Darwin (Year 3)
Mrs Clair Chatwin
Class Teacher (Monday - Thursday)
Mrs Alison Kjaer
Class Teacher (Fridays)
Mrs Cary
Teaching Partner
Darwin Term 1 2025-26 Timetable
Suggestions for helping at home.docx
OUR CURRICULUM FOR THIS TERM:
Welcome to Darwin class! We hope the information on our class page will help you support your child at home. We encourage regular practise of reading, spelling and times tables outside school as homework. Please see below for the objectives we will be learning in each lesson this term.
English
During this term, Darwin class will learn the following:
- Reading Comprehension: we will be focusing on finding literal information and deducing and inferring information from a text, developing independent skills
- Recounts: we will be exploring the features of a recount and writing our own recount of our activity day
- Story Structures: we will discover what makes a really good story so you want to read more and write our own story based on Stone Girl, Bone Girl
- Information Texts: we will be looking at the features in information texts and what makes them different from non-fiction texts. We will be making an e-book about Stonehenge and Skara Brae
Please listen to your child read aloud daily and sign their link book.
The children should try to read a variety of genres, little and often; to keep up their key skills and develop a love of reading. Warminster library will order books for free if your child is a member; a great way to keep up with the latest authors. They could also listen to audio books, read to younger members of the family, or be read to; in order to immerse themselves in literacy as much as possible. They could read to a Teddy or a pet!
Any type of writing they do will be beneficial. Writing their own weekly comments in their link book is a necessary part of their homework. Try to encourage them to read back over what they have written to encourage accurate spelling and punctuation, especially when writing their own comments in their link book.
Maths
Darwin class will practise their maths skills, by the following units this term:
- Place Value: exploring numbers to 1000.
- Addition and Subtraction: adding and subtraction 1, 10, 100 and going across 10s, and 100s, adding and subtracting 2 and 3 digit numbers.
The children will continue to practise key maths skills through their early morning work- a 10 or 15 minute session each morning to practise speedy recall of number facts and maths skills learnt in previous terms. They will continue to follow the Number Sense scheme of work which embeds these key number facts to form a secure foundation from which to further build on their maths knowledge. The children will continue do a weekly times tables test; moving through the times tables at their own individual pace; supported by work in school.
Science
Our Science topic for the term is 'Rocks'. We will be working scientifically to:
- compare and group rocks based on their appearance and simple physical properties
- use equipment to closely observe and classify rocks: grains or crystals
- explore the properties of rocks: crumbliness, absorbency
- describe how soil is made from rocks and organic matter
- explore different soils and identify similarities and differences
- know that different rocks are formed in different ways to create sedimentary and igneous rock
- describe how fossils are formed
History
In terms 1 and 2, the children will explore ‘The Stomping Stone Age’:
- How long ago was the stone age?
- The three eras of the stone age were the mesolithic, paleolithic and neolithic periods
- How do we know about the Stone age? Cave paintings and archaeology
- What are reliable sources of evidence?
- How did lifestyle change during the time? People moved from hunting and gathering to farming
- What changed as the Bronze Age began?
PE
Darwin Class will have two hours of taught PE lessons each week. This term, the children will participate in tri-golf on Thursday afternoons where they will develop their golf skills. They will learn how to hold a golf club, how to chip a ball and how to putt the ball. They will develop their coordination and aim and learn how to putt the ball into different zones. They will have Handball as their enrichment on a Wednesday afternoon. Handball is an invasion game, a mixture of basketball and football. They will develop different skills, such as sending and receiving, attacking and defending, which they can apply in different sporting situations.
Art
The children will be studying the artist Henri Matisse. He was a French artist who is famous for his bold use of colour, simple shapes, and joyful artwork. He loved experimenting with paint, scissors, and paper, creating bright pictures that were full of energy. Later in his life, when he was too unwell to paint, he invented a new way of working called “cut-outs,” where he used scissors to cut shapes from coloured paper and arranged them into exciting designs. The children will create their own shapes and develop their understanding of colour mixing. They can learn from Matisse that art doesn’t always need to look realistic – it can be about feelings, colours, and imagination. The children will develop their creativity and learn that mistakes or changes can lead to new and wonderful ideas.
Computing
This term the children will revise internet safety and how to use the laptops and iPads respectfully at school. They will also develop their computing skills by making a power point, making e-books and using 2publish for their writing in English and History and taking photos to record their observations in science.
RE
RE is taught weekly and worship is held daily. This term the children will be exploring ‘Creation’. The children will wonder at nature, become familiar with events in the Christian Creation Story, wonder at human achievement, to think about what Christians learn from the Creation Story, to understand there are messages for Christians in the Bible, to consider what can be learnt about various areas from the creation story, to decide how to be a responsible caretaker, to decide what Christians and non-Christians think important when caring for the world.
PSHE (Personal, Social, and Health Education)
During terms 1 and 2, the children will be learning about healthy relationships during our weekly PSHE lessons. They will be developing class rules and class climate following our school rules of safe, respect and learn. They will explore how to be a good friend and good role model and how to be kind to each other. They will develop the skills to form a good working relationship with anyone and understand the process of decision making.
Music
The children will be learning the recorder this term. They will learn how to hold the instrument correctly, use their breath to make a clear sound, and play simple notes. They will also begin to read basic musical notation and follow rhythms, helping them to understand how music is put together. Playing in a group will teach children to listen carefully to each other, keep in time, and work as part of a team. Most importantly, they will grow in confidence as they practise and improve, discovering that learning an instrument takes patience, perseverance, and creativity.
Additionally, they will explore the lyrics of hymns during our weekly hymn practise.