Year 3 Blog

Week Commencing 5^th July 2021

Maths

We will be beginning several weeks of learning about mass, capacity and temperature.   Over this week we will finish our learning about mass.  There are some video links here to give you an idea of what we will be covering, We tend not to use these in lessons, but find that they are helpful for parents to know what we teach.

Measure mass (activity): https://vimeo.com/556159191

Compare mass: https://vimeo.com/556159233

Measure mass 1: https://vimeo.com/556159257

Measure mass 2: https://vimeo.com/556159306

Compare mass: https://vimeo.com/556562316

Add and subtract mass: https://vimeo.com/560858593

English

We have now read ‘Blue John’ by Berlie Doherty.  It’s a fantastic story and fits perfectly with our last topic of the year ‘Is Seeing Believing?’  Last week we planned our own story and this week we will begin to write it.  After writing each section, we edit to correct spellings and punctuation.  We also try to make it even better by improving the vocabulary choices and re-phrasing some of our sentences.

Guided Reading

We continue to read ‘The Cave Challenge’ by Bear Grylls.  It combines an adventure story with lots of scientific and geographical information about caves.

Spellings

As we have now finished our Oxford Owl Spelling Scheme, we will be using this half term to focus on areas which the children are finding tricky in their own writing.  We will continue to learn the words from the Year 3,4 statutory spelling list each week.

The next words in the Year 3,4 spelling list are: 

remember   sentence   special   separate   straight   strange

Science

Our current Science unit is all about light.  This week, we’ll be finding out about the sun and how to be safe in the sun.

 R.E.

Children create their own pledge about how they would make the world a better place, describing why they would do the things they have chosen to do.

Art

We will learn about mosaics and we will use these skills to continue building our Kandinsky collage.

Geography

Observe, record and explain changes that have occurred in the past to the school and its grounds and its immediate environment.

Week Commencing 28th June 2021

Maths

We will be beginning several weeks of learning about mass, capacity and temperature.   Over this week and next,  we will be learning about mass.  There are some video links here to give you an idea of what we will be covering,  We tend not to use these in lessons, but find that they are helpful for parents to know what we teach.

Measure mass (activity): https://vimeo.com/556159191

Compare mass: https://vimeo.com/556159233

Measure mass 1: https://vimeo.com/556159257

Measure mass 2: https://vimeo.com/556159306

Compare mass: https://vimeo.com/556562316

Add and subtract mass: https://vimeo.com/560858593

English

We have now read ‘Blue John’ by Berlie Doherty.  It’s a fantastic story and fits perfectly with our last topic of the year ‘Is Seeing Believing?’  Last week we planned our own story and this week we will begin to write it.  After writing each section, we edit to correct spellings and punctuation.  We also try  to make it even better by improving the vocabulary choices and re-phrasing some of our sentences.

Guided Reading

We continue to read ‘The Cave Challenge’ by Bear Grylls.  It combines an adventure story with lots of scientific and geographical information about caves.

Spellings

As we have now finished our Oxford Owl Spelling Scheme, we will be using this half term to focus on areas which the children are finding tricky in their own writing.  We will continue to learn the words from the Year 3,4 statutory spelling list each week.

The next words in the Year 3,4 spelling list are: 

quarter    questions    recent     regular    reign

Science

Our current Science unit is all about light.  This week, we’ll be looking into mirrors! 

R.E.

Do people need to believe in God to be a good person?  We will be Learning about famous humanists (e.g. Annie Besant who fought for women’s rights; Fenner Brockway who campaigned for racial equality and world peace)

Art

We will learn about tessellation and overlapping and use these skills to continue building our Kandinsky collage.

Geography

Observe, record and explain changes that have occurred in the past to the school and its grounds and its immediate environment.

Week Commencing 21^st June 2021

Maths

We are currently learning about Geometry.  This week we will reminding the children about the vocabulary of acute, obtuse, and right angles, horizontal, vertical, parallel and perpendicular lines.  This is a lot of vocabulary for children to learn, so asking them about these words and their meaning is really useful to help them embed this learning.

We will be adding to their vocabulary with 2D and 3D shapes this week.

Here are the links to the White Rose videos.  We won’t be using these directly in class, but you may find them helpful for supporting your child at home.

2D shapes: https://vimeo.com/554200872

3D shapes: https://vimeo.com/554201297

English

We have now read ‘Blue John’ by Berlie Doherty.  It’s a fantastic story and fits perfectly with our last topic of the year ‘Is Seeing Believing?’  This week we will be planning our own story in a similar style.

