Year 3 - Summer 2 - Week 1

Date: 8th Jun 2024 @ 9:57am

As we enter our final term in Year 3, our first week has been busy and filled with lots of fun in the sunshine.

This week in Maths, we have been persevering with time. The children built on their previous learning to tell the time to the nearest minute. We reminded ourselves that if the minute hand is pointing before 6, we use the phrase “past the hour” and if it is pointing after 6, we use the phrase “to the hour”. To find out how many minutes past/to the hour a time is, the children identified the 5-minute interval before and then counted individual minutes. To support the children when telling the time to the hour, we used a part-whole model to help them see the number bond to 60. The children were then formally introduced to the 12-hour digital clock. Children continue to use the phrases “minutes past/ to” the hour to tell the time on a digital clock. It was important to highlight the convention that we say “20 minutes to 4” to describe the time displayed on a digital clock as “3:40”, not “40 minutes past 3”. This built on the learning from the previous step where the children converted times past the hour to times to the hour.

In English, we began our new class book, ‘Zeraffa Giraffa’ by Diane Hoffmeyer. On Monday, we discovered some interesting clues that revealed the true story of Zeraffa the giraffe. These included: an original guide to the menagerie at the Jardin Des Plantes in Paris, a copy of the original ticket to see Zeraffa, the map of her journey with photographs of Muhammad Ali, Pasha of Egypt, and Charles X, King of France. After making some excellent predictions, we learnt that the giraffe was sent from Egypt to King Charles X of France as a gift. We then wrote fantastic letters from Muhammad Ali to Charles X King of France describing the long journey that the giraffe had to take from the southern plains of Africa to France.

In RE, we began to explore our new topic ‘Why do we celebrate Harvest?’ We discovered that the Harvest is mentioned many times in the Bible, particularly in the Old Testament. For example, in Genesis 8:22, after the flood, God promises Noah that there will always be a time for planting and harvesting. After discussing why we celebrate Harvest, we enjoyed reflecting on our own experiences of Harvest Festivals.

We ended our week on a high with the TSP Summer Fair. We were thrilled to make so many memories with our friends. We enjoyed a disco with face painting and party games, bouncy castles and an obstacle course. What a fantastic day!

We hope the sun continues to shine into the weekend. See you all Monday!