Living and learning: I know that some drugs can be harmful.
In our living and learning sessions so far, we have been learning about drugs. So far, we’ve found that drugs are substances that change the way the mind and body works. We’ve also discussed that some drugs can be helpful to our bodies, but some can be harmful, too.
This week, Year 3 had discussions on everyday drugs within our households and how to keep safe around them.
In our house, we have a cupboard with a lock on and only mum and dad go in if we need medicines.
Lots of drugs like Calpol have lids on that don’t open if really young children get hold of them to keep them safe.
In the next session, we looked into some drugs that may be harmful to our bodies – alcohol, smoking and vaping.
Children were tasked with reading some social scenarios surrounding these drugs and they had to decide in groups whether they agreed, disagreed or were unsure of the outcome. The class performed extremely well in this task, and were very honest with parts they were unsure of (our Christian Value this half-term is honesty). We found that the majority of children were very confident with age restrictions and legal/illegal scenarios, but were less confident on drug usage, and what to do in scenarios where others might be around these drugs.
We will pick this up further in our circle time discussion on Monday, as I’d like to ensure all children feel happy, healthy and confident with this knowledge, so they can stay safe and not worry.
Help at home:
If your child does have any worries about any context in these sessions, allow them to share this with you. Perhaps go through some everyday drugs and medicines in your household – you could talk about how they are used correctly to help our bodies.
Yoga
This half-term, yoga and dance are our physical education units.
The children have made a fantastic start to yoga. We’ve learnt breathing techniques to help empty our minds and improve focus. Yoga is all about feeling relaxed and being in a calm state of mind, so we make sure our sessions are quiet and controlled.
The children have been practising yoga poses and transitioning between poses with flow and ease. Below are some examples of our learning so far.
The children have reflected on these sessions, stating they feel really calm, happy and ready for the rest of the day.
Help at home: Talk through the poses learnt with the children so far and practise them together. Make sure you have a calming environment, so that children can really empty their minds and feel peaceful and calm.
Living and Learning: I can describe and use self-care techniques.
Last week, our living and learning statement was all about looking after ourselves. It’s extremely important to care about our own well-being, as we can often put the happiness and healthiness of others before ourselves. As our school is a happy and healthy place to achieve and believe, our circle time in Year 3 this week helped us understand why looking after ourselves is so vital.
The children began with trigger statements, offering their own thoughts on two self-care techniques:
I look after my mind when…
I look after my body when…
The children shared fantastic ideas, such as:
I look after my mind by having a two minute silence in my room when things are getting too much. This helps my brain relax. – Hattie
I look after my body by having showers and keeping my skin clean and healthy. – multiple children
I look after my mind by not having too much screen time and playing outside instead. – Freddie
We also discussed ways to relieve stress and support our mental health. In our reading lessons, we read a news article on other schools trialling some nature time each day across the UK. Responding to this, we’ve decided to implement some outside learning into our Year 3 timetable, starting with three lots of 10 minutes across the week. After one full week of this, we will reflect on the results as a class and decide whether this self-care technique is working for us. The newspaper article is below if you wish to find out more!
Help at home:
Talk to your child about their self-care techniques. Do they know how to keep happy and healthy? Perhaps come up with some new strategies together and see if your children remember some of the advice given in our circle time.
National Santa Dash
On Friday, all children took part in the National Santa Dash. This event was all about having some fun whilst being active.
We’ve decided to extend this event: we’ll be holding an Easter and Summer Dash, too! Our goal is to allow pupils to set some targets and improve on their personal bests through the year.
Here are some photos – enjoy!
Putting our gymnastic skills to the test!
This half-term, our focus in PE is gymnastics. Over the last few weeks, we have been working on some key skills/concepts needed to develop our fundamental movement skills further. Here’s some of the skills we’ve learnt:
- balance
- movement (high and low, fast and slow, moving to a rythm)
- flexibility
- strength
- jumping (how to start and finish safely, along with a variety of jumps)
This week, we utilised the equipment in our school hall and decided to put all our learnt skills to the test! The children had a brilliant time with this – they tested out their skills and had lots of freedom to add challenge to each activity. All children participated safely and worked together as a team. Below are some pictures of our session.
Help at home:
Can you identify and skills (from our bullet point list) being used in the pictures? Talk with your child about the key skills needed in gymnastics and how to develop them.
