Friday 25th April 2025

This Week's Learning

We have had a full first week back, even though it has only been 4 days! Our english learning began with a hunt for a mystery object in the woods. After much searching, a wooden sword was found, shrouded in ivy and hidden behind a tree. How had it got there? Who did it belong to? What was the story behind this old looking object? With those questions buzzing around their heads the children had started to experience what suspense feels like as this our writing focus for the first part of this term. 

In maths we finished our fractions unit and the children were able to consolidate their learning through making a fraction wall to use when calculating equivalent fractions.

Our topic for RE is 'Gospel' and our new enquiry question is 'What kind of world did Jesus want?' We started this learning by thinking about how what something or someone looks like on the outside is not always the best way to judge them. Jesus came to bring 'good news' to all, often seeing past their exterior presentation to the reality of what was happening in their hearts.

In science we are learning about plants and this learning will also stretch on into term 6.

Next Week's Learning

Next week we will be starting our history learning which is all about Ancient Greece. The first lesson will be about how the Greeks developed democracy. In geography we are learning about agriculture, and in particular next week we will be looking at arable farming. Our art will continue to explore drawing still life compositions. In maths we are moving onto to learn about mass and capacity.

Our PE learning this term is football

Next week 3B will be attending Forest School on Wednesday afternoon.

Next week 3J will be swimming on Thursday afternoon.

The Year 3 Team

Friday 4th April 2025

This Week's Learning

This week the children have used all their learning about the features of diary writing to write their own diaries as if they were Hogarth from Ted Hughes' Iron Man story. In maths they have continued their learning on fractions which has included counting in fractions on a number line and starting to think about equivalent fractions. In history they were told the story of 'The Iliad', Homer's famous story about the Greeks tricking the Trojans with the wooden horse, and we finished our geography learning with comparing Cardiff and London. Our week finished wonderfully with our church service led by Year 5 and their retelling of the Easter story through drama and song, and our Year 3 children enjoyed some well earned relaxing activities to end the term. 

Next Term's Learning

Next term, we will be learning about Ancient Greece in history, and agriculture in geography. Our science learning will be on the subject of plants and our RE enquiry question will be 'What kind of world did Jesus want?' We will be answering this question through thinking about the 'Gospel' or 'Good News' Jesus spoke about in the parables of the New Testament.

Also next term, Mr Barclay will be continuing his experience in a contrasting school placement until mid May and so we are pleased to welcome Mrs Vincent to the Year 3 team during the first 3 weeks.

Year 3 will still be swimming on Thursday afternoons starting with 3B on the first week back.

We will also be having the opportunity to have some more Forest School sessions on Wednesday afternoons and you will be receiving a letter with some more details about this. 3J will have the session on the first Wednesday back.

Our PE learning will be football.

May we take this opportunity to thank you for your continued support of your child's learning here at Fermor, and we wish you all a really refreshing break.

The Year 3 Team

Friday 28th March 2025

This Week's Learning

This week the children have been continuing to explore fractions in maths. They have compared and ordered fractions as well as understanding when a fraction is actually representing a whole. They have loved starting our new learning in english and were really intrigued by the mystery diary entries which had mysteriously turned up in our classrooms! Next week, they will be writing their own diary entries based on our model text which is inspired by 'The Iron Man' book by Ted Hughes.

Next Week's Learning

Next week we will complete our units of learning across the curriculum. The children will be finishing their exploration of festivals in Judaism by thinking about why blessings are important to people of the Jewish faith. In science they will be putting the data they collected last week from their investigation of magnet strength into bar charts, and we hope to have some more lovely sunny afternoons in which to enjoy tennis.

Next week 3B will be swimming.

Enjoy your weekend.

The Year 3 Team

Friday 21st March 2025

This Week's Learning

This week the children have been hard at work completing assessments. These will provide us with a good indication of how they are progressing and we will be able to share results with you at Parents' Evenings. In RE the children learnt about how the story of Moses leading the Israelites out of slavery connects to the Jewish festival of Pesach or Passover. They learnt that this story is found in the book of Exodus in the Jewish Torah or Christian Bible, and that exodus actually means ' a mass departure of people'. In science we are continuing to explore magnetism and sorted materials into magnetic and non-magnetic. At the end of the week in DT, the children were able to create their toys with pneumatic mechanisms and had great fun watching them work.

