Autumn 1 2018

Welcome back! I hope you have all had a fantastic, relaxing summer break and are looking forward to the start of the new school year. Mrs Boyes and I are excited to welcome you back and begin our learning journeys in Year 3. Keep a look out on this page to see what we have been learning about.

R.E. – The Christian Family

This half term we have reflected on what it means to be part of a family and part of the Christian family. We talked about ways we live our lives as a Christian and how we celebrate being part of God’s family. We considered our own unique gifts and talents and thought about how we can show our gratitude and give thanks to God.

Year 3 moved on to thinking about what happens when we are baptised. The children initially learnt all about Baptism as part of their homework and found out about their own. We the discussed as a class questions we wanted to to ask Canon Nunan about Baptism in preparation for our visit to St.Joseph’s Church. The children had lots of fantastic questions that we added to our R.E. working wall. Such as;

‘Can anyone get baptised?’

‘Do you have to be a baby to get bapitised?’

‘Why do babies wear white?’

‘Why does the priest pour water over the baby’s head?’

‘Why is it called Holy Water?’

‘What is the point of baptism?’

‘What is the bath called in church where babies get baptised?’

‘Is the water special?’

‘What happens when you are baptised?’

Year 3 then visited St.Joseph’s to find out what happens when you are baptised. Canon Nunan showed us the baptismal font where the Baptism takes place. He told us all about Holy Water and that it is blessed by God. Children from Year 3 then got into role as the parents and god parents of ‘Daisy Lillie’ and Canon Nunan showed us what happens when someone is baptised. He told us all about that we become part of God’s family and receive the gift’s of the Holy Spirit. He poured the holy water onto ‘Daisy Lillie’s head to symbolise life and to show that the baby is living in the life of Jesus. He also anointed the baby with the oil of chrism that had been blessed by Bishop Marcus to symbolise the gift’s and guidance from the Holy Spirit. Canon also lit the baptismal candle from the Easter candle in church to remind us that Jesus is the light of the world and that the light of Jesus’ love was with the baby.

Collective Worship

In Year 3, we have collective worship monitors who help prepare the collective worship table 4 times per week in class. They choose carefully what items they want to have on our table from our collective worship box and discuss what colour cloth they should cover the table and why with support from Mrs Boyes. For example one child chose a candle to symbolise that Jesus is the light of the world and one child chose a tree to symbolise that we grow in God’s love.  We always begin our worships with relaxing music, turning the lights off, lighting the candles and the collective worship monitors lead the Morning prayer. We then think about what our collective worship statement of the week is for example, ‘Giving thanks to God- I try to appreciate the beauty and the wonder of the world around me.’ After we listen to the Word of the Lord  sometimes by listening to a story or parable from the bible. We spend some time reflecting on the Word for a couple of minutes and we have our own time to talk to God. We think about how we can live out the word throughout the day.

The Rosary

Year 3 changed their collective worship table to reflect that October is the month of The Holy Rosary when we think about and pray to Mary the mother of Jesus. Each day the children take home a Holy Rosary prayer bag to pray with.

The Prayer Garden

Each week Year 3 and 4 go into the Prayer Garden for collective worship. We reflected on the the beauty and the wonder of the world around us and gave thanks to God. After listening to the Creation Story from Genesis 1 of the bible we took time to stop and look and listen to the nature surrounding us. We gave thanks to God through our own prayers and thoughts.

All things bright and beautiful,

All creatures great and small,

All things wise and wonderful,

The Lord God made them all.

We finished by singing our school mission song together. ‘To live in Faith, Learn with Hope, Love in Peace and Worship and Celebrate in our Community.’

 

Maths – KIRFS

This half term Year three’s Key Instant Recall facts are; Count from 0 in multiples of 4, 8, 50 and 100. Find 10 or 100 more or less than any given number. The children practise these daily through singing songs, writing them day and playing games. They have also created their own games such as snakes and ladders with times tables questions to play with friends.

Place Value

Year 3 have been  recognising the place value of each digit in a three-digit number (hundreds, tens, ones) in a variety of representations and discussing the ways these numbers can be represented using numicon, base ten, number lines, cubes and place value counters.

