Year 3 blog

Tuesday 19 November 2024 Planning for our whole school project Year 3 were very excited to embark on a St Andrew's school project this morning. First we found out that each child in the school was going to create a clay fish as part of a whole school art installation. Then we looked at different examples to inspire our own designs, and the colours of slip (clay paint) available for our fish. We discussed the size the fish needed to be and different techniques for adding texture. Finally we started on our individual planning sheets.
Thursday 24 October 2024 Understanding the impact of belief on actions In RE this week we have been learning about the impact of belief on our actions, either as people or as an organisation. We have spent time learning about the work Christian Aid do, from the very beginning when the charity was created by Christians seeking to help the displaced and vulnerable after World War ll. Almost a hundred years later, the charity helps some of the poorest people around the globe by providing resources such as seeds or pigs and chickens, supporting people and communities to develop self-sufficiency.
Wednesday 9 October 2024 Using drama to understand others In English recently we used drama to try and understand what it was like to be a Neanderthal person over 200,000 years ago. We used an image from our book 'The Pebble in my Pocket' of a group of people around a fire to give us some ideas and we talked about what the daily life of a Neanderthal might have been like.
Wednesday 9 October 2024 Rocks and Soils at Amersham FSC Year 3 were very lucky to spend a day at Amersham Field Studies Centre recently. We spent time outside finding and examining different soil types and then went inside to analyse what the different soils contained. We learnt that some soil had a lot of clay in (we could squish the soil into a shape) while others were more sandy (and couldn't be easily squashed into a shape). We were lucky enough to eat our lunch outside in the sunshine. After lunch we went on a fossil walk where we found out that that part of England was underwater millions of years ago and the water was warm! It was a very interesting day.
Friday 21 June 2024 Brain Breaks Although learning is fun, we all need a good Brain Break from time to time. One example of such break in Year 3 is a dance. This active time allows the children to rest their brain and do something else for a few minutes. Brain breaks can help children to regain focus and energy, making it easier for them to concentrate on their work.
Friday 14 June 2024 STEM week As part of the STEM week, Year 3 children designed a pollinator garden and then planted a variety of bee friendly plants to attract insects. This hands-on activity will help children with their learning about plants in Science this term too.
Thursday 6 June 2024 Maths Challenge
Friday 24 May 2024 Muscles, Bones, Tendons ... Thank you to our visitors, Mr and Mrs Lomax who enriched Year 3 learning about Muscles and Bones. Their expertise allowed the children to gain further understanding in how our bodies work. There was also a fun activity to identify broken bones and guess in which part of the body the injury happened. Needless to say, the children enjoyed the morning very much!
Monday 20 May 2024 Paralympic sports Year 3 children had a fantastic opportunity to participate in the Paralympic games. The three disciplines the children had a go at were: wheelchair basketball, boccia and curling.
Friday 3 May 2024 Do our bones affect what we can do? This week in Science, we have been investigating whether people with longer legs jump further and people with longer arms throw further.
Friday 19 April 2024 Celtic Harmony Visit This week, Year 3 children have travelled back in time to the prehistoric Britain for the whole day! We spent the whole day with a man from the Iron Age who knew nothing about Minecraft or lightbulbs!
Thursday 28 March 2024 Happy Easter In the countdown to Easter, Year 3 and Year 4 children delivered a very meaningful Easter service at the church retelling the story of Easter.
Thursday 28 March 2024 Exploring different biomes This week, Year 3 Geographers were looking at different climates, from tundra to very hot and dry climates. The children tried then identify which plants and animals live in specific climate and why.
Friday 15 March 2024 Science Week As part of the Science Week, the children had a chance to investigate the questions 'Can a substance act as a liquid and a solid at the same time?'
Friday 8 March 2024 WORLD BOOK DAY What a day it was! A plethora of various book characters appeared in Year 3 classroom on Thursday morning. Rather than the usual set of children, we welcomed Isadora Moon, Alice in Wonderland and even Sherlock Holmes himself! Once all the characters introduced themselves, they had a chance to plan a story with a twist. A story in which two different characters would meet. The characters had a fun time planning their stories, after which they wrote and illustrated their own books. Then they had a chance to share the stories with other book characters.
Friday 1 March 2024 Author's visit Wow! We were super excited to be visited by the local author and book illustrator, Chloe Savage. Chloe spoke to us about her latest book 'The Search for the Giant Arctic Jellyfish'. She was more than happy to answer our questions about what inspires her to write, what her favourite book is and how she got into drawing.