Living and learning – I know how to make careful choices
This week, Year 3 have learnt about making careful choices in and out of school. We’ve also spoken a lot on how to disagree with other respectfully, especially if you feel you are in an uncomfortable position. In circle time, the children began by finishing off the sentence stem ‘I feel respected when…’ – here’s some pupil responses:
I feel respected when I’m listened to.
I feel respected when people give me time to myself if I ask for it.’
I feel respected when people give me eye contact.
We then went into imaginary scenarios, where children can offer advice and support to the situation. Pupils discussed different ways that we can disagree respectfully with others, especially if we are feeling that the situation is wrong or uncomfortable. Even with friends and peers, it’s important to disagree respectfully if necessary. All pupils responded well in this session and left feeling happy and healthy.
Art: Architecture
Our new art topic this half term is focussed on architecture. Architecture is the art or practise of designing and constructing buildings.
For our first two lessons, we’ve looked at some examples of buildings in different parts of the world. We’ve focused on two main architects – Christopher Wren and Zaha Hadid.
Using their buildings and designs as inspiration, the children were tasked to create a collage. We tried thinking about the following elements of art during the task:
- composition
- space
- scale
- colour
The outcomes were absolutely fantastic! Here’s some of our learning:
Living and learning: I know how to STOP bullying.
At St James Primary, we define bullying as:
‘Where you hurt someone, physically or emotionally,
Several Times On Purpose.
If we do experience bullying, we all should:
Start
Telling
Other
People
As part of our anti-bullying week, Years 3 and 4 took part in an online workshop on bullying and how to agree and disagree respectfully.
During this session, we came up with an acrostic poem to help us remain respectful in tricky situations, so that bullying never occurs. We used the word ‘respect’ to help us.
Remember to listen to others.
Everyone’s ideas matter.
Show support to each other.
Play fair.
Everyone is different.
Calm down and communicate.
Talk to a trusted adult.
Me and My Community Week
Wetherby Brass Band
On Tuesday, we were lucky to have a visit from Steven from Wetherby Brass Band. He spoke to the whole school about the benefits of playing in a band and being part of a community within the Wetherby community.
Steven, brought in some instruments and some of us were lucky enough to play some of them – some made hilarious noises.
The band play during many events in the Wetherby community, including the Remembrance Parade. They also play every Sunday at 2.30-4.30pm from the end of April to the end of September.
Christian Distinctiveness – Me and My Community Themed Week
At St James, this week is ‘me and my community’ themed week! With this in mind, our first day focussed on Christian distinctiveness here at St James’ CE Primary. Year 3 have worked really hard today and we covered four learning objectives – these are below and are supported by some fantastic learning.
LO: I know our school vision.
St James is a happy and healthy place to achieve and believe.
In class, we discussed what it does and should look, sound and feel like to be happy and healthy. We also discussed our current achievements and what it feels like to believe in something. Year 3 were then tasked to create a poster to promote our school vision.
LO: I know what our school logo looks like.
As a class, we gathered ideas on what our school logo represents. This discussion sparked some brilliant ideas, and the children really thought deeply about their responses. We came up with a fantastic class poster for our classroom!
LO: I know who St James was.
The children took part in a reading activity, based on St James himself. St James, son of Zebedee, was a fisherman, along with his brother, John. When Jesus came to visit, both James and John were excited to become followers of Jesus and to become ‘fishers of men’. When James heard the stories that Jesus told, Jesus became the centre of everything he believed in. He dedicated his life following Jesus and became one of his three closest followers (along with John and Peter).
LO: I know the Christian Values at St James’ CE Primary.
Here at St James, we have six Christian Values:
- compassion
- forgiveness
- perseverance
- honesty
- peace
- courage
Year 3 read three bible stories. We had to decide and debate which Christian Value was shown the most in each story. Here are some quotes from the children:
‘Noah showed perseverance in The Flood Begins because it must have taken ages for him to build the boat.’ – Max
‘In The Good Samaritan, compassion was the main Christian value because the Samaritan showed care towards the dying man when the others before him didn’t.’ – Orianne
‘Zacchaeus showed forgiveness because he had to forgive himself for treating people badly and Jesus helped him do it’. – Isabella
‘Zacchaeus showed peace and honesty by admitting to his mistakes and Jesus helped people become peaceful in Jericho.’ – Bea