Year 3 - Dragonfly Class

Welcome to Dragonfly Class

Class Teacher: Mrs Cole

Teaching Assistant: Mrs Sobhani

 

Welcome to Term 4

 

We have an exciting term ahead with a trip to the Roman Museum, art week and forest school sessions again.

This term we will be looking into Roman life in Britain, learning about light sources and starting our Fractions topic in maths.

 

Enquiry Question – History: Why did the Romans invade and settle in Britain?

We will be exploring the following areas:

• Explain what was important to people in Ancient Rome.
• Explain the meaning of the words ’empire’, ‘invasion’ and ‘settlement’.
• Analyse the different reasons for the Roman invasion of Britain.
• Explain how the Celts responded to the Roman invasion.
• Explain how the Roman army’s structure, discipline and equipment made it so successful.
• Use artefacts to make deductions about the lives of Roman soldiers in Britain.
• Explain the meaning of legacy, identifying how the Romans changed Britain and ordering legacies by their significance.
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Reading – We will be reading some interesting stories inspired by the Roman era.

These two books will help us to use inference skills to understand the characters and the plot of the stories. They will be introduced to different opinion and outlooks from the Romans and the Britains in this era.

The Captive Celt  - By Terry Deary & Helen Flook

AD 51
Bran is a slave, a prisoner of Rome, but dreams of one day returning to his homeland, Britannia, to fight against the Romans. When the proud young slave is overheard criticising Rome, he is thrown into prison and faces execution the next day. Luckily, his cell mate Caratacus is a very special prisoner indeed - a British chief. He believes he has a way to save both their skins, but he'll need Bran's help.

 

The Gladiator Stole my lunchbox - Thiago de Moraes​

A thrilling illustrated tale complete with lions, gladiators, assassination plots and a dare-devil rescue. A funny and easy way to look back at history and some of the key players from the time period.

Henry is back in the present day - but he isn't happy about it. His little sister is driving him mad and no one believes that he travelled through time.

But all that is about to change when Henry finds himself travelling back to ancient Rome - where he soon realises that sibling rivalry can take a darker turn...

A toga-tickling, gladiatorial gallop through Ancient Rome! Packed full of accidental assassination attempts, marauding lions and steaming piles of poo!

 

 

Writing

We will be using a couple of different texts this term to help inspire our writing. We are starting with the BFG by Roald Dahl. This amusing and interestingly written story of fantasy and adventure will inspire us to experiment with language, to create new words and to understand how an author can use similes and some nonsense words to intrigue and engage the reader.

We will work towards writing a new chapter for the book, using a narrative model to write a fantasy piece. The first few weeks will see shorter pieces of writing which include: a recount of events, character descriptions, wanted posters, instructions and a letter.

The BFG is a story about a young girl called Sophie who is taken to Giant Country by a kind giant. The giant is very different from the others because he does not eat humans. Instead, he collects dreams and blows them into children’s bedrooms at night. Together, Sophie and the giant try to stop the other giants from hurting people.

Can Sophie and the BFG stop them?

 

Maths – Fractions and mass and capacity

We will be exploring the denominators of unit fractions, moving on from learning in Year 2 about halves, quarters and thirds. We will now look at fractions with other denominators. We will learn that a fraction can be seen as part of a whole and how to find a unit fraction. We will identify the role of the denominator, illustrating that this shows how many equal parts the whole has been divided into.

We will then move on to mass and capacity. Continuing to explore mass in kilograms and grams before moving on to capacity. We will be able to use and understand scales and learn to read measurements.

It is important that the children practice their timetables, in particular their 2's, 5's and 10's and moving on to learn the 3 and 4 times tables.

 

Science – Light and shadow 

We will be exploring the link between light and darkness, observing reflections and investigating different factors that affect shadows. We will learn about light sources, reflection, and how to protect our eyes. We will explore how shadows form, why they change during the day, and how light distance affects shadow size.

 

Forest School ​​ ​​

This term Dragonfly class will be going to Forest School on Thursday afternoons. The class will be split into groups like term 2 and you will be notified by Dojo, which group your child is in. The children will get to attend 3 weeks during the term. Those children not attending forest school will be in class completing some targeted learning.

On forest school days  - Due to the mud, and protecting the inside of the new school, children will only be able to access forest school if they have a change of clothes and shoes. They will need to bring their forest school clothes to school and get changed into this after lunch. They will then change back into their school uniform before the end of the day. Please provide a plastic bag for wet/ muddy clothes and shoes. Wellies will stay in school on the wellie racks.

Thank you for your co-operation.

 

PE

Our PE lessons will be on Wednesdays and will be Tennis this term. These sessions maybe in the hall or outside if the weather allow. Please send the children in to school wearing their PE kits. Please ensure the PE kits are suitable for indoor  or outdoor PE - A pair of indoor PE shoes should be brought to school to change for PE. School shoes are still needed for the classroom.

The Term 4 vocabulary sheets below will help you to know more about what your child will be learning this term. 

Teachers can be contacted via Class Dojo if you have any questions or queries regarding the home learning. 

Please click here to access extra phonics, reading and spelling resources.

Please click here to access links to other useful home learning resources published online.

If you are unsure of any log in details please contact the teacher through Class Dojo or email office@pilgrims-way.kent.sch.uk