We begin Year 3 by becoming a citizen of an Ancient Greek City State. Will you be a Spartan, Athenian or Corinthian? Will you bring glory to your people in the Heyes Lane Olympic Games? We will learn about the incredible Greek inventions, the legacy of which is present in our modern day lives! We learn about the incredible Pericles and how he paved the way for Athenian glory. We delve into the myriad of Greek myths, learning all about the exciting gods and goddesses, and their heroes’ treacherous quests.

The excitement continues as we visit Mount Everest Base Camp, accepting a very important challenge from the Nepalese government. Will you rise to the occasion? Can you assist the Sherpas in making mountains safer? We will use our design technology skills to create an item of clothing for a trip to Mount Everest. As scientists, we will travel back millions of years, learning about different rock types and how they are formed. We will understand what fossils are and how they came to be. Alongside our topic of Formidable Mountains, we will read the Michael Morpurgo classic King of the Cloud Forests, exploring the Himalayas up close.

During our Spring term, we will immerse ourselves in an exciting new project called Threes for Trees, where we will deepen our understanding of environmental issues that affect our lives today. For example, is buying cheap food always the best thing? We will dive into exciting texts such as The Lorax and The Great Kapok Tree, writing persuasive letters to the local community and creating wonderful descriptive writing. In science, we learn all about Plants and what they need to survive and thrive. We continue to develop our map skills in Geography and our programming skills in Computing.

We then dive into Be the Best You, where we learn all about different people and their daily requirements. For example, how does the lifestyle of a sprinter vary from the life of an office worker? Do they need to eat the same foods, or take the same exercise? This will culminate in designing and creating a tapered meal plan for our own client, using our Computing skills to create a persuasive video. As scientists, we learn all about the human skeleton and its functions, as well as the importance of exercise and a healthy diet.

As the Summer term begins, our attention turns to the Stone Age, where our Heyes Lane tribe of cave people will explore the world, discover new ideas, technology, language, art, music and culture. We will be learning about how civilisation began, how people and culture evolved and later became families and tribes. We unearth the answers to our question Is Stonehenge the most important creation of the prehistoric people of Britain? We will share the book The Stone Age Boy, which will immerse us in Stone Age life. In history, we will further our understanding of chronology, understanding that The Stone Age actually refers to hundreds of thousands of years and many different civilisations. May the force be with you! As scientists, we learn all about different forces and how they occur. We explore different magnets and the metals that are attracted to them. Finally, we step back in time, learning about the impact Manchester had locally and worldwide. We look at the impact of the suffragette movement and how that paved the way for society. From splitting the atom, to the first computer, discoveries and inventions made in Manchester have shaped the world as we know it today.

In Year Three, the children are assessed three times across the year. These summative NFER assessments are for reading, maths and GPS (grammar, punctuation and spelling) and take place towards the end of the Autumn, Spring and Summer terms. Writing is continually assessed throughout the school year.

Help from parents and carers at home can certainly help to consolidate the learning done in school.

• Reading– hear your child read as often as possible and ask them appropriate questions about the text. Please make sure your child’s Reading Record is filled in daily.
• Homework– This is designed to either consolidate work done in the week or to provide pre-learning for an upcoming topic. Generally the homework each week alternates between Maths (using the My Maths website) and English.
• TT Rockstars, Hit the Button Spelling Shed– while we are mindful of the amount of screen time each child has, you could encourage your child to practise their times tables, number fluency and spelling fluency using these sites.

Suggested Reading
Mymaths
TT Rockstars 
Hit The Button 
Spelling Shed and Maths Shed 
Teach Handwriting