Cressing Primary School

Dear Parents/Carers,

We hope you all had a lovely Easter break. I cannot believe we are into the Summer Term already.  The children have had another lovely term in Year 3 and we look forward to all the different learning experiences in this term. We particularly enjoyed learning about the Egyptians in History and exploring magnets and light in Science. We have enjoyed learning about fractions using cakes and other practical equipment and we even used our powers of estimation to make a piece of paper into a metre. Throughout the term, I have been  constantly impressed with the children’s enthusiasm and keenness to engage in all the learning, asking intelligent questions and explaining their thinking.

This term’s learning

This term in History we will be discovering lots of things about crime and punishment throughout the ages, finding out all about different punishments, laws and how they have changed. In Geography, we will be finding out about the tropical rainforest and all the wonders of this tropical biome. Our art will link to this as we will explore Henri Rousseau and his work of 'Tiger in a Storm'. Painting will be our main focus. In Science, we are going to continue learning about plants then move on to animals and humans investigating nutrition, body parts and life cycles. In RE we are going to explore how Allah is represented in the Muslim Faith and how being a Muslim affects daily life. Our class reader of 'Planet Omah' is fantastic to help support this.

Our school trip to Hatfield Forest will take place on Friday 12^th June.

We are starting our English work with writing adventure stories using The Minpins, The Magic Faraway Tree and The Lion, Witch and the Wardrobe. Maths will be a continuation of all the key skills plus we are starting to divide 2 digit numbers by a single digit and continue to learn about fractions. KEEP PRACTISING YOUR TIMES TABLES IN ANY WAY YOU WISH. TT Rockstars is a good tool which the children enjoy. Mathsframe and Topmarks also have some good games. Even counting in different groups is helpful.

At Home

Please support your child to complete their homework, helping them where necessary. Homework will be given out online for Maths and children have logins in their reading diaries to access this homework. Some of the spelling and English homework will continue to be given out on paper.  If you have any questions, please come to speak to us and we will do our best to help.

We really would appreciate you taking time to read with your child. Even 10 minutes practice a day can make a real difference to their progress. Your child does not always have to read a school book. Any reading is beneficial.  Discuss their books with them and encourage them to read magazines, newspapers, poetry and information texts even if this is on the computer.  Please record all reading in the children’s reading diaries.

As your child progresses with their reading, most of the reading teaching in class will be part of guided reading. As children gain confidence with reading, guided reading is a very good way for children to develop reading comprehension skills and for us to guide them with their skills. Discussion which comes out of guided reading is extremely valuable and other peers can act as good role models.

We will always encourage your child to achieve their best and work their hardest and keen trying even when things are tricky. Please reinforce this message at home. Progress is really important and we will always praise efforts and mastering those small steps.

House Keeping

• PE days are still Monday and Thursdays. These sessions may be inside or outside so please be prepared for both. As the weather gets warmer, a sun hat will be important.
• Homework will be set on Friday and should be completed by Thursday. Please log in online and ask if you have any questions.
• If you need to contact me please feel free to email me and I will do my best to get back to you as soon as I can. If it is during the school day, I may not get back to you until after school as I do not always check my mail during the school day.
• No pencil cases needed in Year 3. But the children may use their own pencil cases in the afternoons if we are colouring etc. Key Adults:

Mrs. Sedgwick – Class teacher

Mr Chambers– PPA Cover on a Monday afternoon

Miss. Schonenberger   – Learning Support Assistant

We all look forward to working with you. Please do not hesitate to contact us with any queries. We are happy to help.

Kind regards,

 The Year 3 Team