From Decapolagests to Hellos and Goodbyes – Year 3’s Weekly Round-Up
This week’s maths has been all about giving context to our calculations by telling a story and asking a question. For example: “Talha had 452 cookies. Kashif gave him 30 more. How many cookies did Talha have altogether?” We used our place value grids to tackle these calculations and these will help us with our column addition next week.
Collaborative learning has been a recurrent theme across the week, where we’ve given feedback on each other’s learning in English and worked together to find facts in a newspaper article…
… and used our sketching skills to draw a new species of animal we found on our exploration (Emily discovered a Decapolagest!). We did this by drawing its head, eyes and mouth and passing it to the next person. Next, we drew the body, arms and wings and passed it on. Then, we drew the creature’s legs and tail. Finally, we drew the animal’s feet!
It certainly produced some humorous results!
Our wacky pictures helped us plan a descriptive piece of writing.
Continuing the team work theme, in groups we have also researched our continents in our topic lessons, and presented our findings to the class!
Using our drama skills, we recreated a scene from a short film. When Miss Wilson shouted, ‘Freeze frame!’ we had to hold our positions whilst the audience discussed how each character would be feeling and why, using what we knew from the clip.
Here are some action shots from our PE lesson, where we practised our ginormous jumping and our huge handstands.
We even got the benches out for some balance and stretching, for the first time! It was very exciting!
Sadly, this week, we had to say goodbye to two of our classmates: Maya and Setayesh. You will both be deeply missed and we wish you lots of luck for your new schools, but we’re sure you will both be fantastic!
A humongous welcome to our new friend Talha, who joined the Year 3 team on Thursday! Already, you are a valued member of the class and I look forward to getting to know you better.
From Addition Missions to Egg Rolls – Year 3’s Weekly Round-Up
We took on the role of spies this week in Maths, with secret addition missions to accomplish. We also practised how to mark our own answers and we’re shaping up to be independent and responsible learners.
For a more concrete representation, we have used place value grids to help us visualise how to add a 3 digit number to a 1 digit number.
Our maths talk this week has revolved around explaining what happens when we solve these calculations.
In English, this week, we have analysed what makes a good description. This helped us write our own as a group…
… and then move to more independent writing by the end of the week. I have been blown away by the quality of the children’s writing, especially their use of expanded noun phrases and prepositions.
As we continue our journey with our Explorers topic, we identified and described human and physical features of geography. Our flying ship was cut off from its communications with HQ this week, so we had to describe our location using photos taken out of the portholes.
PE was a highlight of the week again, as we continued to work on our flexibility and coordination in gymnastics. Some of the stretches were a little tricky but I’m sure our core strength will be improving as the weeks go by! Why not try a back support or an egg roll whilst you’re watching TV or even doing your spellings!
We’ve discussed what it means to be a part of a team, alongside our Living and Learning theme this week: “I am resourceful. I am resilient.” We talked about our goals and how we will need these two Rs for Learning to achieve them.
Well done to certificate winners Leo, who is a great example of someone who doesn’t give up when they face a challenge, and Nryan, whose spelling investigation impressed me greatly.
Another fantastic week in Year 3 – well done to everyone!
After-school clubs – it’s not too late to sign up
Our Autumn term after-school clubs start next week for 8 weeks.
We do have some spaces available so please contact the office if you would like your child/children to take part.
Clubs on offer include hockey, multi-sports, multi-skills, dance, gymnastics, cookery, Lego Club and Code Club.
School Savings Club dates for paying in
The School Savings Club paying in sessions for this year are at 3.15-3.45pm on the following dates (the penultimate Thursday of each half term).
- 12 October
- 07 December
- 01 February
- 22 March
- 17 May
- 12 July
If you’re unable to attend in person, please hand in any money to be deposited to the office in a sealed envelope addressed to Mrs Tiffany.
Information will shortly be sent home about the accounts and if your child would like to open account, please enquire at the office. There is an extra incentive for pupils in Year 3 as Leeds City Council will add £10 to your child’s account.
From Party Poppers to Human Number Lines – Year 3’s Weekly Round-Up
Welcome aboard!
This week marks the beginning of our Explorers topic and so we welcome our newest member of the Year 3 team.
A vote was taken to decide their name; introducing… Bobby the astronaut!
(Somehow, tables 1, 2, 3 and 5 didn’t take to the Table 4 suggestion.)
