Welcome to Year 3 - Birch

Miss Edizer

Learning Update

In Literacy, we have been finishing our text Cinderella of the Nile, exploring the story through sequencing activities to understand its structure and key events. Building on this, the pupils began creating their own version Cinderella of the Roman Empire, set in Ancient Rome. They have focused on using rich descriptive language, including similes, adjectives and metaphors to vividly describe the main character’s appearance and to set the scene. We will move on to writing the beginning, middle and end of our story in the next few lessons, in which our character is given a beautiful pair of sandals; one is stolen and found by an emperor, with whom she will ultimately fall in love.

In Maths, the pupils have started learning about mass, working with grammes (g) and kilogrammes (kg), reading measurements from scales and comparing different amounts, while understanding the key fact that there are 1,000 grammes in 1 kilogramme. We will move on to converting measurements in upcoming lessons and deciding what we need to add to make different masses (for example, 600 g + 400 g = 1 kg).

In Art, the class has been studying mosaics from different time periods, comparing the materials used and the patterns and shapes within them. They then linked this learning to Roman mosaics, exploring common features such as images of gods and goddesses, animals, daily-life scenes and geometric patterns made from small coloured tiles. They will go on to design and make their own mosaics over the next few weeks, focusing on ensuring that tiles do not overlap and that patterns are clear.

In Science, the focus has been on light and shadows. Pupils learned that light bulbs are an example of artificial light (light made by humans) and identified natural light sources, such as the sun. They will be conducting an experiment within this topic in their next lesson, which should be an exciting, hands-on experience.

Future learning (bullet points)

- Literacy: Write the beginning, middle and end of Cinderella of the Roman Empire, including the scene where the sandals are given, one is stolen and later found by an emperor; apply similes, adjectives and metaphors consistently to develop vivid character and setting descriptions.

- Maths: Convert between grammes and kilogrammes; complete addition and subtraction problems involving mixed units (e.g. calculate what must be added to reach 1 kg); read and record masses from scales in g and kg.

- Art: Design and make individual Roman-style mosaics; lay tiles so they do not overlap; ensure geometric patterns and figurative elements are clear and well planned.

- Science: Carry out a hands-on experiment exploring light and shadow.

Summer Term 2025

Links to Summer Term learning are in the process of being uploaded.