Year 3 Otters

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Mr Gillard

Spring 2 PE days - Swimming on Tuesday and PE on Wednesday

Children should come to school in their PE kits on these days. Please ensure that jogging trousers / leggings and hoodies are worn in case of chilly weather. Please see email for swimming information. Earrings should be removed, or covered with tape if this is not possible.

Home Learning Menu:

English - Please practise your spelling using the assigned Spelling Shed lists. (10mins)

Maths - Please complete your next times table workout! (10mins)

Design and Technology - Y3 will be attempting to build pneumatic monsters NEXT WEEK! To do this, they will need a box to act as the body of their monster. We have been designing these already and children should have taken plans home. Most will only need a cardboard box with a hinged lid (click here for examples). Please could these be clearly named and brought into school at the start of next week (31.3.25). (10 mins)

Class reader: Knights and Bikes by Gabrielle Kent

Why are there so many different stories about the Penfurzy Knights?

Will the King of Scrap help them find the staff they are missing?

Picture news:

A taste of our Learning

28.3.25 - Dizzy Dogs, Miserable Magpies and Fiendish Foxes

This week, Year 3 have been testing their skills in a range of assessment tasks and activities for the end of the term. The children have all worked so hard and have blown me away with their focus and attention to detail, giving us lots of useful targets to focus on and refine during the summer term. In other areas, we continued our work on email in computing, showing our skills at mindful communication. In maths, we have completed our Mass and Capacity unit and are moving on soon to the return of fractions! There was even time to start our new writing unit, using the book 'Fox' by Margaret Wild and Ron Brooks. Below are some pictures of the plants we have been using in our science experiments - see if your child can tell you what they found out!

21.3.25 - Giant Solutions!

This week, Year 3 wrote some very tall tales about some very demanding giants as they created their own versions of Jim and the Beanstalk. These were long, tricky stories and the children showed super resilience to keep going when it got tough and continued to show a wide range of writing skills even if I was unable to join them! In other areas, we planned fascinating plant experiments and used magnifiers to explore the function of a plant stem. In maths, we continued to battle against unknown scales and problem-solving involving mass and capacity, and in design and technology we considered the perfect box to transform into a pneumatic monster. There was even time on our final day of the week to celebrate Red Nose Day with a bit of mindful colouring to ease us into a well-earned weekend. Well done Year 3!

14.3.25 - Giant Problems!

This week, Year 3 began planning their own versions of the Jim and the Beanstalk story, thinking about the problems a giant may have. We acted out the story first, to get into the mindset of our different characters and think about how we could show, not tell, their feelings. The children were extremely creative, and we had giants in need of new cricket bats, wheelchairs and even some giant-sized swimwear! In other areas, we have continued measuring and reading scales in maths, as well as comparing the results of trapping some leaves in science to see if we could identify what was happening when plants create their own food!

7.3.25 - Book Bonanzas!

This week, Year 3 have been so busy with a wide range of activities! We celebrated World Book Day with amazing costumes and an intriguing character battle where we used our skills at respectful debate to ensure we were considering the merits of our characters. In other areas, we are approaching the end of our first unit of the year on fractions and have also completed amazing story maps of our Jim and the Beanstalk stories, ready to begin planning our own versions next week!

28.2.25 - Banging Beats and Fossil Fabulousness

This week, Year 3 have all had a thrilling start back to school with a range of unusual and exciting activities! Of course, the highlight of the week was our first swimming session. The children did us proud with their independence and skill in the pool and, although they felt wiped out afterwards, they are all excited to return next week! In other areas, we created clay fossils to celebrate the life and achievements of Mary Anning, began using email in our computing sessions and even got in touch with our inner hip-hop heads by composing instrumental pieces on the iPad using Quickbeats!

14.2.25 - Wonderful Washing!

This week, Year 3 have completed their amazing instructional texts on How to Wash a Woolly Mammoth. We were able to come up with some great tips for budding mammoth washers at home, including using cake to lure your mammoth into the bath and avoiding muddy puddles afterwards to ensure that he stays clean! In maths, we have begun learning all about fractions, including numerators and denominators! We were ace at sorting out that tricky language and setting up a great foundation for the rest of the unit. Well done Year 3!

7.2.25 - Mammoth Masters

This week, Year 3 have been learning about the features needed to write great instructions, using the book How To Wash a Woolly Mammoth. We began the week with some strange instructions that we worked out were how to play different games on the playground! We had a great time figuring out what they meant and going outside to play them! In other areas, we have been showing super shading in art, continuing to measure the world around us in maths and creating a water cycle model in science. Wow! Well done Year 3!