To delve into the mind of an explorer, we had lots of lively discussion about what sort of items they should pack into their travel bag.
From fast food menus (“No! How will they deliver to half way up a mountain?” vs “Yes – we could use the paper to start a fire.”) to party poppers (“We shouldn’t pack it – setting them off could scare animals.” vs “Yes – if we discover a new species, we need something to celebrate with.”), we debated it all. We also used maps to locate supplies lost by our flying ship in a terrible storm:
In maths this week, we’ve been ordering numbers to 1000. This was quite a tricky skill, so we made sure to keep our brains engaged with some active maths. Here we are creating human number lines:
Next, we put our skills to the test in a place value number line challenge. We made actions to help us remember the steps for putting numbers on a number line!
Our English theme for the week has been grammar. We’ve looked at conjunctions, proper nouns, verbs and pronouns. For example, we extended sentences using conjunctions:
Our rusty, old car broke down.
Our rusty, old car broke down although it wasn’t really broken.
Our rusty, old car broke down although it wasn’t really broken, so we had to get a taxi.
To improve the flow of our writing, we looked at changing proper nouns for pronouns. For example:
Jessica waved at Felix and Felix waved back at Jessica.
Jessica waved at Felix and he waved back at her.
Balance, coordination and team work were all skills we used in our PE lesson this week! Maybe one of us will be the next Kyle Wilson!
I’ve been absolutely blown away by the creative homework this week. Each child interpreted the task in their own way and produced some wonderful results. We really enjoyed discussing our own efforts and the effort of others. Here are some highlights, featuring the character Dark himself!
Well done to certificate winners Setayesh and Musa! Both of you are an asset to this class and it’s great to see such enthusiastic and responsible learners!
Practice that feels like play!
Practice that feels like play! Does this sound beneficial for your child? Have a look at IXL. It’s an online tool where you can access different activities to help your child practise basic skills.
It’s split into year groups, specifically looking at English and Maths, then each subject is broken down into sections. You can get a flavour of the activities by hovering over the title and can have a go at some of them – it looks great fun and very child friendly. The questions are all interactive and there are detailed explanations for new concepts.
There is a small monthly fee if you wish to sign up. Take a look – it might be something you want to explore.
From constellation art to Mr Fluffy – Year 3’s weekly round-up
This week, the children were extremely excited to make their monsters. As you can see from their facial expressions, they came up with some terrifying creatures! Challenge your child to describe their monster using interesting adjectives!
We discussed vocabulary and their impact upon readers with ‘shades of meaning’. Children worked in groups and talked about what each word meant and where an author might use it.
We had a go at acting out each word, from creeping to marching, from worried to petrified:
Great drama skills!
In maths, we have been working on missing number patterns, using detective skills to figure out which numbers complete the sequence. Not only have we been practising our 5s this week, but also counting in 50s with our ‘First to 1000’ game!
We used iPads and books to research the question: ‘What is a constellation?’, and presented our results back to the class…
We drew known constellations, but designed and named our own creations, too!
We have also been inspired to make some constellation art, using different paints and glitter. Hopefully we’ll have some clear evenings this weekend so you can go stargazing, something a lot of children have been very enthusiastic about. See if you can spot any of the constellations we’ve talked about this week!
Sadly, this week brings the end of our time with Orion and the Dark, but children have been writing their own version of the story. With some fantastically creative ideas from the class, we turned the story on its head and entitled ours ‘Orion and the Sun’. A boy who is afraid to go outside goes on an adventure with his new friend Sunny to find out if there’s more to life than his video games! I’m looking forward to reading the results!
A warm welcome to our new class pet, Mr Fluffy…
…who helped us discuss our Living and Learning theme for this week which was “I show I am ready to learn and I respond to feedback”. Congratulations to Jessica, who won this week’s Living and Learning certificate, for our brilliant conversations about her work and for always being one of the first ready to learn. Congratulations to Adam, this week’s Star of the Week, for his enthusiasm, contribution and all round hard work.
Another great week in Y3! Well done everyone!
Key Stage 2 tuck shop
Our fruit tuck shop returns next Tuesday, 19 September. The tuck shop is available for Years 3 – 6 at playtime every Tuesday and we regularly sell over 100 portions of fruit every week.
