Year 3

Week commencing 30th March 2020

Dear Children, Parents and Carers,

I hope you've all had a productive first week at home and have been developing your skills as a heritage detective by using the internet.  If any of you have finished your timelines, reports, presentations, artwork or models please do scan a copy or send a picture to me via the office and I will share them on here for you all to see.

This week, we are going to be looking at what we've already learnt and asking ourselves: Can we still...

So to start in maths,  can we still compare and order numbers.  Please see the attached tasks for you to complete, you can either print the document or write the calculations out on a piece of paper or in your own book.  Don't forget to send them to me once completed.

Week Commencing 23rd March 2020

Please see the attached letter regarding home school activities for your child.

Week commencing 16th March 2020

Dear Parents and Carers,

This week in maths the children have been focusing on their 3, 4 and 8 multiplication tables in order to answer different word problems.  In class the children really enjoy singing and dancing along to the BBC Super-Movers.  You can access this using the following link https://www.bbc.co.uk/teach/supermovers/times-table-collection/z4vv6v4

This week is 'Classics Week', in which we have been looking at Oliver Twist.  The children are focusing on the character of Nancy and are trying to understand her decisions based upon her life on the streets.  Additionally, the children created an audio version of the book 'Welcome to Plant Earth' by Oliver Jeffers.  The file is too big to upload at the moment but I am trying to sort this out, as soon as I have I'll upload it.

Week commencing 9th March 2020

Dear Parents and Carers,

This week in maths we have been continuing with our work on fractions.  The children have been working on equivalent fractions and understand that equivalent means equal.  They have been learning to use a fraction wall to support their understanding of which fractions are equivalent.  We have also been learning to add and subtract fractions with a common denominator.  The children understand that when both the denominators are the same they stay the same and are not added together.

Week commencing 2nd March 2020

Dear Parents and Carers,

This week in English the children have been continuing with their book The Name Jar.  They placed names of their choosing in a jar which were then discussed when pulled out.  When surveyed most children said they would change their name if they could although when they wrote their name stories they mentioned how much they liked their names and the links their name gives them to other people either family or friends.

In maths we have been learning to find the unit or non-unit fraction of an amount of objects.  This has been quite tricky as we can find the unit fraction fairly easily but the non-unit fraction has baffled us somewhat.  Ask the children if they can tell how the parts of a fraction and how they can identify a unit and non-unit fraction.

As part of our topic ‘My Place in the World’ we are conducting a local historical study about the school to see how it has changed over time.  The children are learning to be heritage detectives so to begin we went out and about into the school grounds to see what we could find.  We found signs where the school had been extended, graffiti on the trees and equipment from past pupils, an old school desk, Sarah’s seat and a commemorative stone.

Homework this week is English, children are to complete pages 23 and 26 and return to school no later than Wednesday 11th March.

Week commencing 24th February 2020

Dear Parents and Carers,

This week in English we have started a new book called The Name Jar.  The children learning about the importance a name can have and how it makes us feel.  They are working towards writing a story about their name.  If you have yet to return the homework on the name jar could you please do so by the end of the week.

In maths, the children are learning column subtraction with regrouping.  It's quite tricky for some of us but we are getting there.  To help us make this interesting, in groups, we measured how far we could jump and then we subtracted this from 900cm which is a long distance jump record to see what the difference was.  Ask the children to talk you through how to solve the one of the problems.

Week commencing 10th February 2020

Dear Parents and Carers,

We have had a great start to our week with a shower of snow.  The children were far too excited so off we set to have some fun.

Week commencing 3rd February

Dear Parents and Carers,

In English this week, we have been using our prediction skills to predict whether Jemmy will return home or not.  We have made sure that our predictions are reasonable and logical and can justifiable using the text as evidence.  We love using the props to channel our creativity.

Homework this week is English, children are to complete pages 20 and 21 and return to school no later than 12th February.

Spelling list 15 - the long /a/ vowel sound spelled 'ey'.

obey

prey

convey

survey

grey

osprey

disobey

they

surveyor

conveyor

Week commencing 27th January

Dear Parents and Carers,

This week in maths we have been recognising that tenths arises from dividing an object or single digit number into 10 equal parts.  We have been counting up and down in tenths past one whole number.  Ask the children if they can do it for you.

In English, we have been continuing with our book Jemmy Button, in particular Jemmy's visit to the King and Queen.  We used drama to act out conversations that might have taken place between Jemmy and the King and queen.  This then helped us to recap our work on punctuating direct speech.

This week in science we used drama to explain some key facts about our topic light and dark.  The children worked in groups to act out why we have night and day, how light travels in a straight line and shadows are formed.  Have a look at the videos and ask your child to explain what is going on.

