Another busy week

Over the last fortnight we have had a really busy time but the year 3 children are rising to the challenges and enjoying themselves. We are well underway with the new school initiative of Times table rock stars. The children are all competent at logging on and are practising hard at home and school. We hope you have enjoyed seeing them practise and get quicker at home. As the children develop in their confidence, we will set different tables and hopefully their speed and accuracy will continue to flourish. It is a really fun way to ensure the children are engaging with the tables. If anyone is having teething problems still, please don't hesitate to come in and ask us for help.

In Maths lessons we have moved on from Place value and we are now working on calculation. We are focusing first on addition and subtraction. The children are being taught lots of different approaches to tackle calculation and they apply the one that best suits them. We are using what we refer to as concrete apparatus, like base 10, pictorial methods like number lines and different models and then we move onto more formal written methods. Why not ask your child how they would answer-

678 + ? = 978 

 or  

567 - ? = 507

In  English we have also changed our text type and we are now working on non-fiction. We have started with instructional texts and last week we rehearsed oral instructions like how to get dressed in the morning, how to get dressed for a football match and how to ride a bike. By practising them first verbal we were able to gain confidence in ensuring we had chronological order, used time connectives and imperative words(bossy verbs). Why not ask your child to recall their instructions to you of how to get dressed in the morning? Then we started looking at a fun text called 'How to Trap a Troll'. We applied the same approach we usually do for writing where we text map our text, box up our plan, apply the grammar we have learnt for the unit and then write our instructions, independently. Can your children remember any of the key ingredients that instructions need? How do they differ from our story writing? 

In Science we are continuing with our Rocks and soils topic and this week we looked at the minerals that are hidden in our foods. We referred to it as Rocks for dinner, which the children found quite funny.  We have attached a quiz that your children might want to have a go at.

Rocks and Soils quiz

 In topic we are continuing to look at the Ancient Egyptians and how they used to live. We also tie this in with Geography and learning about where Egypt is and what type of country it is today. 

This week we were also fortunate enough to have an afternoon of languages. We were thoroughly immersed into experiencing lots of different languages, participated in craft activities and had an engaging school assembly where we all learnt something new. A huge thank you to Madame Baike for making this happen. Why not ask your children what countries Cedar and Rowan studied more closely and can they recall any of the language they learnt?

Thank you for taking the time to read our Blog. We hope you have a wonderful weekend and we look forward to meeting you all on Tuesday at Parent Consultations.

The Year 3 Team

What a fabulous start

Welcome to year 3 at Crabtree

We are thrilled that the year 3 children have begun to settle in. They all look extremely smart and are enthusiastic to learn. During the last fortnight we have been very busy teaching the children new routines, getting to know them and settling them into their new environment. They have all adapted to the changes with confidence and very quickly.

It was lovely to see so many of you at the 'Meet the Teacher' meeting on Monday. For anyone who missed it, the slides we used for the presentation are on the website. During the meeting Mrs Tizard praised the year 3's for all being able to tie their shoe laces, so thank you for this.

Subjects
In English we have been looking at Fables for our first unit. We have been immersing the children in a variety of different fables and asking them to notice what features are similar about them. We have enjoyed the Hare and the Tortoise, The Lion and the Mouse, The Wind and the Sun, The Crow and the Crane, The Dog and the Bone and many more. Why not ask your child what their favourite fable is and what are the main features of a fable? Can they remember what a moral is?

The children have also been taught different aspects of grammar like using capital letters and full stop correctly, inverted commas for speech and learning about nouns and proper nouns. Next week we will be writing our version of the Lion and the Mouse, trying to incorporate the grammar and spellings we have been taught and then later applying the skills of editing to improve our writing.

In Maths we have begun by looking at Place Value. The children have been taught how to recognise numbers according to their position, to understand which numbers are bigger/ smaller and know how to compare them. They have seen numbers represented differently in pictorial form, written and used concrete objects to show us what the number is.

Maths question

Which number is bigger and how do you know, explain?

Can you use a sign to show which is bigger?

456          465

203         230

602         622

In Science we started our topic of Rocks and Soil which was great fun. We experimented with different rock types by testing them to see how they would react to water, vinegar and other liquids.

Times table rock stars

This is a new school initiative but one we are sure the children will absolutely love. It is engaging, easy to use but most importantly a fun way to learn our tables. The children and staff are raring to go and the children's logins with be sent out early next week, but for now see the link below for a fabulous website that helps with quick recall of mental maths.

Hit the button

In Computing we had a few teething problems with our Windows 10 but eventually the children had a fun time exploring scratch animations. Our topic this term in computers is 'We are programmers' and the children will have an opportunity to make their own animation using Scratch software. They will plan, make and then debug their ideas.

We have had a wonderful fortnight getting to know your children and we are excited about all the fun activities we have planned for them this term. Lastly, please do remember we have an open door policy at Crabtree and if you would like to see us, please don't hesitate to come in.

The year 3 teachers