Year 3
Hello and Welcome to Year 3!
Class Teachers: Mrs Smith and Mrs Wright
Teaching Assistants: Mrs Polli (AM only) and Mrs Cooper-Lo
SEND TAs: Mrs Borg and Miss Vella
Year 3 is an exciting and important year as children make the transition into Key Stage 2. We want to make this transition as smooth and positive as possible, while encouraging every child to become an increasingly independent, confident and resilient learner.
We aim to make our lessons ‘Meaningful, Memorable and Motivating’, providing children with exciting opportunities to develop their knowledge, skills and curiosity.
Throughout our learning, we incorporate the Seven Skills of the Steward:
Team-working † Problem-solving † Creativity † Peace-making † Empathy † Resilience † Gratitude
Our Year 3 super skill is Team-working.
Working Together
Parents and carers play a vital role in supporting children’s learning. One of the most valuable things you can do at home is to talk to your child about what they are learning in school.
Our Long Term Plan gives an overview of the units taught throughout the year, while our half-termly Knowledge Organisers show the key knowledge and vocabulary that children will be learning.
We encourage families to use these to start conversations at home. Ask your child:
What have you been learning about this week?
What new facts can you remember?
Can you explain some of your new vocabulary?
What have you enjoyed or found challenging?
Can you teach me something you have learnt?
Regularly revisiting and talking about learning helps children to remember key knowledge, make connections and develop confidence in explaining their ideas.
Reading – Our Priority
Reading regularly at home is one of the most important ways you can support your child.
Please encourage your child to read as often as possible, ideally every day. Even as children become more independent readers, it is still incredibly valuable for an adult to listen to them read and to talk about the book together.
You could ask your child to: retell what they have read; explain the meaning of unfamiliar words;
predict what might happen next; talk about a character’s thoughts, feelings and actions; find evidence in the text to support an answer; explain which part they enjoyed and why.
Please also continue to read stories and other texts to your child. Hearing an adult read aloud exposes children to ambitious vocabulary, expression and books that they may not yet be able to read independently.
Along with their school reading books, children can choose books from our class library and school library. Reading books will be changed when children have finished them.
Reading books and reading diaries should be brought into school every day so that we can listen to children read and support their progress.
Practising Key Skills at Home
Short, regular practice makes a big difference. Alongside reading, we encourage children to practise the key skills they are learning in school.
This includes:
Times tables – regular practice to develop quick and confident recall. Please use the songs and resources below to make this enjoyable.
Spellings – practise the weekly spelling patterns and words set on Spelling Shed and encourage children to use these words in sentences.
Maths fluency – practise important number facts and mental maths skills so that children can recall them efficiently and apply them to more challenging problems.
Vocabulary and knowledge – revisit the current Knowledge Organiser and talk about the important words, facts and concepts your child has been learning.
Little and often is best – 5–10 minutes of regular practice can be more effective than one long session.
Homework
Weekly homework will include:
Reading regularly at home
Maths Shed activities
Spelling Shed activities
Practising times tables and key number facts
Talking about and revisiting current learning
Homework is intended to reinforce the key skills and knowledge taught in school and help children develop positive learning habits and increasing independence.
Key Information
PE: Wednesday and Friday
Please ensure children wear their PE kit on PE days.
The Meet the Teacher PowerPoint below contains further information about the school day, routines, expectations and life in Year 3.
This class page will also be used to celebrate and showcase the children’s learning and share important information throughout the year.
We really value the partnership between school and home. By reading together, discussing learning and regularly practising key skills, we can help every child to make the best possible progress and develop a genuine love of learning.
If you have any questions or concerns, please do not hesitate to contact school to speak to a member of the team or message us via Class Dojo.
We look forward to a fantastic year of learning together!
The Year 3 Team