English – Stone Age Boy

We are using the book Stone Age Boy to link with our History theme as a focus for our writing. We began by looking at the front cover and discussing with our talk partners what we thought it was about and asked questions. We read some of the book and made predictions about what we thought would happen. In guided reading we answered questions about text and gave reasons for our answers based on clues in the pictures.

The children got into role as Stone Age boy and re-wrote the beginning of the story using adjectives and adverbs to bring the story to life. We tried really hard with our handwriting and presentation. We all gave 100% effort with our learning and got to show it to Miss Milivojevic!

Science – Rocks and Soils

We began our topic by thinking about what we know about Rocks and Soils and what we want to know. The children had to think of a question that they could investigate themselves, this was very tricky! They came up with some great questions such as;

‘Are all rocks the same?

‘Where do rocks come from?’

‘What is soil made from?’

‘Where does soil come from?’

We went into the woods to look for different rocks and to discuss if we saw any that were man-made or natural.

Year three were very excited when we received a letter from Stone Age Boy asking for help to find out what type of rocks Stone Age people may have used to make their own jewellery and use to make pictures.

We discussed some different types of rocks and then thought about working scientifically to identify, classify and sort the rocks as to which ones scratched.

Meanwood Valley Farm

Year 3 had a fantastic trip to Meanwood Valley Farm where we learnt all about different types of rocks such as granite, slate, sandstone, limestone and coal. We did lots of fun experiments to test the properties of these rocks to see how hard they were and whether they are acidic by dropping vinegar onto them. We also made our own soil, tested soil to see what it is made from and made our own wormeries!

Art

We used the ipads to research about The Stone Age and look at pictures of cave painting to inspire us to create our own. With Mrs Lowe we used water that had tea bags in it to stain paper to make it look old and like the wall of a cave. The children practised using pastels to draw their cave paintings. They discussed that the pictures had to be very simple with no detail on but they had to tell a story of what was happening. Some children even brought in burnt wood to practise drawing with it!

P.E.

Once a week Year 3 are taught by PE Partner sports coaches. They began by discussing the importance of warming their bodies up before any type of exercise. They looked at different ways of moving their bodies and played some different games.

 

The children practised being a coach and giving feedback to their team on how to throw the basket ball well to their partners and what they needed to do to improve this. The children tried really hard with this and gave some great feedback as to the next steps.

The children practised the skills of being able to defend and attack by playing dodge ball. The children had lots of fun doing this and practised even further by applying tactics to improve their skills.

 

PSHE – Mental Health and Wellbeing

Year 3 went outside to practise passing a hoop around in a circle without letting go of other each others hands. This was a very tricky challenge especially when we were timed to  do this in under 3 minutes! We discussed after what we could do to help one another if they were finding it tricky. We decided that being able to encourage our friends with simple instructions as to what they should do, in a calm voice would help.

We explained how it feels to be challenged, try something new or difficult and thought about how we can plan the steps required to help achieve a goal or challenge. We also talked about being able to celebrate our own and others’ skills, strengths and attributes.

Scooter Training

Year 3 went outside to learn how to ride a scooter safely when on the pavement. They had to practise going around cones, checking for cars as they passed drive ways, they learnt how to stop safely using the brake and cross a road safely. Year 3 had great fun and listened very carefully as to how to cross a road safely with their scooters.

Always walk across the road checking for cars coming in either direction whilst pushing your scooter.

 

Autumn 2 2018

Welcome back! I hope you all had a restful half term.Keep a look out on this page to see what we have been learning about.

R.E. Mary Our Mother

This half term we read the story of the Annunciation (Luke 1:26-38) and discussed how Mary must have felt when the Angel Gabriel told her she was going to have a special baby. In pairs we role-played this scene and gave reasons as to why we Mary agreed to have Baby Jesus. We also discussed what we can learn as Christians from Mary’s actions.

We used our working wall in R.E to support us with our learning. We discussed how hard it must have been for Mary,as a young girl, to make such a brave decision to follow God’s wishes, but she had faith and trust in God to ultimately guide her. Just as Mary put her faith and trust in God we discussed how we can put our faith and trust in God to guide us when we are faced with worries or problems.

‘ I can do everything through Christ who gives me strength.’ Philippians 4:13.

Maths – KIRFS

This half term Year three’s Key Instant Recall facts are; I can add and subtract numbers in my head, including a three digit number and hundreds. We have been practising these through fun, active games with our talk partners. This has not just got our brains thinking but our heart rates racing!

