Kingfishers 2024 - 2025

Welcome to Kingfishers Class

We are a Year 3 class who are taught by Mrs Buckley and Mrs Armitt.

This is what we will be learning about in the Autumn term:

Maths:

Number and place value; addition and subtraction; multiplication and division

English:

We will develop our reading and writing skills across a range of genres and text types using high quality texts.

The children in year 3 will  write a narrative of an approaching threat and an explanation on how to capture the Iron Man inspired by book, The Iron Man by Ted Hughes.

Then we will be creating a narrative of a fable and creating a persuasion text. These will be inspired by the book Fox by Margaret Wild and Ron Brooks.

We will be focusing on prepositions, subordinate clauses, direct speech and the use of inverted commas.

Science:

Reduce, Reuse, Recycle

The children will learn about different types of waste and how waste is produced, as well as the importance of reducing it through the 3Rs –reducing, reusing and recycling. They will learn about what ‘energy’ is, what a carbon footprint is and how it is measured. Children will also learn about how waste impacts the environment and wildlife and what they could potentially do to help.

Animals, Including Humans.

This unit recaps the children’s learning from year 2 about how animals survive and stay healthy and helps children to learn more about what makes a healthy, balanced diet. They learn about the nutrients that different foods provide and how these nutrients help our bodies. They also explore how different animals eat different types of foods and need different proportions of nutrients. They understand what food labels on packaging show and gather information from food labels to help them to answer questions. In this unit, children also explore the different types of skeletons that animals have and compare these. They learn some names of bones in the human body and carry out an investigation to explore if people with longer femurs jump further. They discuss how to plan a fair test and measure and record accurately. Children learn about how muscles help us to move and make a simple scientific model which they use to explain to a partner how skeletal muscles work. 

History:

Vikings and Anglo Saxons

The children will about the raids and invasions by Vikings in Anglo-Saxon Britain, who the Vikings were as well as when and where they raided and settled. They will learn about significant events from the period and order these chronologically on a timeline. The children will find out about the Anglo-Saxon kings who ruled during the 'Viking Age' and examine their influence and significance in British history. In addition to this, they will learn about the Anglo-Saxon justice system, explore everyday Viking life, houses, clothes and food they ate.

Geography:

Extreme Earth

The children will about the destructive powers of nature, from volcanoes and earthquakes to tsunamis and tornadoes. They will learn about how and why these natural phenomena occur, and the ways in which they affect people and the environment.

Computing:

Online Safety

In this unit, the children are introduced to email and other forms of online communication. They will look at how to write and send emails, as well as how to decide if an email is safe to open. They will build on their existing knowledge of cyberbullying and how to deal with unkind behaviour online. The use and importance of privacy settings is introduced and children will discuss the types of information we should not share online. They will build on the idea of a digital footprint by thinking about how the adverts they see online are targeted at them. Children will finish the unit by using the knowledge they have gained to plan a party using online communication methods.

Online Searchers and Surfers

The children will learn about what the Internet is, how the Internet works and the three different types of connections that can be used. They will then have the opportunity to explore web browsers and search engines, learning how to detect if a web page can be trusted whilst also ensuring that they know how to stay safe online. Finally, they will learn how to copy and paste images from the web and complete their own scavenger hunt project at the end of the unit

Art:

Insects

As a class, we will learn about how to use pencil, colour, mosaic design, puppet making and sculpture to create quality artwork that shows progression in their skills. The children will also have the opportunity to explore the work of a range of ‘Insect ’artists, in particular, Louise Bourgeois and Jennifer Angus.

Design and Technology:

Let’s Go Fly a Kite

This unit gives children opportunities to develop their understanding of frame structures and how they can be strengthened and stiffened. The children will discover information about a key event involving a kite that helped shape the world. They will gain knowledge and understanding about the parts and shapes of kites. This will help them when designing and making their own kites. Finally, the children will test and evaluate their kites against design criteria they have created.

Religious Education:

Islam: The 99 names of Allah

How special is Allah to Muslims? This questions will be the focus of our learning.

Christianity

The children will be learning about incarnation and whether Christmas has lost it’s true meaning.

M.F.L.:

Family and Friends

The children will learn how to identify and introduce family and pets and spell their names. They will also learn the names for places in their own home.

Music:

Poetry, Environment and Sounds

We develop performance and rhythm of poems. We will look at composition using the seasons as a stimulus, then moving on to how sounds are produced and classified.

P.S.H.E.:

TEAM

The children will identify the impact their actions have on the team they are working in. They will learn about successful teamwork skills, being considerate of others in the team and how to positively resolve any conflicts that occur.

Money Matters

The children will be encouraged to think about where money comes from and how it can be used. We will discuss how we spend money, why people might need to borrow money and the consequences of this.

Physical Education:

Indoor P.E. days are on Monday and outdoor P.E. is on a Tuesday so please come in full P.E. uniform on those days

OAA (Outdoor Adventurous Activities) and Gymnastics

The children will learn a range of fundamental skills needed for outdoor adventurous activities, including teamwork, problem-solving, communication and orienteering.

For gymnastics the class will learn how to perform a variety of floor and vault movements while developing their understanding of the necessary flexibility, strength and control needed to perform the movements successfully.

On these days, the children will need to come to school dressed in their P.E. uniform: navy shorts and light blue t-shirt; navy tracksuit and light blue t-shirt. No logos or football kits. Trainers should be plain black or plain white. All long hair should be tied back and earrings should be removed.

Homework:

Maths: Maths homework will be set via Class DoJo on a Friday to be completed by the following Wednesday. It is so important to practise Times Tables Rockstars as this will really help your child with later Maths’ topics of Fractions, Perimeter, Money and Time. Our aim is to improve instant recall of key multiplication and related division facts.

English: English homework will be set via Class Dojo on a Wednesday to be completed by the following Wednesday. We ask that the children also engage frequently with Spelling Shed to practise their spellings.

Reading: At Weston, we encourage children to develop a lifelong love for reading. We ask for children to read regularly at home to adults and to themselves. Reading is fundamental to the wider academic and personal development of children and the need for children to read widely from a broad and challenging range of texts. The children will be provided with quality texts appropriate for their age and ability.