Hornbill House Team Points – Term 2
Friday, 14th March 2025
Dear Parents,
Another week of positive engagement has flown by in Year 3!
This week, our spelling focus has been on words with the ‘eigh’ spelling pattern that make an ‘ai’ sound.
In VIPERS, we have continued on our journey with Tom, as he bikes his way around the world.
In writing, we began our final unit for Term 2 – writing a travel narrative. This week, we created a shared narrative and next week, we will apply our focus skills to our own individual travel narrative.
This week’s our Seahorse High Flyers are celebrating developed handwriting fluency and mathematical communication.
In Octopus Class one thoughtful learner has been award High Flyer for using careful energy and making huge improvements to her handwriting and overall presentation.
More certificate earners this week in Octopus class… well done!
It was great to have Year 3 represented in the first Hornbill’s Got Talent session this week. Well done to this wonderfully creative artist for sharing her skills.
We look forward to further Year 3 performances during the remaining Hornbill’s Got Talent sessions.
In Maths this week we have been busy getting to grips with what grams feel like compared to kilograms. We’ve measured and compared a variety of classroom objects and stepped on the scales to compare our body masses. Are taller people always heavier?
Science has been busy making electrical circuits to act as the wind in next week’s seed dispersal experiment and the Seahorses engaged in a practical activity acting like busy bees to pollinate their identical flowers!
Thank you for all the support for our DT cooking journey this term. We have greatly appreciated the parental support we have received during our cooking sessions. It has been incredibly valuable and has enabled the learners to have a great experience. Thank you for attending our Parent Picnic Party. We hope you enjoyed the outcomes of our baking adventures. It was great to have you there with us to celebrate.
Wishing you a great weekend ahead,
Mr Cunningham and Mrs Brown
PE Blog – Racquet Club
Friday, 7th March 2025
Dear Parents,
A huge well done to our High Flyers for demonstrating positive learning attitudes and making the most of their learning powers.
Well done to our High Flyers for making the most of learning powers and positive engagement to maximise your learning experience.
We have enjoyed a second week of exploring and creating shape poems. We took inspiration from the story, ‘The Dot’, which is our World Book Week focus text across the school. Using the idea that all lines begin with an initial dot, we explored the single line animal drawings that Picasso created and used his lines as the shape for our poems. We love the creatively-worded animals that we created.
In spelling exploration, we looked at words that use the ‘ei’ spelling pattern to create an ‘ai’ sound, such as ‘reindeer’ and ‘unveil’.
In VIPERs, we continued to enjoy the events of ‘The Boy Who Biked the World’, as Tom begins to set off on his circumnavigation of the globe on his bike.
In maths, we have continued developing our understanding of fractions. The children have enjoyed hands-on activities, such as folding paper to create unit and non-unit fractions. They also reinforced their learning by building ‘fraction trains’ using Cuisenaire rods.
Our young scientists have been carefully tending to their growing plants, measuring their progress, and ensuring they grow as tall and healthy as possible. To deepen their understanding of pollination, they took part in a practical activity, transferring ‘pollen’ from the anther (male part of the plant) to the stigma (female part) of another plant. It was a fun and insightful experience for all!
On Thursday, the children proudly took part in our World Book Day parade, showing off their amazing costumes. They looked fantastic, and we truly appreciate your support in making this event so special.
Fab Costume Winners!
Wishing you all a fun-filled and enjoyable weekend!
Mr. Cunningham and Mrs. Brown
Year 3 Swimming Gala Results
Friday, 28th February 2025
This week has been Kindness week in school and we have been focusing on ways in which we can show kindness to others through our words and actions. We’ve been thinking about the importance of taking time to think before we speak or act, in order to make a good, kind decision. To round off the week, we made a Coin Trail to show kindness towards two charities. Thank you for your donations of coins towards this and also for supporting our Purple and Bright Colours Clothing Day and Crazy Hair Day initiative!
Well done to our High Flyers for making the most of learning powers and positive engagement to maximise your learning experience.
Well done also to these children who have been awarded their next certificate by earning another 100 house points.
And to those who are continuing to read daily at home and achieve their next reading award…
We have been exploring double letter words (and some with two sets of double letters!) in our spelling work this week.
In VIPERS, we are enjoying the planning and preparation that Tom is undertaking to get ready to cycle around the world in the book ‘The Boy Who Biked The World’.
In writing, we have begun a unit about shape poems and, this week, we explored words and ideas to use to create shape poems linked to our theme of travelling.