Homework this week is maths, pages 17 and 18 are to be completed and returned to school no later than 5th February.

Spellings - List 14

vein

weigh

eight

neighbour

sleigh

reins

veil

eighteen

reign

freight

Week commencing 20th January

Dear Parents and Carers,

This week in maths the children have been further developing this knowledge of 3-digit numbers and how their place within the number affects it value.  They have been making their own number stories using as many different representations as they can.  Ask they to show you a number story at home.

In English we are continuing with our book Jemmy Button.  We discussed how important are names are to us and that they are give by someone special often for special reasons.  We then discussed how Jemmy would feel in a strange land with a new name.  The children wrote their own poem titles 'Without my name'.  We have been using props to inspire our writing.

Homework this week is English, children are to complete pages 17 and 27 and return to school no later than Wednesday 29th January.

Spellings

List 13 - The long vowel /a/ sound spelled 'ai'

straight

painter

fainted

waist

strainer

chained

claimed

failure

snail

waiter

Week commencing 13th January 2020

Dear Parents and Carers,

This week in maths, we are learning to count in steps of 4 and 8.  The children are getting really good at recalling their 4 and 8 multiplication tables.  The children have enjoyed using the following PowerPoints to chant along with.  The children have also been using BBC Supermovers to practise their step counting.  see our link below to check them out if you haven't already.

Homework this week is maths.  Children are to complete pages 15 and 16 of their homework books and return to school no later than Wednesday 22nd January.

The children also have the following spellings to learn which are challenge words from the Year 3 and 4 list.

List 12:

centre

decide

disappear

early

heart

learn

minute

notice

regular

therefore

Week commencing 6 January 2020

Dear Parents and Carers,

Happy New Year to you!  I trust you had a much needed break over the Christmas period and have fully recharged your batteries ready for the spring term ahead.  This term our topic is 'My Place in the World' please see our topic web below for further details.  As part of this the children will be undertaking a local historical study of the school to discover how it has changed over the years.  In order to conduct our research we hope to visit local places of interest that hold historical records and artefacts, such as the library and church as well as contact with the local historical society.  Further to this, we would appreciate your support with helping us to collect resources to support our learning.  Therefore, I wanted to ask whether you have any old photographs and maps of the school and local area that you would be willing to share or that we could photocopy from you.  We would be most grateful for anything that you can offer and will ensure that any items are returned to you in one piece.

Additionally, we are also looking for past pupils who may be willing to come and speak to/be interviewed by the children about their time at our school and how it has changed.

In English we have started a new book called Jemmy Button, over the coming weeks we are going to be learning the story of Jemmy so that the children can write a biography of his life.  This week we have been learning about comparative and superlative adjectives.  The children should be able to tell you that comparative adjectives compare one person, thing or state against another and uses the suffix '-er' as in Taylor is taller than Alfie.  Superlative adjectives compares a group of people, things or states and uses the suffix '-est' for example, Taylor is the tallest of Alfie, Max and Charles.

Spellings - List 11

Forgetting

forgotten

beginning

preferred

permitted

regretting

committed

forbidden

propelled

equipped

Homework this week is English.  Pages 10 and 11 are to be completed and returned to school no later than Wednesday 15th January.

Week commencing 9th December 2019

Dear Parents and Carers,

The children had a fantastic Egyptian day on Thursday.  They all looked absolutely super in their costumes and everyone managed to bring their passport and boarding card for our flight to ancient Egypt.  The children had their passports checked as they went through security and enjoyed an inflight movie as well as on-board snacks and drinks.  Once they had landed in ancient Egypt they had the opportunity to take part in a whole host of crafts such as Shaduf (ancient Egyptian lever) making, jewellery making, mummifying a cat, papyrus and cartouche painting as well as food tasting.  We had mixed results on the dates but the hummus (kindly provided by Yusuf's family) was a great hit.   

Homework this week is maths, pages 13 and 14 are to be completed and returned to school no later than Wednesday 18th December.

Spellings this week are:

gardening

gardened

limited

limiting

developing

developed

listening

listened

covered

covering

Week commencing 2nd December 2019

Dear Parents and Carers,

To celebrate advent and the countdown to Christmas, the children are building a nativity scene.  Each day they take it in turns to add a different item to the scene.

In maths this week the children have started a new unit on 3-D shape.  We started the unit with a Kahoot quiz in which the children had to work in pairs to answer questions correctly and as quickly as possible.  Issy and Alfie J worked really well as a team and were the top of the leader board to win gold,  followed closely by Daisy D and Oliver Eg who won silver and Daisy B and Yusuf who won bronze.  The children are learning the different properties of some 3-D shapes such as the number of faces, vertices and edges.

