“If you have built castles in the air, your work need not be lost; that is where they should be. Now put the foundations under them.” – Henry David Thoreau

What a wonderful start we have had to our summer term in Year 3! Our children came into school on Tuesday, bright eyed and ready to go after their Easter break. Miss Brisco sang the children’s praises on Tuesday! They had all shown such brilliant focus, determination and cooperation throughout their first day together, and this only continued as the week went by. The children are really becoming so caring and compassionate towards each other and we could not be prouder of them!

This week we have been introduced to our new class novel, ‘The Iron Man’. Our English lessons have been full of drama as we have become familiar with the main character and our minds have become full of curiosity as to what may happen next. The children worked in groups to perform a poem based on the main character. Again, the children showed such great cooperative skills as they worked together, taking on board each others’ ideas to create a short piece of drama. Well done Year 3!

In math's we have been continuing our learning when bridging through 100. The children have WOWED us with their confidence and ability to explain their reasoning. This skill is so important across so many aspects in maths so seeing their confidence is just wonderful!

Let’s Celebrate!

Theo…You continue to impress us with your wonderful focus during our lessons. This week we have particularly noticed your super focus and determination during maths. You have become so confident when bridging over 100, we could not be more proud of you! Keep going Theo!

Rex… We were blown away with your confidence and enthusiasm during this weeks drama activities Rex! You moved brilliantly as the Iron man because you had listened so carefully to the words of the poet. You have also shown great determination towards each lesson this week, whizzing through your learning… just like Bobby bee would. Well done!

Notices…

• Food tech: There will be no food tech next week for Art group 2. A text message has been sent out to those of you who this effects. Food tech will now be as follows:

Year 3 Weekly Blog "No one has ever become poor by giving." - Anne Frank

What a special moment it was on Wednesday! Our Year 3’s were so excited for you all to see their books and to share some of their favourite pieces of work so far. We have definitely missed your presence in school during the past year and a half. Having you in school to look at your children’s learning was just magical!

In class the children have been working very hard! The BUZZ of excitement during science has been infectious. This week our apprentices have had to work with their group to make a motor and a buzzer work. The children have worked together, listening to each others’ ideas and had problem solved when things haven’t gone to plan. Some groups had a few ups and downs as they needed to rethink their ideas.. but not one person gave up! Hearing their cheers of happiness and seeing their smiles when they have succeeded has been one of those wonderful teacher joys!

In English we have been continuing our learning of how to use inverted commas for speech and Maths we have grappled with some large numbers, looking at represented them with concrete apparatus and then using our reasoning skills to problem solve.

Our History has got in to full swing this week, as we thought carefully as to why Emperor Claudius may have wanted to invade Britain, after Julius Caesar had two failed attempts 98 years earlier. The children enquired and analysed explanations, looking for key evidence!

Let’s Celebrate!

Isaac…For always showing such interest and excitement towards learning. During your science this week you have shown great focus, resilience and so much enthusiasm towards making your circuits work. Seeing your face light up was an absolute delight! You have also made such great progress with your throwing and catching and we could not be more proud of your effort with this.

Pippa… We have been so impressed with your wonderful determination and ability to reflect on your work. It is an absolute pleasure teaching you. Your humour, kindness and your friendly way with others is so welcomed in our classroom. You listen carefully during discussions and we see this in your writing. A huge well done Pippa!

Notices…

• Don’t forget the next parent meeting appointments are taking place on Wednesday 23rd March from 2:30pm - 5:30pm.

Year 3 4.03.22 'I do believe something very magical can happen when you open a book' J.K. Rowling

Year 3 have been very creative this week in their English. This week we have been developing our inference skills in reading, continuing to infer the thoughts and feelings of our characters in ‘The Green Children’ text. Then using this knowledge and understanding to write our very own diary entry as one of the green children. I can’t wait to see their depth and how they have applied all of their grammar work to their writing! The children’s homework that they competed on the Green Children last week, looks fabulous in our classroom. Such thought and effort has clearly gone in to them so thank you.

In PE we have continued looking at games across the centuries, where the children are working in groups to set up and play these games. They are working so hard on working as a team and listening to the rules, to ensure all games are fair and consistent. The hope is that these games can then be played fairly on the playground, giving the children more choice and ideas as to what to play. Maybe you could try these games at home, our focus this week has been different adaptations of Hopscotch and Queenie. Why not ask the children how to play these games, they are a lot of fun! In Maths we have used stem sentences to approach calculations, using known facts to help us add and subtract from 100. They are doing very well with this!

