Year 3 Team: Ms F Davies (Class Teacher) & Miss L Dunbavin : Blog items
Date: 21st Apr 2024 @ 12:03pm
What a wonderful and busy first week back. It was lovely to see all the children back in and happy to see their friends and teachers.
In Maths, we have been exploring the denominators of unit fractions. From Year 2, the children know about halves, quarters and thirds and are now looking at fractions with other denominators. Children understand that a fraction can be seen as part of a whole and that to find a unit fraction, they divide the whole into equal parts. They then were able to identify the role of the denominator, appreciating that this shows how many equal parts the whole has been divided into. This step explores unit fractions only, with the focus being on the denominator.
‘Journey’ by Aaron Becker is our new English writing book this term. The children were shocked to learn that it is a wordless picture book and they will be creating the story together by looking at the illustrations. To begin the children made predictions about what the story could be about using the cover and the blurb. We were introduced to the protagonist and studied the first two pages, focusing closely on how the author depicted her. We used our thesauruses to find synonyms of sad.
Our History and Art topics align with this term as we focus on the Ancient Egyptians. In History, we used our circle map to first write down anything we already knew about the Egyptians. We worked together to find where the Ancient Egyptians are placed on our class History timeline, and we discovered that the Ancient Egyptian timeline runs parallel to the British Stone Age through to the Iron Age. We moved on to exploring the characteristic features of Ancient Egypt, recognising, and comparing these features to modern day. We look forward to continuing our Egyptian journey and delving further into one of the most colourful ancient civilizations next week.
In Science, we became true ‘Rock stars’ as we started our new topic ‘Rocks and Soils’ this term. We had a fantastic time making systematic and careful observations using magnifying glasses. From our observations, we could compare and group different kinds of rocks based on their appearance and simple physical properties.
With 2.6 miles to compete over the week, we took to the field each day to complete 13 laps in support of the London Mini Marathon. We showed true resilience and determination as we motivated one another to cross the finish line.
If you would like to complete extra Maths practice at home, please use this link to access free workbooks covering topics from our Maths learning this year:
https://whiteroseeducation.com/parent-pupil-resources/maths/free-downloads%23download
Super work this week Year 3! Enjoy your weekend and we look forward to welcoming you all back on Monday 😊
Date: 27th Mar 2024 @ 2:46pm
The Spring term has flown by! Well done to all the children for their consistent hard work and determination over the past few months. They have embraced new learning opportunities with enthusiasm and resilience. Our classroom has been filled with lots of laughter, learning and singing this term.
We concluded our Design and Technology unit by designing and creating fantastic eCharm pouches. Ensuring we understood the key features of a pouch, with consideration for the overall theme and the user. We used a template when cutting and were able to select from and use a wider range of tools and equipment needed to complete the task accurately. We finished by evaluating our ideas and products against our original design criteria and considered the views of others to improve their work.
We had lots of fun as we became keyboard adventures during our Computing unit this term. In an age of touch screens, we must still learn important mouse/trackpad skills, plus typing quickly and correctly. We were introduced to the QWERTY keyboard, how it got its name, and why it is arranged in that order. We enjoyed testing our typing speed on a computer keyboard versus an iPad keyboard. Of course, we also had a super time playing different typing games that helped to improve our typing speed.
We had been preparing for our Easter service for the past few weeks. On the last day of term, we showed the rest of the school alongside our family and friends just how hard we had been working to make it an incredible service. Our singing, acting and dancing were incredible, and it was a truly wonderful way to end this term.
Before heading home for a well deserved break, we had a visit from the easter bunny who had us all up dancing and singing. We left for Easter break with our hearts full of gratitude and tummies full of easter eggs.
We hope you have a peaceful Easter and look forward to seeing all your smiling faces next term.
Happy Easter from team Year 3 😊
Date: 23rd Mar 2024 @ 12:38pm
Another busy week in Year 3!
In Maths, we started looking at fractions. We reminded ourselves how to work out the numerator and denominator and the difference between a unit fraction and a non-unit fraction.
In English, we continue to work on our 'big write' using the key features of an information leaflet. We have thoroughly enjoyed reading ‘The Big Blue Whale’ this term and are looking forward to finding out what book we will be reading next term.
In RE, we retold the Easter story and created a flow map to sequence the events. We also learnt about the different symbols of Easter and what they represent. We enjoyed researching how countries around the world celebrate Easter. We were intrigued and loved learning about Ramadan, and how Muslims won't eat or drink during the hours of daylight. This is called fasting. Ramadan remembers the month the Qur'an (the Muslim holy book) was first revealed to the Prophet Muhammad.
We took our Geography lesson outside this week as we learnt what a delta is. The children created a HUGE river of facts about the Nile, the delta and life in Alexandria. Well done Year 3!
To end the week we went on an 'eggciting' Easter Egg hunt! On the sound of the horn, we raced around finding tokens around the school to exchange for an Easter treat. We had a cracking time!
Reminders:
Thursday 28th March: Easter Service led by Y3 @ St Peter's Church 9.20 am.
Date: 16th Mar 2024 @ 11:02am
Another busy week here in Year 3!
We marked British Science Week by learning all about the wonders of biodegradable plastic. Did you know that every plastic bag you have ever seen still exists? This is because plastic takes many years to decompose; this causes pollution in the sea and on land. We had a fantastic time making environmentally friendly plastic from simple household ingredients.
In Maths, we have been getting to grips with bar charts. We began by interpreting bar charts and making links to their knowledge of pictograms. Although we have come across block diagrams in Year 2, it is the first time that we have used bar charts, so we took extra care to ensure we understood the scales.
