Year 3
Year 3 news
The year 3 team for 2024/25 consists of Mr Letts (3G) and Mrs Nagra (3H). We are ably supported by Mrs Grimstead and Mrs Randle.
Year 3 PE days will be Monday and Thursday for the summer term. The children will continue to visit the library on a Wednesday with Mrs Grimstead.
As we race into the summer term, we are pleased to begin the gripping history unit of ancient Egypt! From mummification to pyramids, and from the Nile to the pharaohs, there is a great deal to find out about these innovative people. The children will gain a great amount of knowledge about the Rosetta Stone, the River Nile and gods Ra, Horus and Anubis, as well as the beliefs of the ancient Egyptians about the afterlife. Year 3 will dive into a range of primary and secondary sources and learn how to ask historically valid questions about the sources they come across. This will be supported in part by Historic Workshops, who are delivering our much-anticipated Egyptian Day on Wednesday 30th April.
Later in the summer term, we will rotate back to geography, when learning about rivers. The children will use their prior knowledge about the River Nile to consider how rivers are used globally, in addition to discovering how rivers are formed and where some of the longest rivers in the world are located. We will also take the time to think about our local rivers and waterways, completing a Likert scale to evidence our observations.
Why not find out a few facts to impress your teacher? Mr Letts and Mrs Nagra love it when people share their knowledge!
Gather some fun facts about ancient Egypt in readiness for summer 1 by following this link: Ancient Egypt
Ready for rivers? Get ahead for summer 2 by checking out these fifteen fab facts: Rivers
Curriculum Summary
Knowledge Organiser
This half term's homework
Homework is set on a Friday, and is due in the following Thursday. Children should be reading to an adult at least three times per week for at least 15/20 minutes each time. This must be recorded in your child's reading record.
In addition to this, the children can develop their skills with a range of websites and apps the school has subscribed to. The children should be regularly practising their times tables knowledge through TTRockstars. In addition, you could play Hit the Button online or download the White Rose Maths app.
To support our pupils with their spelling abilities, all children have been given login information for EdShed. Online books, with a range of opportunities to develop reading and inference skills, can be accessed through Bug Club.
Handwriting
Learning showcase
World Book Day
What a fantastic World Book Day we have had in year 3. Outstanding costumes, wide-ranging book choices and a sense of fun that has lasted all day! On Monday, we were treated to a visit from Paige Turner, who led a reading workshop with the children. On Thursday, year 3 pupils had the chance to design their own dragon egg, becoming illustrators for the morning. Next time you pop into school, see if you can spot some of these dragon eggs (alongside a fierce dragon!) in the year 3 corridor.
Music maestros
Nagra and Letts productions are proud to present ... the year 3 ballads!
Recently in their music lessons, the children have composed, rehearsed and performed their own ballad. Using the melodies of pre-existing songs, the children had to think creatively to come up with some outstanding song lyrics for this awe-inspiring unit of learning. After a little bit of help from their teachers, a finished piece was ready to perform, and we are so very proud of the results. We hope you enjoy their performances.
3G
3H
Soil sample investigation
There were many busy hands and the odd shriek of excitement recently in year 3, as the children got hands-on with exploring soil samples taken from our school site. With tweezers and magnifying glasses at the ready, the children discovered the plethora of treasures found within soil. We even found a worm!!
Healthy snack bar taste-testing
On Friday afternoon, the excitement was palpable as the children engaged in some taste-testing during their first DT lesson of Key Stage Two. In order to prepare for designing and making their own healthy snack bar in a few weeks, the children were able to test out some bars already on the market. It wasn't all plain sailing though, as they had to comment on each bar's appearance, smell, taste and texture ... and the word 'nice' was banned! The children had a wonderful time and now have a good idea of what works and doesn't work when it comes to creating a snack bar.
Rock detectives!
Year 3 were leaving no stone unturned this afternoon, using magnifying glasses and syringes to investigate different rock samples. They tested chalk, marble, slate, sandstone and granite to find out how hard the rocks were, how the rocks reacted to acid rain (vinegar!) and whether the rocks were permeable or impermeable. Mrs Nagra and Mr Letts using a hammer to demonstrate how crumbly chalk can be was also quite awe-inspiring for many!
Higham Lane musical Christmas concert rehearsal
Year 3 had a wonderful afternoon watching the rehearsals for the Higham Lane Christmas concert. They enjoyed all of the live performances, especially the performance on the drum kit! We would like to thank Mrs Davenport, her team and all the HLS children involved, for creating a memorable experience for our children.
Bollywood dance routine
As part of their weekly PE lessons with Mrs Nagra, year 3 have been learning about traditional Indian dancing ... Bollywood! They had to work very hard to master the timing, synchronicity and tricky choreography. What a fantastic job they have done! We hope you enjoy our Bollywood-inspired routine.
Christmas craft afternoon
Year 3 are rocking around the Christmas tree as I type, enjoying their Christmas craft afternoon courtesy of Friends of Milby. With jingle bells chiming, they created and decorated a range of festive crafts. Plenty of singalongs are taking place at the same time ... so it may not be a silent night!
Prehistoric artists
A tremendous afternoon was afoot in year 3 recently, as the children had the opportunity to become prehistoric artists. They started off by mark-making with charcoal, soil, berries, cinnamon and ginger, which they used to create colourful smears in their sketchbooks. After investigating the best resources to use, it was time to craft their own 'cave wall' as a canvas: couscous, lentils and quinoa were glued onto a cardboard strip to make a textured surface. Later on, the children were tasked with mixing flour and water into a paste, and then adding some special ingredients to make prehistoric paint. This was then liberally applied to their canvas in readiness for step two next week! Everyone was beaming with excitement and thoroughly enjoyed their afternoon of artistic experimentation. Well done!
Stone Age Settlers - Compton Verney visit 🪨🔥🛖
On Friday 25th October, year 3 were lucky enough to finish their half term with a bang ... they travelled to Compton Verney in Warwick for a 'Stone Age Settlers' experience day! The children had great fun while they were creating sparks, making Stone Age dough bread and building a wattle and daub fence. They loved using their knowledge and skills from history lessons when investigating Stone Age artefacts, also enjoying the chance to design their own cave art and craft a clay thumb pot or necklace.
The staff at Compton Verney were very impressed with the children's knowledge of prehistoric Britain and their behaviour and listening skills. Well done Team 3! We hope you enjoy the pictures of our awe-inspiring day below.
How long ago was the Stone Age? 🧻
At the beginning of our exciting Stone Age Britain topic, the children loved using toilet rolls to demonstrate how long ago prehistory actually was. With each sheet of toilet paper representing 1000 years of time, the children made some excellent guesses as to when the Stone Age took place. They were astonished by how many years we had to go back...! Check out this picture of 3H's historical journey.
Making muscles 💪🏼
The children enjoyed creating working models of their own hands in science last week. After learning about how muscles contract and relax to move our bones, they used straws and string to create a moving index finger. The children enjoyed this creative opportunity and worked hard to conquer problems as they arose. Here are some pictures of 3G creating their hand muscle models.
