Thank you for your on-going support in learning our times-tables. As well as revising our 2s, 5s and 10s, we have moved onto practising our 4 and, more recently, our 8x table. As and when your child secures these multiplication facts, please continue to consolidate previously learnt tables before practising the associated division facts and word-problems. Thank you again! Just a reminder- our times table-test ares every Friday morning.

This week we have introduced the method of division using the short division bracket. With a solid prior understanding of the language of division, represented as grouping and sharing, the children have a fantastic foundation to build upon and have taken to this new concept with confidence. The model above shows 12 counters divided into equal groups of 4, giving us a total of 3 groups. Another way of explaining the above diagram would be to see how many groups of 4 there are in 12. Feel free to continue practising this method at home.

Our new science topic is ‘Forces and Magnets’ this term. We have been busy planning and conducting our own practical investigations and recording our results in different ways.

Immersing ourselves into our class text- ‘Moon Man’ by Tomi Ungurer, we have composed beautifully written persuasive letters and are looking forward to writing newspaper articles next week! We have thoroughly enjoyed making cross-curricular links with other subjects-including art and science- to create and learn more about the lunar cycle. We made our own circular stencils from cardboard and used sponges to create the bumpy texture of the moon’s surface – scratching away at the paint to create different areas of tone and to replicate the craters that one might expect to see! Come and admire them for yourselves – proudly displayed on our class washing line! We were even able to incorporate our timestable practice, as with there being 8 different phases of the moon, and each child having completed their own lunar cycle – we were able to count in groups of 8 up to 28 times!

It’s as if we have rewound the clock in Year 3. Our topic work came to an exciting climax with Stone Age dress-up and activities day, where we created our own clay pots and upturned class tables to create our own cave- adorned with tribal artwork. This certainly got us excited for what would be our trip the following day to Butser Ancient Farm – where we learnt all about how men, women and children used to live in these times. Highlights of this trip included getting mucky- discovering artefacts in archaeological digs on site, as well as warming our hands on the open fire inside the Stone Age huts.

Enjoying our learning about the past, we have developed our dinosaur knowledge in science and, through research on the iPads, we learnt more about how dinosaur fossils give us a good insight into the length of these huge beasts. We of course had to then bring these abstract statistics to life by taking to the playground armed with coloured chalk, trundle wheels and metre sticks – ready to see for ourselves if a 30metre Brachiosaurus would even fit across the length of our school!

Our current class text is ‘Moon Man’ and our ‘magpie-wall’ is brimming with fresh vocabulary. We have also been inspired by silent animated clips and poetry associated with the moon. Every child has included beautiful imagery, with haunting phrasing and descriptions – simply stunning.

With the pantomime tomorrow, we are feeling rather festive. What a lovely treat to round-off what has been another term of fabulous learning.

For this term’s blog the children have written about their highlights of the term. One highlight was ‘Healthy Minds and Healthy Bodies’ week:

‘I loved making smoothies with strawberries. I also like healthy minds and healthy bodies week when we made a booklet about how to get germs away.’ Max P

A few of year 3 have represented the school in the interschools tennis tournament and District sports. Thank you to the parents who accompanied them!

‘I have enjoyed representing the school with tennis. I loved it because I had challenging rivals who were much better than me but I just managed to be victorious’ Jamie

‘I loved district sports because we were free and we could do whatever we liked. I felt very nervous but my friend cheered me up. We came second last in the relay race but it was good.’  Freya

We are incredibly fortunate to have so many dedicated parents who have given up their time in all weathers to enable the children to try a different kind of sport – horse riding. It has been a source of great excitement for the children and they have enjoyed the experience despite the downpours!

‘I have really enjoyed horse riding. It’s such an experience being in control of a pony and feeling the beat of a pony’s heart. You feel free in nature. Stable management is amazing as well, the pony trusts you to lead it where it needs to go.’ Flo

‘I really enjoyed horse riding because I love horses. Also I felt free in nature. I could feel the fresh air because I was so high!’ Felix

Children even mentioned activities which are a regular feature of the weekly school curriculum:

‘In the last term I really enjoyed writing the news reports about Corky getting bitten by Krindlekrax. It was also really fun writing chapter 46-47 about Ruskin going down the sewers to fight Krindlekrax.’ Arthur

In Art/DT we have taken on the challenge to make a class quilt inspired by the traditional tales from Africa we studied last term. Each child drew an African design and translated their design in fabric using their sewing skills to complete the project.

‘I have enjoyed doing sewing on Friday afternoons. I love sewing but I thought I wouldn’t finish my giraffe so I was a bit nervous but I enjoyed it. I did a giraffe, a moon and a star.’ Jessica

We wrote letters with lots of questions to year 4 and received lovely letters with their answers. Thank you, Year 4!

We made the most of the sunny weather to  create and measure shadows in our science topic on Light.

Year 3 dressed as Egyptians yesterday to travel back in time to ancient Egypt.  We were workers in the Street of the Dead, learning the different skills and crafts needed to  prepare our Pharaoh for the after life.

