Hedgehog Class (Year 3) 2023 - 2024

Dear Parents and Carers,

Welcome to the class page for Hedgehog Class.

Here you will find all of the exciting and wonderful things that your child will be learning during their time in Year 3. If you have any questions, please use Class Dojo or speak to a member of our team at drop off/ pick up.

Thank you

Spring 1 

We have two English lessons a day; a reading lesson and a writing lesson.

Reading:

In reading this half term, we will are reading the book 'The Iron Man' by Ted Hughes. 

The Iron Man came to the top of the cliff.
Where had he come from? Nobody knows.
How was he made? Nobody knows.
Mankind must put a stop to the dreadful destruction by the Iron Man and set a trap for him, but he cannot be kept down. Then, when a terrible monster from outer space threatens to lay waste to the planet, it is the Iron Man who finds a way to save the world.

We will be using our different VIPERS skills: Vocabulary, Infer, Predict, Explain, Retrieve and Summarise to improve our understanding of what we read.'

Writing:

In writing this half term, we will be looking at the book 'Stone Age Boy' by Satoshi Kitamura. 

Travel 20,000 years into the past and discover what life as a caveman was like in this prehistoric picture book by a prodigiously talented artist.
One day a little boy is walking along when he trips, stumbles and falls ... into the Stone Age! He meets a girl his own age and her tribe, and learns all about their way of life. He watches them make tools, clothes and weapons. He sees how they hunt, fish, cook, celebrate – and even how they paint on the walls of caves. But when a furious cave bear attacks, he wakes up back in his own time where everyone tells him it was only a dream. But was it?

In our writing lessons, your child will have the opportunity to show off their creative flare and write for different purposes across the year. Writing in different styles will enable your child to become a better communicator and reader. 

'Reading for Pleasure' has great amounts of benefits for your child. In Year 3, we ensure your child has time to read for pleasure and each day, we set time aside to read our class book for pleasure. In class, we are reading 

We also enjoy reading our 'A Poem A Day' book every morning! 

Benefits of 'reading for pleasure':

Inspires imagination and creativity.

Enrinches cultural awareness and understanding. 

Increases empathy and improves relationships with others.

Lifts well-being levels and improves mood.

Improves progress in vocabulary, spelllings and even maths.

Encourages children to take a screen break.

Read with your child every day even if it is just 2 minutes- this can make all the difference. 
Record in their reading diaries to ensure that your child is receiving their stamp for their book from the vending machine, or reading buddy. 

You could ask your child about what they think might happen next in the story, how do they think the character is feeling, who is the author and what do they do. 

In maths this half term, we will be looking at Multiplication and Division as well as Length and Perimeter.

We will also be doing some work on our timestables every day! It is really important for the children to build their timestable knowledge as they will be required to apply it to their mathematics learning. We will also be completing weekly timestable tests. 

Children will have ongoing access to their TT Rockstars logins at home. I will set your child specific times tables for them to practice. Please ensure that your child is practising them at home as it is very beneficial for their learning.

If you have misplaced your child's login, please drop me a message on Dojo and I will resend for you.

This half term in science we are going to be looking at rocks! Looking at the different types of rocks and will be completing lots of practical experiments looking at the permeability of different types! The children will also look at fossilisation and the fantastic scientist Mary Anning!

In French, the children will be learning how to count! 

By the end of the half term, the children should be able to: 

• • • • • • • Recall all numbers one to six, with generally accurate pronunciation, in particular vowel and combinations sounds (‘un’, ‘eu‘, ‘oi‘ and ‘in‘).
            • Join in with a song using actions.
            • Respond to numbers by showing fingers or ticking on whiteboards.
            • Ask and answer a question about their age.
            • Change their answers and recognise number words.
            • Listen carefully and relate sounds to a written phoneme.
            • Recall numbers one to 12 with increasingly accurate pronunciation

In History this half term, we are learning all about the Stone Age! The children will be completing time lines and diving into the different key events that happened throughout this time, including looking at Stonehenge being built. 

Your child will have a music lesson each week where they will learn to play and explore their musical abilities. This half term we will be looking at Time. The children will be developing their understanding of beat, metre and rhythm. They will combine melodic and rhythmic patterns, and use staff notation as part of a final performance. 

We will also look at In The Past with a musical focus on pitch. We will look at the origions of pitch notations as the children make hand signals and compose three-note melodies. They will also learn basic dance steps and prepare a final performance. 

Your child will have 2 PE lessons each week. Their days this half term are Thursday and Friday. Please ensure they come into school in their PE kit on these days. This half term we will be looking at basketball as well as balencing within gymnastics. 

 Mondays- Each Monday morning, your child will be given 10 spellings to learn over the course of the week. They will then complete a spelling test each Friday, and, if they receive a mark of 10/10,  they will get a Dojo. They will have opportunities to learn their spellings some mornings in class so extra practice at home is essential.

Thursdays - Each Thursday, your child will be given either maths or English homework (alternating weeks). Homework is expected to be in the following Tuesday via the portfolio section of our class Dojo page or handed into me. Children who have completed their homework on time will be given a Dojo point. If you would like to have the homework printed each week, please drop me a message. 

Every day -Your child should read as often as possible when not in school and this should be logged in their reading diaries. Please ensure your child is also practising their timetables whenever they can as well. 

Please note: I will often upload additional activities and links for your child to support their learning at home, however this is not specific homework, this is just a little extra for them. For example, I may upload interactive links to games that I know they will like. 

Other useful links:

Please see below links to useful websites for your child to use when they are at home. I will be adding to the list throughout the course of the year so please make sure you check for updated links.

Oxford Owl - Linked to our phonics Read, Write Inc programme https://home.oxfordowl.co.uk/reading/free-ebooks/   

Story Nory - A range of stories by classic authors as well as poems musicals and fairytales. https://www.storynory.com/archives/classic-authors 

Story Berries- Read along with audio clips. https://www.storyberries.com

Monkey Pen-  Free downloadable children’s books in PDF format. https://monkeypen.com/pages/free-childrens-books

Free Children’s Stories-  https://www.freechildrenstories.com

Keeping Safe Online-  www.esafety.gov.au/kids 

Topmarks- A great way for children to practise many of their maths skills https://www.topmarks.co.uk/Search.aspx?Subject=16&AgeGroup=3

Newsround is a very good outlet for your child to watch each day to gain a wider understanding of what is happening not only in our country, but the rest of the world. We will be watching newsround every afternoon in class.