Next week promises to be an exciting and busy week as we celebrate World Book Day within a week of celebrating reading for pleasure. On Thursday, learners are invited to come to school dressed as a character from a book or wearing something to link with our focus on ‘The Dot’ by Peter Reynolds.
In Maths this week we have practiced comparing and ordering non-unit fractions and we looked at fractions on a number line and counting up in fractions…and back down again!
In art, Year 3 have been working on a creative unit of work, designing abstract maps from an aerial perspective. This week they were adding Hundertwasser style patterns to their maps.
Wishing you a lovely weekend ahead and thank you for all your continued support,
Mr Cunningham and Mrs Brown
Friday, 21st February 2025
We are very proud of the Year 3 Hornbillers who have returned to school this week and continued to display kindness towards each other and our new pupils.
High Flyer has been chosen because of her increased confidence and skill set in maths recently – a huge well done!
Superstar shout outs to all our Y3 pupils who are continuing to read daily at home. Congratulations below for completing the 300 reads this week!
We have completed our exploration of the ‘ey’ making a ‘ay’ sound spelling pattern. It was great to see the wider exploration of the range of ways to spell the ‘ay’ sound in the homework received this week. Well done for finding such a range of possible words.
Having completed our VIPERS work based on the story ’80 Days Around the World’, this week, we have begun to read and explore the book, ‘The Boy Who Biked The World’. This will take us around the world once again but from a very different perspective and time in history than Phileas Fogg’s journey.
In our writing work, we continued to be diary entry authors and then became editors and finally publishers as we produced some fantastic final outcomes from this diary writing unit.
Here we are in our RE lesson this week, exploring our overarching question ‘Why is the bible important to Christians today?’ by carrying out a treasure hunt of verses that help Christians to know more about what God is like. Great teamwork was used to find the exact books, chapters and verses needed.
We have enjoyed the practical aspect of learning about fractions this week including using pizza slices, Numicon and other hands-on resources to help make sense of unit and non-unit fractions. What is the numerator of a unit fraction? Try asking at home to find out!
The race is on! With competition about the children are taking careful measurements of some of their plants and trying their best to keep them growing into tall healthy plants! This week we have also explored the concept of ‘seed dispersal’ and how seeds sometimes end up growing somewhere away from the parent plant!
We look forward to welcoming you to our Parent Picnic Party on Friday 14th March. The children will have been busy baking and preparing scones, jam tarts, a sponge cake and possibly some bread to share with you! With this in mind, they may need a lighter lunch than usual as the picnic will take place just before lunchtime. Please return the reply slips for the event if you have not yet done so.
Many thanks and wishing you a great weekend ahead!
Mr Cunningham and Mrs Brown
KIRFs Term 2.2
Websites to support learning
Hit the Button – Quick fire maths practise for 6-11 year olds
Whack A Mole || Counting in steps of 1, 2, 3….12
Times tables games – Learn them all here!
https://ttrockstars.com/
Thursday, 13th February 2025
Dear Parents,
We have enjoyed another busy, productive week in Year 3 and we look forward to this extended weekend for relaxation and refreshment, ready for the 2nd half of the term.
Well done to our kind High Flyers this week, who have been chosen because of their increased writing energy, for settling well into our learning community and for careful energy in the classroom.
The ‘ey’ spelling for the ‘ai’ sound has been our focus this week in our spelling exploration and will continue to be for next week also. We completed the story of ’80 Days Around The World’ in VIPERS and enjoyed finding out how it all ended. Perhaps you could ask your child to give you a summary of the story, with all its exciting twists and turns. In our diary writing unit, we completed our shared writing of events from the perspective of Passepartout and then planned and began to write our independent diary entries from the perspective of Phileas Fogg.
Well done to all our Y3 pupils who are continuing to read daily at home. Congratulations below for completing the 100 reads this week and awarded the reading pencil!
A reminder that our library session takes place each Monday. Please do remember to bring in books to change on that day. In the week beginning the 17th February, as we are not in school on Monday, we will have the opportunity to change our books on Thursday 20th February, should the children wish to select a new library book by that stage.
In maths we used our developing skills to measure and calculate perimeters of 2D shapes. We also reflected on our learning and began our new unit of work on fractions, understanding that the denominator represents how many equal parts the whole is divided into!
In science this week we explored the role that flowers play in the life cycle of flowering plants (including pollination) and we learned about the male and female reproductive parts of the flower.