Friday 1 March 2024 Crafting Rainforests This term's Geography topic is Rainforests and Deserts which links to our story 'Jemmy Button'. Inspired by the sounds and images, the children created their own rainforest collages. This empowered us to write descriptive setting descriptions in which we tried to create the effect on the reader.
Wednesday 21 February 2024 Local Historians
Thursday 1 February 2024 Shout Out No to Bullying As part of the anti-bullying week, the children came to school in odd socks. This was to recognise how unique we are yet so very similar.
Friday 26 January 2024 Poetry journey continues... This week has brought a rainbow of poems created in Year 3. We focused on figurative language and how poems are structured differently to stories. We used this knowledge to then plan, draft, evaluate and suggest changes. We were then able to write the final poem all about our wonderful world. The next step in our journey is the publication.
Thursday 18 January 2024 Poetry explorers Continuing the journey with poetry, the children had a chance to submerge in a wide selection of various poems. Having read the poems, the children confidently presented their views on which poem they liked most and why. There was a real buzz as the children were reading the poems. Some poems made us giggle, whereas others made us stop and reflect.
Friday 12 January 2024 Multiplication Learning multiplication can be fun. The children practiced their 8 times tables by playing bingo. An element of competition has certainly helped to get better at a quick recall.
Friday 12 January 2024 Here We Are Year 3 children started a New Year with great enthusiasm and engagement. All the children are very excited about taking part in the North Herts writing competition which will last for three weeks. Everyone has been super active in the English lessons, making predictions about the text, creating expanded noun phrases to create an image and use conjunctions to link ideas. Although it is only the first week of the competition, the children are full of creative ideas. It was very fun to discuss what it is like in our brains and draw pictures to represent our 'Brains of Curiosity'. A wide variety of pictures revealed that some brains are like a circus with balancing plates, a whirlpool of ideas or exploding popcorn.
Friday 8 December 2023 Clarinet Every Friday, the children have a chance to develop their musical talents playing the clarinet. The confidence is growing and the children can play the C, E, G and F notes. It is amazing how the children can play in harmony and to the beat. We can't wait for the whole class performance at the end of the school year.
Friday 24 November 2023 Times Tables In Mathematics, we finished the Addition and Subtraction unit. In preparation for the new learning with the focus on times tables, we used TT Rock Stars to practice multiplication.
Monday 20 November 2023 Family Learning It was a pleasure to host so many parents during our Family Learning Week to share various approaches to teaching writing based on CLPE resources.
Friday 17 November 2023 Fitzwilliam Museum This week we visited Fitzwilliam Museum in Cambridge to explore the lives and believes of the ancient Egyptians.
Friday 10 November 2023 Remembrance Day Using a beautiful story of 'Where the Poppies now Grow', the children wrote poems in remembrance of the local soldiers who fought in WW1.
Friday 3 November 2023 VOLCANOES AND EARTHQUAKES This has been a well enjoyed topic that ended with a BANG! Some amazing projects have been brought in showing excellent designing and creating skills. Some children brought in photographs showing the fun they had at home with erupting volcanoes or making moving earthquakes.
Friday 20 October 2023 Sweet surprise What a treat to end first half of the term! Thank you to our two young bakers who baked a delicious ‘earthquake’. Not only it was scrumptious but we could also watch the Land of Choclate and Biscuits shake!
Friday 20 October 2023 International coding This week we have been given a challenge designed by the children in Poland.
Friday 6 October 2023 National Poetry Day This week's focus in Year 3 was poetry as the children took a part in the national poetry writing competition to celebrate the National Poetry Day on Thursday 5th October.
Friday 29 September 2023 Amersham Field Study We ventured on the study of rocks in soils to the Amersham Field study last Monday.
Friday 15 September 2023 Reading Children in Year 3 are very keen readers. This week, they have had a chance to talk about their favourite books - and there is a lot of them! Some of the children have not been able to choose one favourite as there's too many to choose from!
Friday 8 September 2023 All Are Welcome Here Year 3 children started a new academic year with big smiles and great enthusiasm. The children have been learning new responsibilities and jobs that come with being in KS2.
Friday 23 June 2023 BuzzWorks What a Buzzy Day we had! With the glorious sun shining on our backs, we set off on a walk to the BuzzWorks discovery Centre. When we got there, we engaged in different activities: types of seeds and seed dispersal, the bee body parts and their functions and bee facts, making seed balls, tasting honey and pollen. We had a chance to look at the beehives and observe bees in their habitat. We learnt many interesting facts about plants and bees. This extended our learning about plants. We also know why bees are so important and how to look after them.
