Happy Christmas Year 3!

It has been another busy but very enjoyable week in Year 3.

On Tuesday the four Year 3 Talent Show acts represented the class brilliantly in the St Dominic talent show - 'Strictly X-factor'.

Then on Wednesday we all thoroughly enjoyed a delicious Christmas dinner.

That was followed by a Thursday which began with the Key Stage 2 House Dance-off competition followed by an afternoon of Year 3's Pyjama Party to raise money for the people of the Philippines and ended with a KS2 disco.

Thank you for everyone's effort with organising food, Christmas hats, pyjamas and money to be in in the right combinations on the right days!

Best wishes for a magical Christmas and a lovely holiday!

Year 3's Fantastic Photo Frames!

At the end of our 'stable structures' topic in D.T. Year 3 have this week completed their photo frames.  They worked hard to design and construct the frames and finished them off this week with some wonderful decoration.  You can see some of them below.


Look away now if yours may be winging its way to you for Christmas!

Getting Creative!

This week Year 3 worked brilliantly together to create a wonderful Christmas display for the school's Christmas theme this year.  In groups of 5 or 6 they discussed and produced lovely figures for our 'Come to the Children's King' board during a short session on Wednesday afternoon and with very minimal adult input.

You may even be lucky enough to catch a glimpse of it yourself on the junior corridor!

Amazing Advent Assembly!

Congratulations to all of Year 3 for their fantastic performances during their class assembly today!  Everyone had learned their lines well, spoke clearly and sang confidently.   Every person played their part brilliantly.  It was a lovely way to start the Advent season.  

Mission Impossible in PE!

Choreographing a dance to the music of the same name was no mission impossible for Year 3 this afternoon.  They jumped, spun and, I'm afraid, crawled around the hall.  During their performances at the end of the lesson we were particularly impressed by some dramatic scuttling and some wonderful facial acting!

Getting Ready to Get Ready!

At the end of this week Year 3 have begun thinking about their Advent assembly which is rapidly approaching next Friday.  As well as trying out a few songs they practised a poem, even braving a sunny but chilly playground to practise projecting their voices. 

Judaism in RE

And to finish off a very busy week on Friday Year 3 joined Year 4 to find out more about Judaism. They impressed with their knowledge and enthusiasm!

Time to Time Travel

On Thursday Year 3 stepped back into the past as they visited the Roman sites of St Albans and the Verulamium Museum.

Soon after arriving we found ourselves in a Roman market shopping for some very strange items.  We are were all very relieved that we could return to 2013 at the end of the day when we found out about the Romans love of using fish sauce as a condiment on all food and more so when we heard what a  trip to the doctors in Roman times could mean!

 We then explored the museum and the Roman features of the park from the hypocauste and beautiful mosaic floor, to the remains of the London Wall which used to protect Verulamium from Celt attacks!

It was a whistle stop tour of Roman Britain and we had a brilliant day.

A Sporty Day for Year 3!

The day started with an exciting and exhausting circuit of star jumps, spotty dogs and press-ups in the hall! Then with jelly arms and legs we all returned to the hall after break time for a presentation by Jibreel Malik, a Taekwondo expert and Olympic hopeful.  We were all impressed by his tricks and kicks and his dedication to his sport.

Looking Forward!

We are very excited about our trip to St Albans and the Verulamium Museum this week! Photos to follow ...

Year 3 Feel the Force!

In PE this week Year 3 put their new Science topic 'Forces and Magnets' into practise by exploring how different forces create movement.  They pushed, pulled, twisted and jumped all over the hall! 

Next week...

How is it the last week of this half term already?!

During the last week, as well as completing various assessments, we will be focusing on our times tables. Before half term we will refresh our knowledge of the 2x, 3x and 5x tables so I hope you will all enjoy lots of 'times tables congas' this weekend. (Ask Year 3 who are now very enthusiastic experts!)

Roman Mosaics!

After much research, planning and printing practise Year 3 began printing their Roman-inspired mosaic tile designs this afternoon.  Everyone worked carefully to produce some very effective and impressive tiles.

Year 3's Golden Week!

Year 3 had a wonderful week which ended in being awarded Mrs O'Brien's 'class golden moment'.   Year 3 earned the award with their polite, sensible and grown-up attitude around the school, and their kind and caring natures.
They were very proud of their certificate!

Next Week - Black History Week

Next week we, along with the rest of the school, will be marking Black History Month by finding out about some inspiring and important black figures from around the world.

To get the most out of this week it would be useful to do a little research and get thinking about people you might be interested in.

We will draw all our learning together by writing an information text about a key figure in Literacy.  

Class Worship - Friendship

After our lovely Monday afternoon on the new equipment Tuesday morning saw our third group lead class worship with the theme 'Friendship'.

With minimal adult support in the planning, preparation and presentation they led the rest of the class with prayers, a reading, a song and even a role play!

Year 3 Put the New KS2 Outdoor Equipment Through its Paces!

Year 3 were very excited to be invited to go out to try out the lovely new Key Stage 2 play equipment during the afternoon on Monday. 

Everyone played brilliantly together and had a fantastic time!

The Sundial Investigation!

Year 3 persevered this week, making the most of every glimpse of sunlight, to carry out their investigation into how sundials work. They were inspired by the human sundial at the top of the Key Stage 2 field.

Coming up ...

This week in Year 3 we are coming to the end of our 'Stories with Familiar Settings" Literacy unit, so we will be putting our new skills to the test by planning and writing a final story. We will also begin an investigation of the sun and shadows in Science (sun-permitting!) and will begin some shape work in Maths. 

Making the most of some Friday sunshine!

Year 3 were excited to be able to put their basketball skills to the test outside this Friday.  So far we have been working on developing our throwing and catching accuracy and dribbling technique.

First Class Worship of Year 3 - God's Wonderful World!

Thank you to our first group who led our class worship on Tuesday morning.

They had prepared a lovely PowerPoint, written a song and a prayer and worked brilliantly together. They have set a great example for the following groups. We all look forward to this Tuesday's class worship.

Week 2!

At the end of another busy week in Year 3 everyone is settling in well and working hard.

We started our Light and Shadow work in Science by enjoying watching a hand shadow act from the Royal Variety Performance and then trying out our own skills before working out how the shadows were actually formed.  Next week we'll be thinking about how we can manipulate the size and shape of shadows with the 2013 Britain's Got Talent winners as our inspiration.

In Gymnastics on Tuesday we started by exploring how we could make different shapes with our bodies and created some short sequences in paired work.

We have also fitted in some wonderful descriptive writing in Literacy, lots of number line and money detective work in Maths and introduced our History topic, the 'Real Romans!'.

Next week Year 3 will be developing their understanding of working out change with money and will delve further into our Romans topic in History. We will consider why the Romans chose to battle their way across Europe, over the seas and against the Celts to take over Britain.

Welcome to Year 3!

Everyone has settled quickly into Year 3 life and the routines of being in Key Stage 2. We've already had time to reflect on the school mission statement, learn some French, partition some numbers, explore the woods and get a bit messy while preparing our paintings for our RE display (Keep your eyes peeled around school to spot a street of very eclectic houses as we begin our topic of 'Homes'). Next week we will be kicking off our Romans topic by thinking about our local area's past. You could get a head-start at home with some Roman research! In Maths we'll be looking in more depth at place value, ordering and comparing numbers and in Literacy we'll begin writing setting descriptions for stories set in familiar places. Could your living room the setting for the next best-selling mystery book?