Thank you for your support at the Year 3 swimming gala. It was great to celebrate the swimming experiences and progress that has been made during this first half of the year. On Friday 21st February, we will start to have our 2nd PE session each Friday and so we ask that children wear their PE kits to school each Wednesday and Friday for the remainder of the year.
With best wishes for a wonderful long weekend ahead,
Mr Cunningham and Mrs Brown
Friday, 7th February 2025
Dear Parents,
We are most impressed how the children have settled into the full week back at school and shown resilience and the efforts of true Hornbillers following last week’s floods.
This week we have continued to explore the ‘sc’ spelling pattern and we will now turn our attention to words that include the ‘ey’ spelling pattern in words such as ‘they’. Please do explore these words at home to support our investigation of them.
We have nearly completed reading our story, ’80 Days around the World’ and, this week, we planned, and began to write, a diary entry of an event from the book from the perspective of Passepartout.
It’s always wonderful to celebrate the achievements of our learners as they work through the reading rewards scheme (found at the back of the reading diary). Congratulations to those who completed the scheme this week and who were awarded their storybook reward.
A particular highlight his week has been how the children have used their energy carefully to measure lengths and height. They have engaged positively in measuring a variety of construction towers, each other, foot lengths and the distances cars have travelled down a ramp! We have been using the data to make comparisons of length, adding and subtracting and converting measurements to work with lengths of the same units.
On Friday we learnt that perimeter is the distance around the outside of a closed 2-D shape. Children explored what perimeter is, and what it is not, by deciding whether they can find the perimeter of a group of open and closed 2-D shapes.
In science this week we have studied the function of the stem. The children observed how water and nutrients are transported by the xylem to the leaves to aid the process of photosynthesis.
We have also all started our Y3 Plant Growing Competition and we are beginning to understand that plants need lots of care to grow big and healthy! Watch this space!
Feel free to have a go at creating games for our weekly spellings at home using https://www.spokabulary.com/ It works best on a desktop commuter or laptop but may work on some tablets or phones.
Click on the link https://www.spokabulary.com/game?word-list-id=zgfDLJlWCb for a range of interactive games for this week’s spellings.
Wishing you all a super-dooper weekend with the family!
Mr Cunningham and Mrs Brown
Friday, 31st January 2025
Dear Year 3 parents,
It’s been another great week in Year 3. What an unexpected event it was to have a ‘rain day’!
We have been exploring words that include the spelling pattern ‘sc’ to create the ‘s’ sound for example, ‘scissors’ and ‘scene’. We will continue this exploration into next week to embed our knowledge and understanding.
In VIPERS reading, we enjoyed Chapter 4 of 80 Days around the World, as Phileas Fogg continues to overcome obstacles as his journey continues.
Our new writing unit is ‘diary writing’. Using our ‘Around the World’ theme as a stimulus, we have been enjoying travel diary writing extracts that have taken us to Bhutan, Tasmania, Vietnam and London. We have been exploring the use of expanded noun phrases, reported speech and adverbs within our focus extracts.
This week in maths, we continued our exploration of length. Our budding mathematicians took to using rulers to measure precisely and practiced converting units to make comparisons clearer.
In science, we dug a little deeper into the fascinating world of roots. We had a mini adventure pulling up some weeds to observe their roots up close. The children were eager to share their knowledge about the various roles roots play. Feel free to ask your child for a recap!
In computing, we continued our coding topic, now delving into the “nesting” command, which involves putting commands inside other commands! This technique can help to debug programmes and ensures everything runs smoothly. If you’re keen to see their coding skills in action at home, visit purplemash.com for a range of activities such as Jumping Monkey, Rockets, and Superheroes.
We had our second baking session in DT this week. The children engaged positively and focused well to create some delicious quick-to-prepare bread rolls!
In French, we played ‘Devinez qui c’est’ (Guess Who) with a partner.
We brought together our exploration of the question ‘How and why do people pray?’ in RE by considering our answers to Who? When? Where? Why? How? questions about prayer.
As always, thank you for your continued support and encouragement at home. I hope you have a fantastic weekend, perhaps even making your own memories with a few baked treats in hand!
Mr Cunningham and Mrs Brown
Friday, 24th January 2025
Dear Parents,
Thank you so much for joining us for our shared family learning session in Geography this week. It was wonderful to find out more about your travel experiences and to create a really interesting display of the postcards and photos. Thank you!
We’ve continued to read our VIPERS story – 80 Days Around the World, discussing the very dramatic events of the current chapter and answering retrieval questions about these.
In spelling exploration, we focused on the ‘s’ sound being spelt with a ‘c’.
