Year 3

 Letters

Christmas Production 'Lights, Camel, Action' - Lyrics, Music & Dance Moves

Year 3 Autumn Term Curriculum Update - 22.11.2023

Year 3 Essential Learning Guide

Year 3 Parent Information Session - 03.10.2023 

 

 

Autumn Term Information Letter - 08.09.2023

• Computing Knowledge Organiser
• SPAG Knowledge Organiser
• 100 Books
• Modern Foreign Languages Knowledge Organiser
• Music Knowledge Organiser
• Religious Education Knowledge Organiser
• Science Knowledge Organiser
• Number and Place Value Knowledge Organiser
• Being in My World Knowledge Organiser 

Year 3 Blogs

20 October 2023

Over the past two weeks we have finished our learning on The Sea Book. We have enjoyed looking at a non-fiction text and seeing how the illustrator has decided to layout each page. We used the book to follow instructions to make our own shopping bag. 

We have finished the story of the Seal Surfer by Michael Foreman. The children have written their letters to Grandad telling him about the events he had missed. I am very proud of all the children’s efforts, and these will be used to make a display in our classroom.  

We have been working hard on our timetables since the start of term and the children have practised their 2s, 5s, 10s, 3s and 6s. They have really enjoying dancing along to the Super movers on BBC Bitesize. Please follow the link to help your child practise these timetables over the half term.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/teach/supermovers/ks2-maths-collection/z7frpg8

In our PE session this week we ended our6 week block of footwork and ball skills with lots of mini games of basketball. The children showed some great Teamwork and we have a lots of competitive children in Year 3!

In Art we have been colour mixing to create different tones of blue to represent the Ocean. The children then worked hard to make a tone circle to represent the depth of the sea. They then added a Turtle to finish their ocean art.

After October half term we will be focusing our writing on the book ‘The Winter’s Child’ by Angela McAllister and our reading will focus on the book ‘The Ice Palace’ by Robert Swindells. 

  

6 October 2023

Over the past two weeks the children have really worked on their presentation for their work in their books. All children are now writing in pen, and they are taking pride in their writing.

We have finished the story of the Seal Surfer by Michael Foreman and are now planning our letters to Grandad. 

This week in our reading sessions we have been using the Sea Book to help us find facts about Coral. We have researched new vocabulary such as polyps and anemones.

In spellings we are still developing our understanding of the correct use of suffixes and have learnt two important rules:

• If the root word is more than one syllable and ends in -y with a consonant before it, change the -y to an -ibefore adding the suffix. ​
• If the root word is only one syllable and ends in –y, just add the suffix.

The children were very excited last Friday when we had a visit to the IT suite over in Secondary. The children took part in the BBC 500 words story challenge. They then were able to use their computing skills to type up their story. They were very proud of themselves.

On Wednesday the children took part in Harvest Live! This was delivered by NFU Education. The children went on an adventure through the countryside to explore the fascinating journey their food takes to reach their plates and met some of the people responsible for producing it.

 

22 September 2023

What an amazing start of the school term we have had. The children have really took on the role of being the oldest children in the school. They have been amazing in helping the younger children at playtime and lunch time. 

The children have really worked hard in areas of learning since returning from the summer. 

In our writing sessions we have been looking at the book ‘The Seal Surfer’ by Michael Foreman. The children have been predicting, writing alternative openings, riddles and writing diary entries. The children have been developing their use of prepositions and punctuation. 

  

This week in Spellings we have discussed what they notice about how -ed and -ing have been applied to the original root words. For example: pat would be patted, patting.

The children are really enjoying their PE sessions and we are working on footwork, jumping and landing and how to work on beating our Personal Best (PB)

  

Blogs from Year 2

7 July 2023

Year 2 have had fun this week! We have had our first French lesson led by Madame Foubert.  In Year 3, we will be having weekly French lessons.  The children learnt to greet each other and to ask and give their names in French.

On Thursday we had an amazing music session via Zoom with a folk group called the Young'uns.  The children helped to write the lyrics and the tune.  Their behaviour and contributions were excellent and the group were so impressed with Year 2.  