Addition and Subtraction

Year 3 have been using mental methods to add and subtract a one digit number from a 3 digit number, we are getting quicker at recalling the answers. We have also moved onto adding a 2 and 3 digit number to another 3 digit number by using the column method to add. We have been working hard and setting our learning out neatly and making sure we are writing one digit in one box of our maths books.

English

We are using our topic on the Stone Age as a stimulus for our writing. In guided reading we read all about Stonehenge and answered questions about it. We then used the ipads to research further information about Stonehenge and wrote this information onto a planning sheet as we want to write fact files about it. We will be looking at adding a title and sub headings to our writing and organising it into paragraphs.

Science – Humans and Animals

We began our topic by sorting different types of food into their food groups. We split into teams to sort the pictures discussing whether the food was a carbohydrate, protein, fruit or vegetable, fat, sugar or dairy. This game got our brains thinking and our bodies moving.

History – The Stone Age

Take a look at our incredible Stone Age artefacts we made!

We used Lego to build Stonehenge. We worked in small groups to do this.

DT

We used the ipads to research and gather ideas about Stoneage pots. We sketched different pots that we liked shading the detail on them. We will be using our sketches as designs for making our own clay pots.

Year 3 had great fun making their own Stoneage clay pots. They used the technique of coiling. Coiled pots are constructed by gradually stacking and joining coils of clay (rolls of clay) one on top of the other. The coils can be left visible or can be smoothed away depending on your desired aesthetic end result. The children tried really hard to join the coils well whilst making the pots. This was to avoid them cracking or separating as they dried. 

PSHE

Year 3 had a workshop delivered by Catholic Care on how to solve conflicts. We discussed times when we might have disagreements with our friends and discussed ways to resolve these problems. We looked at categorising them into agreeing to disagree, conflicts that need sorting out but are not urgent and problems that need sorting urgently. We also discussed how it made us feel and who we can talk  to when we have problems. We drew our own helping hands and wrote names of people we can talk to for help when we need it.

Spring 1 2019

Our whole class theme this half term is ‘The Rainforest’. This has been linked to a focused text called “The Tinforest” by Helen Ward. Please keep checking our web page to see all the exciting things we get up to.

R.E. – Called to Change

This half term the children read the bible story of Zacchaeus and the Parable of the Lost Sheep, using role play they reenacted these stories. The children make links between these important bible stories and the role and the importance of forgiveness and reconciliation. Year 3 are deepening their understanding that Jesus called people to change and are currently reflecting  on how Jesus calls us to change. The children are preparing for the Sacrament of Reconciliation by understanding what this means and reflecting on God’s love and forgiveness. 

 

Year 3 read the story of the Lost Son Luke 15:11-32. In this story In the story, a father has two sons, a younger and an older. The younger son asks the father for his inheritance, and the father grants his son’s request. However, the younger son is prodigal spends his fortune, eventually leaving him with no money. The younger son is forced to return home empty-handed and intends to beg his father to accept him back as a servant. To the son’s surprise, he is not scorned by his father but is welcomed back with celebration and open arms. Envious, the older son refuses to participate in the festivities. The father reminds the older son that one day he will inherit everything, and that they should still celebrate the return of the younger son because he was lost and is now found.

The children acted out this story and freezed framed as how to the younger son felt when he received the money and how the Father felt when he realised his son had left. We also acted out how the Father and son felt at the end of the story when the son returned.

Year 3 discussed how the story of the Lost Son teaches us about God’s forgiveness. They also explained how the father in the story is like our God the Father. This story has a very important message for us to learn from that we too can turn back to God no matter what things we have said or done wrong. 

Take a look at our learning journey so far.

Maths – KIRFS

This half term Year three’s Key Instant Recall facts are; To know by heart 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7 and 8 x tables facts and the corresponding division facts. We have been practising these both in the classroom and outside through fun, active Burn 2 Learn games. Year 3 love playing these games.

Multiplication and Division

Year 3 have recalling and using multiplication facts for the 3, 4 and 8 times tables. Following this we have be writing and calculating two digit numbers times one digit numbers, using mental methods and progressing onto using the column method to multiply. Year 3 then moved onto dividing two digit numbers by a one digit number, practising and learning our timetables has really helped us solve these tricky calculations!  We’ve also been stretching our brains to solve some very tricky multiplication and division problems too. The children are fantastic at choosing their own resources like numicon, counters or hundred grid squares to help support them with their learning.