World Book Day was a big hit! On Thursday our classroom became the home to Cinderella, Wally.. although he wasn’t always easy to spot… footballers, a handful of Harry Potter’s and many, many more wonderful story book characters. We had such a wonderful day celebrating the magical world of books! Reading is such a special skill that can take our imagination and transport us to a new world. To celebrate this we put our memories to the test with a, ‘Walkabout Bingo’ where the children walked around the classroom, asking one another about the different books they have read and enjoyed. We had so much fun, whilst also gaining lots of book recommendations! We also had a fun game of Quiz, Quiz, trade… this time the questions were created by the children based on their favourite books. We had great fun quizzing each other and learning about books our friends have enjoyed reading.

On Wednesday we celebrated Ash Wednesday with a liturgy led by Father Peter. What a beautiful way to enter our Lenten Journey. The children were extremely reverent and reflective during this liturgy, as we thought about the sins we are asking forgiveness for and what we can offer Jesus during this period. In council this week the children have been discussing ways in which we can raise money during Lent.

After much thought we have decided that our almsgiving through Lent will focus on CAFOD’s Walk Against Hunger and we will be praying for all those around the world who are in desperate need. The children will be asking you to sponsor them as each class tries to walk at least 200K (125 miles!) over the next five weeks in our lead up to Holy Week in school. You can do this by donating on ParentPay which will be live from today. If every family donates at least £5 in sponsorship we should be able to head towards that magical £1000 for this very worthy cause. In the past a few families have collected Lenten alms with wider family and friends and passed on the donation to our chosen charity so we will put this item on ParentPay showing a range for the amount to be donated but there are no expectations and all donations are gratefully received. Below are some of the items and support which CAFOD is hoping to provide:

·         £12 can buy ingredients to make a highly nutritious sesame seed paste so a new mum can help her
malnourished child grow big and strong

·         £20 can fund expert nutrition and healthcare classes for new mums and dads in rural communities

·         £200 can feed ten malnourished children sesame paste for a week, helping them grow big and
strong

·         £500 can provide an entire community with pepper seeds for planting season

·         £600 can help local experts deliver a highly effective door-to-door campaign in rural communities,
training people in proper sanitation, hygiene and nutrition

Year 3 have decided to run each day around the school playground. We are recording each lap that we do in our Walking against hunger passports. We have also decided to link up with our Year 5 friends to go on a special walk to a church towards the end of the half term.

Let’s Celebrate!

Layla… for showing such improvement when listening in class. This focus is having a huge impact on your learning and you are starting to grasp skills that you once found quite a challenge. Keep up this wonderful effort and determination Layla. We are so proud of you and cannot wait to watch you continue to fly.

Dominic… We have been so impressed with the wonderful determination you have shown towards improving your handwriting skills! You should feel so proud of yourself and the hard work you have put in to develop this important skill… what a difference this has made! We are very proud of you Dominic, well done and keep up this wonderful effort!

Notices…

• Don’t forget our open afternoon on Wednesday 16th March to look at your child’s learning. You book this through the form found on the last week’s blog on the discovery page.

• Don’t forget your parent meeting appointments which are taking place on Wednesday 9th March and Wednesday 23rd March from 2:30pm - 5:30pm.

Year 3 11.2.22 'Treat your password like your toothbrush. Don't let anybody else use it and get a new one every six months'

We can’t believe that we have reached the end of the first Spring term, these last few weeks seem to have flown by! How time flies when you’re having fun and of course learning as deeply as Year 3 are. On Tuesday We kicked off our Online-Safety learning. This is such a crucial part of the curriculum as the children are becoming more computer literate and are using online platforms more and more, it is so important that we explore the positives and sometimes negatives of this usage, as well as given them the tools to explore these in a safe way. This week (as you may have guessed from the title), we have been discussing the need for passwords, why we have them and what we can do to protect ourselves. They have also been introduced to blogging, looking at how written responses can often be misunderstood and then we created our own rules when communicating online: making sure she are always kind, respectful and appropriate, always making sure we are clear in what we write. We even created our own class blog, where we shared our thoughts of how we use the internet and how we should behave online. This blog remains open on purple mash, but the comments have to be approved by the teacher. For their homework, we have asked them to add more of their thoughts to this blog. This would be a great opportunity to share and discuss this area further as their parents, making sure they fully understand the need for appropriate behaviour online.

