Year 3 | Isle of Ely Primary School

Welcome to Year 3

Wasp and Earwig are our Year 3 classes at the Isle of Ely Primary School. From this page you will be able to read about our curriculum each half term and all the work we get up to in and out of the classroom.

Children have PE on Friday and go swimming on Monday (wasps) and Wednesday (earwigs). They will need to arrive in their P.E. kits on these days.

We will also be updating our website with pictures, work and more!

Who works in Year 3:

Miss Lucy Peck Mrs Fruzsina Radnothy Mrs Ilmie Yasan

Miss Michelle Reitinger Mrs Amy Wreathall

Our Curriculum:

This half term we will be learning:

English	In Talk for Writing we will finish a non-fiction unit on mythical beasts and then go on to learn the story, Mr Big. The children will be using pattern of three, imply using ‘show - not tell’ and using adverbs to show how characters do different things. Our non-fiction unit will be based on the instruction text How to Trap a Troll.
Maths	In maths we will be adding and subtracting 3-digit numbers – including with exchanges – using column method. We will also begin to touch on multiplication and division focussing on the 3 times tables.
Science	Our science topic is nature’s life cycles. This will include the following topics; a frog’s life cycle, seasonal cycles, a plants life cycle and animal migration.
History	In history, we are continuing to study Ancient Greek culture. Pupils will learn about the Greek Gods, the ancient Olympics and the influence of the ancient Greeks today.
Geography	In geography, pupils will be focusing on rivers. They will study local rivers and compare and contrast them with rivers across the world.
PE	P.E. will be on a Monday with the class teacher and Friday with the sports coaches. Pupils will be focusing on fundamentals and dodgeball.
R.E (Religious Education)	In R.E., pupils will continue to focus on Judaism; children will learn about, and visit, a synagogue, learn about Shabbat and Bar/Bat Mitzvah celebrations.
Spanish	In Spanish pupils will be learning the colours, days of the week and the months of the year.
PSHE (Personal, Social and Health Education)	Our PSHE this half-term will look at celebrating difference.
Art	Our art topic is about texture and shape.
D&T (Design and Technology)	In DT, pupils will learn how to make a keyring.
Music	In music pupils will learn Pachabel Canon.
Computing	Pupils will be learning about stop-motion animation.
Home Learning	All pupils can also access TTRockstars at home. You may also wish to find additional activities on Oak Academy or BBC bitesize. This is a link to all the common exception word spellings from Year 1 to Year 4 for you to practise with your child at home. Common Exception Words spelling mat

Knowledge Organisers:

At the Isle of Ely Primary School, we use knowledge organisers as a tool to help our children learn more and remember more and to allow parents and carers to support their children's learning. In our knowledge organisers, you will find essential knowledge, key dates, important vocabulary and key figures. The knowledge organisers can also be used as a fun assessment tool which will help children to see the progress they have made.

Our current spelling words: Our class text:

Weekly newsflash

Week beginning: 9th December

Year 3 have been working very hard this week. We have learned about Haiku poetry in English and have written our own Christmas Haikus. In Maths, the children have really enjoyed learning about multiplication and division. This week they explored the 4 times table in detail and have begun learning about the 8 times table. We finished off our Life cycles in nature unit in Science with an end of unit assessment. In Geography, we learned about the major rivers in North America, South America, and Australia. We finished off our Ancient Greece unit in History, and can apply our knowledge when we go to the Fitzwilliam Museum next week. In Music, we played the ostinato and 2 of the canons in Pachelbel's canon using glockenspiels. We had a wonderfully creative time in Art, as we used pictures of ourselves to create a cubist self portrait. We completed our stop motion animation in Computing and have created some wonderful animations of soldiers in Ancient Greece. We began practicing how to sew in preparation for the keyrings we will be making in D.T. We also enjoyed a pantomime, Christmas jumper day, Christmas lunch and a Santa dash! Next week is the last week of learning in 2024. Have a wonderful weekend!

Week beginning: 2nd December

Year 3 have had another busy week. In English they have been planning and writing their own versions of the rags to riches tale 'Mr Big'. They used personification, show not tell and subordinating conjunctions within their writing. In Maths, the children have made a fantastic start to their multiplication and division unit. They focused on multiplying by 3 then dividing by 3 and then applied this to learning about the 3 times tables. The children then moved on to multiplying by 4 in preparation to begin dividing by 4 next week and applying the 4 times tables. In History, the children learnt about the legacy of the Ancient Greeks and began to identify some of the areas in which life in Ancient Greek has influenced our life today. Some examples are the Olympics, philosophy and story telling. In PSHE the children were learning about words that harm and also how to solve unkind situations. As it is the beginning of a new month, the Times Tables Rockstar battles have commenced so please encourage your child to log on to their TTRS account and earn points for their team. Have a great weekend!

