English 

In English, year 3 have been looking at the story “The King who Banned the Dark,” by Emily Howarth-Booth. We began by making predictions and using our inference skills with the images as to where the story was set and who the characters might be. We built up our inferences about the King as the story went along. Once we learnt that the prince was scared of the dark, we pretended to be Agony Aunts, and wrote letters to the prince to give him advice and suggestions. When the boy became king and banned the dark, we thought this was a momentous occasion, and so we learnt about newspaper reports, the difference between fact and fiction, and wrote the lead paragraph and quotes for a newspaper report. We have also developed our descriptive writing skills using the process of slow writing. Later on, we began to look at poetry, learning that poems are usually written around a theme. We have explored a range of vocabulary relating to our geography topic of earthquakes, and used this to write similes and Kenning poems about earthquakes. 

Reading Hour   

During the reading hour, we have continued to work on our phonics using Bug Club. We have worked hard to complete the learning from phases 5 and 6. Each reading group in class has also read a new book from bug club each week, and completed a carousel of reading activities based on this book. We have also been working hard on our retrieval skills in comprehension. 

Maths 

In Maths, year 3 worked hard to understand the formal method of subtraction, and are able to explain how and when to make an exchange across a column. We have also worked hard to learn to count in 3’s and 4’s, relating this to the times tables and dividing using counters and arrays. 

Science 

In Science, we have looked at the topic on light. We have learnt what a light source is, and the difference between human-made and natural light. We also learnt that sunlight can be dangerous for our eyes and skin, and that we have to use protection on a sunny day. We then discussed reflections and reflective materials, and conducted an experiment into how by using 2 mirrors and changing the angle of these, you can see multiple reflections on the mirrors. Later, we classified objects as ‘opaque’, ‘translucent’ and ‘transparent’, and then investigated to find that only opaque and translucent objects can cast shadows, because they block the light. We also experimented to find how to make shadows bigger or smaller. 

Geography 

In geography, we have continued to study earthquakes. We looked at how the Earth is made up of an inner core, outer core, mantle and crust, and that the crust is made of tectonic plates. We learnt that these plates are always moving, and how and why earthquakes occur at the fault lines between these plates. We then understood that the reason that New Zealand experiences many earthquakes is because it lies over 2 different tectonic plates! We were able to locate epicentres of earthquakes on a map, learnt he terms ‘magnitude’ and ‘Richter scale’, and discuss why some earthquakes can be more devastating than others. 

PSHE 

In PSHE, we have looked at Jane Goodall’s true inspirational story about her passion to work with animals, and the hard work she has to put in to make her dreams a reality. We have then had a lot of really good discussion about what goals and aspirations we have for the future, whether this be for our jobs, or skills that we would like to have. We then discussed what we need to work hard at now to make these achievable.  

RE 

In RE, we have been looking at what a miracle is. We have then looked at 2 different stories from the Christian Bible to make our own opinions about whether Jesus was a miracle worker. 

PE 

In PE, the children have been working on their throwing and batting skills, and applying this to the game of cricket. We have also been learning to choreograph a dance routine based around a superhero, using jumps, turns, travelling, different heights and dancing using mirroring and in canon. 

Spanish 

In Spanish, we have become really confident with counting up to 10. We have learnt the names of lots of colours in Spanish, and used this to complete colour by numbers in Spanish, and be able to introduce ourselves and what our favourite colour is. We have begun to learn the names of different fruits and vegetables. 

Art 

In art, we have looked at and discussed how the Stone Age people created artwork in their caves of the animals that were around, and talked about why they did this, and what materials they would have used. We used pictures of animals that we can see around us today to do line drawings based on shapes. We then replicated these using charcoal. Next, we had a go at making our own pre-historic paints by mixing flour and water with spices and things that we could find around the school grounds. 

Music

This half term our Avengers were given a musical challenge! – Compose the lyrics to a Call and Response style song.We listened to several examples before deciding which tune to follow/ magpie to then add in our composed our lyrics.

We listened and sang along to – Boom, Chikka Boom, Michael Row Your Boat, Kye, Kye, Kule and Frere Jacques. We had a go a singing Frere Jacques and Michael Row in two parts.

We celebrated Chinese New Year 2023 is the year of the rabbit. The children listened to Chinese Music and had great fun using dance ribbons creating shapes and making them dance to Chinese music.

Singing

The children have worked in groups and in pairs to compose a Coronation fanfare for King Charles. Whilst studying about fanfares, the pupils have understood how a piece of music can be put together. They have engaged in performing and experimenting and improvising in order to decide on the order of the melody and the rhythm.  The children have used, rhythm combinations based on crotchets, quavers and semiquavers.  All the children then had their pieces recorded; used the correct rhythmic notation and have a copy in the music books of their own composition.

Children were then given verbal feedback to which they have given their own responses to how well they feel they coped with writing a fanfare and how they could improve it.