We continued with our non-fiction story ‘The Big Blue Whale’ in English. We used our knowledge of fronted adverbials and paragraphs to draft information in preparation for our leaflets. Next week, we will start drafting our final fact files and leaflets ready for our author books in the final week.
In Guided Reading, we continued reading ‘The Morning I Met a Whale’ we were shocked to learn the negative effects humans have on the ocean. We discussed what we already know about why whales are endangered. and why would anyone hunt a whale? We also clarified some new vocabulary we read in the text: blubber, baleen plates, harpoon and fleet.
We continue to work hard for our upcoming Easter service. The children have been learning their lines and their singing sounds fantastic.
Have a wonderful and restful weekend Year 3!
Date: 9th Mar 2024 @ 11:33am
This week has been full of determination. We could not be any prouder of all our Year 3 children as they have shown true resilience and perseverance whilst completing Maths, Reading and Writing assessments. Amazing work Year 3!
To kick start National Careers Week at school. We took part in a quiz to guess what jobs the staff at TSP had before they joined our school. We loved discovering all the different and exciting career routes our staff had before joining our TSP family.
In Maths, we created a shop to help us understand how change is given. It wasn’t as simple as we first thought but we soon got to grips with it Well done Year 3! Next week, we will begin statistics.
We continued learning about the River Nile during our Geography lesson this week. We worked hard to find the positive and negative effects of the Aswan High Dam on the River Nile. Each table worked together to gather as much evidence as they could about the dam, focusing on what was good and what was bad. Once the evidence was gathered the children role played a conscious alley to support their side of the argument.
A definite highlight of the week was World Book Day, where all children and staff put an astounding effort into their costumes. It was wonderful to see how so many characters from our favourite books were brought to life. The classroom filled with laughter as we took on the challenge of discovering who the Masked Reader was. We looked for clues and listened carefully to the words as each masked reader read from a different book. Using the ‘Book Creator’ app, we created our books about our hobbies or things we our interested in. We had so much fun sharing them once completed.
In recognition of International Women’s Day, we delved into researching three inspiring women from the past and present. We then created a poster to show the identified key characteristics that all three women had in common these included bravery, ambition, empowerment and determination.
We continue to work hard practising for our upcoming Easter service. We are so excited to show you all very soon.
Have a restful weekend and we look forward to seeing all your smiling faces on Monday.
Date: 1st Mar 2024 @ 8:09pm
In English, we continued to investigate our book ‘The Big Blue Whale’. We started the week by discussing what we thought the two characters in our book would be saying to each other, creating speech sandwiches as they went through the book. Later in the week, we created our own poems about various sea creatures, ensuring each poem started with a command and used a range of similes. Next week, we will complete our assessments in SPAG, Reading and Spelling.
We have been going money mad this week in maths. We began the week by familiarising ourselves with coins and applying our knowledge of the value of each note and coin to convert pence into pounds and pence. We continued to add and subtract pounds and pence. Next week, we will continue to build on our understanding of subtracting money to find change. We will also be completing our Spring assessments in maths.
In Science, we looked at the incredible life and work of Marie Curie. We were fascinated to learn about her scientific ideas about how X-rays changed health and medicine for the better. We used our previous knowledge about the human skeleton and its function to identify different bones through a fun game of bone bingo. We ended our lesson by creating a model of an X-ray image.
We continue to explore the extraordinary features of the River Nile. This week, we recalled that the Nile travels from South to North and is the largest river in the world. We were introduced to the new vocabulary ‘source and mouth’. Starting at the source of the river we followed its complex journey to the mouth by arranging label cards in the correct order. We worked in groups to recreate the
We are continuing to enjoy our singing lessons with Liverpool Cathedral thoroughly and preparation is well underway to show off our vocals when we perform to our loved ones next month to showcase the incredible songs we have been learning.
Another busy week in Year 3. Have a restful weekend and we look forward to seeing you all on Monday.
Date: 21st Feb 2024 @ 9:35pm
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What an incredibly busy first week back, full of excitement!
When we arrived at school on Monday, we experienced a range of unusual sounds. Working together, we discussed and identified that the sound was coming from a school of whales and were amazed at how they communicated. After exploring the front cover of our first story, ‘The Morning I Met a Whale’ by Michael Murphurgo, we predicted what we thought the story would be about as well as its genre and book type. Before we started to read, we decided we wanted to learn more about whales, writing detailed letters to our chosen expert Sir David Attenborough to find out more information. Next week we switch books for a short period looking at the ‘Big Blue Whale’ by Nicola Davies.
We also focused on this text in our Reading sessions, exploring the interesting vocabulary within the text and how the author used this to create suspense and an interesting narrative. We compared this fictional story to an interesting article about three whales that got stuck in the River Thames. We focused on our comprehension skills in this session, retrieving information from the text.
In Maths, we have been continuing with measurement using mm, cm & m. Exploring equivalent lengths, comparing lengths and adding and subtracting lengths. Next week, we will be introduced to perimeter for the first time. We will learn that perimeter is the distance around the outside of a closed 2-D shape.
We explored the River Nile this week in our new Geography topic for this term. We began this topic by working in groups to assemble a jigsaw to reveal a picture of the River Nile as seen from space. We then discussed what we know already about the River Nile. Using ‘true or false’ statements we used our thumbs to indicate whether we thought the statements were true or not. The answers were never revealed so we were challenged to use our River Nile eBook and atlas to find out the answers to the statements. We are looking forward to learning lots of exciting facts about the River Nile this term.
Mrs Hughes was back this week for another incredible drumming lesson, it has been, and always will be, one of our favourite lessons. We continued to work together to develop our tempo and rhythm to create a fantastic piece. We cannot wait to see how we develop over the next five weeks!
