Welcome to Year 3W's Class Page

Summer Term 2022

We can’t believe that we have now started our last term in Year 3!  Where has the time gone?  It only seems like yesterday when we were settling into our new class!  We have learnt so much and have grown up and developed our independence a lot since September, but there are still plenty of exciting things to learn before we leave Year 3 and venture into Year 4. 

Our English work starts with play scripts, using ‘Escape From Pompeii’ by Christina Balit. We will have great fun and our creativity will be pushed to the limit!  We will also be reading and writing our own shape poems. Towards the end of term, we’ll be writing an adventure story based on Michaela Morgan's lovely story, ‘The Thing In The Basement’.

In Science, we will be looking at plants in our 'Roots and Shoots' and 'Artful Flowers' unit of work.  We will be looking at the requirements of plants for life and growth, the functions of different parts of flowering plants and we will also investigate the way in which water is transported in plants. 

For our Computing work this term, we will be introduced to Branching Databases. Using 2 Question, children will learn how to create a branching database that accomplishes a given goal. They will understand how to collect, analyse, evaluate, and present their data and information throughout the unit initially as a paper Yes/No game and then as a digital version of a branching database. 

In RE we’ll be learning about what happened in the aftermath of Easter.  We will be reading stories about the times Jesus appeared to His disciples after the resurrection, His Ascension into Heaven and the events of the Pentecost. We will then move on to learn about Reconciliation. 

We will learn about the spread of the Roman Empire, how the empire affected different people and how they felt and reacted to the changes that were being made. We will then move on to learning all about The Lake District. We will find out about farming, environmental issues and the physical and human features of the region studied. 

In DT we’ll be exploring shell structures. The children will build their own shell structure and there will be a particular focus on methods for strengthening, providing children with opportunities to develop problem solving skills.

In Art, we will take inspiration from artists and combine techniques to create a landscape/botanical painting using water colour paints. 

Reminders:    PE is currently on Mondays and Thursdays - children need to bring in their PE kits each week.

Children are asked to wear a white tshirt, with the school logo (or a plain white tshirt), with navy shorts and appropriate footwear - black pumps for indoor and trainers for outdoor. If the weather is cold, children are invited to wear their school jumper over their PE tshirt and a plain pair of navy tracksuit bottoms/joggers are allowed. For health and safety reasons, children are not permitted to wear earrings for PE and we recommend that if your child cannot remove their stud earrings themselves that they are not worn on PE days.

Contacts:   If we can help you in any way please do not hesitate to contact us on our class email or Class Dojo Page:

Y3EW@ourlady-st-gerards.lancs.sch.uk. 

Many thanks,

Miss Whitney

Our Behaviour Charter

Our school Behaviour Policy is built upon the ‘5 pillars of Pivotal Practice’ (‘When Adults Change, Everything Changes’, Paul Dix):

• Consistent, calm adult behaviour,
• Relentless Routines,
• First attention to best conduct,
• Scripting difficult conversations,
• Restorative Follow-up.

We have three simple goals: Be safe, Be a Learner, Be Kind and Respectful.

Useful Reminders

Children will have PE on Monday and Thursday. Children should have a full school PE kit. Children can wear blue or black sports pants and trainers for outdoor PE on a Monday.

Children will have weekly homework set through Sumdog; Grammar, Spellings, Maths and Times tables.

We expect our children to be reading daily, either from their home reader or a book of their choice. Reading books will be issued on a Friday. 

We have selected these recommended reading lists from Peters Education to ensure that our children have access to a wide range of books.  These books are all available in school and form our 'core' texts in our class libraries.  These lists are chosen because they:

• link with our curriculum for each year group
• represent different cultures
• introduce children to new authors and expand their knowledge of familiar authors
• ensure progression 
• match topics of interests for our children
• tackle current themes

Useful Websites 

Maths:

https://www.topmarks.co.uk/maths-games/hit-the-button 

https://www.purplemash.com/login/ 

https://www.sumdog.com/en/ 

https://www.topmarks.co.uk/maths-games/daily10 

English (Reading, Writing, Spelling, Grammar):

https://www.purplemash.com/login/ 

https://www.sumdog.com/en/ 

https://www.oxfordowl.co.uk/ 

https://spellingframe.co.uk/ 

Music:

https://charanga.com/yumu/login

Welcome to Y3W's class page 2021-22

Dear Parents/Guardians,

We would like to offer you and your child an incredibly warm welcome to Year 3. We hope you have settled in well. In Year 3, we have high expectations of all of the children, through behaviour and being ready to learn and grow as a team and individuals. We are looking forward to teaching and guiding them throughout the rest of this year. We will work hard and make sure we have lots of fun along the way. Having a strong relationship between home and school will lead to a rewarding year for us all, but especially your wonderful children. I look forward to working with you.

