Friday, 29th November 2024
Dear Year 3 Parents,
It’s been a great week in Year 3!
We started with our visit to Danau Primary School. It was a really great experience and supported our PSHE learning journey of ‘Celebrating Differences’ very effectively. We were able to see how another school is similar and different to our own. Our Year 3 learners were able to use our learning power of communication with the children of Danau Primary school and we were also able to share different aspects of our cultures with each other. Many thanks to the volunteer parents who accompanied us – we greatly appreciated your support.
We’ve continued to read ‘The Stolen Spear’ in our VIPERS sessions and this has complemented our narrative writing of a Stone Age story. Each class has their own storyline that they are writing together before we begin the independent writing phase next week.
In maths we have continued to develop our multiplication and division skills, focussing on learning the four times tables and drawing on the fact that any number can be multiplied by four by doubling it and doubling it again! With this in mind, children have been encouraged to work on more challenging problem-solving tasks.
In science, we consolidated our knowledge on fossils and produced a leaflet about how fossils are formed. We discussed the question, ‘Why do you think fossils are not usually found in igneous or metamorphic rocks?’ Ask your child to give an explanation to this at home, drawing on their knowledge of the different types of rocks and the conditions needed for fossilisation to occur.
In history, we were able to create our own models of the roundhouses that humans lived in during the Iron Age. Working collaboratively with a partner, learners were able to make their structure and to furnish it with accessories. This combined both historical exploration and creativity very effectively.
In French, we finished our ‘Devinez qui c’est…’ (Guess who…) profiles with a sentence about the animals we either do or don’t have as pets in our homes.
In RE, we began to explore the Christian festival of Christmas and will continue to enjoy this festival over the next couple of lessons.
In PSHE, we further explored bullying and specifically what it means to be a ‘witness’, a ‘bystander’ and an ‘instigator’ of bullying. We discussed and worked on possible solutions to bullying scenarios.
Computing this week has enabled children to further develop their touch-typing skills focussing on the keys used by the right hand. In addition, they have worked on their Stone Age cartoon they are creating to consolidate their ‘snip and paste’ skills alongside practicing their typing skills. Please allow access for your child to PurpleMash to show you the games and activities on 2Type. (You will need a laptop or PC for this).
We look forward to welcoming you into school to watch our KS2 Christingle performance on Wednesday 11th December at 1300hrs.
Best wishes for a fun weekend ahead,
Mr Cunningham and Mrs Brown
Year 3 PE – Gymnastics
Friday, 22nd November 2024
Dear Parents,
We have been fully engaged with more challenging tasks in Year 3 this week and it’s great to see how the children’s enthusiasm has shaped and guided the learning.
Our VIPERS reading sessions have taken us further into the world of Wolf and Shadow, Stone Age characters, from ‘The Stolen Spear’, who have set off on an adventurous journey of discovery. We’ve been using this as a stimulus for our own narrative writing planning this week. Each class has planned their own shared Stone Age narrative, considering our own unique characters, their characteristics, thoughts and feelings. We’re ready to begin to write our shared narrative next week. In spelling work, we have completed our study of words that include the ‘ch’ spelling to make a ‘sh’ sound each as ‘chandelier’.
This week in our historical exploration of the Stone Age eras, we learned about how housing developed from our starting point of caves to, in the later Neolithic period, round houses. We considered the materials used to make these homes and the ways in which their use impacted on the lives of those living in them.
In maths we have continued our unit of work on multiplication and division, with a particular focus on learning the three times tables and the related division facts. We have extended our mathematical understanding by applying knowledge to work out more challenging problems.
Please remember to access Times Table Rock Stars (https://ttrockstars.com/) to have fun whilst boosting fluency.
In Science, we have explored the layers of the Earth including the inner and outer core, mantle and crust. Ask your child about the model they made to demonstrate their knowledge of the rocks and soils beneath our feet. An additional (yummy) homework challenge has been set which I’m sure will be fun for the whole family. A highlight this week was the visit from Mrs Catherine Tongue, who shared many interesting facts during a hands-on session in the hall exploring her extensive collection of fossils, some dating millions and millions of years back!
In French, we worked hard to read a description of someone to know what clothes they were wearing and also wrote a sentence to say what clothes we like to wear, for example ‘J’aime porter une jupe verte.’
In RE, we read a beautiful book entitled ‘The Life of the Buddha’ to help us to understand more about the context of the celebrations of Vesak or Buddha day, celebrated by Buddhists around the world.