Show and Share with Parents

Year 3 had a fabulous morning learning and playing maths games with their Mums and Dads. We invited parents into school to join in with our class Collective Worship and then a Maths lesson. We played lots of fun, active games such as ‘tiggy triangles’ and quick recall of timetable facts which included having to do some different exercises too.The children had an absolutely fantastic time and the feedback we received from parents was excellent! A big thank you to all the Year 3 parents that came along!

English

This half term, linking to our topic The Rainforest, we have used ‘The Tin Forest’ as a stimulus for our guided reading and writing.

 

We started off by looking at the front cover of the book and discussing what we thought could happen by making inferences from the pictures. The children loved making these predictions and commented on why they thought there was one colourful flower amongst the tinforest.

“There was once a wide, windswept place, near nowhere and close to forgotten that was filled with all the things that no one wanted.” So begins the tale of the Tin Forest where an old man lives who tidies the rubbish and dreams of a better place. With faith, ingenuity and hard work, he transforms a junkyard into a wondrous, tropical rainforest. The children loved reading this story and have been writing descriptions of the rainforest, using more adventurous vocabulary– such as adjectives, adverbs and prepositions. They then wrote imagining that they were the old man writing to his friend inviting them to visit him. We will continue using this text to inspire us to write some rainforest poetry.

Take a look at our learning wall in our classroom so far…

Science – Light and Shadows

We began our topic by discussing where light comes from and that there are natural sources of light and man made sources of light.  We made the classroom as dark as possible and discussed where the light source was coming from (the sun) and what it would be like if we didn’t have natural light sources.

 

Year 3 absolutely loved investigating how shadows are formed. They used the torches to explore making different shadows. As part of our Working Scientifically objective ‘Pattern Seeking’ the children investigated patterns in the way that the size of shadows change. Do you know how to make a shadow smaller or larger? Year 3 had some much fun making shadows move. Some children even had a go at narrating their own shadow shows.

 

We used a concept cartoon to address some ideas about how shadows are formed and the children discussed what they they thought using scientific evidence from their investigation.

Year 3 had lots of fun finding out which objects reflect lots of light and which objects only reflect some light. We can see objects because light is reflected off their surfaces. The light travels in a straight line from the light source and bounces off the object to our eyes. Our eyes then send a message to our brains through the optic nerve to tell us what we have seen. Some objects reflect more light than others. Surfaces that are smooth and shiny reflect more light than surfaces that are dull. When a surface is very smooth, like the surface of a mirror, it reflects a lot of light. This is why we can see ourselves in a mirror or in the surface of water

Geography – The Rainforest

One Day Creative Workshop 

To launch our exciting, new topic on the Rainforests Year 3 will had a full day workshop. This was is a fantastic opportunity for the children to collaborate with one another in order to explore this topic through drama and enhance their learning opportunities as the children embarked on their new learning journey. The workshop was fully funded by the FOSJ, which we were extremely grateful for.!

The children learnt all about the different layers of the rainforest, the types of animals that live there, what life is like for the people who live in the rainforest and importantly the dangers that the rainforests encounter through deforestation for the production of palm oil. A shocking and saddening statistic is that every second more than one football pitch of forest is cut down!

To find out what you can do to help save the world’s endangered rainforests take a look at the Rainforest Alliance.

https://www.rainforest-alliance.org/Take a look at the fun activities we did during the workshop!

We used atlases  to find out where about in the world the rainforests are located. We discussed what the word climate means and found out all about what the climate is like in the rainforest.

Our current Geography working wall.

Year 3 then learnt all about the 4 different layers of vegetation in the rainforest. They learnt the names of each layer and what the plants and animals are like that live in each layer.

They had great fun acting out whether a key fact about the rainforest was about the emergent layer, canopy, under storey or the forest floor.

The children then had to find lots of hidden clues around the school with facts about each of the rainforest layers and decide which layer the information was about.

 

Year 3 loved making their own rain forests which was set as a homework challenge. Take a look at what we made! We are very proud of our homework.

