2021/22 Our Learning!

Summer 2 - Hoddlesden Globe

Week 6

Our final full week together (sob) has been a super one! We have continued our Properties of Shapes unit in Maths by learning about different types of lines. We looked at horizontal and vertical lines, finding lines of symmetry in 2-D shapes. We also learned what parallel and perpendicular lines are. We then focused on the properties of 3-D shapes, including the number of faces, edges and vertices. We created 3-D shapes by thinking about how many faces the shape would have and what shape those faces are.

In English, we wrote an information poster about William Shakespeare after carrying out some research on the internet. We made sure we checked our facts so that all of the information was correct!

Our Science learning was focused around why animals (including humans) need to eat. In our Computing lesson, we continued our programming linked to sequences by creating music! We programmed the sprites to play either a collection of notes at the same time (a chord) or a sequence of notes as a tune. In Music, we worked in a group to use the untuned percussion instruments. We created sounds like the waves to accompany our focus song, Michael Row the Boat Ashore. We evaluated our castles in Design & Technology, considering what we did well and what we would do differently if we made the castles again.

We have also had a number of exciting enhancements this week! We had a visit from The Dogs Trust so that we could learn dog safety and how to act around unfamiliar dogs. We also had a visit from the Blackburn with Darwen Library Service to tell us all about a reading challenge that we can complete over the summer holidays. Year 5 entertained us with a brass instrument showcase. What an exciting week! 

Week 5

We began our week by doing some more Outdoor Adventurous Learning…it was much drier this time! We loved the fairy-themed learning, linked to A Midsummer Night’s Dream by Shakespeare. We completed an obstacle course, created fairy homes out of the natural materials we found in the woods, whittled sticks for the fire and did a woodland performance! We absolutely loved it.

On Tuesday, we continued the performance theme by taking part in a Shakespeare workshop. Each class learnt a performance for part of the story A Midsummer Night’s Dream and then we all performed together!

In Geography, we used our mapping skills to locate the counties in the South West of England. We studied the coastal features of the area and found that it is very varied! There are different types of rocky cliffs, sandy areas and different areas of industry and tourism. We continued our Science learning about plants by looking at the process of pollination. We worked in a groups to share the process, making our own props such as pollen and flowers!

We started our learning about angles this week in Maths and we identified right angles around the classroom. We then looked at angles that are less than (acute) and greater than (obtuse) a right angle. In English, we have been reading a narrative version of A Midsummer Night’s Dream and we performed the story to help us to understand the plot…it is a complicated comedy filled with chaos! We are enjoying the mischief of the character Puck.

Week 4

We have very much enjoyed another week in the life of Year 3! After designing a castle for the spider from The Spider and the Fly by Mary Howitt in Design & Technology, we constructed our castles this week. We used our time really well and all of the structures looked amazing! We included the features of a castle, including battlements, towers, turrets, a drawbridge and a flag to show who lives in the castle. We used recycled materials, such as egg boxes and a variety of cardboard packaging. In Music, we continued to practise singing our focus song, Michael Row the Boat Ashore. We then used the glockenspiels - a tuned instrument - to create food rhythms to accompany the song. Our Computing learning this week was focused on Online Safety. We considered the impact that online advertising has on children and found some pros and cons of online advertising. It was Relationships Day on Thursday and the theme was Celebrating Differences - Everyone Can Sparkle! We discussed how we are similar and different to others and how we should celebrate those differences. We also considered how we can be inclusive and make sure that everyone can be involved. We designed a flag about ourselves to show that we are all unique!

In English, we held a debate around our focus text, The Spider and the Fly by Mary Howitt, to consider the question Was it acceptable for the spider to catch the fly? We thought about the reasons why it would be acceptable for the spider to capture the fly (e.g. it is in a spider’s nature to do so) and the reasons why it would not (e.g. the fly was innocent). We worked in two groups to consider our arguments before we had a debate! We then looked at the features of a discussion text in preparation for writing our own. In Maths, we have been telling the time on an analogue clock.

Week 3

We continued our Design & Technology learning this week by designing a castle with a purpose. We recapped the features of castles, such as battlements, turrets and moats, before designing a castle for the spider from The Spider and the Fly poem from our English unit. We decided he would need many windows in his castle to allow flies to come in and towers to store the flies in that he had caught! After doing our design specification, we updated our designs from last week to make the castle fit for purpose.

In Science, we started thinking about pollination in our Functions of Parts of a Plant unit. We observed some flowers using magnifying glasses and we looked for the parts we had learnt, such as the carpel, stamen and petals. We then labelled the parts of the flower and used actions to try to remember them!

In our R.E. learning, we continued looking at rules followed by people of other faiths, focusing on Sikhism. We learnt about the symbolic garments and other items the people who follow Sikhism have. We then considered prayers that could be said. In Music, we began to learn the gospel song Michael, Row the Boat Ashore and then created food rhythms to accompany the music. Mrs Scholes was very impressed with how well we kept in time with the song! In Computing, we used Scratch for programming, creating sequences for the sprites to follow. We used the event and motion blocks to make sprites move in certain ways, in preparation for sequencing sounds in the future lessons. Our PSHE learning this half term is based around relationships and our bodies. We talked about our personal space and how it is up to us who we let into it. We also realised we have to respect other people’s personal space. In our Gymnastics unit in our P.E. learning, we added to our growing range of skills by practising our rolls! We practised the egg, teddy and pencil roll. We practised describing animals from the story in our French lesson with Madame Wardle. We love French!

Josh says,

“I have enjoyed the R.E lesson because we got to learn new things about different religions. I liked designing the spider’s castle in Design and Technology because I like the poem The Spider and the Fly. I like it that the spider tries to tempt the fly into his parlour.”

Week 2

We have had another busy week in Year 3! In our Science learning, we wrote a conclusion for our investigation about whether plants need light to grow. We observed that the plant in the cupboard did grow, but not as much as the plant in the window. It also looked unhealthy compared to the other plant. In our R.E. lesson, we continued learning about the rules followed by other faiths. This week we focused on Buddhism. We started our learning about relationships in PSHE, thinking about the different types of relationships we have. We then discussed what makes a positive, healthy relationship and who we have these relationships with. We loved the start of our Design & Technology learning. We began the unit by looking at the features of castles, such as battlements, turrets and moats, and then designed our own castle! We made sure that we included the features that we had learnt about in our design. In French this week, we learnt some new vocabulary linked to a story that Madame Wardle read to us. We had to try to figure out what the words meant and then listen out for them in the story. Hopefully, we will be able to tell the story ourselves soon!

Our new English unit is based on the classic narrative poem The Spider and the Fly that was written by Mary Howitt. It was first published in 1829! We have looked at the meaning of the new vocabulary in the poem and we have practised using speech punctuation.

We have learnt how to write tenths as decimals as part of our Maths learning and we have been counting in fraction steps. We have been practising our orienteering skills in our P.E. lesson and we drew a map to help us to find our way around the playground!

On Friday, we had some very important cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) training that could help us to save someone’s life. We used our teddies to help us to practise the techniques.

Max says,

"I enjoyed doing the CPR because one day you could save someone's life with it. I liked The Spider and the Fly because it is a classic and it has a good story."

History Week

We have had an AMAZING week in Year 3! We started our Jubilee History Week by learning more about the Queen and the Royal Family, identifying the significant events in the Queen’s life (the events that affected her life). We looked at some of these events on a zoomed in timeline from 1900 to the present day. After that, we thought about other significant events that we could put on the timeline, such as the World Wars and the first people to walk on the moon. We focused on the Queen’s Coronation in 1953 and designed an invitation to the Coronation, including details of where it would take place, what the Queen would be wearing and what you would eat! We learnt that Coronation Chicken was created for the guests from other countries. We compared Queen Elizabeth II to King Henry VIII, using our previous learning about the Tudors. They have some things in common (they both became monarchs at a young age) but were different in other ways (the Queen has only married once!)

Mrs Scholes then got VERY excited as we took ourselves back to the 1980s! After deciding that THE most significant event of the decade was Mrs Scholes being born, we looked at other key events. These include the wreck of Titanic being discovered, the fall of the Berlin Wall, the Queen making history by becoming the first British monarch to travel to the Vatican to meet the Pope and the invention of the World Wide Web. We considered why these events were significant. For Maths, we looked at prices in the 1980s of common items such as milk and bread, and compared them to prices in the present day. We solved problems involving addition and subtraction. When we looked at the technology of the 1980s, we found that the 80s was a super time for advancements in technology. We enjoyed looking at Dave’s Game Boy and Walkman…we were amazed by the Walkman! We then chose one of the pieces of technology and created a Top Trumps card for it, rating its usefulness, appearance and impact.

