Year 3 Autumn Term 2024

Welcome to Class 3

The Expedition this term focuses on the Romans and we will be investigating the inquiry question, ‘What did the Romans ever do for me?’ The golden thread of ‘Consequences’ is also woven into the expedition and runs throughout the school.

There will be many opportunities for the children to research areas of interest, work independently, with a partner and in groups. Children will be encouraged to be independent learners, develop thinking skills and be able to self assess.

Literacy

The children will be writing newspaper reports and using persuasive writing to help Caesar make an important decision. They will also be researching Roman life and creating presentations for their peers. During the term, the children will choose a significant individual/s that made a social or technological change during Roman times and develop a character profile and biography about this person. They will make lists to compare aspects of everyday life for a person in Roman times to life today. They will  write diary entries through the eyes of a Roman child and write letters home from a Roman soldier. During the term, the children will also be hot seating notable people in Roman times.

Numeracy

During the course of the term, the children will be developing their understanding of what 100 is and this will be linked to quantity, length, weight and time. They will use multiples of 5 and 10 bonds to 100 to solve additions and subtractions and develop their knowledge of place value. In a practical way, the children will develop their ability to tell the time to the nearest 5 minutes on analogue and digital clocks. By exploring 3D shapes, the children will identify their properties and be able to use this knowledge to sort them according to the different properties. Through practical tasks, the class will engage in choosing an appropriate instrument to measure a length and use a ruler to estimate, measure and draw to the nearest centimetre and millimetre. Throughout the term, there will be lots of opportunities for each child to create tables, tally charts and bar graphs and use the data that they extract from them.

Humanities

During the term, we will be learning about the Roman era in particular, the founding of Rome and the expansion of the Roman Empire, the Roman invasion of Britain and the Roman conquest. We will be looking at Roman buildings and architecture (Roman roads, aqueducts, Roman villas, baths, Roman mosaics). We will also look at Roman entertainment including Gladiators and chariot racing and the Colosseum and exploring the Roman legacy eg Roman numerals and the calendar.

Science–

In Science, we will be focusing on Chemistry through the topic of Rocks. The children will compare and group together different kinds of rocks on the basis of their appearance and simple physical properties. They will also describe in simple terms how fossils are formed and recognise that soils are made from rocks and organic matter. We will explore the properties of materials (strength, flexibility, electrical conduction, solubility, opaque, transparency) and describe why materials are used for different purposes. There will be lots of hands on investigations where the children will develop their understanding of how to set up an investigation with variables and how to record their results.

DCF/ICT

In ICT, the children will be learning how to use a search engine in order to research the topic. They will be looking at why we need passwords and different ways to communicate online. Areas of study will include how to create a word document, experiment with fonts, save work and insert an image into a text. The children will also create power point presentations and word documents.

R.V.E

In R.V.E this term, the children will begin by looking at the frieze from the ‘Understanding Christianity’ Scheme and look at how it tells the story of the Bible, the Christian story. The children will also focus in more depth on the Panel depicting ‘People of God.’ During the term, we will focus on The Creation / Fall and consider the Big Question-  What do Christians learn from the creation story?’

In the second half of the term the children will be studying ‘The Incarnation’ and will be discussing the Big Questions

• What is the Trinity?
• What is a Gospel? (A life story/biography)

We will also be looking at important times in the church year eg Harvest, Remembrance, Advent and Christmas.

Expressive Arts

The children this term will be engaged in developing and utilising their skills in printing. They will look at Roman mosaics and  design and make their own. The children will also experiment with different clay modelling techniques to create a clay Roman lamp.

Music this term will centre on keeping a beat and responding to changes in dynamics. Call and answer games will be introduced and the children will use percussion instruments and their voices to respond.

Welsh

As well as reinforcing vocabulary already embedded, new vocabulary relating to ‘the weather’ and ‘my house’ will be introduced. Pupils will practise sentence patterns through conversation work, role play, games and songs. They will have the opportunity to develop their reading skills and will be writing sentences and simple dialogues. The role of weekly ‘Helpwr Heddiw’ is further developed in Year 3.

Looking forward to an action packed term ahead!

Mrs Harris