Take a look how pupils in Year 3 celebrated World Book day this year.

Click HERE

The children have been busy learning many facts about Electricity in Science lessons. Take a look:

Click HERE

Year 3 have started work on their Spring 2 topic: Identity

Click HERE

Year 3 were busy Hat making last week. Have a look at a few examples from Humboldt class.

Click HERE

Thank you to all who came to see our Gallery of work.

The children enjoyed showing you and discussing the work they were proud to produce. We look forward to sharing our work with you in the coming term.

Click HERE to see a brief example

Each week we will ask a member of staff in Year 3 to recommend a children’s book.

This week  Mr Rauf tells us about his recommendation – click on the book to read his review:

Mrs Owen also selected a second book -click on the book to read her review

This week  Mrs Owen tells us about her recommendation – click on the book to read her review:

This week Mrs Godhania tells us about her recommendation – click on the book to read her review:

This week Mrs Ali tells us about her recommendation – click on the book to read her review:

Year 3 Teachers would like to share some ideas with you.  Simple activities you can try at home to support your child’s social and emotional skills. 

Click on the ‘brain’ to see this week’s idea

5 – 4 – 3 – 2 – 1

Activities from previous weeks:

Glitter Jar

Sensory Bag

Musical Art Therapy

All Boxed Up

Sensory Box

Worry Monster

Click on the recipe book to see this week’s recipe

Fish Cakes

Recipes from previous weeks:

Cheese and Tomato Egg Muffins

Frozen Banana Yogurt Bites

Cheese Straws

Wraps

Veggie Snack

Pizza Wheels

On Tuesday, 16th October 2018, King Class and Emperor Class experienced a “Tudor Day”.

This gave them a fantastic opportunity to find out what it was like to live in Tudor times. The children made soap, pendants and mixed medicines using herbs. In the afternoon they had a Tudor banquet!

Today children in Years 3 and 4 at Downside were lucky enough to experience a visit from children’s author Eamonn Reilly!  He captured the children’s imagination as he regaled them with stories from his books in his own inimitable style.  Children were gripped as he described a child abandoned in a lonely forest and horrified as he describe the disgusting concoction another of his characters had to eat!

As well as his captivating storytelling, Eamonn gave the children some fantastic tips to use in their own writing and set them some writing challenges. 

Why don’t you try one of Eamonn’s challenges?

Write a story where you lose something.

Write a story with a dilemma.

Draw a picture of a horrible magic potion – make a story around the potion.

What would you do if you had millions of pounds?

Children make a den and decide to track down criminals – write the story.

Write a ‘who done it?’ story.

Every time you write a story – try to include what is it that the reader will be desperate to find out? 

Our topic for the first half of Summer term was the Stone Age. We found this very interesting and to complete our topic we went on a visit to the Chiltern Open Air Museum to see for ourselves how people believe Stone Age people lived.

As you can see, we enjoyed this very much. We took part in multiple workshops including an archaeological dig. We also learnt how to make a fire, create cave paintings out of animal fat and charcoal and cover shelters with animal skin. (We made sure to check out the park too of course).

The second half of our term got off to a fantastic start. We are lucky enough to be taking part in a carnival workshop and creating our own carnival costumes. Each class in the year group has been given their own country to design and create a costume for. We have Brazil, Russia, South Korea, Sweden and Mexico! Not only this, we got to present our costumes in our own mini carnival parade at the end of the year! Here are some pictures of the fun we have had so far.

We have also been working very hard this term on our reading skills with our current book ‘The Firework Maker’s daughter’ by Phillip Pullman. We are using all of our reading skills to answer questions about the plot and characters.

Other things we have been doing this term include; mask making, experimenting with sound in science as well as writing our own carnival poems and information texts. We have also enjoyed looking at properties of 3D shapes and even building our own.

Year 3 and 4 had a visit from an e Safety specialist who asked them about the things they are doing online and also the dangers that there can be from using the internet. The children took part in votes to figure out if a website was real or fake to try and get them to think about what makes a website trustworthy. They were also informed that if something doesn’t seem right that they should inform a trusted adult or press the CEOP button which is available on websites to report things.

