ST.MARY’S C.E. (VA) PRIMARY
SCHOOL
NORTHCHURCH
BERKHAMSTED
HERTS
HP4 3QZ
Headteacher: Miss V.M. Hunt
Tel: 01442 389040
Fax: 01442 390589
email: admin@stmarys916.herts.sch.uk
Dear Families of Year 3,
I hope that you have all had a lovely half term break. Thank you for your support and help last term, especially
for preparing such lovely costumes for the class assembly and for playing your part to enthuse the children on
our topic of Roald Dahl. The children produced some fabulous work and I was very proud of their efforts in the
assembly. It was also nice meeting so many of you for Parent’s evening. I hope you found it useful to discuss
your child’s progress.
I would like to take this opportunity to remind you that if you have any concerns or questions, please use your
Home-School Link books to communicate any messages and then remind your child to hand it in to me or
arrange to see myself or Ms Forsyth.
Our whole school topic this half term is ‘The World Around Us’. The topic will largely be taught through
Geography, where the children will be learning about the formation of volcanoes, building on their knowledge
of rocks from last half term, as well as earthquakes. We will be creating some 3D art-work to show what we
have learnt.
In Literacy, our ‘Power of Reading’ book this half term is a fascinating non-fiction story called ‘The Pebble in
my Pocket- A history of our Earth’. The book follows the journey of the pebble from the birth of the World
through various stages in history including the era of the dinosaurs up to present day. We will be
working towards writing non-fiction books about various eras as well as fiction writing, imagining that they are
experiencing a volcanic eruption.
For Science, linked with Design and Technology, the children will be learning about nutrition and diet and will
be designing and making their own sandwiches. Thank you for those who have already offered to help with
Friday afternoon cooking. More details will follow shortly, but helpers will be asked to follow a savoury recipe to
link with the children’s learning. Each child will follow the same recipe and will discuss the nutritional content,
as well as practise weighing and cutting techniques.
As always, please help your child research information about any of these topics at home and if they have
anything they have found out which they would like to share with the class, that would be fantastic.
Thank you for your support in helping your child to learn their 3 and 4 times tables. This quick recall of known
number facts will help to improve speed and accuracy of mental methods and are well worth continuing at
home when you have a spare minute! This half term in Maths, we will be continuing with securing these mental
skills, consolidating their 3 and 4 times tables as well as beginning to learn the 6 and 8 x tables by doubling the
3s and 4s. We will be learning the written grid method for multiplication and using and applying the strategies
the children have learnt so far in year 3.
We will also look at shape and space, in particular, measuring perimeter and area. We will recap shape names
and look at angles, including right angles, acute and obtuse angles.
Love one another John13V.34
PE:
We will continue to have outdoor PE on Thursdays as well as swimming on Wednesday mornings. Please
ensure that your child has warm, winter outdoor PE kits in school at all times including trainers and plimsolls as
we try to go outside wherever possible.
READING:
Please continue to read with your child at home. This half term, we will be continuing to improve fluency and
expression in reading, but the focus will be particularly on inference and ‘reading between the lines’. It would
be much appreciated if you could ask your children to make predictions of the story and then ask questions to
check their understanding of what they have read.
Again, if you wish to speak to me at any time, please do not hesitate to contact me.
Many thanks
Laura Zimet
Love one another John13V.34
An overview of learning for this half term in Year 3
Understanding English,
Communication and languages
Mathematical Understanding
Religious Education
(Speaking & Listening, Reading, Writing, MfL)
- ‘Power of Reading’ text ‘The Pebble
in my Pocket’.
- non-fiction writing.
-spellings- adding suffixes to words,
such as –ly, -less, -ful, -able, -er, -est,
tion, cian.
- Grammar- prepositions, nouns and
pronouns.
-Guided reading sessions will be
focused on inference and ‘reading
between the lines’.
-French will continue to be taught on
Monday afternoons.
- 3, 4 and 6 and 8 x tables.
-mental and written strategies for
multiplication.
- adding and ordering fractions with
common denominators.
-finding equivalent fractions.
-shape and space- 3D shapes, finding
perimeters and direction.
- solving word problems using addition,
subtraction, multiplication and division.
Scientific and Technological
Understanding
Historical, Geographical and Social
Understanding
(Science, Design & Technology)
(PSHE, History, Geography)
This term, Miss Forsyth will be
teaching a unit on Nutrition and Diet.
The children will be designing and
making their own healthy sandwich.
They will be learning about the
different food groups as well as where
the food comes from. They will
practise different techniques, such as
grating, cutting and slicing, as well as
measuring and weighing. They will
then get the opportunity to evaluate
their work.
The children will learn about volcanoes
and earthquakes. We will use their prior
knowledge of rock formation and the
Earth’s formation to research further. We
will use the internet to research the
vocabulary and the formation of
volcanoes. They will learn the relationship
between volcanoes and earthquakes as
well as locate faults around the world. We
will study famous volcanic eruptions in
history, alongside the literacy book. In
literacy lessons, the children will use their
acquired knowledge to write diary entries
imagining that they are experiencing a
volcanic eruption first hand.
Understanding physical Development,
health and wellbeing.
Understanding the Arts
(Art and Design, Music, Drama, Dance)
(Physical Education, Personal and Economic
Wellbeing)
-Outdoor Games will be taught this
term by Mr Macey.
In art, we will be experimenting with
textures and materials and then making a
3D model of a volcano.
-Swimming
Easter cards.
Mrs O’Brien will continue to teach Fife.
Love one another John13V.34
Mrs Archbold will be teaching
Religious Education this half term.
The focus will be in the life of
Jesus.
ICT
ICT will follow the Herts Scheme
and this half term we will be looking
at ‘Developing Communication’.
- We will continue to use ‘Audacity’
to record and change sounds.
- Emailing- how to email safely.
- We will also set up a class blog
which the children will be asked to
write on and share their work.
Details will follow later in the term.