Spring 1

Please keep posting to Seesaw anything your child does at home – we love to see the links they have made to their learning.

This term, we will use the Opening Worlds curriculum to explore the topics of The Indus Valley and Settlements.

History – The Indus Valley:

We will learn all about how people farmed the land round the river Indus and began to build an entire civilisation. We will compare this civilisation with Ancient Egypt and Sumer, using our previously learnt knowledge.

Vocabulary: 

Indus valley, Mohenjo-Daro, merchants, Harappa, monuments, sources, evidence, trench, potsherds, threshed, barley, Beckon, kiln, sewage, lothal, oxen, carnelian, barter, prow, figurines, fertility.

Geography – Settlements:

We will learn what a settlement is and learn about different villages and towns. Children will learn about the four main types of settlements. A hamlet is a small group of houses. A village is larger than a hamlet. A town is larger than a village and the largest type of settlement in the United Kingdom is a city.

Vocabulary: 

Settlement, rural inhabitants, facilities, urban settlement, adapt, costal town, market town, city, university, sprawling, urban sprawl, boroughs, conurbation, Cardiff, capital city, businesses, taff, connect.

Maths: Multiplication and Division, Money and Statistics

This term we will continue to learn the 3, 4 and 8 times tables whilst still recapping our multiplication knowledge of the 2, 5 and 10 times tables. This half term we will be focusing on multiplication and division, measurement, money and statistics. Please do keep working on TT Rockstars at home, this is really supporting the children’s multiplication and division knowledge.

We will also continue to do Number and Lightning weekly.

Vocabulary:

ones, tens, hundreds, thousands, count on, count back, share, group, equal, divide, division, multiply, multiple, multiplication, total

English – Zelda Claw

This short novel is an adventure and quest story building suspense. Through learning the story, children will explore plot, settings, characters and how they can use this information to infer and understand. They will build on their previous vocabulary learned. Children will learn to show the character’s feelings by reactions, they will use rhetorical questions in their writing to make the reader worried – Who had turned out the light?. They will use empty words to hide the threat – something, somebody, it, a silhouette. Finally, they will learn to select powerful verbs – crept, grabbed, smothered and use dramatic connectives – in an instant, without warning, out of the blue to grab the reader’s attention.

Vocabulary:

Suspense, horrified, horror-struck, petrified, panic-stricken, appalled, witless and aghast, suddenly, shudder, dread, in alarm, unease.

Persuasion text –  Why should I visit Skara Brae?

Children will learn a persuasive report ‘Why should I visit Skara Brae?’, setting out reasons for visiting the Neolithic settlement of Skara Brae. They will have an opportunity to learn technical vocabulary related to sites of historical interest. It will culminate in them writing their own persuasive text, encouraging people to visit a similar historical location familiar to themselves.

Vocabulary:

Persuasion, settle, possible, settled, historic, lifestyle, community, destination, dwelling, indicate, unique, settlement, prehistoric, Neolithic, era, archaeology, archaeologist, inhabitant, history, island, knowledge

Science – Animals including Humans:

We will identify that animals, including humans, need the right types and amount of nutrition, and that they cannot make their own food. We will learn how and where they get nutrition from within their food and diet. We will also identify that humans and some other animals have skeletons and muscles for support, protection and movement. 

Vocabulary:

Nutrients, diet, carbohydrates, vitamins, protein, dairy, skeleton, function, support, protection, movement, food chains, energy

Other curriculum areas:

French: French playground games

Children will recall all numbers one to six, with generally accurate pronunciation, in particular vowel and combinations sounds (‘un‘, ‘eu‘, ‘oi‘ and ‘in‘). They will join in with a song using actions, respond to numbers by showing fingers or ticking on whiteboards. Thy will ask and answer questions about their age and change their answers and recognise number words. Children will listen carefully and relate sounds to a written phoneme and recall numbers one to twelve with increasingly accurate pronunciation.

Vocabulary:

à moi - my turn, combien? - how many?/how much?, à moi - my turn, à toi - your turn, égale – equals, onze – eleven, douze – twelve.