Week beginning: 25th November

Year 3 has had a great week of learning. In English, we have planned an innovated text of Mr. Big. We have also began writing our innovated stories. We look forward to seeing the new name of the characters and also which instrument they have chosen. In Maths, we have finished our addition and subtraction unit and have now moved onto our unit on multiplication and division. The children are quite excited for it. In Science, we learned about why animals migrate during certain seasons and which places they migrate to. We are still exploring Ancient Greece in History and learned about the origins of the Olympics. We used our knowledge of Ancient Greece to help us think of animations that we could create in Computing. We learned about African rivers in Geography and explored the Nile and river Niger in detail. In music, we learned what the dots on a stave mean and how we can use those dots to variate the pitch. We explored how we can use different kinds of brush strokes to create different kinds of textures in Art. In D.T., the children learned how felt is made and are beginning to design their keyring. What a great week of learning and we can't wait to see what December brings! Have a wonderful weekend!

Week beginning: 18th November

This week has been assessment week and year 3 have worked incredibly hard! They should be very proud of themselves for their resilience. In Maths, we finished off our addition and subtraction unit. We completed lessons on using inverse operations and how to make efficient decisions when solving problems. In English, we continued exploring our new text of Mr Big by learning about the story structure, features and the toolkit. In History, the children learnt about the Parthenon Marble and discussed whether they should remain in the British Museum or be returned to Athens. They had some fantastic reasoning for each point and were respectful of each other's opinions. In Art, the children experimented with creating smooth textures inspired by Van Gogh 'Irises'. Finally, in D.T. the children investigated which materials would be best suited to make a key ring and explored how felt is made. Have a fantastic weekend!

Week beginning: 11th November

Year 3 have had such a busy week this week. We have enjoyed doing activities for Anti-bullying week, such as a workshop and a house afternoon filled with great team building activities. Thank you to those students who wore odd socks on Tuesday to support anti-bullying. In English, the children wrote their own information text about a creature or animal of their choice. The texts were very well written and very informative. We have now started learning our new rags to riches story, Mr. Big. In maths, the children have put their knowledge or exchange to subtract or add a three-digit number with a two-digit number. In Science, the children have been learning about the natural cycle of plants throughout the year. In music, we have continued to explore Pachelbel's Canon and have played the bassline ostinato and the first part of the canon on the glockenspiel. We continued our ancient Greek history by exploring some wonderful Greek myths. We looked at the Theseus and the Minotaur in great detail and decided that Theseus demonstrated a lot of courage. We continued our study of rivers by going to the Kingfisher's Bridge Nature Reserve. The children showed off their river knowledge to the guides, using vocabulary such as estuary, confluence, source and tributary. They could also tell the guide why rivers are so important to people and animals. The children were all very well behaved and they all had a wonderful time. Thank you again for all of your support. Have a fantastic weekend!

Week beginning: 4th November

Year 3 have gotten straight back into things since returning after half term. In English, the children completed their innovated information text about a Magic Fish or a Kraken. At the end of the week the children planned their own information text about an animal or creature of their choice and began writing it independently. The children will continue this next week before moving onto our new topic of Rags to Riches stories. In Maths, the children learnt about subtraction with exchanges across 10 and 100. Some subtraction questions even had a double exchange which the children were very resilient to work through. In Science, we have begun our new topic and begun to learn about what the seasons are and why they happen. In History we continued our learning about Ancient Greece but moved on to discuss the Greek Gods. Next week is Anti-bullying week which will include Odd Socks Day on Tuesday and workshops throughout the week. We also have our school trip to the Kingfishers Bridge Reserve next week which will be focusing on Rivers. Have a lovely weekend.

Week beginning: 21st October

It's hard to believe that this was the last week of Autumn 1! What a week we have had. In English, we have created a toolkit for an information text and included all of the important features in it, such as sentence signposting, generalisers and subheadings. We then learned how to apply those features to our writing. In addition, we planned our shared write about a magical creature. In maths, we have been quite resilient whilst learning addition using column method with exchange. We have learned how to apply our new method to word problems as well. We have finished our class book 'The worries'. We realised that everyone has worries and the best way of dealing with them is to talk about them. In art, we continued to learning of line work and used Hokusai's The Great Wave off Kanagawa as inspiration for our own wave drawing. This week we also took part in a Diwali workshop where we learned about myth behind Diwali and also re-enacted it. Maya Angelou inspired us to write a poem and also create artwork for Black History Month. Lastly, we celebrated the ten year anniversary of the school with a party and our own song. What a great way to end the first half term of school! We wish everyone a relaxing break and we'll see you all in Autumn 2!

Week beginning: 14th October

Year 3 have had a great week! In English, the children began their new

Week beginning: 21st October

Week beginning: 14th October

Year 3 have had a great week! In English, the children began their new unit exploring information texts by learning our new text 'unicorns'. They came up with actions to help remember the key details and explored the features that make up information texts. In Maths, the children showed fantastic resilience learning new methods for adding and subtracting with exchange. We also focused on counting backwards in 10s across a hundred. In history, we learnt about Greek philosophy and the children created some fantastic fact files about Socrates, Plato and Aristotle. In geography, we focused on comparing Ely with a contrasting city. The children learnt about the physical and human features of San Francisco and found the similarities and difference with Ely. In Art, we continued our work on using lines in artwork. The children took inspiration from Picasso's 'Mother and Child' drawing to create their own version using a range of line work. Have a fantastic weekend!