In RE, we started our new topic, ‘Exploring the Sadness and Joy of Easter’. We had to first identify where the Easter story fell within the bible and also in relation to ‘The Big Frieze’. We focused this week on ‘Palm Sunday’ and looked at how and why we celebrate as we do we also enjoyed learning about how other cultures around the world celebrate ‘Palm Sunday.’ We identified that the Easter story related to the ‘Salvation’ part of the ‘Big Frieze’. This linked closely to our Collective Worship focus of ‘Joy’ and allowed us to fill our own jars full of joy thinking carefully about everything and everyone who brings us happiness.
Have a fantastic weekend Year 3!
Date: 11th Feb 2024 @ 1:15pm
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In English, we started to plan our version of the story ‘The Stone Age Boy’. We thought carefully about where and how our new character would end up in the Stone Age as well as our problem and resolution. At the end of the week, we used our plans to begin writing our new stories. The children ensured their writing was to a high standard by adding adjectives, adverbs, and prepositions throughout. We cannot wait to add them to our author books.
In Maths, we have been measuring mad this week. We understood that whilst metres are used to measure longer distances, it is still possible to measure these distances in centimetres or millimetres. We discussed why choosing the appropriate unit or measuring equipment is important before measuring an object or length. We will be continuing our length topic after half term.
We had a fun filled Science afternoon this week. The first part of the afternoon took a mysterious turn! Using torches and objects from around the classroom we investigated how shadows were formed using our scientific language of transparent, translucent, and opaque. We had so much fun. We then moved on to the final part of our topic ‘Mirror, Mirror’. We discovered that mirrors are good at reflecting light because they have a smooth surface, and glass sheet with a shiny metallic backing. We used our new scientific vocabulary to identify that mirrors are opaque.
Music went out with a bang this week! Continuing our drumming lessons we have been practising how to maintain a steady beat. Understand the connection between tempo and pulse and perform at different tempos. We are excited to continue our drumming lessons after half term.
This term we have had so much fun during our P.E. lessons in Dodgeball and OAA. We learnt the fundamentals of teamwork, problem solving and orienteering in our OAA lessons. During dodgeball, we worked hard to develop our catching technique against faster balls. Working on our ‘ready position’, making sure always to keep eyes on the ball and to pull the ball into our body as we catch it.
You have worked so hard this term well done Year 3! Have a super half term and we look forward to welcoming you back after a well deserved break.
Date: 3rd Feb 2024 @ 10:24am
We have had another fantastic week in Year 3.
Our week began with a journey to the Stone Age. We had a special visit from Archaeologist Dr Hill who brought an incredible collection of artefacts from the Paleolithic, Mesolithic, and Neolithic Age. The children had the opportunity to get up close and personal with genuine Stone Age artefacts. They were thrilled to get the chance to hold a Woolly Mammoth tooth and we couldn’t believe how big a Megalodon tooth was!
In Maths, we have been looking at lengths. We started by reminding ourselves of our past learning from Year 2. We then asked some key questions: Where should you start measuring from on your ruler? What is the length in centimetres? What is the length of in metres? What is the length of in metres and centimetres? Would you measure the length of the classroom in centimetres or metres? Why?
In English, we finished our book and enjoyed the ending of ‘The Stone Age Boy’. We have been developing and applying our knowledge of inverted commas and mastering past and present tense in our writing. Next week, we will use the story mountain to help us plan for our big write. In our Guided Reading lesson, we are also coming to the end of ‘The Iron Man’ we are looking forward to the big battle between ‘The Iron Man’ and the ‘Space Bat-Angel-Dragon’ monster that has invaded Earth.
In History, our Stone Age topic ended in the Iron Age. We used an aerial photograph, to speculate as to what some holes on the ground might be, before annotating an artist’s reconstruction of Danebury Hill Fort. Using the zones of inference technique; pupils work out what they know confidently, what they can infer, and what they need to enquire further to understand fully. They then helped the ‘Hopeless Curator’ to work out what the objects found at Danebury might be. We finished our lesson with the children designing an interactive App for an iPad to help people work out from a picture what life was like in the Iron Age.
During our Science lesson, we recognised that light from the sun can be dangerous and that there are ways to protect your eyes and skin from the sun. We learnt that the Sun is made of gas and is a star. The children solidified their learning by creating a leaflet to explain the dangers of the sun and what can be done to protect themselves from it. Next week, we will be investigating that shadows are formed when light from a light source is blocked by an opaque object. We will predict where a shadow will form in relation to an opaque object and a light source.
Have a wonderful weekend Year 3!
Date: 27th Jan 2024 @ 11:35am
What another fantastic we have had in Year 3!
We started our week with RE, continuing our topic ‘Jesus, the man who changed lives’ We started to unpick the question ‘What is change?’ We reflected on what has changed in our lives and how changes can be physical as well as emotional. We then discussed why change is important. Next week, we will look at Jesus’ twelve disciples as we unpick their stories, comparing their lives before and after they met Jesus and how their lives changed.
We are thoroughly enjoying The Iron Man book for our Guided Reading lessons. On Wednesday, we imagined how we would react if The Iron Man appeared in Formby. Asking ourselves; Where might he go? What might he do? What would he eat? How would people react? How might reactions differ? In our Thursday lesson, we focused on identifying noun phrases within the text to describe how the Iron Man appears to Hogarth. Next week, we will be delving further into our novel as we discuss alliteration, become local newspaper journalists and create some fiercely fantastic headlines.
In English, this week we started by using our 4c double bubble diagram to compare Stone Age food to Modern Day food. The children considered what foods are eaten, how it is cooked and how it is preserved for eating later. Using this to support their writing the children wrote a comparison using past tense for Stone Age and present tense for now. Later in the week, introducing the present perfect form the children concluded the week by planning and then writing a report for the ‘community leader’ detailing everything they had done during the day in the Stone Age community, focusing on applying the present perfect. Well done Year 3!