Guided Reading

We continue to read ‘The Cave Challenge’ by Bear Grylls.  It combines an adventure story with lots of scientific and geographical information about caves.

Spellings

As we have now finished our Oxford Owl Spelling Scheme,  we will be using this half term to focus on areas which the children are finding tricky in their own writing.  We will continue to learn the words from the Year 3,4 statutory spelling list each week.

The next words in the Year 3,4 spelling list are: 

possible   potatoes   pressure   probably   promise   purpose

Science

Our current Science unit is all about light.  This week, we’ll be researching reflective materials. 

 R.E.

We continue with our unit: ‘How and why do people try and make the world a better place?’ This week we will identify some differences in how people put their beliefs into action.

Art

We will learn about coiling and use this skill to begin our Kandinsky collage.

Geography

‘How and why is my local area changing?’ This week we will look at changes in our local area, including the school over the years

Week Commencing 14^th June 2021

The children will also be sitting some informal maths and reading tests this week.  This is  to give the children the experience of working through some questions independently. We will be explaining this to the children and ensuring that they see this as an opportunity to show off their learning and nothing to worry about.

Maths

We are currently learning about Geometry.  This week we will be looking at acute, obtuse, and right angles. We will be learning about horizontal, vertical, parallel and perpendicular lines.  This is a lot of vocabulary for children to learn, so asking them about these words and their meaning is really useful to help them embed this learning.

Here are the links to the White Rose videos.  We won’t be using these directly in class, but you may find them helpful for supporting your child at home.

Angles: https://vimeo.com/553040645

Horizontal and vertical: https://vimeo.com/553042103

Parallel and perpendicular: https://vimeo.com/554200617

English

We have now read ‘Blue John’ by Berlie Doherty.  It’s a fantastic story and fits perfectly with our last topic of the year ‘Is Seeing Believing?’  This week we will be looking at choosing interesting verbs to describe action, and similes to interest the reader.

Guided Reading

We continue to read ‘The Cave Challenge’ by Bear Grylls.  It combines an adventure story with lots of scientific and geographical information about caves.

Spellings

As we have now finished our Oxford Owl Spelling Scheme,  we will be using this half term to focus on areas which the children are finding tricky in their own writing.  We will continue to learn the words from the Year 3,4 statutory spelling list each week.

The next words in the Year 3,4 spelling list are: 

peculiar, perhaps, popular, position, possess, possession

Science

Our current Science unit is all about light.  This week, we’ll be researching reflective materials. 

 R.E.

We will begin a new unit: ‘How and why do people try and make the world a better place?’ This week we will be considering why people try to make the world a better place.

Art

We will design and create a collage in the style of Kandinsky.  This week we will begin to design our Kandinsky style collage, ready to begin collaging next week.

Geography

‘How and why is my local area changing?’ This week we will look at the differences between changes which are human and those which are caused by nature.

Week Commencing 7^th June 2021

Maths

We are beginning 3 weeks of learning about Geometry.  These are the areas we will be covering:

Turns and angles

Right angles in shapes

Compare angles

Draw accurately

Horizontal and vertical

Parallel and perpendicular

Recognise and describe 2-D shapes

Recognise and describe 3-D shapes

Make 3-D shapes

This week, we will be covering turns and angles.

Here are the links to the White Rose videos.  We won’t be using these directly in class, but you may find them helpful for supporting your child at home, and knowing what they are learning.

Turns and Angles: https://vimeo.com/549180654

Right angles in shapes: https://vimeo.com/549181115

Compare angles: https://vimeo.com/553040645

English

We will be starting our new English Unit which is linked to a book called ‘Blue John’ by Berlie Doherty.  It’s a fantastic story and fits perfectly with our last topic of the year ‘Is Seeing Believing?’  This week we will be reading the book and becoming familiar with the story and the characters.

Guided Reading

To fit with our topic ‘Is Seeing Believing?’, we are starting a new book called ‘The Cave Challenge’ by Bear Grylls.  It combines an adventure story with lots of scientific and geographical information about caves.

Spellings

As we have now finished our Oxford Owl Spelling Scheme,  we will be using the next half term to focus on areas which the children are finding tricky in their own writing.  We will continue to learn the words from the Year 3,4 statutory spelling list each week.

The next words in the Year 3,4 spelling list are: 

occasion, occasionally, often, opposite, ordinary, particular

Science

We will start our next science unit which is all about light.  This week, we’ll find out what children already know and then we will explore light sources. 

 R.E.