We looked at a range of pop stars from the 1980s and had a look at the fashion of the time. We then designed outfits for a pop group, including big hair, bright colours and many accessories! We researched toys that were popular in the 1980s and have stood the test of time…we found that Care Bears, Guess Who and My Little Pony are all still popular! In French, we learnt all about the French Revolution! To round off our fantastic week, we looked at children’s programmes of the 1980s and presented our learning from the week as a children’s entertainment programme. As our big finale, we learnt some dances from the 1980s and threw some shapes to Rick Astley! What an amazing week! 👑🎵👗 Watch our showcase video here.

I enjoyed doing Computing because I liked comparing the toys in the 1980s and the 2020s. I also liked doing the picnic because I liked having lunch with my family - Elivia

I liked designing the clothes and colouring them in - Ibrahim

I enjoyed doing the children's entertainment show because it showed me how people watched TV as a kid - Mason

I liked it when we designed clothes for pop stars from the 1980s. I learnt that they had bright and colourful clothes - Florence

I liked it when we saw the Mayor of Blackburn with Darwen opening the Jubilee garden for the Queen - Jake

I liked the picnic for the Queen's Jubilee at lunchtime - Joseph

It was fun when I got to say a prayer in front of the Mayor and everyone else in the school - Emmy

I liked it when we did our History learning about the Queen - Noah

I love History because I love the Queen - Alice

I liked learning about the Queen because she became the Queen at 25 years old - Isaac

Summer 1 - Historical Heroes

Week 6

We were so excited to have Sports Day this week! After a long wait, we enjoyed welcoming the parents back to school to see us in action. We got a bit wet but it didn’t stop us having lots of fun. We jumped, threw and ran in a variety of activities, while constantly showing the sporting values of our school. Mrs Scholes’ favourite event was the sack race…it was very entertaining!

In our learning this week, we completed our prehistoric artwork in our Art lesson. We created a rough surface using lentils and bulgur wheat that would give the effect of painting on stone. We then mixed paint to create earthy tones like they would have used in the Stone Age. Our paintings look amazing! In Science, we looked at what plants need to be healthy (air, light, warmth, water and nutrients). We started an investigation into whether plants need light to grow. We designed a fair test that involved growing one plant in the light and one in a place with no light. Our History learning concluded with a poster to show why we should preserve our school. In Computing, we completed our physical branching database by writing yes and no questions to sort and identify dinosaurs. We loved our Gymnastics session in P.E. where we created a sequence with the jumps we have been practising (straight jump, straight jump half turn, tuck jump and star jump). We are a very creative class…the sequences were super! In English, we wrote an innovated story based on Stone Age Boy by Satoshi Kitamura. We wrote about a boy who met a prehistoric girl and learnt all about the Iron Age. We continued our fractions learning in Maths by finding fractions of amounts and fractions of a group of items.

The children have worked incredibly hard this half term and they have earned a well-deserved break next week. Happy half term, everyone! 

Week 5

We have had another active week in Year 3! Our week started with a fantastic Stone Age workshop where we used drama to explore aspects of prehistory. We loved using freeze frames to show scenes from the Stone Age, Bronze Age and Iron Age. In our History learning, we continued thinking about why some buildings are preserved (kept the same) for the future. We considered the reasons why our school should be preserved…someone said “because it is legendary”! We took a tour of the school to look at the old part of the building and think about its history. We enjoyed practising our paint mixing to creates tones and shades of a colour in our Art lesson. We used earthy tones that would have been used for prehistoric artwork. We made a physical branching database in Computing by using yes and no questions to sort/identify dinosaurs. We used their attributes (features such as colour, diet, habitat etc) to split them into roughly equal groups and then asked the relevant questions, e.g. Are they green? Do they eat meat? In our Gymnastics P.E. lesson, we used the jumps we have been practising (e.g. straight jump, star jump) in a sequence, using different ways of travelling to move between each jump.

We started our fractions unit in Maths and revised our learning about unit and non-unit fractions (halves, quarters and thirds). In English, we completed our narrative writing based on Once Upon an Ordinary School Day by Colin McNaughton. We used our ideas from our response to a piece of music to create what the ordinary boy saw in his imagination.

Week 4

We have enjoyed another exciting week of learning in Year 3! We continued our Science investigation about the xylem in a plant (the tubes that transport water around the plant). We had left some celery in coloured water so that we could observe where the water went. As we predicted, we could see the colour inside the xylem! In History, we looked at sites around Lancashire where we could see evidence of prehistoric remains. We thought about what we could learn about the past from the sites, e.g. how people lived. We developed our knowledge of branching databases in Computing and used the j2data Branch website to create our own branching database. We could choose from a variety of things to sort, such as vehicles, animals or even people! For our Art & Design lesson, we explored using natural materials to use as paint, like they did in the Stone Age. We gathered materials from around the school grounds and then experimented in our sketch books.

In Maths this week, we started some new learning about the perimeter of 2-D shapes. The perimeter is the distance around a shape. We measured perimeter with our ruler and then calculated perimeters using the information that we had been given. We enjoyed listening and responding to a classical piece of music in English this week to stimulate our imaginations for our writing. We have started innovating a narrative based on the text Once Upon An Ordinary School Day by Colin McNaughton. For Mental Health Awareness Week, we thought about how to manage our worries by considering what we can and can’t control in our lives.

Week 3

We enjoyed an exciting (but rather wet!) time at Millennium Green this week in our Outdoor Adventurous Learning session. We started the session by using a map to decide on the best route to our destination, thinking about which way we would be travelling (we thought we would be going West!) Using the map, we navigated our way to Millennium Green where we began our outdoor adventures! We linked our outdoor learning to our Stone Age topic and we collected natural materials (flowers, leaves etc) to mash together to make ‘paint’. We then used it to create prehistoric art. Our next task was to take part in a team activity where we had to collect water from the stream in a cup…without moving our feet when we had the cup of water! We worked together to pass the water along the line, with only a few spillages along the way! We then used the mud - there was plenty of it - to create some more prehistoric art. We were very wet and muddy by the end of the session but we loved it!

In our other learning, we were comparing and ordering measurements in Maths. In English, we gathered descriptive language linked to our link text, Once Upon An Ordinary School Day by Colin McNaughton, before writing a descriptive narrative about the ordinary boy’s imagination. We used adjectives, powerful verbs, adverbs and similes. Our R.E. learning focused on the Ten Commandments in the Old Testament and we considered which ones we thought were the most important. In PSHE, we continued our Being My Best unit. We looked at arguments for and against issues to do with health. In Science, we started an investigation where we are looking at what happens when you place a piece of celery in coloured water. We predicted that the water would travel up the xylem (tubes inside the stem) and change the colour of the celery.

Sophia says,

"I enjoyed it in Gymnastics when we were doing our jumps. I enjoyed Computing when we were learning about branching databases. We used yes and no questions to sort things out."

Week 2

We had a fantastic time during our Prehistoric Day on Tuesday! We got our prehistoric outfits on and spent the morning with an expert on the prehistoric period: Stone Age to Iron Age. We got to handle artefacts from the time period (some were actually from the Stone Age!) and add to our growing knowledge of prehistory. We also created some Stone Age art, using drawings from the Paleolithic (or Old Stone Age), Mesolithic (or Middle Stone Age) and Neolithic (or New Stone Age) periods. In the afternoon, we made clay pots with Stone Age patterns on and recreated a Stone Age burial chamber! It was a super day of learning.