It has been a busy week in Maths, the children have been working hard and persevering with dividing a 2-digit number by a 1-digit number using flexible partitioning. It was a tricky concept to grasp at first, but we didn’t give up and used our learning curve to keep pushing through until we mastered the concept. Next week, we will conclude this unit by focusing on dividing with remainders and solving problems which will include positive integer scaling problems.
We are having so much fun in our Spanish lessons learning about ‘la fruta’. In this unit the children are learning 10 fruits and have been introduced to simple opinions ‘I like’ and ‘I do not like’ through interactive games and songs. By the end of this unit, the children will have the knowledge and skills to be able to say which fruits they like and do not like in Spanish.
In Science, we asked ‘What is reflective light?’ We discussed that we can see things because light is reflected. Light travels in straight lines. When light from an object is reflected by a surface, it changes direction. We continued to investigate looking at materials and how some reflect better than others. Smooth, shiny surfaces such as mirrors and polished metals reflect light well. Dull and dark surfaces such as dark fabrics do not reflect light well. We solidified our learning by creating an information poster to encourage children to wear something reflective when they are outside in the dark.
We also took the time this week to remember those who suffered in the Holocaust, under Nazi persecution. We created a reembrace poster to highlight the reasons why it is so important to mark this Memorial Day.
Have a restful weekend and we look forward to seeing you all on Monday.
Date: 20th Jan 2024 @ 11:33am
What a busy week we’ve had in Year 3! The children were so excited to find out that they will be leading the Easter Service at St Peter’s Church this year. We have already started practising our songs and they sound fantastic. We have also been very fortunate to start singing lessons this week with members of the Liverpool Cathedral choir. They brought such joyful songs to our classroom and had us all out of our seats copying actions and we sang our hearts out. We look forward to their return next week.
During Maths, the children have been challenged this week by multiplying a two-digit number by a 1-digit number (with no exchange). They have persevered and met the difficult calculations head-on. Next week, we will introduce multiplication with an exchange. The children are also growing in confidence with the 8 times tables. Super work Year 3!
We are enjoying our English writing book ‘Stone Age Boy’. We learnt about the different job roles that Stone Age people had. The children discussed which jobs they would like to do if they lived during that time, the most popular choice was ‘spear throwing practice’. The children were introduced to the present perfect verb form, they then experimented orally by changing past tense verbs to present perfect. Next lesson, we will plan and write a report for the Stone Age community leader, detailing everything that they have done during their day in the Stone Age community, focusing on applying the use of the present perfect.
We started our Art topic this week, Sculpture and 3D: Abstract Shape and Space. During our first lesson, we studied artist Robert Morris and learnt what defines ‘sculpture’. We were introduced to new vocabulary: structure, sculpture and three-dimensional. The children were then challenged to create and build a 3D structure that stands up on its own.
The children are thoroughly enjoying our Stone Age topic in History. This week we moved further along the timeline, and we have reached the Bronze Age of 3300 BC. The children could identify the most significant aspects of the Bronze Age culture, then they could apply their knowledge of the significant features of the Bronze Age to critically evaluate a film. Next week, we are diving headfirst into the Iron Age.
We ended our week with a fantastic workshop where we learnt all about Chinese New Year and the fantastic traditions surrounding the celebration. The children learnt some phrases in Chinese and created a traditional Chinese dragon.
Have a lovely weekend and we look forward to seeing all your smiling faces on Monday.
Reminders:
Tuesday 23rd January - Siblings School Photos
Wednesday 24th January - Parent Teacher Meetings in the School Hall
Wednesday 31st January - Parent Teacher Meetings in the School Hall
Wednesday 7th February - Parent Teacher Meetings in the School Hall
Date: 12th Jan 2024 @ 8:12pm
We have had a brilliant first week back in Year 3! I am so impressed with everybody’s hard work and enthusiasm this week.
We started the week with PSHE, where we had a lovely discussion about how aspirations, dreams and goals can give us a sense of purpose. Over the coming weeks, we will be covering how setting achievable but challenging goals can help us learn new skills, step out of our comfort zone and feel proud of our achievements along the way.
In History, we have continued our fascinating topic of the Stone Age, where we reminded ourselves of all the fascinating things we learned last term before moving on to the Bronze Age next week.
We have been working so hard during our maths lessons this week. We are continuing our topic of multiplication and division. The children will be moving on to the 8 times tables next week, so if you wish to do additional work with your children at home there are lots of additional resources on Google Classroom.
In English, we started the ‘Stone Age Boy.’ Using the clues given, we predicted what the story might be about before discovering the title of the book. We drew upon the Stone Age knowledge we had previously learnt in our History lessons to guess the title correctly. We also had lots of fun creating dialogue between the two main characters and acting out their first meeting.
We started the exciting book ‘Iron Man’ in our Guided Reading lessons. We enjoyed discussing words and phrases that capture the reader’s interest and imagination. The children are looking forward to continuing to read this book.
This Spring term, we will be delving into the world of Dodgeball and Outdoor Adventurous Activities during our PE lessons. This week the children had a great time during OAA, in which they needed to work together in teams to compete to win fun challenges. Key skills such as clear communication, balancing and teamwork were needed to achieve the final goal. We can’t wait for our next OAA lesson. In Dodgeball we will be focusing on the main attacking and defending skills, specific throwing and catching ball skills, as well as different methods and techniques used to dodge the ball.
All children across the whole school are encouraged to read each day both in and out of school. Some additional recommended Reading at Home resources can be found here.
Thank you for a wonderful first week back in Year 3!
We look forward to seeing you next week.
Date: 19th Dec 2023 @ 5:21pm
..and just like that, it is the end of 2023!
