Autumn 2-Colour and Light
Welcome back! We hope you’ve had a lovely half term and are feeling well rested. This half term our overall theme is Colour and Light.
We’ll be using the following focus books to help us with our learning
See you all in the morning for some fun and some learning about St James.
JLT
This week, Year 3 took part in an exciting democratic decision, voting for our new Junior Leadership Team.
Over half the class wrote and presented fantastic speeches, sharing their brilliant ideas for making our school even better. Some spoke about helping the environment, others suggested more after-school clubs and many had thoughtful ideas about how to make school life happier for everyone.
We even used a voting ballot, just like in a real election. Every child had the chance to vote fairly and respectfully, showing great maturity and kindness when listening to different views.
It was wonderful to see everyone take part so enthusiastically — what a fantastic example of our British Value of Democracy in action!
Congratulations to Kupa and Harry, our new Year 3 representatives, and best of luck from all your friends in Year 3!
Any Questions
Thank you so much to the all the grown ups who attended our Phonics Stay and Learn session last week it was so lovely to see so many faces. For those who couldn’t come we sent all the handouts home with your child last week. We have uploaded the power point to the class page. If you have any questions please come and catch me at the door, call school to arrange a meeting or send me an email to the early years email which is [email protected]
Thank you
Mrs Kendrew
Class Novel with a special, spiky visitor!
This week, we took our reading outdoors for a very special Forest School reading session! We’ve reached the part of The Legend of Podkin One-Ear where Podkin (now with just one ear!) meets Brigid, the witch who lives deep in the woods and helps him while the Gorm are hunting for him.
It was the perfect setting to read this chapter, surrounded by trees, rustling leaves and the sounds of nature all around us. The forest made the story come alive and we could really imagine what it might have been like for Podkin hiding in the woods.
The children loved making connections between the book and their surroundings and many said it felt like they were inside the story!
We also had a special visitor. Do you recognise him?
Living and Learning: We Respect Others
This week in Year 3, we have been learning about protected characteristics and why they are so important. We linked our learning to the Equality Act 2010, which is a law that helps to keep everyone safe and treated fairly, no matter who they are.
We explored what stereotypes are (the assumptions people make about others), and we talked about discrimination (when someone is treated unfairly because of who they are). The children showed great maturity in discussing the difference between equality (treating everyone the same) and equity (making sure everyone has what they need to be successful, even if that looks different for each person).
We also thought carefully about what we should do if we ever see or hear something that is discriminatory. The children agreed it is important to speak up, tell a trusted adult and make sure that everyone feels safe and respected.
As part of our learning, we joined a special Protected Characteristics Zoom Call. The highlight was learning a fantastic chant together:
“Respect, include, be kind,
Protect the rights of mankind.”
Help at home: Ask your child and discuss, what would our country be like if we didn’t have protected characteristics?
We’re Going on a Bear Hunt
Our focus story over the past two 2 weeks has been ‘We’re going on a Bear Hunt’ by Michael Rosen. The children have really enjoyed how engaging this story is, using repeated refrains throughout the book. We particularly enjoyed being able to join in with Michael Rosen himself re-telling the story.
Help at home: Enjoy reading ‘we’re going on a bear hunt’ at home and see what else you might find on your journey. What else could you see in the forest? What sounds might you hear?
Help at home – autumn leaves and conkers.
If you go on a walk this weekend, we’d really appreciate donations of dry leaves to help us with an art project next week. We also need some conkers and acorns to use in our maths learning – see how many you can find! Thank you for your support.
Have a happy and healthy weekend
Mrs. Kendrew, Mrs. Rippon, Miss. Feldman, Mrs Linton, Mrs Cairnes and Mrs Small
Writing- The Gorm
To help us get ready for our independent character description, we took part in a paired write. Working with a partner gave us the chance to share ideas, improve our sentences, and challenge each other’s thinking.
Our focus was on using expanded noun phrases to add detail and bring our writing to life. Together we looked closely at ‘The Gorm’, a character from Podium: One Ear. We practised choosing precise adjectives and descriptive details to create clear pictures in the reader’s mind.
The children really enjoyed working collaboratively and are now feeling confident and excited to apply these skills in their own independent writing. We can’t wait to see the amazing character descriptions they create!
Performance Poetry!
As part of National Poetry Week, Year 3 have been exploring the power of performance poetry. Our chosen poem was ‘Let No One Steal Your Dreams’ by Paul Cookson , an inspiring piece all about following your ambitions and believing in yourself.
We focused on bringing the words to life by:
- Projecting our voices so that every line could be heard clearly.
- Using prosody, changing the tone, pace and volume of our voices to show meaning and emotion.
- Adding actions to emphasise key lines and help the audience connect with the message of the poem.
The children worked brilliantly together, building confidence and performing with energy and expression. It was a fantastic way to celebrate poetry and to show how spoken word can inspire and encourage others.
Help at home: Practise using voice projection duing home reading
The Everywhere Bear
This week we have had great fun with our focus book The Everywhere Bear by Julia Donaldson and Rebecca Cobb.
In the story the Everywhere Bear goes on lots of adventures with the children and a huge journey when he gets lost! We added actions to help us to remember the ten different place he went, this helped us to remember and say them all. Great work reception!
Our word of the week has been journey the children have really enjoyed using this during their learning. We also went on a journey around school visiting all the different classes we even visited Miss Beatson in her office. It was so lovely to be greeted by so many happy smiley faces.
Maths
In Maths, we’ve been using Polly Parrot to demonstrate accurate counting. We’ve been reminding Polly to…
- “stop at the stopping number” and recall the the total amount- cardinality
- only count each item once- one-to-one correspondence
- know that objects can be counted in any order- order irrelevance
We’ve also been looking at ways to make counting easier, such as moving objects or lining them up. We’ve been counting things that cannot be seen (such as sounds or actions) and things that cannot be moved.
Phonics
This week, the children have learnt the phonemes (the sound a letter makes) g, o, c and k. They have also been practicing writing the graphemes (the written letter).
We have started reading words, by putting sounds onto our phoneme fingers.
We’ve also learnt a new tricky word; is. Tricky words are those we have to ‘look and say’ because they have ‘tricky’ parts that we cannot sound out.
Please continue to use the ‘Learn at home’ sheets with your child, to review our new sounds and tricky words each week.
Have a happy and healthy weekend
Mrs. Kendrew, Mrs. Rippon, Miss. Feldman, Mrs Linton, Mrs Cairnes and Mrs Small
Living and Learning: I know that rights come with responsibilities
This week, our Living and Learning statement is I know that rights come with responsibilities.
In Year 3, we have been learning that rights are the things that everyone deserves (like being safe, cared for and listened to) and responsibilities are the things we should do to make sure we and others can enjoy those rights (like following rules, showing respect and helping others).
The children discussed examples of rights they have at school, such as the right to learn, play and feel safe. The responsibilities that go with them, such as listening carefully, taking care of equipment and being kind.
Help at Home: Talk to your child about their rights and responsibilities at home. For example, they might have the right to play with toys but the responsibility to tidy them away afterwards. Sharing examples together will help to strengthen their understanding.