This week in English, we read a poem about the Stone Age. We then looked at haiku poems and wrote our own version based on our Stone Age learning. We made sure that our poem had three lines of 5 syllables, 7 syllables and then another 5…counting syllables was trickier than we thought! In Maths, we have been measuring in metres and centimetres and also centimetres and millimetres, finding equivalent lengths. Our Science learning this week was finding out the function of the different parts of a plant (the flower, leaves, stem and roots), We had a close look at a real plant and we were amazed at how long the roots were! We began our new R.E. unit this week, called Which Rules Should We Follow? In Computing, we started our Branching Databases unit by looking at using yes and no questions to sort a selection of items. We learnt a new jump in our Gymnastics P.E. lesson. We added the ‘straight jump half turn’ to our current selection of jumps that includes the star, straight and tuck jump. In our French learning, we continued learning some of the parts of the body by singing Heads, Shoulders, Knees and Toes in French! Our Music lesson took us outside in the sunshine to create rhythms on the ukuleles and djembes. Our Stone Age learning links to our Art focus this half term - Prehistoric Art. This week, we sketched simple line drawings of animals in the style of prehistoric cave paintings.

Another very busy but enjoyable week! 

Week 1

What a super return to school this week! It has only been a short week but it has been crammed full of exciting learning. We started our new Science topic, Plants – Functions of Parts of a Plant, by exploring the plants around the school grounds. We took some excellent photographs so that we could draw and label one of the plants we had seen. We recalled our prior learning about the parts of the plant and then planted some sunflower seeds to take home as part of our home learning…our challenge is to keep the plant alive this half term! In our Gymnastics session in P.E., we focused on star, straight and tuck jumps. We worked in a group to create a sequence to present to the class, creating moves that linked to the theme of a river. The sequences were fantastic! We started our History learning about special buildings by looking at some of the listed buildings in Hoddlesden. This half term, we are linking our Music lessons to our learning about the prehistoric time periods. We will be creating music inspired by the sounds of stone and metal. In French, we have started learning vocabulary for the parts of the body...we enjoyed singing Heads, Shoulders, Knees and Toes in French!

In English, we read our focus text, Stone Age Boy by Satoshi Kitamura, and sequenced the main events of the story. We have moved onto Length and Perimeter in our Maths learning and we started by measuring lengths in centimetres and millimetres.

What a fantastic start to the Summer Term!

Scarlett says,

"I enjoyed it when we went to take pictures in different areas around school and then we drew and labelled a picture of a plant. I enjoyed it in English when we read Stone Age Boy."

Spring 2 - Treasured Tales

Week 6

We have completed this half term’s learning in style this week! We practised instructional writing in English by verbally giving instructions on how to play a game. We then planned and wrote our instructions on how to make a shadow puppet theatre, linked to both our Art & Design learning and last half term’s Science learning on Light and Shadows. After Mrs Scholes had whittled a shadow puppet theatre out of a large box, some paper and some torches, we retold the story The Emperor’s New Clothes using our puppets!

In Science, we learnt about the muscles in our body. We focused on the muscles in our arms that work in pairs. We learnt how the biceps and triceps work together to move the arm, contracting (getting shorter) and relaxing (getting longer) in order to move the arm up and down. Our History learning concluded with us deciding whether we thought the Bronze Age or Iron Age was more impressive. We used the knowledge we have gained over the last half term to make our decision, justifying our opinion with the facts we have learnt. In our Gymnastics P.E. lesson, we finished our Symmetrical Shapes unit by putting together all of our learning from the half term. Working in a group, we put balances, jumps and other movements together to create a performance. In Worship, we focused on the Salvation part of The Big Story. We created some art work to show that Jesus is the bridge that can restore the relationship between God and His people.

The children have worked extremely hard this half term and they have definitely earned their Easter break! Well done, Year 3 

Week 5

We have had another super week in Year 3! On Friday, it was Music Day so we spent some time with Mr Richards and played some classical music! We used the glockenspiels, djembes, ukuleles and percussion instruments to play along to Troika from Lieutenant Kije by the composer Sergei Prokofiev. We continued our Science Week learning and created bar charts to show the data that we had collected about our feet growing as we get older. In Art and Design, we planned our shadow puppet theatre performance to retell our English focus text The Emperor’s New Clothes. We thought about all of the things we will need, including a light source to create the shadows. In our R.E. learning, we designed our own Christian cross with designs linked to the Easter story. We continued our learning about the Iron Age in History, comparing Iron Age home life to that of the Bronze Age. We imagined that we were a child in the Iron Age and described our home. We added jumps into our symmetrical shapes gymnastics routine in our P.E. lesson, focusing on how we make the shapes and holding the balances long enough to make them look good. We linked our Computing learning to our Science topic about the human skeleton. We created a skeleton sprite and used coding to make it speak to another sprite about the bones of the body!

In our Maths learning, we started a new topic about Statistics. We used a tally chart to record data about a question of our choice, such as What is the favourite ice cream flavour in Year 3? We then interpreted the data, explaining what the information showed. In our non-fiction learning in English, we have started learning about instructions. 

In one of our Worship sessions, we worked in a group to create a stable structure using only scrap paper! The focus was working together to persevere, support and encourage each other. Our structures were very successful!

Ibrahim says,

"I have enjoyed Guided Reading because you have to read perfectly. I also enjoyed making Mother's day cards because I liked threading the thread through the holes."

Week 4

We loved our Outdoor Adventurous learning this week! Thankfully, the rain stayed away for the afternoon while we adventured in the woods and around Hoddlesden. We started by making links to our Science learning about Skeletons and Movement. We worked in a group to gather sticks, stones and other materials from the woods to create our own skeleton! We were excellent at remembering all of our Tier 3 vocabulary (the names of the bones) and where the bones are in our bodies. We then went on a walk to the reservoir, where we adventured down a steep bank and through a dark tunnel! We then returned to the woods to enjoy some homemade garlic bread, made from wild garlic that we gathered in the woods. We were like the hunter-gatherers we have learnt about in our History lessons! We had an amazing afternoon.

It has also been Science Week this week. We linked the theme of Growth to our Skeletons and Movement topic and we explored how the body grows as we get older. We carried out a survey of the most common shoe sizes of the Key Stage 2 classes to see if they increase as children get older. We then used the information to create a bar chart so that we could analyse the data. We found that the most common shoe size did increase with age. We also had some scientific discussions about some of the data not being quite what we expected!

In our other learning this week, we have been subtracting money and calculating change in our Money topic in Maths. We have used different methods, such as exchanging £1 for 100p and using a number line to find the difference by counting up. In English, we have been writing the answers to interview questions in role as the Emperor from The Emperor’s New Clothes. We are answering questions about why the Emperor didn’t admit that he couldn’t see the ‘special’ material. In Computing, we continued to use Scratch for our programming unit, making the sprites move and make sounds. In our Gymnastics lesson for P.E., we continued using symmetrical shapes. We worked in pairs to create a sequence of balances containing the symmetrical shapes. For this week’s History learning, we researched what an Iron Age farm would have been like. We used the information to sketch our own representation of an Iron Age farm. In Art, we created sock puppets! We used our sewing and sticking skills to decorate the puppet. What a busy week!

Bella says,

"I liked it when we got to see the firefighters because we learnt how to be safe. I also liked it when we made our sock puppets because I like doing arts and crafts."

Daniel says,

"I learnt about fire safety. I liked it when we went on the mudslide and through the tunnel. I liked the garlic bread that we made from wild garlic."

Week 3

We have had another very active week in Year 3! We started our week with a World Book Day workshop based on Where the Wild Things Are by Maurice Sendak. We used dance and drama to explore the story, working in groups to perform parts of the story.

In Science, we continued to explore our Skeletons and Movement topic. We took our learning outside and went to find some invertebrates (animals that don’t have a backbone). In our History learning this week, we have investigated the Amesbury Archer - a skeleton that was found near Stonehenge in 2002. He was buried with over 100 artefacts, including copper knives, gold hair ornaments, decorated pottery and even boars’ tusks. He became known as the Amesbury Archer, as flint arrowheads and a stone wrist guard worn by archers at the time were found in the grave. We thought about why he was buried with these items, what it tells us about what was important to the Bronze Age people and what the burial tells us about beliefs at that time. Our Art learning included sketching from observation. We brought a soft toy in from home and used short lines to create detail once we had made the basic shapes of the outline of the toy. It took a lot of patience! In PSHE, we continued to look at who is responsible for keeping us safe.

In Maths this week, we have continued our topic on money. We have been adding and subtracting amounts using different methods. Our English learning focused on creating some writing based on our World Book Day workshop before we returned to our focus text, The Emperor’s New Clothes. We thought about the themes of the text and what we could learn from the folk tale.

