Year 3 Curriculum Outline Summer 2020
Year 3 Curriculum Outline Summer 2020 Think Change ~ Scavengers and Settlers
Humanities - Social Understanding We will begin our thematic learning in the summer term thinking about change with a focus on sustainability. We will consider packaging materials and how long they take to decompose. We will think about more sustainable packaging. Then we will investigate the importance of water to us and its value as a resource. We will link this to how people’s behaviour can damage the oceans, using maps to follow the journey of a river to the sea. Finally considering our impact on planet Earth and our responsibility for its health. After half term our thematic learning will extend back to prehistoric man in our Scavengers and Settlers topic. We will study developments from the Stone Age to the Bronze and Iron Ages, thinking about what prompted and encouraged the change from a hunting and scavenging life to a settled, farming society. We will develop a greater understanding of chronology and will begin to understand the concept of evidence and to consider its interpretation.
In R S we will study Sikhism as one of the six major world faiths. We will learn about the Sikh view of God as the Supreme Being, Guru Nanak, the main tenets of the Sikh faith, religious festivals and Sikh Gurdwaras (places of worship). Key skills will include describing religion, asking questions and responding sensitively, making comparisons and forming and expressing opinions.
Language and Communication Before half term in English we will be reading and writing non-chronological reports, using the text ‘Wanted, A New Planet’ as our springboard. We will then move on to explore poetic language and word play through the poem ‘Water-cycle’ by Andrew Fusek Peters. After half term we will explore the features of a fictional story, where there is a dilemma involved. Using descriptive language, powerful verbs, strong adverbs and a wide range of sentence starters, we will learn how to plan and write our own dilemma story. Alongside these skills we will continue to refine our punctuation, grammar, vocabulary and spelling through regular practice. In Modern Languages there will be a variety of activities which will complement the Thematic Learning topics. The focus will be on speaking and listening with stories, songs, rhymes and language learning games. Pupils are encouraged to use Linguascope or Quizlet in order to consolidate their learning in their own time. In Spanish, the focus for this term will be based around the story of the hungry caterpillar, which will give pupils a chance to talk about which fruit they like or don’t like and to consolidate vocabulary such as days of the week and adjectives of colour. Cultural input will give the opportunity for pupils to explore the beautiful arabic art and architecture of the Mezquita in Córdoba. In French, pupils will be looking at all things to do with food and drinks, getting ready to order from the menu and buy things with confidence. Images of the Lascaux caves will give them an opportunity to describe animals and use verbs of movement, as well as exploring this cultural aspect.
Mathematical Understanding In Maths Year 3 will start the term looking at fractions. They will need to be able to: recognise and show equivalent fractions with small denominators; compare and order unit fractions, and fractions with the same denominators; add and subtract fractions with the same denominator; and solve problems that involve all of the above. The next topic is time. This will include: how to tell and write the time from an analogue clock, including using Roman numerals, and from 12-hour and 24-hour clocks, estimating and reading time with increasing accuracy, using vocabulary such as o’clock, a.m./p.m.,
morning, afternoon, noon and midnight and know the number of seconds in a minute and the number of days in each month, year and leap year. Pupils will now focus on properties of shape such as being able to recognise angles as a property of shape or a description of a turn; identify right angles and recognise that two right angles make a half-turn, three make three quarters of a turn and four a complete turn. Finally, pupils will draw 2-D shapes and make 3-D shapes using modelling materials, recognise 3-D shapes in different orientations and describe them and measurement including lengths (m/cm/mm); mass (kg/g); volume/capacity (l/ml).
