Update 1

Maths

Over the last few weeks, we have been mastering the column method of addition and subtraction. Firstly, we used the place value counters to help us understand exchanging, before we then applied this to the written methods. Perhaps you could ask your child to show and explain this method to you!

History

We have had a very exciting history lessons this half term. We had to dissect a sample of Stone Age poo to find out more about the food people age during the Stone Age! We found evidence of corn, fish bones, plants, fruit and seeds.

 

  

Art

Following on from our RE last half term, learning about the festival of Diwali, we designed and created our own Diya pots from clay and decorated them in authentic patterns.

 

Computing

To start the half term, we had an exciting computing day where we learnt about coding and how this can be used to create a game. Firstly, we played on the game LightBot to understand commands and debugging. Then, we used Scratch to design and create our own dancing robot.

    

 

Update 2

English

Our most recent English unit has been driven by the text Iron Man by Ted Hughes. The children enjoyed reading about this strange, iron character who came crashing down a cliff! After we’d unpicked the text, the children wrote their own recount by pretending they were one of the seagulls who witnessed this event. The children were fantastic at unpicking the language features of the text by noticing similes, short sentences, powerful verbs and personification. Even more impressive, they then used these literary devices in their own writing- they were a joy to read!

 

PE

In football, the children have enjoyed developing their ball control skills, whilst in gymnastics they have worked as a team create a routine in time to music. We used the song called Song 2 by Blur and part of their routine involved jumping in time to the Wooo hooos in the chorus.

           

                                                                                             

Science

In science, we have been exploring forces and magnets. We conducted investigations to find out the flooring that had the best grip for Mr Clumsy and we explored magnetic and non-magnetic materials.

 

Stone Age Day

The greatest highlight of this half term was our Stone Age Day! The children looked fantastic in their costumes and fully immersed themselves in the activities. They built a shelter; made their own bow and arrow to hunt with; used sticks to create a cave painting; and researched some of the prehistoric animals they would have encountered if they lived during this time.

Most impressive were the projects that the children brought into school on this day! Adults in school were so impressed with the time and effort they’d put into these! A huge well done to the children for creating these and to parents for facilitating this- thank you.

         

                          

    

 

Art

In Art, we have been learning about the different grades of sketching pencils, how to effectively use a range of shading techniques and how to combine these with contour drawing.

To produce our observational drawings and paintings, we chose a Stone Age artefact and began by forming the contour with our sketching pencil. Then, we added texture and tone using shading techniques. Lastly, we used watercolours to recreate our artefact drawings. To help us understand how to develop our observational drawing skills, we studied an Italian painter called Giorgio Morandi who specialised in still life.

       

Update 1:

English

On our first day in Year 3, we arrived back from break time to discover something had been in our Year 3 area. We had to piece together the clues that were left behind to think about who it might have been.

We discovered it was the beast from the text The Lonely Beast. We read the beginning of this story, which was about a beast who wanted to find more of his kind so he went on adventure to find them. However, when he arrived in the city, everyone ran away. Then we wrote a diary entry either from the perspective of the beast or from the viewpoint of one of the people in the city. Some of our work will be going up on display around the school.

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History

Our history lessons have begun to help us to learn about the Stone Age. We have looked at historical events on a timeline, explored the role of an archaeologist and why help us understand prehistorical events. In one lesson, we had a range of pre-historic artefacts on our tables to make sketches of and to piece together the clues to predict what they might be used for and who might have used them.

 

Science

We loved learning about rocks! We explored the properties of rocks, learnt to identify some common types of rock and learnt how rocks are formed. We then conducted an experiment to decided which was the best type of rock to make a Stone Age weapon. We identified we needed a rock that was strong but not too strong so that it could be carved into a weapon.

 

PE

Orienteering this half term has been enjoyed by all. We have been using the MUGA and top play ground to further our orienteering skills. We began by learning about the different orienteering symbols used on maps and how to read the map key. Map orientation was the next important skill we learnt, understanding that we need to orientate the map and recognise the ‘bird’s eye view’ diagram of the ground. Each week a different task was set up for us to complete using our orienteering skills; for example, creating silly faces accurately using symbols and equipment, matching the symbols to their word in a race with other teams and orientating across a pitch of cones to solve the answer.

 

 

Update 2

English

Our second English unit this half term linked into our history topic of the Stone Age to the Iron Age. We looked at the features of non-fiction texts and carried out our own research about weapons/tools to create our own information text. We will be copying up our work and presenting it in the style of a non-fiction text after the half term break.

 

Maths

This half term has focused on developing our understanding of number. We have looked at the place value of 3-digit numbers; worked on improving our mental calculation with 3-digit numbers; and we have begun to learn the formal written method of addition and subtraction.