Tudor description – By Noor Ul Ain Zulfiqar (King Class)

At the end of the small, narrow path, there was an ancient cottage as small as a chair. It had a wooden door and walls made from dirt and clay. At the top of the house, there was a thatched roof with gaping holes, so the rain dropped down. In the corner of the dark room, there was a tiny staircase and next to the small staircase there was a wooden table which was the proper furniture in the room. Next to the door, there was a fireplace as hot as the burning sun. Next to the fire, there were four windows, but they were not made out of glass, they were just big holes.

In the coldness of the small, cold room, a penniless old woman stood behind the rough wooden table. She was baking carefully a yummy fruit loaf as delicious as a yummy fruit bar. She had a white dress as white as soft snow. She wore a dirty, white headscarf, as dirty as the bud. She was feeling tired because she had done all the cooking.

Click HERE to see some examples of our Tudor Portraits

Week ending 8th February 2019

Maths:

Over the last couple of weeks, children have being working with Money.

They have learnt about:

• Pound and pence
• Converting pounds and pence
• Adding money
• Subtracting money
• Finding difference
• Giving change

Below you will find some interesting money related activities you could try at home with children:

http://www.playideas.com/25-fun-money-activities-for-kids/

This week children have started work on the Statistics unit of work. In this unit, children will:

• Read and interpret data in tally charts
• Create bar graphs and pictograms

Homework will be related to Statistics this week.

https://mathsframe.co.uk/en/resources/resource/51/bar-charts

Literacy:

This week children have learnt all about the features of Diary entries. We read a story which gave us an insight into what it may be like living in Victorian times for a child. They are planning and writing their own diary entries for a child called Eliza! They are working hard to ensure their diary entries include characters thoughts and feelings.

As we reach the end of our Hat Industry topic, I would like to say a massive well done to all the children who have worked curiously to learn many many facts about Luton and its history.

For further detail you could watch:

Made in Great Britain on BBC2 – Hat making in Luton – this was aired on the 6.2.19 and would be a great watch for the children.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b0bs2twg/made-in-great-britain-series-1-3-hats

 

 

Week ending 25th January 2019

Maths this week:

Children have been working on division this week. They can use a variety of strategies to solve division problems with remainders. They have also thought about solving problems including division such as:

 

 

 

 

 

Science this week:

In most classes this week children were taught about the dangers of electricity. They created electrical safety posters to display some of the main points. We will share some of these soon.

You could discuss the following to reinforce safety at home:

• Never put fingers or other objects in a mains socket
• Keep metal objects out of toasters
• Never use anything with a cord or plug around water
• Never pull a plug out by its cord
• Stay away from power lines
• Don’t climb on power poles
• Never fly kites near power lines
• Stay away from broken or fallen power lines
• Never touch or climb trees that are near power lines
• Obey warning signs

 

 

 

 

 

Week ending 18th January 2019

Maths this week:

This week we continued to practise written methods of multiplication and division:

Please support us by continuing to practise these strategies at home. Click here to see this week’s method.

Topic this week:

Children now know lots about Luton’s History. They found out about: the Hat industry in Luton, living in wartime Luton and Transport in Luton.  Children will use all the facts to write an information text: All about Luton

 

Science this week:

We have started our Science topic on Electricity!

Some questions you can ask your children to get them thinking about Electricity:

Where can you see electricity being used?

Can you name ten things that need electricity to work?

What is a circuit?

What if electricity was not invented? What energy source would we use?

 

Have a look at the following link to explore further what electricity is and learn more about electrical safely at home:

http://www.switchedonkids.org.uk/

Week ending 11th January 2019

Happy New year to you all.

Year 3 children look very smart and refreshed after the school holidays. We hope you all had amazing breaks. Did you try any of the mindful activities or try making any of the recipes? Do let us know. Maybe children could bring in photos and share with the class.

