3 Strauss

Mr Gallagher is the class teacher for 3 Strauss.

 

 

Year 3 have had an incredible start to the year and have settled in to Key Stage 2 wonderfully!

So far this half term, we have been busy participating in several themed weeks. We enjoyed our first trip of the year to the Design Museum, where we took part in a sustainability workshop to understand how we can be more responsible with the products we use. It was fascinating to see, understand and interact with so many innovative items. This informed our week’s textile task, which was to design and create a keyring for a specific user and purpose.

In addition, the children took part in Diversity Day at Southfield by sharing in the heart-warming picture book ‘The Colour of Home’, which served as the stimulus for a creative write. A discussion surrounding the prominent themes of diversity, family, war and hope led to some truly heart-warming writes from our empathetic children.

Our young philanthropists continued to amaze by raising an incredible £108 for our chosen charity, the World Wildlife Fund (WWF). Our students were hard at work writing non-chronological reports to educate the British public about the importance of protecting our planets biodiversity. These young minds have also been using their impressive addition and subtraction skills in Real Life Maths, budgeting and designing a panda enclosure as well as overseeing the conservation of an endangered tiger strike.

It has been an amazing first half of the term and the next half promises to be even more so!

 

 

 

Year 3 have had a brilliant second half of the Summer term filled with an abundance of trips, performances and learning! We contextualised our RE studies with a visit to St Paul’s Cathedral, we scaled the ramparts of the Tower of London to investigate the mystery surround the disappearance of the Princes in the Tower. We conducted a variety of science experiments on the banks of the River Thames including testing the PH level of the river and searched for water life. We performed our Summer show of the ‘Mystery of Magpie Manor’ to a captivated audience. We completed the maths curriculum by covering money, time and statistics. We contextualised our Maths learning by going to the local shop and making purchase decisions and calculating our own change.

During our Healthy Lifestyle week, we were able to enjoy a variety of workshops such as Samurai Swords, Cricket, Circus Tricks and Steel Drums. We found all of these activities exciting and both Year 3 classes made us proud with their readiness to try something new. The week culminated in Sports Day – where we competed in a variety of disciplines and watched our parents and teachers race.

We completed our curriculum topics of War of the Roses, Asia: India and China and Magnets and Forces. It has been an epic year and we look forward to continue our learning journey in Year 4.

 

 

 

We’ve had an amazing start to the summer term in Year 3!  We began the term by learning about the literary genius, William Shakespeare. We explored his enchanting and betwiching play, ‘The Tempest’, filled with betrayal, revenge, love, jealously and remorse.  Through our thespian studies, we discovered how Shakespeare still influences the English language today and how of his words have been forgotten – such as don’t be a‘slug-abed’ or ‘bibble-babble’ in class!  We enjoyed an immersive, theatrical workshop where a Shakespearean actor retold the play through narration with music and our freeze frame tableaus captured the events and emotions of the story!  We thoroughly our Shakespeare dress-up day!

We’ve ventured on to Medieval Law and Power in history to learn about the struggle of power between the monarchy and the church; we looked at four kings and their reigns - including King Henry II and one of the most famous, gruesome misunderstandings in history culminating in the death of Thomas Becket, King Richard I ‘the Lionheart’, the despicable King John and the Magna Carta and lastly, King Henry III and the first ever parliament.  In geography, we’ve explored Western Europe and compared similarities and differences between Paris and London..  We’ve also learnt about the impacts of the temperate climate on growing various crops in this region and how countries trade.  In Science, we’ve delved into rocks and soil, learning about how different rocks – such as igneous, sedimentary and metamorphic - are formed, their properties and how the discovery of fossils teach us about pre-historic life millions of years ago.

Our non-fiction English writing began with the works of William Shakespeare where we drafted our version of the  opening playsccript and created our own illustrated novel.  After this, we channelled our inner-Spielberg and used animations such as Pixars ‘Piper’ and ‘Alma’ to write our own adaptations.  We also looked at how sound in film impacts the viewer and different types of camera shots can be used in a film sequence.

Our mathematical minds have traversed the boundaries of perimeters, converted units of measurement and forayed into fractions.  We applied our conversion skills to calculating our own Viking voyage across the globe using our map skills to charter between continents and find the real life distances using the map’s scale. 