 

RE

In RE, we have learnt about Diwali. We  began our unit by exploring good vs evil. Then, we looked at the festival of light, Diwali. We explored how Diwali is celebrated and we listened to one of the traditional legends about Rama and Sita.

 

History

A special treat for our History topic this half term was a visit from a year group parent who happens to be an archaeologist! We were lucky enough for her to come into school and tell us about her job role, as well as share some of her findings from digs, including lots of exciting artefacts which she was allowed to bring in.

       

 

Butser Ancient Farm

A highlight of this half term was our trip to Butser Ancient Farm - we had lots of fun! We took part in a range of activities which involved building the wall of a Stone Age/ Bronze Age house; making string from plants; taking part in an archaeological excavation; and having a tour of pre-historic houses.

   

  

  

Update 1:

Art

Last week, we took part in Arts Week! It was fantastic! Every day we moved through the school, rotating round each class with different teachers, and learning all kinds of art techniques connected to the theme of our Christian values: faith, hope and love. We hope you enjoyed seeing the art work we came home with each day.

During the week, we also got to take part in a glass workshop with a visiting artist. We worked in pairs to decorate a glass leaf, and we can’t wait to see our finished pieces on display in school.

    

Science

We have continued with our science unit on plants. We looked at lilies to identify the parts of a flowering plant, and we drew a diagram of this into our books.

Reciprocal Reading

Across the summer term, our reciprocal reading text has been ‘There’s a Pharaoh in Our Bath!’. This text is a comedy fiction text about a mummified pharaoh who comes back to life along with his mummified cat and the adventures they go on. As part of our reciprocal reading lessons, we used our skills to: infer; sift and sort the information we recovered from the text; and check for any new words we didn’t know the meaning of. We read each section as a class, using echo reading, before answering the literal, exploration and expansion questions independently.

 

Skills Progression Day

This week we had skills progression day. We took part in 7 different activities throughout the day. These activities focussed on enhancing our throwing skills and encouraged us to show good sportsmanship by working as a team.  We had great fun throughout the day!

  

History

We had a very exciting lesson where we arrived in the classroom to find a tent. Inside the tent, were a range of artefacts. In our groups, we took it in turns to go inside the tent, study the artefacts and choose one to describe to our group. The rest of our group then had to have a go at drawing the artefact we described. At the end of the lesson, we found out these were all replicas of the artefacts discovered in Tutankhamun’s tomb. We also learnt about the local links to this significant discovery. We learnt about Lord Carnarvon, Highclere Castle and Beacon Hill.

  

This week in history we explored mummification by mummifying a tomato. To do this, we had to follow the steps Ancient Egyptians used to mummify, such as removing the ‘organs’, sanitising and cleaning the insides and packing it with salt.

  

Update 1:

Geography

We’ve learnt about the River Nile in Geography, how it flows from South to North and that all the Egyptian cities are located along the Nile valley where the land is best for farming because everywhere else is desert. This led us to learn that Egypt is a country mostly made up of desert but has a large water source running through it; therefore, Egypt can be separated into two biomes: The Freshwater Biome and The Desert Biome.

 

History

In History, we have looked at a timeline of Ancient Egypt and we took a virtual tour inside The Great Pyramid of Giza and discovered all about why they were built and how they were made of limestone.

 

English

In English, we have been reading a text called ‘Secrets of a Sun King’. After finding out about a gruesome discovery of feet found on a hearth rug, we wrote our own newspaper article about this event. We enjoyed looking at First News newspapers to understand the features of this style of writing.  

 

PE

In dance, we are enjoying following a set routine, imagining we are exploring a pyramid and then we are choreographing the next part by miming scenes from Ancient Egyptian life.

 

Science

Our topic this half term is plants. To help us understanding what a plant needs to survive, we concluded an experiment to explore whether cress could survive without either: water, light, air, soil or the right temperature. We enjoyed monitoring how our cress was getting on and drawing together our findings. In the next lesson, we used kitchen towel to plant our board bean seeds in a jar and we’re very excited to see these beginning to germinate.

  

   

 

 

Update 2:

English:

We have continued with the text: The Secrets of the Sun King. As we read more of the text, we began to make links to Ancient Egypt and curses and we made connections between the characters. Following this, we began to write a narrative imagining we were the main character Lil who was going to visit her poorly Grandad in hospital. We thought carefully about the feelings of the character, how the hospital would look and smell, using sensory language, and how Grandad would look. We will be continuing with this after half term but the pieces of writing the children have created so far are OUTSTANDING!

 

History:

A highlight from this half term was our Ancient Egyptian Workshop with Brian. We spent the day dressed as Ancient Egyptians, Gods and Mummies. Brian taught us all about mummification, Howard Carter’s finding of Tutankhamun’s tomb and the many pharaohs of ancient Egypt. We enjoyed taking part in drama throughout this workshop.