Maths this week:

In maths over the next couple of weeks children will be learning about Multiplication and Division. As a part of this, we focused on:

• Comparing statements, using symbols: <,> and =
• Using known facts to find answers to questions
• Multiplying 2 digits by 1 digit – Formal method – no exchange
• Multiplying 2 digits by 1 digit – Formal method – exchange
• Dividing 2 digits by 1 digit – no remainder
• Dividing 2 digits by 1 digit – remainder

No exchange example: 21 x  3 63

Exchange example:

No remainders: 63 ÷ 3 = 21

Practical division with remainders: 9 ÷ 4 =   23 ÷ 4

Please practise these strategies at home.

Literacy/Topic this week:

In Literacy and Topic this week, children have started work on The Hatters topic. Thank you to all the children who completed their holiday homework to research facts about Luton. This helped. All children enjoyed making some hats this week; they designed, made and evaluated these. See the events section below to view some examples. Children will write a set of instructions for making hats next week.

We have started reading our half term story: Roald Dahl’s Minpins.

Children are enjoying reading another Roald Dahl story. They have made many comparisons already with the stories they read in Year 2.

You could discuss the following image with them to see if they can predict what might be happening. We will read a section from the story over the next five weeks.

 

Week ending 14th December 2018

This week children enjoyed a lovely Christmassy meal! Some quotes from the children:

“The turkey was tasty with the gravy.” (Mohammed)

“First time I’ve tried parsnip.” (Usmaan)

“I love fruity cake!” (Daniyal)

We hope you managed to attend the Year 3 Gallery of work. The children have been working very hard this term and were looking forward to showing some of their work off.

Maths this week:

In maths this week children have been learning about shape and space. As a part of this, we focused on:

• Recognising that angles are a property of shape or a description of a turn.
• Identify right angles and recognise that two right angles make a half turn, three make three quarters and four a complete turn,
• Clockwise and anti-clockwise turns.

 

 

 

 

Literacy this week:

In Literacy this week children have completed writing their adventure stories. They have worked hard on these, writing 6 paragraphs in total! We have been encouraging children to edit and improve their work after writing each paragraph.

We will be posting some for you to view very soon.

This week we also introduced:

• Inverted commas (speech marks)
• Synonyms for said

You can go online and check out the link below to support your child’s knowledge of inverted commas. Watch the video and ask them to complete the activity:

https://www.bbc.com/bitesize/articles/ztcp97h

 

Week ending 7th December 2018

I would like to take this opportunity to say thank you to all the children and parents who welcomed me back last week. So many friendly faces and conversations made me feel very happy to be back. (Mrs H. Ali)

Maths this week:

In maths this week children have started a two week unit on Time. We looked at:

• Days and months of the year
• Reading calendars
• Roman numerals
• Telling the time at 5 minute intervals
• Telling the time at minute intervals
• Applying all the above knowledge to solve problems like:

 

 

 

 

Literacy this week:

In Literacy this week children have planned adventure stories based on The Snow Queen. They have created heroic and villainous characters. Humboldt Class have a character called: The Ice King and King Class have named their villain: The Snow Emperor.

In our writing we will be focusing on the use of:

• Noun phrases for effect
• Fronted adverbials for time and place
• Conjunctions (because, if, that, while, after, although…)

We will be posting a story from each class next week.

Reminder:

Break time snacks – children are allowed to have a small snack at break time.  We would advise that these are healthy snacks e.g. fruit, veg, cheese sticks etc. children can bring these in small reusable containers to avoid any waste.

 

Week ending 16th November 2018

The week started with “Parliament Day” on Monday. The whole school took part and gave the children an opportunity to find out about Parliament and the Government. In Year 3 the children learnt about the importance of asking questions, research, debating and voting.

Literacy and Topic: In Literacy and Topic this week the children are continuing to find out about the Arctic and have been learning about the Inuit people who live there. They will write a letter imagining that they are an Inuit child, describing the life they lead. This work gives the children a fascinating insight into a different way of life.

