Welcome to Year 3!  

• Weekly spelling tests take place each Tuesday.
• P.E Kits are needed in school on Monday.
• Homework is given out every Thursday and will consist of English, Spellings and Maths.  Times Tables are ongoing, so keep learning them!  By the end of Year 3, you will need to know the 2, 3, 5, 6, 8 and 10 times tables, but if you want to learn the rest, that would be great!  Homework should be returned to school by the following Monday or Tuesday morning.  Homework is a vital part of your child's studies as it helps to reinforce what they are studying within the class or targets areas for improvements. 
• Your child also needs to read regularly at home.  They are provided with a school reading book to help with this.

The Year 3 curriculum is very interesting.  In English we will be studying Stories from Familiar Settings, Reports, Myths and Performance Poetry, giving the children a growing knowledge of the different fiction and non-fiction genres.
      In Maths, the children are covering a range of topics including multiplication and division, addition and subtraction, word problems and fractions. Again, keep learning those times tables.  The tables feed into all aspects of Maths and will provide your child with an excellent basis for them to build on.
    In Science, the children are learning about Magnets and Forces.  They have enjoyed carrying out investigations using magnets, learning to use scientific equipment such as a Newton Meter (Ask them what it is!) At the moment we're investigating magnetic strength!
     At the moment we are working on the History topic - Stone Age and Iron Age.  The children are learning about the first humans and when they lived.  They will be using Historical evidence to find out about the tools they used, where they lived, what they did and the how they survived and evolved.  They will also be looking at  Stone Age Cave Paintings and producing their own.   No dinosaurs though!  They were extinct by then! 

We went to Calderstone's Park to see the oldest living piece of history in Liverpool, The Calder Stones from the Neolithic Era. 


There are a number of ways you can help your child with their studies this year:

• Practice multiplication tables
• Give your child real life problems to solve, when out shopping, catching a bus, or just walking down the street.  For example - bus numbers What is double 17?  Would you round 19 up, or down to the nearest 10?
• Read regularly at home with your child. Ask them questions about the text and get them to answer in full sentences instead of just one word. 
• Encourage your child to complete homework.
• Write a story, description, diary entry about their day.  This will help improve your child's handwriting as well as improving the content of their writing.  Help them to rehearse each sentence before they write it, to check it makes sense.  Remember those finger spaces, capital letters and relevant punctuation.