We will begin a new unit: ‘How and why do people try and make the world a better place?’ We will begin by sharing opinions about how the world is not always a good place.

Art

We will begin a new unit during which we will design and create a collage in the style of Kandinsky.  This week we will find out about Kandinsky.

Geography

‘How and why is my local area changing?’ We will begin this new unit by looking at why environments change over time.

Week Commencing 24^th May 2021

Maths

We continue learning about time this week. Please continue to support your child with this at home. We will be looking at time duration (using both analogue and digital clocks with a start time and finish time).  We’ll finish by solving time-based problems.

There are White Rose video links here should you wish to use them at home.

Duration: https://vimeo.com/545481698

Problem solving: https://vimeo.com/547852798

English

We have nearly finished our Greek myths, so look out for them coming home. 

The skills we have looked at during this unit include conjunctions, adverbials, speech punctuation and paragraphing.  Please encourage your child to read their Greek myth to you, and also to any more distant friends and family via Zoom type platforms or the old-fashioned telephone!   

Guided Reading

We continue to read 'Beasts of Olympus' Beast Keeper by Lucy Coates.  The children are really enjoying it and finding out about the mythical beasts of Ancient Greece.  It is the first book in a series, so children can read other books from the series by reserving them from their local library if they would like to.

Spellings

We will be finishing off our last unit in the Oxford Owl Spelling Scheme (using) the pre-fix ‘sub’

 submarine        subway    subtitle       submerge    subheading

The next words in the Year 3,4 spelling list are: 

medicine, mention, minute, natural, naughty, notice

 Science

We will find out how much the children have learnt about forces this half term!  They will put together a quiz which they will then try to answer.

R.E.

We will be discussing how we might be able to link the messages from the bible to our World today.

Design and Technology

This week, we will be preparing a salad to bring home.  The children have considered what they want in their salad and know that they can add other things to it when they get home (cooked chicken, hard boiled eggs, and Feta cheese have all been suggested). The current plan is that Hedgehogs will do this on Tuesday afternoon, Squirrels Thursday afternoon and Moles on Friday afternoon.

History

We are finishing our learning about the Ancient Greeks by using information books to research a theme of the children’s choice e.g. the Olympic Games, Trojan Horse…

Dress as a Greek Day!

To celebrate the end of our marvellous Greek topic, let’s dress as all things Greek on Thursday 27^th May.

You could come as a:

• God or goddess
• Greek tourist
• Typical Greek food! (Olives, octopus, aubergine!  Use your creative imagination !)
• The flag is blue and white

Week Commencing 16^th May 2021

Maths

As we continue learning about time, we would welcome your continued support in helping your child to learn how to tell the time with an analogue clock. As well as telling the time, we are learning about the number of days in each month, am and pm, and this week, we are beginning to look at the 24-hour clock.  There is a White Rose video link here should you wish to use them at home.

24-hour clock:  https://vimeo.com/542539608

Months and years: https://vimeo.com/539560205

English

We are continuing to write our Greek Myths.  We are including speech, so reminding children about using speech marks, punctuation before the closing speech mark, and new speaker, new line. Here is a fun BBC clip which explains it all!

https://www.bbc.co.uk/bitesize/clips/zvftsbk?scrlybrkr=fe617f36

Once the myths are finished, your child will bring them home to read to you, and also to any more distant friends and family via Zoom type platforms or the old-fashioned telephone!   

Guided Reading

We continue to read 'Beasts of Olympus' Beast Keeper by Lucy Coates.  The children are really enjoying it and finding out about the mythical beasts of Ancient Greece.  It is the first book in a series, so children can read other books from the series by reserving them from their local library if they would like to.

Spellings

Our last unit in the Oxford Owl Spelling Scheme is to use the pre-fix ‘sub’

 submarine        subway    subtitle       submerge    subheading

The next words in the Year 3,4 spelling list are:  island, knowledge, learn, length, library, material.

Science

We have been looking at magnetic forces.  We are learning that magnets have a north and a south pole and that different combinations of these attract and repel.  We're exploring what materials are attracted to a magnet.  We also know that we shouldn't put magnets next to televisions, mobile phones and computers !

This week, we want children to show their knowledge by creating a magnetic game, which would be good to use on a school Science day!

R.E.

We are finding ways in which our local church St Leonard's is trying to make the world like the one Jesus wanted. On Tuesday, Ruth from St Leonard’s church is coming in to answer some questions that the children have prepared.  She will also be delivering a ‘live’ collective worship for Year 3!