Next Week's Learning

Next week our maths learning is all about fractions, including comparing unit fractions and understanding the whole. In english we are starting a new unit looking at Diary writing and we will be using the fabulous book 'Iron Man' by Ted Hughes as our stimulus. In history the children will be learning about Greek gods and goddesses.

We continue to learn Tennis skills in PE.

Next Thursday 3J will be swimming.

The Year 3 Team.

Friday 14th March 2025

This Week's Learning

A highlight of this week's learning has been our science day activities. The children thought about the theme of adaption and change and set up an investigation to see if water can be purified through the process of evaporation and condensation. This learning linked nicely to the children's previous learning about the water cycle in geography. They also had the opportunity to adapt a needle by magnetising it so that it could act like a compass. The children learnt that magnetic north is not the same as geographic north and that when a compass points north it is actually pointing to magnetic south!

In other learning, in maths we have started a unit of learning on perimeter and in english the children innovated a story form a familiar setting.

Next Week's Learning

Next week the children will be creating their own familiar setting story and will be able to use lots of direct speech which will enable them to practice speech punctuation. They will be completing assessments, so early nights would be appreciated for sharp minds in the morning! In RE we will be thinking about the Jewish festival of Pesach or Passover and our DT learning will be to make their pneumatic toy. Thank you for all of the boxes and other items that have been brought in for this activity.

Next week 3B will be swimming on Thursday.

If you have any pink paper hands with your thoughts on adapt and change written on, please do bring them in for the whole school science 'tree'.

Have a relaxing weekend.

The Year 3 Team

Friday 7th March 2025

This Week's Learning

The children have had a super week enjoying the beautiful, sunny playtimes and the fun of World Book Day on Thursday. We hope that your child came home a little more inspired to read, whether it be through the stories they heard about from their peers and teachers or the characters that were brought to life through a very interactive and dramatic worship time! (Just ask your child who their teachers dressed up as!) 
 

Also this week, we finished our maths learning on equivalent measurements and carried out an investigation into friction in science involving a ramp, different surfaces and a toy car. In RE the children learnt about the Jewish festival of Rosh Hashanah.

Next Week's Learning

Next week is science week across the school and in Year 3 we will be holding our science activities on Wednesday. The children will be exploring how they can adapt a needle to make it act like a compass as well as setting up a class investigation to test one way of purifying water.

Next week 3J will be swimming on Thursday.

We wish you a relaxing weekend.

The Year 3 Team

Friday 28th February 2025

This Week's Learning

The week began with the children experiencing a little of what the Jewish Shabbat  is like through tasting some 'challah' type bread, drinking grape juice and looking at some of the prayers that are said. Our RE enquiry question this term is 'How do festivals and family life show what matters to Jewish people' and this week they learnt that the home and the synagogue are both important places to mark these occasions. In science our learning on forces and magnets started by exploring what a contact force is. The children passed tennis balls across their tables to each other and thought about whether stopping or starting the movement of the ball required more or less force. They also thought about how a change to the force used affected the speed in which the ball moved. A highlight of the week was a visit from a storyteller who captivated the children by his dramatic retelling of the East European folk tale 'The Clay Boy' by Mirra Ginsberg. In maths we are learning about length and perimeter and in english we are learning to write stories in familiar settings, with a focus on using direct speech.

Next Week's Learning

Next week is World Book Day on Thursday and if they would like to, your child can dress up as a character from a book they enjoy. A costume is not a requirement and instead if you wish, a small accessory could be brought that has something to do with a character from a book. It is more important that the children bring along with them a book that they enjoy and can talk about, rather than try to match a particular outfit to a book which isn't necessarily one they have read. We will be giving the children opportunity to talk about, and read from their book if they would like to. We will be continuing our geography and history learning which this term is 'Settlements' and 'Persia and Greece' respectively.

Next week 3B will not be swimming due to World Book Day
 

If you have been notified that your child is attending a library session at Beacon School on Tuesday, please make sure that they have a waterproof coat in case of rain on the day.

Our PE continues to be on a Tuesday and we are learning tennis skills.