In PSHE, we explored family conflict scenarios and a JIGSAW technique for working through these – the ‘Solve It Technique’.
Computing this week has enabled children to develop their touch-typing skills focussing on the keys used by the left hand. They engaged in timed challenges to continue to develop their typing fluency.
Excitement took over as we started sewing our leather pouches in Design and Technology this week. With careful precision and resilience, we look forward to seeing the children progress with their fine motor skills and bring their Stone Age pouches to life!
We have begun to put together our Y3 Christingle performance and practice in classes and as a year group. Please continue to support your child in learning their given lines for this year’s KS2 Christmas extravaganza!
Best wishes for a great weekend of family fun ahead,
Mr Cunningham and Mrs Brown
Thursday, 14th November 2024
Dear Parents,
Another busy week in Year 3 has flown by in a flurry of powerful learning. It’s a pleasure to work with our learners and to see their progress as the weeks pass.
We’ve continued to read ‘The Stolen Spear’ in our reading VIPERS sessions with learners increasingly being able to independently return to the text to retrieve key information.
Using ‘The Stolen Spear’ as our stimulus, we have also begun a narrative unit of writing, this week exploring the setting of the Orkney Islands and use of prepositions and expanded noun phrases to describe the setting.
In our spelling work, we’ve begun our exploration of the ‘ch’ spelling making a ‘sh’ sound. This learning can be embedded further with the homework activities coming home on Friday.
Our exploration of the Stone Age in history has journeyed further on through time to the way in which the introduction of iron changed society.
In maths this week we started our of unit of work on multiplication and division.
‘Hit the Button’ and ‘Paint the Squares’ are good examples of games from https://www.topmarks.co.uk/ offering free quality multiplication and division consolidation online.
In Science, we have explored in more depth the three types of rocks in the Rock Cycle and how they are formed over millions of years. Ask your child about igneous, sedimentary and metamorphic rocks! The children have observed these rocks closely using magnifying glasses, torches and a microscope and chosen their favourite to write a short report about, including classification and making observation drawings. On Tuesday next week, we are looking forward to welcoming a geologist from Panaga to share her passion, expertise and collection of fossils.
Adding further to our French language knowledge, we investigated items of clothing so that we can begin to communicate what we like to wear, as part of our ‘Devinez qui c’est’ (Guess who…) profiles.
Vesak, the Buddhist festival also known as ‘Buddha Day’ was our focus in RE this week.
It was fun to see the array of odd socks worn on Tuesday to celebrate ‘Anti-Bullying week’ and diversity. In PSHE this week, we continued to explore diversity within families, incorporating the ‘Anti-Bullying week’ message of ‘Choose Respect’.
Computing this week has enabled children to develop their touch-typing skills using the home row, top row or bottom row keys. They have now begun to integrate mixed row keys, moving across all three rows more confidently.
This week we have practised the ‘side stitch’ in Design and Technology using BINCA to support learning. We continue to call out for additional parent helpers each Friday between 1215-1315hrs.
This week, learners will be bringing home song words for the upcoming Christmas Christingle performance. This will help them to practise the songs that Miss Bonner has been teaching in music. They will also bring home the script for the Year 3 element of the performance – a short nativity scene. Please support your child in learning their given lines for this Y3 montage.
With many thanks and best wishes for a great weekend ahead,
Mr Cunningham and Mrs Brown
Friday, 8th November 2024
Dear Parents,
Yet another productive week in Year 3 as we have continued to use ‘Stone age to Iron Age’ as a driver for excellent learning.
Our VIPERS reading sessions have taken us into Stone Age fiction as we begin to enjoy the story of ‘The Stolen Spear’. The story already has us gripped with anticipation to find out what will happen to Wolf and his dog, Shadow.
In Spelling, we’ve been honing our skills of using ‘ch’ as a ‘k’ sound. Next week, our focus will continue to be ‘ch’ but this time making a ‘sh’ sound such as ‘chef’.
Year 3 writers have written fantastic letters this week, from the perspective of an individual who has been transported back in time to the Stone Age. The writing has been incredibly impressive and our learners really engaged with the experiences they were sharing, immersing themselves in the flow of writing in an informal style with great descriptive details.
This week brings our addition and subtraction unit of work to a close – please refer to the homework sheet for details. Next week in Maths we will begin multiplication and division. You will be pleased to know that Times Table Rock Stars https://ttrockstars.com/ is up and running and the children’s cut-off time has been extended to 8.30pm (but an earlier finish is recommended for Year 3!) Please find the log ins in the front cover of the reading records.