I am sure we can all agree that it has been a wonderful term, full of fun and laughter! We have had so many incredible memories to look back on and so many to look forward to.
We would also like to take this opportunity to thank each of you for your generous, thoughtful gifts, both Miss Dunbavin and I are very grateful. I would also like to thank you for making my first term so special, I can't wait to see you all in the New Year!
If you wish to continue any learning over the holidays, please see Google Classroom for Christmas activities.
From both of us here in Year 3, we wish you a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!
See you in 2024!
Date: 16th Dec 2023 @ 8:07pm
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What a magical (almost) end to the Autumn Term we have had in Year 3. On Monday, we had our annual schoolwide sing-off. The school was separated into four houses and only had an hour to rehearse the words and dance moves for their given Christmas song. We all reconvened in the hall and sang and danced our hearts out to compete for house sing-off champions.
Christmas dinner was on the menu this week and we certainly filled our boots. We celebrated with our friends and teachers as we sang to Christmas music and wore our Christmas hats and pulled Christmas crackers. The festive celebrations didn’t end there, as we gathered to complete our own TSP Santa Dash. We dashed around the school on the hunt for clues to reveal the name of the reindeer hidden behind each clue. We crossed off the reindeer names associated with the teacher from the list until we were left with only one teacher we thought was hiding a red nose!
Our classroom was filled with glitter and Christmas crafts this week. We enjoyed Christmas party day, dressed in our favourite Christmas jumpers we danced around the classroom, sang along to Christmas songs, and played lots of festive party games.
We completed our ‘big write’ in English, the children worked so hard and took such pride in demonstrating all they had learnt over this term. They included lots of the grammatical features we have learnt this half term. Similes, conjunctions, prepositions and using inverted commas to punctuate the direct speech. Well done Year 3! When we return, we will be focusing on ‘The Stone Age Boy’, which the children are very excited about.
In January, we will be continuing with multiplication and division objectives so any work that you can do on TT Rockstars, Sumdog or Hit the Button (or in your own way) over the Christmas break would be very helpful for when we meet again. There will be additional resources added to Google Classroom if you wish to utilise those.
Have a lovely Christmassy weekend, Year 3!
Reminders:
- School finishes at 1 pm next Tuesday 19th December
- School will resume on Monday 8th January 2024.
Date: 8th Dec 2023 @ 8:28pm
We finished our RE topic “Christmas: God with Us.” The children solidified their learning by using self-assessment to demonstrate their deeper understating of the Christmas Story, the concept of incarnation and how God was present at the birth of Jesus ‘Emmanual’. When we return after Christmas, we will begin our new topic that will deepen the children’s insight into the impact Jesus had/has on people’s lives.
In Maths, we drew on our previous learning of arrays from Year 2 to remind ourselves how we can utilise arrays when using multiplication. We had lots of fun playing our array games with our shoulder partners. We have also been focusing on multiples of 5 and 10 this week.
In Design and Technology, we had lots of fun tasting various vegetables and other ingredients. We discussed the taste and textures and decided which flavours would work best in our seasonal tart. The children then designed a ‘mock-up’ of their tarts using various materials to represent the vegetables, pesto and/or tomato puree and puff pastry. We are excited to get cooking next week.
We have been planning for our ‘big write’ in English this week. The children thoroughly enjoyed our book Winter’s Child and now they have the opportunity to retell the story using their fantasy character in place of Winter’s child. Using similes, time adverbs, prepositions, and noun phrases to help sequence our stories and make them even more fantastical.
In PSHE, we have been focusing on dealing with conflict and bullying. We had some fantastic discussions about how we deal with conflict in different situations. The Year 3 children demonstrated how caring and considerate they were when we talked about bullying and how to handle the situation as both a victim of bullying and an onlooker. Well done Year 3!
Have a super festive weekend!
Date: 2nd Dec 2023 @ 10:34am
In PSHE, we have been ‘Celebrating Difference’ by looking at how every family is unique and special. We discussed how families come in many different forms and the real heart of any family is love.
In P.E. we have been throwing some shapes in our dance lessons. We worked on the concept of ‘mirroring’ which is more difficult than we originally thought. However, we soon realised that by simplifying certain moves, we can actually make them look more effective.
We loved learning about Stonehenge during our History lesson this week. We were intrigued by how the enormous stones from Wales ended up in Salisbury. The children used their amazing imaginations to come up with some suggestions as to why they were arranged in a circle. Next week, we will move along our timeline as we delve into the Bronze Age.
In English, we finished the ‘Winter’s Child.’ We were excited to create our very own character using our newly acquired skills, using a thesaurus to find alternative words to describe our character. We also learned that Winter’s Child was a fantasy book and discussed how the author used similes to portray this.
Step into Christmas! Our Friday we were greeted by a cheeky, little elf on Friday morning who left us a letter saying that he had come to year 3 to spread lots of Christmas cheer and he's promised not to cause too much mischief…we’ll see about that! The children enjoyed decorating Christmas tree decorations for our class tree, and it looks fantastic! The fun didn’t stop there though, as our wonderful Team TSP had organised the ‘Christmas Extravaganza!’ The children visited Father Christmas in his grotto before enjoying fabulous games and winning prizes with all their friends.
Have a magical weekend!
Date: 24th Nov 2023 @ 9:38pm
Another amazing, fun-filled week in Year 3!
In RE, this week the children discussed the significance of ‘Emmanual’ and thought about the meaning behind the name ‘God with us.’ We continued to listen to Christmas carols and enjoyed spotting the name Emmanual. The children solidified their learning by creating beautiful Christmas cards that demonstrated their understanding of Emmanual. Next week, we will continue our unit about “Christmas, God with Us” The children will discuss how Jesus has an impact on our lives today.
