(01744) 678150

ashurst@sthelens.org.uk

Excellence Everyday

Year 3 class 

'Excellence Everyday'

'Learn, Live, Laugh and Love Ashurst'

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

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

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

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

Class Teacher

Miss E. Collier

Learning Assistant

TBC

 

HLTA - Qualified Teacher - Friday

Miss A. Forshaw

 About the Year 3 class 

Staff

Class Teacher - Miss E. Collier

Learning Assistant: TBC

HLTA : Miss Forshaw

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

Learning Environment 

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

 

All individuals

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

 

Rules and Routines

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

Routine

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

 

What do we learn?

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

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

 

Important things to remember:

  • Registration takes place promptly at 8:45am and the school day ends at 3:15pm - your child will enter and leave from the glass door, to the left of the main entrance.
  • Please provide a healthy snack for your child to eat at 10:25am playtime. Lunch will be at 12:00pm.
  • Each child can have their own water bottle on their desk, please provide these with their name on.
  • PE for this year is on a THURSDAY and FRIDAY, please ensure that your child comes into school wearing their PE Kit on these days. Children will continue to come into school in PE kits on their days for PE.  On these days children must wear the following PE uniform: Black jogging bottoms or black sports leggings, white PE tops , black hoody tops . Or a Summer PE kit : red shorts and the white PE top.
  • Weekly homework will be set on a Friday and needs to be completed by the following Friday. This will usually consist of Math's, Spellings, SPAG.com (online), and Reading Plus (online)  but may at times relate to other subjects. 
  • We will begin to send home reading books out as soon as we have read with your child.  Your child will select a new home reading book from the school library when they need to change it.  We encourage the children to read at home every night. This is part of the homework expectations and we appreciate your support with this. Your child has their own personal reading record for you to record their reading journey. We expect these to be completed every time your child reads their school book. 
  • Topic webs will be uploaded onto this class page in the first week of each half term. Topic webs will inform you of the learning taking place that half term, you may wish to discuss key learning with your child at home. 
  • Children are asked not to bring any other personal items into school; we will provide all necessary stationery.
  • And finally, we will continue to use SEESAW to facilitate additional homework tasks. This will enable staff to set work, monitor work and provide feedback online.  

 

Book recommendations for Year 3

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

 https://www.thereaderteacher.com/year3

Year 3 Long Term Plan 2023-2024

Year 3 Topic Webs

Name
 Autumn 1.pdfDownload
 Autumn 2.pdfDownload
 Spring 1.pdfDownload
 Spring 2.pdfDownload
Showing 1-4 of 4

Learning 2023-2024

Autumn

Maths

In Maths, we are exploring the topic of Place Value. We have started to represent and partition numbers to 100. We enjoy using resources in order to represent each number.

 

Multiplication - In Year 3, the children will be securing their knowledge on the 2s, 5s and 10s times tables. Children will also learn and secure 3s and 4s timetables.

Addition and Subtraction
We have used our learning of place value to help with addition and subtraction. We have learnt how to use the column method to add and subtract 2-digit and 3-digit numbers. We enjoy using the column method when having to exchange 10s and 1s to find an answer. 

English

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

We have explored the model text and practiced writing skills that the author used - subordinating clauses, conjunctions, prepositions and fronted adverbials. We used the model text to help us plan and "box up" our own version of a story.

Non-Fiction - How to Trap a Troll

We have used the model text "How to Trap a Troll" to help us to write a set of instructions. We identified the features for writing instructions and the use of imperative verbs. We applied these skills when writing our hot task's "How to....". Take a look at our instructions below!

Fiction - The Manor House

In Year 3 we have been exploring how to write to create suspense. We used the model text "The Manor House" to support with our writing. 

Science

Animals including Humans
In Science we are exploring the human body. We are looking at how the skeleton and muscles provide support, protection and movement. We made bones and muscles out of paper and string. We moved the muscles and looked at the effect this has on a muscle. We then created an experiment. We wanted to investigate the difference between adult bones and children bones.

As part of our learning about the human body, we explored "nutrition". We identified what nutrition is and why our bodies need nutrition. We investigated food packaging to identify the different types of nutrients our body will be getting from eating certain foods. We were very surprised with the nutrients we found in some foods!

Rocks
In Autumn 2, Year 3 have been investigation into rocks. We have identified 3 different types of rocks and discovered how they are formed - igneous, sedimentary and metamorphic. We have explored the physical properties of each rock and grouped rocks based on this. We were set a challenge by Mrs Houghton to investigate and identify the most suitable rock to use to create a new school path. The path has to be safe, strong and waterproof. We used the rocks to test how strong and absorbent they are.

History

We are learning all about "The Stone Age" in History this term. We observed different images to come up with a variety of "I think" statements. We will revisit these at the end of the topic. We have learnt about the three periods of The Stone Age. We created a timeline and ordered each period, stating how each period changed and developed overtime. We focused on the word "advanced" and explained how each period develops and becomes more advanced. To conclude our learning, we had a debate - "Which period would you like to live in and why?" Here are some of our ideas.