In Year 3 we encourage the children to join up their writing, a good way to practise this at home is to copy a passage from a reading book.

Numeracy: In Numeracy the children are continuing to learn about multiplication and division. They are going to be working with the 3,4 and 8 times tables so keep practising!

This week they have been learning how to divide by grouping and sharing with activities such as:

 

 

 

 

 

In Science the children have been learning about bones and muscles and also about how animals adapt to the environment that they live in.

In Year 3 the children learn Spanish, see if they can say “hello, how are you?” to you in Spanish ask them to count to 10!

Next week we are delighted to welcome back Mrs Ali who will be teaching in King Class with Mrs Akhtar.

We have been seeing some amazing Rainbow Homework.

Keep bringing it in and you might get a Head teacher’s award from Miss Hooker.

 

Week ending 9th November 2018

Literacy and Topic:

In Literacy and Topic this week the children have been finding out about the Polar Regions.

They have been researching both the Arctic and Antarctica, looking for similarities and differences and are working towards writing a postcard from the Arctic, describing what it would be like to visit there.

In Year 3 we encourage the children to join up their writing, a good way to practise this at home is to copy a passage from a reading book.

Numeracy:

In Numeracy the children have been learning about multiplication and division. They are going to be working with the 3,4 and 8 times tables so get practising!

The children will be using their skills to solve practical problems and will be developing their reasoning skills with e.g:

In Science the children are continuing to learn about bones and the human skeleton.

Spellings this week are:

dislike	disagree	discomfort	dishonest	disconnect
disinfect	dishearten	disappoint	disappear	describe

 

Week ending 2nd November 2018

Hope you all had a good half term!

Literacy:

In Literacy this week the children have been working with a poem called “The Magic Box” by Kit Wright.

They have been studying the language of the poem to help them understand nouns, adjectives and adverbial phrases. They will then have a go at writing their own poem using Winter and the Arctic as their inspiration.

In Year 3 we encourage the children to join up their writing, a good way to practise this at home is to copy a passage from a reading book.

Numeracy:

In Numeracy the children have been learning how to add and subtract numbers up to 1000 using the column method. They have also learnt how to carry and borrow numbers.

The children are also developing their reasoning skills with e.g:

 

 

 

 

 

Topic:

This half term’s topic is “Polar Regions”. The children will be learning about life in that part of the world.

We will start this work with a “WOW” day on Monday 5th November where they will learn about Antarctica.

Have a look at a map of the world to find out where that is.

In Science the children are learning about bones and the human skeleton.

Spellings this week are:

unable ,  unhappy,   unlucky,  unaware,  unclasp,  unfasten,  unpopular,  unusual,  business,  calendar

Also: Keep practising those Times Tables!!

Topic: In Topic, the children have been continuing to learn about Tudor times, focussing on what a poor Tudor home would have been like. They have read a passage from a book called “The Stove Haunting” and used this to write their own setting description.

On Tuesday, King Class and Emperor Class experienced a “Tudor Day”. This gave them a fantastic opportunity to find out what it was like to live in Tudor times. The children made soap, pendants and mixed medicines using herbs. In the afternoon they had a Tudor banquet!

Spellings this week are:

they, eight, reign, grey, weight, beige, vein, height

Have a good half term holiday!

Week ending 5th October 2018

Numeracy

345
45	300

45 + 300 = 345

300 + 45 = 345

345 – 45 = 300

345 – 300 = 45

 

Literacy and Topic

The children thoroughly enjoyed learning about poor and rich Tudor houses this week and noticing the similarities and differences between the two. They then used some of this new knowledge to help them write a diary about a Tudor servant who was preparing for a visit from King Henry VIII. They included lots of features such as: different sentence openers, conjunctions, first person, past tense and emotions of the servant throughout the exhausting day.

