Monday 28 May 2018

Happy Half Term

This half term has been really busy. We have started our swimming lessons at Aldwickbury; invited our Grandparents to a tea party; enjoyed a sponsored colour run; some of us went speed stacking; dressed up as Vikings; experienced our first book fair; created some art work for a display; had a street party to celebrate Megan and Harry's wedding and we still had time for English, Maths, Science and other subjects too. 

In English we have been working hard on a 5 part warning story. We listened to an exemplar story written by Pie Corbett and then we planned our own, using some of his ideas. Please read below for some of our lines. We tried to vary our openers, add noun phrases and included figurative language like similes. 

Dylan
At that very moment, a storm raged. Rain patterned down on the soggy, wet floor, which was as hard as a rock. I knew this would happen because it had been brewing all morning. 

Josh
When they were playing tag, they both ran at full speed like jaguars. They raced around the cracked slide, turned sharp corners and shot like bullets through the old, metal obstacle course.

Ethan
And then a fire started, but it was quickly putout because of the rain. Suddenly the car and caravan started to move extremely fast. Ethan could see Simon's face, it was as pale as a fish.

Carla
The two terrified girls had heard a growling sound from the bushes. They got out of the long, abandoned car. All was silent.

Joe
Inside the giant scary tomb, they could smell stinky food, hear ghastly haunted ghosts but they could see light at the end of the tomb.

Sophie S
Golden, brown hay, white, stone walls , clear, glass windows and a few plants scattered around the place. Amber spotted a horse. It was sort of caramel colour with a soft chocolate mane and beautiful toffee hooves. 

Toby
Suddenly, they spotted a glint of silver on the floor. Cautiously, they approached it, they did it slowly because they weren't sure that it wasn't an animal's teeth. To their delight, it was two torches!

In Maths we have worked hard on learning about statistics- tables, bar graphs and pictograms. We were able to make tally charts, answer questions from graphs and draw bar graphs and pictograms of our own.

In Computing we continued to look at how to present our work and learnt how to create a PowerPoint. By the end of the unit we were able to add new slides, add fancy transitions, add text, change fonts, add pictures and text boxes and change backgrounds. We decided to set this as the children's homework for half term. Please see below.


Year 3 Half Term Homework

In computing we have been working on our presentation skills and have learnt how to use PowerPoint as a tool. We have learnt how to add text, add photos from the internet, change text, add new slides, alter the background and most recently use the transitions to add that extra sparkle for our audience. We would like the children to think of a topic that interests them, perhaps something they could teach their peers about, and then present it. We are suggesting a minimum of three slides and a maximum of five slides.

 

The first fortnight back after half term is assessments and during the afternoons we would like the children to present their PowerPoints to their peers. This skill of speaking and listening is an essential part of the English curriculum. To avoid losing memory sticks we have decided that we would like you to send it to this email address – yr3homework@crabtreejm.herts.sch.uk

so we can access the children’s work without bombarding the school office!


In Science the children completed their unit of Forces and magnetism, which they really enjoyed. They learnt lots of new vocabulary, practiced using the magnets to verify their thinking and completed the unit by making up their own magnetic game. Why not ask your child what game they created with their friends and was it successful?


That's all for now, except to wish you all a wonderful half term. Enjoy the weather and keep safe. Thank you for all your continued support.


The Year 3 team


 


 



 


 








Friday 11 May 2018

Summer is here!

We are all thoroughly enjoying the sunshine and being allowed on the field for breaks and lunchtimes. Long may it last!

Royal Wedding Celebrations


The wedding of Prince Harry and Ms. Meghan Markle


On Friday 18th May we will be linking with the Infant school to celebrate the royal wedding.  We would like all the children to wear red, white and blue (a non-uniform day) in the spirit of the occasion! 


During the morning there will be a range of cross-curricular royal activities. There will also be a charity run –  to raise money for the NSPCC. Please don't forget to sponsor your children!


The infants will be collecting money to go towards funds being raised for Jossie’s life saving treatment. If you would like to contribute to that collection as well, do please send in some money and we will add it to the collection in the infants.


In the afternoon, weather permitting, there will be a 'street party' outside.
The children will need to bring in a small, disposable plate of food to eat at the street party (please note that we are unable to store in the fridge).  They will not need a lot of food as they will have had lunch an hour earlier.  As there are some children in school with a severe nut allergy, we politely remind you to ensure that your child's party food is nut-free.

English
Whilst in the classroom, despite the heat, we have been working hard as always. In English, we have started a new text type called 'Warning stories' which is a five part story with a warning. The modelled example we have chosen to use is called the Caravan, a short extract is written below to give you a flavour of it. The children will hopefully be creating their own warning story using ideas and vocabulary from the Caravan but from their chosen setting. Why not talk yo your child about what setting they may have chosen?

Maths
In Maths we have been looking at 2d and 3d shapes, recognising them and talking about their properties. We have learnt lots of new vocabulary like - dimension, vertex, parallel, perpendicular, horizontal, vertical, edge, faces, prism, cylinder and sphere. Why not ask your child if they can explain what these words mean?
On Thursday afternoon we had a real treat in Cedar and on Friday for Rowan, where we made the 3d shapes out of clicksy, art straws, nets and tried to draw them which was exceptionally hard.














Creative Curriculum
n the creative curriculum we continue to enjoy our topic on the Vikings, which came alive more last week when we dedicated a whole day of learning to it. We are learning about where the Vikings travelled from and to, what they did when they arrived and why and about their daily lives. 
Use the link below to consolidate and extend your learning.
Vikings


Optional homework
Lastly, there is an optional homework, which is to enter the school book competition.
The competition is to design an advertising poster encouraging everyone to read.
There are 5 prizes of £5 vouchers to spend at the fair
The closing date is Tuesday 15th of May so they don't have long.
The book fair is on May the 16th and 17th.
It would be lovely to see some entries from year 3.

Have a wonderful weekend, let's hope there continues to be sunshine.


The Year 3 Team




Thursday 3 May 2018

Viking day photos

We wouldn't normally Blog so quickly again but we have decided that these photo will remind you of all the activities you did.  reports.

Please find the homework instructions below, as a few children left their homework behind on their desks!



Year 3 homework week beginning 30.4.18
On Wednesday we were lucky enough to have our Viking day. We had a wonderful time  learning lots of interesting facts. We would like the children to combine their skills of English and History and create a chronological report of their day. We have covered these skills in English, last term, and we have listed the success criteria below and the children have a Viking template worksheet, which is optional. We are more than happy for this report to be typed (to practicing word processing skills) and for a picture to be drawn.
Structure
Opening that introduces the reader to the subject.
Chunks of information, organised with subheadings
Ending – amazing point relating to your favourite part of the day.
Language features
To use generalisers effectively such as ‘most, many, some, a few and the majority’
Connectives to add information-furthermore, also, moreover additionally
Subject specific and technical vocabulary
Past tense
First person
Detailed description
Different sentence types