Friday 26 May 2023 Celtic trip
Thursday 18 May 2023 Sports Day The week started with the Year 3 athletics taking part in the fun packed Sports Day. First, all the children enjoyed a variety of competitions such as Tennis Tap ups, Raft, Football shoots or Speed stacking in their House groups.
Wednesday 17 May 2023 Inventing stories The children enjoyed telling their own stories based on Stone Age Boy. Using this story, we have made some changes to the main character or the adventures that happen to the character. It was fun using sticks, leaves and stones to help us tell the story.
Thursday 11 May 2023 News reporters Following the historical event last weekend, the children wrote their own newspaper reports about the coronation of King Charles III. This journey started with looking at and investigating the layout of the real newspaper articles. We then discuss the features and the language used. This helped us to plan and eventually write our own version. The young journalists certainly have shown the enthusiasm and professionalism in the reporting of the real event.
Friday 5 May 2023 Coronation The thumbnail has been assigned to the news item, and for convenience also added to the body here:
Tuesday 25 April 2023 Investigating healthy foods
Friday 21 April 2023 Fun Fractions First week of the summer term and year 3 have continued developing their knowledge and application of fractions. This week the children focused on using number lines to show and order fractions. They also had a chance to play some games.
Monday 20 March 2023 Building Bridges STEM This week we have worked as engineers to design and make a bridge. The aim was to build a chosen type of the bridge that would hold a weight.
Friday 17 March 2023 Paper Birds As part of the British Science Week, Year 3 took part in the Paper Birds Challenge. The task was to design and make a paper bird using only paper and scissors. After a read about different birds, the children had a go at making their own birds. There were some great techniques being used to make the birds look realistic. We even had a bird on the wheels! Well done to all Year 3 children for using their imagination and engineering skills.
Friday 17 March 2023 Fractions in action This week Year have started learning about fractions. The children can compare and order unit fractions. They have investigated which fractions are bigger or smaller. There has been a great discussion as the children were able to explain why they would prefer to get 1/7 of a pizza rather than 1/8.
Friday 10 March 2023 Is it a solid? Is it a liquid? This week in Science the children have been working scientifically using their observations to write a conclusion. Using accurate measurements, they made so called 'oobleck', using water and cornflour. After having some fun with the substance, they were making their conclusion based on the observations.
Friday 3 March 2023 World Book Day
Friday 3 March 2023 Historians in action On Friday, Year 3 historians set off on a local walk to find the monuments of the Radcliffe family. We did not find any in the graveyard but only in the church. We were then wondering 'Did the Radcliffe family deserve their monuments' The final verdict is yet to come...
Thursday 23 February 2023 Jemmy Button This week the children have started a new book journey with Jemmy Button. They have made predictions about the story and wondered who the main character might be. They have also analysed the character's feelings through the role play. Finally, the children have written the setting description using comparative forms.
Friday 10 February 2023 Home Learning Project Year 3 have been sharing the Home Learning Project on the Radcliffe family and some other significant families from Hitchin. The quality of work has been outstanding. Well done to everyone for the effort and creativity. We certainly have learnt from each other.
Friday 10 February 2023 A visit from the local MP As part of our PSHE learning journey, Year 3 invited the local MP, Bim Afolami to talk about democracy. Our Big question this term is 'What is it like to live in a democratic country' It has been a valuable experience to learn about democracy and what it is like to be a politician from Mr Afolami. The children came well prepared with a wide range of questions to ask - apart from the questions linked to democracy, the class also learnt about Mr Afolami's favourite football team and his favourite school subject.
Monday 6 February 2023 Working scientifically to investigate shadows Working as scientists, Year 3 children have investigated the relation between the distance of the light source from the object and the size of the shadow it forms.
Thursday 2 February 2023 RE Week Buddhism This has been a very interesting week as we learnt about Buddhism. The Big Question we tried to answer was 'If I was a Buddhist, how would I look after the nature'.
Friday 27 January 2023 Class Assembly On Friday Year 3 have presented the assembly about Egyptians to the whole school. Following a very busy term learning about the ancient civilisation, the children enjoyed the acting out and sharing their writing about the Egyptians. They have also sung and danced to 'Build that pyramid' song.
Friday 20 January 2023 Magnificent Midnight Fair The children are continuing to explore the Midnight Fair story. This week we focused on expanding our vocabulary which helped us to write a setting description, a poem and an advertising poster to invite our toy animals to the fair. Needless to say, all the animals read the posters and are keen to visit the Midnight Fair...
