There is a Hero in all of Us!
Class teacher – Mrs Russell
Mrs Moffitt also helps us with our learning
Autumn 1
Music
Using the Charanga Website, Glockenspiel Stage 1 the children played along to the tunes Play Your Music, Drive and Strictly D. They had to read formal notation and learnt the notes E and D. In addition they found those notes on their glockenspiel and played them at the correct time.
Autumn 2
English
This half term we have continued our work studying fables and using them as a base for our writing. We looked at using inverted commas and speech punctuation and we tried to include direct speech in our rewriting of fables. We have looked at main clauses and subordinate clauses. We have identified them and we are beginning to use interesting subordinating conjunctions in our own work. We used our knowledge of the key features of fables to write our own fable.
Maths
This half term we have been looking at addition and subtraction. We have used our skills to add and subtract two 3 digit numbers. We have learned how to do this both with and without regrouping. We have also been improving our quick recall of the 2, 5 and 10 times tables. We have enjoyed practising our arithmetic skills through puzzles and games.
Science
This term we have continued to look at rocks and soils. We studied how soil is formed and how important it is for all living things on the planet. We studied soil samples to find living, non-living and never living substances. We also carried out experiments to see which types of soil were the most permeable.
History
This half term we have been continued learning about The Titanic. We looked at how the Titanic was built, the facilities on board and the events that led up to the terrible disaster. We have studied primary and secondary sources of information and discussed the differences between them.
Geography
We have continued studying climates around the world. We have used rainfall charts and maps showing physical features to identify a connection between physical features and rainfall. We have also studied maps and temperature charts to see if there is a connection between the location of a country and its climate.
Computing
We have been learning about safety. We have looked at how important passwords are, how to make passwords secure and how to stay safe on the internet. We used Purple Mash’s 2connect tool to make flow charts.
Design Technology
We made our own pop-up Christmas cards. At first, we researched different types of pop up cards and then we made prototypes to practise the techniques involved. It was very tricky1 Then we came up with our own design and made them.
P.E.
We have continued learning the skills involved in invasion games and throwing and catching techniques. We had a dance coach come in and teach us street dance.
Music
Year 3, Avengers, had the challenge to name a wider range of musical instruments including instruments from around the world and orchestral instruments. They studied the Carnival of the Animals by Camille Saint-Seans. They used the Classics for Kids website, looking at how the orchestra is set out and were able to hear how the different instruments sound. The instruments are grouped in four families, brass, woodwind, strings and percussion.
With Mr Garrett, we learnt about pulse, the history of carols and sang Silent Night, Rudolf the Red Nosed Reindeer and We Wish You a Merry Christmas.
Spring 1
During Spring 1 term, the Year 3 team provided a wide range of remote learning including recorded lessons, live lessons and interactive activities such as class quizzes and competitions. We have also enjoyed theme days such as Maths on the Move, Wellbeing Week and No Screen Wednesday. We have taught every subject over the past 6 weeks and information about each is below!
English
In English, we have focussed on Reading and GPS. At the beginning of the half term, we completed our unit on fairy tales by reading a range of fairy tales, using fairy tales for our reading comprehensions, looking at the grammar used and using this in our own writing. We have looked at adverbs, prepositions, homophones, speech punctuation and the dreaded present perfect verb form. We used power points, songs and animations to help us with our learning. We have continued learning our spelling words for Year 3 and enjoyed a live weekly spelling test and word games.
Maths
In Maths, we focussed on the four operations and learning written methods for these. We began with addition and subtraction continuing the work that we had started in school with column subtraction. Then we moved on to looking at multiplication and division. We focussed on the 3, 4 and 8 times tables. We learnt the facts for quick recall, looked at the facts in different ways to help with our fluency and used this knowledge to solve problems and reasoning questions. We have used live lessons, songs and a range of on line games to help with our learning. As well as online maths lessons, we had Maths on the Move Day where the children had a variety of practical activities, they could do to demonstrate maths learning.