 

The visit to the Sea Life Centre was excellent.  We started off with a talk about sea creatures found in rock pools and then stroked a starfish.  We then walked around the centre, looking at the many displays of sea creatures.  We loved seeing the penguins being fed and the baby seals.  After lunch, we went onto the beach and collected shells or paddled in the water.  Great fun was had by all! 

 

 

 

 

 

30 June 2023

Wow!  What a busy week Year 2 have had! On Monday, all children took part in Primary Sports afternoon.  The children were fantastic, showing great resilience and teamwork.  Well done all for participating.  Especially well done to Green Team, the winners.

 

This week, our DT activity was to help prepare and cook the vegetable chilli for Forest School.  We learnt about the importance of hand washing and how to chop vegetables safely.  Following the recommendation of one pupil, we all stirred in some love to the chilli to make it taste sweeter!

This week, we had two workshops from the Mental Health Team who came to talk about friendships, our feelings and about resilience.  We were reminded about how important our friends are and how to keep talking about our feelings.

On Wednesday, we were at Forest School all day.  The children had a great time playing games, hammer printing, weaving, whittling sticks and climbing on the equipment.  They all sat around the campfire and tried our home-made vegetable chilli with rice, tortilla chips, wraps and lots of other goodies.  Thanks to everyone for contributing food and to Mrs Jackson for setting fire school up and for organising such a fun day. 

  

 

23 June 2023

This week in English, the children have continued to work from the book: Grandad’s Secret Giant.  They have also been writing cinquains. Here are a few examples: 

In computing, we have been enjoying composing our own versions of Twinkle Twinkle using a software program on the iPads.

  

In PE we have been practising for for Sports Day with Mr Suckling. 

 

After making and firing our clay tiles in Art, we are now glazing them.  They will soon be ready to be sold at the Year 2 stall at the Summer Fair. 

 

16 June 2023

This week in English, the children have been writing some stories based on the book: The Three Little Wolves and the Big Bad Pig.  We have been amazed by their creative writing.

At Forest School this week, the children were weaving wool using branches.  They enjoyed playing outside in the cooler areas under the trees and the game: Giants, Wizards and Gnomes. 

 

  

In DT, work has continued with our bag tags.  The children have been busy adding the embellishments to decorate their tags.  Their sewing skills have really improved and they have loved this project. 

This week in Art, the children have been drawing pictures of flowers.  They then used their pictures to create a flower design onto a clay tile which will be fired later this week.

9 June 2023

For English this week, we have started reading our new book, Grandad’s Secret Giant by David Litchfield.  We have started to make predictions about the book and describe the setting using excellent noun phrases.

In Maths we have continued with more fractions.  To ‘lighten the load’ we decided to find fractions outdoors in the sunshine!

 

26 May 2023

In Computing this week, Year 2 have enjoyed learning about some of the Impressionist artists, including Claude Monet and Georges Seurat.  They have created their own impressionist art using a digital program, 2 Paint. Here are some of their examples:

We have started our Sewing project in DT.  This week, the children have been starting to cut out bag tags and to think about their designs.  They have also learnt the basic running stitch.

 

In PE, the children have continued to focus on Multiskills.  This week, they have focused on their aiming and catching skills.   

 

We have just started our new History project about the Stone Age.  The children had enjoyed learning some new terms, such as ‘nomadic’ and ‘hunter-gatherer’.  They worked together to sort a set of cards into things that would have been hunted and those which would have been gathered.

At Forest School this week, the children were looking for different habitats and describing where they were found.  They loved a new game: Giants, Dwarves and Wizards. 

 

5 May 2023

During this half term in PE, the children will be outside, focusing on team games with Mr Suckling.  On Tuesday, they enjoyed playing different games such as stuck-in-the-mud and sharks.

At Forest school this week, the children started to make bug hotels by cutting up pieces of bamboo with special cutting shears.  They also enjoyed playing games and using the rope swing.

 

 

 

 

 

  

In RE we have been learning about Islam and about prayer.  The children have looked at a prayer mat and learnt about some of the rituals associated with praying. 

