Thematic 

This week, we kicked off our brand-new thematic topic: "See the Light, Feel the Force!" It’s been an exciting start, full of curiosity, hands-on experiments, and a lot of learning. 

To get everyone thinking, we began the week by posing Big Questions: Can we feel the force? How do we see the light? All classes buzzed with ideas, as we shared everything from the basics of light – how it travels and helps us see – to a wide range of forces we experience every day, like gravity and friction. It was fascinating to see how much the children already understood and how eager they were to learn more. 

After gathering our thoughts on light and forces, we moved right into exploring forces through some exciting hands-on activities. We started off by discussing what forces are and how forces make things move, stop, or change direction. We also investigated how different forces act on objects by experimenting with pushing and pulling. 

  

  

 

Next week, we’ll be diving into the fascinating world of magnetism, learning about how magnets work, where we find them in everyday life, and exploring the invisible forces that make them so special. 

English 

Our focus in English this week, has been creating rich, vivid setting descriptions. The children worked hard to enhance their writing by incorporating key skills, such as prepositional phrases and expanded noun phrases, to bring their descriptions to life. 

The class began by re-reading key passages from the book to gather ideas and discuss the atmosphere of the settings described by Ted Hughes. We looked at how the author uses vivid imagery and precise language to make the settings feel alive, and we discussed how we could use similar techniques in our own writing. Children used prepositional phrases to describe the location of nouns within the setting, and expanded noun phrases to bring their descriptions to life with more detail. 

Maths 

This week in maths, we've been busy exploring the exciting world of statistics, focusing on two key skills: interpreting pictograms and bar charts. Children have practised reading pictograms with different key symbols representing a certain number of items; they then moved onto interpreting and answering questions about different data sets. In addition to pictograms, we’ve been interpreting and creating bar charts—another essential tool in statistics. Children have been working on reading charts to find out important information, such as identifying which category has the most or least items. 

Next week, we’ll be moving onto learning about formal written methods for addition and subtraction.

Home Learning 

Attached below, is the overarching Thematic Curriculum homework ideas. Please refer to the homework menu which gives a variety of creative tasks for the children to choose from. Children only need to complete one task as a minimum, but can choose to complete more if they wish. Children have been given a Home Learning book to complete their Home Learning tasks in- children will be bringing their Home Learning books home on Monday.   

Home Learning is due in on Thursday 18^th December 2025

Reading Records  

With AR Assessments complete, children will be given a new ZPD, which you will find in their Reading Record: ‘Term 2’ ZPD sticker. If children have not yet brought in their reading record to school, they need to make sure they bring it in on Monday 3^rd November, so that we can issue children with a new reading book. Please ensure children are reading every night and are likewise taking quizzes. Your child can access the quizzes here: Renaissance Learning Login

Spellings 

Children will have a spelling sheet attached in their home learning book. Each week, they will need to practise the core spellings listed using the ‘Look, Say, Cover, Write, Check’ strategy. Within your child’s home learning book, there are prompts and tips to support children in learning their spellings, along with a spelling list and an example of a table, which children can draw themselves, each time they learn a new set of spellings. Children should choose five spellings to practise at home each week. Please do speak to your child’s teacher if you have any questions.

Times Tables Rock Stars   

• Tasks to be completed online.  

• Children’s logins are stuck in their Reading journal.    

Mathletics   

• Mathletics tasks will be set from Friday to Friday.   

• Tasks will always follow the learning that week.   

• Children’s logins are stuck into their Reading journal.   

Key messages:

Weather

As the weather turns wetter and muddier, we’re excited for the children to continue exploring our wonderful environmental area and playing on the field at lunchtimes. To help them make the most of these outdoor spaces, we ask that each child brings a pair of Wellington boots to keep in school. Having wellies at school means children can enjoy the outdoors, without worrying about getting their shoes muddy or wet.

We’d also like to remind everyone that children should bring their coats to school every day. The weather can be unpredictable, and we want to ensure all children stay warm and dry while they play and learn outside.

Thank you for your support in helping our pupils enjoy the great outdoors safely and comfortably!

Swimming

This week, 3Y and 3R had their very first swimming sessions, and what an amazing start it was! The children were incredible, showing great enthusiasm and determination as they stepped out of their comfort zones to begin developing their swimming skills. It was wonderful to see so many confident smiles and brave attempts in the water!

To help our sessions run smoothly, we’d like to remind everyone that children need to bring a swimming hat every week. This helps keep hair out of their faces and ensures they can focus on their swimming. Please also remember that earrings must be removed before swimming, for safety reasons.

We’re so proud of how well everyone has started their swimming journey and can’t wait to see their confidence and skills grow over the coming weeks!

 Reminders:

• Year 3 have PE on Tuesdays and should come to school dressed in the correct school PE kit.   

• 3R and 3Y will swim on Mondays this term- children will need to come dressed in their PE kit to school on this day, and bring with them their swimming costumes to change into.    

• Swimming kit reminder: full swimming costume/swim shorts and swimming hat.   

• Children to bring in healthy snacks for breaktimes.