The Stone Age Experience as Tatton Park

What a fantastic day we had at Tatton Park bringing our learning of the Stone Age to life. We got to experience what it would have been like to live within the Stone Age. We explored how they made fires to stay warm, how they made their shelters using a method called "wattle and doyle". We even had a go at making it!  We then learned about how they would turn animal skin into clothing and even had a go at farming using a deer antler, deer shoulder blade and a shell! 

Geography

In Geography Year 3 have been exploring the enquiry question "What are the geographical characteristics of the UK and my region?" We have discovered that the UK is split into smaller sections regions, regions are split into smaller sections could counties and counties contain towns and villages. We live in England - North West - Merseyside - St Helens. Year 3 have used atlas' to discover the different sections of the UK and to identify topographical features of the UK. The children have explored physical and human features of the Albert Docks in Liverpool. 

Art

 Our focus in art this term is looking at the artist "Henry Moore". We have looked at the art work of Henry Moore and realised he creates "unusual art". We have explored cave art which links with our History topic of the Stone Age. This has inspired us with our final piece. For our final piece we produced sculptures in the style of Henry Moore. We then used tools to carve art into our sculptures.

DT

Year 3 have been designing and creating vegetable tarts. The children did some product research to identify how they would like their vegetable tarts to look. We also carried out a taste testing session where we tried a variety of vegetables and rated them. The children used this to identify the vegetables they would like to have on their vegetable tart.

PE

Attacking and Defending
In PE, we have been developing our throwing and catching skills. We have been working as attackers and defenders in order to pass a ball. This has really helped to strengthen our team work skills.

PE with Saints
Year 3 are really enjoying their PE lessons with Saints. We have been learning the correct technique of how to throw and catch a rugby ball and how to attack and defend using a rugby ball.

 

Spring

Maths

 In Maths, we have been exploring into multiplication and division. We have been looking at how to share and group objects and then we have used this to write multiplication and division sentences. We have also been learning the 3s, 4s and 8 times tables.

English

Fiction - The Magic Bed

This term we have been learning how to write a journey tale. We have used the text "The Magic Bed" as a model text. We have analysed the model to text to see what skills the author has used. We have explored subordinate clauses, synonyms for said and the correct method to use when writing speech. Take a look at the hot tasks we have created below.

 

Fiction - Elf Road

In Spring 2, we have been exploring how to write portal stories. We have use "Elf Road by Pie Corbett" as a model text. We unpicked the model text to identify the key features - powerful adjectives, fronted adverbials and similes. Take a look at our writing below.

Science

Forces and Magnets
In Science we are exploring forces and magnets. We have identified that a force is a push or a pull and we have discovered that forces make objects speed up, slow down, change direction and change shape. We carried out an investigation around "friction" - does the type of surface effect how a car moves? We made a prediction, carried out an investigation and recorded our results using a table and bar graph.

Light
Children have explored "light" in Spring 2. We have identified different type of light sources, noticed that light travels in a straight line meaning light reflects off an object into our eyes for us to see the object. To develop our understanding of light, we went to the Catalyst Science Museum. Here we had a "light fantastic" workshop where UV and infra-red light was brought to light. We also wore some cool glasses which helped us to see white light dispersing into a rainbow of colours.

Catalyst Museum Trip

 We went on a trip to the Catalyst Science Museum to bring our topic of "light" to life. We participated in a "light fantastic" workshop where we observed how light travels in a straight line, a variety of light sources and how UV and Infra-red light works.

History

Following on from learning about the "The Stone Age" last term, we are now learning about "The Bronze Age". Before we started the topic, we all made a prediction about what could have happened during The Bronze Age. We used our knowledge of The Stone Age to help us with this. We have discovered that during The Bronze Age, early humans advanced their tools from stone to bronze. This had a lot of advantages to life during The Bronze Age, for example, it helped to improve agriculture (farming), developed early writing and helped to invent the wheel.

Geography

This term we are exploring the enquiry question "What attracts tourists to Europe?" We have identified that there are 50 countries within Europe and Russia is so big that it is split over the continents of Europe and Asia. We have been exploring significant places around Europe which attracts tourists - Buckingham Palace in London, The Colosseum in Rome and the Amalfi coast. We have explored the physical and human features of each area.

DT

Year 3 have been designing and creating castles using recycled materials. We started our journey by looking at the features of a castle and the shapes that are used. We then used 3D shapes to build a castle to discover which shapes work well for structure and stability. We designed our castles before then creating them using a variety of materials.

Art

Henry Moore has been Year 3's inspirational artist in Spring 2. We have explored the work of Henry Moore and have identified the different drawing techniques Henry Moore uses including hatching, cross hatching, dots and dashes and scribble. We have explore used pencil, charcoal and oil pastels to create each drawing technique and we have compared the effectiveness of each.

Enrichment in Year 3

 Year 3 have been lucky enough to take part in a number of enrichment opportunities this year. From celebrating World Book Day, visits from Saints players, celebrating "Time to Talk Day" by painting pebbles, having a dance workshop for Chinese New Year and many many more. Take a look below!