31.1.25 - Super Scientists and Habitat Hunters

This week, Year 3 have spent a lot of time working on our observing and classifying skills. In science, we began the week by comparing different liquids and sorting them by their thickness or viscosity. It was a great chance to play with honey, tomato sauce and other messy, sticky liquids! We also completed our final piece of Stone Age Boy writing, creating a diary from Om's point of view which extended the story into the Neolithic era! We have also spent a lot of time in maths measuring in cm, mm and m. On Thursday we were fortunate to receive a visit from PeCAN, who ran a super workshop, guiding Year 3 in exploring the biodiversity of our school site. Wow!

24.1.25 - Crafty Cavemen

This week, Year 3 have been getting into role as Om, the stone age girl in our Stone Age Boy story! We all enjoyed switching off our language to try and teach stone age skills to the others in the class. At times, it was a bit frustrating but we realised that our actions spoke more than our words! We have also begun exploring prehistory and had loads of burning questions about what life was like for people at that time. In maths, we have concluded multiplication and division (keep working on those times tables!) and have moved on to measurement! We had a super time on Friday, getting tape measures and metre sticks out to try and measure each other. Well done Year 3!

17.1.25 - Wonders of Wonder!

This week, Year 3 were thrilled to take a break from the Stone Age and spend most of a day learning about the life and times of Stevie Wonder! We learnt about how he taught himself to play so many instruments, at such a young age, and without the use of eyesight! We even had a go at playing the glockenspiels with our eyes closed (though Mr. Gillard thought there wasn't much difference to normal!) We also had a great time dancing to some old Stevie Wonder records that Mr. Gillard brought in to share. So much fun!

10.1.25 - Time Travellers!

Year 3 have returned in tip-top form and firing on all cylinders! They have jumped right in to all of their new learning and have been so enthusiastic with all our new topics. They began the week by investigating the mystery of the Stone Age Boy. Who was he? Why was he interesting? What happened to him? After reading more, we have learnt about his peculiar story and are excited to write our own Stone Age diaries. In science, we have begun learning about the states of matter and have been comparing solids, liquids and gases. What examples of these can you find at home? Last, but not least, our maths work has seen us continue on our quest to become times table experts, using our existing skills to solve increasingly difficult problems. We even had time for a visit from our friendly PCSOs who helped us learn more about the police and how they work to help keep us safe. What a busy four days!

13.12.24 - Map Makers and Nifty Navigators

This week, Year 3 have soldiered on, in spite of tiredness at the end of a long term, to continue to be awesome in everything they do. They have been problem solving in maths, first by working out the rules to number games and teaching each other to play, then later by creating triangles out of triangles and trying to tessellate other shapes out of them too. In English, we became expert mallowdile spotters and produced a guide for people who may encounter these deliciously cute creatures. At the end of the week, we even explored maps of Portsmouth to discover how the city makes money and what we should look to see if we were visiting. Well done everyone!

6.12.24 - Bone Balancing, Bending and Breaking!

This week, Year 3 have wowed us with their amazing performance in all areas. We have seen superb writing, great reading and some truly marvellous maths. With two weeks to go, they are all very tired from a long, challenging Autumn term, however they are still smiling and curious. In Science, we explored the compressional strength of bones by using cardboard tubes and discovering how much weight they could hold in different arrangements. We also compared and contrasted skeletons of different animals to see how they were adapted to their behaviour and habitat. What super scientists! Well done Year 3!

28.11.24 - Nurturing Novelists and Fabulous Folders

This week, Year 3 have really had their creative juices flowing to finish their long (very, very long) retells of the first two chapters of How to Train Your Dragon. Everyone was so pleased with their output and their achievements during all of their writing sessions. Well done everyone! In other areas, we continued our exploration of Microbits by coding and creating some music for our tiny computers to play. In maths, we have continued our work on times tables and multiplication. Keep practising at home to become a times tables expert! We even had time to undertake a construction challenge in Design and Technology, folding and glueing scrap paper to try and make free-standing structures.

22.11.24 - Marshmallow Munchers

This week, the Year 3s had their final session of Forest School for this block. It was absolutely the highlight of our week, and we all expressed our heartfelt thanks to Mrs S for organising what has been an amazing few weeks of woodland fun. In other areas, we have been sorting vertebrates and invertebrates in our science lessons, learnt about multiples in maths and even started retelling the exciting adventure of Hiccup and the Viking novices in our retells of How to Train Your Dragon. Well done Year 3!

15.11.24 - Dangerous Dragons and Dress Up Days

Year 3 have continued their great start back this week, excited to discover more about the world of How To Train Your Dragon! We love the story so far and have been designing our own dragons to add to the story. Would you want a Bone Crusher or a Blood Roarer or even a Furious Nightwing as a pet around the house? In science, we have begun looking at human and animal skeletons and classifying them into vertebrates and invertebrates. Some animals have surprised us and we will continue to discover more next week. Finally, we ended the week with a great dress up day. The children maintained their focus to complete a super bit of writing first, before some times table themed mindfulness to begin our new maths unit of multiplication and division. Well done Year 3!

8.10.24 - Forest School Fun!

