Year 3 – A Fresh Start to the New Term!

Welcome back and Happy New Year! It’s been wonderful to see everyone again after the Christmas holidays. We hope you all stayed safe in the snow and ice this week — and maybe had some fun in it too! On Monday, the children had the chance to enjoy the snow before icy conditions kept us indoors for the rest of the week. Despite the chilly start, the atmosphere in Year 3 has been warm and welcoming as we dive into a busy new term.

English: A Twist on Traditional Tales

This week, we began exploring traditional tales, starting with The Three Little Pigs. The children recapped the story in key points and retold the story using their fabulous acting skills and story maps. Then, we introduced The True Story of the Three Little Pigs — an interesting and hilarious twist that had everyone questioning who the real villain might be! The class loved debating which character they believed and practising using debate phrases. 3CW’s word of the week? Villain, of course!

Guided Reading: Summarising

In guided reading, we worked on summarising skills with The True Story of the Three Little Pigs. We thought about how our reading domain dog Summarising Sheba could help us. She might ask questions such as:
What is the main theme, argument or message of this paragraph?
Can you describe what happened in three short sentences?
What was the important information here?
The children learned how to identify the key points and leave out unnecessary details. They sorted important statements from the secondary information and practised fluency while reading with partners or out loud in whole class reading. Summarising Sheba would be proud!

Maths: Times Tables in Action

This week, the focus has been on times tables and division.

• 3CW concentrated on the 4 times table, learning how to use it to add, multiply, and divide. Please keep practising counting in 4s and the 4 times table at home. We also recapped the difference between grouping and sharing – see the video below to explain this skill. This is also our focus for homework for the week.
• 3B worked on multiples of 10 and reasoning using multiplication calculations.

Keep practising at home—repetition is key!

Computing: Starting Touch Typing!

This week, we began our exciting journey into touch typing! The children explored the home, top, and bottom row keys on the keyboard, focusing on correct finger placement and posture.
The lesson kicked off with a video introducing typing terminology and showing the correct way to sit at a keyboard. The children learned about the importance of posture, identified their fingers, and practiced navigating the home, top, and bottom rows using engaging activities in 2Type on Purple Mash.
To build their skills, the children completed a series of typing exercises, which will be revisited in future lessons to track their progress. By the end of the session, the children were really enjoying testing their new found typing skills!
If the children enjoyed this lesson, or if they need to improve their typing skills, just type ‘2type’ into purple mash to have a go at all the fun and interesting typing activities. 💻✨

Science: Forces in Action

Our new science topic on forces kicked off with a fascinating investigation into pushes, pulls, and twists. After watching a video about moving objects, the children experimented with different classroom items and 3CW also got chance to try out some toddler toys too! The children observed and labelled the forces used to make things move. It was hands-on learning at its best.

PSHE: Coping with Change

In PSHE, we introduced a new topic about mental health and handling change. The children discussed how change can be challenging and explored strategies for building resilience. From new routines to new faces, the lesson focused on co-operation and emotional well-being—a great start to a vital life skill.

History: A Journey to Ancient Egypt

The class took their first steps into Ancient Egypt this week, beginning with a look at how to understand timelines. We learned about Pharaohs and the differences between dynasties and a civilisation. The children also located Egypt on a map and began investigating the country’s geography and weather and interesting facts. There’s so much to discover, and we can’t wait to ‘dig deeper’!

News and Reminders

• Well done to our special mentions: Harper, Jacob, and Roisin.
  
• Congratulations to our dojo champions: Rahul and Myla
  
• Reading scores:
  • 3CW – 65%
  • 3B – 73%
    
• Panto Trips:
  – 3B – Wednesday 15th January
  – 3CW – Thursday 16th January
  A reminder that these trips will finish later than the usual school day.
  We will be leaving school at about 1pm to arrive for our show at 2pm. The show will finish at 4.15 and we aim to be back at school for approximately 5pm.
  
• Snowy and cold weather: Please ensure children have warm coats, hats, and gloves in school during this recent cold snap. As the snow and ice start to melt over the weekend, we will start to see more muddy puddles around school – wellies and extra clothes might be a good idea!

We’re looking forward to another exciting week ahead, filled with learning, laughter, and a trip to the panto! Stay warm and safe, everyone! 😊

Mrs Begum, Mrs Connolly, and Mrs White