PE:

Outdoor adventure activities – orienteering based. Pupils will learn to use coordinates and maps correctly, simple maps and grid before using the whole space.  

Health and fitness (Indoor)-  focus on coordination, balance, strength and flexibility.

We will link our Science and PSHE learning to understand the importance of a healthy lifestyle and how to achieve this, as well as understanding how our bodies react to a warm up and the importance of this. We will learn the different food groups and why we need each one.

Vocabulary:

Heart rate, Health, Food group, Nutrition, Pulse, Coordinates, Control point, North, east, south and west  

RE:

Who is a Muslim and how do they live?

This term we will visit a mosque to enhance our knowledge and understanding. Children will make sense of belief, recognise the words of the Shahadah and that it is very important for Muslims. Identify some of the key Muslim beliefs about God found in the Shahadah and the 99 names of Allah, and give a simple description of what some of them mean. Children will learn how stories about the Prophet show what Muslims believe about Muhammad and learn examples of how Muslims use stories about the Prophet to guide their beliefs and actions (e.g. care for creation, fast in Ramadan). They will talk about what they think is good for Muslims about prayer, respect, celebration and self-control, giving a good reason for our ideas.

Vocabulary:

Mosque, Shahadah, Ramadam, Allah, Qur’an, Prophet 

PSHE – Safety and changing body:

In PSHE this term we will be linking our learning to Science and computing:

Children will be learning about being kind and staying safe online, how to identify and deal with cyberbullying and also understand the difference between secrets and surprises. They will be considering who influences their choices. They will learn how to treat bites and stings. Also they will be learning about road safety and how to call the emergency services

Vocabulary:

Positive, Email, Kind, Identity Password, Intended, Cyberbullying, Share aware, Sharing, Internet, Social media, Private, Public, Surprise, Secret, Uncomfortable, Worried, Anaphylaxis, Allergic, Airways, Breathing, Reddening, Puncture, Swelling, Infection, Venom, Reaction, Auto injector, Decision, Rather, Choice, Calmly, Reassure, Casualty, Emergency operator, 999/111, Incident, Location, Injuries, Landmarks, Identification, Information, Hazards, Awareness, Accident prevention, Assistance Distraction, Rules, Safety

Music – Chinese New Year:

The children will learn to play the pentatonic scale, which appears in a lot of Chinese music. They will do a dragon dance, listen to Chinese music, and compose their one ‘Enter the Dragon’ piece of music to tell the story of Nian.

Vocabulary:

Tempo, Crescendo, Dynamics, Timbre, Duration

Computing:

In computing this term we will be linking our learning to PSHE about being safe:

Children will be learning how to send emails with attachments and how to be a responsible digital citizen by thinking about the contents of what is sent and learning about cyber bullying – both what this is, and what to do about it if it happens to us.

Vocabulary:

Email, Log in, Log out, Information, Responsible citizen, WiFi, Image, Video, Sign in, Username, Domain, Computer, Email address, Password

Art and Design:

Painting and mixed media: Prehistoric painting 

Children will be exploring Prehistoric art. They will select and use a variety of painting techniques and continue to develop their drawing skills, using their knowledge of colour mixing and making choices about suitable tools for a task e.g. choosing a fine paintbrush for making detailed marks. They will mix colours with greater accuracy and begin to consider how colours can be used expressively and will explore contrasting and complimentary colours. They will modify chosen collage materials in a range of ways e.g. by cutting, tearing, re-sizing or overlapping.

Vocabulary

Prehistoric, techniques, accuracy, contrasting, complimentary, collage.

Links to Learning sites

Bedrock - https://app.bedrocklearning.org/

TT Rockstars - https://ttrockstars.com/

Computing (Scratch) - https://scratch.mit.edu/

Important diary dates and key events:

Start of term – 05/01/2023

07/02/2023 – Year 3 Parent / Carer engagement 2.30pm until 3pm

08/02/2023 – Internet Safety Day

Valentine Disco – 09/02/2023

End of Term –  10/02/2023