In Science, we have explored one of the 3 main types of rocks and touched on how igneous rocks are formed. The children enjoyed investigating the properties of a variety of different rocks including chalk, limestone, sandstone, pumice, basalt, slate and marble. Which is the best rock to make a kitchen worktop from? How about a skatepark, roof or a statue? I’m sure your child will be happy to talk to you about their findings and conclusions!
In computing, we have enjoyed the challenge of developing our touch-typing skills further. Children used their column addition skills to work out which rows of keys require additional practice – home row, top row or bottom row keys?
In history, we have made our way into the Bronze age, learning about how bronze was created and the impact this change of material use had on society.
In French, we reviewed our learning to date by reading a description of a ‘Guess Who’ character, working out who was being described. We also began to add some accessories vocabulary to our ability to describe someone – glasses, beard, hat and so on.
Eid al-Adha was the festival that we explored this week in our RE learning. We learned about the varied aspects of this Muslim festival and were stunned at the number of Muslims who encircle the Kaaba during the Hajj.
We began a unit in PSHE entitled ‘Celebrating Difference’. This enabled us to consider the differences and similarities between people. We would be grateful if each child could please send a (framed) family photo into class next week to support this work. We will return these at the end of the school year. Many thanks.
We also began to focus on ‘bullying’ in readiness for next week’s ‘Anti-bullying week’, which we will be focusing on across school. The theme of the week is ‘Choose Respect’. Odd-socks day is being celebrated on Tuesday 12th November across the UK – children can come to school wearing odd socks for the day, which will hopefully inspire some conversations on how we are all different and unique and how these differences can bring us together and make us stronger.
In Design and Technology we have continued to sew our BINCA pouch focussing on the side stitch. The children are getting excited as we near the time for beginning to sew real leather Stone Age pouches! Please get in touch if you are able to support the children with their sewing lessons, which will be held each week on a Friday (1215-1315hrs). Interested parents will not need to attend every session – but we would be grateful for any support, if you are free!
Finally, many thanks for your ongoing support at home and please be reminded to contact us regarding any aspect of your child’s learning. We’re always happy to help!
Best wishes,
Mr Cunningham and Mrs Brown
Halloween Discos Thanks
Hornbill House Point Trophy Term 1.1
Please find below the total number of house points received by each house team during the first half term this year. House points are awarded in recognition of each child’s hard work, particularly focussing on the school’s learning powers of: Reflection, Communication, Creativity, Courage, Curiosity, Exploration, Energy and Resilience.
Congratulations to every child for their contribution towards these totals!
Friday, 1st November 2024
Dear Parents,
We hope that you enjoyed a wonderful half term break.
This week in Year 3, we’ve been busy continuing to maximise our learning each day.
In Term 1.2 we expect all children to complete their homework on time. Please remind your child to hand in their homework (given each Friday in the homework folders) by Wednesday. Many thanks for your support with this.
In reading VIPERS we have been using non-fiction texts this week. They have centred around archaeological digs and the findings from these discoveries. Not only have we been able to rehearse our reading skills, and explore new vocabulary, we have also learned more about how people lived in the Stone Age era.
In spelling we have begun the first of two weeks of exploring the ‘ch’ spelling as a ‘k’ sound. Our focus words include: Christmas, mechanic and orchestra, amongst others. We will continue to investigate this pattern next week.
In English writing we have read and analysed a letter sent by someone who has time travelled to the Stone Age. We explored its grammatical features including a focus on apostrophes for omission. We then worked collaboratively to write a shared letter from the Stone Age. Next week, we will independently write our own letters using the experience and model of our shared writing.
This week we have continued to develop addition and subtraction strategies in Maths. There has been a particular focus on formal written methods for adding and subtracting 3-digit numbers with an exchange, as well as using number lines to support visually.
We have all enjoyed the first lessons in Science for our new topic Rocks and Soils. The children have engaged positively, discovering rocks around the school grounds. We have been working scientifically to group and classify some rocks and identify them by name and properties.
Although we have now finished our unit of Online Safety, we will continue to revisit and reiterate the importance of keeping safe online throughout the year. Children have enjoyed the challenge of developing their touch-typing skills in computing this week. Please log in to Purple Mash using a laptop or desktop computer and ask your child to show you the activities practised in 2Type. Have a go – it’s trickier than you think!
In history, we explored the Beaker people and the way in which their culture of creating clay beakers spread from country to country. We used clay to create our own beakers in the style of those people from long ago.
In French, we added to our ‘Devinez qui c’est’ profile information about what we like to do in our spare time.
