Welcome to Year 3
Our Class Saint is St. Paul
We are so excited about this academic year and have lots of fantastic topics that we cannot wait to share with you. Year 3 is a big transition as you move into Key Stage 2 but we are always here to guide you as you enter this new chapter.
Year 3 is also a very special year as you will be preparing to receive Jesus for the very first time. We look forward to being with you every step of the way and helping you along your special spiritual journey.
Please take a look at the overviews below to see what we will be learning this year.
Spring Term
Science
We explored how different surfaces affect the amount of friction created. All of the children firstly wrote up how they were going to make the test fair (e.g. starting the car at the same point on the ramp and using a tape measure to record the distance) and predicted which surface would make the toy car travel the furthest. The children took it turns to release the car on on a ramp covered with different surfaces and measured how far the car travelled – we really enjoyed applying our measuring skills!
English
Year 3 have been recreating a poem from the story Escape From Pompeii. They then rehearsed the poem in groups and performed it to the class. We were very impressed with their word choices and some children even added actions to their poem too! Afterwards we discussed how we could improve our performances next time.
British Science Week
We have been following in the footsteps of the great scientist Charles Darwin, by trying to find out which soil worms prefer. We went on a worm hunt on the school grounds and found lots of worms. After our investigation, we released the worms back into their natural habitats, no worms were harmed in this activity.
Year 3 & Year 4 Mass
It was lovely to have Father George in school today to celebrate Mass with Year 3 and Year 4 . The children responded well, prayed with reverence and sang beautifully. Thank you to all the parents and families that were able to join us.
Science
We used magnets to investigate different materials to find out which ones were magnetic. We recorded their findings as they went along and then shared their observations back to the class. We discussed what items had surprised them in terms of what was, or wasn’t magnetic. We thought that all metal items would be magnetic and had discovered that this wasn’t the case, so went on to find out which metals are and aren’t magnetic.
PE
Year 3 really enjoyed their PE lesson today where they were developing various football skills.
Mardi Gras
We have been learning about Mardi Gras celebrations over the world. We thought about how this festival marks the season of Lent and the three Catholic traditions: - Praying, Fasting and Almsgiving. We took part in a Collective worship to prepare ourselves for the season of Lent and our return to school after the half term break.
Geography
Today in Geography, Year 3 have been using symbols and a key to create a visitors’ map for our school. They loved designing their keys and showed amazing map reading skills. Well done Year 3!
Science
We have been investigating whether two magnets will attract or repel each other, depending on which poles are facing. We were fascinated to see what happened!
Digit Day
Friday 3rd February was National NSPCC digit day we had a fun-filled day of Maths activities and games, while raising money to support this very important cause. As part of our celebrations, we dressed up with lots of lovely ideas about how we use the number 3 in our everyday lives, we had the most amazing day.
Science
We are learning about forces and pushes and pulls in Science and this afternoon we took our learning outside of the classroom. We had a brilliant time investigating if we need a push or a pull to move and the discussion was fantastic!
The Feast of St. Thomas Aquinas
As part of our celebrations for the Feast of St Thomas, Year 3 took part in various activities inside and outside of the classroom. We thought about some of the inspirational quotes of our patron saint and what these mean to us today. We took part in a meditation and we all decorated a star biscuit, one of the symbols of St. Thomas Aquinas. We had a wonderful day thinking about and reflecting on the works of this great saint.
Change for Life
Some of our Year 3 pupils had the opportunity to represent St. Thomas Aquinas at the Change 4 life competition. They took part in different activities where they achieved different awards for self belief, determination, passion, focus, respect and teamwork. Well done for all your fabulous efforts, we are very proud of you for your achievements and representing our school.
New Years Assembly
Year 3 delivered a wonderful assembly discussing the history and celebrations of New Year and the New Year resolutions that we made. Next, they discussed the importance of the school year and how each year is a new start for us. Finally, they explained the Church's calendar and the Liturgical Year. They linked these to the liturgical colours and their meanings. Well done Year 3, a very informative assembly!