 

 

Art – Printing

Henri Matisse

Year 3 found out all about the famous artist Henri Matisse and used his art work as a source of inspiration to create their own leaf prints. The children drew and cut out their own leaf stencils first then used sponges to dab paint into the middle of the cut out stencil. This left the leaf print on the paper.

Take a look at what we did.

We also experimented with making the colour green and different shades of it. We found out that green is secondary colour and it is made from mixing two primary colours. Can you tell from our pictures which two colours we used to make green? We also used white paint to make the shade lighter.

P.E.- Gymnastics

In PE, the children have been developing their communication skills with one another to copy and follow a balance that their partner did.They loved exploring various gymnastic routines such as jumping, balancing and rolling with control. 

Year 3 absolutely loved practising moving their bodies to the beat of a drum. They had to decide whether to move slowly or quickly whilst listening to the beat. They using the James Bond theme track they had to create their own movements to the beat of 8. This is trickier than it sounds!

Computing – Using Powerpoint

Year 3 have been using powerpoint to create their own presentations about how to look after their bodies. They’re really enjoying their Computing lessons with Mrs Waterhouse and so far have been experimenting with inserting images and typing up their own learning. Year 3 are so much more independent at logging on, opening their own file and saving their work.

Safer Internet Day

Tuesday 5th February 2019 marks Safer Internet Day. At school, we have had lots of activities to help us to understand the importance of being safe on the internet.

Music

The children in Year 3 have been challenging themselves to come up with their own advert that would be played on the radio to advertise their own new product. They had to think carefully about the words to advertise it as well as how loud they would play the chime bars so it could still be heard. The children had great fun designing their own products too.

PSHE

Anti-Bullying Fortnight: Choose Respect!

To launch our Anti-Bullying fortnight the School Council members delivered a fantastic whole school assembly that really gave us the message loud and clear – when everyone chooses respect, the world is a much better place! They gave us great examples about what being respectful looks like but also doesn’t look like. St Joseph’s thought about why is important to be respectful in school, at home and in our communities. We watched some great examples of athletes being respectful towards their team mates too.

Bucket Filling

We started our Anti-bullying week by by reading the story “Have you filled a bucket today?” by Carol McCloud. Year 3 loved listening to this story about how to fill one another’s buckets and theirs with kindness and respect! We thought carefully about how our words and actions can make us either bucket fillers or bucket dippers

MFL – German

The children have been enjoying their weekly German lessons with Mrs Lowe on a Tuesday afternoon They have been practising saying good morning and afternoon. Year 3 are becoming quite confident now with counting in German and knowing the days of the week.

Spring 2 2019

Our whole class theme this half term is ‘The Global Garden’. This continues to link with out previous topic on rain forests but this half term we will be considering the impact of deforestation on the world’s rain forests and the impact this is having on ‘The Global Garden’.

R.E. -Celebrating the Mass

During this new topic the children will learn about making links between the story of the Last Supper and the Mass. They will give reasons why Sunday is a special day for Christians and discuss the actions and symbols used in Mass. Year 3 will also give reasons why Jesus celebrated his Last Supper. Keep a look out for our learning journey throughout this topic!

The children will be continuing their faith journeys as they prepare for the Sacrament of Reconciliation by understanding what this means and reflect on God’s love and forgiveness. They will continue to learn what happens during the Sacrament of Reconciliation and think about what this Sacrament does for us.

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Maths-KIRFS

This half term Year three’s Key Instant Recall facts are; To know by heart 3,6, and 9 x’s tables facts and the corresponding division facts. We have been learning these through singing songs and moving our bodies at the same time. Take a look by clicking on the links. 

BBC Supermovers 3 times table

BBC Supermovers 6 times table

BBC Supermovers 9 times table

Money

Year 3 have been using money practically to add coins together, take them away and find change. They have been trying really hard to solve problems too using money and we discussed when we might do this at home too.

English

This half term, linking to our topic The Global Garden, we have used ‘The Great Kapok Tree’ as a stimulus for our guided reading and writing.

 

 

This story journeys deep into the rain forests of Brazil to tell the tale of a man, who one day exhausts himself trying to chop down a giant kapok tree. While he sleeps, the forest’s residents, including a child from the Yanomamo tribe, whisper in his ear about the importance of trees and how “all living things depend on one another”.The Great Kapok Tree Click on this link to listen to the story.