Friday 20 January 2023 Reflective surfaces Using torches, Year 3 have been investigating which surfaces reflect light. The children have noticed that the smooth and shiny surfaces, such as the mirrors, the zip tags, or the hi-vis jackets reflect light really well. Following this observation, the children created informative posters to encourage younger children to wear reflective clothing when out in the evening.
Friday 16 December 2022 Let it snow The snow has undoubtedly been the highlight of this week. Year 3 children have enjoyed building the snowman and playing in the snow.
Friday 9 December 2022 Investigating shell structures Year have been investigating a variety of shell structures. After evaluating cardboard packaging, the children had a go at making their first prototype using a selection of 2D shapes. We learnt about the nets that make 3D shapes and so the children made a selection of cuboids, cubes and even a triangular prism!
Friday 2 December 2022 Grouping and sharing We have started a new unit of work - multiplication and division. We can show equal groups and sharing in preparation to use mental operations.
Friday 2 December 2022 Learning about other religions This week Year 3 have had a visitor to talk about his Muslim beliefs. The children learnt how Muslim people show their obedience and respect through the daily act of prayer.
Thursday 24 November 2022 Fun Spellings Learning spellings in Year 3 is fun. Today we have been learning prefixes mis- and re- by writing on your partner's back.
Thursday 24 November 2022 STEM Family Learning Week What a fabulous experience it has been enjoyed both by the children and the parents! Year 3 loved having the parents in the class learning together about science. We explored three areas: Exploding volcanos, Magic Magnets and Magnetising Art. Through some fun activities, the children were able to learn more about chemical reactions and how magnets work.
Friday 11 November 2022 Knowing our trusted adults In Year 3 children know who their trusted adults are. We discussed the importance of knowing who we can speak to when we feel worried or upset. These trusted adults may be the adults at home or at school; they will listen to and help.
Friday 11 November 2022 Adding and subtracting 3-digit numbers This week we have been mastering addition and subtraction using a column method. We have used manipulatives to help us understand the exchange. We are now able to solve problems with adding or subtracting larger numbers.
Friday 4 November 2022 The Spider and the Fly Year 3 have been enjoying reading the poem 'The Spider and The Fly' as the characters. We have also been looking at the difficult vocabulary and investigating its meaning. This helped us to write diary entries from the point of view of the fly.
Friday 23 September 2022 Partitioning numbers up to 1000 in various ways This week we have been using manipulatives to see how many different ways we can find to partition 3-digit numbers. We have been able to exchange tens and hundreds to challenge ourselves further. We had also been drawing pictorial representations and number sentences to demonstrate our partitioning.
Friday 16 September 2022 Remembering Queen Elizabeth II This week Year 3 have been reflecting on the life and service of Queen Elizabeth II. We have gathered a wide range of descriptive words to describe her reign and the kind of person she was. This then helped us to write very personal prayers to thank Her for everything she did for the people of Great Britain and the world.
Wednesday 8 June 2022 Jubilee Fun Year 3 started Jubilee Day by listening to the music that was playing in Westminster Abbey during the coronation in 1953. We created a giant 70 for the window, made from Union Jacks the children had collaged previously. Year 3 hope you have had a chance to look closely at how they turned out.
Thursday 26 May 2022 Outdoor Learning During Outdoor Learning Week, Year 3 went out into the school grounds to identify trees. By using a leaf guide and looking at a tree's silhouette the children identified and learnt the names of many wonderful trees.
Thursday 19 May 2022 Celtic Harmony Camp The thumbnail has been assigned to the news item, and for convenience also added to the body here:
Thursday 19 May 2022 Christian Aid Week The thumbnail has been assigned to the news item, and for convenience also added to the body here:
Wednesday 9 February 2022 Inspired by Matisse In Art, Year 3 have been studying the later work of Matisse. In his senior years he was unable to paint and began creating huge collages from paper cut outs. His assistant positioned the pieces on the wall as instructed by Matisse. Year 3 were inspired to create their own abstract collages.
Monday 17 January 2022 Pre Christmas Performance In the very last hour of the very last day of term, Ms Fenn was treated to a mini performance from the Year 3 clarinetists led by Mr Brunton. Ms Fenn was very impressed and Mr Brunton is very pleased with the effort Year 3 are making.
Tuesday 23 November 2021 Children in Need Year 3 had lots of fun raising money and taking part in the activities for Children in Need week.

Year 3 blog

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