Friday 14th February 2025

The children have had a very full week of learning and fun. Our english unit of work on writing a character portrait culminated in the children writing their own descriptions of the fisher Li and his wish granted from the King of Fishes! It was wonderful to see their imaginations fire as they imagined their character's appearance, what they did and where they lived. It was a privilege to welcome Maryam's mum, Mrs Ahmed into school to speak to us about her Muslim faith. It was such an interesting afternoon and the children were able to ask many varied questions based on their learning this term.

We hope your children enjoyed the FoFs KS2 disco as much as their teachers! It is safe to say that a good time was had by all and that the money raised will go towards helpful items for the school.

We wish you a lovely restful half term and look forward to welcoming the children back next term. 3J will be swimming on the Thursday of the first week back and our PE day remains Tuesday where our learning will be tennis.

The Year 3 Team

Friday 7th February 2025

This Week's Learning

The highlight of our week has obviously been our Year group worship at All Saints on Wednesday. We were extremely proud of the children for their courage and the confidence they showed, with quite a few children overcoming nerves in order to play their part. We hope that the experience has been a growth one for them all and that you also enjoyed the occasion.

In other learning, the children finished their non-chronological reports this week and used the flexible partitioning strategy to divide in maths. Our geography topic of rivers enabled us to look in detail at the water cycle and in science the children learnt about the harmful effects of the sun and the damage that UV rays can cause if we do not protect our eyes and skin adequately.

We marked Number Day by giving over some time to play some maths games. The children particularly enjoyed 'Hit the Button'! This is a game you can play at home. Here is the link: Hit the Button

Next Week's Learning

Next week, we move onto writing character portraits and so will be thinking about appropriate descriptive language to use as well as what aspects of a character are important to include. In maths, we will be using systematic thinking and exploring ratios. We will end the week with a visit from Mr and Mrs Ahmed who are coming to talk to us about their Muslim faith as the children have been answering the enquiry question this term ' How do festivals and worship show what matters to a Muslim?'

Next Thursday 3B will be swimming.

The Year 3 Team

Friday 31st January 2025

This Week's Learning

The children used their own research on rivers to plan their writing. They used a spider diagram and planning sheet to put their information into relevant paragraphs. In maths the children used the part whole model to help them partition numbers when multiplying, and they recapped their knowledge on multiplying by 10. The children were fascinated to find out that the amount of water on the earth's surface never changes but is instead redistributed and recycled through the water cycle.

Next Week's Learning

In RE we are exploring the Muslim festival of Ramadan. Our science topic of light continues and the children will be thinking about how and why they need to protect their eyes from the sun. The children will be finishing their non-chronological reports on rivers in english and be given time to make sure they are set out correctly using headings, boxes and pictures.

Next week on Wednesday, Year 3 are leading the whole school church worship at All Saints. Please check Contact Books for notes on what they need to wear to church, if there is no note then your child needs to wear full school uniform.

*Please note that lunch options from the kitchen cannot be changed by your child on the day. Whatever you order as a parent will be what your child has. Please have a conversation with your child about this. The school respects your parental dietary choices and needs to also cater accordingly. Many thanks.

Friday 24th January 2024

This Week's Learning

The children are continuing to extend their knowledge of multiplication and division and this week were looking at the relationships between the 2, 4 & 8 times tables. In english, we used information about the Medway River for the children to analyse and group into paragraphs. As part of our learning we recapped understanding of compound and complex sentences so that children can use them in their writing next week where they will use their own research on a particular river. In RE we are learning about Islam and this week explored how Muslims pray. Thank you for all the donations of cardboard, the children used it to create some interesting shapes in their sculptures which they will be observing and drawing next week.

Next Week's Learning

Next week we are setting aside some time to practice for our Year group church worship on Wednesday 5th February. In science, we will be exploring if we can change how shadows are formed which builds upon our prior learning about how we need light to see and how light reflects off objects. We continue to think about Muslim worship in RE and next week we will be looking at how the mosque is used. In Geography the children will be learning about the water cycle.

Please put this date in your diary: Wednesday 5th February - Year 3 class worship at All Saints' Church.

Next week 3B will be swimming.

The Year 3 Team

Friday 17th January 2025

This Week's Learning

The highlight of this week was our wonderful trip to the Ghyll as part of our geography learning about Rivers. We were very pleased that the weather had warmed up and the sun even came out while we were there! The children loved exploring the stream as well as sketching the environment, and we were able to investigate the flow of the river by timing how long it took plastic balls to float between two points. A big thank you to all the parents who helped on the walk down and back and supervised while we were there. We couldn't have done the trip without you.

