Year 3
English Curriculum
2014 / 2015
Medium-term planning Spring 1: Kings, Queens and Castles
Overview
Word Reading
At this stage, teaching
comprehension should be taking
precedence over teaching word
reading directly. Any focus on word
reading should support the
development of vocabulary.
Week 1
YEAR 3
6
weeks
Reading Comprehension
When using non-fiction, children
should know what information
they need to look for before they
begin and be clear about the
task.
Transcription
Children should learn to spell
new words correctly and have
plenty of practice in spelling
them.
Composition
Grammar should be taught
explicitly: children should be
taught the terminology and
concepts set out in Appendix 2,
and be able to apply them
correctly to examples of real
language.
Learning Objectives to be covered
● To retrieve and record information from non-fiction.
● To use conjunctions, adverbs and prepositions to express
time and cause.
● To use dictionaries to check the meaning of words that
they have read.
● To use a wider range of conjunctions and include more
clauses in a sentence.
● To use the perfect form of verbs to mark relationships of
time and cause.
● To plan their writing by discussing and recording ideas.
● To propose changes to grammar and vocabulary to
improve consistency.
Resources
(suggested)
Usborne
Knights
and Castles
Picture
book In the
Castle by
Usborne.
Usborne
starting
pointWhat were
Castles for?
http://ww
w.teachingi
deas.co.uk
/themes/c
astles/
Assessment
For assessment of reading, refer to
Assessing Pupil Progress: Gathering
Evidence in Reading
Can use the terms
‘conjunction’,
‘adverb’ and
‘preposition’.
Can write sentences with more
than one clause.
Can find specific information in nonfiction texts and by using ICT.
Reading Comprehension
The focus should continue to be
on children’s comprehension. The
knowledge and skills that children
need in order to comprehend are
very similar at different ages. The
complexity
of
the
writing
increases the level of challenge.
Week 2
Children should be taught to
recognise themes in what they
read. They should also learn the
conventions of different types of
writing, such as the greeting in
letters or the use of presentational
devices such as numbering and
headings in instructions.
Children should have guidance
about the kinds of explanation and
question that are expected from
them. They should help to
develop, agree on, and evaluate
rules for effective discussion. The
expectation should be that all
children take part.
Composition
Grammar should be taught
explicitly: children should be
taught the terminology and
concepts set out in Appendix 2,
and be able to apply them
correctly to examples of real
language.
Transcription
Children should be using joined
handwriting throughout their
independent writing. Handwriting
should continue to be taught, with
the aim of increasing the fluency
with which children are able to
write down what they want to say.
This, in turn, will support their
composition and spelling.
● To retrieve and record information from non-fiction.
● To apply their growing knowledge of root words, prefixes
and suffixes (see
Appendix 1), both to read aloud and to understand the
meaning of new words.
● To indicate grammatical and other features by using and
punctuating direct speech.
● To draft and write non-narrative material, using simple
organisational devices.
● To proofread for spelling and punctuation errors.
● To assess the effectiveness of their own and others’ writing
and suggest changes.
Usborne
Knights
and Castles
For assessment of reading, refer
to Assessing Pupil Progress:
Gathering Evidence in Reading
Picture
book In the
Castle by
Usborne.
Can add interest by using time and
cause words.
http://ww
w.teachingi
deas.co.uk
/themes/c
astles/
Can compose sentences to describe a
castle using subject specific words from
reading.
Can use headings in their writing.
Reading Comprehension
The focus should continue to be
on children’s comprehension. The
knowledge and skills that children
need in order to comprehend are
very similar at different ages. The
complexity
of
the
writing
increases the level of challenge.
Week 3
Children should be taught to
recognise themes in what they
read. They should also learn the
conventions of different types of
writing, such as the greeting in
letters or the use of presentational
devices such as numbering and
headings in instructions.
Children should have guidance
about the kinds of explanation and
question that are expected from
them. They should help to
develop, agree on, and evaluate
rules for effective discussion. The
expectation should be that all
children take part.
Transcription
Children should learn to spell
new words correctly and have
plenty of practice in spelling
them.
Dictionaries are not useful for
children who cannot yet spell,
since these children do not have
sufficient knowledge of spelling
to use them efficiently.
Handwriting should continue to be
taught, with the aim of increasing
the fluency with which children
are able to write down what they
want to say. This, in turn, will
support their composition and
spelling.
Composition
Grammar should be taught
explicitly: children should be
taught the terminology and
concepts set out in Appendix 2,
and be able to apply them
correctly to examples of real
language.
● To increase familiarity with a wide range of books and
retell some of these orally.
● To identify themes and conventions in a wide range of
books.
● To discuss writing similar to that which they are
planning to write in order to understand and learn
from its structure, grammar and vocabulary.
● To draft and write narratives, creating settings, characters
and plot.
● To use and understand the grammatical terminology in
Appendix 2 accurately and appropriately when discussing
their writing and reading.
● To understand how to use further prefixes and suffixes
(see Appendix 1).