In RE, we began a new investigation, ‘Why are festivals important to religious communities?’. We began with an exploration of the Muslim festival of Eid-al-Fitr.
In PSHE, we continued to work on the welcome cards that we are creating for an imaginary new class member, considering the way in which we can use encouragement and kind words to support others.
In Design and Technology this week we have begun to sew a mock pouch using BINCA and the running stitch. We are continuing to reach out to those parents who are able to give up an hour on Fridays to support both classes. Please let us know if you can support these sessions (1215-1315hrs). Many thanks.
Many thanks for your support. It was great to meet with you to speak at the parents’ meetings this week.
Best wishes,
Mr Cunningham and Mrs Brown
Friday, 18th October 2024
Dear Y3 Parents,
Welcome to our last blog of the half term. Imagine, exactly fifty years ago today Mr Cunningham was a tiny new-born baby, being held dearly in his parents’ arms! We managed to pop into the hall this morning and celebrate with a mini karaoke party!
It’s important that children use their knowledge of place value to make connections and consolidate what they have learnt so far in the Addition and Subtraction unit of work. In maths, we have been practising adding and subtracting 1s, 10s and 100s to/from 3-digit numbers, both with and without the need to cross a 10 or a 100. The focus is to develop number sense through exploring the connections between calculations. For example, if children know 5 + 7 = 12, then they also know that 12 – 5 = 7, 120 – 50 = 70 and 50 + 70 = 120.
In reading, VIPERS, we have returned to the fictional text ‘Stig of the Dump’ to see how Barney and Stig build their unusual relationship. Focusing on vocabulary exploration and retrieval from the text, we have been developing our reading skills. We had good conversations about what it means to have a sense of humour, sharing the different things that make us laugh.
In spelling, we have had a one week focus on split digraph Common Exception Words such as complete, arrive and suppose. We investigated both the split digraph (a-e, e-e, i-e, o-e, u-e) and the other notable aspects to focus on, such as the silent ‘u’ in ‘guide’. Our next spelling pattern to explore is the use of ‘ch’ to make a ‘k’ sound in words such as ‘chorus’.
In writing, we have been able to celebrate the culmination of our half term’s endeavours by publishing our non-chronological reports about prehistoric animals – a subject that we have all built up a fascinated level of expertise in. We have published our writing in a variety of ways, making use of technology to create high-quality, polished outcomes which we are very proud of.
This week in Science, we have given the children the opportunity to showcase their scientific knowledge with an end of unit assessment and information sheet to add to their books. We will continue to revisit and build upon aspects of Animals Including Humans throughout the year. Next half term we will be starting a new topic of Rocks and Soils.
We have been busy typing up our non-chronological reports in computing. We are beginning to navigate the school computer system to save, retrieve and edit work in your child’s folder. We have started to explore Publisher to practise typing and redrafting edited versions of their written texts. The children have explored how to use shortcuts to copy, paste and snip as well as beginning to drag, resize, format and delete text boxes. We used safe search sites such as https://www.yahoo.com/lifestyle/tagged/kids/ and https://kids.nationalgeographic.com/search to find appropriate images to add to the reports.
DT has continued this week with children practising sewing a mock pouch on a piece of hessian fabric. Threading needles and getting the stitching done effectively can be a challenge for some of our learners. If you are able to spare an hour on a Friday afternoon next half term to support this, then please let us know.
In history, we brought together the knowledge we have gained so far this term to create drawn images of the people, animals and environments that we have grown to understand and know better. Using bold lines and carefully researched images, we have been able to create a visual representation of the Stone Age…with plenty of room to add more during our second half term of learning.
In RE, we learned more about the festival of Dashain and drew images to reflect this important Hindu celebration.
In French, our ‘Devinez qui c’est’ (Guess who) profile was developed with the addition of information about foods which we like and dislike.
Your child may choose to do their homework over the half term. But we are sure that no matter what the children choose to do, they will be sure to keep safe, have fun and return with a beaming smile ready for Term 1.2 on Monday 28th October.
Please be reminded that parents’ meetings are scheduled for Tuesday 30th October and Wednesday 1st November at 2.00 – 4.30pm. Please book a convenient time slot online.
Halloween Discos will take place on Thursday 31st October! We wish you a very happy half term ahead with quality family time and new experiences shared!
With best wishes,
Mr Cunningham and Mrs Brown
Hornbill School Council 2024-2025
We would like to thank all of the children who participated in our elections, particularly the children who presented to their class and put their names forward as potential candidates. We were incredibly impressed with the way you presented your ideas to your classmates. You all showed great courage, enthusiasm, communication skills and resilience.
