Year 3 Curriculum Outline Autumn 2019
Year 3 Curriculum Outline Autumn 2019 Tropical treasures ~ Let me entertain you
Humanities - Social Understanding Tropic Treasure is a fantastic topic in which pupils will be learning key skills such as mapping, evaluating evidence and sources, researching, comparing and contrasting. They will be learning about The Amazon Rainforest - the plants, the animals and the indigenous people who call it their home. Discussions around sustainability will explore how we can preserve this tropical treasure and pupils will be encouraged to ask questions such as: ​Who owns the Rainforest? Let Us Entertain You is an inspiring theme where pupils will be thinking how entertainment has changed over time, for example, the impact of the Internet. Digital skills will be honed as pupils create Stop Motion movies and create codeable mazes.
In RS, pupils will be studying the Church and Christian worship, looking at how a church is both a building and a community of people who share worship and faith. A visit to a local church will help them to use religious language to describe and understand the features of a church, as well as viewing a religious and historical building in context in the local community. Pupils will learn the importance to Christians of the main acts of worship, and understand the purpose of rites of passage as marking a time of change. Finally this term, pupils will distinguish between religious and secular observances of Christmas understanding that both are of importance and personal significance to people. In all lessons the pupils are assessed on their quality of questions and contributions to discussion, and encouraged to respond thoughtfully and sensitively to the different worldviews of others around them.
Language and Communication In English, pupils will be developing their reading comprehension and writing composition
through grammar, vocabulary development, critical thinking and spoken language. The aim is for pupils to: ● ● ● ● ● ● ●
Read fluently and with good understanding Acquire a wide vocabulary Use grammar correctly Develop the habit of reading widely for pleasure and information Write clearly, accurately and coherently adapting their language and style in and for a range of contexts, purposes and audiences Use discussion in order to learn Gain competence in speaking and listening and debating
In addition, pupils will be following the Read, Write, Inc. ‘Spelling’ programme, which is a robust and fast-paced scheme teaching pupils to spell accurately through an understanding of phonics and spelling rules, underpinned by regular practice. As part of the focus on writing within the Tropical Treasures theme, activities will include writing a poem, composing a setting, and creating an information report. After half term for the 'Let us Entertain You’ theme pupils will study the playscript ‘A Tune of Lies’ by Lou Kuenzler, and write an instruction text. The focus in Modern Languages this year will continue to be on speaking and listening whilst introducing reading and writing. Time will be given to establishing a good accent from the outset with a selection of stories, songs and rhymes. Lessons will link to the topic ‘Tropical Treasures’ with work on the rainforests and treasure maps. The popular Spanish song ‘Bate Bate Chocolate’ will most certainly be revisited! The pupils will also practise answering basic questions and continue counting to 20. In the second half of the term, the pupils will look at festivals, learn a Christmas song and look at the differences in the way
Christmas is celebrated in Spanish and French speaking countries. Phonics will be introduced and will focus on the vowel sounds and on mastering some of the tricky sounds.
Mathematical Understanding The first topic this term is place value. Pupils will look at representing numbers to 1000, number lines, finding 1, 10 or 100 more or less than a given number, comparing and ordering numbers to 1000 and counting in 50s. Pupils will then move onto addition and subtraction. This topic includes: adding and subtracting multiples of 100; adding and subtracting 3-digit and 1-digit numbers, both mentally and using written strategies; and estimations and spotting patterns. The final topic is multiplication and division when pupils will need to be able to recall and use multiplication and division facts for the 3, 4 and 8 multiplication tables.
Physical Education and Well-being Throughout PE this term, the pupils will be taking part in fencing, swimming and gymnastics on rotation. Indoor athletics will also form part of the PE programme in the second half term at Dame Bradbury’s. For their games session, the girls will be doing hockey. Please ensure that all girls have mouthguards, shin pads and long socks. The boys will have football and also touch rugby sessions. In PSHEE, the children will explore reasons why bullying happens and consider the feelings of those children who are bullied, those that witness bullying, and those who bully others, exploring how these feelings affect their thoughts and behaviour. They will consider strategies for keeping themselves safe from bullying, and explore strategies for responding safely to bullying in a range of contexts. They will also learn more about the dangers of road traffic, fire and water, and learn strategies for keeping safe. They will think about the positive benefits of joining in with different activities and consider the ways in which they can keep safe and have fun. They will begin to understand some of the ways they can reduce the risk of accidents in their own surroundings.
Creative and Performing Arts Tropical Treasures will provide the perfect theme for pupils to develop and fine tune their sketching and collage skills. Studying Matisse and/or children’s Illustrator, Jacqueline Molnar, will deepen pupils understanding of texture, tone and overlapping. Backstitching skills will also be refined as pupils sew their very own luggage label inspired by a famous Chinese proverb. Our Let us Entertain You topic will see the pupils designing and creating their own hand-held wooden mazes. Problem solving and precision skills will be sharpened, as accurate measuring and safe sawing practices are developed.
In Music this term, we will be ‘setting sail’ and exploring traditional sea shanties in a fun and creative way - engaging with this genre of music through fun instrumental and vocal games, short compositional projects and ensemble performances. Throughout our exploration of the ‘Tropical Treasure’ topic, pupils will have the opportunity to improvise and develop an increasingly broad bank of music terminology. Pupils will continue to build on their understanding of the key musical elements, alongside listening to existing works in the musical canon. Each week pupils will continue to expand their recorder repertoire and develop their instrumental technique, alongside having the opportunity to use any additional instruments they play in both composition and performance tasks when appropriate. Throughout the term, the pupils will build their confidence and fluency with reading staff notation, and learn how to musically interpret graphic scores. Pupils will develop their vocal performance skills and ‘sol-fa’ singing technique through the exploration of topic based songs and pieces. They will also prepare for a more formal performance event in their rehearsals for a Carol Concert.
Scientific Understanding This term’s Science has a focus on the properties of materials. The first topic deals with the characteristics of materials, and will help the pupils to develop key scientific skills, such as observation and classification. Pupils will investigate the various properties of materials and how these relate to their uses through our ‘tropical explorer’ and what they need for their expedition. Pupils will then move on to learning about the forces involved in magnets and springs by carrying out precise observations and measurements, and look at how the properties of magnets and springs can be put to use in a range of practical applications. How you can help: Visit local museums, such as the Whipple Museum of the History of Science, Saffron Walden Museum and Cambridge Science Centre Visit online resources like BBC Bitesize Science and look out for science programmes on TV
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.