Week 2

This week has whizzed past! We have continued our Art learning this week by looking at tints and shades. We used blue, white and black paint to create the different colours, blending them together on the page. In our Science lesson, we learnt some more bones of the human skeleton…our Tier 3 vocabulary list is getting longer and longer! Our PSHE lesson followed on from Mr Dugdale’s worship about Fair Trade on Monday. We looked at the choices we can make that have consequences for other people around the world. For example, if we choose to wear clothes made from Fair Trade cotton, cotton farmers in countries such as India and China are paid a fair price for the cotton they produce. In Computing, we used Scratch to program sprites to do particular actions. Our History learning has involved comparison between the Bronze Age and the Stone Age, considering whether life was better in the Bronze Age.

In our English lessons this week, we have looked at the text The Smartest Giant in Town by Axel Scheffler and Julia Donaldson alongside our focus text by Hans Christian Andersen, The Emperor’s New Clothes. We focused on the poem at the end of the story, which has rhyming couplets as its rhyming structure. We wrote our own version of the poem and discovered that rhyming can be pretty tricky! In Maths, we have been counting and adding money, working with both pounds and pence (£ and p).

Week 1

We have had a fantastic start to the new half term! We have particularly enjoyed a visit from the poet Andy Tooze. Before he arrived, we enjoyed reading a selection of his poems and wrote our own based on his Twenty Words poems. We then performed them! During our session with Andy, he gave us some advice about writing poems and then challenged us to write poems about our favourite hobby. Mrs Scholes and Andy were very impressed!

We looked at the artwork of Carl Giles, a cartoonist, in our Art lesson. We studied his cartoon called Mother’s Day and looked at how the picture is arranged, what the focal point of the picture is and how the artist has used the pen and ink to create the images. We then drew our own cartoon of our family! We used simple lines and shading to create the picture and gave each person a signature feature, such as a style of hair. We really enjoyed putting our family into a cartoon! In our R.E. lesson, we started looking at the Easter story and how each person in the story would be feeling about the events. We had a super time in in our Science lesson when we started our Skeletons & Movement topic. We started the unit by recapping the bones in our body that we already knew and then learnt a few new ones…our Tier 3 vocabulary list was huge! We worked in a group to draw a giant body and then labelled the cranium, ribcage, phalanges and vertebrae. In PSHE, we thought about the role of volunteers (people who give up their time for free!) and how important they are in our school community. We then decided how we could volunteer our own time to help other people. We started our Gymnastics unit in P.E. and we created balances with a partner. We then reminded ourselves of the different shapes (e.g. tuck, straddle) and explored pushing and pulling our bodies on the mats and benches. In Computing, we began our programming topic, using Scratch to recap our knowledge of creating a sprite and making it move in different ways. What a busy week!

Noah says:

"I liked it when we acted out the main parts of The Emperor's New Clothes. I liked it when the poet came in and we wrote a poem that rhymed."

Spring 1 - Amazing Asia

Week 6

Another half term is complete! This week was Children’s Mental Health Week so we spent some time thinking about the theme Growing Together. We considered who helps us to grow and who we might turn to when things get tough or we need support. We have loved finishing our Geography learning this week by painting our globes, adding the Equator, the Tropics of Cancer and Capricorn, the North and South poles plus the continent of Asia. We have learnt about the lines of latitude and longitude and time zones. We can’t believe that Mrs Scholes’s sister lives in a time zone that is 11 hours ahead of the UK! We also completed our jungle-themed cushion in Design & Technology, using running stitch for our appliqué (sewing pieces of material onto another piece of material) and joining the cushion, plus cross stitch for decoration. We are really pleased with our products…it has been a very challenging project! In Science, we continued our learning about Light, Reflections & Shadows by investigating how shadows can change. We were lucky enough to catch glimpses of the sun so we could look at the shadows in the playground! Back in the classroom, we used the torches as a light source and an opaque object to investigate how shadows change when the light source gets closer or further away.

In Maths, we were solving problems involving scaling, where we had to use our multiplication skills to make an amount bigger. In English, we completed our new ending for our focus text for this half term, The Jungle Book. Our Computing this week was around Safer Internet Day on 8^th February. We refreshed our memories about being safe online, remembering not to share passwords, to be careful what we click on when we are on online games and to ask an adult when we are not sure about something online. We loved the Digiduck story! In P.E., we practised our athletics skills and remembered to do our daily mile! In French with Madame Wardle, we continued to practise saying the months of the year and learnt how to ask someone when their birthday is. We performed our improvisations on the glockenspiels in our final Music lesson of the half term. We are now ready for a well-earned rest! Well done, Year 3 

Week 5

We can’t believe another week has flown by! This week, we continued our Computing learning by comparing using a digital device for a task (the 2Paint programme on Purple Mash) to using a non-digital device (a paintbrush and paper!) After we had used 2Paint to create a picture of a globe, we thought about the pros and cons of each method. In Geography, we looked at addresses. We thought about extended addresses and what each line means, using Google Earth and atlases to identify locations to the north, east, south and west of our school. We continued our textiles unit in Design & Technology. We used appliqué (a needlework technique in which one or more pieces of fabric are attached to a larger background fabric to create pictures or patterns) and cross stitch to sew our jungle-themed cushions. Apart from the odd moment of getting tangled up, we were very successful with our sewing! We really enjoyed learning more about shadows in our Science lesson. We learnt about opaque, translucent and transparent materials before investigating how shadows are made. In PSHE, we discussed the concept that medicines are drugs which can be helpful (if used correctly) or harmful (if used incorrectly) to the body. We talked about cigarettes and alcohol and the effects that these can have on the body.

In Maths, we continued to use different methods to divide numbers, progressing to dividing numbers with remainders. In English, we have been in full writing mode! We have been writing an alternative ending for The Jungle Book, including the writing skills that we have learnt so far this year. This includes adverbs, starting sentences with conjunctions and using inverted commas for direct speech.

Next week, we will be bringing our learning for this half term to a close with our theme learning outcomes.

Week 4

We have really enjoyed some practical learning again this week! We used a template to cut out the felt shapes that we sewed onto our cushions (appliqué) in our Design & Technology lesson. We struggled with a few needle-threading issues, but once we got going we did some fantastic running stitch! Next time, we will use cross stitch to add some decoration to our cushion before joining the two pieces of the cushion together with running stitch. In Science, we investigated reflection. We looked at an assortment of materials and decided if they were dull or shiny, depending on whether we could see our reflections in them and if the light from a torch reflected (bounced back) off them.

In Maths, we have learnt a formal written method of multiplication called the grid method. We use lots of different skills when we use the method, including partitioning, using known facts to multiply multiples of 10 and adding! Our English lessons this week focused on applying the features of persuasion in our writing. We also started to think about our new ending for The Jungle Book by using drama to explore ideas about what Mowgli might do once he gets to the man village. We created mini plays!

In Computing, we continued to think about how digital devices function. We designed our own digital device, thinking about the input, process and output. We learnt about Matthew in the Bible in our R.E. lesson, who was a tax collector before he met Jesus. We thought about what was important to him after he had met Jesus. We continued to think about risk in PSHE, considering how we could lower the risk in certain situations.

Jessica says,

"I liked it when we were multiplying numbers by 100 in Maths. I liked it when we did our independent writing. We wrote a persuasive letter to Mowgli from Bagheera, telling him why he should go back to the man village."

Week 3

We loved our Outdoor Adventurous Learning session this week! We linked it with our Geography learning about the Equator and the 8 points of the compass. We used a compass to navigate our way around the woods and discovered some wild animals living there! We also relaxed in a hammock, played a drum and toasted marshmallows! It was a bit chilly out there but we really enjoyed it.

In English this week, we have been identifying the features of persuasion. We started our learning by working in a group to persuade people to do something that we wanted them to do. We were very persuasive! We then linked our learning to our focus text, The Jungle Book. We wrote a letter in role as the main character, Mowgli, to Bagheera the panther to persuade him to let Mowgli stay in the jungle.

In Maths, we have been learning how to multiply a two-digit number by a one-digit number using partitioning. We have had to apply many of the skills we have learnt so far, including using known facts and multiplying a number by 10. We continued our R.E. learning about Jesus and how he changes lives. We looked at the story of Zacchaeus and focused on how he changed once he had met Jesus. In P.E. this week, we learnt about control and possession in a team game, trying to keep the ball away from our opponents. In French, we continued our learning about the months of the year and in Music we used the glockenspiels to improvise rhythms to accompany a song. What a busy week!

