Ashurst Primary School

Year 3 class 

'Excellence Everyday'

'Learn, Live, Laugh and Love Ashurst'

Learn to be inspiring and make a difference to this world, we know how amazing you are,

Live with understanding and compassion for others, knowing we are all different and special in a community where equality stands tall,

Laugh and listen to the enjoyment of learning and excitement of everyone celebrating their achievements,

Love Ashurst, our special school and the hub of supportive staff, parents and children who aim high to be the best they can be.

Year 3 - Important Information

 About the Year 3 class 

Staff

Class Teacher - Miss E. Collier

HLTA  - Mr M. Bonnell 

Learning Assistants : Mrs J. Williams Mrs W.  Duffy

Year 3 is an exciting year as the children learn how to be more independent and practice skills to encourage independent learning such as researching on the internet and using books and dictionaries. They are encouraged to solve problems for themselves and rely less on support for day to day tasks. Presentation and handwriting is very important and as the children move into KS2 they learn how important it is to present their work well. Most children will earn their pen by the end of year 3 – but this can only be achieved once they are joining their writing, spelling accurately and presenting their work neatly.

Learning Environment 

We have a safe, caring learning environment where children’s individual talents and achievements are recognised and built upon. Mental health and well-being are high priority in Year 3.  We work hard to support the children to be happy and free from worry and anxieties.  We promote positive self-talk and resilience and guide children through any difficulties they face.  

All individuals

Each child enters Year 3 at a different stage. Therefore we treat every child as an individual and plan to cater for their individual needs. We understand that every child learns in a different way and has different interests and it is our aim to adapt our teaching to suit the children. We encourage their independence throughout, allowing them to take ownership of their learning and achievements and to understand how to solve problems on their own.

Rules and Routines

 At the beginning of the year, children are encouraged to contribute to our class rules and vision. This runs alongside the schools  policies and procedures and is expected to further improve the learning environment for all and in turn develop strategies for 'Behaviour for Learning'. Conversation and discussion are encouraged in Year 3 and is balanced with dedication to learn and succeed through quiet and independent work.        

Routine

• Doors open 8:45am
• Registration for Year 3 takes place at 8:55 am and the school day ends at 3:15pm 

What do we learn?

We have daily Maths and English/SPaG lessons.  We also have reading lessons to help us work on year group reading objectives.  In Maths, we use a mastery approach to enable all children to gain a deep understanding of the unit of work. The activities we complete range from practical to written in order to cater for the different learning needs of the children.  

We learn about lots of exciting topics such as the Stone Age, Animals and Humans, Ancient Egypt, Computer Coding, Painting and Sculpture, Spanish, PE, playing the Glockenspiel and different Religions. Click on the Long Term Plan and Topic Web documents for more information on the exciting learning journey that takes place each half term.

Important things to remember:

• Registration takes place promptly at 8:45am and the school day ends at 3:15pm - your child will enter and leave from the glass door, to the left of the main entrance.
• Please provide a healthy snack for your child to eat at 10:10am playtime. Lunch will be at 12:00pm.
• Each child can have their own water bottle on their desk, please provide these with their name on.
• PE for this year is on a MONDAY and FRIDAY, please ensure that your child comes into school wearing their PE Kit on these days. Children will continue to come into school in PE kits on their days for PE.  On these days children must wear the following PE uniform: Black jogging bottoms or black sports leggings, white PE tops , black hoody tops . Or a Summer PE kit : red shorts and the white PE top.
• Weekly homework will be set on a Friday and needs to be completed by the following Friday. This will usually consist of Math's, Spellings, SPAG.com (online), Reading Plus (online) and TT Rockstars (online)  but may at times relate to other subjects. 
• We will begin to send home reading books out as soon as we have read with your child.  Your child will select a new home reading book from the school library when they need to change it.  We encourage the children to read at home every night. This is part of the homework expectations and we appreciate your support with this. Your child has their own personal reading record for you to record their reading journey. We expect these to be completed every time your child reads their school book and reading records must be returned to school every FRIDAY.
• Topic webs will be uploaded onto this class page in the first week of each half term. Topic webs will inform you of the learning taking place that half term, you may wish to discuss key learning with your child at home. 
• Children are asked not to bring any other personal items into school; we will provide all necessary stationery.
• And finally, we will continue to use SEESAW to facilitate additional homework tasks. This will enable staff to set work, monitor work and provide feedback online.  