The children continue enjoying our Music lessons using the recorders.  So far we have learnt the notes BAG and C.  The children are mastering playing the notes in tune and are also enjoying improvising in time to music. 

 

 

28 April 2023

This week, we have started reading our book: The Last Wolf by Mini Grey. We have researched different endangered animals using the iPads and tried to understand the causes of them becoming extinct.  We have also started to look at key vocabulary in the text, such as hunting, supplies and flung.

In Maths we have continued to work on Money, looking at which notes and coins will give us a total and how to give change.  Once again, any additional support you can give children at home to familiarise them with handling money and adding sums of money would be much appreciated.

This week in Forest School, the children have continued to make bird feeders.  Thank you for the very generous donation of materials from a parent allowing us to do this.  They have worked on their upper body strength by playing on the rope swing and the ladder.  We also played a team game: giant rock, paper, scissors.  

 

 

 

The Witchford Sports Partnership came into school on Thursday and showed the children how to do Sport Stacking.  Once the children practised this independently, they then enjoyed working in teams to do different challenges.

 

21 April 2023

It has been a busy first week back!

In Maths the children have been using different combinations of coins and notes to make given totals.  They have been learning how to find and record the totals.  Money is a tough concept to grasp, particularly as many of us don’t pay with cash any longer.  Please support your child at home with this so they become more secure and confident with using money.

In English this week, we have been reading stories linked to our History unit, Magnificent Monarchs.  The children have loved learning about the lives of monarchs including King Alfred the Great and Henry VIII.  They have practised key reading skills, including retrieving answers from a text and summarising information.  We were very impressed with their understanding and knowledge of this area of history.

In Forest School this week, the children have started to make bird feeders using seeds and lard.  The weather was glorious and they enjoyed playing in the sunshine, looking for bugs and flowers. 

  

 

 

In PE this week, the children enjoyed some time in the sunshine, trying out the new trim-trail in addition to practising their multi-skills like skipping, throwing and catching and also hula-hooping.

  

On Friday, we were joined by some people from the Nene Park Trust and we made flowers for the Field of Colour project from old plastic bottles. 

 

31 March 2023

In Art this week, the children have enjoyed using watercolours to complete their Royal portraits.  They have also used photo-editing software to re-create these and to frame both.  We will soon be displaying these in the corridor. 

The children have enjoyed learning about the Jewish festival of Hannukah and about some of the traditions.  They have made and played with their dreidls and they have also made special headbands with a candle on them.  This is a reminder that Hannukah is a festival of lights.  Mrs Horn and Mrs Macdonald were impressed with the children’s subject knowledge!  

We had an extra PE session outside this week and had to complete circuits.  Mrs McBeath was astounded with our skipping, jumping and other skills.

 

 

 

Mrs Macdonald then gave some of us an extra challenge – working out in the gym!

 

24 March 2023

Year 2 enjoyed taking part in the Cricket Festival at Cromwell organised by Witchford Sports Partnership with other local primary schools.  The children practised their throwing, catching and batting skills.

 

 

 

 

 

In Maths, we have started our unit on Money.  The children have been using different coins to make the same total.

In English, linking to our current read: The Day the Crayons Quit, the children were shocked to discover that the class glue sticks were on strike and had mysteriously disappeared!  They wrote letters from the viewpoints of other disgruntled classroom objects, considering what they might have to complain about.  There were some very entertaining pieces of persuasive writing!

 

17 March 2023

For British Science Week, we started the week with a treasure hunt for different items.  The children worked together in groups to sort the items into two groups, explaining their reasoning.  Most of the children thought about sorting them by their properties, such as their texture, using words like ‘rough’ and ‘smooth’.  We then talked about things that were living; things that were once living and things that had never been alive and learned about what all living things have in common with each other. 

We visited the Secondary Phase to learn about animal habitats.  The children had great fun with Mrs Morrey making a habitat suitable for their chosen animal.

 

In Maths we have continued to work using 3-D shapes to count their edges, vertices and faces and also to name them.