Assembly

This week, Year 3 and 4 children had a visit from Reverend Kesterton who informed the children all about Saint Francis of Assissi and the special work that he did 900 years ago when he was alive. The Reverend explained how ahead of his time Saint Francis was as he recognised the importance of the earth and how we should care for it – which is

Week ending 28th September 2018

Literacy:

This week children have been learning how to write an information report about Tudor kings and queens. Children have identified features of an information report and have been learning how to use a variety of conjunctions to add detail to their sentences about the Tudors.

Numeracy:

In Numeracy, children have started to add hundreds, tens and ones to 3-digit numbers. Children have been using Base 10 equipment to aid their understanding of exchanging.

CHILL

On Friday, children in year 3 were visited by the CHILL team (Children’s health in London and Luton). The children learnt about the causes of air pollution and the effect air pollution has on their bodies. Those who signed up to take part in the study were given a health check and were fitted with an activity monitor to wear for a week. This process will be repeated once a year for the next four years to monitor the effects of air pollution on the children’s overall health. A big thank you to all the children who have agreed to participate in this study.

Week ending 21st September 2018

Literacy:

In Literacy, the children have been learning how to write a newspaper report about the Battle of Bosworth. They have learnt about the features of a newspaper report such as using the past tense, using dates and names and interesting facts.

Numeracy:

In Numeracy, the children have continued to secure their knowledge of place value of each digit in a three-digit number (hundreds, tens, ones).

They have also been learning how to compare different amounts and how to represent the amounts in a variety of ways. The children have also been learning about how the digits and numbers change if we add one, ten or a hundred.

Topic:

In Topic, the children have been learning how to use their knowledge of the Battle of Bosworth to write a newspaper report.

They have also started learning about the five Tudor monarchs, starting with Henry V11.

On Thursday, Adelie, Rockhopper and Humboldt classes have experienced a “Tudor Day”. This has given them a fantastic opportunity to find out what it was like to live in Tudor times. Look out for some photos next week of what they got up to!

King and Emperor classes will have their Tudor day on Tuesday 16^th October.

Spellings this week are:

beautiful, brightness, enjoyment, sadness, hopeless, playful, movement, fearless

Week ending 14th September 2018

Literacy:

In Literacy, Year 3 have been reading and performing the poem ‘The Hippocrump’ and exploring the rhyme and rhythm elements of the poem. Children then used this model to plan for their own fantasy character labelling the different body parts with adjectives and movement. This helped them write detailed sentences to describe their own fantasy creature.

Numeracy:

In Numeracy, the children have been securing their knowledge of place value of each digit in a three-digit number (hundreds, tens, ones). Learning the importance of putting the digits in to the correct columns and where digits are put in different positions the difference this makes.  Then using this knowledge to understand and compare the place value of 3 digit number using less than (<), greater than ( >) and equal to( =) symbols.

Topic:

In Topic, the children are learning about the sequence of events that put the royal family of Tudor into power and changed England forever – The Battle of Bosworth. The children mapped out the key events so they could use drama to understand the historical event. Children acted out different parts in the battle which will help them write up the historical recount next week.

Week ending 7th September 2018

Welcome to Year 3!

Reading

This term we will be reading ‘The Enchanted Wood’ by Enid Blyton. The children will look at the key characters and how they discover the Faraway Tree and their many magical adventures.

Topic

This week we introduced our topic for the term ‘The Tudors’.  The children will be learning about the Tudors – a line of Kings and Queens who ruled England over a 118 year period.  Children drew self-portraits as a Tudor king or queen.

Numeracy

This week we learnt to recognise the place value of each digit in a three-digit number. Reading and writing in numerals and words and representing the number using dienes, place value counters and arrow cards.

