Year 3

Spring Term - Literacy

This term we have been looking at a new book called 'Until I Met Dudley' by Roger McGough and Chris Riddell. It is a great book, because it tells you a creative way of how everyday household items work...but then it tells you how they actually work. We have had great fun learning about vacuums, dishwashers, rubbish trcuks and toasters. Although, we did think Miss Khan and Mrs Hubbard were just eating toast for one of our lessons. We even took a vacuum cleaner apart to see what all of the parts did.

Firstly, we looked at the fantasy versions of how the items worked. Then we were able to develop our own ideas of how we could get the fizz into fizzy drinks. Some of our ideas were fabulously creative. We have also used text maps, comic strips, explanation texts and we even made a film to show what we have learned. We were able to add a soundtrack, commentary and sound effects to our movie. They looked and sounded amazing.

Spring Term - Maths

This term we started by recapping on our place value. Place value is what the number is worth, it is so important to all of our maths learning that we understand numbers and what they represent. We recapped on out thousands, hundreds, tens and ones. We created some place value robots showing the number, its base-10 representation, how it is written in words and the number partitioned into its different parts. We also built some place value towers. First of all we created the number using place value dice, then we built it with base-10 to represent the amount we had created. The towers looked amazing.

We then looked at measuring and how we could measure in a variety of ways. First we looked at non-standard measures, so measuring in handspan or foot length. But this was tricky because all of our hands and feet were different sizes! Then we tried felt tip pens as they were all the same size. Finally, we measured with rulers to get an accurate measurement. We also measured liquids using millilitres and litres. 

We have now moved on to fractions, which are not quite as scary as they sound. We have created a variety of fractions both through pictures and written fractions. We have also been finding fractions of amounts.

Spring Term - Science

This term in science, we have been looking at magnets, they are so cool! We have learned that all magnets have a North and South, just like a compass in geography. Even if the magnet is shaped like a horseshoe, it still has a North and a South Pole. We have looked at how magnets work and when they start to work. A magnet starts to work as soon as an object enters it's magnetic field. However, not all objects are magnetic.

We performed an experiment where we tested whether a magnet works through water, guess what? It does! We were able to see which items were or were not magnetic. We also learned that if we place the similar poles together, e.g. North and North, the magnets will repel each other and try to move away. However, if we place the opposite poles together, e.g. North and South, that the poles are attracted towards each other. We also learned that we need to keep magnets away from televisions and computers!

We also learned about friction. and resistance. Friction works in the opposite direction to the force and it slows the object down. We carried out an investigation into whether different surfaces slowed the objects down more or less.

We have just started our rocks revisit this week to see what we have remembered from September and to re-learn those bits that may have slipped our minds momentarily.

Spring Term - other

We started this term with geography and continued with our mapwork from the Autumn Term. We started to look at the UK in more detail. We learned what the UK stood for and what countries were in it. We also learned what countries were in Great Britain. We were able to find the capital cities and other important landmarks using atlases and Google Earth. It was amazing to see the landmarks close up on the screen. We also learned about regions, counties and cities. It was really interesting to see the different types of places in the UK and whether they were mainly physical or human places and landmarks.

In art, we have looked at drawing from observation. We brought in our favourite toy from home and then drew it. We used our learning from the Autumn Term to decide what shapes we needed to use. Then we added shade to make our pictures more effective. Then in our next lesson we used paint and added tint (adding white to make a colour lighter) and shade (adding black to make a colour darker) to our animal pictures to create a wonderful effect. Finally, we learned how to make a zine, which is a little booklet. We used only one piece of paper and folded it following the instructions. It was very tricky, but looked amazing when we had finished it.

We were able to use our magnets learning for our design and technology project this term. We looked at electrostatic activities first so that we could see how they worked. We charged a balloon or straw by rubbing it on a cloth, or our hair. This gave the balloon more negative charge. Then when we moved it towards another object, this made the object move due to the charged balloon. It was incredible to see in action. Then we designed our own electrostatic games using a game box, a background, a straw, some characters for our game and then some tissue treasure to collect. They worked so well and were great fun to play.