In English, we have been reading a new book (The Day the Crayons Quit by Drew Daywalt, illustrated by Oliver Jeffers) which the children have enjoyed.  We are particularly fond of beige crayon!

In Dance, the children have continued to develop their dance sequences in groups based on The Great Fire of London. 

For outside learning, the children have been looking at different types of soil and describing it.  They have also planted some pants (don’t worry, they were clean!) to see which type of soil breaks down the fabric more quickly.  We will return to this in about 2 months time. 

  

10 March 2023

This week in English, the children thoroughly enjoyed making their own peg-doll Major Glad or Major Dizzy characters.  They then wrote their own instructions for the task.

In Maths the children have continued to learn how to multiply and divide by 2, 5 and 10.  They have also continued to practise their Times Tables on Times Tables Rockstars.  From next week, we will be sharing the leader board in Primary school.  We already have one superstar who has earned 12,000 coins!

At Forest School this week, the weather was rainy and cold.  Despite this, the children made shelters and played games but please send children in with plenty of layers as this cold weather continues.

In History, the children have been learning about monarchs from the past and looking at their portraits to learn more about them.  Please discuss their learning with them at home as they are loving this subject and learning about former rulers. 

 

3 March 2023

This week in Maths, the children started looking at properties of 3-D shapes.  They were counting the faces of different 3-D shapes and learning some of their names. 

 

 

The children were also using counters and tens frames to help to identify odd and even numbers.

In PE, the children started their first Dance unit: The Great Fire of London with Miss Shepherd.

 

At Forest School, the children continued to practise their knot tying and to play team games.  It was somewhat wet and cold so we built shelters. 

World Book Day was lots of fun with some amazing costumes and potato designs.  We joined in with the World Book Day live lesson on BBC Teach.

 

 

 

24 February 2023

We have just started reading the book: Major Glad, Major Dizzy by Jan Oke.  The children enjoyed finding out about some of the toys from the past and starting to describe them using exciting adjectives. 

 

 

In Maths this week, we have continued to learn about Multiplication and Division.  We have learnt the difference between grouping and sharing and we have used the cubes to work out how to divide by 2.

At Forest School this week, the children enjoyed playing different games and practising their knot skills.  Some children even managed to tie knots to make their own play swords. 

 

The children have finished their DT projects today and will be bringing home their decorated beach huts later.  

 

3 February 2023

Year 2 started off this week by reading the story: Winter’s Child by Angela McAllister.  They then thoroughly enjoyed creating freeze frames to help to retell the key sections of the story.

 

Later on in the week, the children enjoyed performing some poems around a Winter theme.

We continued to use the saws in DT to create the frames for our beach huts.

At Forest School, it was another busy week.  We found out about different birds and then started to make bird feeders out of oranges.  In addition to playing in mud, we also flexed our muscles whilst working as a team to move the tyres around. 

 

In our music lesson, we started to learn to play the recorder.  Mrs Macdonald was so impressed, she came and joined us!

  

27 January 2023

This week in English, we have finished reading The Dragon Machine and moved on to reading another book about dragons: The Dragonsitter by Josh Lacey.  The children have enjoyed reading the emails the main character, Eddie, sends to his mysterious Uncle Morton.

In DT, the children were very excited to go across to the Secondary School to spend time in the DT class where they have started to measure and saw the wood to make the wooden frames of their beach huts. 

 

In Forest School this week, the children loved dissecting the owl pellets and examining the contents to see what the owls had been eating – mainly small rodents. 

In RE, the children have been learning about a Tibetan Buddhist festival called Losar which is to celebrate the New Year.  They tried out a special soup called Guthuk Soup in which they found special dumplings containing symbols of luck.  For example, someone who found a symbol of cotton wool would be a kind person; if you found a symbol of a coin, you might become rich! 

 

 

  

20 January 2023

In English, we have continued reading The Dragon Machine this week and writing lots of noun phrases to describe the journey.  Our writing is showing great progress!