The children have also been starting to explore making 3D sculptures in art. They  looked at different types of sculptures, including an interactive installation which was shown at the Tate Modern gallery. They then had the opportunity to practice linking cardboard shapes without the use of glue and their challenge was to try and make their creations stand up without any extra support.

In science the children explored the reflective properties of materials using dark boxes and torches. They had fun investigating which materials showed up best in little light and thought about the link between this and what those materials are used for in everyday life.

Next Week's Learning

Next week in english we are planning our non-chronological report on rivers. If you haven't already, please can you help your child to research a river in preparation for our english learning next week. In Re we are continuing to learn about Islam, and in particular next week we are thinking about why prayer matters to Muslims.

We would also still appreciate more cardboard for our 3D sculpture making learning in art.

It has come to our attention that some of the year 3 children have created a game called "fidget club" to be played during playtime but this is not an appropriate game as it involves teams that are against each other.  We have spoken to the children and explained that although we might play within friendship groups at times, the class is their "family" or community and we should be playing together - not against each other.  Please let us know if your child is talking about this game or using the word "gang" as we have explicitly explained that this is not a kind word and should not be used. We are tackling this in our RHE lessons too and discussing ways to stay safe and when it is important to speak out if you do not feel safe.  Thank you for your support in this.

Next week 3J are swimming.

The Year 3 Team

Friday 10th January 2025

This Week's Learning

Welcome back! The children have had a very creative start to the term and enjoyed the various 'hands on' activities.

At the beginning of the week we had a focus on different cultures and children who had any cross-cultural connections were able to present to their classes various aspects. Building on this, the children then learnt about the different architecture needed for houses in different climates and thought about why this might be the case. Then, they had the opportunity to choose a house style from a country, design it and build it out of cardboard. The results were fantastic with the children coming up with some ingenious ways to create their houses. At the end of the week as a 'stunning start' to our 'Rivers' topic in geography, the children shared their experiences of rivers and made their very own river and landscape out of tin foil and natural materials which they found in our wooded area. They loved digging in the soil and foraging for leaves and twigs and then were extremely pleased when they poured water into the 'river bed' and their river materialised!

Next Week's Learning

Next week, more excitement ensues as the children walk to the Ghyll to test the flow of the stream. *See below for details. In english, we will be teaching time adverbs in preparation for a recount about our trip to the Ghyll. We continue to learn multiplication and division in maths and next week we will be focusing on the 4 times table. Our RE enquiry question this term is ' How do festivals and worship show what matters to a Muslim?' and we will be looking next week at the beginning of the Qu'ran.

We are still finalising staff and parent helper numbers in order to walk to the Ghyll as a year group, but it looks more than likely that it will go ahead next Tuesday (14th) in the afternoon. We will send an email on Monday to confirm. Children will walk to the Ghyll from school, spend some time at the stream, and walk back in time for normal pick up time. They will wear school uniform but please can they bring a change of trousers or a pair of waterproofs to put over their school trousers to change into before the walk. It will be wet and muddy at the Ghyll so they will need wellys preferably or sturdy waterproof boots.

3B will be swimming next Thursday.

In art this term the children will be making abstract art sculptures out of cardboard. If you have any cardboard that your child could bring in for this purpose we would greatly appreciate it.

Stay warm this weekend and we look forward to another great week's learning.

The Year 3 Team

Friday 20th December 2024

We have come to the end of a full and exciting term, where Christmas festivities have interwoven with continued learning as well as assessment. We hope your children have enjoyed partaking in the various experiences across December, whether it was the magical Christmas Carol Service at All Saints, the showcase iRock end of term concert or the FoFs Santa's Grotto event, not to mention the secret shopping day! Our final end of term service this morning, also at All Saints, was a truly wonderful way to end our term and it was very heartwarming to hear the children singing the carols so heartily.

Important information beginning of term 3:

At the beginning of the first week back next term we will be celebrating different cultures across the school. If your family has cross-cultural connections, maybe your family are originally from another country or have spent a significant amount of time living in a different culture, we would like your child to bring in any items, photographs or information about that place. We will be focusing on the climates and buildings of the countries, so any information about that would be great. We will be sharing and giving time for extended discussion on the Monday and Tuesday and on the Wednesday we will be making replicas of the various buildings and architecture discussed out of craft materials. If you have any wooden craft sticks, lolly sticks or flat cardboard you could bring into school for this purpose, it would be greatly appreciated.

