Week Beginning 12/10/15

Literacy

In literacy this week we had fun role playing as celebrity chefs and performing cookery demonstrations inside our makeshift television. 

We have also been putting all of the writing skills we have been practising into place, with lots of extended writing. We have written our Revolting Recipes using: time and explanation conjunctions, adverbs and imperative verbs. 

We have also been looking back at our work since reception in our Special Writing books. For Special Writing week have written stories about finding a secret door. It has been amazing comparing these stories to our previous work and seeing how much we have all progressed. 

History 

In our history sessions this week, we combined our IT skills and researched important inventions, making information pages to add to our timeline. Along with our fantastic homework projects, I think you will agree, our class timeline is now looking pretty impressive. 

PE

We were also lucky enough to have another specialist PE lesson; learning how to play the fast and furious game of dodge ball. 

A special mention this week to Charlie who has completed his times table revision, learning ALL times tables and related division facts up to 12 x 12. What an achievement and inspiration! Keep collecting those stars Years 3, you can do it!

Finally, it was a pleasure to meet so many parents and carers during our first round of parent meetings. I really enjoyed discussing and sharing the many achievements made already this year. I would also like to remind those who did not manage to secure a time slot for the appointments next Wednesday, that you are welcome to make an alternative appointment at your convenience. 

Week beginning 5/10/15

Music
This week we have been continuing our work with our music specialist Miss Furnell. We have been practising all the skills we need to start playing an instrument. We are now confident with identifying different rhythms, listening to the meter and keeping steady beats. This week we had fun showing our understanding of these concepts using rhythm sticks. Next week we look forward to learning about our new instrument: the Viola.

Science 

We loved having some of the Year 5 pupils helping us with our science this week. The older children helped run activities based around our topic of forces; helping us determine the type and direction of the force and describing the behaviour of moving objects. Here are some of the activities...

The balancing clown.

Blasting rockets.  

Puff Jets.

Twirly doodles.

Training the magnetic snail. 

Thank-you Year 5!

Literacy 

We have been recapping our knowledge of time conjunctions and adverbs and learning about imperative verbs. We have been sharing ideas ready for writing our revolting recipes next week.

Numeracy

We have had a very successful week solving problems involving division. We are developing a range of techniques such as sharing and grouping, repeated subtraction and using the inverse to help us solve division problem. All of these methods can be found in the calculation policy on the school website. We are looking forward to starting a new unit shortly: fractions. 

In other news...

We really enjoyed the performance from the Image Theatre Group this week as they performed The Jungle Book. We danced and sang and some of us were even chosen to perform. 

Finally, as I am sure you are all aware, the time has come for our first parents evening of the year. I'm looking forward to meeting you all and discussing how your child has settled in to Year 3. I am aware now that all of the allotted time-slots have been filled. Please pop in if you have not managed to reserve a place and we can arrange a time that is convenient.  

Week beginning 29/09/15

This week in Year 3 the learning has been as fabulous as the weather! Let's start by having a look at what we have been learning in maths. 

Maths
We started a new unit and have made amazing progress with our mental and written methods for multiplication. We have been showing our understanding of this concept by using repeated addition, arrays and even using some informal partitioning to solve problems. We are becoming confident with our methods with multiplication so next week we will be spending more time practising division. 

Literacy
In literacy, we have finished our information reports and they are just fantastic. We have thought carefully about the structure and content and have even started writing in paragraphs. Some brilliant ideas, some amazing sentence starts and lots of extra details added using conjunctions. Superb work Year 3! 

We also played some barrier games to introduce our next writing unit: instructions. This was a lot harder than we anticipated and we really had to think hard about the language we used to help our partner; build models, copy drawings or make shapes on a peg board. 

Science
Yet again we got practical in science as we invested how to reduce a gravitational force. We observed sycamore 'helicopter' seeds and made some helicopters of our own to increase air resistance. 

PE
We took a short break from our gymnastic routines and made the most of the warm sunshine. We went outside to play some games that were likely to cause conflicts and be a little frustrating. We discussed how to be a good team player, the language we used towards each other and how to manage disappointments and frustrations when playing with others. We decided that this could help us in the playground too and we are proud to report, we all had an excellent time and did not fall out once!

Art
We have finished our work in response to the artist Patrick Caulfield and we hope you agree, our use of contrasting bold colours has produced stunning results. 

Finally, a massive well done to all of the Necton Primary School children who took part in the Harvest Celebration at the church and a big thank-you to all of  those who came all to enjoy the clebrations and show your support. All of the poems, presentations and songs sounded fantastic.