Votes have now been counted and we are delighted to announce our Hornbill School Council for 2024-2025. I am sure that they are going to be a fantastic team and we are looking forward to working with them over the next year.
Well done everyone!
Football Fun Day
Friday, 11th October 2024
Dear Y3 Parents,
Another busy week comes to an end in Year 3! We are so pleased with our learners, their great energy for exploration and their daily conscientious endeavours.
This week in spelling, we have continued our exploration of the ‘ou’ letter string creating the short ‘u’ sound in words such as ‘nourish’ and ‘courage’. We have been applying our developing knowledge of this spelling pattern to games and dictation sentences. Coming home this weekend is the parent poster for our new spelling focus – ‘common exception words with split digraphs’.
In reading, we independently explored a number of non-fiction paragraphs about Stone Age discoveries, retrieving and recording information from the text.
In writing, we added ‘apostrophes for possession’ to our writing tool kit and then began our sequence of shared and independent writing to create a non-chronological report about prehistoric creatures. This week we have written about the procoptodon, the entelodon and the woolly mammoth. It’s great to see our learners applying their writing skills to their paragraphs so effectively.
If you have access to BBC iPlayer, some children might like to watch an episode of Ice Age Giants, which uses digital wizardry to bring to life some of the extinct animals we have been learning about in detail this week: https://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episodes/p018c9fm/ice-age-giants
In French this week, we added to our ‘Devinez qui c’est’ (Guess who…) profile, information about our families, specifically our siblings.
In RE, we investigated two Hindu statues we have in our school – the deities Saraswati and Ganesha. Next week, we will learn about the Dashain festival and will use this video: Dashain Festival (youtube.com) to share images and explanation of the festival. If you have any concerns about the element that shows the preparation of a sacrificed goat, please let us know prior to Tuesday’s lesson.
In History, we explored the life and death of a Stone Age man named Otzi. We were interested to find out about the way that archaeologists and scientists have worked out so much about him from the evidence of his body as well as the accompanying clothes and tools that were preserved with him in the ice. This amazing discovery of a preserved body from 5300 years ago, has given the world so much evidence of life at the end of the Neolithic era.
We are continuing with the Addition and Subtraction unit in maths. We have been polishing skills such as adding 100 to any three digit number and discovering and talking about the patterns we spot. Again, a quick recall of number bonds to 10 supports understanding and technique when bridging through the tens and hundreds. Children have developed their mathematical sense by working systematically and continue to use known number facts such as 5 + 2 = 7 to work with larger numbers like 50 + 20 = 70 or 500 + 200 = 700.
This week in Science the children have explored nutrition further as one of the seven life processes that all living things need to survive.We discussed how all animals, no matter how big or small, need the right type of nutrition. We looked at the proportions of fruit & vegetables, carbohydrates, dairy, protein and sugars & fats that humans need to stay healthy.
We hope that all families enjoy the long weekend and, for those celebrating, we wish you a very Happy Dashain!
With best wishes,
Mr Cunningham and Mrs Brown
Hornbill School House Team Football
Friday, 4th October 2024
Dear Parents,
It’s been another productive week in Year 3 and we are proud of the positive learning behaviours displayed, such as independent reflection on outcomes and demonstrating good levels of creativity.
Thank you to our courageous candidates who stood up in front of their class to present their ideas and hope to be elected for this year’s school council. What a confident bunch! We are all quite excited about the elections, which will be held in the Gill Theatre next Thursday.
This week, in spelling work, we began our two-week exploration of the short ‘u’ sound spelt with ‘ou’. We have been investigating the etymology of our focus words and have spotted that many come from ‘old French’ words. There are further activities in the homework folders to embed this spelling pattern.
In VIPERS reading, we have exploredStone Age poetry. Using three different poems, we have explored the way that different authors depict our focus time period through poetic language. The Michael Rosen poem, ‘I was born in the Stone Age’ made us laugh. Perhaps you could look it up together to see why it made us giggle.
More reading rewards have been handed out this week and it’s great to see how the sense of pride shines through when learners show us that they have achieved the next award at the back of their reading records. Thanks for your ongoing support with this.
In writing, we are continuing our journey towards writing a non-chronological report about prehistoric creatures. This week, we have added to our writing toolbox: exploration of the structure of paragraphs (ask your child about the mnemonic TIDE), adverbs of manner, time and place, subordination using ‘because’, ‘since’ and ‘as’ and the construction of expanded noun phrases.
