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.
Summer Term
The Feast of St. Peter & Paul
Y3 joined together with Y2 to celebrate with a liturgy for the feast day of their class saints, St. Peter and St. Paul. The children read beautifully and were reverent throughout. At the end, we discussed what we had learnt about these two amazing saints. Well done everyone!
First Holy Communion Assembly
Today, we celebrated those children who made their Holy Communion last Sunday with a very special assembly in school with the whole class. It was a wonderful reminder of how important it is to receive the Sacrament of Communion regularly. Also, a big thank you to parents and families for supporting your children and helping to make it a special occasion, I'm sure you'll agree that all of the children looked extremely smart in their suits and dresses, they read and sang beautifully. Year 3 we couldn’t be prouder of you.
Our fabulous children signing 'Our God is here'
Skills Builder Challenge Day
Year 3 had lots of fun during our Skills Builder Challenge Day this week. Our challenge this year was to become entrepreneurs and set up our own new business. Over the course of the day, we had the opportunity to work on all eight of the essential skills as we considered how to set up our own business. We also explored the world of entrepreneurship by designing, making and selling a range of souvenirs to show off the best aspects of their chosen country/city. The children showed outstanding skills throughout the day, well done Year 3!
First Holy Communion
Congratulations, to those children in our school on the wonderful celebration of their First Holy Communion. You all read clearly, brought up the gifts with such respect and your singing was beautiful. Each and every one of you showed the utmost respect when receiving Holy Communion for the first time. We are so very proud of you all. May God bless you on your special day.
World Religions Week
Year 3 done some super work looking at Buddhism for world religion week. We discussed the story of Buddha and how he had helped people change into better people and looked at what beliefs the religion has. We also created our very own prayer flags. We thought about the different festivals which are celebrated in the Buddhism religion, we had a wonderful week.
Platinum Jubilee Celebrations!
Class Trip
Year 3 had the most amazing day at the Potteries Museum and Art Gallery. We were absolutely fascinated by the Greek pottery and had the opportunity to sketch these wonderful pieces of history. I think our favourite activity was making our own Greek coil pots. As you can see from the photos they look stunning! The staff at the museum commented on the children's manners, behaviour and their knowledge of the Greeks. Year 3 we are super proud of you all!
PE
Year 3 had a super PE lesson today learning and practising key skills in football such as passing, dribbling and turning.
British Science Week
We started the week learning about deforestation is and what causes it. We describe the effects deforestation has on animal species We also investigated what why trees are so important to soil quality. Finally, we learned about rewilding and design a habitat for insects. During the week we set up our own experiment to look at the quality of soil. This has included adding things to soil, and we shall observe these over the next few weeks to see what happens.
Science
Year 3 are enjoying their Science unit on 'Plants' Our first investigation carried out was to see which conditions plants need to grow well. We planted some cress seeds in identical pots and the children changed one condition for each pot of seeds to try to find out which ones would grow the best. One pot was put in the dark, another one was put in the fridge. One pot was not given any soil to grow on, one pot of seeds was not given any water, one pot had no air, another pot had the seeds planted close together and finally the last pot was seeds planted far apart. After a few days we gathered the seeds/plants all together and examined them to see which ones had grown the best. Which ones do you think?
Spring Term
Holy Week - The Last Supper
Year 3 led the whole school in a liturgy about The Last Supper as part of our journey through Holy Week. Through readings they told the events of Jesus the night before he died. They spoke the words that Jesus spoke, the words we hear at Mass. The children read beautifully and sang the hymn ‘A New Commandment’. It was a very reverent way to express the events of that last meal Jesus shared with his friends.
Science
We started our new Science topic by identifying features and classifying rocks..
English
How lucky are we? We had the pleasure of a Zoom meeting with the author and illustrator Christina Balit of 'Escape from Pompeii' that we are studying in English. She talked with us about her love for writing and painting, her inspirations’ and aspirations. We also had the opportunity to ask her some questions. We feel very lucky and privileged to have had this wonderful experience that we will not forget!
