different rocks and we will gather and record data based on what we find. We will learn about igneous, sedimentary and metamorphic rocks, how they are formed where they are found and what their properties are. We will also review our KS1 learning of the famous palaeontologist Mary Anning. We will also investigate soil permeability and describe how soil is formed.

We will look at the book ‘The Street Beneath My Feet’ to enhance our learning.

RE

In RE, we will begin by studying Hinduism and will explore the questions;

How do Hindus view God and celebrate Diwali? How do Hindus worship?

We will then move onto Christianity and will explore the key question -

Why is Jesus described as ‘light of the world’?

PE

Please note that PE for your child will be on a Wednesday and Friday during the Autumn Term. Your child should come to school dressed in their PE kit on these days. 

Phase 2 (February - May)

Writing

During Phase 2 we will explore the beautiful texts ‘Counting on Katherine’ by Helaine Becker and ‘Big Blue Whale’ by Nicola Davies. We will begin by finding out about the extraordinary Katherine Johnson and how she saved Apollo 13. The children will firstly create a fact file on this ‘courageous advocate’ and then they will plan and write a short biography. Key skills will focus on using subordination, a variety of tenses and apostrophes. We will then continue using our research skills and find out facts about whales before writing an information text on whales. The focus here will be how to present a text using headings and sub-headings and using adverbs to express time, place and cause.

Maths

During Phase 2 we will be continuing to work on the Year 3 objectives, consolidating our learning from the Autumn Term and moving on to look at some new concepts. We will be focusing on formal written methods for addition, subtraction, multiplication and division as well as fractions and measure (length, capacity, time)

History/Geography

In Phase 2 we will embark on our whole school topic ‘Exceptional People’. During this topic, Robins will be finding out about Katherine Johnson who saved the Apollo 13 mission and George Mottershead, founder of Chester Zoo.

Science

We will begin with our unit - Amazing bodies – focusing on Animals including humans. We will then move onto How does your garden grow in our changing world? In this unit, the children will be finding out what are the different parts of a plant called, what are their functions and what are the best conditions needed to grow plans.

RE 

Our first unit of study during this phase is titled - Which rules should we follow?

We will then continue to develop our philosophical thinking with our next unit - Is the cross a symbol of sadness or joy?

Phase 3 (May - July)

During Phase 3 we will explore the beautiful texts ‘Journey’ by Aaron Becker and ‘Zeraffa Giraffa’ by Dianne Hofmeyr. Whilst exploring ‘Journey’, the children will learn to use prepositions, conjunctions and adverbs to express time, place and cause. They will then write an adventure story based on Journey using the language of Berlie Doherty.

Whilst reading ‘Zeraffa Giraffa’, the children will learn to build an increasing range of sentence structures to aid them to plan and write a persuasive guide for visiting Zeraffa at the Jardin des Plantes in Paris.

Maths

During this phase we will further develop our knowledge on solving problems using the four operations (addition, subtraction, multiplication and division). We will also learn about money, angles, 2D and 3D shapes and statistics.

History/Geography

This final topic in Year 3, will focus on Ancient Time Travellers. The children will find out about ancient civilisations throughout the world – how did they begin? Where could they be found? What is their legacy? We will learn about Ancient Egypt, the Shang Dynasty, the Ancient Sumer and the Indus Valley.

Science

Our topic for this Phase 3 is Can you see me? - Light 

The children will find out about how light is reflected, why it is needed to see objects, how to protect their eyes from light and explore how shadows are formed. 

RE

The children will continue to develop their knowledge of Judaism and will focus on exploring the key question - How & why do Jews worship?

They will also find out about Humanism and explore these related key questions - How do humanists understand the world in which they live? How should I live?

RE

The children will continue to develop their knowledge of Judaism and will focus on exploring the key question - How & why do Jews worship?

They will also find out about Humanism and explore these related key questions - How do humanists understand the world in which they live? How should I live?

Homework

Maths homework in Robins Class will focus on learning Times Tables. Your child will have a log in for TTRS – Times Tables Rockstars which will target particular facts that they need to know.

Reading and Spellings

Your child will bring home a lovely book from school to enjoy reading at home. When your child reads at home, either independently or with you, they should record this in their homework diary and have it signed by an adult. Children should spend 10 - 20 minutes reading each evening. 

Spellings will be stuck into homework diaries on a Friday and tested the following Friday. Please spend 5 minutes daily practicing your child's spellings with them. 

If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to get in contact.

Mrs Whittingham x