Our classroom is a happy and positive working environment where praise and encouragements are used to motivate and support all of the children. We ask that each child tries their best and develops a resilient attitude towards learning. We value the support you give your child at home with reading, spelling, learning times tables and delving into any topic based research or interests your children may express. 

As a team, we are pleased to have Mrs Edwards and Mrs Fisher working besides us in Year 3.  They have a wealth of experience and skills, which will be used to support children in both Year 3 classes throughout the year.

The Curriculum Overview for learning for the year is shared on this page. It gives a brief outline of the subjects and learning objectives we will teach throughout Year 3. We will continue to update this page periodically, sharing details of our exciting learning experiences and include any useful links to support your child’s learning from home. 

As you can appreciate the start and end of the school day can be very busy.  Therefore, if you have any concerns or enquiries, please email your child’s class teacher or make a telephone appointment with the school office. This will allow us to give you more time for any discussions.

Our class email is year3ew@ourlady-st-gerards.lancs.sch.uk 

Miss Whitney

Spring Term 2022

We are back in full swing after the Christmas break and eager to learn lots of exciting, new things this term!

We will continue to update this page periodically, sharing details and photos of our exciting learning experiences and include any useful links to support your child’s learning from home. Remember to keep an eye on our Class Dojo page too, where you will find useful reminders, resources and photos of our learning. 

Our English work this term begins with narratives. We will read a well-known novel called 'Stig of the Dump' by Clive King. We will start by looking at the features of a narrative and collecting a range of exciting words and phrases that capture our interest. We will learn about the characters- Stig and Barney, and write our own version of the book.  After half term, we will be reading 'The Iron Man' by Ted Hughes. Our Spring term creative homework task is to create an Iron Man design. This could be a 3D model, a drawing, a painting or even something edible! Please visit our Class Dojo page for more information about this task. We are looking forward to seeing your finished Iron Men and displaying them in our classroom. 

In our RE lessons, we will be looking at seasons and feast days in the Church’s Year. The main focus will be on the Liturgical Calendar. Following this, our next RE topic will be ‘The Eucharist’.  We will learn that the word Eucharist is another name for the Mass and that it actually means ‘Thanksgiving’. This will prepare us for Easter, one of the most important events on the Christian calendar.

The focus of our Science work will be Rocks and Fossils.  We’ll start by observing and exploring different types of rocks. We will also look at the work of a famous palaeontologist, Mary Anning and we will find out about how fossils are formed.

In Art, we're looking forward to practising our sketching skills too, by sketching a range of different fossils inspired by the work of Robert Hooke.

In our History work, we will be learning about the Stone Age. We will be exploring and comparing the lives of Stone Age Hunter Gatherers and Stone Age Farmers. We will also describe the features of Stone Age homes and list the foods of a Stone Age diet. It will be interesting to see how Stone Age homes were different to our homes today! 

In Geography, our Spring topic is Volcanoes and Earthquakes! We will describe what is found under the Earth's surface, how volcanoes are formed and how volcanoes and earthquakes affect people's lives.

Our computing work for the first half term will be using 2Calculate, a simple to use spreadsheet.  We will be adding and editing data in a table and using this data to find out how data can be turned into a spreadsheet graph. We will be looking at pie charts and bar graphs to analyse the data.

For our PSHE work we will be studying the theme of Living in the Wider World.  This will involve focusing on the reasons for rules and laws in wider society, our rights and responsibilities and our role in protecting the world in which we live. 

It’s going to be a busy term.  We will be working hard, but we’ll have lots of fun too!

If you have any concerns or enquiries, please email your child’s class teacher or make a telephone appointment with the school office. Teachers are also available on Class Dojo. This will allow us to give you more time for any discussions.

Miss Whitney and Mrs Edwards

Email your class teacher on Y3EW@ourlady-st-gerards.lancs.sch.uk