English
In the first part of Spring term, Year 3 learnt all about the Stone Age. We used this as a fantastic opportunity to explore what day-to-day life would have been like in this period. We looked at the tools the Stone Age people used and the different ways they caught and prepared food/clothing as well as the various types of dwellings they had. We studied Stone Age themed books in Guided reading to support our assessed piece of writing. First, we looked at an informative picture book called, “The Pebble in my pocket” which followed the life cycle of a rock. Then we read, “Stone Age Bone Age” which as another picture book that combined elements of non-fiction writing in a narrative style. Finally, we read, “A Rock is Lively” and admired the beautiful illustrations! We used all of our knowledge from our History unit to help us write a recount in the style of ‘Stone Age Boy’ by Satoshi Kitamura. We then completed a film review of “The Croods” and compared the content to our knowledge of what we know about the Stone age and how the media exaggerates things for the audience.
In the second half of Spring term, we looked at Fairy tales, focussing on the story of ‘Jack and the Beanstalk.’ We read different versions of the tale from ‘Paco and the Giant Chile Plant’ by Keith Pollette to ‘Kate and the Beanstalk’ by Mary Pope Osborne. We then innovated parts of the story to create our own version which we then presented using our word processing skills. We have created our own class book of fairy tales and they look amazing!
To round off the term, we continued with the theme of ‘Jack and the Beanstalk’ and created haiku poetry.
Maths
In Maths, the children began the new year by finishing off our multiplication and division topic. We looked at multiplying and dividing 3 digit numbers by 1 digit and introduced the formal strategy of column method for those who were confident in their partitioning skills.
This half term, we continued learning about money, especially how to count pounds and pence, plus converting between the two. We did lots of practical shopping then learnt how to add and subtract money, especially when giving change.
Following that, we moved onto measure. We learnt how to measure in centimetres and metres, with plenty of practical tasks such as measuring our height plus the length of the playground. Also, we learnt how to order, plus convert lengths from one unit to the other.
We learnt what perimeter means and found the perimeter of regular polygons.
Science
Our focus in the first half of Science this term was rocks and fossils, followed by plants. When studying rocks and fossils, we learnt how to identify igneous, sedimentary and metamorphic from their physical features and this helped us to remember how each rock was formed. We used branching databases to suggest names for the rock examples we had in class. We also tested a variety of rocks for permeability using pipettes and their durability using sand paper to test how much sediment could be broken off. This investigation allowed us to consider how rocks are chosen and used in everyday life based on their useful properties.
In the second half of spring term, we dissected daffodils to identify parts of a flowering plant and understand their functions. We learnt how to prove whether a thing is living or not and detailed the life cycle of a flowering plant. We also learnt about pollination and created a comic strip to retell the sequence of pollination. Throughout the half term, we monitored the growth of a plant in soil and in sand to consider whether things could grow well in different conditions. Unsurprisingly, we found that our beans in soil grew taller and looked greener. 
We also experienced British Science Week and welcomed Dr Phil Smith back to the junior school for a talk on ‘Growth’ (this year’s theme).
Art
This half term, we have looked at the works by Georgia O’Keefe. Year 3 has emulated them using the techniques of shading and toning.
We initially used sketching pencils, showing how we are able to use the different shading techniques to create colour and shape variation.
We completed our Georgia O’Keefe unit by sketching and then painting flowers in the style of the artist.
History/Geography/D&T
We started our learning about The Stone Age by mapping the timeline of the era before meeting our visitor who showed us his artefacts. We discussed the evidence used that aids our understanding of what happened in this time period and analysed cave paintings before creating our own. We gathered sticks and other materials to see the different effects of mark making on textured paper. We also learnt about evidence of settlements by looking at Skara Brae and inferring what kind of lifestyle they had at the settlement. We finished the term by creating our own model round houses with authentic decoration. We also learnt how, later in the stone age, humans used weaving and sewing for clothes and bags. We designed our own “gathering bag” and learned how to do the basic ‘running’ and ‘over’-stitches. We also thoroughly enjoyed our return to the cooking room this half term and baked flapjacks.
In the second half of the Spring term, we explored our local area and learnt about key findings in Dereham that help us to understand early settlements in our area. See the ‘History’ tab on our website to find out more about our investigation into our school and local area.
R.E.
This term we have focussed on four religions. We have learned about Hinduism and focussed on the Big Question: How do Hindus Make Sense of the World? 
To help us answer this question, we looked at the key concepts of Samsara, Karma and Ahimsa explored how a belief in reincarnation affect Hindus attitudes towards other beings.
We explored what it means to a Hindu to live a good life and learnt about the four paths: Knowledge, Meditation, Devotion and Good Works.
We learnt about Moksha which is the end of the death and rebirth cycle and is classed as the fourth and ultimate artha (goal). We created our own version of Hindu version of Snakes and Ladders. Writing good acts at the bottom of the ladders that would help to achieve Moksha as well as acts that would ensure the cycle of death and re-birth continued (at the top of our snakes).
In the second half of this term, Year 3 explored the Big Question: How Do People Express Commitment to a Religion in Different Ways?
We looked at the three religions: Christianity, Sikhism and Judaism and learnt about the different (and sometimes similar) ways they expressed their commitment to their chosen religion. We learnt about the special ceremonies in each religion – Baptism and confirmation in Christianity, Bar Mitzvah (boys) and Bat Mitzvah (girls), in Judaism and the Amrit ceremony in Sikhism.
PE
This term, children have enjoyed learning how to play tennis. They learnt the correct technique for the forehand, backhand and volley as well as having a go at serving to start a point. There were lots of fun games to play throughout the unit of work and the children also enjoyed playing competitive points at the end of the term.