Tortoiseshells (Year 3)

Welcome to Year 3

Our class is called Tortoiseshells.

Tortoiseshells are taught by Miss Palmer (Mon-Wed) and Mrs Arnott (Thurs-Fri).

We are supported by Mrs Cattermole and Miss Parsley.

Things to remember:

Our PE lesson is every Friday with the Rising Star coaches.

Our library day is Tuesday.

Key dates:

See Curriculum newsletter for important dates.

Week 3 

It was a strange last week, however we still managed to have our own 'Class celebration assembly' and we made Easter cakes!

The whole of Year 3 got 'Learner of the week' for always being kind and all-round fantastic. 

Check for your name on the certificates below to see if you were successful in the Spelling Bee 

Spring 2 - Weeks 1 & 2

We have had a great start to this half-term and it seems to be flying by already!

In Literacy, our first week got off to a great start with learning about the features of Non-Chronological reports.  We then had a fantastic 'Rainforest expert' come to visit us and bring along with him some of his animal friends: a hissing cockroach, a scorpion, a gecko, a baby boa constrictor, a beauty snake, an opposum, a tarantula, two big snails and some stick insects!  This certainly gave us lots to write about in our reports and we learnt some fantastic facts.  Why not ask your child to recall some of these facts at home?

In Science, we have started our new topic 'Animals including humans,' with looking at the food we eat.  We have been learning about the five different food groups and understanding what is meant by a balanced diet.  To support your child at home, see if they can explain what types of food are on their plate at dinner time.

World Book Day 2020!

Year 3 wowed us all with their costumes for World Book Day last Thursday and we all loved sharing our focus book, 'Where the forest meets the sea' by Jeannie Baker with Year 6.  

As well as writing some descriptive passages about what it might like to be in a rainforest, we all had great fun learning about the different layers of the rainforest by creating dioramas.  

Ask your child if they can describe what each layer of the rainforest is called and why?

Weeks 5 & 6

We had a great end to the half-term, have a look at the photos to see what we got up to!

Weeks 3 & 4

Batchwood Wood walk

Below are a collection of photos from our trip to our very local woods (2 minute walk from school).  The weather was so kind to us on the day and as you can see from the photos, we all had a great time exploring, observing, comparing and collecting!  The children all now have a real insight as to what a UK woodland is really like and next we will be thinking about how they compare to those around the world.  Thank you so much to the parents and carers that volunteered to come on the trip and also to everyone for preparing the children in wellies and old clothes. 

The Green Ship by Quentin Blake

The children have loved reading this truly heart-warming adventure story by renowned author and illustrator Quentin Blake.  As well as exploring the characters, the children created their own settings from the story which are called 'dioramas.'  They had great fun being set designers and then in groups, confidently explained their creations to the rest of the class.

Ask your child to tell you what happens in the story and if they have an idea for writing their own adventure story!

Spring Term 2020 - Weeks 1 & 2

We hope you all enjoyed the holidays even though now they seem a distant memory!  We have had a great start to the term and the children have been very busy planting, painting and creating!

In Literacy, we have been reading 'The Snow Dragon' by Vivian French as our 'Take one book' focus.  The children are really enjoying the story and we can't wait to see if Little Tuft actually manages to help the Snow Dragons at the end of the story.  The children have worked hard at describing the settings, creating their own dragons and writing detailed character descriptions.  Some beautiful language has been used and we are really proud of their work.  The children are really good at using similes now.  You can support them at home by asking them to use a simile to describe something at home. 

Below are a few examples of their writing and some of their fantastic dragon designs!

In Maths, we have been using the artist Kandinsky to learn all about different angles and lines.  The children have learnt that an angle is a measure of turn and how big a right angle is.  They have learnt all about parallel, perpendicular, horizontal and vertical lines.  To consolidate their learning, they created their own 'Kandinsky masterpiece' using all these different types of angles and lines, which we will be displaying in the classroom and the dining room.  They are ALL really fantastic and the children had so much fun learning and creating their paintings.  We have lots of fantastic artists in Year 3 

You can support your child at home by asking them to show you what an angle is or asking them to explain what the different types of lines are.

In Science, we have been learning all about Plants.  First we explored the school's garden to see what plants were growing there, then we looked at the different parts of the plant and what job each one has.  This week we have planted some pea shoots which we hope will grow very quickly and this week we have some winter pansies, ready to set up an investigation as to what plants need in order to grow well.  Check back in a couple of weeks to find out what was the results of our investigation!

Also, Ruby brought in some home-grown honey for us all to try which was very exciting!  Most of the class tried the honey and we all thought it tasted really sweet and tasty.

You can support your child at home by asking them what jobs each part of a plant has (roots, stem, flower, leaves).

Weeks 14-15

Aspirations Day - what an amazing opportunity for the whole school to meet a huge room full of people and hear about what they all do!

Tortoiseshells loved the workshops, they enjoyed meeting everyone and also trying some food too! 

We spent the rest of the week, designing and creating our own 'Aspirations board game.'

You can support your child by talking to them about what they would like to do when they 'grow up' and what they need to do in order to get there.

Weeks 12-13

Tortoiseshells have had a really busy few weeks in the lead-up to Christmas and the end of term!  During the last couple of weeks in Literacy, together with the rest of the school, we have been watching the 'Edgar the dragon' John Lewis commercial and using it to think about how to describe characters and think about their feelings and emotions.  To end our unit of work, the children wrote diary entries from Edgar's point of view, to explain all the disasters that happen in the advert!  We can tell that the children loved using Edgar to practise their Literacy skills and it shows in the work that they produced.

Next time you read with your child, you can support them by asking about the feelings and thoughts of the characters in their book.

As part of our geography work this term, we made our own maps of the United Kingdom and identified all the mountainous areas, as well as creating our own mountain ranges.  We had lots of fun looking in the atlases to find out where everything is on the map.

Why not get out an atlas at home or look at the map on the internet and see what your child can remember? 

Week 10 & 11

As part of our Fables unit in Literacy, reading the book 'War and Peas,' the children have been thinking about how each character feels in the story.  They have written their own thought bubbles to show what the Rich King might be thinking and they have written diary entries to show how the Lion King felt when he met the Rich King to beg for food.

The children have also made their own posters, to help them remember 'the good ingredients' of a fable.  Now the children are going to choose their own problem and see if they can create a fable of their own.

You can support your child at home by asking them if they can remember all of these ingredients!

Weeks 8 & 9

The children have loved learning about Light as part of our new topic in Science this half-term.  We have learnt that light travels in straight lines and talked about what a light source is.  The children loved creating their own 'bowlful of bubbles' and using CDs to explore the 7 colours of the visible light spectrum.

After making our predictions, we investigated different materials to find out which reflect light and thought about what reflective materials could be used for.  The children loved going in the dark tent to see which colours showed up best in the dark! 

You can support your child at home by asking them which materials are reflective and making a list of why reflective materials are useful.

In Literacy, the children have enjoyed reading lots of different fables and thinking about the morals in the stories.  We have been using the book 'War and Peas' by Michael Foreman, to write diary entries about meeting the 'Fat king' using conjunctions in our writing.  The children have loved creating their own 'dreamlands' made of food and describing them using mouth-watering adjectives.  

On 'No pens day' the children focussed on the food fight that takes place in the story.  They painted some fantastic scenes and then wrote a newspaper report about what happened.  We can't wait to read the rest of the book and find out how the story ends!

You can support your child by asking them to retell this story and explain the moral.