Year 3 Spelling

It’s the Easter holidays…

…so we have no set homework or spellings, in line with our Homework Policy.

That doesn’t mean we expect your child not to be developing their skills in reading, writing and maths!

Your child should be reading daily – this could be fiction, factual books, a comic or newspaper, and could include being read to at bedtime, too.

It would be good to practise basic skills in writing by writing a letter or email to a relative, perhaps recounting a day-trip or reviewing a film your child watched.

We’re finding quite a few children are ‘squashing their sentences’ such as I went to Leeds City Museum it was really interesting which is wrong.  It would be much better with punctuation to separate or a word to join:

• I went to Leeds City Museum. It was really interesting. (A comma isn’t strong enough to separate two sentences.)
• I went to Leeds City Museum – it was really interesting.
• I went to Leeds City Museum; it was really interesting.
• I went to Leeds City Museum and it was really interesting.
• I went to Leeds City Museum which was really interesting.

Finally, to improve calculation skills, please keep practising mental number facts which your child must know:

• number bonds (two numbers which add up to 10, 20 and 100 eg 3+7, 13+7, 30+70) – these facts should be known by children in Y1 – Y2
• times tables (up to 12×12) and the division facts with your child – children in Y2 should have rapid recall of x2, x 5 and x 10 at least

We know we mention these ‘basics’ a lot, but that’s because they involve practice, practice and more practice – we practise a lot at school, but your child will need to practise at home, too, if they are to truly succeed.

Learn more about current expectations for reading, writing and maths.  However, do be aware that a new National Curriculum comes into effect from September, meaning these expectations have been raised and so many aspects of learning now feature in younger age groups.

28 March 2014

This is the fifth (and final) spelling week about verbs. This time, all the verbs have irregular past tense changes. For example,

• I am going to sleep.
• He sleeps.
• I slept.
• I am sleeping / I was sleeping.
  

The past tense version (slept) is irregular as it doesn’t follow the normal pattern of adding ed (we don’t say ‘sleeped’).

21 March 2014

This is the fourth spelling week about verbs. This time, all the verbs end in a y. For the present and past tense forms, you need to drop the y for an i and then add es (present tense) or ed (past tense).

As before, the verbs are listed in their infinitive, present tense, past tense and continuous forms (this form could be either past or present tense).

• Infinitive – I cry.
• Present – She cries
• Past – I cried
• Continuous – I was crying or  I am crying.

14 March 2014

This is the third spelling week about verbs. This time, all the verbs contain a long vowel sound and end in e. This e is dropped when it’s changed to the continuous form.

As before, the verbs are listed in their infinitive, present tense, past tense and continuous (this form could be either past or present tense).

• Infinitive – I like to shop.
• Present – She shops very often.
• Past – She shopped all day long.
• Continuous (called the gerund) – She was shopping.  She is shopping.

07 March 2014

This is the second spelling week about verbs. This time, all the verbs contain a short vowel sound which needs to be ‘doubled up’ when changed to the past or continuous form. As before, the verbs are listed in their infinitive, present tense, past tense and continuous (this form could be either past or present tense).

• Infinitive – I like to shop.
• Present – She shops very often.
• Past – She shopped all day long.
• Continuous – She was shopping or She is shopping.

28 February 2014

For the next few weeks we will learn about verbs. The verbs are listed in their infinitive, present tense, past tense and continuous (this could be either past or present tense) form.

• Infinitive – I like to cook.
• Present – She cooks very well.
• Past – She cooked a lovely meal.
• Continuous – She was cooking.  She is cooking.

Children will be tested on eight of the words on Friday o7 March.

It’s half-term…

It’s the half-term, so in line with our current homework policy, there are no homework tasks or spellings to learn.

However, please make sure you’re reading lots with your child – we’re finding children are reading less than they need to if they are to gain fluency and understanding.  You could take your child to a local library, hunt down an old favourite to re-visit, plan a story book for each bedtime over the holiday, read more about a favourite subject on the internet, buy a comic or magazine… And, so they have good role models, make sure your child sees you read, too!

Our current homework policy will be reviewed soon.  A small number of you have told us you’re not entirely happy with it – it would be really helpful if you tell us more about what you’d like.  Send us an email or speak with Mrs Weekes or me about this.  Thank you.

07 February 2014

Our spellings this week investigate how words change when er and est are added. In the list, all the words are adjectives – they describe nouns.

Notice how you drop the y for an i when changing the root word to er or est.

31 January 2014

Our spellings this week investigate how words change when er and est are added.  In the list, all the words are adjectives – they describe nouns.

Notice how, when adding er and est, the final consonant is doubled due to the short vowel which precedes it.

24 January 2014

The rule for this week is double up for a short vowel sound.

This week, all the spellings are animals which contain a short vowel sound followed by a double consonant.