Next term we are learning gymnastics in our PE lessons which are still on Tuesday afternoons for both classes. 

3J will be swimming the first week of term 3 on Thursday afternoon.

Early morning group continues for the same children on Thursday mornings at 8.25am.

We will leave you with a couple of pictures of children showcasing their Egyptian artwork. The children all enjoyed creating scrolls and 'zines' as well as being creative by using their knowledge of the Ancient Egyptian art style and applying it to modern day objects.

Have a lovely Christmas and we look forward to welcoming the children back in the New Year.

The Year 3 Team

Friday 13th December 2024

This Week's Learning

We have started our new unit in maths which is multiplication and division. This week the children recapped their previous learning on making equal groups and using arrays. Our final science lesson of the term was understanding how different types of fossils are formed. The children learnt about Mold, Trace and Body Fossils and were able to describe and draw each one. In History we compared artworks from different ancient civilisations as part of our 'Cradles of Civilisation' unit of work. 

Next Week's learning

Next week, the children will be exploring the Raymond Briggs story 'Father Christmas', creating their own speech and narrative for the story. They will continue multiplication and division in maths through looking at multiples of 2 & 5 and understanding the difference between sharing and grouping. We will be making time for some more creative art activities as it's Christmas, as well as interpreting and applying Ancient Egyptian art in new ways.

3J will be swimming next week.

Please do come to our KS2 Carol Service at All Saints' church on Tuesday 17th at 6pm. The children will be performing carols and there will also be congregational carols for everyone to join in with!

Friday 20th is our end of term service at 9am also at All Saints. Please don't forget to drop off your children at the church on this our final day of term.

We will leave you with a few photos from the Father Christmas Grotto! The children loved their experience and you'll have no excuse now not to feed the reindeer on Christmas Eve!

The year 3 Team

Friday 6th December 2024

This Week's Learning

For many of the mornings this week the children have been hard at work completing assessments, however on Monday morning we were treated to a visit from a Geologist who shared her wealth of knowledge with us about rocks and volcanoes. The children absolutely loved the mock volcano explosion in the playground and were excited to handle various rocks she had brought in.                     

In RE the children discussed their understanding of faith and how that is connected to making promises. They have also a had great fun creating 'zines' mini booklets and used them to showcase their learning on Ancient Egypt.

Next Week's Learning

Next week the children will be having the opportunity to do some free writing and will be learning about fossils in science. We will be starting our new unit in maths which is multiplication and division.

Next week 3J will be swimming on Thursday. Forest School is still cancelled.

Keep warm and well,

The Year 3 Team

Friday 29th November 2024

This Week's Learning

This week in our RE learning, the children thought about whether God still makes covenants with Christians today and looked at the Christian marriage promises and what they mean. In english, they verbally described the setting before and during the eruption from Christina Balit's book 'Escape from Pompeii', before moving onto amalgamating their ideas into shared pieces of writing.

Our science learning on rocks and soils this week was through some practical investigations. The children tested different rocks for durability and looked in detail at their composition before finally naming them as either, sedimentary, metamorphic or igneous. They also tested the drainage of clay and sandy soils and thought about how the make up of these soils affected this. 

Next Week's Learning

Next week we will be assessing what the children have learnt this term. In History we will be making Ziggurats as part of our learning about cradles of civilisation and in Geography the children will be learning about active, dormant and extinct volcanoes.

3B will be swimming next Thursday but Forest School is still cancelled due to Mr Woods continuing to convalesce.

Please be aware that Tuesday 17th December 6pm is the KS2 Carol Service at All Saints Church on The Green. We would love to see as many children as possible there so do please put this date in your diarys. It is a lovely occasion which really does set the mood for Christmas!

The Year 3 Team

Friday 22nd November 2024

This Week's Learning

This week the children have started to explore Christina Balit's book 'Escape from Pompeii. They have drawn their own story maps and added rich vocabulary around them in order to 'magpie' from when writing their own pieces.