The cost per portion of 20p remains the same this year and children can either pay weekly by bringing money on the day or take advantage of our pre-payment offer of one free week per term.
Please return the prepayment reply slip by the end of the week if you would like your child to have that option.
Here are some quotes about our tuck shop from the recent pupil health questionnaires.
- ‘It is excellent as you get a range of different fruits.’
- ‘I think tuck shop has yummy fruits.’
- ‘You are selling healthy stuff which is good for us.’
- ‘You don’t feel hungry during lesson time.’
- ‘I really like it as it is a nice healthy snack.’
- ‘It’s very good and keeps our school healthy.’
- ‘You get to have fruit at a low price and it helps you to have one of your 5 a day.’
Welcome back to Y3!
What a fantastic first week of this Autumn term! I have thoroughly enjoyed listening to your children recount their summer adventures and getting to know them a little better.
This week, in Maths, we’ve been working on counting and place value using hundreds, tens and ones. I have been so impressed with the children’s ability to explain their reasoning, which is very tricky!
Our class novel for the first two weeks is Orion and the Dark, a book about a boy who explores his greatest fear on an adventure. We were inspired to write our own descriptions of monsters:
We have also been designing our own real life monsters using our descriptive plans…
… and our sketch books!
We’ll make our monsters out of clay next week, so watch this space!
This week’s Living and Learning theme has been “I greet someone politely”. We discussed what this means and the different ways you can achieve this in our first circle time:
A highlight of ours this week has got to be this humongous courgette brought in for show and tell. The children (and I!) had lots of questions!
Thank you to all the children for working extremely hard to make our first week so amazing. I am very excited for the journey ahead.
Living and Learning
Living and Learning is our new name for SEAL (Social and Emotional Aspects of Learning).
Living and Learning will continue to cover SEAL learning but will also incorporate other aspects of PSHE (Personal, Social and Health Education) such as keeping safe, identity, drug education, physical health, rights and responsibilities and healthy minds.
We begin our Living and Learning learning this week with a focus on manners: I can greet someone politely.
For the rest of this half-term, we’re thinking about the ‘8 Rs for learning’. This theme is about promoting good learning behaviour for your child.
Each week, we’ll focus on two different ‘Rs’. We use an animal to symbolise each ‘R’, which might help your child remember all eight – can your child remember which animal matches the correct ‘R’?
You can support your child at home – we’ve listed a few ideas to help you below. Ask us if you’ve any questions or comments.
Download top tips for promoting the 8Rs for good learning behaviour.
I can show I am ready to learn.
Make sure your child is at school for a prompt start of 08:50.
Make sure your child has had plenty of sleep so they are alert and ready to learn at all times.
Encourage your child to ask lots of questions – that shows they want to learn!
I respond to feedback.
Ask your child if they remember their ‘stars’ and ‘steps’ in English and Maths.
I take a safe risk.
Talk about the difference between a safe and unsafe risk. At school, we want your child to take a safe risk by having a go at answering, even if unsure; trying something new and attempting harder learning.
I take responsibility for my own learning.
Provide time and space at home so your child is able to organise themselves: their PE kit, reading book, homework, spellings and tables… Don’t organise everything for them!
Make a link between rights and responsibilities: your child has the right to a great education, but needs to be responsible for their own learning.
I am resourceful.
Encourage your child to be organised so they can play with a range of different toys.
Encourage your child to try new ways to solve a tricky problem.
I am resilient.
Encourage your child to keep going! Set a tricky challenge or puzzle for your child to do.
Encourage your child to think of different ways of doing things.
Don’t let your child win when they play a game – they need to experience losing, too!
Celebrate mistakes as opportunities to learn – be happy that your child found some learning hard and encourage them to ‘bounce back’ and learn from the experience.
I remember.
Make sure they have time to learn spellings, number bonds and times tables – a little practice daily is best.
Play memory games:
Kim’s game: show them objects for 30 seconds… can they remember all the objects?
Can they build up the sequence, ‘I went to the shop and I bought an apple’… ‘I went to the shop and I bought an apple and a bike.’… ‘I went to the shop and I bought an apple, a bike and a cucumber.’ etc … Take turns!
I reflect about my learning.
Talk with your child about what they’ve learnt, asking questions about:
how they learnt
why they learnt it
when they’ll use their learning
how they would teach this to someone else
what learning might link with what they’ve learnt today etc