Science 

In science we learnt that there are different types of teeth and why they are important. Children named the different types of teeth and the function

W/C 5th March 2018

	This week we had a special visitor to talk to the children about e-safety, to use technology safely and responsibly. The presentation encouraged children to think about online dangers and how to stay safe online.
Reading/Literacy This term we are reading ‘Varjak Paw’ to link with our topic identity. We have looked at the key characters and explored the characters using role play. We have looked at how the author develops the characters; writing a character description and a diary entry.
	Numeracy We have measured and compared length in millimetres, centimetres and metres. We have also converted between millimetres, centimetres and metres by partitioning to help us
Then used this information to find missing numbers to add and subtract lengths including mixed units. 27cm + ¨ = 38 cm           12 cm 5 mm + ¨= 15 cm
Science  In science we have been constructing a simple series electrical circuit, identifying and naming its basic parts, including cells, wires, bulbs, switches and buzzers.  Discussing how two batteries have to be connected positive to negative, circuits have to be complete and buzzers only connect in one direction. Children then drew and labelled simple series circuits.

W/C 25th February 2018

Welcome back! We hope everyone has had a fantastic half term break.

This term the children will be studying a book called Varjak Paw by S.F Said. Our Literacy, Topic and Reading lessons will be linked around this book, and children will take part in many exciting activities to help deepen their understanding of the text.

In numeracy, children will be learning how to measure length in millimetres, centimetres and metres as well as working out the perimeter of regular and irregular 2D and 3D shapes. Towards the end of the term children will learn how to find unit and non-unit fractions of shapes and amounts and learn how tenths are linked to decimals.

This term, the children will also be introduced to a new mindfulness concept called Mind Up. This will allow children to understand more about how their brains work, how we store memories, and what happens to our brains when we experience human emotions. As part of Mind Up, the children will also take part in daily Brain Breaks, which are chances for children to switch their brains off from their busy days and focus on breathing and relaxing for short periods of time.

W/C 8th January 2018

This week was our first full week back at school and we did lots of exciting things whilst working hard. On Tuesday we had a special visit from a local police officer, teaching us all about the importance of road safety.

Literacy

We have been learning all about Luton because our topic this term is ‘The Hatters’. By the end of this unit we will be writing our own information text all about Luton so we needed to do lots of research! We presented information we found to the rest of the class, improving our knowledge and confidence.

Numeracy

This week, our focus has been multiplication and division. We learnt how to do the formal method for multiplication and have been exploring different ways to divide numbers; such as using place value counters, partitioning and using number lines. This is all in preparation for next week, when we will be using the formal method of division.

Reading

This week, we have been looking at an information text all about parrots. We were learning efficient ways to answer questions quickly and accurately from the text, such as being able to skim and scan the text for key words or symbols.

Other activities

Since our topic is ‘Luton’, we have been exploring Luton on the map within Geography lessons and discovering the meaning of symbols on Ordnance Survey maps. We were even able to find the school as well as our own roads. We have also been keeping active, during our PE lessons we have been practising our basketball skills in preparation to compete in teams against each other.

w/b 02/10/17

Literacy

In literacy this week, we have been learning about the features of information texts, so we understand how we can write our own information text about the Tudors. We wrote sentences using year 3 conjunctions (when, while, before and after) and fronted adverbials that we can include in our information text. Below is an example of an introduction:

This information text will tell you all there is about the Tudors. The Tudors reigned England for 118 years from 1485 – 1603. There were 5 Tudor kings and queens. The most famous Tudor King was Henry VIII because he had six wives.

Numeracy

We have been learning how to add and subtract ones, tens and hundreds mentally this week. We started off by using a number line, but as we became more confident, we were able to visualise the number line in our heads. Here are some examples of the questions we have been working with this week.

374 + 7 =

273 – 8 =

352 + 40 =

723 – 50 =

135 + 300 =

643 – 200 =

We found adding and subtracting tens the most difficult because sometimes the answer went over to the next hundred, or the hundred before.

Topic

In topic, we have been learning about Henry VIII’s six wives. Henry VIII wanted a male heir to be king after him. His first wife, Catherine of Aragon didn’t give him a son. Instead they had a daughter, so Henry divorced Catherine.  Henry’s next wife, Anne Boleyn, was executed for plotting to kill the king. Jane Seymour was Henry’s third wife and gave him a son, Edward VI, who became king at the age of 9, when Henry died in 1547.

