Transitions 2023- 2024

Mrs Middleton and Miss Hailes are the Year 3 teachers at Harlaxton CE Primary School. Below is a transition booklet informing you of a little bit about Year 3 before you begin. We look forward to seeing you soon. 

School Year 2023 - 2024

Summer Term - 2024

This term we will be learning about the Ancient Egyptians. 
 

Our essential question is - What were the greatest achievements of the Ancient Egyptians?

PE this term will be on a Tuesday morning, however please ensure that kits are in school all week. Please remember that for PE, earrings are to be removed and hair is to be tied back.

Homework will be given out on a Friday and is to be handed in on the following Wednesday or before and the weekly spelling test will be on a Friday. We will check reading records, give out house points if you have read 4 or more times in a week and change books on a Tuesday. 
 

Spelling tests - see below for the termly spelling overview. The children will be given their termly overview at the start of the term but will no longer be getting a weekly spelling grid. 

Below you can find our curriculum overview of what we will be learning as well as the spellings for the term. 

Mrs Middleton, Miss Andrews and Miss Hailes

Summer Term Curriculum Overview 

Summer Term 1 Spelling Overview

Ancient Egypt 

What were the greatest achievements of the Ancient Egyptians?

Computing

In computing we have been looking at micro:bits. We learnt that they are a tiny computer that you can give it instructions by writing code. The code is an algorithm, a sequence of instructions. This week we have been writing code so that the micro:bit displays our names on the LED display. 

Cricket

This term, we have a coach coming in to teach us some cricket. This week we were learning about throwing and catching the ball as well as learning the correct catching position. 

Spring Term - 2024  

This term we will be learning about Planet Earth and how the weather changes.

Our essential question is - How does the weather change?

PE this term will be on a Tuesday morning, however please ensure that kits are in school all week. Please remember that for PE earrings are to be removed and hair is to be tied back.

Homework will be given out on a Friday and is to be handed in on the following Wednesday or before and the weekly spelling test will be on a Friday. We will check reading records, give out house points if you have read 4 or more times in a week and change books on a Tuesday. 
 

Spelling tests - see below for the termly spelling overview. The children will be given their termly overview at the start of the term but will no longer be getting a weekly spelling grid. 

Below you can find our curriculum overview of what we will be learning as well as the spellings for the term. 

Mrs Middleton and Miss Andrews 

Spring Term Curriculum Overview

Spring Term 2 Spelling Overview

Spring Term 1 Spelling Overview

Planet Earth 

How does the weather change?

Easter crafts

To finish off our spring term, we completed some Easter crafts. 

Easter Cup

We completed lots of Easter activities in the Easter cup to collect points for our houses. We had lots of fun!

English Poetry

For the last couple of weeks, we have been creating our own version of the poem ‘Storm at Sea’ by Alexander Rakic. We have worked really hard to include features such as similes, metaphors, onomatopoeia and alliteration. Today we completed writing our final draft and shared our poems with the Year 6s. 

Easter service

Today we went to church for our Easter service. Year 3 read an Easter poem. Click here to watch. 

My Styles

Thank you for creating some amazing My Styles this half term. We have loved showing each other what we have created. 

English

We have been creating our own weather news broadcast in English. Please click here to watch the videos. We hope you enjoy them. 

Comic Relief 2024

For comic relief this year, the children could tell some jokes. Please watch the Year 3 children telling their best jokes on the video page. Click here. Enjoy!

Computing

We have been learning our touch-typing skills on 2type on Purple Mash. We been learning about our home row, top row and bottom row keys as well as learning where to place our fingers. 

World Book Day

Year 3 have been learning the poem ‘Bed in Summer’ for World Book Day. Please watch the clip of our class reciting the poem here. 
We also visited Reception and shared poems and stories with them. 

E-safety workshop

Today we had an e-safety workshop, learning about how to stay safe online and what to do if we don’t feel safe. 
 

Art

Today we created a landscape in the style of David Hockey. We then painted it using vibrant colours. 

Today we continued with our paintings, adding more detail. We mixed colours to create new shades. 

Meeting Caryl Hart

In preparation for World Book Day next week, we got to have the chance to meet Caryl Hart, the author of the book ‘Together We Can’. We were able to ask her questions, listen to her reading some of her other stories and find out a bit more about her. 