In French, we added to our ‘Devinez qui c’est’ (Guess who…) profiles, information about our hair – its colour, length and texture.
In RE, we began to explore the Hindu concept of God and the polytheistic nature of this religion, compared with the monotheistic Christian and Islamic religions we have explored so far.
In history, our exploration took us into the Neolithic period (the ‘new’ Stone Age). We learned about changes that occurred to the way humans lived at this time, including the revolution that farming brought to the way humans ate and provided food for themselves.
In PSHE, we explored the way in which our classroom learning charter should reflect the importance of rights and responsibilities and how it can make us feel comfortable in our learning environment.
We have begun a new unit in maths – Addition and Subtraction. Children have recapped on their fluency skills of quick recall of number bonds to 10 and applied this to work with bonds to 100 and 1000. Using known number facts such as 5 + 2 = 7, children have practised developing their number sense by deriving sentences such as 25 + 2 = 27 and 425 + 2 = 427. We have played a variety of paired or team games to reinforce addition facts and facilitate deeper understanding.
This week in Science the children have enjoyed looking closely at the skeletons of a variety of vertebrates. They have explored their favourite animals and chosen to write a short report using Pic Collage on their iPads. Additionally, we planned and carried out an experiment to seek answers to whether ‘Children with a greater handspan can throw further!’
We are currently investigating ‘Appropriate Content and Ratings’ in computing. In Year 3 it’s important to learn about the meaning of age restrictions symbols on digital media and devices, discuss why PEGI restrictions exist and know where to turn for help if they see inappropriate content or have inappropriate contact from others. A follow up discussion on internet safety at home would further their understanding of keeping safe online.
Best wishes for a fun, family weekend ahead,
Mr Cunningham and Mrs Brown
Mile-A-Thon
Friday, 27th September 2024
Dear Parents,
Another busy week in Year 3 has flown by in a whirl of fantastic endeavour and positive outcomes!
In spelling work, we have continued to investigate the ‘y’ making a short ‘i’ spelling pattern. We will now be moving on to two weeks investigating the ‘ou’ making a short ‘u’ spelling pattern in words such as ‘double’ and ‘southern’. The new parent poster and a crossword activity for this spelling pattern is coming home today.
In our VIPERS (vocabulary, inference, prediction, explanation, retrieval and summarising) reading work, we have used three texts to learn about Mary Anning and her wonderful legacy in the world of fossil hunting. We have used a range of reading skills to consider these texts which have helped us to learn about Mary’s life.
We appreciate the written comments in your child’s reading records. If you require ideas for ‘Quality Reading Record Comments’ then please see page 9 in the reading record. In Year 3 you should still be reading with your child and we politely ask that this is recorded with a daily comment. Thank you!
In our writing work, we have explored two different non-chronological reports about prehistoric animals, noting the features of a report and hunting for them in the text. We have also begun to build our writing toolkit for our own non-chronological reports by investigating the use of commas in lists and co-ordinating conjunctions.
In French, we added to our ‘Devinez qui c’est…’ (Guess who…) profile, information about the colour of our eyes.
In RE, we added to our knowledge of Christian metaphors for God, an exploration of the 99 names for Allah that Muslims use to express their belief about the characteristics of God. We explored the similarities and differences between these and the Christian metaphors.
In History, we explored the changing sources of food and methods of hunting and cooking between the Palaeolithic and Mesolithic eras of the Stone Age.
In PSHE, we explored the importance of rights and responsibilities. We explored scenarios and how these might play out in a school environment in terms of rights and responsibilities that we both have and don’t have.
In Design and Technology this week we continued with sewing practice using the weaving templates started last Friday, extending sewing techniques and by creating challenging patterns. Thank you to those parents who are able to give up an hour on Fridays. Please do get in touch with the office if you can support these sessions (1215-1315hrs). We would love to welcome you back into our unit.
This week rounds up our Place Value unit in Maths. We have begun to showcase our understanding and skills by ordering a range of numbers up to 1000. Children have revised their PV skills by using concrete resources to solve problems and ‘draw’ the numbers they are working with. An important step has been teaching the children how to make good mathematical sense of numbers when multiplying them by ten. We have begun counting in 50s and showing off with the 50 times tables!
This week in Science the children have engaged positively in identifying animals with backbones (vertebrates) and comparing them with animals that do not have a backbone (invertebrates). We have investigated a range of bones, feathers, skin, horns, antlers, eggs, quills and teeth! Please send in any examples you may have at home should you like to share them with our classes. We welcome any additional exhibits from vertebrates such as birds, mammals, fish, reptiles or amphibians!