Their learning in geography and science has greatly helped their understanding of the capacity of a volcano for destruction and they have been fascinated to learn that the burying of Pompeii by the explosion of Vesuvius was a real life event. In science the children learnt about the Rock Cycle and in geography they labelled the different parts of a volcano using technical language. The children always look forward to times table Fridays, mostly because they get to play the 'Hit the Button' times tables interactive game. It is a great way to encourage fluency in times tables and the children love the competition between groups.

Next Week's Learning

Next week in science the children will be investigating rocks and soils through practical tasks. They will be thinking about covenants in RE, leading on from their learning about Noah and God's promise to him in the Bible story. In english they will be contributing their ideas to some shared writing to prepare them for writing their own piece the following week. We will be finishing our unit of work in maths on addition and subtraction and looking at estimating and making decisions about which calculation to use when answering word questions.

Next week 3B will be doing Forest School on Tuesday and 3J will be swimming on Thursday.

Have a lovely weekend and stay warm!

The Year 3 Team

Friday 15th November 2024

This Week's Learning

It was 3B's turn to have Forest School this week and they were lucky enough to have some lovely sunshine to accompany their outdoor learning. The children enjoyed a well earned cup of hot chocolate at the end of their session, it always tastes better outside!

Our poetry learning culminated at the end of this week by the children writing their own volcano poems and performing them to their class.

In computing the children were introduced to animation through making 'flick' books. They really loved seeing their drawings move as they flicked through the pages.

Next Week's Learning

We begin new learning in english as we use the book by Christina Balit 'Escape from Pompeii'. We will be introducing the theme by watching an immersive animated video clip which charts the course of the eruption as scientists believe it actually happened. There are some dramatic parts and so we are including the link here so that if you wish, you can watch it prior to us showing the children and if you feel your child might be sensitive to any of the contents, please put a note in their Contact Book and we can make sure they are not in the room when it is shown: 

https://youtu.be/dY_3ggKg0Bc

Next week 3J will be having Forest School on Tuesday and 3B will be swimming on Thursday.

 The Year 3 Team

Friday 8th November 2024

We hope you were all able to take advantage of the half term break and enjoyed the drier weather. The children have just about readjusted to the school day schedule and it has been good to be learning together again.

This Week's Learning

This term in english we are exploring Performance Poetry and the children had great fun watching the author and broadcaster Michael Rosen perform some of his work. They took inspiration  from him as they thought about how they might incorporate some Performance Poetry features into their own readings of poems.

We started off the term in maths where we had left off before the break by practicing exchanging in addition and subtraction calculations. The children used concrete manipulatives so that they could see exactly how and why the exchanging works. 

We have begun our learning in science and Geography on Rocks, Soils & Fossils and Volcanoes. The children were amazed to learn that the earth's core reaches a temperature of 5,500 degrees celsius!

Our PE this term is Dance which takes place in the inside hall.

Next Week's Learning

Next week our maths learning continues to cement knowledge of exchanging in subtraction calculations. In english the children will be using vocabulary and features from a published author's poem about a volcano in order to write their own versions which they will eventually perform. We start our RE learning on Christianity on the theme of 'People of God' and will be looking at the make up of the Bible.

Next week 3B will be doing Forest School on Tuesday ( Brooke and Warren in the morning and Forest and Ghyll in the afternoon).

3J will be swimming on Thursday afternoon.

Also, we have the Scholastic Book Fair in school. Your child will have had the opportunity to choose some books on Monday of next week and will bring home the form for you then to be able to purchase if you wish to.

One last plea! As we have now moved into the winter uniform season, could you please encourage our child to learn how to tie their own tie! It is impossible and not a good use of time for teachers to be tying many children's ties after PE, swimming or Forest School. Many thanks for your help with this!

The Year 3 Team

Friday 25th October 2024

At the beginning of the week the children practiced reciting their versions of the 'Gentle Giant' story to one another in preparation for their writing later in the week. The pairings were helpful as the children were able to learn from each other as well as practicing essential speaking and listening skills.

In History, the learning was all about what the ancient Egyptians believed about death and the children had great fun acting out the process of mummification!

In science the children used their data of heights and foot lengths to create a bar chart in order to see the information more clearly. They were able to write simple conclusions from the data they had collected and so answer the investigation question; 'Does the tallest child in the class also have the longest feet?' They found that there was a general trend and that the taller you are the bigger feet you tend to have also.

