Highlights from Year 3

Science

This half term in Science, the children have been developing their investigative, classifying and evaluative skills through experiments and observations within the topic of ‘rocks’.

From sorting different types of rocks into groups according to their features, to exploring the characteristics and uses of different types of rocks, the children have had lots of fun developing their understanding of how rocks erode, can affect the natural landscape and are used as everyday materials.

Music

In Music, this half term’s topic has been ‘The Dragon Song’.

The children have explored the different emotions conveyed through the lyrics and melody of different songs, in addition to the culture each is from.

The children practiced clapping and singing in time to the rhythm and developed their understanding of the terms, ‘timbre’, ‘tempo’ and ‘ostinato’.

Well done to all the Year 3s for joining in with enthusiasm!

History

In History, we have been learning about the Ancient Egyptians and their way of life approximately 4000 years ago.

It has been lots of fun to learn about the process of mummification and think about what it might be like to actually mummify a Pharaoh!

We have looked at a range of images and texts to understand where Egypt is in the world and recognise the similarities and contrasts between the way people live today, in comparison to the time of the Pharaohs.

We have learnt about hieroglyphics, farming practices along the river Nile, and the importance of cats to the Ancient Egyptian people.

Maths

In Maths, we have explored the relationship between different times tables. For example, to times a number by 4, you can either count in fours or times by two and then times by two again.

The children practiced applying two-step methods to multiple times tables including x5 (x10 and ÷2), x 20 (x10 and x2), and x 8 (x4 and x2).

This is can initially seem more complex than simply counting up in the given times table, however, by exploring the different ways to find the same total, the children are developing a more secure understanding of the maths, and a range of strategies to find answers most efficiently.

Please keep practicing number bonds and times tables at home with your children as a secure understanding of these number facts lay the foundations for a huge part of the Maths curriculum.

Reading

Our class text this half term has been Iron Man and there has been some wonderful vocabulary to explore in context.

This book has also presented some excellent points for discussion including questions around the morality of the way the farmers treat the Iron Man throughout the story.

Please keep listening to your children read at home. In school, we can see how their fluency and understanding is improving as they are exposed to more and more stories and texts.

Writing

In Writing, we have focused on the skills to write a recount and a narrative.

In keeping with the theme of Ancient Egypt, the children explored a descriptive WAGOLL on the process of mummification. After practicing the skills of using prepositions, past tense, present perfect tense, and fronted adverbials the children had a go at writing their own.

The narrative WAGOLL was about a boy who visited a pyramid in Ancient Egypt only to be confronted by mummy! I can’t wait to read the next chapter written by the children in the final week of term.

Thank you for helping your children to practise their spellings at home. It is wonderful to give out so many rewards for the children’s effort and achievement with these each week.

Computing

In Computing, we have been learning about animation and how to create our own in an online program called Scratch.

The children first explored what a variety of animations can include before planning their own in a storyboard format.

On the computers, the children became familiar with how to edit the way their characters and background appeared before moving onto programming the characters movements.

The children have also experimented with the effects of applying different sounds to their animation.

RE

Our topic for this half term in RE has been ‘Did God intend for Jesus to be crucified?’

We have learnt about the miracles Christian’s believe Jesus did, the different reasons some people go to church and what a Christian place of worship might look like. We learnt about the Easter story and concluded our topic with a trip to St. George’s Church in Tilehurst.

On the trip, the children explored the church looking for different features, and took part in various activities to build on their understanding of the Easter story.

Year 3 represented Ranikhet Academy in the best way possible, asking excellent questions, giving answers thoughtfully and showing their best versions by getting involved and having a go wherever possible. Well done to you all!