Children’s Mental Health Week

This week is children’s mental health week and this year’s moto is ‘We have a voice’. The children have come up with some conversation starters to help them have a voice when they feel they may need help. We also talked about different ways that we could help our mental health. We ended our day by trying out some of our well-being activities e.g. going for a walk, reading, drawing etc. 

PE

In PE we have been learning how to create interesting point and patch balances, develop stepping into shape jumps with control and develop the straight, barrel and forward roll.

Science

As part of our learning about the States of Matter, we have been learning how to measure the temperature accurately using thermometers. Using this skill, we have measured the temperature is lots of different locations around the school!

We also carried out an investigation to find out which materials melted at which temperatures. We tested butter, chocolate and candle wax at three different temperatures.

Art

Today we have been using charcoal to create a tornado. We peer critiqued our first draft and had a go at improving it. 

This week in art we have been using charcoal and developing our skills using it. Today we had a go at drawing an object such as a ball or apple. 

Maths

This week in maths we have been looking at division. In today’s lesson we have been using lollipop sticks to explore remainders when dividing. 

Music

We have been learning about the use of pentatonic scales and melodies in Chinese music. We learned a song called Gung Hay Fat Choy, which celebrates Chinese New Year. We have been following a score to accompany a song, as well as performing using a range of tuned and untuned percussion instruments.

This week in music we have been exploring pentatonic scales on the xylophones. We will be having a go at composing and playing our own pentatonic Melodies in the next few lessons. 

Geography

Today we were locating the equator, tropics, hemispheres and poles. We then identified some countries that are located above, on or above the equator using an atlas. 

Computing

This term we are looking at emails. Today we talked about communication and identified different methods of communicating. We created a mind map with advantages and disadvantages of each method, creating links between them on Purple Mash. 

Today we were writing and sending emails to our classmates.

Autumn Term - 2023 

Welcome to Year 3. We hope that you have all had a great summer and we look forward to hearing about it. 

This term we will be learning about the Roman Empire, their invasion of Britain and life in Roman Britain.

Our essential question is - Who were the Romans?

PE this term will be on a Monday morning, however please ensure that kits are in school all week. Please remember that for PE earings are to be removed and hair is to be tied back.

Homework will be given out on a Friday and is to be handed in on the following Wednesday or before and the weekly spelling test will be on a Friday. We will check reading records, give out house points if you have read 4 or more times in a week and change books on a Wednesday. After half term we will do this on a Monday.

Below you can find our curriculum overview of what we will be learning as well as the spellings for the term. 

Mrs Coupland, Mrs Middleton and Miss Andrews 

Autumn Term Curriculum Overview

My Style homework

Termly overview

Autumn Term 1 Spelling Overview

Autumn Term 2 Spelling Overviews

The Romans

Who were the Romans?

Christmas Cup fun 

Christmas Jumper Day

Art - Roman mosaics

Today we had a go at printing a border mosaic. We tried to create a repeated pattern using printing sticks. 

Today the children have had a go at creating a mosaic border for their pictures. They were trying to create a repeating pattern all the way around, using no more than three colours.

Thanksgiving

Today we had some visitors from Harlaxton Manor who taught the children about the American holiday, Thanksgiving. The children shared with each other what they were thankful for and created some Thanksgiving crafts. 

Anti-bullying Week

Monday 13th – Friday 17th November 2023

Make a noise about bullying

Today the children have been learning about Odd Socks Day. We discussed what unique means and how we can celebrate this. 
 

Christmas tree decorations for St Wulfram’s Church

The children have created some decorations as a class for a tree in St Wulfram’s. 

The Collection - Lincoln (Roman Day)

Being archaeologists.

What it was like to be a Roman soldier.

Roman artefacts.

World Mental Health Day 

10th October

We have been discussing World Mental Health Day today and identified small feelings and what we can do if we are experiencing small feelings.

We created a wheel of activities together that children could do in school e.g. read a book, count, deep breaths etc. We also discussed what big feelings are and what these can look like, and talked about what to do if we feel like this. We also looked at how to be a good listener too.

Black History Month

We have been talking about Black History month and have discussed some significant people who have contributed to Black History.

We have focussed on Rosa Parks and looked at her life and how she stood up for what she felt right. We read the Little People, Big Dreams Rosa Parks book as well as the Brilliant Black British history book where we focussed on black people from the Roman times.

