Welcome to Year 3!

31st January 2025

Feathered Friends

Year 3 has seen a flurry of work these last couple of weeks in preparation for sharing their Mountains topic at the forthcoming Parent Presentation on Friday 7^th February at 2:30pm in the KS2 Hall. We look forward to seeing you there. Children have shown great team work, building their mountains and covering them (and themselves!) in Modroc. They had lots of fun and their mountains are beginning to look great. All we need to do now is paint them. 

We have spent some time learning about famous mountains in different continents around the world and the mountaineers who dare to climb them.  Ask your children if they can tell you who were the first people to reach the summit of Mount Everest; who was the first woman to reach the summit of Mount Everest; and who were the first all-black group to reach the summit of Mount Everest.

Our My Happy Mind topic continues to be ‘Appreciate’ where we have been learning to develop an ‘Attitude of Gratitude’. It has been lovely to hear the children share some of the things they are grateful for. One child in Year 3 said that they appreciated being able to use Modroc to make their mountains and another child said that they appreciated being able to come to school. We’re beginning to get very good at appreciating others and experiences and are now trying to develop our appreciation of ourselves.

In English, we have been learning more about birds reading our non-fiction narrative book, What It’s Like to be a Bird. We looked at the style of writing by Tim Birkhead and the illustrations of Catherine Rayner. In groups, we were tasked with researching a bird: either a vulture, hoopoe, hawk, parrot or bald eagle. We had a table of facts to collect using extracts from books and the internet. After collating our research, we were challenged with creating a spread in the style of Tim Birkhead (typically, a short story-like narrative and a more factual section with an appropriate illustration). We were very impressed with their final spreads, which have been collated in a book for all the children to enjoy.

17th January 2025

Squashed Tomatoes 

To begin the new year, we launched our Squashed Tomato Challenge as part of our Mountains Topic. We started by learning about a community living in the mountains in Nepal and how difficult it is for them to transport their produce (including tomatoes) down the mountainside on foot. It takes them up to three hours; this can cause their food to spoil and sometimes they fall on the treacherous journey, so we have been challenged with designing a pulley system to transport their goods quickly and safely.  

We have researched pulleys and made two different types, one with a bottle top and card and the other with a cotton reel and cardboard. We evaluated the pulleys, discussing the benefits and drawbacks of both, and have designed our final pulley based on our findings. Production of our final design will begin next week, and we look forward to sharing them with you at our presentation on Friday 7th February at 2:30pm in the KS2 Hall. 

We have also learnt about the different types of mountains and how they are formed. Fold mountains are formed when tectonics plates collide and push rock upwards. To understand this better, we carried out an experiment using two towels, stacked on top of each other, to represent the plates. We pushed them together from either end and could see what happens when plates are forced together. Each time a slightly different 'mountain range' was formed.  We also learnt about volcanic mountains, dome mountains and plateau mountains – we’ll tell you about these at our presentation. In our mountain groups we have been challenged to make one of the four types of mountains and are looking forward to using art roc to create our 3D models.  

In English we have started our new text, What It’s Like to Be a Bird by Tim Birkhead. We have been using our imagination and the power of Tim’s words to visualise flying like a bird and drawing a bird described by him. Although What It’s Like to Be a Bird is a non-fiction book, we were surprised to find that it is written more like a story. We are excited to see what birds we will look at and the facts we will learn about them.  

20th December 2024

And A Merry Christmas To You All!

The term concluded with Year 3 becoming journalists and poets! The children drafted, edited and published a newspaper article about how the people from Sunville (a fictitious town from our text) petitioned the King to demand a ban of the dark.

Following that, the children used the poem, ‘The Sun’, by Grace Nichols, as inspiration to write their own free verse poem showing the upside and down side of banning the dark. The children used personification and a variety of feelings words to making their poems as exciting as possible.

After starting the half term looking at the festival of Diwali and how this celebration was important to Hindus. We then compared this to the Christian festival of Christmas. Year 3 were surprised how the two celebrations were very similar. They both have a focus on celebrating an important person or people and the celebration involves decorating the house, having a meals with family or friends, and exchanging gifts. For the celebration of Diwali we read the story of Rama and Sita and for the Christian celebration of Christmas we read the first Nativity. We also looked at traditional and modern symbols of Christmas and discussed if Christmas had lost its meaning.

With our Frida Kahlo topic drawing to a close, Year 3 have demonstrated a great appreciation for this Mexican artist’s work. We spent time looking at her self-portraits in more detail and noticed the way she included things she liked all around her.