We worked our way through the roles of researcher, author, editor and, finally, that of publisher to complete out writing unit to create a non-chronological report about India.
This week, we completed our unit on multiplication and division by exploring different combinations and possibilities. We also began a new topic on length, using practical methods to measure in metres, centimetres, and millimetres while exploring the relationships between these units.
In science, we delved deeper into the study of plants, focusing on their parts and the functions of those parts. As part of our investigation, we removed all the leaves from a large weed in our outdoor planter to observe the effects! We then brought plant parts into the classroom to examine them more closely and started creating a flower press.
In RE, we explored the ‘Gayatri Mantra’ prayer and drew comparisons between this and the Christian and Muslim prayers we have explored previously.
We began to play games of ‘Guess Who’ in French!
In PSHE, we considered the challenges faced by others and began to design gardens with the specific goal of meeting the needs of someone with a particular challenge.
This week in computing, we continued our coding topic, focusing on the Turtle object in Free Code Chimp. The children explored the use of the repeat command and demonstrated creativity to draw squares and create interesting patterns.
In DT, we investigated the origins of the ingredients in our food. Using an interactive data website, the children explored which countries produce the most flour, butter, sugar, yeast, and other staples. This activity highlighted global food production and encouraged curiosity about where our food comes from.
Wishing you a great weekend ahead!
Mr Cunningham and Mrs Brown
Friday, 17th January 2025
Dear Parents,
We’ve enjoyed a busy and fun week in Year 3.
We completed our investigation of the ‘gue’ spelling pattern and will move onto a set of words that help us to explore ‘c’ making a ‘s’ sound next week.
In VIPERS reading we set off around the world with Phileas Fogg as he embarked on his challenge to go around the world in 80 days.
It was fun to explore the country we are living in as we wrote our non-chronological report about Brunei. After researching key information about India, we will now be able to write a non-chronological report about that country next week.
This week in maths, we built upon our understanding of multiplication as repeated addition to tackle more challenging division problems, including those involving remainders. We also began exploring the concept of scaling, using phrases like “3 times as many” to deepen understanding.
In science, we developed a greater understanding of germination and the conditions seeds need to grow. We explored seeds around the school grounds that have grown into plants without soil and discussed the mystery of the trees growing atop the temples at Angkor Wat. The children planted seeds in the outdoor planters and enthusiastically participated in classroom fair tests to investigate germination.
In geography, we learned about the counties of the UK and enjoyed using the information you had discussed at home to locate the counties that are special to us for varied reasons. Thank you for filling in the information sheet to prepare for that.
We look forward to sharing a geography learning session with you next Thursday, (23rd January at 1245hrs) as detailed in the letter that came home this week. Thank you for the holiday photos that have been emailed to the office. Please do continue to send those in for us to use.
We listened to and explored the words of the Surah Al-Fatiha Islamic prayer in RE, comparing this with the Christian Lord’s Prayer.
In a highly communicative French lesson, we began to describe the characters on our ‘Devinez qui c’est’ (Guess who) game board.
This week in PSHE, learners reflected on their own dreams and goals. Drawing inspiration from Jane Goodall’s uplifting story (watch here: Jane Goodall on YouTube), we emphasized that no dream is beyond reach.
Our coding topic continued in computing, where the children delved deeper into programming. They explored writing code to incorporate timers for ‘delays’ and to repeat actions using the ‘every’ function—key concepts that spark creativity and problem-solving.
Over the next few weeks, Year 3 will be enjoying some exciting cooking sessions. We are exploring products that could be served at an afternoon tea, with flour as the key ingredient. Our menu includes jam tarts, scones, bread, and puff pastry treats. The children enthusiastically participated in their first baking session in DT this week. They demonstrated great resilience while making their pastry dough and were thrilled to see and take home their finished creations.
Please see the attached STA Parent information leaflets, for your information:
Phonics Screening Check for parents
Multiplication Tables Check for parents
Key stage 2 National Curriculum tests
Wishing you a wonderful and restful weekend ahead!
Mr Cunningham and Mrs Brown
Friday, 10th January 2025
Dear Parents,
It was great to welcome Year 3 back at the start of the week. They have returned to school with enthusiasm, ready to start the new year with high energy and interesting stories about their Christmas break.
We have begun the new year with an exploration of the spelling pattern ‘gue’ making a ‘g’ sound in words such as monologue, catalogue and tongue. This exploration will extend into next week to embed our learning further.