 

       

French:

Year 3 have been busy learning all about pets this half term. The children have conducted a class survey and are able to ask and answer questions about their pets. We have revised gender and articles and worked hard on our knowledge of plurals and numbers up to 20. This topic re-introduces opinion verbs and we have had a heated debate about cats and dogs! Throughout our learning we have spent time on our French phonic knowledge and the following sounds have been practised: en/an/ein, ai, silent ‘h’ at the front of words, oi, ch and i/y.

 

Art:

In art this half term, we explored Angie Lewin and her art work. We analysed her artwork, had a go at creating a monoprint of her work and then we designed and printed our own monoprint using colouring pencils, oil pastels and biro. Our design had to be inspired by nature, to follow the style of Angie Lewin’s artwork.

  

 

Maths:

In maths, we learnt about fractions to explore fractions as part of a whole, adding and subtracting fractions and finding fractions of an amount, where we had to apply our multiplication and division skills. Next we moved onto money to develop our understanding of different coins and notes and how to find change when paying for amounts. During this, we applied our addition and subtraction skills to add and subtract amounts.

To finish the half term, we have moved onto time, which we will continue with after half term. We have built upon our learning in Year 2 to tell the time to the nearest 5 minutes and then minute. Why not test your child on this at home by asking them to tell you the time at various points during the day.

To end the term, we enjoyed maths week, during this we got to complete some fun mathematical challenges, take part in a National Numeracy Day live stream and complete an orienteering course in the school grounds. All of the orienteering questions were maths questions linked to our school; for example, how old is our school building.

  

  

  

 

Update 1:

Book Week

This week in school has been Book Week. Our aim of the week has been to read a text fluently. To begin the week, we listened to different examples of texts being read to us and we how their intonation and expression showed the mood of the text and made it engaging to listen to. Next, we were introduced to our focus text for the week: Where The Wild Things Are. We read the text as a class and discussed what was happening in the story. To help us understand how to read the text, we marked up copies of this to show where to take a short pause whilst reading and where to take a long pause. For the rest of the week, we practised reading this text aloud fluently using intonation and expression. We enjoyed performing this to Year 4 in a Reader’s Theatre and we loved hearing theirs too!

 

Maths

Over the last few weeks, we have been learning about units of measure. We have learnt how to measure accurately and convert between millimetres, centimetres and metres. We particularly enjoyed the maths lesson where we got to measure each other’s foot length and height to investigate whether taller people have longer feet.

    

  

Geography

Our Geography lessons this half term have been all about our local study of Overton. First, we found Overton on Google Maps and zoomed out to discover the nearest town, then what county, country, and continent we live in. To help us visualise and understand this we created our own circle maps. To help us to further our geography knowledge, we were asked to draw a map of our route to school. This needed to include physical and human features that we pass on our way to school such as a church, river, traffic lights, fields and shops.

 

  

  

 

Update 2:

English

This half term in English, we have been exploring The Tin Forest by Helen Ward, to understand how an author shows transformation throughout a story using negative and positive language alongside colour and illustration. We have used literacy devices such as expanded noun phrases, fronted adverbials and prepositional phrases to create our own version of The Tin Forest matching our sentences to its illustrations. To further our knowledge and understanding of transformation stories, we also read The Night Gardener and an extract from The Secret Garden to link the features and discuss them as a class. We have been really impressed with the powerful writing the children have produced!

Maths

We have put our measuring skills to the test by understanding what perimeter is and how to calculate the perimeter of a shape. In the last two weeks of term, we have begun learning about unit and non-unit fractions and understanding how to order and compare fractions.

 

PE

In gymnastics, we have worked in groups to perform a routine involving equipment and key gymnastic balances previously learned. Some of us have had to overcome our fear of heights to jump off the higher boxes.

 

During our games lessons, we have enjoyed developing our racket and ball skills to play tennis. Our main focus have been direction and ensuring we have appropriate grip of the tennis racket.

 

 

 

French

Year 3 have worked hard to secure their numbers in French from 1-20 this half term. We have practised our oral and aural skills through listening activities and class games. In addition, many children now feel confident in reading and writing these numbers when written as French words.

Year 3 really enjoyed the KS2 MFL day – we have had many further class discussions about different languages and cultures. We have also learnt several parts of the body – focusing on the genders of nouns and plural words. All children should now be able to perform the song ‘Heads, Shoulders, Knees and Toes’ in French! We have focused on a few new phonic sounds to help us in our learning – namely c/k/q/qu, r/ rr,  z/s/x, and in/ ain/ im. Well done Year 3!

 

 

Easter

The lead up to Easter has been an exciting time in school. We have had the opportunity to nurture and hatch chicks and we loved getting to hold these. We’ve also enjoyed learning our songs for our Year 3 and 4 Easter production. We cannot wait to perform this!