Lydia says,

"I liked it when we did persuasion in English because it was fun trying to convince people to agree with us! I liked doing the outdoor adventure learning. My favourite bit was when we had to look for the animals. We found a giraffe hidden in the bushes!"

Week 2

We have had a very practical week in Year 3, doing lots of moving and making across all of our lessons. In our English lessons, we have focused on the part of The Jungle Book story where Mowgli was kidnapped by some monkeys! We used drama and freeze-framing to explore the character’s thoughts and feelings. We wrote the section of the story in our own words, trying to use the Year 3 skills we have learnt so far in Year 3. We added inverted commas to our success criteria this week, which are used to show when a character is speaking (direct speech). We have moved onto counting in multiples of 8 in Maths, using the multiples to help us to begin learning the 8 times table.

In Geography, we used paper mâché to make our own globe that we will use throughout the unit as we learn this half term’s key vocabulary. Our Design & Technology theme this half term is Textiles. We started our learning by learning how to do a cross stitch and appliqué - sewing pieces or patches of fabric onto a larger piece to form a picture or pattern. We will be using our skills to make a jungle-themed cushion! In Science, we started our Light, Reflections and Shadows unit. Our Tier 3 vocabulary was light source (anything that makes light, whether natural and artificial) and dark (the absence of light). Through our investigation, we learned that we need light in order to see things. We learnt about Saul changing his name to Paul in our R.E. lesson, focusing on the encounter that Saul had with God. It made him change how he viewed the followers of Christ. In French, we learnt the vocabulary for the months of the year and in Music, we enjoyed improvising and composing our own accompaniment to our theme song.

Florence says,

"I enjoyed it when we made the globes in Geography because it was messy! I also liked it when we learnt how to do cross stitch in Design & Technology."

Joseph says,

"I liked how we learnt about light in Science. We learnt about light sources. They can be natural or artificial. I liked how we did sprinting in P.E."

Week 1

Welcome back everyone! We definitely earned our break over the Christmas period and we came back this week in fine form, ready to start our learning in 2022! In English, we have started our learning based on our whole-school focus text, The Jungle Book. We began by watching a short adaptation of the story so that we know what the main events of the story are. We then worked in groups to retell the main events, adding actions to make it more interesting! Our Maths learning has involved moving onto the 4 times table, starting with practising counting in multiples of 4 from 0 and then looking at facts from the times table. In R.E. this week, we started our learning about Jesus and the miracles that he did. We completed our unit Material Properties - Rocks in Science, exploring what soil is made from. In French with Madame Wardle, we started our new topic about La Fête (celebrations). We looked at Epiphanie (Epiphany) and discussed key words and phrases linked to the celebration. We also started our new Music unit with Mr Richards. We listened and responded to a song called Your Imagination. We will be using the glockenspiels during this unit…we love playing instruments!

Philip says,

“I enjoyed it when we did our Science learning about soil. I remember that there is clay soil and sandy soil, which have particles of dead plants and animals in them. I have also enjoyed R.E. because I like learning about religious things.”

Autumn 2 - Factual Footprints

Week 7

We are VERY ready for our Christmas break in Year 3 after our busy week! Our Elf Enterprise project linked to our Design & Technology learning has been our main focus. We have now made our Christmas cards with a simple lever mechanism and we have been successful - the parts move! During the making section of the process, we had to be very patient so that the finished product was high quality. We worked really well as a team, helping each other where necessary. We are very proud of our product!

In other learning this week, we finished our stop-motion animation in Computing, based on our Science learning about how fossils are formed. After investigating the functions on the Stop Motion Studio app, we were able to edit and improve our work to create a final, finished project. In our History learning about the Tudors, we investigated the other changes that the Tudors had brought about in England while they were in power. In English, we learnt and orally rehearsed an explanation of how levers work, using a text map to help us. We then used the text map to help us to write a good-quality explanation, using the features of an explanation text. In our P.E. lesson, we performed the Bollywood dance that we have learnt. We have used Indian mudras (hand movements). We completed our properties of rocks investigation in Science, discovering that sandstone is permeable (it absorbs water). 

We also, of course, had a Christmas party! We enjoyed relaxing with a drink and a snack in between doing a Christmas quiz and playing Christmas bingo!

We have worked incredibly hard this term and Mrs Scholes is VERY proud of us all. We have earned our Christmas holiday! Happy Christmas to everyone from Year 3 🎄🎁🎅
 

Eliza says,

"I enjoyed it when we made our Christmas cards for Elf Enterprise because it was really fun doing the colouring in. I liked doing the explanation text in English because it was easier to learn it with the actions as well. I liked it when we did our Christmas party!"

Charlie says,

"I enjoyed it when we made our snowman Christmas cards. I liked it when we learnt about the Tudors in History. I learnt that King Henry VIII made his own church. I liked it when we made our levers with the split pins."

Week 6

The festive season is well and truly upon us! We have spent a lot of this week taking part in our Elf Enterprise project linked to our Design & Technology learning. We will be making Christmas cards with a simple lever mechanism to make the parts move. Following our exploration of levers last week, we started by evaluating existing products, saying what we thought was good about each one and what we thought would need to be improved. We then designed our own product, using the ideas from our research. The next step of our project was to calculate the cost of making one of our Christmas cards. We also talked about how much we should charge for our product so that we make a profit when we sell it. In order to make our product attractive to buyers, we wrote a product description. We will make our product next week, ready to sell to you all!

In other learning this week, we began our stop-motion animation in Computing, based on our Science learning about how fossils are formed. We are getting very skilful at using the Stop Motion Studio app…we are able to use the functions on the app that allow us to create accurate photographs to make our animation even better! In our History learning about the Tudors, we explored the impact that Henry VIII had on England while he was king. We learnt that he changed religion in this country forever! Our Maths learning has involved division using sharing or grouping.

We are looking forward to completing our Elf Enterprise project next week! 

Week 5

We have continued our Design & Technology learning this week by investigating levers and linkages. We explored and made some different simple levers that we can use in our Elf Enterprise product, including a waving hand and clapping hands! In Computing, we used the Stop Motion Studio app to practise making a stop-motion animation. We evaluated our own animation and thought of how we could improve it next time. We also had chance to look at what everyone else had created! We continued practising a Bollywood dance in our P.E. lesson, using the Indian mudras we have learnt (single or double hand gestures that can be meaningful or just look good!) In R.E. this week, we reflected on the fact that Christians believe God is present all the time and shared how we feel about it. In our English learning, we thought of our own ideas for a new event in The Iron Man and then used drama to explore our ideas. There were some very interesting ideas! We then started writing the new event for the story, making sure that we included description, adverbs and a range of conjunctions. We showcased the Music skills that we have developed this half term in a performance for Year 2, playing a beat or a rhythm on ukuleles, glockenspiels and djembe drums.

Maisie says,

"I liked it when we did the writing about the Iron Man because we got to write fun things about him. I enjoyed the dance in P.E. when we worked with a partner."

Week 4

We had a fantastic time during our Outdoor Adventurous Activity learning this week! We put on our wellies and waterproofs and ventured into the great outdoors…we learnt how to tie some knots before working in a group to build a shelter in the woods! In addition to a tarpaulin and some rope, we used materials that we found around us to create our den. They looked amazing! After that, we whittled the end of a stick to use as a marshmallow fork for some marshmallow toasting. It was a super end to the afternoon!

In our English learning this week, we started looking at our fiction text, The Iron Man by Ted Hughes. We used the text to find vocabulary to describe the Iron Man and used it to write a shape poem. Our Maths learning progressed into a written method for subtraction, using exchanging where necessary. In Computing, we planned our stop-motion animation and we planned an investigation in Science to explore whether rocks are permeable or impermeable (are able to absorb water or unable to absorb water). In History, we compared the lives of rich and poor Tudors…we decided we would not want to be poor in Tudor times!

James says,

In Wild Adventures, I liked building dens because we had to get loads of wood. In Maths, I liked it when we did a written method for taking away."

Alice says,

"I liked it when we talked about The Iron Man because I like the story. I enjoyed outdoor learning because we got to learn to tie knots."