Design and Technology

This week, we will practise our skills of peeling, grating and chopping with potatoes, carrots and cucumbers / courgettes. Children will be bringing home their peeled, chopped and grated products !

Next week children will be bringing home a mixed salad that they have prepared for you.

History

So far, we have learnt about how Ancient Greece fits into a time line, about Sparta and Athens, and Alexander the Great.  We’ve also learnt about how childhood was different in Ancient Greek times, and are currently finding out about the Greek Gods and Goddesses.

Dress as a Greek Day!

To celebrate the end of our marvellous Greek topic, let’s dress as all things Greek on:

 Thursday 27^th May.

You could come as a:

• God or goddess:
• Greek tourist
• Typical Greek food! (Olives, octopus, aubergine!  Use your creative imagination !)
• The flag is blue and white

   

Week Commencing 8th May 2021

Maths

We will be learning about time, starting by finding out how confident the children are to tell the time.  We will explore whether they can read an analogue clock to tell the time to the hour, half hour, quarter to and past, 5 minute intervals and finally 1 minute intervals.   We would welcome your support in helping your child to learn how to tell the time - analogue clocks are often less prominant in our homes than they used to be, but it is an important life skill to have!

English

We have planned our Greek myths and will begin writing them this week.  Once they are finished, your child will bring them home to read to you, and also to any more distant friends and family via Zoom type platforms or the old fashioned telephone!    Whilst we write our myths this week, we will be focusing on how to structure our writing with paragraphs, and how to punctuate speech.

Guided Reading

We continue to read 'Beasts of Olympus'  Beast Keeper  by Lucy Coates.  The children are really enjoying it and finding out about the mythical beasts of Ancient Greece.  It is the first book in a series, so children can read other books from the series by reserving them from their local library if they would like to.

Spellings

We are nearing the end of our Oxford Owl spelling booklet.  The next unit is adding the pre-fix 'super' 

superhuman, superhero, superstar....

The next words in the Year 3,4 spelling list are:  height, history, imagine, increase, important, interest.

Science

We are now looking at magnetic forces.  We are learning that magnets have a north and a south pole and that different combinations of these attract and repel.  We're exploring what materials are attracted to a magnet.  We also know that we shouldn't put magnets next to televisions, mobile phones and computers !

R.E.

We will be learning about The Good Samaritan and relating this to how we live our own lives,

Design and Technology

We have been learning about recipies and equipment over the past few weeks.  This week we will learn about hygeine and how to prepare food safely.  In the last 2 weeks of this half term, we will then practise our chopping, grating and peeling skills, before preparing a salad to bring home.

History

So far, we have learnt about how Ancient Greece fits into a time line, about Sparta and Athens, and Alexander the Great.  We will be learning about how childhood was different in Ancient Greek times, including food, clothing, education and entertainment.

Week Commencing 26th April 2021

This week, we will be:

Maths

Calculating fractions of groups and equivalent fractions.  Whilst we won't be using the White Rose videos as much in class, you may find it helpful to watch to see what the children will be expected to do.

English

We are learning about adverbials and how they can help us in our Greek myth writing.  They will help us tell the reader when, where or how something is happening.  We will become detectives and search for adverbial phrases in Greek myths, and we will try using them to write our own sentences. 

Design Technonolgy

We have looked at the purpose of recipes and are now finding out about the equipment that we use at home and in professional kitchens to help prepare food.  

Spellings

We will be using the prefix 'anti' 

Words from the Year 3, 4 statutory spelling list for this week are:  grammar, group, guard, guide, heard, heart.

P.E.

Our athletics will link to our theme of Ancient Greece - culminating in a mini olympics for our final lesson!

Science

We have learnt how to use force meters to measure force in Newtons.  This week we will plan a fair test to investigate how much force is needed to move an object on different surfaces.

R.E.

Over the next few weeks, we are finding out about the Gospel of Jesus. We will be looking at a bible story taken from the Gospel of Matthew.

Guided Reading

We are reading a book together called 'Beast of Olympus' Beast Keeper.  We read a little each day and focus on a reading skill e.g. inference.   Each week we go to the library to choose 2 books - one should be coming home so that you can read it together on a daily basis.

Week Commencing Monday 19th April

We will be beginning our new topic 'Ancient Greece'.  This has previously been taught in Year 4, but luckily for us, has now been moved into Year 3 as it is such a fascinating period of history. We'll begin by looking at a time line so that the children can learn how long ago this was, and understand when it happened compared to the Romans and other key historical periods.  

