Hill Top Primary Academy

Year 3

The teaching staff in Year 3 are Mr Edginton, Mrs Colquhoun, Mr Fellender and Mrs Bulbulia.

Year 3 Curriculum Map 2018/19

We've had a great start to Year 3 and we are very proud of all the children. Our first topic this year is Brainwaves! The class will become learning detectives and investigate how we learn. 

Brainwaves

The Big Idea

Every day we are learning lots of new and different things – gaining the knowledge, skills and understanding that we will need to become successful adults. By finding out more about how we learn, and how we can improve our learning, we will be better equipped for meeting the many challenges ahead of us.

In this unit, we’ll be finding out:

• How different people learn
• About the importance of practice when learning a skill
• How the brain works
• How to make connections between our learning
• How we can share our learning with others
• Why it is important to learn from other children and cultures around the world
• How positive thinking can help us to succeed
• How to look after our brain
• How to design a school for learning

When they learn children will be:

• Investigating
• Thinking
• Reflecting
• Researching
• Teaching
• Observing
• Assessing
• Presenting

Entry Point

For the entry point Year 3 became learning detectives and had to investigate what helps us learn. The children researched in different areas of the school to find resources that would help us learn. 

Exit Point

For our exit point the children thought about everything they have learnt about throughout the Brainwave topic and focused on the three  essentials that help us learn a new skill, which are Knowledge, Understanding and Skill. The children demonstrated a skill to the class and wrote a set of instructions to follow. Based on the three essentials the children created mind maps based on a particular essential. 

Saving The World

The Big Idea

Rainforests once covered 14% of our world’s surface. Now they cover less than 5%. Every second, an area of the rainforest the size of a football field is being destroyed. Some scientists believe that, if we lose our rainforests, we might put our whole planet at risk. What will we do to help save the rainforest?

In this topic, we will be finding out:

In Geography, we’ll be finding out:
About where rainforests are in the world
Which rainforest products we use in our everyday lives
About the lives of rainforest people and how they compare with our own
How and why the rainforest is being destroyed
Discovering the ways that people are trying to save the rainforest

In ICT & Computing, we’ll be finding out:
How to program and share our own rainforest-themed computer game
In Art, we’ll be finding out:
About rainforest body art and painting our faces in a similar style
How we can use art to create a rainforest scene

In Science, we’ll be finding out:
About different rainforest animals and plants
Where different animals and plants live in the rainforest
Why plants have leaves and why they can be different
About the best conditions to grow a plant
About rainforest fruits and seeds
How to grow our own rainforest plant from a seed

In Technology, we’ll be finding out:
How to plan and make our own tropical fruit drink

Entry Point

For our entry point the children researched a variety of rainforests from around the world and designed part of our classroom to look like the rainforest. The children designed the rainforest using paper, paint and animals.  

The children have been learning all about the different rain forests from across the world. They have labelled a map of the world locating all the different rain forests independently using Atlases and Ipads.

One of the key areas of our topic has been the deforestation of the rainforests and what problems this could lead to in the future. The class has learnt about all the different causes to deforestation such as: 

• Chopping Down Trees
• Cattle Ranching 
• Poaching 
• Wild Fires 
• Flooding  

Below are some examples of the children's warning posters about deforestation and why we should try to stop it from happening. 

Throughout the year Class 3 have produced some amazing pieces of writing related to our rainforest topic. The children have wrote formal and informal letters to tribe members, Non- Chronological reports about a rainforest animal and The Amazon. 

To assist the children with their writing and to get into character of a tribal member. The children designed their very own tribal face mask. 

Exit point

For out exit point the class painted their very own tribal masks and set the classroom up to be our very own rainforest cafe. The children created their very own rainforest smoothies from fruit they would find within the rainforest. As a result the children learned new cooking skills such as careful cutting, pealing and blending. Who where out guests within the cafe? 

The Year 3 parents came in to try all of the children's colourful smoothie combinations. The children have loved doing this topic and have learnt so much throughout the year. 

Temples, Tombs and Treasures 

The Big idea

The people who helped create the first great civilizations were not unlike you and me. Today we can
learn a lot about these people and their way of life through the things they left behind – from everyday
objects to magnificent and rare treasures.