Year 3 have enjoyed a super first week back at Langrish. It kicked off with a day of World Faith activities, discussing our ideas and interpretations of the word 'Temptation'. We realised that, though it's something we have all felt, we all engage with it very differently! We have also begun our new English unit, reading How To Train Your Dragon! The children were all very busy mapping the story this week, and have taken home a mini version to share. Can they retell the story so far? By far, the highlight was our Wednesday afternoon Forest School session, where the children enjoyed den building, mud kitchen, whittling and...fire lighting?! Wow! Thanks so much for the indefatigable Mrs. S for a great session and we are all looking forward to the next one!

25.10.24 - Mary Rose Calling!

We made it! Well done to everyone for a fabulous half term. It's a huge transition to start Year 3 and all the children have made us so very proud. We are looking forwards to lots more to celebrate in the coming year. To top it all off, we all enjoyed a super day out at the Mary Rose Museum. The children's behaviour was brilliant and, despite some very tired people at the end, they were all amazed by the sight of the ship and the children told us that they couldn't wait to tell their families about it. Pencil cases should have come home in bags. Please check, replenish, pair down (bin those over sharpened pencils!) and we look forward to seeing you all back on Monday 4th of September.

18.10.24 - Performance Poetry and Popping and Locking!

This week, Year 3 have shown great bravery to take on a different kind of challenge in English: Performance Poetry! We have discussed that, although we may not all feel like natural performers, we can use poetry to create a sense of a character, mood and purpose that can give us the "bare bones" of a performance. Everyone has now performed to the class at least once, and I am so proud of their confidence and ability to be, "Louder!" In maths, we have begun using column methods to solve addition and subtraction problems. We have shown great understanding so far, and I hope we can continue to use the correct methods on our journey to the answers we're looking for. Despite being so busy, we even had time for a bit of breakdancing to Herbie Hancock's 'Rockit' to get us thinking about the inspiration for Keith Haring's amazing icons.

11.10.24 - Marvelous Magnetism

This week, Year 3 have been expanding their writing toolkit with some amazing new features. We have been learning all about fronted adverbials and how to use and punctuate them. We also spent a session looking for subordinating conjunctions and trying to use them in addition to all our other writing tools. I was so proud of all our amazingly poetic sentences and can't wait to see how the children can deploy them in their extended writing pieces. In maths, we have been working on new methods for addition and subtraction. These have been really tricky, but we are growing and developing our set of tools so we can be equipped to solve any problem! In science, we used our key ideas about magnets to solve the crisis of paper clips being stuck at the bottom of a very thin measuring cylinder. Well done Year 3!

4.10.24 - Perfect Poets!

This week we have completed our wonderful animal acrostics, inspired by the Kingfisher poem from The Lost Words. I was so proud of the children's resilience, especially those who confessed to me that they weren't sure that they could write poetry before they began! In maths, we have begun our unit on addition and subtraction skills and are on our journey to mastery of the fearsome column method! We also managed to find a (brief!) spell of sunshine to go outside and sketch parts of our school building, thinking about what structures would interest Keith Haring and his icons. Well done Year 3!

27.9.24 - Crafty Kingfishers and Goodbye to Grimwood!

This week, Year 3 have completed their Black Hat epics! It was great to see how the children deployed their developing editing skills to correct and improve their writing as they finished. While our writing stamina may still be developing, the children thoroughly enjoyed their pieces and were so positive about moving on to their next unit on the poem Kingfisher. We also had a super art lesson where children had their first go at making their own Keith Haring artwork. They were all excited to have another try at home too! At the end of the week, we finished our first class reader: Grimwood. We're excited to start a new story soon!

20.9.24 - Colourful Creatures and Tricky Tables

This week, Year 3 have continued their Black Hat adventures, designing storyboards and creating their own strange creatures to appear from the hat. What happens when a rainbow elephant or a translucent gorilla try to appear out of the mysterious hat? I can't wait to find out when we begin our own versions of the story! In other areas, we have continued our place value journey in maths, created challenging tables to organise results of science experiments and also had time to explore our in-class gallery of Keith Haring artwork and discuss the moral dilemmas of art vs. crime by looking at collections of street art. Wow! Our highlight of the week was seeing our faces as we did our 'scrunch and stretch' warm ups for singing in the music and drama room.

13.9.24 - Woodland Wanderers and Wordsmiths!

This week, Year 3 have begun working on the story of The Black Hat. We listened to unusual music and imagined going on a journey through a creepy forest! We then thought of all the interesting vocabulary that we could use to describe the character on their journey. We have also begun our White Rose Maths books, learning about how to represent values in hundreds, tens and ones. Well done Year 3!

6.9.24 - Welcome Back!

Thank you for a great first week Year 3! We have been busy learning our new routines and expectations, creating class charters and (naturally) lots and lots of reading! We have also played maths games every day to reactivate those mathematical brains after a long, lazy holiday! I am super proud of how we have started. Please get a good rest this weekend and be ready for even more next week!