Year 3 discussed the impact the man was going to have on the rain forest’s habitat and ecosystem as a result of wanting to chop down one of the greatest trees!

Then using the poem ‘The Sound Collector’ by Roger Mc Gough Year 3 imagined what sounds, smells and sights would be lost due to deforestation. The children then planned their own poems about this and rehearsed saying them before writing them. The children loved writing their own poetry and used expanded noun phrases, prepositions and adverbs to bring their emotive poems to life!

World Book Day

Year 3 embraced the whole school theme of ‘The Secret Garden’ and came in all sorts of wonderful outfits. We had scarecrows, rabbits, flowers, bees, ladybirds, spiders and even a plant pot! Take a look.

 

Science – Magnets and Forces

This half term, we started our topic by investigating and predicting what objects in our classroom would be attracted to a magnet. This means they are magnetic. Year 3 loved exploring this and also finding out what happens when two magnets touch one another. We discussed the words ‘north pole, south pole, attract and repel’ too.  

 

Year 3 loved being scientists and investigating which magnet was the strongest. They had to choose 4 or 5 magnets from lots of different shapes and sizes. They had to decide how best to investigate this. To begin Year 3 predicted which magnet they thought would be strongest and why. We also discussed the uses of magnets in real life

“I think the large horse shoe magnet will be the strongest because it is the largest magnet. I think that the larger the size of the magnet the stronger it will be.” Orla.

British Science Week-Journeys

There has been such an amazing atmosphere around school this week for British Science Week. The children loved wearing their own lab coats all week they had decorated at home to get into character of being a real scientist! Year 3 linked this years topic of journeys with looking at forces and how this affects an object moving on different surfaces. They predicted first of all which surface would allow a toy car to travel the furthest distance when it down a ramp. Similarly, which surface would allow the car to travel the shortest distance. Year 3 choose to test the car out travelling down a ramp made from rough carpet, bubble wrap, smooth plastic and sponge. They also decided what equipment they would use to measure the distance of how far the car travelled. They decided they would take some metre sticks and a tape measure. 

 

Take a look at one of our experiments!

Forces experiment

 

 

Science Fair

As part of British Science Week Year 3 and 5 held their own science fair. They put so much effort into designing their own fun science games for this! Each class at St.Joseph’s were invited to visit and take part playing the games. There was such a fantastic atmosphere of scientific curiosity and excitement! Each class that visited commented how much fun they had and Year 3 and 5 loved every minute too.

 

Art – Living in Leeds

As part of our whole school theme ‘Living in Leeds’. We thought about the similarities and differences of Wetherby town centre and Leeds city centre. We looked at the skyline of Leeds and identified many of the different buildings such as; Leeds Kirkgate market, Leeds Town Hall and The Corn Exchange. We then used collage to create our own skylines of Leeds at night.

 

 

P.E.-Rounders

Year 3 have been putting into practise the skills of under arm throwing, over arm throwing and catching effectively to play rounders. They have enjoyed working as part of a small team to practice outwitting and out running the opposite team to run around the cones to score a rounder . This is first time Year 3 have played rounders and they are really looking forward to playing it again and improving on their batting technique to hit the ball even further next time!

Cheerleading

Year 3 really enjoyed having a taster lesson of cheer leading. They listened really carefully as to how to copy the dance routine. It was very energetic and challenging as it included a number of gymnastic based skills such as balances, jump pikes, straddles and hurdles. Year 3 had to perform their routine keeping in time to the music and then as a finale performed a group ripple effect with the hurdle jump  A big thank you to the Leeds Rhino representative who came to lead this.

 

Computing -Typing skills

Year 3 have been improving their keyboard skills by typing  pangrams This is a sentence that contains every letter of the alphabet at least once. The most famous pangram is probably the thirty-five-letter-long “The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog,” which has been used to test typing equipment since at least the late 1800s.  The children then had to us the internet to find  picture to accompany the text. They then used the snipping tool to insert the picture into power point. Finally the children personalised their presentations by altering the fonts, animation and effects to really capture their audience. Year 3 absolutely loved doing this and were very proud of their presentations!

Take a look at some of our presentations.

Keyboard presentation 1

Keyboard presentation 2

Keyboard presentation 3