Goodbye year 3 and have a safe summer

Dear Parents and Carers of Year 3

Firstly, can we say what a fabulous year we have had. The children settled in beautifully and as you could see at open evening, produced some fantastic work. We have enjoyed so many things together- dressing up days, Royal weddings, sports day, Science day, historical workshops, Eisteddfod, day to day lessons and so much more. We have enjoyed it all and hope the children have too.

We just wanted to write one last time as the year 3 team, to say a massive thank you for all the wonderful gifts we received during the week. It was really appreciated and we feel very spoilt. Thank you so much.

Lastly, have a relaxing, fun filled, safe summer and we look forward to seeing you all in September. 

Thank you again

The Year 3 Team

Loose end?

We gave the children 'Summer holiday bingo choices' on transition day, which could be fun to complete, if they find themselves at a loose end. Other than that, please remember the school still subscribes to times table rock stars if they would like to practice their tables. 

In addition to that, we did send home their unfinished comprehension books (with 8 to finish off) if they would like to... with an incentive of all finished books (evidenced) would achieve 10 house points to start year 4!

Sports day 2018 for those who missed it

Good afternoon

Over the last fortnight year 3 have continued to work hard, despite the weather. We have been fortunate enough to be able to go on the field, which has been great to have so much area to play in. This week though, as the temperatures rose, children were allowed to go into the shaded hall at lunch to calmly watch a film, instead of playing in the hat. Thank you to all the parents who have sent their children in with a hat and drinks bottle, it's really beneficial for the children to have both of these during this heatwave.

In English we have started a new unit called 'Take a Book', which is where we read a whole text, discuss it and use it as a prompt for our writing, like a stimulus. We chose a delightful text written by Michael Morpurgo called 'The Morning I met a whale'. The children have really enjoyed the story, which is based on true facts, where a bottle nosed whale gets stranded in the River Thames. The event happened in 2006 and the rescue operation was televised. 

The children wrote a diary from Michael's perspective (the main character in the Morpurgo book); then they wrote a newspaper report from the event and included quotes from onlookers. Later next week, they will write their third text type from this unit in the form of a letter to environmentalists expressing their concerns for the whale population and how it could be helped. 

Thames whale rescue

Thames Whale rescue televised

In Maths we have revised fractions from the beginning, as this was an area that we identified from the assessments that year 3 could revisit and consolidate further. We are pleased to say that they are understanding more about fractions.

Fractions practise

Equivalent fractions

In Science, we have continued looking at light and dark and have enjoyed lots of practical experiments where we have tested torches on different materials and lots more. Hopefully, next week we will get outside, whilst it is still glorious weather and create our own shadows.

We have had lots of fun in computing. We have created our own iMovie's where we planned what we were going to film and say and then recorded it. Next week, we are going to watch and evaluate each others work. I wonder if they'll be an Oscars awarded? 

Reminder for sports day (Tuesday 3rd July):
The children should come to school dressed in their PE Kits please and wearing a T-shirt in their house colour. 
They must all have a sun hat to wear and please apply sun cream in the morning- it is going to be a hot day!
Please note house colours have now changed:

Jupiter – Green
Saturn – Red
Mars – Yellow Neptune – Blue

Have a lovely weekend and enjoy the sunshine!

The Year 3 Team 

Here comes the sun!

Over the last two weeks, we have been pleased to see lots of sunshine, as it has made assessments more manageable. Having a test and then a really good run about on the field is a good combination for all.This term we decided to spread the assessments over a longer period of time, which has been beneficial to everyone.

The children have taken a reading comprehension where their skills of inference and deduction were put to the test. This comprises of a non-fiction, fiction and poetry section. The children have been practising these skills all year in class and with the comprehension book that we send home. They are used to comprehensions and everyone tackled it with determination. We also did a grammar and spelling test. The grammar involved the children understanding word class terminology like: adverb, preposition and apostrophe. This is the language they have been using all year, so there were no surprises and the children approached the test with confidence. The spelling we used was a combination of words that we had been sending home all year, so again no surprises and we were pleased with the outcomes.

Lastly, they had three maths papers: an arithmetic paper and 2 reasoning. Arithmetic covers calculation and number and reasoning looks at geometry, statistics, calculation, fractions and measures. The children were brilliant, they read questions carefully (as we had suggested), looked for key vocabulary and then tackled the problem. The children have all been excellent and approached the assessments with maturity and enthusiasm.

In addition to the tests, we have started a new science topic called Light and Shadows, which is going to be a fun and engage unit. We deliberately teach it in the summer term so we can use the sun, so let's hope we haven't underestimated the British weather!

In terms of sport, we are continuing our weekly swimming lesson at Aldwickbury, athletics and this week we had the added bonus of an afternoon of sport: the Crabtree World Cup! The last few matches to see who the winning team is will be played at the summer fete next Saturday.

Enjoy some sunshine and World Cup football and thank you for your continued support.

The Year Three Team

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

 

 

 

 

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