In English, we have continued our work on Winter’s Child. We had a great discussion about a new character we had been introduced to in the story. The children made accurate predictions based on what they knew from the text. The children were challenged to explain how we knew, and where the evidence was from for our thoughts and to ponder on questions and puzzling elements of the story. Drawing on our retrieval skills used to evidence opinions this week. We also focused on using conjunctions in our sentences and explored placing them at the start of sentences to vary sentence structure. We also had lots of fun coming up with similes using ‘like’ and ‘as’ to describe the winter setting.
In Maths, we have concentrated on estimating, using inverse operations, compliments to 100 and discussing strategies we can use to ensure our working out is accurate. The children are also growing in confidence each day using column addition and column subtraction across 100.
On Tuesday, Active Sefton taught the children all about saturated and unsaturated fats. They sorted foods into the correct categories and found out there are good and bad fats for our bodies. The children were able to see what can happen to our arteries over time if we eat too many saturated fats and the children learned that a balanced diet and exercise can help them be the healthiest version of themselves.
In Reading, we have been thoroughly enjoying our creepy book ‘The Ice Palace’. The children are on the edge of their seats, and we can’t wait to find out what happens to Ivan on his quest to rescue his brother from the evil Stajik. The children used their dictionary skills to search for new vocabulary they had been introduced to. Year 3 worked hard completing comprehension questions and were able to retrieve key information from the text to clarify their answers.
In History, the children were eager to delve further into evidence from the Stone Age. We looked at the incredible Skara Brae. The children were intrigued to learn about one of Britain’s most fascinating prehistoric villages. We learnt that archaeologists estimate that it was built and occupied over 3000 BC, during the ‘Neolithic era’ or ‘New Stone Age’. The children were able to use a range of different sources to make deductions about the Stone Age way of life by studying evidence of the buildings left behind.
During D&T, we continued learning about seasonal foods and we discussed the terms ‘Import’ and ‘Export.’ We then mastered our cutting skills using a vegetable knife and peeler correctly and safely. We can’t wait to put our new skills to the test over the coming weeks as we prepare to make a seasonal tart.
We hope you have a lovely weekend, and we are looking forward to Monday already!
Date: 17th Nov 2023 @ 8:42pm
What a wonderful week Year 3 has had! So many kind words have been shared during the celebration of Kindness Week. Seeing the children being extremely kind to their peers, teachers, and staff around the school has been wonderful. We had lots of fun visiting the children in KS1 demonstrating how to be kindness role models. We created motivational posters and ended the week by decorating scrumptious kindness biscuits.
In RE this week, the children have been continuing with our topic "Christmas: God with Us." We looked at the Christmas story and focused on understating how and why we prepare for special guests. We had a fantastic discussion with the children talking about times they have been a part of preparing for a celebration. To summarise our learning, the children created a ‘My special guest book’ where they chose someone from the Christmas story and explained what preparations they would make for their guests’ arrival; how the guest would feel and why we have chosen our special guest. Next week, we will look at the Christmas story and the retelling focused on the angels' and the shepherds' point of view and the part they played when Jesus was born.
In most English and Maths lessons this week, the children have been completing their autumn assessments. They have all given their best efforts and demonstrated excellent focus. Next week we will return to lessons as before. In English, we will be continuing with Winters Child. During our maths lessons, we will begin looking at multiplication and division.
Have a fantastic weekend Year 3!
Reminders:
- Please remember to bring a healthy snack for the morning break.
- We are learning about the Stone Age in History, if anyone has any interesting topic books at home, that they would like to share with the class please bring them in.
Date: 11th Nov 2023 @ 1:03pm
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We started our week by discussing the significance of Remembrance Day. The children designed some poppies which became a poppy wreath laid on the war memorial. As we created our poppies, it allowed us to pause and reflect and remind ourselves of the importance of this month’s value Justice and everything we have to be grateful for.
In English, we have continued to investigate our new story ‘The Winter’s Child’ and were intrigued by our new creepy, pale character and his mystical abilities. We compared him to our main character Tom, discussing not only how they look but also what their personalities are like. We have also been reading our new book ‘The Ice Palace’ written by Robert Swindells. To help us understand the story, we first had to unpick the language used with the help of our dictionaries, especially the word ‘celandine’, who knew it belonged to the poppy family? Next week we will continue to look at the 'Winter's Child' and will start by writing a letter.
In Maths, we have been working hard to develop our addition and subtraction skills in column form. We have been mastering the skills of borrowing, and working with tricky 3-digit numbers. Next week we will finish our addition and subtraction topic and will move on to multiplication!
In History, we started our exciting new topic Stone Age to Iron Age. This week we began to understand that Britain was once covered in ice and that the earliest settlers were hunter gatherers and lived in caves. The children made deductions about the lifestyle of Stone Age man from images. We also learned that Stone Age man was interested in art and ceremonials.
During Science, we continued to explore simple pushes and pulls. We used our new scientific vocabulary ‘variable’ to plan a fair test to investigate how an object's texture or surface can affect how an object moves. The children will carry out the investigation next week and record the results.
In Design and Technology, we learned that fruits and vegetables grow in different countries based on their climates. Next week, the children will understand that ‘seasonal’ fruits and vegetables are those that grow in a given season and taste best then and that eating seasonal fruit and vegetables has a positive effect on the environment.
The end of the week couldn’t have been better, the premier of the ‘Celebration of Kindness Video’. We loved watching all the year groups, and staff, and this year our fantastic TSP parents even made an appearance! The children cannot wait to dive headfirst into Kindness Week next week.
Have a super weekend Year 3!
