YEAR 3
Welcome back year 3! We hope you all had an amazing half term!
In English this week, we've embarked on an exciting journey with our new class text, "The Rhythm of the Rain"! To fully appreciate the beauty and complexity of this captivating story, we've been sharpening our grammar skills. We dove deep into the world of expanded noun phrases, learning how to add layers of detail to our writing by enriching our nouns with descriptive words. Imagine transforming "the cat" into "the sleek, black cat with emerald eyes" – what a difference! We also explored fronted adverbials, discovering how to add intrigue and variety to our sentences by placing adverbs at the beginning. Instead of simply saying "The rain fell heavily," we can create a more dramatic effect with "In the distance, the rain fell heavily." Finally, we challenged ourselves to uplevel our adjectives, moving beyond simple words like "good" and "bad" to find more vivid and precise descriptors. By mastering these techniques, we're building a strong foundation for our upcoming deep dive into "The Rhythm of the Rain." Get ready to be swept away by the power of language!
In Maths, we've kicked off an exciting exploration of multiplication! Building on their fantastic knowledge from Year 2, the children have been revisiting the 3 times table with impressive confidence. We've been incredibly impressed by their quick recall and fluency. With this solid foundation, we've now embarked on mastering the 4 times table. The children have shown great enthusiasm and a strong understanding of this new set of multiplication facts. To make learning engaging and interactive, we've been using a variety of methods, including:
Fun chants and songs: Making multiplication memorable and enjoyable!
Hands-on activities: Using manipulatives like counters and cubes to visualize the concept of multiplication.
Real-life examples: Connecting multiplication to everyday situations, like calculating the total number of wheels on four cars.
In the coming weeks, we'll be taking our multiplication skills to the next level. We'll be tackling larger multiplication facts and applying our knowledge to solve real-world word problems. Get ready for some exciting mathematical challenges!
In Geography, we've embarked on an explosive journey into the fascinating world of volcanoes and earthquakes! To lay the groundwork for understanding these powerful natural phenomena, we began by delving into the very makeup of our planet Earth. We explored the different layers – from the scorching core to the solid crust we live on – and discovered how these layers interact. The children were captivated to learn about tectonic plates, those massive, moving pieces of Earth's crust that fit together like a giant jigsaw puzzle. We discussed how the movement of these plates can cause earthquakes and volcanic eruptions. Their enthusiasm was truly inspiring, with a flurry of insightful questions like, "How hot is the Earth's core?" and "What happens when tectonic plates collide?"
In Reading, we've been swept away on a magical adventure with our captivating new text, "The Wishkeeper's Apprentice"! This week, we focused on honing our comprehension skills by becoming expert detectives, carefully searching for clues and key information within the text. The children have truly impressed us with their ability to tackle "find and copy" questions, demonstrating a keen eye for detail and a growing understanding of how to extract specific information from the story. We've been practicing how to:
Identify keywords: Learning to pinpoint the important words in a question that guide us to the answer.
Scan the text: Developing efficient reading strategies to quickly locate relevant information.
Quote accurately: Mastering the art of selecting the precise words from the text to answer the question.
We're eager to continue our journey with "The Wishkeepers Apprentice" and further develop our reading comprehension skills in the coming weeks. Stay tuned for more updates on our magical adventure!
Home learning expectations
Children are expected to complete the following:
At least 5 reads in their reading diary each week
Century is here! A piece of maths and English homework will be set every Thursday with a due date of the following Monday. The homework will appear at the bottom under 'assignments'. The pathway at the top is suggested additional work that can be worked through as and when but is not an expectation to be completed.
Times table rock stars does not have to be completed daily, but it is encouraged to practise as much as possible.
Children are not expected to do Century and Times Table Rockstars every evening at home, but little and often is ideal! Thank you for your support :)
Please note, the inside of the reading diaries have changed. There are dates on each page and a 'homework' section on the left hand side but please ignore these. Please see the image below of how to insert the reads into the new reading diaries.
