Parallel or perpendicular? - University of Cambridge Primary School

English

This week we have continued to read “The Adventures of Beekle, an unimaginary friend”. The children adore this book and digging deeply into character perspective has been fascinating. We are focusing on the themes of friendship and courage, and how characters make friends despite their differences.

Maths

This week we have started our new unit- Geometry. We have identified and drawn lines of symmetry in shapes. The children loved to imagine themselves as geometry detectives and searching for horizontal, vertical, perpendicular and parallel lines. The children designed their own geometrical artwork, inspired by Kandinsky and Mondrian. We have finished this week with an introduction to angles. We have started to notice the angles in shapes. To consolidate learning, please find this week’s independent work here: Y3 SUM2 W2 MATHS sheets

STEM

This week the children reviewed previous knowledge of electrical circuits. We then learnt about electrons and their role within circuits. We designed electrical circuits for houses, with circuits that work and circuits that don’t work. Next, we wrote about the role electrons play within the circuit, and used this knowledge to explain why the circuits did/did not work.

Next week:

Guided Reading: We will continue to enjoy the adventures of Varjak Paw from chapter 16 until the end of chapter 20. You can read ahead and review the story so far here: Varjak Paw Chapters 16 to 20

English: We will continue to explore the characters in “The adventures of Beekle, an unimaginary friend”, thinking about the value of courage. We will focus on justifying our opinions using evidence from the text.

Maths: We will continue to develop our understanding of geometry, focusing on naming and defining the properties of a range of 2D and 3D shapes, including the vocabulary: vertex, vertices, face and edge. Y3 SUM2 W3 2D shape cards Y3 SUM2 W3 3D shape mat

STEM: We will build on our understanding of simple circuits to learn about the difference between serial and parallel circuits. For a quick overview of this, click here: BBC Bitesize Parallel circuits.

Notices/ Reminders / Requests

PE – All Year 3 classes have PE on a Tuesdays and Fridays. Please make sure your child has the correct PE kit and trainers. Please also keep an eye out for Miss Fisher’s “Philosophy for Kids” book, it is missing from her library- Thank you!

SUN PROTECTION – please can children remember to bring a sun hat and sun protection cream to school with them or apply before the school day, as well as their water bottles. Children will need to be able to apply their own sun protection cream if brought to school.

HAND HYGIENE – please can you reinforce good bathroom/hand hygiene message with children at home. We have had some sickness related to this recently. We are reminding children in school. Thank you for your support.

With best wishes and thanks

Year 3 team