Week beginning: 7th October

First of all, thank you to those parents that were able to attend our Parent Share session. We hope you also enjoy our class story 'The Worries' as much as we do. Many children wore yellow clothes to support World Mental Health day and the children enjoyed discussing activities that are good for our wellbeing and giving compliments to each other. We've had a wonderful week of learning! In maths, we have started to dive deeper into addition by exploring the concept of exchange in more detail. We've written our own wishing tale in English, where our poor character meets a magical creature that can grant a wish. Our poor character needs so many things but can only have one wish! At last, after much thinking, our poor character has thought of a very clever wish to improve their life. The children have been so creative in their stories and have worked very hard at editing their work. In History, we learned about the ruthless leader Alexander the Great. In R.E. we learned about different items we can find in a synagogue and also what people use synagogues for. In Science, we continued to learn about the digestive system in more detail. The children now understand how important intestines are, as they absorb nutrients from the food that we eat. This was demonstrated using tights, a banana and some water. In Geography, we looked at features of large scale and small scale maps. We used our geographical knowledge of grid references, vertical lines and horizontal lines to explore different kinds of lines in Art. We drew many different kinds of lines, such as vertical, horizontal, straight, wavy, zigzag, curved, scalloped, thick and thin lines. In music, we performed like Vikings by playing instruments and singing to a beat. In PSHE, we have learned how to make someone feel like a valued member of our class and school. Have a great weekend!

Week beginning: 30th September

Year 3 have worked incredibly hard this week. In Maths, the children have begun their new topic of addition and subtraction and have been focusing on how to use their number bonds within 10 to help find related facts. Additionally, the children have learnt about adding or subtracting from the 1s or 10s column. The children have made a fantastic start in this unit. In English, we are created an innovated version of our core text 'The King of the Fishes'. As a class we create a wishing tale following an artist who finds a magical lamp in a cave and wishes for a paintbrush that can bring things to life. The children were creative and thoughtful in writing their own versions. The children are still enjoying our class book 'The Worries' and spent time in guided reading focusing on the skills of prediction and inference. In History, we learnt about the Persian War and the children created their own comic strip detailing the events of the Battle of Marathon or the Battle of Thermopylae. In Art, the children learnt about using tones, shades and tints in their artwork and experimented with this. In science, we continued learning about the Human body with a focus on the digestive system. The children could recall the role of the brain, the eyes, the mouth, the teeth and the stomach in the process of digestion.

Week beginning: 23rd September

Year 3 have had another busy and enjoyable week. We have been learning different features of our wishing tale toolkit, such as co-ordinating conjunctions and writing paragraphs. We have finished our place value unit in maths and we will begin our second unit next week. In science, we continued to explore the human body and learned about the nervous system. We looked at Mondrian’s artwork and then created our own piece in Art. The children learned how to read grid references on a map in Geography. Our young historians loved learning about Spartan warriors and used words such as brave and courageous whilst describing them. In music, we have been learning how to sing like Vikings and we learned about music notation. In PSHE, the children have created their own class charter, which includes rights and responsibilities such as the right to learn and the right to be heard. The children are enjoying their swimming lessons very much and are doing a great job at listening to their instructors. What a great week! We wish you a wonderful weekend!

Week beginning 16th September:

Year 3 have had a very positive week this week. It was the first swimming lesson for both classes which they all enjoyed and were organised into swimming groups for their upcoming lessons. They were safe and responsible on the journey there and back and were fantastic representatives of the school. In English, we learnt our new text map for our wishing tale 'The King of the Fishes' and began identifying the features that make up a text map. The children recapped sentence writing and using adjectives and successfully created some fantastic descriptive sentences. In Maths, the children have continued their learning on place value and have covered numbers to 1,000 as well as using number lines. In History, the children learnt about the Ancient Greek city-state of Athens and why they introduced democracy and the impact it had. In science the children continued their learning about the human body and this week focused on the skeleton, they should a fantastic understanding of important bones and the role that bones play in our bodies. In Music, the children created actions to accompany the song that they learnt last week. Have a fantastic weekend!

Week beginning 9th September:

Hello and welcome to our class page! Both Year 3 classes have settled in well and have had a great week of learning. This week in English, the children wrote a poem based on the Magic Box. In maths, we have been exploring place value and looking at numbers up to 1000. In Science, we have started to learn about our voluntary and involuntary muscles. In History, we have started to explore Ancient Greece and the important city- states, such as Athens and Sparta. In Art, we recapped primary and secondary colours and learned about warm and cool colours. In Geography, we learned how a compass works and learned to tell the directions on an 8-point compass. In Music, we are developing our singing skills by singing a song about Vikings. In R.E., we learned where Judaism started and how it has spread around the world. In PSHE, we have thought about our goals for the next year and discussed our feelings as well as whom to talk to when we feel worried. In guided reading, we have started to read our class story, The Worries, and are really enjoying it. In computing, we have learned how electronic devices form networks. We have also learned about how the internet works. We have also started learning Spanish and can now greet people in Spanish. In PE, we are beginning to learn about dance. We are really looking forward to all of the fun things we will learn next week, including our first swimming lesson!

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