Week 3

We have loved our learning again this week! We started the week with some investigation in our Design & Technology lesson. We learnt about the six main simple machines (mechanical devices that change the direction or size of a force) which are the wheel and axle, the lever, the inclined plane, the pulley, the screw and the wedge. After we had learnt what they are, we looked around our classroom to see if we could find any examples. We found lots! In our R.E. lesson about people in the Bible who were called by God, we learnt that God trusted Isaiah with the prophesy of Jesus, the Saviour. PSHE this week was centred around Anti-Bullying Week. We wore odd socks on Monday to celebrate what makes us all unique! In English, we wrote an explanation text linked to our Science learning about how fossils are formed. We made sure we used the features of an explanation text, including the language of cause and effect. We orally rehearsed it with actions before writing it so that our writing would be better! Our Maths this week has taken us into some brand new learning – a written method! We used the column method to add numbers, exchanging where necessary. We loved our History learning this week! We looked at some pictures of Tudor life and had to explore what the pictures told us about life in Tudor times. One of the pictures was of a Tudor toilet (or privy as they were called)! In Science, we developed our learning about Material Properties – Rocks. We handled some rocks and then sorted them into natural and human-made rocks. We continued our Bollywood-style dancing in P.E. and learnt the next part of our routine. We have been very busy!

Daniel says,

"In P.E., I liked it when we used a tennis racket and ball to practise controlling the ball. I enjoyed doing the animations in Computing. I liked learning about rocks in Science."

Week 2

We have had a fantastic week in Year 3. We celebrated Maths Week England and discovered that Maths is EVERYWHERE! We started our week with some problem solving. We played a game called NIM-7 where we had to use logic to figure out how to beat our partner! We also made towers out of three different coloured cubes and had to find all of the possible colour combinations. On Tuesday, we went into the great outdoors to find some more Maths! We completed a tally chart of the different kinds of trees in the wooded area around school and we collected some leaves to sort. We used a Venn diagram to sort the leaves, using different headings. Later in the week, we created our own tessellating patterns - patterns of repeated shapes that fit together closely without gaps or overlapping. Watch our video here.

In our other learning this week, we started writing our biography about Mary Anning in English, linked to our Science learning. In Computing, we used 2Animate on Purple Mash to create an animation by drawing a series of pictures. As we went through the lesson, we edited and improved our animations by ensuring the pictures were very similar so that the movements in the animation were small. Our Science lesson involved learning how fossils are made. We presented the information as a Science programme for children! We continued our Bollywood Dance in our P.E. lesson, practising the mudras we learnt last week (hand gestures used across a number of classical Indian dance forms) and then learning a sequence of moves. We started our History learning about the Tudors by looking at timelines of world and British history, identifying where the Tudors fit into history. In French with Madame Wardle, we played a game similar to Bingo where we had to select and cross off French numbers. We continued our Music learning with Mr Richards and we loved getting the instruments out! We began to learn the melody, accompaniment and rhythm of a piece of Tudor music and played them on glockenspiel, ukulele and djembe. Our R.E. lesson was about Samuel in the Bible and how he had been called by God.

Alex says,

"I liked it when we started to do our Maths Week England. I enjoyed it when we went out into the woods and we found different leaves. We sorted them using a Venn diagram. I liked writing a biography about Mary Anning."

Jess says,

"I enjoyed it when we did the tessellating patterns because I liked it when we made the shape. I liked it when we did Science and we learnt how fossils are made. We did some actions about how fossils are made."

Week 1

It is great to be back together after a well-deserved rest over the half term week! We have dived straight into our new Factual Footprints theme learning. In English, we have started our Non-Fiction November learning, based on the theme Heroes. We are looking at Mary Anning, who was a pioneering palaeontologist and fossil collector. This links to our Science learning for this half term, which is Material Properties - Rocks. We will be writing a hybrid text about Mary Anning, including a biography and an explanation text. Because of this, we have looked at the features of biographies and explanation texts this week.

Our Maths learning this week has included subtracting tens from three-digit numbers. We have used exchanging for the subtraction - we exchanged one hundred for ten tens. In our first Computing lesson, we explored animation. We made our own simple flipbook to show a basic animation, made up of a series of drawings. We will be looking at rocks and fossils in our Science lessons and we started off by finding out what our current knowledge of rocks is.

In our R.E. lesson, we continued our Called by God unit. We looked at Elijah’s life and how God used him as a prophet. Our PSHE lesson helped us to recognise that there are many different types of family. We enjoyed practising our counting to 20 in French with Madame Wardle and we created our own clapping rhymes! We started our Music learning with Mr Richards, listening and responding to Tudor music linked to our History learning. We learnt part of the song Greensleeves, which is believed by some to have been composed by Henry VIII for his future love, Anne Boleyn. It has been a busy week!

Autumn 1 - Native Narratives

Week 8

We have been very busy this week finishing off our theme learning for Native Narratives! We completed our PowerPoint presentations about the topography of Africa in Computing and then we presented them to the class! Our text boxes and images looked great on the big screen and our animations made the presentations interesting to watch. We also put together our 3-D model of Africa (made from salt dough) in our Art lesson. We worked in groups to put together some information about the region of Africa that we had made and recorded it for a video presentation. Watch the video here!

In Science, we completed our investigation about the strength of different magnets. We found out that just because a magnet looks bigger, doesn’t mean that it is stronger! In our Maths lessons this week, we have been mastering different methods for subtracting ones from a number. We have used number lines with partitioning and Base 10 to calculate the answers. We have been in the writing phase of our English unit this week and we have retold the story Akimbo and the Elephants by Alexander McCall Smith. We have loved the text because it is set in Africa and it is an exciting story! In PSHE, we wrote an acrostic poem to show what a good friend is and we continued with our learning about French games in the French lesson with Madame Wardle.

We had a VERY exciting time on Wednesday…we spent some time on a bouncy castle for our behaviour treat! We LOVED it!

Holly says,

"I liked P.E. because we did our full routine and we added some extra bits. I liked doing the video of our 3-D Africa because we could talk about it whilst it was filming. I also liked doing Computing because we showed everyone our PowerPoint presentation. The behaviour treat was fun because I have never been on a bouncy castle in school!"

Week 7

It has been another lively week in Year 3…we love to be active in our learning! In our Science lesson, we prepared to carry out another investigation by thinking about making it a fair test. In our next lesson, we will investigate the strength of different magnets. We have already made our predictions so we will see what happens! We continued with our PowerPoint presentation in Computing, adding animations to our text and images to make it more interesting to watch! We had a busy (and messy) afternoon in Art. We painted our clay African animals, our clay fire children (linked to our English text The Fire Children) and our big map of Africa! On our salt dough map of Africa, we added the topographical features, including mountains, lakes and rivers.

In English, we used the notes we had written when we did our research to write our non-chronological report about Africa. We included a heading, subheadings, paragraphs, pictures and a glossary. We also celebrated National Poetry Day (it was on 7^th October) by performing a poem called Eletelephony by Laura Elizabeth Richards. In our R.E. lesson, we learnt the story of Abraham and Isaac and wrote the key parts of the story as a storyboard. Abraham was asked to sacrifice his precious son. He was going to do it but God told him to stop - he had proved himself loyal to God.

We developed our passing skills in P.E. and practised the bounce pass as well as the chest pass. We then used them in a game so that we could also practise our team work! We really enjoyed it 

Sophie says,

"I liked it in Art when we painted the parts of Africa that we had made out of salt dough. I liked writing our non-chronological report because I got to write about Africa and Africa is one of my favourite continents."

Emmy says,

"I liked it in P.E. when we practised our bounce pass and chest pass. I enjoyed it when we all got to play bench ball. It was good fun when we were all shouting for the ball. I liked it in English when we were doing our non-chronological report because I liked learning about the topography of Africa."

Week 6

We all feel like this week has flown by…it must be because we have worked so hard! In Maths this week, we have moved onto our Addition and Subtraction unit. We have mainly been adding and subtracting multiples of 100. Our English lessons have been about non-fiction writing. We are planning and writing a non-chronological report for younger children, using the information about Africa that we have learned in our Theme learning this half term. We will be using the features of a non-chronological report, including a heading, subheadings and paragraphs.

We have also focused on Betty Campbell this week, to mark Black History Month. Betty Campbell was the first black headteacher in Wales and she made sure that her pupils were taught about black history. She was an inspirational lady and she has recently had a statue erected in her honour.