Children have further developed their online safety skills in computing this week and developed their mock webpage to make it more believable and realistic. Please log in to Purple Mash at home to view your child’s work and engage in discussions about how to keep safe online.
We are very pleased with the way in which families are engaging with the opportunity to reinforce maths and spelling learning at home each week. Please support your child to remember their homework folder on Fridays when we will add the new homework for the week.
With best wishes to all Year 3 families for a wonderful weekend and with many thanks for your support,
Mr Cunningham and Mrs Brown
Hornbill School Council 2024-2025
I am delighted to announce that we are looking for a new Hornbill School Council team for this academic year. Last year, our School Council worked incredibly hard to share some great ideas, organise events and make improvements across the school.
I have already spoken to the children in assembly about the responsibilities around becoming a member of our School Council Team. We are looking for 2 representatives from each year in Years 2- 5. Year 6 will have 3 representatives as we will need a Chairperson, a Treasurer and a Secretary.
We are planning to hold elections on Thursday 10th of October, which will take place in the Gill Theatre during the school day. If your child is interested in becoming a school council member they will be asked to share a short presentation with their class during the week leading up to the elections (Monday 30th September – Friday 4th October). They will need to explain to their class why they would be a great member of our Hornbill School Council. We are looking for children who are keen to listen to the ideas of their classmates and to share these in regular school council meetings.
If your child is interested in this opportunity, please support them in preparing for a talk for their class. If you have any further questions, please speak to yourclass teacher or Mrs Cunningham.
Thank you for your support.
Friday, 20th September 2024
Dear parents,
It’s been a busy and productive week in Year 3. We are proud of the ongoing efforts and resilience the children are showing whilst settling into their new Year 3 classes.
In Design and Technology, we will be making a leather pouch to hold precious stones, artefacts or stone age tools. We are looking for parent volunteers to assist with our sewing unit. If you could spare an hour a week on Fridays (12.15 – 1315hrs) then please get in touch with the office. Many thanks!
Well done to all the children who have received their next reading award from reading at home. There have even been some new Hornbill school reading badges and books awarded for 250 and 300 reads!
Polite reminder – our slot to change library books is on Mondays. Thank you for supporting your children to remember this.
This week in English, we’ve been exploring the spelling pattern in which ‘y’ makes an ‘i’ sound in words such as crystal, pyramid and Egypt. There are two puzzles coming home this weekend to further practise this spelling pattern which we will continue to explore in the week ahead.
We’ve been reading extracts of the classic children’s fiction text ‘Stig of the Dump’ in which a boy from modern times meets a Stone Age boy whose name is ‘Stig’. We’ve been considering the different characters in the text and also exploring interesting vocabulary.
Continuing our focus on grammatical aspects of language, we’ve been exploring past tense verbs including those which require double consonants and those that are irregular. We’ve also focused on identifying the subject and verb of a sentence and the way that pronouns are used to replace nouns to avoid repetition.
In Maths we are continuing to develop fluency and understanding of Place Value while working with numbers up to 1000, reasoning and solving problems. Steps covered this week include finding 1, 10 or 100 more or less, Number lines to 1000 and Comparing numbers to 1000. The homework sheet sent home today will offer further opportunities to consolidate work covered at school.
Times tables – in Year 2 children are expected to know their 2, 5 and 10 times tables and the related division facts. By the end of Year 3 this is extended to working confidently with the 3, 4 and 8 times tables. Please encourage your children to practise the times tables at home, as it is a vital skill which will be required again and again!
Science this week has provided opportunities to explore the functions muscles have in protecting our bones, providing support and movement. We discussed voluntary muscles (such as the biceps, triceps, quadriceps, hamstrings and calf muscles) and involuntary muscles (such as the heart and diaphragm). Of course, the children enjoyed the practical element of measuring their muscles and making comparisons between when they are relaxed and flexed!
In history, we’ve been comparing life in the Palaeolithic and Mesolithic eras of the Stone Age to see what developments occurred as new innovations were created and as the environment changed.
Computing this week has enabled the children to explore ‘Fact or Fiction’. As children continue to access websites and watch videos online it’s an important aspect of online safety to consider if what can be read or viewed online is always true. We looked a false information found online and began to create their own mock webpage to post to our class display board on Purple Mash.
In French, we added, to our ‘Devinez qui c’est…’ (Guess who…) profiles, information about where we live. We also reviewed and rehearsed the information we’d added previously about our names, ages and birthdays.