We have also discussed Frida’s strength at overcoming adversity and how she listened to her inner coach and ignored her inner critic. To prepare for painting our own self-portraits in the style of Frida, we have created a colour wheel and learnt how to make secondary and tertiary colours using primary colours.

Well what a fantastic first term we have had in Year 3. It has gone so quickly! We are so very proud of all the achievements the children have made so far and we know they will continue to do their best next term too.

We wish you all a very ‘Merry Christmas’ and a happy and healthy New Year.

6th December 2024

Sandwich Factory!

Apple and Maple Classes began our DT week with an evaluation of a variety of different sandwiches. This was a great start to their first Year 3 DT project, especially as it involved tasting them! After recording what they liked and disliked about the pre-made sandwiches, the children set about designing a healthy sandwich for someone. Before making these, they had to refresh their knowledge of how to cut, spread and grate correctly and safely. The children learnt how to cut using a claw and bridge technique. Using their sandwich designs, they spread and filled their bread with their chosen ingredients. Finally, the children evaluated the sandwiches they had made – needless to say, they all thought their sandwiches were great and needed no improvements whatsoever! We hope all the sandwiches made it home safely and you enjoyed them too.

This week, Year 3 have been introduced to the renowned Mexican artist, Frida Kahlo. We have read stories about her life and looked closely at some of her artwork. The children have composed an artist study on her and recorded facts about her life and work. Did you know Frida was involved in a serious bus accident when she was in her late teens? This led to her being bed-bound for two years and was the beginning of her love for painting. We also learnt how to sketch our faces using lines to position our features accurately and are looking forward to creating our own self-portraits, using Frida Kahlo for inspiration.

Last Thursday was Decoration Day and the children very much enjoyed the carousel of activities provided by the teachers in LKS2. They had lots of fun, and their calendars, cards and tree decorations were amazing!

15th November 2024

France vs UK

Year 3 returned from half term to begin a new topic based around two contrasting locations - France and the UK. We began our topic by being geography detectives. Each table were given a pack of evidence and had to discuss in groups what place they thought we were going to be studying. Their sources of evidence were maps, photographs, train tickets, souvenirs and leaflets. After the children worked out the connection, we watched a video to learn more about France. We then found France and the UK in an atlas and located them both on our own maps. We have also looked at human and physical features of both France and the UK, identifying rivers, mountains and famous landmarks.

On Friday last week, we had our French Day. We started our day with a delicious treat, croissants and jam, but before we could tuck in we had to practise asking for it in French: ‘Je voudrais un croissant s’il vous plait’. We then continued our day learning how to count to 20. After lunch, we had a visit from some Hockerill students who played some games with us, helping us to learn more French vocabulary and in particular vocabulary relating to food. We learnt how to say whether we liked, loved, didn’t like or hated particular foods. The students were very friendly and helpful and we all enjoyed playing the games.

Monet Artist Study

Year 3 began by finding out who Claude Monet was and what impressionism is. They discovered he is a famous painter from the Impressionist movement. They looked at examples of his work and explored creating their own impressionist brushstrokes in their sketchbooks.  We are looking forward to creating our own pictures using some of Monet’s techniques.

25th October 2024

Amazing Egyptians!

Our day started when we stepped back in time to the 8th year of reign of the Pharaoh Akhenaten and his wife, Nefertiti. At this time, construction of a new utopian city to honour the god Aten is nearing completion and we were told that our role was to serve as workers and slaves, finishing the construction of the city.

To celebrate, the pharaoh planned to name a new high priest to oversee religious worship because the pharaoh had banned worship of all other Egyptian gods. We then entered the market square where stall vendors were ready to help us complete important tasks in Ancient Egyptian culture.

One of the tasks was to learn how to prepare a royal body for its journey to the afterlife. We mummified a peg and made Canopic jars. By grinding charcoal with guar gum crystals, we made our own ink and then tried using it to write with a quill pen on a sheet of papyrus. (This was quite tricky!) We were also able to try tomb painting, perfume cone making, bread plaiting, amulet making and scarab moulding.

As the morning rolled on, we became aware of a tomb raider amongst us and someone worshipping another god. It wasn’t long before the accused, Mrs Brodie and Mrs Brewer, were seized by the guards, found guilty and sentenced for their crimes. Their screams could be heard in KS1!

In the afternoon, we split into small groups to practise either a play or a dance. Each of the four groups then performed the plays and dances for his majesty, Pharaoh Akhenaten, and his Queen, Nefertiti, in the Royal Court at Amarna. At the end of each performance, approval was sought from Akhenaten and Nefertiti. Thankfully, they approved of all four performances.

