Year 3

Welcome to Year 3 2019-20!

The teachers in Year 3 are:

Miss Hall (3H)

 Mrs Hodgins/Mrs Bate (3B) 

The Teaching Assistants in Year 3 are Mrs. Capper and Mrs. Farmiloe

Our termly topics are as follows:

Autumn Term: Staffordshire Superstars - What is unique about me and where I live?

Spring Term: Meet the Flintstones - Stone Age to Iron Age

Summer Term: Romans - Rotten or Righteous?  Did the Romans make Britain great?

Science: The curriculum areas covered in Y3 are:

Autumn term - Animals including Humans: skeletons, bones, muscles and diet

Spring term - Forces and Magnets; Rocks and Soils

Summer term - Helping Plants Grow Well; Light and Shadows

Organisation of the curriculum: Mornings are given to the teaching and learning of skills in English (reading; writing; spelling; punctuation and grammar; speaking and listening) and Mathematics. Through the Creative Curriculum approach, we aim to introduce the children to a very wide range of knowledge, skills  and understanding by making as many cross-curricular links through our topics as possible. For example, after investigating different rocks and their formation in Science, the children learn about volcanoes and earthquakes in Geography and also find out about historic cataclysmic events such as the eruption of Mount Vesuvius. They follow an extended unit in English based on the text 'Escape from Pompeii,' which helps provide a rich background context to the 'Romans in Britain' focus in History, as well as having the opportunity to create an exploding volcano in Design and Technology, and perform volcano mimes and dances.  

Reading, Phonics and Spelling: These are taught in groups organised around the children's needs. Reading diaries should be signed by an adult three times a week. The signature will inform the teacher that you have listened to your child read at home - the reading can be their Accelerated Reader (AR) book, their class library book or their group Guided Reading text.

Homework: In addition to regular reading, your child will have 2 homework tasks per week which consist of ten to fifteen spellings - which follow a spelling pattern - and a focus Times Table with its related division facts. The children stick their new spellings (and new times table if appropriate) into the front of their Homework book on a Monday morning, with the whole week to practise them at school as well as at home. The children are tested on their spellings and tables the following Monday; this is recorded in the back of the Homework book so that parents can keep track of how their child is doing. The children self-mark their own spellings and tables tests in red pen: this gives the children instant feedback and involves them actively in the learning process, encouraging them to assess their own strengths and identify the areas on which they need to work next.

Tables facts need to be recalled very quickly rather than worked out: your child may not necessarily move on to a new times table each week, but will probably need to repeat a set of number facts until their speedy mental recall develops securely. The aim is for a response time of 7 seconds or less. In Y3, the main focus is learning the 4, 8 and 3 times tables, in addition to the 2s, 5s and 10s from KS1. Many children will also securely reach the 6s, while some will go further and complete all or most of their tables facts up to 12x. Related division facts also need to be learned and are a tricky challenge.

In addition, your child will be asked to do one homework task each term in researching, creating and presenting a project linked to a particular area of learning. Further information will be sent out in due course. 

PE: 

        In the Autumn term, and up to February half term 2020, PE will take place every Thursday afternoon.              The children should always have their indoor kit stored in their lockers.

If outdoor kit is needed, we will let you know well in advance:

- indoor kit: blue shorts and a yellow tee-shirt

- outdoor kit for chilly weather: jogging bottoms, a fleece top and trainers

ALL kit should be named and kept in a named kit bag.

From the second half of the Spring Term 2020, Y3 will have weekly swimming lessons at the Jubilee 2 baths

each Thursday afternoon. This will continue until the end of the Summer term, and Y3's PE day will change

to a Wednesday. At the swimming baths, the children will be taught in groups according to ability and water confidence by both the swimming coaches and Langdale teachers.

More information about swimming will be sent home nearer the time.

Classroom equipment:

· Children need to bring a water bottle filled with fresh water every day.