Next Term

Next term Year 3 will be starting Forest School on Tuesdays. 3J will be starting this on the very first day back to school next term. The following week will be 3B's turn. The children will be doing this in their House Groups with Brook and Warren in the morning and Ghyll and Forest in the afternoon. Swimming will continue on Thursdays with 3B swimming in the first week back.  PE continues to be on a Tuesday when the children are not involved in Forest School.

Please see our Year 3 area of the curriculum page for information on our teaching in term 2: https://www.fermorschool.org.uk/year-3/

Have a lovely restful break

The Year 3 Team

Friday 18th October 2024

This Week's Learning

In science the children learnt about how to keep their bones healthy and how bones grow. As part of this learning we posed a question for them to investigate: 'Does the tallest person in the class also have the longest feet?' The children thought about how they were going to carry out the investigation and the first activity was to measure their right foot. We then measured each child's height and next week we will collect the data and put it into a bar chart. The children also completed their Christmas card designs which will go to print very soon for you to have in good time to write before Christmas! We also enjoyed sharing the children's home learning together

.    

Next Week's Learning

Next week the children will be completing their studies of 'Mountains' in geography by looking at the Snowdonia mountain range. They will be thinking about what they think is important about the Christian story of creation in RE and in english they will be co-authoring a version of Michael Morpurgo's 'Gentle Giant'.

Next week 3J will be swimming on Thursday

Have a restful weekend

The year 3 Team

Friday 11th October 2024

This Week's Learning

The highlight of this week has been our D.T. learning as the children designed, made and evaluated their fruit tarts. They practiced chopping, slicing, grating and peeling skills and thought about the aesthetics of their tarts to make them pleasing to look at.

This week the children also enjoyed story mapping 'Gentle Giant' by Michael Morpurgo and in maths they were learning how to apply their number bond knowledge to addition and subtraction calculations.

Next Week's Learning

In science next week the children will be learning about bones as part of our unit on Animals including Humans - the Skeleton and Nutrition. In history they will be continuing to learn about the Ancient Egyptians and in particular what they believed about death.

Next week 3B will be swimming on Thursday afternoon. 

The Year 3 Team                                                                       

Friday 4th October 2024

This Week's Learning

We are very pleased with the children's writing which culminated our learning based on the Egyptian Cinderella story. Much of the vocabulary we have been teaching was evident in their narratives and the use of paragraphs was also seen.

In maths the children had the opportunity to show what they have learnt through a mini test on the Place Value topic. A highlight of our week has been starting our D.T. learning on understanding where food comes from around the world and what seasonal foods are. This week we learnt about food miles and seasonal produce of the UK. The children practiced cutting and grating skills and tasted British seasonal fruits in preparation for desiging and making a fruit tart next week.

Next Week's Learning

We start a new text in english which is Michael Morpurgo's 'The Gentle Giant'. This is a story with a clear structure and fairytale type narrative and we hope the children will engage well with it. The children will be making their fruit tarts at the end of next week and they will be bringing them home to eat on Thursday. In maths, we start our new topic which is Addition and Subtraction.

Next week 3J will be swimming on Thursday

Enjoy the slightly drier weather over the weekend!

The Year 3 Team

Friday 27th September 2024

This Week's Learning

In maths, the children started to use number lines in order to learn the concept of a whole and equal parts and to practice counting on and backwards in different amounts. Many found this challenging and we will endeavour to give more time in the future to this skill so that the children can become more familar with it, as it is a helpful way to cement their sense of many important mathematical concepts.

We discussed the question 'If God created the world to be good what do Christians believe about why things go wrong?' in our RE learning this week. Many children contributed to a very thoughtful discussion, as you can see from the many post-it notes around the question below.

Our topic in science of Animals including Humans, Nutrition and the Body, this week, was all about skeletons. The children learnt about different types of skeletons and grouped species according to their type.

Next Week's Learning

Next week, the children will be writing their own version of 'The Egyptian Cinderella' and will finish the Place Value unit of work in maths. In History, we will be looking at how Egypt changed over time and we will be starting our DT unit of work on using seasonal food. Next week, we will be looking at where food comes from around the world and handling foods in preparation for making a seasonal fruit tart the following week. The fruits we will be using will be: apples; pears; plums; blackberries and rhubarb. Please let the class teacher know if your child has any allergies to these foods, we may also be handling pastry.

Please see the Home Learning, Additional Task section of the class page for the new additional homework task.