Date: 3rd Nov 2023 @ 8:52pm
What a fabulous and busy first week back we have had in Year 3. We have had so much fun, especially when filming dance clips for our whole school Kindness music video. We have some fantastic dancers in Year 3!
On Monday, we focused on working on our author books. The children were so excited to write their final piece of work from ‘The Seal Surfer’. Adding some fantastic artwork, the finished pieces look super!
For RE this week, we started our unit on Christmas. During this topic, we will be asking the question: How does the presence of Jesus impact on people's lives. The children discussed ways in which Christians believe that God us with us.
In English, the children were introduced to our focus text ‘Winter’s Child’. We have been describing the setting using adjectives and prepositions and investigating the relationships between the characters. The children loved using drama techniques to role-play a conversation between the characters ‘Tom’ and ‘Mum’. Then, they wrote their conversations down focusing on inverted commas and put our new spelling rule to the test using ‘a’ and ‘an’ correctly.
In Maths, we have focused on column subtraction where exchanges have been needed to enable us to calculate accurately using this method. This week, we concentrated on exchanging across the tens, next week we will move on to exchanging across the hundreds. The children were excited to use ‘Learning by Question’ to review their place value knowledge on their laptops.
In Guided Reading, we have begun our new text ‘Ice Palace’ and this week we have been clarifying new vocabulary by using our laptops to help us find and understand the meanings.
In Science, we started our new topic focusing on Forces and Magnets. During our introductory lesson, the children investigated how we make a variety of different objects move. The children could describe pushes and pulls as a type of force and explain how different objects move using these forces. Next week we will look at whether objects move the same on different surfaces.
We hope you have an enjoyable weekend and cannot wait to see you again on Monday.
Reminders
- Please ensure children bring a warm coat to school with them every day.
Date: 20th Oct 2023 @ 8:59pm
What a fantastic final week of half term we have had in Year 3!
In Maths, we continued with our topic on Addition and Subtraction, which we will continue with after half term. We have been working hard on mastering the column addition formula before we move on to exchanging next term.
In Science, we completed our topic of learning about how the systems inside our body works to make a healthy human. This week we focused on understanding that animals, including humans, need the right type of nutrition. We were able to identify the five different food groups and create our balanced nutritional meal. Next term we will be starting our new topic investigating forces and magnets.
In RE, we finished our topic on what it means to be ‘Called by God’. We had a fantastic discussion considering what Prophets of today would speak in favour of or speak out against.
In Geography, we ended our topic by finding out about the human and physical features of a European country and as a class we chose Spain to focus on and used a variety of sources to explore the features of Spain.
During Computing, we had a fantastic conversation on how to stay safe online. We focused closely on 'our online identity' and how it is important to not share any personal information online even down to creating a lookalike avatar. We solidified our learning by creating 'Staying safe online' posters that we have displayed by our laptops in our classroom.
Have a wonderful half term Year 3!
Reminders
Our PE days will remain the same for Autumn 2 taking place on Monday and Friday.
Date: 13th Oct 2023 @ 9:25pm
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Another busy week full of learning and having fun in Year 3!
We started our week by designing our very own ‘paper chain family’ for World Mental Health Day in support of the "Hello Yellow" campaign. The ‘paper chain people’ were a reminder to celebrate how unique and special our TSP children are.
In RE this week, we have thought about questions we would ask someone who has been ‘Called by God”. The children came up with fantastic questions and we look forward to getting the chance to put these to them in person after half term.
Our Art lesson was blooming wonderful this week as we got a chance to draw a variety of real flowers. Using our observational skills to first draw small segments of the flower before drawing our beautiful botanical bouquets. We also took the time to identify and describe the functions of different parts of flowering plants.
In science, we looked at animal skeletons. As scientists we asked the question; Do all animals have the same Skeleton? We discovered all animals have a skeleton: however, they don’t all look the same. We were able to group the animals into two different groups – Vertebrates or invertebrates. We also learnt that some animals do not have a skeleton inside their body, they have them on the outside. This is called the exoskeleton. Some animals have no skeleton at all! They have no bones so don’t have as much support or protection as other animals. A very interesting science lesson indeed!
For English, both groups have continued working on up-levelling their sentences. We planned and wrote a diary entry and a narrative using rich vocabulary, a range of conjunctions, prepositions, "a" and "an," and paragraphs. The children have also been sequencing and planning a well-known and using their plans to retell a story in their own words using paragraphs, inverted commas, prepositions, and interesting adjectives.
Today, the children dressed in pyjamas in support of the Alder Hey Children's Hospital. We had a lovely discussion about the incredible work that all the staff at Alder Hey Hospital do every day to help poorly children and their families. Our children are so compassionate and caring and spent the rest of the day asking further questions about how they could further help Alder Hey Childrens Hospital.
Thank you for another wonderful week Year 3!
Reminders:
- Parent Teacher Meetings are next week on Tuesday and Wednesday. Here we will be discussing how your child has settled into Year 3.
- School finishes next Friday, 20th October, and will return on Monday 30th
- The school disco takes place next Thursday from 3:15pm to 4:15pm, please contact the school office for more details. Children who are attending can bring a change of clothes in a bag that is clearly named.
Date: 6th Oct 2023 @ 8:06pm
What a wonderful week of learning Year 3 it has been!
In RE this week, we continued our journey on what it means to be ‘Called by God.’ The students watched a video of Jonah and the whale, and then we dissected the story together. We had a wonderful discussion about how Jonah must have felt being called on by God and why Jonah ran away from God. The children identified that the story was about forgiveness and that God’s love is for everyone, even those who make mistakes.
In Geography, we dove deeper into our ‘European Neighbours’ topic. Asking the question; What is the difference between a continent, a country, and a city? We looked at some European capital cities and the children enjoyed recognising key landmarks. The children then got a chance to work in teams, using the laptops to help them pinpoint with Play-Doh on our large world maps which capital city belonged to each country.