We are going to continue to read some other stories  of other significant individuals throughout October. 

English (Autumn term 1)

This term we are writing a play script for part of the story of Romulus and Remus.

The audience - an online performance.

The purpose - to entertain.

We have created the following story map to help us with our writing.

We have set the scene by writing a description of the setting and have been busy editing each others work against the rubric. 

Please click on the link to watch a selection of our play scripts being acted out.

https://harlaxton-c-of-e-primary-school.primarysite.media/playlist/year-3-performance-of-romulus-and-remus-play-scrip 

Maths - Addition and Subtraction

The children are in the early stages of learning the formal written method for subtraction and addition. 

To support their understanding we have been adding and subtracting practically with place value counters. This has aided their understanding of how to exchange when adding 1s across 10s.

Maths - Place value

We have been using manipulatives - place value counters to help us understand the value of digits in numbers.

RE

We have been learning about the festival of Diwali and what this means to the Hindu community. We have created Rangoli pattens.

Science

In science we have been learning about nutrition and have used food labels to investigate the amount of sugar that there is in some food products. We used cubes to represent the amounts. 

Music - Autumn 2

Today the children have been learning about metres. We have looked at 2, 3 and 4 metres and have been practising tapping the beat and then marking the metre. 
We sang a song called ‘What’s the metre?’ whilst counting the metre. 

Click the link to watch the video on our school videos page:

https://harlaxton-c-of-e-primary-school.primarysite.media/playlist/year-3-music-whats-the-metre-1

Music - Autumn 1

Watch this short film of the children singing a traditional Caribbean song called ‘Dis long time, gal’ with a steel pan accompaniment. 

Dis long time gal

A short clip of the children using xylophones and maracas to play a call and response structure to the traditional Caribbean song ‘Dis long time, gal’.

PE - Autumn 2

This term we are doing yoga in PE.

PE -Autumn 1

The children have been exploring balance today and tried different challenges which involved balance.

Computing

During our first week of school we have been learning how to keep safe. We have focused on passwords and the importance of not disclosing these to anyone other than the people who look after us and care for us. 

We have created a class Blog and discussed how we can use it. Blogs can only be authorised to be published my a teacher.

Design and Technology

The children enjoyed their first D&T lesson - they explored pulleys to see what items they could lift.

The children have been creating their final draft design.

The children have enjoyed building their structure from their final design. 

Maths guides for parents

Please find below parent ‘how to’ guides which provide information on how you can help your child understand certain mathematical topics.

If you follow this link you will be taken through to White Rose parents page called Maths with Michael. You will find short film clips to accompany the guides.

White Rose - Maths with Michael

White Rose calculation policies which are inline with our teaching.

Maths

At Harlaxton we use the White Rose Scheme of work to support our planning and teaching of Mastery Maths lesson. Mastery Maths is broken it 5 elements - please see the diagram below.

White Rose launched home-learning resources during Covid, these can be found at the following link. These resources include film clips, questions and answers.

https://whiterosemaths.com/homelearning/
 

Top tips from White Rose for everyday maths at home.

https://whiterosemaths.com/latest-news/top-tips-for-everyday-maths-at-home/

I See Maths

Gareth Metcalfe also launched home learning lessons, where he built understanding in small steps. His website can be found at the following link.

http://www.iseemaths.com/home-lessons/

Online Learning 

Your children have their usernames and passwords in their home-learning book.

Purple Mash

https://www.purplemash.com/harlaxton

TT Rockstars

https://play.ttrockstars.com/auth/school/student

Leader in Me

On a daily basis, the children try to demonstrate our core values within school. As we aim to practise them so often, they become good habits that we can use not only in school but also at home too. 

• Habit 1: Be Proactive (You’re in Charge)
• Habit 2: Begin With the End in Mind (Have a Plan)
• Habit 3: Put First Things First (Work First, Then Play)
• Habit 4: Think Win-Win (Everyone Can Win)
• Habit 5: Seek First to Understand, Then to Be Understood(Listen Before You Talk)
• Habit 6: Synergise (Together Is Better)
• Habit 7: Sharpen the Saw (Balance Feels Best)

Growth Mindset

This year we will be helping the children to develop a Growth Mindset. This aims to increase their resilience, perseverance and independence in their learning. Further information can be found by following the link below.