· Inhalers should be clearly labelled and will be kept in the classroom: please come in to

check expiry dates on ventolin regularly.

· Book bags, with all reading books and diaries, should be brought to school every day.

Routines and expectations: You may find that some routines and expectations are different from KS1; this is because we aim to start building greater independence in Year 3. For example the children are expected to remember to hand in all reply slips and forms at the beginning of the day, ready to go down to the office in the class bag at 9 a.m, and those children who go to Care Club after school will walk around to the Care Club building by themselves after the first week in September. However, we think that it is very important that all children are still released to an adult by a staff member at the end of the day for safety reasons, and the class teacher will also remain on the playground for a few minutes to be available to talk to parents informally after school.

We would ask that the class teacher or Teaching Assistant is informed verbally (on the playground door, or via a message from the office) - or through a note handed in by your child - of any information which the teacher needs to know that day, such as a change about who is picking up your child, medical or other issues, appointments etc. 

Tuck money should be brought to school in a named purse and not loose in pockets. 

Expectations of behaviour remain high. There are several ways that you will know when your child’s behaviour is good: they will receive certificates from the class teacher or Head teacher or they may receive special stickers

and class rewards. The school follows the 'Good to be Green' behaviour system, whereby children earn Golden Time through their good behaviour all week and join in with fun activities on a Friday afternoon. However there are also Warnings and Consequence cards for repeated misbehaviour: afternoon 'Golden Breaks,' and fortnightly Friday afternoon Golden Time, may be lost and cannot be redeemed in order to reinforce the consequences of making poor choices. In the case of repeated undesirable behaviour by a child, the class teacher may ask parents to come in to discuss issues and formulate a way forward to best address the situation. If you would like any further information, please come in for a chat.

                                                                 Starting the Y3 journey . . . . 

Busy times ahead, as the new school year is about to get under way! In Maths, we will begin by investigating place value, multiples and writing 3-digit numbers as words. In English, we will explore how to use language to engage the reader through diary writing and settings descriptions based on our text, 'Flotsam,' as well as being immersed in the weird and whimsical world of classic nonsense poems. In our Staffordshire Superstars topic, we will begin by learning about some famous local people and well-known places, using maps and grid references to find locations. Then we will develop our geographical language by comparing our local area with the contrasting environments of British coastal towns and the Australian coast, before looking in depth at the history of the Potteries and visiting Gladstone Pottery Museum in November. In Art, we will practise how to use sketching techniques to draw our own self portraits - then toss away the rule book to experience drawing Picasso-inspired abstract portraits! In Computing, we will learn skills in coding and debugging; in Science, we will find out about both human and animal skeletons and muscles; and, in PE, we will be learning some great new games! So much to look forward to . . . 

The Y3 parents' weekly review and newsletter will be put on the web page each week, in addition to being on ParentPay. Other information included on our web page will be half-termly curriculum overviews, to let parents know details of the forthcoming half term, as well as articles and photos of the children in action - along with useful websites or links - as the year progresses. Additionally, there will be a link for End of Year 3 Expectations, providing parents with an overview of the learning content to be covered. Please do contact the teacher if you have any questions regarding the above.

Also, if you would like a sneaky peak at what lies ahead in Y3, take this opportunity to take a quick look back at some of the activities from last year, and of the children in action learning and growing together!

Gladstone Pottery Museum Trip

As part of our Local History project about the Pottery Industry, Y3 visited Gladstone Pottery Museum in Longton to experience at first hand what a traditional pot bank was like. The museum offers a fascinating insight into the history of Stoke-on-Trent, famous the world over for the quality of its pottery.

The Gladstone China Works, as it was known, was not a famous manufacturer like Doultons, Wedgwood, Minton, Beswick, Spode and others. However, it was typical of hundreds of other similar factories in the area making everyday ceramics for the mass market.