This week, we will also be:

• Beginning our Design and Technology food unit of work about Greek Salads, initially looking at and comparing the concept of recipes.
• Introducing our new book Myth Atlas for English.  Over the next 3 to 4 weeks, we will be learning about Greek Myths and writing our own.  This is a gorgeous book, about myths around the world, and this week we will have fun exploring it; reading Greek myths, acting them out; talking about what we like and don't like about them; finding similarites and differences between different myths; and generally getting to grips with the concept of a myth.
• Staring our science topic about forces by planning a fair test to investigate the force required to push and pull objects on different surfaces.
• Building upon our learning of fractions from before Easter. After a recap to remind ourselves of last half term's learning, we will be focusing on tenths (as a fraction ,decimal, and counting in tenths)
• Spellings: This week's spelling pattern is adding the pre-fix 're-'

do                   redo        

write               rewrite        

play                 replay      

build               rebuild                

arrange          rearrange

appear           reappear

The 6 words from the Year 3, 4 list are: experiment, extreme, famous, February, forwards, fruit.

Week Commencing 29th March

(Last week before Easter Holidays)

During this week, we:

• Finished our review of the Year 2 fraction learning which children missed last year due to the Summer lockdown.  There is a PDF below which is the end of unit questions & these will show you what your child should now know.  After Easter we will continue to be learning about fractions - more detail to come in the weekly sections!
• Completed our 'Rough Guide to the Amazon writing - the children have worked incredibly hard on this, and if they didn't bring it home at the end of the week, they will be bringing it home after Easter!
• Came to the end of our Science learning about rocks and fossils - we completed an 'Escape from the Cave' challenge to check how much we'd learnt.
• Spellings:  adding the suffix 'ian'

  root word	root word + suffix -ian
  magic	magician
  electric	electrician
  music	musician
  optic	optician

Y3,4 spelling list words:  earth, eight, eighth, enough, exercise, experience

What we'll be doing till Easter:

• investigating Amazonian animals and their habitats
• creating diary entries, info fact boxes and formal e-mails
• consolidating fractions of shapes and quantities
• probing into the drainage qualities of different types of soil via a fair test
• delving into Judaism and its celebrations
• And of course, the usual weekly curriculum curiosities! 

Please encourage your child to feel free to jump in further with their learning! Join them!

Week Commencing 22nd March 2021

• In Science this week, we are testing how long it takes water to drain through different soil types.  We will be planning a fair test and making sure that we can use a stop watch !
• We are refreshing previous learning about prepositions to describe where we found our new animal in the Amazon Rainforest and we will be having a lesson linked to our individual targets.  We're then beginning to write our own Chapter of the Rough Guide to the Amazon, beginning with a fact file about the animal we found. Below you will find pages from the book and examples of prepositions.
• In Maths we are learning about unit and non-unit fractions. Whilst we won't be using the White Rose videos to teach with in school, they are linked below in case you find them helpful to know what we are covering.

This week, we have explored the school with our rainforest goggles on.

• We observed how our school grounds have similarities and differences with a rainforest. Also, how maps show different things. Can your child remember the capital cities of South American countries?
• We have been studying the book, 'Rainforest Rough Guide' (which has diary writing, fact boxes and formal e-mails) where an intrepid explorer has been funded to observe the jungle and to see how animals, plants and tribes are being affected by human activities. Also, what is the level of threat. Will they become extinct? What can we do to save the rainforest?
• Maths has been investigating the make up of a fraction (1/2, 1/4, 1/3, etc) both of shapes and of a quantity.
• Great fun was had getting stuck into soil and seeing the different types and their drainage qualities.

Hedgehog Christmas song 

https://st-leonards-primary-school.primarysite.media/media/3-hedgehogs-christmas-song-2020

Moles Christmas video
https://st-leonards-primary-school.primarysite.media/media/y3-moles
 

Moles earn raffle tickets for good work, behaviour, school values, etc. They put their tickets into a golden box ready for the Friday draw! The winner gets a choice of a lollipop, a chewy sweet or Lego cards. All the other accumulated tickets are rolled up individually and placed in a jar. When the jar is full, a whole class treat is won.

You will be proud to know that by an overwhelming majority, the children voted for den building instead of computer time! No recounts or legal disruptions needed, out we went!

20.11.20

Year 3 Squirrels had an enjoyable chocolate enrichment day. They enjoyed sharing their stories with one another and then with the other classes in Year 3.  They created some wonderful designs for their own chocolate bars and even their own inventing rooms.  We had smarties that never loose their taste and everlasting chocolate fountains. The children also enjoyed watching Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. Here are some photos.