In this topic we will be covering:

In History, we’ll be finding out:

• Why rivers were important to ancient civilisations
• What daily life was like in Ancient Egypt
• How to write using Egyptian hieroglyphics
• About the different rulers of Egypt
• About Ancient Egyptian religion and burials
• How the Ancient Egyptians might have built the pyramids
• About the treasures discovered in Tutankhamun’s tomb
• How to use different sources to find out about Ancient Sumer
• How to compare life in Ancient Sumer with life in Ancient Egypt

In Music, we’ll be finding out:

• About the instruments used in Ancient Egypt and Ancient Sumer
• How to create our own music to retell a story from an ancient civilisation

In Art, we’ll be finding out:

• How to plan and create our own tomb wall painting
• How to make an Ancient Egyptian headdress

In International, we’ll be finding out:

• How to plan an Ancient Egyptian celebration to share with friends and family

For our entry point the children took the role of archaeologists who have discovered an ancient tomb. Once discovered, the class had to work their way through a number of challenges to uncover who's tomb they had found. The challenges were tough and the children had to work as teams to complete them. Within the tomb the children had to fix broken ancient puzzles, archaeological dig for treasure, decode ancient hieroglyphics and enter the dark tomb!

During our topic this year, we have been learning all about Howard Carter and his discovery of Tutankhamen's Tomb. The children researched about the event, read books and used this to write their own diary entry from Howard Carter's prospective. The class also wrote their own newspaper articles reporting on one of the most historic discoveries ever!

When learning about mummification, we thought it would be a great experience for the children to see how it worked first hand. The class had to follow the mummification process and prepare their tomato.........I mean pharaoh for mummification. The children created their own substance called Natron, which will preserve the tomato for a couple of weeks. Here are some images from our mummification afternoon.    

On Thursday 14th February, Year 3 had an Egyptian day. During the day, the children learnt about many things relating to Ancient Egypt and had an amazing time. Our fantastic visitor showed the children many items which would have been essential in Ancient Egypt such as artefacts that would be buried with Egyptian pharaohs (treasure, canoptic jars and pottery). Following on from what the class had already learnt about relating to mummification, the class went through the mummification sequence using a pharaoh. The children learnt how to play different games that would be used for entertainment in Ancient Egypt. Then it was time for some Mathematics but not as the children knew it, instead the children learnt all about numbers represented by hieroglyphics. They had to represent two and three digit numbers using these hieroglyphics, of course the place value we had learnt about helped.

To end the day the children learnt all about the life of an Egyptian warrior and what items were essential when in battle. There were a number of replica weapons the children were shown and got to hold such as: bow and arrow, shield, spear and a Khopesh. Along with the weapons the class learnt about the different ranks within the Egyptian army and depending what rank you were, the attire that you would be accustom to. Overall Year 3 had an amazing day and enjoyed all the activities they got to take part in!     

Exit Point 

For our exit point, class 3 created their very own cartouche made out air dry clay. In Ancient Egypt these cartouche would be used to display the names of important people such as pharaohs. The children had help designing their cartouche from their parents.  

How Humans Work

The Big Idea

Your body is like an engine that never stops working. By knowing how your body works you can learn to
look after it better and stay healthy.

In this topic we will be finding out: 

In Science, we’ll be finding out:

• That we need light in order to see
• How human teeth compare to animal teeth
• How our body uses food and water
• How our heart works to keep us alive
• All about skeletons and muscles
• About the human life cycle
• Why exercise is good for us
• How tobacco and alcohol harm the body

Which foods keep us healthy and why

In Technology, we’ll be finding out:

• How to plan and prepare a healthy meal
  In International, we’ll be finding out:
  About people’s health problems
  If we can improve the health of the world's children

For our entry point the children had a visit from a dentist, who informed the children on how to look after their teeth and debunked some rumors about our teeth. The children spent the afternoon looking at dentist equipment, healthy and non- healthy teeth and got the chance to interview the dentist. Class 3 learnt allot from our visitor and thoroughly enjoyed the afternoon. 

In this topic we have been learning about everything to do with the human body such as: The human skeleton, organs, teeth, eyes and how we hear. Take a look below at the work that has been produced. 

Human skeletons made out of pasta

Heart rate experiment

The children learnt all about the heart and how it is one of the most important organs within our body. They researched about how the heart takes in deoxygenated blood and then produces oxygenated blood which goes into your body. The children tested their heartbeat rate by undertaking a series of activities such as resting, jumping, walking and sprinting. After each activity, they measured their heartbeat rate by taking their pule for 10 seconds and then multiplying the result by 6. Once completed, the children wrote up their science experiment with their prediction on what would happen and the results of the experiment. 

Feel the force

The Big Idea

 Without forces to push and pull us along, nothing on Earth or in the wider Universe would move. Forces
are so important that it is almost impossible to imagine a world without them – and yet, they are
invisible. Let’s find out more…

In this scientific topic we will be finding out: 

In Science, we’ll be finding out:
 What forces are and where they come from
What friction is and how we use friction
How we can reduce or increase friction
How to measure the strength of a force
How magnets and magnetic forces work
In Technology, we’ll be finding out:
How to design and make a marble run
How to add sounds, lights and control mechanisms to a structure
In International, we’ll be finding out:
About extreme and dangerous forces