Year 3 Class News

Parents Evening Times

Staying Safe Week

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yOKVqOtUVdA”>Safety Week

Subtracting using a number line

Using a number line to find the difference between two numbers (to subtract) is a mental maths strategy that many of us do without realising.  To help children get used to the mental strategy, we teach them to draw the line to visualise the difference, and then make jumps (the fewer, the better).

If you’re not convinced, think about how you might calculate 2003 – 1995 or 180 – 95… Very few people would be able to use a traditional column method to get the answer quickly and accurately.  We do teach the column method as a written maths strategy, too – but that’s better for bigger and more complicated numbers!

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NHEng-jRWlQ’ >Subtracting using a number line

Firemen at Moortown

Year 3 and 4 have been treated to a lesson in fire safety by two professional firemen. Unfortunately, they were unavailable (for some unknown reason) during school hours but they decided to do a video instead to remind the children about what to do in case of a fire.

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fBEOdHlQnDQ

The children then wrote down some instructions detailing what to do if there is a fire.

Well done!

Well done to pupils and parents in Y3 for your excellent attendance figures last year, in Y2.

The class had much higher attendance figures and much lower unauthorised absences than Leeds schools overall, and also, very importantly, better figures than our ‘statistical neighbours’ – these are schools that are most similar to us.

The attendance record for the class was the best in the school.  This excellent data certainly helped the school overall to meet our school target for the year – thank you. 

A Year 3 Learning Video

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k1Ilw_Kd3e8′>Petal Method Video

Welcome to Year 3!

Hello and welcome to the Year 3 Class News!

It’s been an excellent start to the year and I’ve been really impressed by the children’s fantastic attitude to their learning. In the Class News this year you’ll find all sorts of information about what we’ve been doing in school.

Below are some information about routines in Year 3.

PE

PE is on Mondays and Fridays. Please make sure that children have suitable outdoor and indoor PE kits.

Reading

Reading this year is a little different to Year 2. The children will read with me once a week in small groups. At the end of this session, the children will be given a target page to get to by the next time they read with me. As the group are all reading the same book it’s really important that they don’t read past the target page! If the children have reached their target page they can read a different book from home or I can arrange for them to take home an additional book from school.  During the week other adults will usually read with the children too. However, it’s really important that the children read at home with an adult as well.

Homework

The routine for homework is the same as in Year 2. It will be given out most Fridays and is expected in the following Wednesday. Children are expected to spend between 30 minutes – 1 hour on their homework. It should only cover one page of their homework book.

Tables and spellings

Tables and spellings are given out on Fridays and will be tested the following Friday. The yellow Learning Lists book has the spellings and tables listed in them. Children can practise for the tests in these books at home. They should be brought back into school each day so the children can practise in school and so that the new lists can be put in on Fridays.

Thanks very much for taking the time to read through the first post of the year. They won’t usually be as long as this one! If you have any questions at all or just want to say hello, please come and find me. If you can’t see me on the playground I’ll probably be in the classroom – just ask at the office for someone to show you where I am!

Staying Safe themed week 26 September

We are looking for parents / carers who have a job related to safety.

If you can spare some time, during our Staying Safe themed week (26 September), to come in to talk to the children about how safety affects your work please speak to your child’s class teacher or leave a message at the office.

Thank you.

Write away!

Did you know we have two published authors in our school community?

Year 3 parent, Emma Barnes, has a new book out for children called How (Not) to Make Bad Children Good. Aimed at 7-10s, it’s the story of naughty child, Martha, who is so bad that an Interstellar Agent, Fred, is sent to Earth to try and sort her out.  Emma will be appearing at Waterstones on Saturday 24 September.

We’re all very proud that Carolyn Hazell, our Year 6 teacher, is also a published author.  Her book, Pav the Plumber Saves the Day, is popular amongst our children, and a great resource in school to promote reading and writing.  Our current Year 6 pupils are being inspired to write great character descriptions, and a former pupil described Miss Hazell as ‘inspiring’ as a teacher and writer.

New SEAL statement and theme

As we start the new school year, our SEAL (Social and Emotional Aspects of Learning) theme focuses on New Beginnings and ‘I can make someone feel welcome‘ is the statement for this week.

New Beginnings

New beginnings allows children the opportunity to discuss and reflect on how they or others may feel in a new situation or setting.  This SEAL theme offers children the opportunity to see themselves as valued individuals within a community, and to contribute to shaping a welcoming, safe and fair learning community for all.

The key areas of learning throughout this theme are empathy, self-awareness, social skills and motivation.

Through discrete SEAL lessons, circle times and across the curriculum, children will explore feelings of happiness and excitement, sadness, anxiety and fearfulness, while learning (and putting into practice) shared models for calming down and problem-solving.

New beginnings supports the development of a learning community in each classroom where all members feel that they belong.  Class contracts, produced at the start of the year, allow children to contribute to how they feel they can achieve a safe and fair learning community.