Summer 2

Another super term! We had a fantastic end of term in Year 3. We have been busy with organising a Science fair and becoming experts in natural disasters that occur around the world. If you see the Year 3 Geophysicists around the school, do ask them all about the natural disasters they have become experts in. 

During this final term we have really seen the children using a range of vocabulary and learning how to up-level their writing. The children first started off by creating newspaper reports for a natural disaster that they had witnessed in which he students showcased their creativity and journalistic abilities. The articles were filled with imaginative storytelling and engaging interviews! They then went on to creating diary entries as if THEY were in shoes of somebody witnessing the natural disaster! The children then went on to creating their own safety posters on how to stay safe and protected if a disaster was to strike, be sure to ask them all about it!

The children also had shown great resilience in learning column multiplication and division and understand position and direction which they demonstrated through Rodocodo.

We have had a fantastic year and the children have showcase some amazing work!

Summer 1

We had an eventful, fun-packed term!  

In English we learnt about how to write a persuasive letter. The children were super convincing in their letters to the council. They were asking for permission to use the field near school for a Sports Day they organised for reception children. They also delved into their imagination to write a setting description of a garden whilst they were the size of an ant! This was followed by writing a resolution to a story. It was amazing to read how the children managed to get back to their original size.  

Project this term definitely showed us how much energy the children have. They organised an Olympic sports day for Reception children by taking influence from sports in the Ancient Greece era. The children learnt all about leadership, sportsmanship, organisation and team work. They did a fantastic job! 

This term in Maths the children have been exploring numbers and their place value whilst being able to order them correctly. The children then went on to explore rounding numbers to their nearest 10 and 100. The rounding rhyme sure helped with this (5 or more let it soar, 4 or less let it rest!)  Following that, the children revisited adding numbers using the column addition whilst also carrying remainders! Which then linked to our following week of subtracting numbers using column subtraction with burrowing numbers. In the final week, the children had been looking at reflective symmetry within both shapes and patterns.

We look forward to all the amazing learning the children will do in their last term of Year 3!

SPRING 2

This term has been a busy but enjoyable one!

In English we started off writing an alternative ending to a story. It was fantastic to read the imaginative ideas we all had. We then went on to become news reporters. Did you hear about the giant vegetables that were found in the peace garden at Ainslie Wood School? It was BIG news! We also learnt the skills needed to interview people making sure we asked the right questions. Finally, we finished off the term by writing up our pasta recipes which we served in our Sustainable restaurant.

Project this term definitely kept us on our toes! We created our very own sustainable restaurant, you must have heard about it as it got fantastic reviews! We definitely learnt how difficult it is to run a restaurant and all the things we can do to ensure we are being sustainable. You can read some of the reviews left by our customers below:

I thought that the service was impeccable. The food was extremely tasty and the entertainment provided was brilliant. I thoroughly enjoyed my experience and would definitely recommend it!

Worthy of a Michelin star. Great service, great enthusiasm, great entertainment. Well done everyone.

A wonderful restaurant with lovely food and friendly staff. Loved the entertainment too! Would definitely come again!

I thought that there was a really good range of pasta salad choices, and I enjoyed mine very much (the green sustainable one). The vege had the right amount of crunch and it was lovely and cold and fresh. The orange squash (I was thoughtfully offered a refill after I had gone in to the other hall to listen to the comedy which was a nice touch!) was the perfect balance as wasn't too sweet or too watery. I also had a very smiley and conscientious waitress (Poppy) which made the whole experience very nice. Thank you.

In maths this term, we first started off looking at fractions of a shape and then moved onto fractions of an amount.  Following that, we then looked at capacity and weight in which we explored Millilitres and Litres and Grams and Kilograms. We were able to measure, order and even convert them accordingly. We also revisited ‘time’ and we can now identify; twenty past, twenty five past and twenty to. This term we also had ‘money week’ were we learnt about needs and wants and also identifying what budgeting really means. Finally, we looked at multiplication using different written methods including the column method and the grid method.

We hope you have a lovely holiday and get some rest ready for the final term in Year 3!! 

Spring 1 

What a fantastic term it has been! We got off to an exciting start by creating our very own Prehistoric museum and we can now say we truly have expert curators at Ainslie Wood.  

In English, we started the term off with recounting our favourite holiday moments, it was enjoyable sharing these with everyone! We then got down to business and started exploring the different types of pollution, we used this information to create fact files and they were amazing! Did you know there are many different types of pollution? If you would like to find out more, ask us some questions, we are pollution experts! If that wasn’t exciting enough, we then went on to become poets. I know, I told you we had been busy! We wrote some exciting and thoughtful limerick or haiku poems on an area of pollution that interested us. We truly became experts in following the rules of writing a limerick or haiku poem. This then motivated us to create our very own artificial world which we wrote interesting setting descriptions for. Have you ever heard of a candy cane tree? Or a cloud made out of cotton wool? 