The Year 3 Team

Friday 20th September 2024

Another full week of learning has flown by! We are enjoying developing relationships with your children and we hope your children are feeling more settled.

This Week's Learning

This week the children used the beautiful illustrations and language from our english book 'The Egyptian Cinderella' to develop expanded noun phrases to describe.

In science, we continued to think about what makes up a healthy diet and the children created their own meal plates, making sure they had included all the food groups needed in order to eat healthily.

A highlight of our week was a visit from Mr James who showed the children a video and talked about his hike up Ben Nevis with his wife and family. As well as adding another dimension to our learning on mountains, it is an extraordinary story of healing and highlights the work of the Air Ambulance. Mr James' wife was involved in an accident and needed the intervention of an Air Ambulance crew in order to save her life. When she recovered, out of gratitude for what they had received, Mr and Mrs James decided to hike the tallest mountain in Britain to raise money for this crucial service, which runs on charitable donations only. You can also watch the video here, but please do watch the whole video through first, as there are some parts showing Mr James' wife's recovery which maybe upsetting for your child to see. We did not show these parts in school.

Next Week's Learning

In science we will be learning about skeletons and in Geography we will be learning about mountain ranges. The children will be involved in shared writing and internalising the plot structure of our book the 'Egyptian Cinderella'. In maths we will be continuing our Place Value unit by using number lines to see patterns and relationships between numbers.

Next Thursday 26th September 3J will be swimming

The Year 3 Team

Friday 13th September 2024

This Week's Learning

In maths the children have been working with number lines and partitioning numbers to 100. We encouraged them to use manipulatives to help them see how a whole can be divided up into parts.

We took advantage of some dry weather to explore our beautiful grounds as part of the RE lesson in which the children were learning about what Christians believe about how God created the world. Our enquiry question this term in RE is 'What do Christians learn from the creation story?'

At the end of the week, the children made their sketch book pages look like old Egyptian papyrus paper by using tea bags and coffee. They then chose from a number of Egyptian drawings and patterns to make their own Egyptian style art.

Next Week's Learning

In maths we continue our Place Value unit and will be looking at 100's and representing and partitioning numbers to 1000. We will continue using the Egyptian Cinderella story to inspire the children. Their tasks next week will be to understand the structure of the story which will build upon their story maps and summaries they completed this week.

Important Dates

Swimming starts on a Thursday afternoon. The classes will alternate so each class will swim every other week.

Next week 19th September 3B will swim.

Thank you to those of you who have kindly offered to help with swimming. We will will be in touch in due course to confirm when we would like you help.

Please do take a look at the 'Welcome to Year 3' presentation if you didn't manage to make it to the 'Meet the Teacher' session on Thursday morning this week. You can find it by clicking on the 'Presentations' icon on our class page.

The Year 3 team

Friday 6th September 2024

This Week's Learning

We want to congratulate the children for settling back to school life and being attentive and ready to learn. They hopefully slept well for you this week because the first week back is particularly tiring for them as they adjust back to the expectations and schedule of the school day, as well as getting to know their new teachers and classroom environments.

The children have had fun playing team building games that encourage the essential skills of listening, taking turns, and communication in order to solve problems. In maths, they have been using manipulatives, which are counters and Base 10 dienes, to help them explore Place Value. This is essential understanding that the children need to in order to access the rest of the maths curriculum. We also used the outside space of the playground for some active learning involving a times table relay race and the use of chalks to draw Place Value grids and then compare numbers with other groups.

In RHE and art the children practised using a growth mind set to persevere when drawing several drafts of a butterfly. They learnt how to be better learning partners through giving each other specific, kind and useful feedback.

Next Week's Learning

Next week we will be continuing to learn about Place Value in maths through looking at partitioning and representing numbers. In RE we are starting our learning answering the question 'What do Christians learn from the Creation story?' Our science nutrition learning will be about food diaries and we will be continuing the History and Geography topics of Ancient Egyptians and Mountains. We will also have some more time to share the wonderful home learning that the children have brought in to show. 

Important Information

Next Thursday 12th September at 9 - 9.30am you will have the opportunity to come into school and meet Mrs Burton and Mrs Jeffs to learn more about Year 3 and ask any questions you may have. We look forward to seeing you then.

Have a restful weekend.

The Year 3 Team