In Art, we used salt dough to create a large map of Africa! We worked in groups to each create a region of Africa that will be put together to make the whole continent. We will then add our clay animals and fire children, once they have been in the kiln and we have painted them! In our R.E. lesson, we started our new unit Called by God. We learnt about the role of a prophet and focused on the story of Moses and the burning bush.

During our Science lesson, we investigated materials. We loved using the magnets to test whether a material was magnetic (attracted to the magnet) or non-magnetic (not attracted to the magnet).

We are using our MindUP Core Practice sessions after playtime and lunchtime each day to focus our brains again so that we are ready for more learning!

What a busy week! 

Week 5

We have had another active week in Year 3! We started our week by taking part in the Mathematics World Cup. We practised our times tables whilst doing exercises and then we competed in teams to answer Maths questions. After we had done all of that, we ended with a mindfulness session. We loved it and we can’t wait to try the next level!

In our English lessons this week, we wrote a poem about an African animal, based on the structure of an existing poem. We included descriptive language, including adjectives and powerful verbs. Read our poems below!

In our Computing lesson, we continued with our PowerPoint. We added more text boxes about our Native Narratives Geography learning, including the topography of Africa (the physical features of an area of land). We finished our fire children in our Art lesson - they are now ready to go into the kiln! We put our passing skills into practice in our P.E. lesson by playing a game of bench ball. This also helped us to develop our teamwork skills. In our R.E. lesson, we listened to some Harvest hymns and reflected on what the hymns were for and how they make people feel.

In Science, we investigated magnets. We learned that magnets have two poles - north and south. Our new Tier 3 vocabulary includes the word attract (pulling towards) and repel (pushing away). We discovered that if opposite poles on the magnets are next to each other, they attract. If the same poles are next to each other, they repel.

We are looking forward to continuing our learning next week 

Josh says,

"When we made the clay children, we had to use slip to connect the bits of clay. I liked it when we practised our chest passes and we played bench ball."

Ethan says,

"I liked doing the bench ball in P.E. because it was fun. I liked making the fire children with clay and we had to connect the bits with slip."

Week 4

We have had another jam-packed week in Year 3! We have done many practical activities, such as starting to make our own fire children out of clay in Art. We are basing them on the text The Fire Children that we have been reading in English and we are going to paint and glaze them when they are finished. In Science, we did our first investigation! We have been learning about friction (a force between two surfaces that are sliding, or trying to slide, across each other) and we investigated how much friction different materials would make. We rolled a toy car down the different materials and observed which material made the car move fastest and slowest. To make the investigation fair, we kept the ramp at the same height and used the same toy car each time. We found that the material that was the smoothest (wood) caused the least friction and the material that was roughest (carpet) caused the most friction. We also thought about how we could be more scientific next time; amongst other ideas, we thought we could measure the speed of the car as it was going down the ramp and use the same size pieces of material.

We had a PSHE session with Coram Life Education this week and learned about the brain in our session Meet the Brain. Harold the giraffe came out and he was being very cheeky – the children were hooting with laughter!

Our Dance session in P.E. (linked to our Science learning) involved some solo performance this week. We acted like the parts of our body were magnetic and they were being pulled to each other! We continued our learning about Harvest in R.E. and compared the Christian festival to the Jewish festival of Sukkot. We used a Venn diagram to show the similarities and differences of the festivals.

In French, we learnt how to ask someone how they are. We added this to the vocabulary we already know about asking someone their name and we had some super conversations in French!

Bobby says,

"I liked it when we made the sculptures in Art. I liked doing the shaping. I enjoyed P.E. when we practised kicking the football and controlling it."

Elivia says,

"I liked it when we did R.E. with Miss Sullivan. We learned about Harvest. I enjoyed the Life Education lesson and I liked it when Harold was cheeky!"

Week 3

We have had a fantastic week of learning in Year 3…we are really getting the hang of being in the Juniors! This week, we have focused on the vocabulary used in our English text, The Fire Children. We practised using a dictionary to look up the definition of some of the words in the text, after trying to figure out the meaning of the word in context (looking at how the word is used and the other words around it). We also thought of some powerful verbs to make our writing more exciting to read.

In Maths, we have continued with our place value topic. Our focus has been recognising the place value of each digit in a three-digit number.

After Mrs Dixon had shown us some African masks, we had a rather messy time in Art this week! We created African animals out of clay. We used lots of Tier 3 vocabulary such as sculpture, scoring (a technique used to join clay) and slip (the mixture of clay and water used to join pieces of clay together). In Computing, we learnt how to add text boxes to our PowerPoint about our theme learning. We loved changing the style and colour of our text!

In our theme learning, we continued with our Geography focus. We learnt that the countries in the United Kingdom are divided into counties; we discussed that we live in the county called Lancashire and talked about the other counties around England that we have been to. We have travelled to all corners of the UK! In our R.E. lesson, we continued our learning about Harvest and discussed what Christians are thankful for during Harvest. We wrote our own prayer of thanks.

Matilda says,

"We have been learning about different types of clay. I enjoyed making an elephant out of clay - making the tusks was a bit tricky!"

Mason says,

"It was fun when we did the passing in P.E. and I liked doing different passes like a chest pass."

Week 2

It has been a very busy week in Year 3…our first full week has been packed with learning! We have very quickly got used to being in Key Stage 2 and we have impressed Mrs Scholes with our grown-up behaviour and super attitude for learning.

In English this week, we have been focusing on the text The Fire Children, which is a creation folk tale/myth. We have explored the vocabulary in the text and we have used adjectives for description. Using a text map, we have learnt a simplified version of the story so that we can orally retell it. We love using kung fu punctuation to remind us where to put commas and full stops!

In Maths, we have been looking at place value. We have moved onto three-digit numbers and have been practising our partitioning (splitting numbers up) in different ways.

Our Art lesson this week involved looking at the cultural significance of art in African cultures. Mrs Dixon introduced us to some technical vocabulary linked to sculpture and modelling with clay. We started our learning about Harvest in our R.E. lesson and thought about what is the same and different about harvest festivals in other countries. In our P.E. lesson, we started our dance topic linked to our Science learning on Forces and Magnets. We created our own set of movements with a partner, thinking about moving together and away from each other. In French, we learnt a choosing rhyme!

The children in Year 3 have made a great start to the new academic year 

Week 1

We have had a super couple of days in Year 3! We are getting back into the swing of things and enjoying being back together. We have already set ourselves some goals for this academic year and we have decided on the rules that we think will make our classroom a wonderful place to be. To get us into the Year 3 mindset, we created a Year 3 'TV show', where we told everyone what is going to be great about being in Year 3. The performances were amazing...we even had some songs! On Friday, Madame Wardle returned to St Paul's to help us with our French...we had some great conversations, showcasing our French talent! 

We are looking forward to starting our Native Narratives theme learning next week, along with getting back into our English and Maths learning. We have got an exciting half term ahead of us!

Summer 2 Week 3 (wb 21.06.2021)

This week in Year 3 we have started a new Maths unit, looking at Mass and Capacity. We have started by exploring different weights and solving some tricky problems! We have been exploring scales with different units and different intervals. In English we have continued our Romeo and Juliet learning, this week we have primarily explored the balcony scene. We have created emotion graphs to show how characters may have been feeling at different points in the play. Then we looked at using inverted commas, synonyms for ‘said’ and adverbs to suggest what the characters may be saying. During our Hoddlesden Globe learning we have continued creating our booklets for the new vicar. This week we have focused on old and new images and found out lots of facts. Did you know the Hoddlesden War Memorial was built on 25.06.1921 making it 100 years old today! In Computing we started to learnt how to build our own algorithms to draw shapes using Turtle Logo. During French we added verbs to our descriptive sentences all about animals. In Music we have explored using music to build tension! 

Summer 2 Weeks 1 and 2 (wb 7th and 14th June)

We have been busy bees over the last two weeks in Year 3! We have started a new topic, 'Hoddlesden Globe!' In English we have been focusing on Romeo and Juliet by William Shakespeare! We have produced our very own freeze frames and acted out scenes from the play. We are working on transforming this into a video of the story so be sure to look out for it soon on Seesaw! In Maths we have continued our Geometry unit and we have made considerable progress in this area. Next week we will begin a new unit. As part of our Hoddlesden Globe unit we will be exploring Hoddlesden past and present in order to create a welcome booklet for the new vicar of Hoddlesden Parish. We were also extremely excited to begin our pottery unit in Art with specialist Mrs Dixon. We will be designing and producing a piece of English Delftware which is pottery from the Shakespearean Era. We have also enjoyed French with a specialist French teacher, Madame Wardle. Perhaps the highlight of the last couple of weeks has been our amazing forest school session with Louise from Wild One Adventures. We were split into teams of Capulets and Montagues and we faced a battle before creating masks and enjoying a masked ball, with toasted marshmallows and melted chocolate! It was superb! 