At Forest School, we have finished making our looms and then using them to weave.  We enjoyed playing lots of team games together, including rock, paper and scissors in addition to playing in the mud kitchen. 

In DT, we have started our ‘Beach Huts’ project.  This week we have been working in pairs to make shelters for ‘Little People’ by cutting, joining and strengthening pieces of cardboard. Thank you so much for all the boxes that have been donated! The children thoroughly enjoyed this activity.   

 

13 January 2023

This week, in English we have been reading a book: The Dragon Machine by Helen Ward.  We discovered a dragon’s nest and found various parts of dragons hidden in the classroom.  This was very exciting and we used them to help us describe what we have found.

At Forest School, we were continuing to make miniature looms for weaving wool in addition to playing games and having fun.  The weather wasn’t too great this week – please can parents make sure we have waterproofs each week in addition to warm clothes.

 

 

In PE, we are continuing to work on Gymnastics in the hall with Mr Suckling, developing different types of balance. 

17 December 2022

We have had an extremely busy week.  One of the highlights was our Christmas show, Ralph the Reindeer, performed with Year 1 on Tuesday afternoon in the auditorium.  As part of the advent calendar, we enjoyed making snowflakes, some of which are displayed in the Primary corridor.  

 

At Forest School, we enjoyed playing on the rope bridge and eating pasta or noodles.  Some of us continued to make our looms by hammering nails into a piece of wood.    

 

 

In English, we have been reading and writing instructions.  We enjoyed following instructions to make a ‘finger space friend’.

Don’t forget that each week, Maths homework is set on My Maths (https://www.mymaths.co.uk/ ).  The usernames and logins for this are in the blue reading record books.  In Maths this week we have continued to add and we have also done some work on 2-D and 3-D shapes. 

9 December 2022

This week, we have been busy rehearsing.  On Thursday we did a full dress rehearsal in the auditorium and Mrs Riches and Reception came to watch us.

We have been enjoying opening the interactive Advent Calendar each day in the corridor and carrying out tasks, such as making an advent candle and designing a Christmas jumper.

At Forest School this week, we have continued to play on the rope swing, we have also started to learn a new skill: hammering nails into wood in order to create a simple loom.  We will then use these to start weaving. 

 

 

Don’t forget that each week, Maths homework is set on My Maths (https://www.mymaths.co.uk/ ).  The usernames and logins for this are in the blue reading record books.  In Maths this week we have continued to add and we have also done some work on 2-D and 3-D shapes. 

In English, we have read a non-fiction book: Above and Below by Patricia Hegarty (Author), Hanako Clulow (Illustrator).  We have learnt how facts are organised and we have also been using the class dictionaries.

2 December 2022

This week, we have continued to rehearse for our Christmas play.  In PE (gymnastics) with Mr Suckling, we were practising different types of rolls: log rolls, teddy-bear rolls and forward rolls. 

 

We enjoyed learning about Christingles and what each component represented.  In the auditorium, we had a service with Mrs Macdonald where we carefully lit the Christingles. 

On Wednesday afternoon, we were very excited to watch Reception class do the dress rehearsal for their Nativity play.  In English this week, we have started to read a new book: Above and Below by Hanako Clulow.  We started off by working together to piece together a jigsaw of the front cover and then started to discover amazing facts about animals and plants from different habitats. 

 

25 November 2022

Another busy week in Year 2 has included some assessments for English and Maths, lots of practising for our Christmas show, with Year 1 and super fun at Forest School where the children enjoyed making and having hot chocolate with marshmallows.  

 

 

 

18 November 2022

This week was Maths Week.  Year 2 have enjoyed doing a Maths trail around the Primary section, they have also enjoyed learning about symmetry and making their own symmetrical patterns.

 

On Tuesday, the children thoroughly enjoyed meeting Pudsey – as part of our fundraising efforts for Children in Need- and even though it was pouring with rain, they still walked laps of the school hall with him!   The children enjoyed their Pudsey-themed Maths and colouring pictures of him later.

 

Although we didn’t go over to Forest School this week, the children worked on the playground to do team building exercises as part of our outdoor-learning programme. 