Year 3 Learning this week …

In English this week we have been continuing with our new unit of ‘The Green Children’, we have been looking at story openings of many books and using our inference skills to match with the pictures. We have also explored some new vocabulary that will be find in the text we are reading after half term, we have had lots of fun finding synonyms, clapping the syllables and making up actions for our verbs.

In Maths have approached another new strategy that we can apply when subtracting numbers. The children have worked extremely hard to master these, they have required us to be real Sadie Spiders and Isabella Insects!

Let’s Celebrate!

A suggestion had been made in one of our class council meetings that the children are able to chose the certificates at the end of each half term, and so we have done just that! We thought carefully about what qualities we look out for when awarding a certificate and then the children kept this in mind when making their decisions.

It was heart warming reading their suggestions and why they had chosen that particular child.

We have counted up the votes and our two certificates this week go to:

ELSIE for being. “A kind learning partner,” “For concentrating carefully during every lesson” and “for believing in herself and going for her targets.”

FAYE for being… “always being kind and focused” and “because you are just so kind and you are always focused. You put your hand up every time.”

Notices…

• Upon reflection and much discussion, as a community, we have decided that Holy Communion will now take place in Year 4 not Year 3. This has happened the last two years and we feel the children at this age are much more ready and have a much deeper understanding of this spiritual journey and commitment to their faith.

• Don’t forget to book on to our open afternoon on Wednesday 16th March to look at your child’s learning. You book this through the form found on the last week’s blog on the discovery page.

• World book day is on Thursday 3rd March and we will be celebrating its 25th anniversary! For this day, we would like to invite the children to dress up as their favourite book characters!

• Parents meetings will be available to book via the newsletter on the discovery page. These meetings will be held on Wednesday 9th March and Wednesday 23rd March from 2:30pm - 5:30pm.

And finally…

This week each class has been set a task to think of something we would love to see in our outside playground. We have then created a video and each class has voted for their favourite idea. We cannot wait to see which idea has been chosen - we would love them all! Here is our video, led by our two class councilors Liam and Ella.

'Whoever is happy will make others happy too' Anne Frank

This week the children have been real Sadie Spiders, showing great resilience in their learning, particularly in Maths where they have come across a new strategy to help them bridge over to the tens column when adding, in preparing for adding two digit numbers. In English, the children have been exploring descriptive language and how we can use adjectives, nouns, verbs and adverbs to describe snowy settings, like the ones found in the ‘Ice Cat’ novel. Some of their setting descriptions are truly beautiful and reflect just how much they have learnt from out book study over the last few weeks.

Towards the end of the week we have been immersed in our Science learning. The children have developed their co-operative skills by working in small groups to research and find out more about the bones in the human skeleton. The classroom has been buzzing with focus and enthusiasm, as new facts have been uncovered. On Friday our detective hats came on as we discovered a very large handprint. Many questions were asked and we became pretty certain that the handprint belonged to a giant! This led us towards an investigation…“Do taller people have longer handprints taller?”

Let’s Celebrate!

A Co-operative and Enthusiastic learner : Erin

What a bundle of joy you are Erin. Alongside your enthusiasm you are such a caring member of our class family. You work with others with such love and compassion, always supporting your partner and encouraging them to keep trying. Thank you Erin, for always being the kind and caring girl that you are. We appreciate this kindness every day and as we watch you and listen to your words of encouragement… our hearts are full of joy and love.

An Creative learner :Benjamin

Thank you for always taking such care and attention with your work Benjamin, you always put 100% effort and this never goes unnoticed. Every single day, in every discussion we have, you think so deeply and share your creative ideas, which we always love to hear! Thank you for your enthusiasm, your creativity and your focus, you are an absolute delight to teach. Keep reaching for the stars…. You are already shining so brightly.

Notices…

• Homework is given out on a Friday and due in again on a Thursday- there are a number of children who are not completing this, please could you encourage this at home, many thanks.