The
Queen's
Token by
Pamela
Oldfield
http://ww
w.teachingi
deas.co.uk
/themes/c
astles/
For assessment of reading, refer
to Assessing Pupil Progress:
Gathering Evidence in Reading
Can use prepositions and adverbs to
create interest in a story.
Can understand and use suffixes to
create new words.
Can describe a setting and a
character.
Reading Comprehension
The focus should continue to be
on children’s comprehension. The
knowledge and skills that children
need in order to comprehend are
very similar at different ages. The
complexity
of
the
writing
increases the level of challenge.
Week 4
Children should be taught to
recognise themes in what they
read. They should also learn the
conventions of different types of
writing, such as the greeting in
letters or the use of presentational
devices such as numbering and
headings in instructions.
Children should have guidance
about the kinds of explanation and
question that are expected from
them. They should help to
develop, agree on, and evaluate
rules for effective discussion. The
expectation should be that all
children take part.
Transcription
Children should continue to be
supported in understanding and
applying the concepts of word
structure
Children should be using joined
handwriting throughout their
independent writing. Handwriting
should continue to be taught, with
the aim of increasing the fluency
with which children are able to
write down what they want to say.
Composition
Grammar should be taught
explicitly: children should be
taught the terminology and
concepts set out in Appendix 2,
and be able to apply them
correctly to examples of real
language.
They should understand how to
place the apostrophe in words with
regular plurals (such as girls’,
boys’) and in words with irregular
plurals (such as children’s).
● To identify themes and conventions in a wide range of
books.
● To compose and rehearse sentences orally, progressively
building a varied and rich vocabulary and an increasing
range of sentence structures (see Appendix 2).
● To use conjunctions, adverbs and prepositions to express
time and cause.
● To choose nouns or pronouns appropriately to avoid
repetition.
● To draft and write narratives, creating settings, characters
and plot.
● To propose changes to grammar and vocabulary to
improve consistency.
● To assess the effectiveness of their own and others’ writing
and suggest changes.
The
Queen's
Token by
Pamela
Oldfield
http://ww
w.teachingi
deas.co.uk
/themes/c
astles/
For assessment of reading, refer
to Assessing Pupil Progress:
Gathering Evidence in Reading
Can plan a story with a clear
beginning, middle and end.
Can draft and edit a story.
Week 5
Reading Comprehension
Children should continue to
have opportunities to listen
frequently to stories, poems,
non-fiction and other writing,
including whole books and not
just extracts, so that they
build on what was taught
previously.
They should also have
opportunities to exercise choice
in selecting books.
The focus should continue to be
on children’s comprehension. The
knowledge and skills that children
need in order to comprehend are
very similar at different ages. The
complexity
of
the
writing
increases the level of challenge.
Children should be taught to
recognise themes in what they
read. They should also learn the
conventions of different types of
writing, such as the greeting in
letters or the use of presentational
devices such as numbering and
headings in instructions.
Children should have guidance
about the kinds of explanation and
question that are expected from
them. They should help to
develop, agree on, and evaluate
rules for effective discussion. The
expectation should be that all
children take part.
Composition
Children should start to learn
about some of the differences
between Standard and nonStandard English and begin to
apply what they have learned.
● To increase familiarity with a wide range of books and
retell some of these orally.
● To identify themes and conventions in a wide range of
books.
● To ask questions to improve their understanding of a text.
● To participate in discussion about both books that are
read to them and those they can read for themselves,
taking turns and listening to what others say.
● To organise paragraphs around a theme.
The
Queen's
Token by
Pamela
Oldfield
For assessment of reading, refer to
Assessing Pupil Progress:
Gathering Evidence in Reading
Fairy Tales
featuring
Queens,
Kings and
Castles.
Can ask appropriate questions and
draw conclusions.
Can recall and comment on events in
a story.
Can compare two stories.
Week 6
● To propose changes to grammar and vocabulary to
improve consistency.
Reading Comprehension
Children should continue to
have opportunities to listen
frequently to stories, poems,
non-fiction and other writing,
including whole books and not
just extracts, so that they
build on what was taught
previously. In this way, they
also meet books and
authors that they might not
choose themselves. They should
also have opportunities to
exercise choice in selecting
books.
● To listen to and discuss a wide range of fiction and nonfiction texts.
● To prepare poems and play scripts to read aloud
and to perform, showing understanding through
intonation, tone, volume and action.
● To recognise some different forms of poetry.
● To read aloud their own writing, to a group or the whole
class, using appropriate intonation and controlling the
tone and volume so that the meaning is clear.
● To proofread for spelling and punctuation errors.
● To use the diagonal and horizontal strokes that are
needed to join letters and understand which letters,
when adjacent to one another, are best left unjoined.
● To increase the legibility, consistency and quality of their
handwriting.
Castle of
Poets at
http://www.fa
milyfriendpoe
ms.com/poem
/where-poetslife
For assessment of reading,
refer to Assessing Pupil
Progress: Gathering Evidence in
Reading
Can recite a poem to an audience.
Can plan and write a poem legibly
and neatly.