In VIPERS reading, we have begun to read the story of ’80 Days Around The World’ which links with our ‘All Around the World’ theme. We met some key characters including the courageous, spontaneous and rich Mr Phileas Fogg.
In writing, we have begun to extend our non-chronological report writing skills from Term 2 by exploring the structure of reports and researching information about Brunei, ready to write a shared report together in the coming week.
In maths, we are continuing to develop our multiplication and division skills through a new unit of work. We have been using related calculations and applying reasoning to tackle more challenging problem-solving tasks, including trickier multiplication problems. In class, we have also been using Times Tables Rock Stars (TTRS) to build fluency through various games. Please help your child master the three times tables and their corresponding division facts this half term, as outlined in the Key Instant Recall Facts (KIRF) document. Feel free to reach out if you’d like any support or further information.
Times Tables Rock Stars
In science this week, we began a new topic on plants. We were really impressed by the amount of knowledge and key information the children already have on the subject, and it’s been wonderful to see their enthusiasm for planting and learning more about photosynthesis and what plants need to stay healthy.
Moving from Term 1’s focus on history to a geographical theme, we have begun by exploring the constituent countries of the United Kingdom and the regions of England. Learners are bringing home an English counties response form for you to share together and discuss counties of England that have significance to you as a family. This will help us to personalise our exploration of counties next week. Please return the completed form by Thursday 16th January at the latest. It would also be fantastic to create a collection of postcards or photographs of places we have visited around the world. If you have a photograph you are willing to bring into school or, alternatively, a drawn scene of a country you have visited, that would be great!
In RE, we have begun a unit with the big question, ‘How and why do people pray?’. We commenced our exploration of this curious question by looking closely at the words of the Christian Lord’s Prayer. We will be comparing this with the Muslim Surah Al-Fatiha next, before exploring prayers from other religions.
Our individual ‘Devinez qui c’est’ (Guess who…) cards that we worked to build up during Term 1 are now complete and we will begin to use them to play the game of ‘Guess who…’ in our upcoming lessons.
In PSHE, we have considered the power of words and their impact on others, both those that can be hurtful and those that raise people up as kind, complimentary words.
This week in computing, we started our topic on coding. The children used a flow chart to create animations with backgrounds and characters of their choice. They were excited to crack the code and realise that all the movements within the program were the result of their own clever input!
Wishing you a wonderful weekend ahead,
Mr Cunningham and Mrs Brown
KIRFs Introduction
What are KIRFs?
They are specific to each year group, building on your child’s prior learning whilst linking to the national curriculum. To support your child’s fluency and mental maths skills, we are introducing KIRFs (Key Instant Recall Facts) throughout school from FS2 to Y6. KIRFS are a way of helping your child to learn by heart, key facts and information which they need to have instant recall of. They contain number facts such as number bonds and times tables that need constant practise and rehearsal, so children can recall them quickly and accurately.
Instant recall of facts helps enormously with mental agility and flexibility in maths lessons. When children move onto written calculations, knowing these key facts is very beneficial. For your child to become more efficient in recalling them easily, they need to be practised frequently and for short periods of time.
How can we access the KIRFs at home?
Each half term, children will focus on a Key Instant Recall Fact (KIRF) to practise and learn at home for the half term. They will be available on our school website, on the class blog. At the end of each half term there will be a fluency champion chosen from each class and they will be given a badge for maths. Children will be rewarded for their commitment to their learning and the progress they have made with their KIRFs that term.
How do we practise the KIRFs?
They are not designed to be a time-consuming task and can be practised anywhere – in the car, walking to school, etc. Regular practice – little and often – helps children to retain these facts and keep their skills sharp. The KIRFs include key vocabulary and examples of the key skills, as well as practical ideas to assist your child in grasping the key facts. Each KIRF also contains helpful suggestions of ways in which you could make this learning interesting.
How are the KIRFs developed in school?
Throughout the half term, the KIRFs will also be practised regularly and in short bursts in school. Over their time at primary school, we believe that – if the KIRFs are developed fully – children will be more confident when working with number, understand its relevance, and be able to access the curriculum much more easily.
How are the KIRFs developed in school?
Throughout the half term, the KIRFs will also be practised regularly and in short bursts in school. Over their time at primary school, we believe that – if the KIRFs are developed fully – children will be more confident when working with number, understand its relevance, and be able to access the curriculum much more easily.