 

 

 

  The second half of the spring term has been crammed full of learning for Year 3! We set off on an intrepid time-travelling voyage to an Anglo-Saxon settlement at Butser Farm in Hampshire. We showcased our awesome AngloSaxon knowledge at our history exhibition, which included homemade Sutton Hoo artefacts, spears, swords, shields, archaic coins and jewellery to rival the British Museum! Our year group also fully committed to our World Book Day character costumes, with numerous Harry Potters flying around, Pippi Longstockings and even an astronaut! We’ve ventured on to the Vikings in history to learn about Alfred the Great (who envisaged a unified England), Edward the Confessor and William the Conqueror, culminating in the Battle of Hastings and the start of the Medieval Era. In geography, we’ve explored the national treasures of the South-West counties, such as Stonehenge, Glatonbury Tor and the historic city of Bath. We’ve learnt about how erosion has created the fascinating landmarks of Durdle Door. In Science, we’ve explored the vibrant and colourful world of plants and conducted experiments using celery and food dye to observe how plants transport water and nutrients through their stems. Our non-fiction English writing has included writing an explanation text on plant reproduction and a biography on the environmental icon, David Attenborough. We’ve even started using advanced grammatical features, such as parenthesis, in our instruction text (on how to make bread). Our mathematical minds have traversed the boundaries of perimeters, converted units of measurement and forayed into fractions. We applied our conversion skills to calculating our own Viking voyage across the globe using our map skills to charter between continents and find the real life distances using the map’s scale. We’ve also channelled our creativity in adapting the illustrated novel of Hansel and Gretel in Creative Writing.

 

 

 

  It has been an action-packed start to 2023! Year 3 have honed their survival skills at Forest School where they have constructed dens, built fires and made culinary outdoor creations such as cinnamon and honey glazed apples. We have also ventured to the Science Museum to experience the wonders of the Wonderlab and contextualise our science curriculum subject on light. In history, we have travelled back in time to the dark ages of the Anglo-Saxon era. We have learnt about Anglo-Saxon hierarchical life, various tribes and the arrival of the Vikings through analysing historical artefacts. Our geographic focus has centred on rivers throughout the continents and how human interactions have evolved over time. Our English writing has been based on Ivan’s harrowing, epic quest to save his younger brother from the cruel and cunning King of Winter, Starjik, in the fictional novel ‘Ice Palace’. We have written a range of dramatic narratives that have built suspense through a mixture of sentence structures, emotive language and technical features, such as subordinate clauses. Our mathematical master classes have deepened our knowledge of multiplication and division. We can now multiply and divide 2-digit numbers by a 1-digit number with remainders. In Real Life Maths, we have budgeted for our own end of year party and we used our observation and estimation skills to solve cryptic clues down at a natural waterhole. Our Creative Writing stories include the twisted tale of ‘Into the Woods’ and the mysterious case of ‘The Sea Monster’.

 

 

 

Year 3 have had a fantastic second half of the term! We have been very lucky to fit in two trips- the National Gallery and the Tabard Theatre. Both which were amazing. The children have all been working very hard to produce outstanding work that they all should be very proud of.

This term in English, our focus has been writing non-fiction texts, where the children have been able to apply their knowledge of science, history, and geography. Some of our writing has included, an explanation text about the digestive system, a biography covering the life of Elizabeth Garrett Anderson (the first woman doctor in England), and an instructional text on how to make Ancient Egyptian Caraway Buns- luckily our instructions are very detailed so you can make them at home! Finally, we wrote a balanced discussion including points for and against our specific topic which was- are zoos cruel or do they protect and support wildlife? During this topic we were able to practise our debating skills.

In Maths, the children have been introduced to column addition and subtraction, a skill they will continue to develop as they move through the school. We have also started to explore multiplication and division. They have continued to use manipulatives and representations to aid them in answering a range of reasoning questions.

In History, we have been exploring life, death and the afterlife in Ancient Egypt. The children were particularly interested in the Gods of Ancient Egypt, especially Ammit, the female demon. Additionally, we have looked at the hierarchical society and the discovery of Tutankhamun’s tomb.

We have also worked really hard on our production of the Mouse in Santa’s House which we hope you thoroughly enjoyed watching!

 

 

 

 For the start of our Year 3 journey, we have stepped back in time to mid-1900s America to experience the heart-warming tale of Charlotte’s Web and explore the highs and lows of the friendships between the animals, Wilbur, Charlotte and Fern.  We wrote a variety of genres tying-in with to the events of the novel – such as a first-person diary as Fern pleading to save young Wilbur’s life, our own play script of the animals colluding to propel Wilbur into the spotlight and a newspaper article communicating his fame.