Humanities
In History we have looked at some of the most important royal monarchs in British history. We have focussed on William the Conqueror, King John and Henry VIII. We researched what made these monarchs so important through reading, video clips and discussion. We have researched and written fact files, compiled our own Magna Carta and helped Henry VIII with his quest for an heir.
In Geography, we have been studying the rainforests. We have looked at the different types of rainforests in the world, where you find them, the layers in a rainforest and the animals that live there. We have researched information through reading, websites and videos. We have compiled fact sheets, annotated maps and made posters.
Science
In Science this term we have studied the topics of animals including humans. We looked at what we need to keep healthy, the bones that make up the human skeleton and how it is similar to some animal skeletons, different types of skeletons and how muscles help us to move. We have read and watched videos to help with our learning and we have carried out experiments at home such as finding out how exercise effects our bodies.
Art and Design
This term for art we have been learning how to draw a self-portrait. We looked at how to get the proportions correct and techniques to help with this. We then used these skills to draw our own self portrait, a family member’s self-portrait and one to show our personalities as well.
RE
This term for RE we have been studying Sikhism. We have learnt about the principles of the religion, religious buildings and the special book. We have also learnt about important Sikh festivals.
PSHCE
Every week we have held a weekly meet on Google Classroom for the children to touch base and share their experiences during lockdown. This has been a time to catch up with other children as well as staff members.
As a learning focus, the children have been completing the unit ‘Wellbeing’ which has been crucial during lockdown as we learn how to look after our mental health. We spent time thinking about things and people that are important in our lives and how we can help ourselves to feel better. We tried yoga as well. We also completed activities linked to Children’s Mental Health Week.
PE
Over the last half-term in Year 3, we have looked at a number of different ways of being active at home. The children were given the opportunity to join in with teacher/student work-outs with pre-recorded videos. The children were given the opportunity to access resources from Burnley Schools Sports Partnership, to take on challenges at home with a number of different activities using everyday house-hold objects.
Music
The Avengers, during their online home learning, started off by revisiting the orchestra work that we studied last term. The children used ‘Classicsforkids.com’ where they could hear the individual instruments from the orchestral families and play some online music games. Then had a go at an online music quiz with questions on instrumental families.
Linking to their science topic of Skeletons they listened to ‘Dem Bones’ and Silly Symphonies ‘The Skeleton Dance’ a Walt Disney Animation.
Year 3 then listened the online music sessions kindly shared by Jessa Liversidge, a music teacher who recorded music sessions for children at home during lockdown.
Spring 2
English
This half term we have been looking at fables and using them as a base for our writing. We used our inference skills to imagine what the characters in the fables could be thinking in key scenes. We used our drama skills to act out a variety of fables. We looked for key features in all the fables we studied and we tried to write alternate morals. Our punctuation focus has been to speech marks and synonyms for said. We tried to include direct speech when we wrote our own fables which we put together into a class book.
Maths
This half term we have been studying time. We learnt how many days were in each month and we learnt a way to work it out using our knuckles! We studied how many days in a year, minutes in an hour, seconds in a minute and hours in a day. We also looked at Roman numerals. We practised how to tell the time on digital and analogue clocks up to quarter to and quarter past the hour. We have continued to enjoy using Times Tables Rock Stars to help us learn the times tables. We studied fractions and ordered fractions with the same denominator, found fractions of shapes and fractions of amounts.
Science
This term we have started a new topic of animals including humans. We have looked at different food groups, nutrients in food and what they do for our bodies. We have studied the human skeleton and we began to name the bones that make it up. We have looked at how baby animals grow and develop and what humans and other animals need to survive.
History
We have continued to learn about the Stone Age and how life changed for people during the Stone Age. We have looked at how archaeologists discoveries tell about life in the past and the difference between historical fact and supposition. We used facts and supposition about the discovery of the Red Lady of Paviland to write our own myth.
