Friday 15th December
As the term comes to the end, Year 3 have kept super busy!
Last week the children worked very hard, showing how much they have learnt this term in English and maths. We also had a great morning making flapjacks for the ‘Save the Children’ bake sale.
On Tuesday we had a fabulous assembly from Yamaha music. We found out about the names of different drums and listened to some excellent solos, by the visitors and some of the children!
We were also lucky enough to get a ‘sneak preview’ of the Key Stage One Christmas performance.
In English, we have continued working on the text ‘Stone Age Boy’ by Satoshi Kitamura. We are planning to write a non-chronological report about life in the Stone Age. We have just started a new book for our reading lessons called ‘The Abominables’ by Eva Ibbotson, which we are very excited about.
In maths, we have been learning all about the properties of 2D and 3D shapes. We have also been working on finding directions using the four points of the compass and on explaining pictograms where an image is halved.
In history, we have focused on trade in the Iron Age and the children enjoyed playing a game to find out how difficult it was to make a fair trade.
In computing we have been learning how to
sequence blocks of code to make musical
sound effects.
Merry Christmas Everyone!
Enjoy a well-earned break!
Friday 1st December 2023
It is hard to believe that we are already a full four weeks into the second half term of the year! We have certainly had a busy time in year three.
Due to some coincidences of timing, we ended up with two trips into Newcastle in the same week! We loved exploring the Great North Museum and looking closely at artefacts from prehistoric times, linking in with our new ‘Stone Age to Iron Age’ topic. Then two days later we were down at the Gateshead quayside rehearsing and performing with our cornets at the Glasshouse International Centre for Music. What a successful (but exhausting) week!
We have been getting on brilliantly with work inside the school building as well. In English, we have just completed some extremely intimidating persuasive letters, writing as if we were Miss Trunchbull from Matilda. We have started having a look at our new focus text, ‘Stone Age Boy’, which ties in brilliantly with our history work, as well as reading the superb story ‘The Iron Man’ by Ted Hughes.
In maths lessons, we have completed our first unit of work on fractions and have now moved on to look at shape. We enjoyed using our rulers carefully to draw and explore different types of lines and various 2D shapes. It is a good challenge!
We are getting stuck into programming and coding in computing lessons and have started exploring the programming language of Scratch together. We are already being extremely ambitious and creative with the programs we are developing.
On Careers Day on Thursday, we really enjoyed meeting Annabel, a clinical dietitian from the Northumbria Healthcare Trust. She told us all about her job and gave us some valuable experiences planning balanced meals, which provided an excellent link with our current science work.
What a busy end to the half term!
In English, we have been working on poetry based on Rachel Rooney’s excellent collection of poems, “A Kid in my Class”. The children practised and performed the poems with some lovely expression and actions.
In maths, we have started learning about fractions and the children are managing this tricky topic very well.
We had a wonderful time at Ashington Rugby Club on Monday. The children took part in a range of rugby themed games and were an absolute credit to the school.
On Thursday we had a very exciting Design Technology day with a seasonal produce theme. We learnt some food technology skills, producing some delicious fruit tarts.
We have also been busy practising our short piece of drama ready for Friday’s Harvest Festival.
Have a well earned rest over the holiday, we have another very exciting half term planned when we return!
Here is an update on what year 3 have been busy doing over the last couple of weeks!
In English, we have been putting ourselves in the shoes of the explorer from the exciting short animation ‘Once in a Lifetime’, and we have been writing expressive diary entries to show his thoughts and opinions. What a day he had!
In maths, we have been working hard to master the skill of column addition and subtraction, and how to lay out the questions in our books. We have used place value counters to understand the different things that happen when we solve additions and subtractions in this way, especially useful to show the times when we need to exchange a ten for ten ones to help us!
The afternoons at the end of each week are packed full! On Wednesday afternoons we have our brass lessons, and we are making excellent progress each week with our brass teacher, Mrs Chinery. We are gaining confidence in playing different notes and knowing which fingers to use! We now also do whole school singing on a Thursday afternoon, and are learning a range of Harvest songs.
Computing has been a big focus over the last few weeks, as we have been working on touch typing skills as well as learning to log on and off from the laptops independently. We also enjoyed our online safety workshop with special visitor Mr Bailey last week. We thought really carefully about how to make sensible choices when we use devices connected to the internet.
In RE, we are considering what Christian people can learn from the creation story, and have been thinking about how the encouragement in the bible to look after our planet ties in with the values of our class hero, David Attenborough!
This week has been very busy as we have started to learn about lots of interesting new topics. We have started a new book called ‘The Tunnel’ which sees a brother and sister going on a magical adventure. Our reading lessons this term focus on the book ‘Matilda’ by Roald Dahl. We also visited the school library on Monday to find another Roald Dahl book for our story time each day; we settled on ‘The Twits’.
In maths, we have started the year with lessons to consolidate our knowledge of place value. We have been using practical equipment and different representations to help us.
Afternoons have been fully packed as well! We started our Geography topic by learning about the layers of the Earth. In science, we began learning about the human skeleton and Mrs. Morris was impressed with our existing knowledge. We also had a great time using the Commando Joe’s equipment to design our own fitness activities for the class to use.