 In Maths, we have recapped and built upon our place value knowledge to master flexible portioning, hone our mental arithmetic skills of counting forward and backwards in 1s, 10s, 100s, 1000 and use our knowledge of number facts to multiply and divide numbers in 10s, 100s and 1000s.  Our scientific, boffin-bending research has centred on the human body and various key functions – such as the nervous and digestive systems.  Our archaeological heads have pondered the historical periods from the Palaeolithic Age through to the Iron Age by analysing and questioning artefacts and famous historical sites, such as Stonehenge, to understand how the lifestyles of our early ancestors changed over thousands of years. 

In Geography, we began with building on our prior spatial sense learning and can now navigate with an 8-point compass, interpret and identify co-ordinate points on an OS map and we have compared the physical and human geographic features between London and San Francisco. 

In Real Life Maths, we solved cryptic archaeological clues by orienteering around the school site in teams and we experienced the emotional turmoil of rescuing, nursing and then releasing an injured animal in the Creative Writing story, ‘Fly, Pigeon Fly!’  Its been a buoyant and busy start to Year 3!      

 

 

 

Year 3 have had a brilliant second half of the Summer term filled with an abundance of special activities such as Jubilee week, Healthy Lifestyle Week and also two school trips. One to the Tate Modern and the other to St Paul’s Cathedral where we had a walking tour which was incredible and enjoyed by all.

In English we have been looking at non-fiction texts and we have learned to write different genres such as biographies, where we write about the Queen, and Instructional Writing. For our instructional writing we were able to link this to our Design and Technology lessons and write out the recipe and method for Tzatziki. I know both classes thoroughly enjoyed this and have told me that they recreated the recipe at home.

In Maths we have been working on our knowledge of fractions. We are working on ordering unit fractions with the same denominator as well as comparing fractions with different denominators. We have also taken time to revisit some topics such as multiplication and time.

Whilst in Creative Writing, the children have been developing their narrative voice, writing their own versions of a series of books based around the school’s TRUE values. In Real Life Maths we put our prior knowledge to the test on our tube tip into London. We were able to plan our route and duration of the journey to successfully reach Blackfriars Station.

During our Healthy Lifestyle week, we were able to enjoy a variety of workshops such as Zumba, Cricket, Cheerleading and Japanese Drums. We found all of these activities exciting and both Year 3 classes made us proud with their readiness to try something new.

 

 

 This half term in English we read ‘Stig of the Dump’ where we followed the adventures of Barney and his unlikely friend – a caveman named Stig. We used the novel to write character descriptions, an informal letter, a play script and an adventure story to name a few. In Maths we have worked on our time skills, recognising and counting money and also developed our confidence on the column method for both adding and subtracting.

In our Science lessons we learned about rocks. We looked at how rocks are formed, different types of rocks and the permeability of rocks. We were able to use rocks and a glass of water to look at the permeability of the rocks. We also made predictions of what we think properties of different rocks are. We looked at sandstone, granite, marble and slate as well as chalk.

In history we looked at Law and Power where we discovered interesting facts about when the Magna Carta was formed as well as why. In Geography we ‘traveled’ around Western Europe Where we learned about which counties make up Western Europe as well as the capital cities and the languages spoken in those counties. We also looked at the different popular foods in France and compared the food to what we are used to in England.. As well as this, compared the human and physical geography of Paris and compared this to London.

We took a trip to the local shop for one of our Real Life Maths lessons. The children were able to use their money skills in order to buy themselves a sweet treat. They needed to add up the value of their treats as well as tell the shopkeeper how much change they would need. If they were correct they could but the items, if they were incorrect they needed to try the sum again.

 

 

This half term in Maths Year 3 have consolidated their knowledge of addition and subtraction. We have also worked on multiplication and division. We have been focusing on our 3,4 and 8 times tables. In English we have been focusing on non-fiction. We have studied biographies, information texts and explanation texts to name a few. We have travelled back in time and dove into the world of the Vikings and were able to take a virtual tour of the ‘Museum of the Viking Age’ in Oslo. Also enjoyed our trip to Butser Farm we impressed the employees with all of our Viking knowledge.
We have continued to build our knowledge of the UK with emphasis on the South West Coast. We have learned all about erosion and how this has affected the Jurassic Coast, learned how climate effects agriculture and how tourism is a major industry in the South West. We are all very intrigued about how farmers are combining agriculture and tourism in order to grow their business. A good example of this is ‘The Big Sheep’.
Over this half term we have had a variety of exciting events. We had our Reading Festival where we held a variety of workshops and were lucky to have Christian Foley, a spoken word poet, deliver a fantastic interactive session. We were amazed by how quickly he could put a poem together and this inspired us to write our own poems when we got back to the classroom. We also had Jeremy Strong deliver a workshop and he also signed books at the end of the day. The following week we had Science week where we were able to carry out a selection of experiments. We learned about optical illusions, periscopes, life on Mars and life cycles.