Science

We have learnt in science that it is very important to eat a balanced diet. Foods are split into food groups:

Carbohydrates – potatoes, pasta, rice

Proteins – Meat, fish

Fat – Chocolate, sweets

Vitamins and minerals – Fruit and vegetables

Fibre – grains

Reading

We are still continuing with our reading lessons on The Enchanted Wood. We are focusing on vocabulary and using dictionaries to check the meaning of unfamiliar words. Please help us apply this at home, by asking us what words mean and helping us either work out what words mean or by using a dictionary.

Encourage us to think about how different characters would feel in the story, asking us to use evidence from the text.

18/09/2017

This week has been so busy! In literacy we learnt how to use similes by comparing one object to a similar object, using the words ‘like’ or as’. We then learnt how to add extra detail to our sentences using fronted adverbials. A fronted adverbial has 3 rules.

1. They come at the beginning of a sentence (at the front)
2. They always have a comma after them.
3. They answer 3 questions – When? Where? How?

Now that we can use similes and fronted adverbials, we had to write a setting and character description based on a Tudor setting. I am so glad I did not live in the Tudor times! They didn’t have anything fun (like televisions or and Xbox!) Take a look at one of our descriptions!

In numeracy, we have been ordering 3 digit numbers. It is very similar to year 2 when we ordered 2 digit numbers, but a little more tricky. When ordering 3 digit numbers, you look at the hundreds digit first. If there is more than one number with the same hundreds digit, you then look at the tens column.

475, 868, 135, 845, 162, 646

Can you put these digits in order smallest to largest?

Did you know that in the Tudor days, they didn’t have mobile phones or cameras, so they couldn’t take pictures? Instead, they had artists to draw portraits of the Tudor kings and queens. We decided it would be really fun to have a go at drawing a portrait of our friend. It was so tricky to draw the features of the face accurately, but we tried our best. Have a look at some of our portraits.

In our reading lessons, we have been focusing on unfamiliar vocabulary. We have learnt how to work out what a word means before looking it up in a dictionary. We read around the word by reading the sentence before and after to help us understand the word in the correct context. One word we have looked at is the word ‘beat’

He beat time with his finger.

Beat has so many different meanings, but we worked out it couldn’t be beating as in winning, or fighting. Therefore, it must mean beat time, as in a rhythm.

W/C: 11-09/2017

We are so excited to be back at school and to have started year 3.

In numeracy, we have been learning about the place value of 3 digit numbers and what numbers look like. To help with our understanding, we have been using visual resources to help us. What number is this?

We have also looked at ordering numbers from smallest to largest, by looking at the hundreds digit first and then moving onto the tens digit if the hundreds are the same. To help us, we used dienes (see above) to first make the numbers to help us identify which was the biggest number. We have since learnt how to find 10 more/less and 100 more/less than a number. When you find 10 more/less, the tens column changes (sometimes the hundreds) and the ones column always stays the same. When you find 100 more/less, the hundreds column changes and the tens and ones always stay the same. Our teacher has told us that our times tables are really important. By the end of year 3, we need to know our 3’s, 4’s and 8’s. Please help us learn our times tables by helping us practise.

In literacy, we have created our own description of a fantasy creature. It was really fun to create our own character with body parts of different animals. We could be really creative. Next, we moved onto historical narrative, focusing on setting and character description. We are now in the middle of creating our own setting and character description using similes to describe and fronted adverbials to add extra detail. Fronted adverbials answer three questions: when? Where? And how?  They are found at the beginning of a sentence and are followed by a comma.

In science, we have been learning about teeth and how to keep them healthy. Last week we carried out an investigation about tooth decay and looked at the results this week. We found that Coca Cola was the drink that caused the most tooth decay. So we need to stop drinking so much of it. It’s unhealthy. We are going to start drinking more drinks that are good for our teeth, like water.

This term, our topic is the Tudors. We have learnt that the Tudors reigned from 1485 – 1603. This is a reign of 118 years! Henry VIII was the most famous Tudor king. He had 6 wives!