English
Year 3 have been learning all about Folktales in their English lessons. They had the opportunity to role play the folktale of 'The Enchantress of the Singing Sands'. The children thoroughly enjoyed this and from the photos you can see that they brought the characters to life.
Autumn Term
Christmas Activities
We thoroughly enjoyed learning about the true meaning of 'The 12 Days of Christmas'. and making Christmas cards for our families and friends.
Merry Christmas Everyone!
Christmas Gonks
We hope you love our wonderful Christmas Gonks as much as we do!
LKS2 Christmas Play
Year 3 & Year 4 worked so hard learning their lines and songs for their Christmas Nativity ‘A Midwife Crisis’. All your hard work paid off as the performances were absolutely outstanding, they certainly did themselves and us proud!
Enrolment Mass
Today, some of our Year 3 children attended their Enrolment Mass, where along with their parents they renewed their baptismal promises. Thank you to those children who beautifully read the bidding prayers and respectfully brought the gifts to the altar. All children were reverent and prayerful during the Mass, we are extremely proud of you all. Please pray for these children as they continue their journey of faith to receive the Sacraments of Reconciliation and the Eucharist during this academic year.
Disney Dance Session
Year 3 took part in a live lesson with Disney, where they had the opportunity to learn the choreography and singing parts to one of 'Frozen's' best known songs,' Fixer Upper', led by Disney Theatrical Performing Artists. The children were full of energy and doing some great moves. Well done Year 3.
LKS2 Mass
This week, LKS2 came together in the school hall to celebrate Mass. It was a wonderful Mass and the children read, sang & responded beautifully. Thank you Fr. George for celebrating Mass with us.
P.E.
We are enjoying learning different dribbling skills and have been getting super speedy at moving with the ball in their relay races! Using the hockey sticks can be tricky at times, but the children are quickly learning how to use the stick to move the ball, run forward, and look out for other people, all at the same time!
Computing
We loved our Coding lesson this afternoon, we got really excited when we programmed the snails to win the race!
Art
We are studying the Stone Age and in art, we have been looking at cave paintings. We learned about the caves at Lascaux, Chauvet and El Castillo.
Science
Year 3 are focusing on health and movement in Science. We looked at the importance of having a balanced diet as well the different food groups, developing our understanding of why each food group is important for our body to stay healthy. In this lesson, we sorted different foods in to Carbohydrates, Proteins, Fats and Oils, Fruit and Vegetables and Milk and Dairy. We were really successful and can now sort food correctly in to the five different categories.
Year 3 Assembly - Belonging & Baptism
This afternoon, our fabulous Year 3's shared a wonderful assembly about belonging and baptism with the whole school and their parents. The children told us about the importance of belonging to groups and the roles and responsibilities that they have in the different groups they belong to. They also role-played the Rite of Baptism. Well done Year 3, we are so proud of you
Stone Age Boy
In English this week, we started reading Stone Age Boy by Satoshi Kitamura. We looked at the scene where the boy meets the girl for the first time. We role played this scene before creating dialogue between the two children. We really enjoyed using mime but we had the giggles at times!
Planet in a Pickle Jar
During our first few days of Year 3, we worked on the gorgeously illustrated picture book ‘Planet in a Pickle Jar’ by Martin Stanev. This book is about not judging people based on appearances, and how families can work together to help save the planet. We worked on lots of different activities based on the book and at the end of the week we all filled a pickle jar with something we love! Year 3 absolutely loved this book and their pickle jars were extremely personal and thoughtful.
Celebrating Our Lady's Birthday
Year 3 have had a fabulous few days settling into life in KS2. As part of celebrating Our Lady's birthday the children took part in a class liturgy, where they showed reverence & respect. They displayed a fabulous knowledge of the life of Our Lady throughout the liturgy. In class the children created their own statue of Mary and wrote prayers dedicated to her..
.