PE
We are busy practising for the Superstars and the Skipping Competitions.
Class Assembly
Year 3 delivered a very important assembly, it was all about the Mass, its' parts and why we celebrate it.
Outdoor Learning
We have been working really hard on their map reading skills. They have looked at key features of a map and then learnt how to create their own map of our school grounds.
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Science
Year 3 thoroughly enjoyed Science this week, we started our lesson by investigating if toys need the push or pull force. We then discussed the invisible force, friction, and learnt that this force occurs between two surfaces that slide against each other. We then 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! Well done Year 3 scientists!
Children's Mental Health Week
It's important to be kind to ourselves and find ways to keep calm and stay positive. Year 3 enjoyed lots of activities and expressing themselves which is really good for our mental health We spent some of the morning reading with our reading buddies buddies, writing kind messages and making bookmarks for each other. creating bookmarks together. We then discussed and focused on what kindness means to us. We were all given an activities from the British Red Cross and we completed some of the activities in it. Everyone took part in the 'secret kindness mission' and we had lots of fun doing this. How wonderful it is to be part of such a special community, well done everyone!
The Feast of St, Thomas Aquinas
Year 3 had a wonderful day celebrating the Feast of St. Thomas Aquinas. We looked at some quotes from our patron saint and discussed what they mean to us. We linked these with how God’s love for us is infinite and everything else around us changes, from this we went onto the playground to observe these changes. Well done Year 3 for all your super work today!
Science
Another super Science lesson today, where we have been investigating magnetic fields, we now understand opposite poles attract and like poles repel.
English
In English we enjoyed predicting what might happen next in the folktale ‘The Enchantress of the Singing Sands’. We then focused on the last scene where we used drama to act out our ideas.
Reading Buddies
We really enjoyed meeting and getting to know our Reading Buddies this week. We know that we are going to enjoy to reading and sharing our love of books with each other.
Science
This week, we have been learning about magnets. We have been identifying and classifying magnetic materials. Ask your child what materials they think are magnetic around your house.
Skipping
Dan the Skipping Man came into school and where we got to develop and enhance our skipping skills. He also taught us some really cool tricks but also the importance of persevering when things get tough. We can't wait to use what we learnt out on the playground.
Science
Today we were introduced to Push and Pull. We used our understanding of these simple forces to classify and sort everyday actions and activities. Children were encouraged to act out some of the more complex actions and activities to help them identify push or pull forces at work. At the end of the lesson, children were challenged to work together to create a freeze frame tableau of actions for their peers to guess: naming the activity and the force(s) at work and explaining their ideas using key scientific vocabulary.
Autumn Term
We wish you all a happy, holy and peaceful Christmas and New Year.
The True Meaning of Christmas
As part of our Christmas celebrations, each class learned about different Christmas traditions and practices and how they came to be part of the celebrations we have today. Year 3 learned all about the Christmas Carol 'The Twelve Days of Christmas' and what each number truly represents. We produced some artwork with this and and a fabulous morning.
Disco and Party Day
We had a fabulous time at the disco and all playing party games with Y4 on Party Day.
Design & Technology
Year 3 have been learning and developing their sewing skills for our DT projects. Some of developed a love of sewing and some of us were surprised at how much we enjoyed it.
PE
In gymnastics, we have been working on developing our own routines using shapes such as tucks, straddles and pikes. We worked very hard to ensure they showed good body control. creativity and fluency in transitions. We worked in pairs and performed our routines to the rest of the class and we evaluated the performances.
The Lost Post Office
We thoroughly enjoyed our magical mid winter experience at the Lost Post Office. It was full of music, story-telling puppets and surprises. Thank you for a fabulous afternoon!
The Sacrament of Reconciliation
Congratulations to the pupils in Year 3 who received the Sacrament of Reconciliation on 9th December 2021 at Our Lady of the Angels & St. Peter in Chains Church. All pupils received the the sacrament with reverence and respect.
