In English this week we have been planning to write our own set of instructions on ‘How to Brush a Sabre-Toothed Tiger’s Teeth’. Previously the children had generated an array of wonderfully creative ideas to add into their writing, and matched with their warning phrases, verbs and adverbs, the finished product looks set to be very impressive.

In RE we have been looking at the Baptism of Jesus, why we choose to celebrate baptism and the role of Godparents – if possible, talk to your children about their baptism and why you chose their Godparents.

In Maths, we are wrapping up our consolidation of Number and Place Value. The children have mostly conquered key concepts such as 10 and 100 more or less than a given number and learnt strategies on how to accurately place numbers up to 1000 on a numberline.

In terms of homework, please continue to practice spellings and more importantly….. the rule! Remember that children won’t be tested on just the words they take home, they will be tested on their ability to apply the rule to other words. There will be a suffix and prefix spelling test coming up soon.

Moving forward, our new spelling focus is on the ‘ai’ family – is it ‘ai’ ‘a_e’ ‘eigh’ ‘ay’ or ‘ey’? See how many rhyming words you can find with these sounds and then try and spell them applying the correct phoneme.

Our vocabulary words focus on other ways to say ‘and’ – it’s so important that we continue to expose children to high level vocabulary and different ways  of using language and the different contexts in which in can be used. Thank you for your ongoing support with this.

The weather hasn’t been too great this week but hope you all enjoy your weekend.

Team 3

Still continuing with our Stone Age learning, this week we have been thinking more deeply about the changes that occurred as people began to explore farming. In English, we have been looking closely at what goes into a set of instructions and trying out using our own adverb/verb partnerships, time conjunction and warning phrases.

In RE we have been looking at the Baptism of Jesus, comparing art to the various gospel accounts to try and understand what happened in the River Jordan. From this, we will move on to thinking about our own Baptisms so if you have any personal photos and you’re happy to, please do share!

In Maths, we have been continuing to test our understanding of number and thinking about ‘how many more’ we need to make a given amount. The children have done brilliantly to ‘prove’ their answers with numberlines, bar models, place value grids and counters plus many more creative methods.

To end this week, the school welcomed the NSPCC and the children participated in an invaluable assembly. It focused on children’s worries and which adults are safe to talk these through with.

In terms of homework, a new SumDog challenge is running alongside the Times Tables Challenge for 250 coins! We also hope that you have found the children’s Home Spelling books in their bags and that the instructions are clear. You will find the corresponding strategies that the children need to use to practice their words stapled in the back of the book. This week’s spelling rule-

Adding prefixes.
Adding ‘un’ and ‘dis’ before a word to make an opposite.
Hint: When the word has a short vowel sound at the beginning, we usually use the prefix ‘dis.’
• Discuss what a prefix is with someone at home. Read your spelling words – make sure you know the meaning of the word and record which prefix is it to make the opposite. Record the opposite in the prefix column.
• Practice them using spelling strategies 17, 9 and 22.
• What other words do you know / can find that follow the same rules? Remember you will be tested on your 5 spelling words and 5 other random words that follow the rule so it is important that you understand it.
Spelling word (Verb) Which prefix would you use?
appear
reliable
approve
obey
usual

And our  Vocabulary Home Learning
value      cost       worth       significance       price
During the week, please try and use these words in conversation with each other and identify the different contexts in which they would be used.  Please note there is no need to write these words in Year 3 unless your child wants to!

Enjoy a lovely, sunny weekend.

Team 3

This week in Year 3 we have been continuing with our Stone Age learning, finding out interesting facts about their homes, diets, tools, farming and clothes. In English, we worked in groups to present our knowledge as a rap which we then put together with others to create a class performance. On Friday both classes battled it out on the playground with Mr Cunningham as our judge. Hippos were declared the winners! Congratulations Hippos!

In RE we have been looking at our new school Mission Statement, thinking deeply about what it means and how it affects our lives and conduct in our school and wider community.

In Maths, we have been continuing to test our understanding of number and how great or small they are in relation to each other. We’ve been working on the tricky concept of numbers lines and placing the numbers in an accurate position. This is so difficult and requires lots of resilience but we will get there!

Also this week, some children have nominated themselves and campaigned to become their class School Councillor. After giving their very impressive speeches about what they think makes a good representative and what they would bring to the role, the class voted. We’re pleased to announce that Lola M and Daniel D will be our Year 3 representatives! Well done to you both and commiserations to those who weren’t selected this time – you all did a great job of presenting to the class.

In term of homework, a new SumDog challenge is running alongside the Times Tables Challenge for 250 coins! We also hope that you have found the children’s Home Spelling books in their bags and that the instructions are clear. You will find the corresponding strategies that the children need to use to practice their words stapled in the back of the book. This week’s spelling rule is adding suffixes and knowing when to double the root word’s consonant and when to remove -e, for example. Thank you for your support to reinforce these school-taught spelling rules which support the learning of the government’s Year 3/4 Spellings.

If you have any questions regarding this or anything else, we look forward to seeing you at Monday’s Parents’ Welcome Meeting from 3:15pm.

In the meantime, enjoy the weekend!

Team 3

What a great couple of days!

Welcome back to all our children and parents, and welcome to our new pupils and families also. The children all seem to be settling in well and have risen to the challenge of Year 3, becoming deeply invested in our topic, “Stone Age to Iron Age.”

We have already learnt so much…

In English and Guided Reading we have begun looking at snippets of a new book, in which our character wakes up in a dark, damp cave in the Stone Age! We’ve been unpicking the vocabulary and starting to think about the character’s emotions as well as generating our own questions.

In Maths we’ve been using our really solid knowledge of two-digit numbers to help us to understand three-digit numbers and represent them in lots of different ways.

We hope that you have found your child’s diary in their book bag, along with their SumDog login. There are currently two ‘challenges’ live on SumDog, one for times tables and one general challenge based on achieving a target number of correct answers. We can’t stress enough how useful SumDog is, it is truly good screen time! The more it is used, the more accurate assessment of your child’s ability it gains, meaning that the questions on offer will be unique to them. In book bags today there was also the first of many pages of Year 3/4 Spelling Words for them to learn. These will be tested every other Friday.

Next week, look out for the Autumn Term Reading Passport and don’t forget our Parents’ Welcome Meeting on Monday 16th September at 3:15pm!

Have a wonderful weekend,

Team 3 – Mrs Atkins, Mrs Pike, Miss Shaw, Mrs Chapman and Mrs Gissing.