Summer Term 2nd Half

In this final Summer half term we have continued with our ’Amazing Africa’ topic. In our English lessons, we have continued to develop our writing using the talk for writing scheme. We began by exploring a range of recount texts before learning a diary entry from a little girl in an African village called Fatou. We then explored the features, looking at similarities and differences and then used these skills to create a recount of our day. In our spelling and grammar lessons, the children were introduced to some new suffixes -ally and -ation. They also learnt the prefixes in-, -il, -im and -ir. In addition to this, the children also began to look at homophones and word families in more detail.  

In maths, the children were introduced to the properties of shapes, lines and angles. In this unit the children identified right angles in shapes, angles more or less than a right angle and how to identify parallel and perpendicular lines. In addition to this, the children continued to develop their knowledge of time. In this unit, the children developed their understanding of the length of a day and their awareness of times of day. These concepts were then used for reading, estimating and measuring time in a problem-solving context.  

In our Science lessons, the children learnt all about light! They began to understand that in order to see, we need light and that dark is the absence of light. They then explored reflective surfaces and learnt how shadows are formed. 

In Geography, we explored the similarities and differences between a village in the United Kingdom and a village in Africa. They looked at the human and physical characteristics of these places before finding out about the climate in Africa and comparing this to Europe. Following on from this the children completed research using the I pads to find out about African animals and then used this to create their own non-fiction poster.  

Our art this term continued to focus on the face.  The children learnt how to accurately draw each feature, working on shading and creating texture with a pencil before completing a finished face. The children learnt about proportion an how to identify where the facial features should go and make sure these were in proportion.  

Summer Term 1st Half

In Year 3, we began summer term 1 by making pancakes as an introduction to our ‘Talk for Writing’ in English. The children enjoyed listening to the story ‘Mama Panya’s pancakes’ and tasting the pancakes. 

In English, the children learnt the journey story of ‘Mama Panya’s Pancakes’ using a story map and actions. Once they had internalised the story and were able to retell it accurately they learnt how a journey story is structured. They then explored a range of verbs for said and created word banks of adverbs and actions that they could use in their own story. After that, they were given opportunities to innovate the learnt story before independently planning and writing their own journey story.  

In mathematics, the children have continued to work hard with the new Power Maths scheme. First, we focused on finding unit and non-unit fractions of shapes and learning about what makes a whole. They then explored tenths and completed related mathematical problems and challenges. After that, the children enjoyed working with fractions of numbers and sets of objects. Later in the term, we began a unit about statistics where the children learnt how information is represented in pictograms, tables and bar charts. At the end of the term, the children worked with metre sticks and rulers to explore length. 

In Science, we began to learn about light. As part of this unit the children completed a before and after learning assessment which has reflected their growing knowledge. First, the children learnt what light is and why we need it. The children then looked at reflection and why some surfaces and objects reflect light better. This unit of science will be continued next half term. 

In geography, the children learnt about different climates. They compared the climate in Africa to that in the United Kingdom before completing a comparison grid.  

In art, the children enjoyed exploring facial features and how to draw each feature accurately. They completed before and after sketches of noses and eyes using their growing skills in shading and tone.