We have had a fantastic week of learning in Year 3, this week has flown by!
School is always such a busy place with lots going on, but there has been calmness in our classroom since we’ve come back from our Christmas break. The children (and the adults) are enjoying moments of quiet and reflection and this is reflected in the children’s work too. There’s always a buzz of excitement when we’re learning something new but I’m noticing more now that we’re settling quicker to focus and complete independent work.
Worship
Our worship this week was led by Marla, Dexter and Jude. We listen to them speak about names…Jesus had many names - Messiah, Christ, Son of God, Lamb of God. The children read the Gospel of John (1:35-42), we heard how Jesus changed Simon’s name to Peter which means rock. We know names are very important, some of us have 2 or 3. Some of us have nicknames that we liked to be called by our friends and family. God loves us and knows us all by name, we took a little time to think about this before saying a quiet prayer together. ‘ Loving God, help us to remember that all people throughout the world are special, because you know us by our names and we are your children, Amen.’
On Thursday we watched the Mark 10 Mission and listened to the story of Jesus's first miracle. It happened at Cana in Galilee when Jesus and his friends were at a wedding. In this Little Liturgy, we listened to the Gospel together and Greg then showed us six jars and filled them with water. He used these to help us picture the moment Jesus turned water into wine. We then entered into prayer together and sang Way Maker with Fr Columba.
Our learning this week…
English We have started our new unit of work - The Iron Man. We haven’t started reading the book yet but we have looked at the cover and made predictions about where the story is set and who the characters are. We’ve even tried to guess what the story might be about. It was quite tricky because there aren’t many clues on the front cover at all.
We’re really enjoying our class novel, we’ve been introduced to Roz the robot and meet lots of characters who she comes across on the island she has found herself on. We’ve spotted lots of adjectives, adverbs and speech in the text - skills we have been focusing on in year 3.
Maths - We have been collecting data in tables and making bar graphs to represent the data collected. As a class we thought of questions that we could answer by collecting measurements, these included: How tall are children in year 3? How far can children in year 3 jump? How long is a year 3 child’s little finger? The children thought carefully about the measuring tools they would need and the unit of measures they would use. We set off in small groups to collect data to help us answer our questions. There was lots of concentration faces and sticky out tongues as the children put into practise their measure skills! They recorded the data collected in a table, ready to to draw bar graphs in the next lesson. I wonder if the children could collect measurement data at home? It would be great for them to practise measuring accurately.
Spelling - The focus spelling focus this week is homophones - see homework blog.
Music - In our music lesson we learnt what a pentatonic scale is and made our own pentatonic melodies on the glockenspiels.
Geography - We’ve continued studying the United Kingdom, after learning about the countries that make up the UK we’ve looked a little closer and seen how the counties are divided into regions and then again into counties. We talked about the county we live in and using a map identified our neighbouring counties.
Computing - This week I set the children a challenge to sort a number of objects into 2 groups - I didn’t tell the children how to sort the objects or what the differences between the objects were. Most children sorted the objects into electrical and non electrical item.
We then went on to talk about inputs, processes and outputs in digital items. This got the children thinking and the children then started to change how they had sorted their items. We identified that mobile phones, digital cameras, keyboards and Alexa are all digital items that require an input for them to process and then give an output. In pairs we had a go at working out what the input, processes and outputs were in some maths robots. I wonder what digital items the children can spot at home that require an input that is process before giving an output?
Certificates
Lunchtime Awards:
Role Model: Dexter
Marvelous Manners: Xander
Virtue - Xander
Learner of the Week - Bonnie
Bonnie, you have really impressed us with your determination this week. You are setting yourself goals in lessons and thinking about what you need to do to achieve those goals.
On Thursday, you tackled your swimming lesson with focus and determination, this enabled you to achieve your goal of swimming a full length. I could see the pride on your face when you reached the end of the pool, we are so proud of you. Well done Bonnie!
Reminders and Notices
Please ensure your child is coming to school with a suitable coat, hat and gloves. It has been very cold this week, a coat at the very least is essential.
Our Mini Vinnie’s are collecting warm clothing and blankets to donate to the homeless. They’re also collecting tinned soups during the month of January for our local food bank, any donations will be greatly appreciated.
Have a lovely weekend,
Mrs Naylor and Miss Hennessy