In Maths this term, we have explored fractions and finding fractions of quantities in which we were able to read, write and understand 1/2 and 1/4. We also discovered movement via coordinates by using the four compass points and recognised directions in turning clockwise, anti-clockwise, left and right using shapes and objects to support us. After getting our heads around this we then explored symmetry in shapes and patterns. We were able to use mirrors to help find the line of symmetry and identify how many lines of symmetry different shapes or pattern have. Finance Friday has been all about exploring ways in which we are able to save money and how we can keep our money protected, if you need any tips just let us know!  

In PBL, our current project ‘WE ARE Fighting Pollution’ got off to a great start. We already had so much knowledge about pollution from our English lessons and we were invested in developing our knowledge further. First we chose an area of pollution we were most interested in and then went on to explore areas within Europe, North and South America that are the most effected by our chosen area of pollution. We then went on to create pencil drawings that depicted the effect of pollution around the world. We were great at researching and becoming experts in showing and finding solutions to the pollution problems from around the world. If you would like to know more, ask us what area of pollution we became an expert in and what solutions we came up with.  

Autumn 2

What a fantastic term it has been!

Building on our knowledge of ‘Numbers’, year 3 have explored through Geometry, Shape and Symmetry. They have enjoyed working with mirrors to correctly identify exact opposites. Moving on to Angles, the children have explored a range of angles in shapes and have responded well to practical lessons using angle finders. Following this, year 3 have learnt Measures to include length, weight and capacity. They have identified units of Measure through practical lessons and compared different units of Measure by ordering and reading a variety of instruments.

Finance Friday has seen the children’s financial awareness increase with class discussion and activities. They have explored ways to account for their spending and saving by utilising their number knowledge.

In RE, we have chosen our own religion, exploring a variety of traditions and have been learning a variety of objectives through digital research.

Computer coding has continued to be taught through Rodocodo. The children have been improving and building on their knowledge.

This half term in French, we have learnt ‘Games and Play’. Year 3 have been expanding their vocabulary and working on the pronunciation of the language.

In PE, Investigate have continued to work on their fitness through circuit training whilst maintaining their flexibility with Yoga stretching. Teamwork has been enjoyed through relays with a competitive spirit! Enquire have also worked on their fitness through circuit training and enjoyed playing handball and dodgeball.

In PBL, their current project ‘WE ARE Curators’, year 3 were excited to visit both The British Museum and The Natural History Museum. The children had a fantastic time witnessing a variety of historical artefacts. This in turn prepared them for researching, designing and making their own pre-historic tool for their own museum.

In English the children thoroughly enjoyed writing a diary entry as Barney (from ‘Stig of the Dump’) who through his curiosity ends up meeting a cave man. They also became poets when they explored free verse poetry. They used a range of sentence writing skills similes, alliteration and noun phrase in their poems.

Autumn 1

A very warm welcome to our first half termly review. This half term has been all about settling into our routines and new settings. The children have adapted really well to both of these and it’s lovely to see how much they have grown. They have all returned with a very positive attitude and enthusiasm for their learning which we look forward to nurturing as the year progresses.

In English we went on a journey with Paris Cat (From the book ‘Paris Cat’) which inspired us to write our own adventure story with the idea of meeting a Trailblazer. This linked to our current project ‘WE ARE Trailblazers’. After this we explored explanation texts with the help of Dudley (From the book ‘Until I met Dudley’). He helped us understand how everyday things work. This motivated us to write our own explanation text based on everyday appliances. We were amazed finding out how appliances we use every day actually work!

We have also been working hard at becoming masters of place value and have applied this knowledge to addition and subtraction using a variety of methods which we enjoyed exploring in practical lessons. We even learnt how to check our answers using inverse operations, test us at home to find out just how amazing our skills are becoming! Not only this but we are also finding time to practise our multiplication skills, if you pop in on a Tuesday morning for Stay and Learn you will see how hard we have been working at this. Fridays is all about finance and we have been exploring the use and value of money by discussing and applying reasoning to everyday shop related scenarios.

Finally we have also found time to carry out our first Project Based Learning for the half term.  ‘WE ARE Trailblazers’ was our title which has a History focus, which means we were learning about the past. We learned about and explored inspirational people from around the world and looked at the impact that they have had. We learnt about a range of amazing discoveries and inventions covering music, science, computer coding and many more! This inspired us to come up with our own invention! Would you like a tablet that keeps your body warm? How about a pen that has all the stationery you will need? Or a light bulb that is cost efficient? We have thought of these and many more, check them out below!