Summer 1 Week 6 W/C 17.05.2021

This week the weather has been awful! But that hasn't stopped us enjoying some outdoor time and getting some fresh air. Last week was Mental Health Week and we reflected upon that this week in Mind Up by going outside and cloud watching and also watching the rain droplets in puddles. We have definitely added nature to our tool belt of resources to support our mental health and well being. We have also written some amazing pieces of writing using persuasive techniques to encourage people to visit the Oki Islands in Japan, which is where Tokoyo's father was exiled to in our link text in English. Miss Greenwood was amazed at how persuasive we were and almost booked a flight! Over the last few weeks in DT we have been planning how to create our own light box representing volcanoes in Asia. This week our designs finally became a reality when we began to make them! In Maths we have finished our fractions unit by focusing on adding and subtracting fractions. In RE we began to link our learning around the 10 commandments to Judaism and drew similarities and differences between Christianity and Judaism. In Science we evaluation our investigation and drew conclusions from what we had found out whilst conducting our experiment. In PE we learnt how to pass the baton effectively in a relay race and also effective striking and fielding in tennis. In Geography we researched volcanoes in Asia ready to produce a piece of writing for our display next week.  In French, we are continuing loving having the specialist, we have began describing monsters. 

Summer 1 Week 5 WB 10.05.2021

We have had another great week in Year 3, including welcoming Mr Errey, a student teacher into our class. On Monday we had another OAA morning which was brilliant. We had to solve some really complicated challenges as a team as well as use saws and other tools to produce log medals in the woods! We also used clay to make the trees into people, we had such a great time !On Tuesday we had special visitors in school who taught us Martial Arts linking to our Mulan text. It was so much fun learning the moves and noises which are linked with them. They also taught us some of the history behind the different martial arts. In English we focused on word classes and also got into role as Mulan and wrote letters back to our parents to explain where we have been. In Maths we have been learning to count and order fractions using number lines and bar models to help us. In Geography we have been researching different mountains in Asia using the iPads. We found lots of great facts. 

Summer 1 Week 4 W/C 03.05.2021

This week we have been a busy bunch in Year 3. 

We have enjoyed continuing our fractions learning in Maths and we have begun to explore equivalent fractions. In English we have focused on the Ballad of Mulan and our link text, The Legend of Tokoyo. You can see us retelling the story on Seesaw! We even used the green screen to put a beautiful blossom tree behind us. In Geography we began to explore how mountains and volcanoes are formed! We found this very intriguing. In RE we have looked at how the covanant between God and his people were formed, learning the story of Moses and the Israelites. In RHSE we have been looking at how to keep ourselves safe. In Computing, our blogs are really coming together and should be ready to be published soon! In Science we have begun an experiment and are monitoring this weekly. 

Summer 1 Week 3 - W/C 26.04.2021

This week we have been very busy as always. We started the week in a super fashion by participating in the first of our Outdoor Adventure Mornings. We loved playing Alien Orienteering in the woods as well as becoming extremely proficient in Archery! Thank you Sporting NRG, we cannot wait until the next one! In English we have continued our learning around Mulan, we have also introduced a new text, ‘The Legend of Tokoyo! So far we have been drawing differences and similarities between the two strong female characters evident in both texts. In Maths we have continued our learning about fractions with a focus on finding fractions of amounts. We have tried really hard to use bar models and our division and multiplication facts to support our learning. In Geography we made models of the layer of the earth and learnt different facts. In DT we added switches to our electrical circuits. In French we practised our conversational skills and learnt body parts. In RE we have been focusing on the 10 commandments and the story of Moses and Jesus setting the additional commandment. In Science we have planted seeds and placed them in different conditions around school. We will be comparing their growth over the coming weeks! In PE we have continued to develop our athletic and Tennis skills. 

Summer 1 Week 2 : W/C 16.04.2021

We have loved the summer weather this week in Year 3! It has given us the opportunity to get outside much more. We have even done ‘RE Orienteering’ where we had to match the 10 commandments to their descriptions! This week in English we have continued our learning around our focus text, ‘Mulan’. We have focused on the characters, their thoughts, feelings and conversations they had in the beginning of the text. In Maths we have focused on tenths. Miss Greenwood has been very proud of us and how well we have understood tenths as fractions and also as decimals! Wow! In Science we have been learning about plants and what they need to grow. In PE with Miss Wright we have started our Athletics unit and with Miss Greenwood, the new tennis balls have arrived so Wimbledon is in our sights! In Geography we have looked at the equator, lines of latitude and longitude. We plotted Asian countries on our maps from last week and decided on how hot they would be dependent on their proximity to the equator. In DT we are getting closer to learning what our amazing project is going to be! To practise we have been learning about electrical circuits, how to ensure a complete circuit and what different symbols might mean. On Thursday we also got to participate in ‘Fun Food Chef!’ We all worked together to produce different Asian Cuisine as part of our ‘Amazing Asia’ topic. It was delicious! We were introduced to new foods too. 

Summer 1 Week 1 wb 12.04.2021

Welcome back after a lovely 2 week Easter break! 

I hope you have all had a restful, relaxing holiday. This week we have started the Summer term with a bang! We have hit the ground running and the children have been amazing. We have had some exciting events happening, such as the LFC Cricket Roadshow as well as the Chinese Lion Dance workshop. Our class thoroughly enjoyed the sessions and came back to class with huge smiley faces! This week we have begun our Amazing Asia topic! We have started to focus on our text, Mulan as well as begin to explore what we know about volcanoes and earthquakes. Watch this space for some incredible learning taking place over the next few weeks! In Maths we have continued our learning all about fractions. 

Spring term 2 week 5 w/c 22.03.21

This week we have focused our learning around the text ‘The Easter Journal.’ We have looked at using inverted commas to punctuate speech as well as how to start our sentences with ‘when’. In the text the children produce different crafts and we had a go at making some of these crafts as well as our own Easter cards to send to someone we care about. In Maths we have been looking at fractions, this learning will be continued after half term. We also took part in a triathlon! Which means we are all now triathletes! 

In our Wednesday learning with Mrs Clitheroe, we have completed a diary entry as Riley from the story we are looking at this week, in our English learning. In maths, we have multiplied 2 digit numbers by 6 and helped solve some word problems involving multiplying by different 1 digit numbers. In PE, we played a range of warm up games to help with our skills of throwing and catching in the main lesson. We worked hard in our partnerships and did really well when we had to try and throw and catch with our weakest hand. In RE, we have completed our unit by completing a storyboard of the different events over Holy Week. It's been a busy day, but definitely a great one!

Spring 2 week 4: w/c 15th March

Another great week in Year 3! We have had both World Book Day and Comic Relief Red Nose Day in one week! This has meant lots of brilliant memories have been made 🥰 In English we have continued our learning surrounding ‘Into the Forest’ we have extended this to write shape poems and also create factual posters explaining the importance of trees. In Maths we have been focusing on fractions and looking at finding 1/2 and 1/4 of shapes and amounts. We will continue this learning next week and after Easter. In History we have loved learning about the different periods in the Stone Age! This week has also been ‘Shakespeare’ week. On Thursday we took part in a Macbeth and a Midsummer Nights Dream workshop lead by ‘UNO’ we simply loved learning the rhyme from Midsummer Nights Dream and creating rhyming potions like the witches in Macbeth. 

Our Wednesday learning with Mrs Clitheroe has whizzed by! In our maths learning, we have continued to look at multiplication of a 2 digit number by a 1 digit number and have focused our attention on multiplying by 3. In English, we have recounted some of our past experiences of a range of outdoor activities and in our PE learning, we have continued to look at the skills of varying the speed of a ball and practise our striking skills. We played ball golf to apply these skills and we had lots of fun doing this. In RE, we have looked at how we can show awareness of the different feelings surrounding Holy Week. We worked on a task thinking about all the different feelings words and chose colours that we thought reflected the feelings.