 

 

 

 

Wow! We are already half way through Year 3! What a term we have had! In English we used Robert Sitwell’s classic novel ‘Ice Palace’ to develop a range of writing skills through descriptive narratives, short suspenseful stories, diary entries and informal letters. We even wrote some beautiful free-verse poetry, describing a winter woodland as this is the setting for the novel. Our use of expanded noun phrases, metaphors and similes created some very vivid imagery. The mood of the story was reflected in these poems through phrases such as ‘the berries glistened red as blood against the snow covered branches’ and ‘the wind was an unwelcome hug.’ In Maths we have been using number lines to enhance our addition and subtraction skills. We have been learning about adding two digit to three digit numbers, as well as subtracting two digit from three digit numbers.  We are working on using inverse operations and informal methods to solve addition and subtraction problems so that we can solve sums in a variety of different ways. This will help the children be confident when learning formal methods of addition and subtraction which is our next step. Light has been our topic this half term for Science. The children have had lots of fun conducting different experiments to further their understanding of how light moves, how shadows are created and change. We used mirrors to explore how the light rays are reflected in different ways! Mirror writing was lots of fun and a lot harder than we expected it to be. We have also made our own sundials at Forest School which has been a highlight of the week! We are having an amazing time in History this term learning all about how the Anglo Saxon’s settled in Britain after the Roman’s left. Did you know that most of the days of the week are named after Anglo Saxon gods before they converted to Christianity? We have started to learn about the Vikings and how their boat building skills helped make them such supreme traders and raiders. In Geography we have been learning about the journey of a river from source to mouth and comparing rivers around the world. 3 Strauss put on their class assembly where they demonstrated all their knowledge from last term’s History topic on the Ancient Egyptians, as well as a very good sense of comic timing! 

 

 

This half term has been a busy one for Year 3! Full of exciting learning and experiences. In English we have been learning how to write in a variety of non-fiction styles including most recently instructional writing where we have written a recipe for the Ancient Egyptian Caraway Buns we made during our fabulous History Day. We were visited by the goddess Isis and learnt all about how prepare a Pharaoh for the Afterlife! In Maths we have been continuing to grow our confidence in our number skills through working on addition and subtraction. We have developed our reasoning skills through learning about how to check our working out but doing the reverse operation to ensure our answers are correct. Science this term we have been learning all about cycles and their repeating nature. We have found patterns in all aspects of life from the way our planet cycles through the seasons, plants and nature cycles. It has been fascinating to learn how life is a repeating pattern. Geography Week was a great success with the children developing their confidence in map skills, locating different countries and cities around the world as well as exploring the world through the wonder of Google Maps and street view. We also had a go at orienteering around the playground! It was cold but great fun! Our History topic has been exploring the Ancient Egyptians and learning how they lived and died. Our PSHE and RE days focused on ensuring our social skills are based on kindness and Christmas. Of course we also topped off this half term with our musical spectacular The Mouse in Santa’s House!

 

 

 

In Year 3 this term, we have been studying E.B. White’s classic story ‘Charlotte’s Web’. The children have used the story to extend their vocabulary and writing skills and written an amazing play script complete with stage directions, and wrote in both 1^st and 3^rd person through diary entries and recounting the story. In Maths this half of term, the children have continued to consolidate and build on their place value skills. They have been using their reasoning and mastery skills to explain how they know where and why a number goes in a certain place or order. In Science, we have learnt about how our skeleton keeps us upright and moving, that our muscles are either controllable or independent of control and we have explored the inner workings of our digestive system. In Geography we have been using our map skills and understanding of different parts of the world to compare and contrast different areas of the world. History this half term has been all about learning about what life was like in Stone Age Britain. We have been amazed at how much we can learn from what has been left behind.

Below are links to our Welcome meeting and current curriculum overviews.

 

Autumn 1 Curriculum Overview

Autumn 2 Curriculum Overview

Welcome Meeting

 End of Year 3 Expectations