We discovered that Pharaoh Akhenatun had been poisoned but was still alive. The Street was buzzing with rumours about who had attempted to kill him. Some thought it was the high priests, others thought it was Nefertiti.

To celebrate the life of the king, Nefertiti held a great banquet. Whilst royal slaves served food to all the workers in the Street of the Dead, the year 3 Egyptians performed dances and dramas based on the legends of ancient Egypt: Isis and Osiris and The Wax Crocodile. We even had a fortune telling display from the Apis Bull!

Here are some extracts of the diaries Year 3 wrote as their Egyptian character:

‘My name is Nefertiti. No, no, not her majesty, I was named after her. I had woken up lazily and rubbed my eyes. Suddenly my mind came into focus. I had to do Ma’at! I sprang up and raced outside, not bothering to put on my shoes. I knew the Pharaoh would not be happy. 

A few minutes later I was at the Street of the Dead. The Vizier was giving out orders and I went to the stall that made perfumed wax cones.’  ( Sophia)

‘Next I made a scarab beetle, carved into soap. It took a long time to do it with the tools we used with slave mistress Barber. Soon after I’d started it, i got called by the Vizier. “Hathor! Come, you’ve been chosen to be a warrior!’ So I went over with my friend Imtas who was another warrior. We had to ask the slave mistress questions.’  (Jessica)

‘I painted the pyramids and definitely did the sun because of Aten. After that I went to write my name in hieroglyphs so when I die my soul can find me.’ (Iona)

‘I went to learn mummification, it’s fun you should try it. You make a mixture of myrrh, cinnamon and coriander. Then grind it up and pour it into a pot then mix it up.’ ( Sam)

‘I got a pestle and mortar to crush coal and gum. We made ink out of it. We wrote our name in hieroglyphics on papyrus ready for the afterlife.‘ (Maxwell)

We had an amazing learning adventure together and were able to do so many different activities thanks to our parent helpers who gave up their time to become slave mistresses in the Street of the Dead.

Thank you too to all year 3 parents. The children all looked magnificent in their egyptian costumes and being in costume helped us imagine that we really were in ancient Egypt. The children (supported by parents and other family members) had gone to great and creative lengths to assemble their costumes. We all learned so much and had fun doing it!

This term we are travelling back in time to ancient Egypt and are looking forward to a very special history day at the end of this term, when we hope the children will come to school dressed as egyptian slaves.

We will be doing various exciting art and DT projects based on our Egypt topic. We would be very grateful if you could send your child in with a clean jam jar with its lid in the week beginning 20th May. We will be using them on Thursday 24th May.

We are revisiting plants in science this term, learning how seeds are made and how plants survive.

Our Thursday PE is now street dance. The children will need to have their full PE kit in school each Monday. We will send their kit home on Thursday evening so that they can wear their PE kit and house t shirt for Friday.

Horse riding will take place in small groups on Wednesday afternoons.

In RE this term we have been learning about the Christian doctrine of Salvation.  Father Robin visited Year 3 to explain about how Christians prepare for Holy Week from Palm Sunday and  Ash Wednesday continuing through Lent to the quiet reflections and mass on Maundy Thursday and Good Friday before the joyful celebrations of Jesus resurrection on Easter Sunday with the lighting of candles and setting off fireworks!

Year 3 were able to share their learning about Easter with the St John’s community at the school Easter Service, through the Hot Cross Buns recorder and song performance and the year 3  Easter Joy drama.

The children worked so hard to learn music and words by heart, remember  lines and where to stand. The children used their deep breathing skills, which they practise each morning, to help them control their nerves and give of their best for the service. Well done, year 3, everyone played their part.

In RE year three are learning about the Holy Trinity, exploring the meaning and importance of the Tri-une God; God the Father, God the Son ( Jesus) and God the Holy Spirit.

We have been looking at the baptism of Jesus from Luke’s gospel and will be exploring Christian traditions of baptism with two visits to local churches.

On Thursday afternoon next week we will be visiting St John’s church where Father Matthew will explain the anglican practise of infant baptism.  The following afternoon we will be welcomed by Jim Crockett at Vine Baptist church to see their baptistry. and hear from Rev Crockett how they baptise adult believers.

We hope that these visits will help the children understand the importance of baptism for Christians.  If any parent would like to accompany the class on either the Thursday or Friday next week, please get in touch with Mrs Clark.

Forest School

The children have been enjoying the chance to explore the great outdoors in forest school.  Keeping busy in the forest is essential in chilly weather and the children have thrown themselves into this opportunity to learn about nature and work together to  complete challenges.

Forces and Magnets

Year 3 have embraced this term’s science topic with gusto.  They have been learning how to work scientifically by setting up a fair test, conducting an investigation, working collaboratively,  collecting data and presenting data as a bar chart. Why not ask your child how they got on with their friction investigation and what they have learned from testing  a travelling object on different surfaces.