Year 3 are showing racism the red card!

This week, we learnt about the importance of standing up to racism and wore red to highlight that racism has no place in our School Community.

Our Lady of Grace Junior School

Love, Opportunity, Growth

Dear Parents & Carers,

We would like to warmly welcome you to our Year 3 team. Our team include Miss Power and Miss McCormick , who are the two class teachers. Miss Ashley, Miss Veronika and Mrs Marshall will assist in supporting the children in all areas of their learning while Mrs Kevane will continue to teach French, Music and Computing.  Year 3 is an exciting and challenging year and we are very enthusiastic about the year ahead. It may be useful to have some information regarding routine, expectations and home learning.

Reading

Reading is a very important part of your child’s development and is a key indicator of success later in life. In Year 3 the expectations are very high and all children should be reading every day for at least 20 minutes at home. It is important that children develop their comprehension skills as well as their ability to decode words and read fluently. Therefore it is important to ask your child questions about their reading to confirm their understanding of a text. Your child should be completing detailed entries in their reading record nightly to reflect what they have read and understood that day.

Key Facts

It is very important that children develop a quick recall of their key mathematical facts in order to carry out a range of calculations quickly and accurately. All children in Year 3 should be able to fluently recall their multiplication facts and the related division facts with speed. This will help them to prepare for the National end of Year 4 times tables test in June 2021. Please ensure these are practised regularly.

Homework

The children will be set homework twice a week and this is designed to support and develop their learning in school. It is essential that all homework is completed to a high standard and is handed in on time.

English and Maths homework:  This is set on Monday and is due on Friday. English homework consists of either a reading comprehension activity or a grammar, punctuation and spelling activity. Maths homework consists of an online MyMaths activity based on the weekly Maths topic.

Spelling: The children will be given a set of spellings every Monday to be practised throughout the week for a test on Friday.

Weekend Homework: This is set on Friday and will either cover RE, Topic or Science. This should be handed back on the following Monday.

PE

Please ensure your child has their PE kit  in school every day including trainers.

We hope that your child has a successful and enjoyable year in Year 3 and we look forward to working with you more closely,

Miss Power and Miss McCormick

Thank you to Rocksteady Music for today's assembly.  We learnt about and heard (!), the instruments that make up a rock band.  We understood how an electric guitar can play in a rock style and the synthesizer can play some very unusual sounds! 

Year 3  are Reading Wizards! 

To complete our Year 3 Reading Challenge, we need to read ten books from the Reading Challenge Box.  Look out for these books as they have special stickers. There are a selection of books from different authors and different genres.

If we succeed and read all ten, we will be presented with a certificate and badge at the end of the year.  If any of the books are too challenging, then they can be shared at home as a family book. Look at the Year 3 badge below. 

Year 3 are Linguists!  

Year 3 begin their learning in French this Autumn term.  Our unit on Getting to Know you is lots of fun.  Already we have learned to greet each others.  Alongside learning new words (vocabulary), we will become language detectives in a sense, by listening and watching really carefully.  We already understand that French writing and letters can sound different.  We will concentrate on phonics and speaking this term.  Can you remember for which word we draw a giant imaginary clock?  Do actions work?  Bien sur!

Year 3 are Problem Solvers!

We are learning to communicate using technology.

Year 3 have a challenge this term, learning how to use new technology to communicate from a distance. Initially, this learning might present a challenge but with a lot of effort we will all become experts at understanding how Microsoft Office works.  When we can use this technology to communicate we will save paper by not printing worksheets and homework.   

Mindfulness

It is also incredibly important that the children have times in the day where they can relax. Please use the link below for different activities that use music, art and crafts and some PE games and also some morning and evening meditations.

We will ROCK you!

In Year 3, we have been learning all about Earth Rocks during the Autumn term.

We have looked at the different types of rocks as well as the rock cycle!

The children have been busy collecting rocks at home and in the playground. It has been super interesting finding out and investigating the properties of the rocks, too!

All about the Stone Age!

In Topic this term, we have been learning all about life during the Stone Age. We have enjoyed learning all about where the Stone Age people lived, what they ate, how they survived and made different types of shelters. We have focussed on the different periods of the Stone Age and how life changed throughout these times. 

We have even made some of our own cave paintings... take a look!

Capoeria!

In preparation for Black History Month, we were so lucky to have a very special visitor to teach us all about Capoeria. Capoeira is a Brazilian martial art that combines elements of dance, acrobatics, and music.

Take a look at some of our pictures...

Our Marvellous Maths!

Over the course of this term, we have been learning about Place Value. We have applied our Place Value skills to help us add and subtract accurately. We do lots of whiteboard work before starting independent tasks and use resources to help us too!

Gymnastics!

As part of PE this term, we have been developing our gymnastics skills. This has included learning different balances, transition movements and positioning smaller and larger body parts. We have started to combine these skills and create sequences in small groups. 

Take a look at some of our fantastic work...

Learning Resources

Practice French here. Click on the picture above.

Additionally, BBC Bitesize KS2 is excellent for educational and informative clips.