Advent Day
On the First of December we celebrated the beginning of the season of Advent. We learned about the meaning of Advent and discussed how we need to be ready in our hearts and minds for the birth of Jesus.. We took part in various activities writing prayers and poems, creating Advent wreaths and calendars. We all had a wonderful day.!
Class Assembly
As we prepare to receive the Sacrament of Reconciliation on the 9th of December, we planned and prepared our assembly on this special Sacrament to share with the rest of the school. Well done Year 3!
Design & Technology
This week in D&T, Year 3 have begun using their own Stone Age stamps to print their 'Hunter gatherer Bags'. We look forward to showing you our finished results.
PE
This week in PE we have extended our work in gymnastics by using the apparatus. We have been practising five basic shapes (tuck, star, straight, pike and straddle) and have begun to form and hold these shapes whilst working on the benches and tables.
RE
To help us prepare for the Sacrament of Reconciliation we have been looking at the 4 stages of this sacrament. Through role play, Year 3 explored what happens during the Sacrament of Reconciliation and thought about times when they have wronged others and made cards to say sorry.
CAFOD Workshop
Mr Mayland came into school and held a workshop Catholic Social Teaching. We looked at the different cartoon characters which represented the different ways of Catholic Social Teaching: We worked in groups to discuss which kind of Catholic Social Teaching would link to different situations.
Remembrance Day
November is the month of remembrance where we take time to remember the fallen soldiers from all wars, including those that continue today. Year 3 used the famous ' In Flanders Fields' poem by John McCrae to create some blackout poetry. We each made an individual poppy which was placed as a focal point during our Collective Worship.
Year 3 and Year 4 Mass
Year 3 and 4 celebrated Mass today on the dedication of the basilica of St John Lateran in Rome. When we celebrate its dedication to God, we celebrate the mystery of God’s special presence in buildings for divine worship, including our own parish church. All pupils participated in the Mass beautifully, they read clearly and prayed with great reverence.
PE
We have been learning different movements and positions in our gymnastics lessons with Bee Active.
Science
Today, Year 3 have been 'super scientists'. We drew around our bodies, then drew and labelled as many bones in the body as we could think of. I am sure you will agree they did an amazing job! We then finished the lesson by doing the 'Skeleton Dance' ,check out our groovy moves!
Collective Worship
To end our half term we prepared, planned and delivered a Collective Worship celebrating the Month of the Most Holy Rosary.
RE
In RE we have been learning about Baptism. We have been learning about the important symbols and signs used in a Baptism and about the Rite of Baptism. We role played the Rite of Baptism.
Music
We are really enjoying learning to play the ukulele in our Music lessons with Mrs Pritchard.
Spellings
As part of our spellings we do TEAM TEACH, where we organise the words and test each other on the spellings we are learning.
Maths
Look at our fabulous Maths skills, we have been using different representations and concrete apparatus to show 3-digit numbers. We then explored 100, 10, and 1 more of less than that number.
Outdoor Learning
We really enjoyed our first Outdoor Learning session of the year, where we have been developing our map skills. By the end of the session Mrs Fox & Mr Nolan were amazed with our fantastic progress, we even added a key to the map of the local area.
Street Dance
We were taught in individual steps and step sequences before putting them together to create a lively dance routine. I think we can confidently say that Year 3 have got some moves- watch this space!
Collective Worship
Our first Collective Worship was all about New Beginnings. We discussed our Class Rules and prayed to Saint Paul who is our class saint. We discussed how every lesson is really a ‘new beginning,’ a new chance to learn and an opportunity to continue our journey in following in the footsteps of Jesus . For our Go Forth we said that we would remember the following sentence “ I am one of God’s greatest creations’.
Hockey
We have being leaning some basic hockey skills, such as pushing the ball up and down the line and push passes in pairs.
Celebrating a very special birthday.
On 8th September it is Our Blessed Mother Mary's birthday, we celebrated this joyous occasion throughout the school. In Year 3 we researched and made posters of great women of the past and present. we then prepared a presentation and delivered it to the whole class. We ended the day by singing Happy birthday to Mary and enjoying a birthday cupcake.