The Gladstone Works opened as a museum in 1974, the buildings we visited today having been saved from demolition at the last minute in 1970 when the factory doors finally closed - some ten years after its coal-fired bottle ovens were last operational.

The children had a wonderful day at Gladstone Pottery, finding out how bone china tableware was made in original workshops, going inside the giant bottle ovens, seeing how pots were 'thrown' and marvelling at the speed with which skilled craftswomen could make delicate clay flowers and decorations! The children also gained an insight into how hard life would have been in those far-off days, finding out about the long hours and gruelling nature of the work - even for young children. Suddenly, having to go to school every day didn't seem like such a bad option!

The highlight for many children (apart from visiting the museum shop!) was having the chance to design and make a product - either a plate inspired by the famous local paintress, Clarice Cliff, or a clay character pot. 

Please take a look at some photos to give you a flavour of our brilliant day!

Science - skeletons, bones and muscles

Our Science unit this half term has been to recognise and understand the functions of a skeleton, and how muscles work in pairs to allow movement. We have also considered how a balanced diet is necessary as 'fuel' for a healthy body and strong bones and muscles, by designing an 'Eatwell' plate which combined the right proportions of the 5 food groups. Finally, we considered how animal skeletons are similar to, and different from, human skeletons and suggested reasons for this. During the unit we were delighted to have a visit from a Y4 mum who is a Personal Trainer, who talked very knowledgeably to us about bones, muscles and the importance of exercise. The session finished with an active 'warm-up' - which made us all very warm indeed! - and a cool-down, which helped bring our heart-rates back to normal. Look at the photos to see us all in action.

A violence of volcanoes!

Y3 has 'had a blast' this week, creating and exploding our model volcanoes in an extended D&T/Art project. We applied what we have been learning in Geography, Science, History and English to design our volcanoes around an empty plastic bottle by creating a newspaper and masking tape frame. We then covered the frames in mod roc and painted them to look realistic like the active shield, cinder cone and stratovolcanoes found along tectonic plate boundaries such as the Pacific Ring of Fire. Some of us even named our volcanoes - such as Mt. Phoenix, Mt. Exploder and Mt. Kaboom! 3H have already erupted their volcanoes earlier in the week (we couldn't wait!) by mixing vinegar and bicarb, with added red food dye and washing up liquid to create bubbling and vibrant 'lava' but, unfortunately, 3F have been rained off today so are eagerly anticipating some epic eruptions soon! Take a look at the photos of a fantastic week in Y3 . . .

                                   India Day

The latest International Day took us to the continent of Asia for a most exotic and colourful time! The children undertook challenges which tested their geographical skills, using maps and atlases to research and answer questions about India. They also explored different forms of Indian art such as Mehndi and Rangoli patterns, as well as the famous Painted Elephants, before beginning the next challenge which was to work together and create their own symmetrical Rangoli patterns from a variety of different starting points. The children (and staff!) also had the opportunity to sample Indian food, which everyone agreed was delicious. 3H had an additional treat during the morning, as we had the chance to watch a traditional Indian dance being performed in our very own classroom! Take a look at the photos of our busy day . . . 

Stone Age Art

Y3 has been involved in different art projects over recent weeks linked to our learning about the Stone Age. After finding out about prehistoric cave art from all over the world, including Cresswell Crags on the Nottinghamshire/Derbyshire border, the children were inspired to plan, design and create their own cave art. They used pastels to create a base colour and added detail in charcoal; some children even chose to use berry juice as a natural media to give added authenticity! As the cave art is now being completed, the results looking stunning!

Another Art project with History links has been Stonehenge Silhouettes. The children investigated the standing sarsen stones on the Salisbury Plain, learning of the significance of both the sun and moon for prehistoric people. The children expressed their understanding of the effect of the sun at dawn at the winter and summer solstices creatively, by painting a vivid sunrise wash then using paper-tearing techniques to create the iconic megaliths and trilithons at this World Heritage Site. The effects are dramatic!