Physical Education and Well-being In P SHEE we will be working on two units of work. In the Friends and Family unit, pupils will understand the importance of relationships and friendships, value and empathise with others, manage conflict and recognise how we affect and are affected by others. They will learn about the importance of recognising and valuing both similarities and differences between themselves and others. After half term they will look at the concept of risk, which can be social and emotional as well as physical. We will broaden children’s understanding of what might constitute a risky situation and consider their responses in assessing the level of risk to themselves physically, emotionally or socially. Managing risk is a key element in helping children develop confidence when faced with new situations throughout their lives and will enable them to make informed choices in a range of contexts. By giving children the opportunity to name risks and benefits and consider ways of dealing with risk, these skills can be applied to practical situations both currently and later in life. Creative and Performing Arts In Music each week students will continue to expand their recorder repertoire and develop their instrumental technique, alongside having the opportunity to maintain their part against another in an ensemble context. Throughout the term students will build their confidence with ensemble playing, fluency when reading staff notation and ability to convey expression in pieces - all of these helping them to acquire the necessary skills needed to achieve their recorder music medals. Students will continue to develop their vocal performance skills through the exploration of topic based songs and pieces. Students will consider the balance between different instrumental parts alongside learning how to effectively evaluate and reflect upon performances. The process of identifying aspects of their performance that can be improved/refined and then honing in to work on these aspects encourages active listening and increasingly mature musical awareness. During the course of this term students will also experience an interesting range of acoustic possibilities by considering ‘instruments’ produced from recycled materials and the sounds these creative ‘instruments’ create. We will draw on the science of sound throughout this exploration, and will listen to groups such as ‘Landfill Harmonic’, ‘The Junk Orchestra’ and
STOMP - hopefully these groups will provide students with some inspirational ideas to go out and continue to make music in any context! In create, design and engineer we will be looking at still life and using recycled materials to create a collage and drawn image. We will consider form, colour, light and shape. Materials will vary according to what is available. In addition we will repurpose waste materials to design, plan, create and improve something useful in the garden - a bird scarer. Which would be useful when growing vegetables. After half term we will begin with observational drawing of natural forms, exploring different media. This will lead into creating repeat patterns using the materials available. We will investigate printing and the use of templates to create patterns. Scientific Understanding In Science the pupils will spend time extending their skills linked to our topic. We will find out what plants need in order to grow healthily, observe their germination, structure and growth. Finishing with finding out how important plants are in our lives and for a healthy planet. After half term we will investigate rocks and soils using our close environment. We will consider building materials, soil composition and how the geological record provides a direct source of information about the history of life on Earth.
Digital
The Inner Wheel With the Google apps at the heart of digital curation our pupils use Google Classroom to complete work digitally and hand in work that is produced in a variety of ways. We have identified 7 main apps, our EverGreen apps, that help to showcase our pupils’ learning. An animation, movie or annotated piece of work provides richer feedback for the teacher and ultimately helps to make greater progress. Explain Everything www.explaineverything.com Green Screen www.doink.com Stop Motion www.cateater.com Strip Design www.vividapps.com/Strip_Designer/ Notability www.gingerlabs.com Book Creator www.bookcreator.com Puppet Pals www.polishedplay.com
The Outer Wheel We have a number of apps that we use consistently throughout our curriculum that lend themselves to our creative approach. We avoid apps that are specific to a particular outcome, preferring content free apps that can help to enhance our pupils work and understanding. Some examples are: Minecraft, iMovie, KeyNote, Pages and Padlet.
Coding Another aspect of our digital curriculum is the coding/programming skills that are embedded in all subjects or taught discretely in Years 5 and 6. We have identified a progression of apps that help to develop our pupils ability to code. The apps provide variety and challenge and help to develop the computation skills that are crucial learning in our digital work. We combine the coding experiences with physical output. Using Spheros, BBC Micro:Bits and Ozobots provides visual outcomes that bring our code to life. As our pupils develop further they transition on to written code.
Thinking Toolkit Alongside and underpinning our curriculum we ensure that our pupils are developing as active learners and active thinkers. Throughout each subject area pupils are encouraged to use their range of thinking tools and reflect on when and how they are using them. Pupils are encouraged to reflect on how their thinking tools underpin all aspects of their learning and not just in the more obvious ways. How are they creative in maths? How do they enquire in English? How are they critical in Music? How do they think computationally in PE?
Inclusion This curriculum map outlines the core curriculum for each year group each term but at the heart of our wheel is the individual learner. Each subject area has a progression of skills which enables staff to stretch or support individuals as and when they need a little help, a bit of a push or a just a different way in. Within our classrooms through planning, teacher knowledge and interactions work is differentiated to suit the needs of each individual.