Year 3 21.1.22 - "Curiosity is the wick in the candle of learning" - William Arthur Ward

It’s been a jam-packed week for us in Year 3! Today we finished our class novel as we read and unpicked the final chapter together. We have had drama and debates as we have come to learn more about Tom and how he learnt to handle his emotions. The children have had to think deeply to understand the reasons for Tom’s actions, something which proved to be a bit of a challenge to begin with. I have been so impressed with their creative minds when constructing their sentences, we really do have many super writers!

We have continued to be curious and active learners, this week with the help of our wonderful parish priest, Father Peter. He joined us for a special virtual call and the children asked him different questions that they have been curious to wonder about. The children loved seeing Father Peter and listened with such interest to his wise words.

Let’s Celebrate!

A Focused and Enthusiastic learner : Gabriella

You have had a super week! It has been so nice to hear others in our class notice your kind actions throughout the week. During our class council one of your class friends shared how you had made them feel special by smiling at them during lunch time and playing so nicely with them. You have also been trying SO hard to focus during our lessons and we have really noticed this, particularly in your writing!

An Enthusiastic learner : Ola

What can we say Ola?! You are such an enthusiastic learner. Watching you during your music lesson this week was just wonderful, your enthusiasm was shining so brightly! You have shown this same excitement towards your writing by listening carefully, participating during our discussions and getting fully immersed in our drama, acting out scenes from our novel. Well done Ola, keep up the great work!

Notices…

• We are starting to get a collection of water bottles in class with no name on. Please could you make sure all bottles and snack pots that children bring in have their names on, it really does help to send them home if they get left.

• Homework is given out on a Friday and due in again on a Thursday- there are a number of children who are not completing this, please could you encourage this at home, many thanks.

Finally, once again in music the children have been so enthusiastic (our little Bobby bees!) and are desperate to share with you another piece of music, this time they have had to focus carefully listening to the beat of the music.

Year 3 blog 12.11.21 - '95% of what a child learns is through direct experience'

Wow what a week we have had in Year 3! We started the week in the woods, where we learnt so much about the Stone Age way of life, learning through play and experience, giving the children a broader approach to their History topic. We were all so impressed with the way they all worked together to build their shelters, communicating, planning and reflecting on how they can make their shelters strong enough. Just a few of our favourite pictures below …

Year 3 Learning this week …

We really don’t think we could have fit any more learning in to one week… the children have been so engaged and focused, that we have been able to fill our timetable of exciting learning! In History this week, we have been finishing off our History topic before we move on to our Geography topic of the Arctic. This week the children have studied evidence that was found at an Iron Age settlement in Danebury in Hampshire and have been detectives on a mission to find out and report who and why 52 bodies were found at an Iron Age Fort, Maiden Castle. The children worked in groups to study evidence carefully placed around the room, where they had to fill in a report and come up with their own theories…

In Maths this week we have been using representatives and models to make 1, 10 and 100 less or more than a three digit number. In English we have started looking at Non-fiction texts in preparation for our non-chronological report writing. The children have analysed texts, looking at their purpose, audience, language and structure. Year 3 are loving their music lessons with our music specialist Mrs Mallinson, last half term they were learning about how to hold a pulse and beat, take a look at the videos below to get a sneaky peak of what they have been learning in class …

Let’s Celebrate!

A reflective and focused learner Jacob :

You are such a beautifully behaved member of our class Jacob. Alongside this you are also so incredibly focused, and we are loving hearing you wonderful ideas more during our discussions. Keep focusing carefully and reflecting on your learning… you are going to continue to go from strength to strength. Well done Jacob!

A determined learner Ola :

A huge well done for always showing such determination and focus during your learning. You have been determined to master cursive handwriting, showing  such care towards the presentation of your work, your cursive handwriting in now beautiful!  Well done Ola, we are so proud of you!

Notices…

• WELLIES… we are trying to use our outdoor space more, which means that some playtimes we might be using the field. Could children please bring in a pair of wellies that they can keep in school? Could all wellies be clearly labelled with their names and in a plastic bag that is also labelled with their name, that they can hang on their pegs.

• You may remember that a month or so ago, we placed a letter on the blog explaining all about our HRSE curriculum in school and stated that Year 3 will be starting the Kidsafe HRSE programme after the Christmas holidays. However, due to having such a great impact on the children in Year 5 who started it this term, we have decided as a school that each class will deliver the sessions in Autumn 2. Year 3 will be starting this next week, so please take time to read the information in the attached letter if you haven’t done so already, many thanks.