11 November 2022

This week we had a visitor, Gail Burgess, who came into take us for a ballet class.  We loved using the scarves and the pom-poms to dance.

In History, we finished off our work on ‘Movers and Shakers’ by making pictures of some of the significant people we have been learning about (Christopher Columbus, Mary Anning, Marie Curie, Neil Armstrong, Emmeline Pankhurst and Rosa Parks).  These will be going on our display in the corridor.

For Remembrance Day, we made a collage of poppies.  At 11am, we were silent for 2 minutes to remember those who died whilst serving their country in the armed forces. 

 

4 November 2022

This has been a very busy first week back!  At Forest School, the children were enjoying the wet weather which has resulted in more mud!  They were also learning about the 4 compass directions and carrying out some map work.

On Friday, we spent the morning in Soham with 2 other schools taking part in the Key Stage One Partnership Games.  Within groups, the children took part in lots of fun activities, including Bounce Fit, Rapid Fire Cricket and a sports stacking game.   

  

 

In Art, we have been looking at paintings by different artists, including Vincent Van Gogh.  The children used their knowledge of colour-mixing to make different hues of paint to match the colours in a given picture.

21 October 2022

This week was tremendous fun at Forest School, where we used crushed blackberries to make ink for painting and printing.  We made our own brushes from sticks and feathers and used these to paint with.  We collected different leaves for printing with.

As a special treat, Mrs Jackson helped us to make s’mores which we toasted over a small fire.  We all agreed that they were delicious! 

 

In computing, we have completed our work on Coding using Purple Mash. We are programming superstars!

 

14 October 2022

This week, we have been using some new Maths equipment (Rekenreks) to help remember our number bonds to 10.

At Forest school, we have continued to try to light fires under the watchful eye of Mrs Jackson.

 

We have also been making some beautiful natural art pictures for a corridor display.

 

 

Some of us preferred to decorate ourselves!

We have also been continuing with our Artwork on mixing colours.

7 October 2022

This week, we have continued to learn about place value and about different ways of partitioning numbers.  Some of us were drawing this using part-whole models. 

 

In Forest School, we were using the fire steel to set fire to cotton wool.  Some of the children were very determined to succeed and kept going until they managed it.  Great resilience!

 

We also looked for natural resources to make pictures of animals. 

In RE, we finished our work on Navrati by making our colourful, hand-painted necklaces and by drawing Puja trays. 

 

30 September 2022

At Forest School this week, we learnt the rules about fire safety and what fires need to burn.  Mrs Jackson then showed us how to make sparks to light a fire using a fire steel.

 

 

 

 

In Maths, we have enjoyed using our new Base 10 equipment.  We have partitioned numbers into different combinations of tens and ones. 

 

In Art, we continued to learn about colour mixing and blended different paint colours together to make our own necklaces from pasta.

16 September 2022

In Week 2, we have started learning about significant people in History, including Emmeline Pankhurst and Vincent Van Gogh.  We worked in groups to discuss who was the most significant and why we thought that.

At Forest School we enjoyed working in groups to build the tallest tower in the style of the Eiffel Tower using marshmallows and spaghetti.  This was great fun!  We also enjoyed playing on the rope swing, looking for insects and building a den.

 

 

 

In Computing, we continued with our work on Coding and we programmed a game called the Princess and the Frog on the iPads.

In RE, we have been learning about Hinduism and the celebration of Navrati.  This week, the children learnt some dance moves based on one of the stories we have learnt about: Durga and Mashish.  

 

 

9 September 2022

This week we started our Multi-Skills sessions with Mr Suckling.  We had great fun playing team games together.

At Forest School we worked in groups to remember the rules of Forest School.  We enjoyed litter picking, playing in the mud kitchen and singing a song.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

In computing, we did our first coding challenge: to program some aircraft to take off.  Everyone achieved their challenge and some even managed to make their planes crash!

We have started reading our first book: Troll Swap by Leigh Hodgkinson.  We have started to describe the characters and the setting using noun phrases.  We will be reading the rest of the story next week.