Book recommendations for Year 3

 Follow the link below to view a wealth of recommended books for your child in Year 3. You will never be short of book suggestions with this site. Children we hope you find something you love.

 https://www.thereaderteacher.com/year3

Year 3 Long Term Plan 2024-2025

Year 3 Topic Webs

Learning 2024-2025

Autumn Term

English

Fiction - The Stone Trolls
One of our Talk 4 Writing model text is 'The Stone Trolls', an exciting warning story in the village of Vik, set in Iceland. Take a look at our story map, that helps us to imitate the story. We have observed different trolls from within movies and discovered that trolls can be mischievous and helpful.

We have explored the model text and practiced writing skills that the author has used - subordinating clauses, conjunctions, prepositions and fronted adverbials.

Maths
Place Value

In Maths, we are exploring the topic of Place Value. We have been introduced to hundreds and 3-digit numbers. We enjoy using base 10 to represent and partition numbers to 100. We have explored "flexible partitioning" and understand different ways 3-digit numbers can be presented.

Addition and Subtraction

We have been learning different methods to add and subtract 3-digit numbers. To begin with, we used a number line. We jumped to the nearest 10 or 100 before adding and subtracting even more! Then, we have been learning how to use the column method for addition and subtraction. We have loved using this method, especially when we have to exchange 10s and 1s.

Reading
 The Bare Necessities - The first text we have explored are the lyrics "The Bare Necessities". We used dictionaries to find the meaning of some words within the lyrics. We then discussed Baloo's character and whether he enjoyed his life in the jungle.

The Twits - We have loved reading about the Twits. We focused on the personalities of Mr and Mrs Twit and discussed what impression we get from the words Roald Dahl has used when describing the Twits.

See Inside Your Body - Year 3 have had so much fun exploring this text. We are really enjoying finding out information about bones and muscles within our bodies. This text has really helped us with our Science work. A member of our class even found the book at the library!

Martin Luther King - As part of Black History Month, we looked at the life of Martin Luther King. We watched his famous speech "I have a dream" and we discussed how his feelings changed from being a young boy to after his speech.

Science
Animals including Humans - The Human Body

We are really enjoying learning about the human body. We can name and explain how some bones help to support and protect our bodies and how they help to move our body. We have also discovered that muscles are attached to each bone and they pull bones to make them move. We then explored different types of skeletons - endoskeletons, exoskeltons and hydrostatic skeletons.

History
The Stone Age

In History, we are exploring "The Stone Age". We have discovered that this happened millions of years ago, after dinosaurs existed. We have found out The Stone Age was a long period and it was split into three different periods - Paleolithic Period, Mesolithic Period and Neolithic Period. Each period became more advanced - their homes, food, clothing, transport and skills.
We had a debate - which period would you have liked to have lived in? The ideas from the children to explain why they chose each period were amazing!

Geography
The geographical characteristics of the UK

We are exploring the UK and the geographical characteristics of the UK and our region. We have discovered there are 4 countries, 12 regions and 48 counties. We live in England, in the North West region and in the county Merseyside. We have explored physical and human features of our county and we investigated human and physical features at the Albert Docks.

Art
Sculptures - Barbara Hepworth

We are using the art of Barbara Hepworth as inspiration for our art this term. We have observed the work of Barbara Hepworth and discovered that she made huge sculptures for outside. We have explored using the medium clay, where we had a go at manipulating the clay into different shapes and pieces. Take a look at our final sculptures!

PE
Basketball

We have really enjoyed learning how to play basketball this term. We have developed our dribbling skills and we can now move around the court by running whilst dribbling a ball. We have enjoyed applying this skill to mini basketball games.

Enrichment in Y3
We are very lucky to experience a variety of opportunities alongside our learning:

• We have taken part in an "Online Safety" session with St Helens Council. Here we discussed how to stay safe online and the information we should not be sharing online.
• As part of "World Mental Health Day", we came to school wearing yellow. We watched doodle boy and had time to doodle.
• For "World Science Week", Year 3 explored the importance of "Space Scientists". We looked at how their job helps to identify climate change and how their findings can educate others.
• W enjoyed coming to school in our odd socks for "Anti-bullying Week". We joined CBBC for a live lesson where we learnt how to play fair, work together and show respect.