In English the children have been finishing off their non-chronological report about Ancient Egypt.  They have been using their knowledge of sub-headings to write a number of different paragraphs about different aspects of Egyptian life such as the pyramids, gods and pharaohs.

Homework this week is English, Pages 34 and 37 are to be completed and returned to school no later than Wednesday 11th December.  Spellings this week are:

misbehave

mislead

misspell

mistake

misplace

misread

mistrust

misunderstanding

misuse

mislaid

Week Commencing 18 November 2019

Dear Parents and Carers,

This week in maths we have been focusing on their multiplication and division skills.  The children are developing a good understanding that multiplication is commutative however division isn't.  The children should be able to explain to you that multiplication is commutative because you can have a different question that will give you the same answer, e.g. 3 x 4 = 12 and 4 x 3 = 12.  However this is not the case for division, e.g. 12 ÷ 4 = 3 and 12 ÷ 3 = 4.

In English we have started a new unit on non-chronological reports.  They have been learning to recognise the features of non-chronological reports such as headings, sub-headings, paragraphs, pictures and diagrams as well as factual information.  Ask the children to list you some features.  The children have also been conducting research on Ancient Egypt to help them plan their report.

In science, the children unearthed their apple mummies in order to see which preservative worked the best.  They found that the gauze did not help the apples to dry out which is why the Ancient Egyptians dried out their dead before wrapping them.  they also found that the apples preserved in salt were in the best condition.  Additionally, the childen found the pyramid to have to have no magical effects on the apples.  In fact, the childrne found the skil of the apple to be much arder than the others which the children through was due to a lack of air inside the pyramid.

Week commencing 11 November 2019

Dear Parents and Carers,

Our week got off to a fantastic start with the remembrance service in the Holy Trinity church.  The children were excellent when reading their words, some of which were quite tricky.  It was also a very proud moment for those of us who celebrated our family history with the Armed Forces.

In maths this week we have been learning multiplication and division facts for our 4 and 8 multiplication tables.  We have started each lesson with the BBC's Super Movers songs which we all like to have a dance to.  See the link below for you to practise at home.

In English, we have been writing our instructions on how to mummify a body.  The children have been using time connectives (first, then, next, after that, etc.), adverbs (carefully, slowly, thoroughly) and imperative verbs (wash, cut, remove, stuff) to make their instructions detailed and interesting to the reader.

In Science, we looked at our topic question: were the Ancient Egyptians a highly skilled civilisation? by investigating the materials they used for mummification.  The children cut slices of apple and wrapped half of them in gauze.  They then poured a preservative over each slice (salt, sugar, vinegar and baking powder), placed them in a cool, dark cupboard and will check on them next week to conclude whether their use of natron (salt) to dry out the bodies was the best material to use.

Additionally, we wanted to test the magical properties of pyramids so we placed a slice of apple inside Oliver Egan's pyramid to see if it magically preserves the apple.

Homework this week is maths, pages 7 and 8 are to be completed and returned to school no later than Wednesday 20th November.  Spellings this week are challenge words:

actual

answer

bicycle

circle

earth

enough

fruit

island

often

popular

Week Commencing 4 November 2019

Dear Parents and Carers,

The children have clearly been working hard on their Egyptian projects over the half term holidays and I have been really impressed with their work.  Thank you for your support with this.

In Maths, we have been learning written methods for addition and subtraction.  First we started with the vertical partitioning method and then moved onto the short written method.  The children have done really well with laying out their work in the correct place value column  but are finding the carrying or exchanging from one column to another a little tricky.

In English, we have started a new unit on instructions, in which the children will be writing a set of instructions on how to mummify a body.  The children have been using imperative (bossy) verbs to make links to command sentences and time connectives, such as: first, then, next, after that and finally to put their instructions into chronological order.

Homework this week is English.  Children are to complete pages 7 and 8 of their homework book and return to school no later than Wednesday 13th November.

Week commencing 14th October 2019

Dear Parents and carers,

This week in maths we have been learning how to round and adjust tricky numbers such as 8 and 9 to help us with our mental addition and subtraction.  The children were learning how to round up the number to the nearest multiple of ten, carry out the calculation and then use addition or subtraction to adjust the number.  Why not see if they can do this for you at home.

                                 33 + 9 = 42                                                          33 - 9 = 24

Step 1 - round          9 + 1 = 10                           Step 1 - round         9 + 1 = 10

Step 2 - calculate     33 + 10 = 43                       Step 2 - calculate     33 - 10 = 23

Step 3 - adjust         43 - 1 = 42                           Step 3 - adjust         23 + 1 = 24

In English, we are writing our own Egyptian myth, we have used a story mountain to plan our myth and have been writing a character description for our main character Ka.