Things to try
Everyday Objects- Gather together objects and separate them into groups of 3.
https://ttrockstars.com
https://www.topmarks.co.uk/maths-games/hit-the-button
https://www.timestables.co.uk
Websites to support learning
Learn a times table song
3 Times Table Song (Made You Look by Meghan Trainor) Laugh Along and Learn
Hit the Button – Quick fire maths practise for 6-11 year olds
Whack A Mole || Counting in steps of 1, 2, 3….12
Times tables games – Learn them all here!
Friday, 13th December 2024
Dear Year 3 Parents,
Thank you so much for your support throughout this first term of Year 3. It’s been a wonderful time of learning and developing and we look forward to continuing in this very positive trajectory after a well-deserved holiday.
To round off this term of learning this week, we completed our second week of exploring the ‘que’ as ‘k’ spelling pattern. We finished reading the story of ‘The Stolen Spear’ in which the mystery of the identity of the thief finally came to light. We also wrote our independent Stone Age stories.
In maths, we consolidated our knowledge of the 2, 4 and 8 times tables and completed an end of unit assessment to inform future learning.
In science, we finished the ‘Rocks and Soils’ booklet. Next term’s learning will focus on ‘Plants’.
We continued to create our ‘Devinez qui c’est’ (Guess Who…) profile cards in French, ready to play with this resource next term, as we further embed the French language we’ve been developing.
Our Stone Age pouches are finished and I’m sure the children will be glad to show you their creations and begin to collect items of interest to keep inside.
We enjoyed our final preparations for the Christingle performance. We hope that you enjoyed it and thank you for coming along to support the event.
It’s been great to get creative as Christmas approaches. We’ve enjoyed making Christmas cards and salt dough decorations. We also enjoyed a time of celebration together as we enjoyed some shared party games which brought us all joy.
Looking ahead to Term 2, our overarching theme will be ‘All Around the World’. We’re so fortunate to be a multicultural community of learners with amazing opportunities to explore a wide variety of countries. To celebrate this within our theme, it would be wonderful if you could bring to school, at the start of Term 2, a postcard, photograph or printed picture of anywhere you might visit during the holiday or of exciting previous travel experiences so that we can create fantastic displays of our shared global footprint and knowledge as a community of learners.
With our best wishes for a truly brilliant holiday time, filled with opportunities to relax, refresh and rejuvenate. To those celebrating, we wish you a very merry Christmas and, to all, a very happy and healthy new year. See you in 2025!
Mr Cunningham and Mrs Brown
Hornbill House Point Trophy Term 1.2
Friday, 6th December 2024
Dear Parents,
Year 3 is embracing the festive spirit with decorated classrooms and the cheerful sound of Christmas songs. Despite the holiday atmosphere, the children remain focused on their learning, working hard, and continue to give their very best.
This week in VIPERS reading, we have read three more chapters of the story The Stolen Spear. The action continues to mount and we are eagerly awaiting the outcome of the story over the final chapters to find out who stole the spear.
In writing we have completed our shared Stone Age stories and have planned our own independent narrative ready to write to round off this term. We will be making use of all the focus areas of grammar that we have covered this term to write stories of high quality.
In spelling, we’ve been exploring the ‘k’ sound spelt with the ‘que’ letter string. We will continue to focus on this pattern in the coming week.
In maths, we have been honing our multiplication and division skills, with a focus on mastering the eight times table. We explored the concept that any number can be multiplied by eight by doubling it three times! The children have also been challenged with more advanced problem-solving tasks involving calculations beyond the 12 times table.
In science, we delved into the fascinating world of precious and semi-precious gemstones, exploring their origins as minerals, rocks, or organic materials. The children have begun to create informative fact sheets, which they added to their ‘Rocks and Soils’ booklet. Over the coming week, we will complete the booklet, recapping and consolidating key learning points, including the following…
As our Stone Age to Iron Age theme draws to a close, in history we have focused on the use of hillforts for secure living, considering the benefits these brought to people of the Iron Age. We have also been considering the extent to which humans developed from the beginning of our learning in the Palaeolithic era.
We began to create a published version of our ‘Devinez qui c’est…’ clues in French ready to use these to play the game of ‘Guess Who…’ together.
In PSHE, our focus this week was on the careful use of language, particularly homophobic language, within bullying situations.
This week in computing, we focused on improving our typing skills, specifically using the shift key, number keys, and the space bar. The children also continued developing their Stone Age cartoon dialogues.
Please remember to arrive at school before 13:00 hrs on Wednesday, 11th December, to take your seat for our performance of Christingle Rock!
Wishing you a great weekend ahead,
Mr Cunningham and Mrs Brown
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