During English this week, the children continued to learn how to use inverted commas and make sensible choices for their reported clause following direct speech. For instance, they created choices such as ‘muttered,’ ‘responded and ‘exclaimed.’ We discussed when all of these would be appropriate for our writing, depending on how the character was speaking. As for the reading lessons in English, our focus was on the layout of a non-fiction text and answering retrieval questions. We looked at how the author chose to present her headings, subheadings, technical language, and diagrams in The Sea Book. We also used this book to retrieve answers to questions about the information presented.
We finalised our work with number and place value this week in maths as the children completed their number line work and counted in steps of 2s, 5s, 10s and/or 50s. Later in the week, we moved on to addition and subtraction learning goals. Our focus was on finding patterns in number sequences, adding 1s across a 10 and adding 10s across a 100. Next week, the learning will focus on subtracting 1s and 10s and adding and subtracting without exchanging.
In Art, we continued to understand how texture can be created and used to make art. Our Year 3 children created beautiful botanical pictures using the frottage technique that they had previously learnt.
For science, we look at how muscles have different jobs. They help to pump blood around the body, help you lift things and work our bones to help us move. We looked at our biceps and triceps and noticed how each one reacts differently as we bend our arm and straighten our arms.
Have a super weekend Year 3!
Date: 29th Sep 2023 @ 12:27pm
It has been another fun and productive week in Year 3!
We began the week on a high as we got to experience the construction of the Big Top Circus Tent. With lots of cheering and whooping as the enormous tent went up, it was fantastic to watch. On Tuesday the main circus event itself was spectacular with trapeze artists, jugglers and a fire show.
In RE, we continued learning about what it means to be 'called by God.' Everyone enjoyed watching a video clip and learning about the story of ‘Moses and the Burning Bush.’ We brainstormed as a class how it would feel to be ‘called by God.’ The children were then able to recall the key information from the Bible story. Next week we will be looking at the prophet Jonah and creating a memory board to help retell this Bible story.
In our English lessons, Year 3 have been learning how to use a richer vocabulary and how to draw inferences about characters feelings, thoughts and motives. We also introduced the use of inverted commas to punctuate direct speech. Next week, we will be asking questions to improve our understanding of texts and continue to draw inferences from characters' actions and speech.
During maths, the students have been practising flexible partitioning as we approach the end of our place value unit. We are going to finish our last lessons for this unit which will include number line work and estimation. We will move onto addition and subtraction lessons. Our first few sessions will address adding and subtracting ones, tens and hundreds; any extra practice you can complete at home with this topic will be helpful to our work in class.
In Science this week, the students really enjoyed planning and carrying out an investigation based on our key inquiry question; Do bones affect what we can do? The children had a choice of two questions to investigate with a small group. Do people with longer legs jump further? Or, do people with longer arms throw further? The students completed the investigation planning sheet and then completed the investigation as they had planned and recorded their results. Stay tuned for the results!
We are continuing our study of ‘Our European Neighbours’ in geography. This week, the children looked at identifying European countries according to their features. Looking closely at languages, flags and currency to be able to identify the correct European country. Next week, we will be exploring the major capital cities of Europe. If any of you have been to any capital cities within Europe and have any photographs then please send them in to enhance our discussion in our next geography lesson.
On Friday, we went to St Peter’s Church for a Harvest service led by the Year 5 students. We supported Southport Foodbank with our donations and joined Year 5 by singing hymns and offering our gratitude to God, our family and our friends for the things that we are grateful for.
Have a fantastic and restful weekend!
Date: 22nd Sep 2023 @ 4:16pm
We have had a wonderful week in Year 3.
In RE, we began our unit "Called by God." Our aim in this unit is to consider what it means to be called by God and the responses people have made to that call. All of the children thought of ways they are asked to do things in their everyday lives. Many of their answers included chores at home or helping with younger siblings. A new star vocabulary word was introduced, as well: Prophet. Next week, we will be studying about different Prophets from the Old Testament and creating questions we would like to ask them.
In our English reading and writing lesson, we read a poem called Seal by Robert Frost. We found interesting verbs to describe the movement of water as well as highlighting prepositions that we focused on last week. We then created our own list of verbs to describe the movement of different sea animals. Which we will be able to incorporate in to next weeks lesson when we write our own ‘What am I?’ poem.
In Spanish this week, we stuck with our ‘under the sea’ theme and learnt a fantastic and very catchy song about el pez (the fish) and el cangrejo (the crab). We added actions to help us learn and remember our new song.
Place value has continued to be our focus in Maths delving deeper into the value of digits in a three digit number. We also have been using the number line to estimate numbers and figuring out the intervals on number lines with missing labels proved to be very tricky but using the learning curve the children persevered and are feeling more confident.
During our reading lessons we have been focusing on ‘The Sea Book’ which is a non-fiction text. We have investigated the roles of a ‘contents’ page and an ‘index’ page. The children also practised their dictionary skills to see if they could find definitions of words within the text.
In Geography, we are focusing on our topic ‘Our European Neighbours’ and this week we looked at identifying and locating countries in Europe. The children used their laptops to navigate a map of Europe and then identify and label the countries on a map.
In PE, we have now mastered our point and patch balances and have moved on to use a variety of different levels. Exploring balance, shape and jumping on a different level. We certainly have some fantastic gymnasts this year!
A poster containing 100 recommended reads for Year 3 children has been attached to this blog. By providing 100 quality texts at an age appropriate level, this list may be useful when choosing your child's next book. We hope it inspires the children to continue on in their reading journeys whilst further encouraging a lifelong love of books and stories.
Enjoy your weekend, Year 3. See you on Monday!