Welcome to Green Class - Year 3

Welcome to Year 3! In Green Class, we’re all about curiosity, creativity, and growing independence. We work together to build confidence, celebrate achievements, and make learning exciting every day.

🏺 This Half Term’s Topic: Exploring Europe

This half term, we’re setting off on a journey across Europe! Children will learn about different countries, cultures, landmarks, and climates. We’ll explore how trade connects people across borders, investigate currencies, and use maps and compass points to understand the continent’s geography. Through stories, research, and creative activities, children will discover what makes Europe so diverse and exciting.

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📅 Year 3 Topics for 2025–2026

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📌 Key Information

• 🏃‍♂️ PE Days: Monday and Tuesday
  Children should wear their PE kit to school on these days (jogging bottoms, PE T-shirt, sweatshirt or hoodie, trainers/pumps). They will go home in their PE kit. Please also send their coat and school jumper.

• 📖 Reading Books: Sent home daily
  Children are expected to read every day. Please sign their Reading Log. Bug Club is also available online—login details are in their book bag.

• ✏️ Spelling Practice: New spellings are set every Friday on Spelling Shed.
  Weekly spelling tests take place on Tuesdays.

• 🔢 Times Tables: Focus this half term is on 3× and 4× tables.
  Children should practise regularly using Times Tables Rock Stars and Hit the Button.

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📚 What We’re Learning

✍️ English

Children will:

• Take part in daily Whole Class Reading sessions using fiction, non-fiction, and multimedia texts

• Develop key reading skills: prediction, retrieval, inference, and explanation

• Study Hansel and Gretel and explore non-fiction texts linked to our topic

• Write in role as different characters and practise descriptive writing

• Learn how to plan and structure non-fiction texts using headings, subheadings, and factual detail

• Practise weekly spellings on Spelling Shed

🔢 Mathematics

• This half term, we’ll focus on:

  • Recapping the 2, 5, and 10 times tables

  • Introducing the 4 and 8 times tables

  • Strengthening multiplication and division fact recall

  • Adding and subtracting two- and three-digit numbers using formal and mental methods

  • Learning formal written methods for multiplication and division

  • Solving real-life problems and explaining strategies clearly

🌍 Geography

Our topic, Exploring Europe, will include:

• Learning that Europe has 50 countries bordered by several seas

• Understanding how the EU promotes trade

• Investigating landmarks, landscapes, and climates in France, Russia, and Norway

• Exploring different currencies

• Using maps and compass points to explore the continent

🧠 Topic

We’re exploring Ancient Egypt—mummification, pyramids, pharaohs, and historical inventions. Children will learn where Egypt fits on a timeline and how archaeologists uncover the past.

🧪 Science

We’ll be learning about animals including humans:

• How animals get nutrients from food

• The importance of a balanced diet

• The skeleton’s role in protection and movement

• How muscles and bones work together

• Investigating how bone length affects movement

🙏 RE & 🧠 PSHE

• RE: Understanding Christianity—exploring the concept of Incarnation and the Holy Trinity

• PSHE: Celebrating Difference—learning about family diversity, kindness, problem-solving, and how to support others

🎶 Music

Learning musical vocabulary, notation, and developing rhythm and pitch.

🏃 PE

• Tuesday: Tag rugby with Mr Lord and a coach
• Wednesday: Gymnastics with Miss Heywood

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🏡 How You Can Help at Home

• Read with your child daily and sign their Reading Log
• Practise weekly spellings on Spelling Shed
• Talk about what they’ve learned in class
• Explore books and websites about European countries
• Support times tables practice using online games
• Help with weekly homework activities

📌 Please ensure your child brings a named water bottle every day.

 

Look out for our Parent Information Sheet below! 

✏️ Year 3 Spelling List

These words are part of the Year 3 curriculum and help children build strong spelling habits. They include commonly used words, tricky spellings, and words that follow important patterns. Children practise these weekly to improve their writing fluency and confidence.

Each group introduces a mix of:

• High-frequency words used in everyday writing

• Words with silent letters, double consonants, or unusual endings

• Vocabulary that supports topic work and reading comprehension

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🔄 Year 3 Homophones List

Homophones are words that sound the same but have different meanings and spellings. Learning homophones helps children:

• Understand word meaning in context

• Avoid common spelling mistakes

• Improve reading and writing accuracy

For example:

• peace (calm) vs. piece (a part of something)

• weather (rain, sun, etc.) vs. whether (if something will happen)

Children practise these through matching games, sentence writing, and spelling challenges.