In RE, we continued to explore the question, ‘What do different people believe about God?’ by considering different Christian metaphors for God such as, ‘Bread of Life’, ‘King of Kings’ and ‘The Good Shepherd’.
Many thanks for your continued support at home, wishing you a great weekend ahead!
Best wishes,
Mr Cunningham and Mrs Brown
Friday, 13th September 2024
Dear parents,
It’s been another busy and productive week in Year 3. Thank you to all parents who were able to join us for our shared learning session on Thursday. We enjoyed sharing our scientific knowledge of bone names with you as we learn more about our bodies. It was also great to launch our ‘Stone Age to Bronze Age’ theme with you. The discussions surrounding our Stone Age Survival Conundrums were certainly energetic and highly explorative. Thank you for your participation and we look forward to further opportunities to welcome you into the classroom to share our learning.
It’s been great to see a really positive response to the maths learning that we have sent home. This will continue to be sent to you each Friday to enable you to have a good idea of the areas of maths we are covering in class and to support your child to revisit this at home, should you wish to, to embed the skills further.
Additionally this week, we will send home the first of our spelling posters as we begin to explore the Year 3 spelling patterns using Supersonic Phonic Friends. This useful poster will enable you to be familiar with the spelling pattern that we are focusing on and key words which we will explore within this pattern. The poster will also be backed with an activity as a further opportunity to embed the pattern at home, should you wish to do so.
Don’t forget to use your reading record to record your child’s daily reading at home and to also keep your reading reward charts up to date at the back of the record. This will help you to work towards the next stage of the reward scheme.
Many thanks for your support, wishing you a great weekend and looking forward to another fantastic week of learning to come!
Best wishes,
Mr Cunningham and Mrs Brown
Friday, 6th September 2024
Dear parents,
We’ve had a great week in school with the new timetable in full swing. We have enjoyed delving into the past with the children to discover approximately how long ago the Stone Age era began! We are looking ahead to next week when we will be inviting all parents in Year 3 into school for shared learning related to our pathway on Thursday, 12th September from 0750 – 0900 hrs. Please make your way to the reception at 0740 hrs to sign in and a member of staff will bring you to Year 3 at 0750hrs.
On Fridays we will be sending home a set of questions which mirror the objectives we have covered during the week in maths. These are for you and your child to explore together. The sheets may be kept at home or returned to the class teacher the following week.
You child is now bringing home a levelled reading book every night. Please be reminded to sign the reading record daily when you read with your child at home and keep a record of the upcoming rewards at the back of the book. Thank you for your support with this.
As always, please feel free to pop in at any time or get in touch via School Office email to arrange to discuss your child’s learning in Year 3.
With best wishes,
Mr Cunningham and Mrs Brown
Year 3 PE
Friday, 30th August 2024
Dear Year 3 parents,
Welcome back to another year of learning.
It’s been great to welcome back the children this week. They’ve had plenty of news to share about their summer experiences and have been full of smiles and positive energy. We’re delighted to have Miss Kim working with us in Year 3 as our LSA.
Our theme for Term 1 is ‘Stone Age to Bronze Age’. We are excited to delve into this historical era. Please watch this space for an invitation to come into school soon to collaborate with us as we start this learning theme.
You will have received a new Reading Record for Year 3 and books will start to come home from Monday. We will be checking the Reading Records on a daily basis to see the reading that has taken place at home. As part of the incentive to read at home, we will award a house point for each time that takes place. If you were at Hornbill School in Year 2, please can you transfer, from the back of your Y2 Reading Record, the Reading Rewards that your child has already achieved so that we can continue with the reward system in Year 3. For new learners, we will start the Reading Rewards scheme freshly. This is outlined in the back of the Reading Record.
The Reading Record is also a good way to communicate with us where you are unable to see us face to face. Class Dojo is no longer a means of communication as it is not being used any more. If you have any urgent messages to communicate during the day, please either call the office or contact them via email.
A hard copy of our timetable will come home with the children today. Please note the days for PE and swimming. Please come to school in PE kit on Wednesdays.
In KS1 the children were provided daily fruit in the ‘Fruit for Schools’ scheme. In line with UK schools, this is not provided for KS2 learners. Therefore, please ensure that your children have a healthy snack for first break. It works well for this to be in a separate container to their main lunch.
We hope that your children have enjoyed these first days of Year 3. Please do come and chat with us after school if you have any questions. Our doors are always open.
With best wishes,
Mr Cunningham and Mrs Brown