We have learned so much in Year 3 already, I wonder what comes next!

Autumn Term - Literacy

We started this year by consolidating what we had learnt in Year 2 about sentences, including their structure and punctuation. We learnt that there were 4 different types of sentences and we learned how to use them. Then we opened our first literature spine book 'Into the Forest' by Anthony Browne. We loved this book and were able to compare it to many other fairytales, like Little Red Riding Hood and Hansel and Gretel. We tried to help the main character of Into the Forest decide which way to travel to Grandma's house and why he should go that way. We also looked at playscripts and performed some drama.

We have just started our second book from our literature spine. We haven't opened it just yet, but we have looked at the front cover where there is a bear and a rabbit. We talked about what kinds of characters we thought they may be and why. We then decided that it would be great to learn more about real bears, so we have been looking at some non-fiction books to help us. We have learned so many amazing facts...did you know that when standing, bears can be 11 feet tall!

Autumn Term - Maths

First of all in year 3, we spent some time looking at place value, what a number is worth. We used a variety of resources to help us, including Numicon, Base-10, Cuisenaire plus we even used marshmallows and cheerios! We were able to put the correct resources into the correct columns using place value. We were able to order numbers and decide where they went on a number line. 

We then used this knowledge to help us with our adding and subtracting. We continued to use the resources as above both independently and through collaboration. We also used our operations (add and subtract) to understand money and what it is worth through our financial literacy lessons. 

Now we understand all of this, we have moved on to multiplication and division. We are going to use all of our maths skills through resources and written methods learning to add using repeated addition and to use division confidently. We have also been practising some of our times tables through singing and dancing. The children can show you at home how amazingly they have been doing with this.

Autumn Term - Science

This term, we have been looking at rocks, soils and fossils in our science learning. We learned about the three different types of rock; igneous, sedimentary and metamorphic. We discovered what their names in latin meant and where the rocks were likely to be found. The rock cycle happens over millions of years, but we were able to act out the process together. We were able to handle some of the different types of rock. We also conducted an experiment to see if rocks were chalk or limestone by using pipettes and lemon juice. Some of the rocks fizzed when the lemon juice (acid) was added, which meant that they were either chalk or limestone. 

We also looked at the different soil layers (horizons) and what happened in each layer. We discovered where dead animals and plants decayed, where plants grew and where most of the nutrients were within the soil. Finally, we looked at fossils and how they were formed. We learned that 99% of fossils have been found in or near water!

Next, we are learning more about animals and humans...

Autumn Term - Other

We started this year by looking at how we use shapes in art. We discovered that shapes appear in most everyday objects. We learned how to use shapes to help us draw a variety of objects, including a drinks can. At first, we thought that this was very tricky, but we all managed to create a great piece of artwork!

Then we used ICT to make video trailers. We chose a book and created a storyboard of the most important parts. We wrote sentences and drew pictures to show these parts of the story, then used them to create a video using iMovie. The videos were amazing and the music we used in the background was really effective.

Then we looked at Ages in history. We loved this topic and really got stuck in to the facts, dates and what happened throughout time. Firstly we looked at the Stone Age which went on for over 700,000 years! This included the Palaeolithic Age, Mesolithic Age and the Neolithic Age. There used to be a place called Doggerland that joined Britain to the rest of Europe, but that sank after we came out of the Ice Age and the water levels rose. We discovered that we know about these Ages despite things not being written down in that point in history. We know these facts through artefacts and ruins that have been discovered by archeologists. We found out that Stonehenge started to be built in Neolithic times, but was finished in the Bronze Age. Finally, we learned about the Iron Age. There have been many changes during these times that allow us to live how we do today.

This week, we have just started our geography topic called fieldwork. We are learning about the 8 points of a compass. We have learned that there are 4 cardinal points and 4 intercardinal points to a compass. We have also learned how to align our compasses to North. We will be looking at ordanance survey maps this week too, where we will be trying to find important places in Guernsey.