Finally, Pharaoh Akhenaten and his Queen, Nefertiti were asked to pass judgement on the two accused thieves. Both workers were found guilty and received ten lashes of the flail. Their cries could be heard from the hall and when they returned they were doubled over in pain, barely able to walk!

We then returned to our classrooms where we performed ‘Amazing Egyptians’ and shared our Ancient Egyptian topic work with our parents, to celebrate the end of a fantastic topic. We showed them how to play an Ancient Egyptian game called Senet, explained the different stages of mummification, completed a quiz identifying some of the different Egyptian gods, taught them how to write using hieroglyphics and explained why the River Nile was so important by playing a dice game using a map.

A brilliant day! Thank you so much to parents and carers for supporting this event. The children looked amazing in their costumes and loved sharing their work with you. We would also like to say a special thank you to Mrs Lee, Mrs Kudhail, Mrs Polkinghorne, Mrs Stevens and Mrs Agyeman for helping on the day.

11th October 2024

Mummies, Mummies Everywhere!

We have picked up the pace over the last two weeks with our topic, Ancient Egypt. We have discussed Ancient Egyptian pastimes, and the children learnt how to play an Ancient Egyptian game called Senet, which they really enjoyed! Senet is a game of chance which is a bit like snakes and ladders but instead of throwing a dice, you have to throw a two-sided stick!

This week we learnt all about the process of mummification through mummifying a Barbie doll. First, we had to wash the body. This would have been done with red wine and water from the Nile. Next, the brain would have been removed using a long hook pushed up the nose and wiggled about. Then the organs (liver, lungs, intestines and stomach) would have been removed and placed in Canopic jars. After that, the body would have been covered in salt, called natron, and left for 40 days. (We counted to 40 after covering Barbie in salt).  The excess salt would have been removed and the body wrapped tightly in many layers of linen strips. The linen is then wrapped in a waxy substance called resin to seal it. Finally, a death mask would have been placed over the face and the body positioned in a sarcophagus with personal items such as jewellery, sometimes food, clothes and weapons for their journey to the afterlife. The children took on the different roles of mummification and had great fun.

In English, our exploration of the fairy tale, The Three Billy Goats Gruff, continues. We have been looking at how the goats persuaded the troll to let them pass. This fed into us writing our own persuasive writing. The book has also inspired us to write some poems about food, some related to what the troll might like to eat and some just about food! We were very proud of the children’s outcomes and their published poems are now on display in a classroom book for you to enjoy whenever you come to the classroom. 

In science, we have continued our topic of Humans including Animals. Year 3 have been learning the names of different bones and the names of different types of skeletons. We learnt that some animals have a skeleton on the inside (an endoskeleton), some on the outside (an exoskeleton) and some don’t have a skeleton at all!

We are very much looking forward to our Egyptian Day on Thursday 17^th October and welcoming parents and carers to share the children’s learning after the event at approximately 2:45pm.

20 September 2024

Year 3 Has Got Off To a Flying Start With a Tomb Raid!

Last week saw Maple and Apple Class become immersed in the world of the Ancient Egyptians. Our first topic started off with the children learning about Howard Carter’s discovery of the previously undiscovered tomb of Tutankhamen. The children then undertook the role of an Egyptologist and walked back in time to explore a dark, dusty and possibly cursed tomb! They had to explore the tomb with torches and look closely at the artefacts they found. Luckily, none of the children were overcome by poisonous gases whilst exploring the tomb, nor did they encounter a booby trap!  The children continued their learning to focus on Egyptian pharaohs. There are thought to be 170 of them. We looked at 8! The children had to identify each pharaoh and then record a fact that they found interesting. Using their knowledge of Ancient Egyptians so far, the children then had to design a sarcophagus fit for a pharaoh!

We are well underway with our first CLPE text, Three Billy Goats Gruff by Mac Barnett. The children have impressed us with their knowledge of traditional tales, confidently discussing the features they have in common. They have written some thoughtful sentences to describe the swamp, where the troll lives, focusing on how they want their reader to feel.  We read an original version of the story and, in groups of four, the children created their own role plays of the story. It was great to see them all join in with enthusiasm.

Our first science topic is Skeletons (not Forces as per the Topic Web). We will be looking at both human and animal skeletons, learning the names of some of our bones and their functions. The children have impressed us with their knowledge. Did you know there are 206 bones in an adult human skeleton?

We have been very impressed with how well the children have settled into Year 3 and thank you for support with this.