Homework this week is English, children are to complete pages 3 and 4 and return to school no later than Wednesday 23rd October.

In science, we carried out an investigation to see which materials are magnetic and whether we could find a common theme.  The children had lots of fun testing as many materials in the classroom as they could find.

Week commencing 7th October 2019

Dear Parents and Carers,

We had a great start to our week with our Michael Morpurgo dress up day.  the children looked fantastic in their outfits.

This week in maths the children have been focusing on problem solving.  We had an external company come in and work with the children to use their knowledge to a variety of problems.  The children thoroughly enjoyed themselves.

Our writing this week has been focused around our trip to the Stafford Gatehouse Theatre to see 'I Believe in Unicorns' which was absolutely magical.  The children really enjoyed the performance and were amazed at the different things the Unicorn Lady was able to pull from a book.  The children have been writing and punctuating dialogue between Tomas (the main character) and his mother.  

This week has been space week, so our science focused on the International Space Station and the differences of life on Earth and in space.  The children designed and built their own space stations using art straws.  They were very inventive.

Homework this week is Maths, Pages 5 and 6 are to be completed and returned to school no later than Wednesday 16th October.

Week commencing 30 September 2019

Dear Parents and Carers,

This week in maths the children have been using the greater than, less than and equal to symbols < > = to compare and order a range of numbers.  They have been using capacity and volume to support their understanding.

Week Commencing 23 September 2019

Dear Parents and Carers,

This week in maths the children have been introduced to Times Table Rock Stars (TTRS) which is an online programme that helps children to practise their multiplication tables whilst earning coins to spend on their avatar.  The children have been given their logins which have been stuck into the back of their reading diaries.  We have a subscription to the website not the app therefore, please use the link below to access TTRS.  The children are encouraged to practise their multiplication tables as often as possible as this will aid all aspects of their maths.  Please also see the parent guide.

In guided reading we have started our whole class reading book, 'There's a Pharaoh in our bath'.  We played ‘conscience alley’ to help us make a decision as to whether to open the coffin containing the pharaoh or not.  Sophie played Grimstone, one of the characters and she listened to the children’s reasons before deciding that she would open the coffin as she would become rich once she'd found the map and treasures.  See our pictures below.

Homework this week is maths.  Children are to complete pages 3 and 4 and return to school no later than Wednesday 2nd October.

Week commencing 16 Sept 2019

Dear Parents and Carers,

This week in maths the children have been continuing with their work on 10 or 100 more or less than a given number.  With the help of the equipment and different strategies, such as counting on, the children have been more confident with finding 10 or 100 more or less.

In English, the children have written their version of the Egyptian Cinderella.  The children are getting used to writing for longer periods of time and have produced some fantastic retells.

In our topic, we have been learning about how Egyptian society was organised from the Pharaohs right down to the slaves.  Ask the children to tell you which member of Egyptian society they would have preferred to have been.  We have also been designing our own cartouches which are oval shields that bear the name of an important Egyptian person.

For homework this week the children have been asked to practise their spelling and conduct some research on an Egyptian God of their choosing.

Week commencing 9th September 2019

Dear Parents and Carers,

The children have been settling into their new classroom and routines very well.  Our topic this term is the Ancient Egyptians, please see the topic web below to find out what the children will be learning over the coming term.  Each week I will provide a summary of what we have been up to in the classroom so that you can discuss this with your child, this will include what homework is to be completed.

Should you have any questions or queries please do not hesitate to contact me through the Front Office.

This week in maths we have been learning strategies to help us count 10 more or less than a given number.  This week's homework 'Unit 1 - All about numbers' will help to consolidate their learning.  The link below is a fun way for children to practise this skill.

In English we have learning about Myths and Legends, in particular the story of the Egyptian Cinderella.  The children worked in groups to use role-play and act out scenes from the story.

In geography, the children have been learning to locate Egypt on a map.  Additionally they have been learning about its key features such as its continent and surrounding countries and seas.  That Cairo is the capital city and the Nile is main river.  They have enjoyed using their knowledge to paint a map of Ancient Egypt.

Activity Days

Monday: Swimming

Wednesday: Homework due in

Thursday: Book change

Friday: Library

Friday: Homework distributed check webpage for homework page numbers.

Our Year 3 curriculum comprises the following themed areas:

British Values

The children have been learning about our British Values and the importance of rules.  To that end we created a set of class rules to help us remain safe and happy whilst we learn.  We have all signed the rules  and agreed to abide by them.

Maths Practise

Children can click on the following links to play games that will help them with their maths practise.