Geography
This half term, we have continued studying mountains. We have continued to develop our skills as geographers by looking at ordinance survey maps and identifying what the symbols represent. We also learnt how to draw a climate graph for Burnley and the Cumbrian mountain region in Wales. We looked at what life is like in the Cumbrian mountains and the problems you may face running a farm in that area.
Computing
We have been sharpening up our typing skills through the games on the 2type programme on Purple Mash.
Art and Design
We have been looking at printing techniques. We linked this to our science topic and we studied fruit and vegetables. We made observational drawings using oil pastels. We looked very carefully at the shape and colours of the fruit and vegetables and then drew them on white and black backgrounds to see which made the most impact. We made our own scratch pictures and finally we made our own printing blocks. We made a fruit or vegetable design on our block and then used it to create a repeated pattern.
P.E.
We have been improving our gymnastic techniques this half term. We have practised balances, different ways of travelling and jumping. We worked with partners to create a sequence that we could both perform. We also practised these techniques on the apparatus in the hall.
Religious Education
In RE this half term we have been looking at Christianity and what Christians mean by the Holy Spirit. We looked at the story of the Pentecost and how Christians might celebrate it. We looked at what skills, talents and qualities exist in our communities and how we can best share our own talents and attributes.
Music
The Avengers have enjoyed using laptops and logging into Charanga and learning how to access Yumu. (Home access to units in LCC Music Charanga Website)
We have enjoyed learning with Emma and Tim too, joining in with several episodes 1 and 2 of Jump Up and Join In.
Summer 1
Music
The Avengers have played their glockenspiels using the notes C, G and A. We have looked at the notes on the musical stave to see if they are placed on the line or in a space.
We have looked at a minim, a crotchet, a crotchet rest, a minim rest and a quaver.
Following our Charanga scheme The Avengers have learnt to play the medium glockenspiel accompaniment to their song Bringing Us Together.
The children then improvised using these notes. We discussed the difference between a composition piece and improvised music.
Summer 2
English
This half term we have been looking at The Iron Man by Ted Hughes. We read this novel and used it as a base for our writing. We explored the novel through activities such as reader’s theatre, drama and art. We looked at subordinating conjunctions and we tried to include this sentence structure in our own stories. We learnt about writing in paragraphs and we applied this to our own stories.
Maths
This term we have been looking at time, fractions, multiplication, division, addition and subtraction. The children had weekly mental maths tests and times tables tests to keep their skills sharp. We have also practised our times tables skills on Times Tables Rock Stars. We have been focussing on the 3, 4 and 8 times tables but many children have progressed to learn all of the times tables up to 12.
Science
This term the children have learnt about forces and magnets. We also learned about different types of forces, how things move on different surfaces and how magnets work. We explored magnets through a range of experiments examining magnet strength, attraction and repulsion as well investigating a range of materials to see which were magnetic.
History
This half term we continued our enquiry into the Iron Age and we were asking the question, ‘How do artefacts help us understand the lives of people in Iron Age Britain?’
We looked at hill forts, coins and what life was like in Iron Age times. We looked at the artefacts left behind and to see what they could tell us about life 2000 years ago.
Geography
This term’s enquiry was ‘Why do some earthquakes cause more damage than others?’ We used atlases to locate the areas where earthquakes occur. We studied what causes earthquakes and why the largest earthquakes don’t always cause the most devastation. We looked at the factors involved.
Computing
Our topic this half term was spreadsheets. We learnt how to create pie charts and bar graphs, how to use the arrow button and spin button modes as well as how to use the advanced mode and coordinates. We looked at why we might want to display data in this way.
Design Technology
This term we looked at textiles and we designed and made our own bookmarks using cross stitch. We used binca material and embroidery threads. We learnt a running stitch, slant stitch and cross stitch.
P.E.
We have been learning the skills involved in athletics activities. We practised throwing techniques for javelin, shot put and discus. We also improved our running and jumping techniques for long distance as well as sprints and hurdles. We also had a coach from Burnley football club who helped us to think about making healthy choices and keeping fit.
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