Year 3 2022 - 2023
Djembe drums 7.3.23
Every week, Year 3 have a djembe drums lesson with our instructor Avtar.
English - Using vocabulary to describe characters from Oliver Twist 6.3.23
Today we have been hunting for interesting vocabulary to describe Fagin, Oliver Twist and The Artful Dodger. We looked at images of them and listened to descriptions. Next we used thesauruses to find synonyms for common adjectives. We wrote words around the outside to describe physical features and words on the inside to describe their personalities. Our characters are now hung on the walls around the classroom ready to be used in our writing later in the week.
Lenten Fundraising Bikeathon
Today Year 3 took part in Reception's Lenten fundraising event. They had to ride or scoot around the playground ten times. They had lots of fund doing this. What a fun way to raise funds for charitable causes!
DT - Exploring pneumatics
Today we continued to learn about how pneumatic mechanism work by exploring what happens when air is trapped inside a syringe. We learnt about how the compressed air creates a force that is used to push. We saw this when we attached two syringe via a piece of tubing. When we pushed one syringe in the other one popped out. We also learnt the the greater the amount of compressed air, the greater the force it creates.
English - Newspaper Reports
Today Y3 found a mysterious and very old letter from a Victorian lady who was complaining about pick pockets in London. She wanted to report these terrible crimes and make people aware by getting a journalist to write a newspaper report about it. Year 3 decided that they would help, but we didn't know very much about writing a newspaper report. We started off by looking at lots of different newspaper reports and trying to find features that they had in common. At the end of the lesson, we worked together as a class to make a list of the features that we need to include when we write out reports. The children suspect that the pick pockets could be Oliver Twist and The Artful Dodger.
French - Instructions
Children in Y3 are now learning how to say and use instructions in French. The children use our friendly French friend Jacque to help them to give instructions for their friends to follow.
DT- Exploring Pneumatics
Today in DT, children were learning about pneumatics. They were given the task of trying to move a book without touching it with their hands. Determined as ever, they found lots of inventive ways to move their books until they were told that no part of their body could touch the book. After many different ideas the children eventually worked out that they need to safely blow into the bags to inflate them and lift the books. After that they learnt about what pneumatics systems are and how they work.
Science Trip to Magna
Today we enjoyed an amazing trip to Magna Science Museum in Rotherham. We started our day off with a workshop about Rocks where we found out lots about different types of rocks and also found out how the rocks at the side of a volcano is formed.
We then had lots of fun exploring the different element areas and were astounded (and a little bit scared) when we watched the 'Big Melt'
Geography - Using Digital Mapping Tools
Today, children were introduced to Digi-maps and used it to explore the changes in land use in Manchester over a period of time. Children measured the growth by drawing a line across Manchester and compared it’s size over two different time periods. They made annotations about what they found on the map
Safer Internet Day
As part of Safer Internet Day, Year 3 children took part in the BBC live lesson. They learnt lots about how to keep safe on the internet by completing tasks to create their own internet safety superhero.
Designing by Making
As part of our Architecture topic, Year 3 have been designing by making their own Hundertwasser houses. We allowed their own creativity to flow and made these wonderful structures!!!
Science - Finding the nutrition in different food items 13.12.22
Today we have been exploring the nutritional values of different items of food. The children chose five items, made predictions about which had the most protein, carbohydrates and fats and ordered them from most to least. The children then used the nutrition tables on the packages to check their predictions and to identify the nutrients per 100g of product.
Science/History - Hunting for a Stone Age Skeleton 30.11.22
Today, Year 3 became archaeologists for the afternoon. Using their trowels and brushes they took part in an archaeological dig to see what we could find from the Stone Age. The children used trowels and brushes to carefully unearth the parts of the skeleton. We returned to class and everyone tried to identify which bones they had found. We used lots of scientific vocabulary such as femur, mandible, skull and fibula when identifying our bones. Finally, we tried to put our skeleton back together which was much harder than it looked (especially with some parts still missing!). We may have some future archaeologists and biologists in this class!
English - Direct Speech 29.11.22
Today in Y3, we learnt about how to write direct speech. We learnt a fun song about inverted commas and then wrote a conversation between two of the characters in our drama story.
Finally, we acted out our speech and had someone acting as a narrator to show which parts were the direct speech and which weren’t. Have a look at our videos below.
PSHCE 29.11.22
Today we learnt about how we have lots of things in common with our friends, but there are also things that we don’t have in common and that that is completely fine. We met two characters who were friends but were having an argument about their differences and learnt that talking and listening to each other can really help.
We thought about situations that might make us confident or less confident and discussed the profiles of some of our characters to decide who would be more confident in a range of different scenarios and why. We then thought about ourselves and when we feel most confident.
Art - one point perspective 24.11.22
How amazing are our Year 3 artists!!!! Today we began our journey into perspective. The children learnt about what perspective is and how we can make things look further away by drawing a big, medium and small image. We then went on to learn about one point perspective and the children used a vanishing point to make their roads disappear into the distance. The care they took with their colouring and shadows was outstanding!
Judo 15.11.22
This week, the whole school were treated to a Judo taster session. The children learnt how to fall safely, basic holds used in judo and also safety rules (including to never use judo off the mat). Everyone had a great time and would have loved to have learnt more!
Science - How do our fingers move? 12.11.22
Our Science topic this half term is Animals, Including Humans. As part of this topic, the children will be learning about the functions of a skeleton, muscles, tendons etc. Today, we watched a video that showed us (using chicken legs and feet) how our muscles and tendons work together to make us move at the joints. We then went on to make our very own working fingers with (string) tendons that we pulled to make the fingers bend. Some children even managed to make a whole working hand!
The children learnt lots and were able to explain, using Scientific Vocabulary, how our fingers move. They also learnt about team work and concentration because this was quite complex, but then so is the human body!!!
Alive and Kicking Theatre Company - The Cave 10.11.22
Year 3 were very lucky to be able to work with Luke Dickinson from Alive and Kicking Theatre Company today.
To help us to imagine what life was like in the Stone Age, Luke took the children back in time over 17,000 years ago to meet and learn the story of two children named Nala and Gam. With the children's help, the story of the Nala and Gam developed (along with lots of knowledge about the Stone Age) and ended with a trial where the children had to use evidence from the story to decide whether to banish Nala from the tribe or to find her innocent of a terrible crime. Despite, the odds and evidence being stacked against Nala, the children voted that she was innocent and Nala was allowed to stay. However, some of the tribespeople were not happy about this and Nala and Gam decided to leave. What happened next? Well, the children know and they are using their imaginations to create the next part of the story in our English lessons.
It was wonderful to see how engaged the children were with this drama. In a world of tablets and phones, that can destroy children's imaginations, today these children lit the spark and really began to fully understand where your imagination can take you....... if you let it.
Year 3 spent some time this afternoon choosing and enjoying books in our brand new library.
English - Identifying the features of a non fiction text (Instructions)
Today, we have been comparing different sets of instructions and identifying what features of good non fiction writing we could find in them. We found that some of the sets of instructions were better than others and had to identify why we thought that.
Computing - Creating our own sprites
Year 3 have been learning how to create their own Iron Man sprites and backgrounds using the program Scratch. We learnt how to add tiny detail by zooming in on our sprite. We can't wait to create the code that will bring our Iron Men to life!
French 14.10.22
This week in our French lesson. The children have been practising their number recognition and how to ask and tell someone their age.
D: Side - Internet Safety
Today we were lucky to have the opportunity to work with D:Side Dave. He taught us all about keeping safe on the internet. We learnt about keeping our private information private, not accepting strangers as friends and about age restrictions on games and why we have them plus lots lots more.
World Mental Health Day
In Year 3 we have been talking about the importance of looking after our mental health and about the importance of talking to someone if you are struggling with anything. We thought about all the people who we could talk to at home and at school if we are worried. We also learnt how listening to others is important to as we need to look after the mental health of each other as well as ourselves. We took some fun selfies to send out this important message.
Maths 9.10.22
Today we explored the patterns that happen when we add 1, 10 or 100 to a number. As you can see from the photographs, we had to really concentrate and think hard about which column changes and which ones remain the same. We really enjoyed finding the numbers on balls. It was great fun!
Science - Magnets - How forces can act at a distance 29.9.22
Today in Year 3, children were given a set of challenges for moving their car (with a paper clip on the back) along the road map they had drawn. First, they could move it however they liked, then they were not allowed to use their fingers (which created some interesting ideas). Finally, they were told to move it without touching it. Blowing it was the most popular idea but it was hard to keep the car on the road.
Children were left to work this problem out for themselves and, after careful consideration and exploration of their car, one by one every child decided to try a magnet. Watch the videos to see the results.
Geography - Sketch Maps 28.9.22
This week children in Year 3 have been learning about drawing sketch maps and how and why we might need to use a key. They learnt about different symbols that are already used and then created their own for different areas of the school. We drew sketch maps our of school building to help visitors to find their way around. We think they are great!
Computing - Coding 23.9.22
Year 3 have been using the program Scratch to start learning about coding. Today they learnt how to select a sprite and change a background before learning a simple piece of code to move their sprite from one side of the screen to another. Scratch is a free online program that can be accessed at home via this website www.scratch.mit.edu
Science - Forces and Magnets 22.9.22
Today we learnt about the magnetic poles of a magnets. Children were given the magnets to explore and soon found out for themselves that the opposite poles attract but the same poles repel. We thought it was magic at first!
PE - Netball 21.9.22
Year 3 have been learning about the two of the three passes that are used during a game of netball. They tried really hard to use the correct techniques when passing. We then played a fun game to encourage the children to call out the name of the person they are passing to and also to remind them how important it is to concentrate on where the ball is and where it might be going.
French 16.9.22
In Year 3 we are starting MFL (modern foreign languages) for the first time. Our first lesson was learning about vowels in French and how to pronounce them correctly. It was quite tricky, but everyone tried really hard and had lots of fun singing songs and playing games to help us.
Guided Reading 12.9.22
As a hook to introduce our new novel. The children were given a jigsaw to complete with absolutely no instructions. They had to use teamwork to complete it and then made predictions, inferences and asked questions about the book based on what they could see on the front cover. It was a real challenge, but everyone enjoyed the task and are all now excited about reading our new book 'The Iron Man' by Ted Hughes.
Art - Self portraits 5.9.22
This week we have been learning how to make our self portraits more realistic by looking carefully at our features in the mirror. We had to look at what features we have on our faces and looked carefully at the shape of them. Each day we focussed on a different part of our face and had lots of practise to perfect our features.
Watch out for the before and after portraits. We think you will be impressed!
