Blackfell Primary School

Welcome to Year 3!

We have had a fantastic start to the year! We have spent the first few days talking about our school rights and responsibilities, then we created our own class charter together. We looked at our 5Rs and what they represent, year 3 then thought about how their own qualities and characteristics link to the 5Rs. 

We have been completing lots of activities to help us get to know each other and have lots of fun outside enjoying the sunshine. Year 3 have been enjoying navigating around their new classrooms and have loved being on the KS2 yard. They are settling in so well. 

To end the first week, we completed a team challenge. Year 3 were given some mini marshmallows and spaghetti. They then had to see which team could work together to make the tallest standing tower using these resources. They worked so well together and worked on their communication skills. 

The 'Stone Age Boy'

In Literacy, we have started our new topic the 'Stone Age Boy'. We started by looking at the front cover and the illustrations in the book. We then making inferences by using clues and the knowledge we already know to make a prediction about what the book is about and what events might happen. We then read the book and created a drama freeze frame of the different events that happen. 

The children each had a different event and they worked so well together in their teams to act out the scene they were given. 

Great work from Year 3, we definitely have some budding actors and actresses in our class! 

Vivienne Westwood

In Art, our topic is Famous Fashion. We have been researching different fashion designers and how fashion has changed over the years! We have sketched different designs using different types of shading. The aim is for the children to design their own t-shirts with their own individual logo! Today, we were looking at logos that already exist, we took part in a quiz to see how many logos we knew. Year 3 did extremely well, some of them were very tricky! We looked at the features of logos and Year 3 designed their very own! They were very creative, and they looked great! 

Instructions

In Literacy, we have just started our new topic of 'instructions'. We started with discussing the purpose of instructions and looked at different types. Year 3 recognised that instructions have to be specific, we talked about giving instructions to a child who had never used a slide before and we understood that they have to be easy to follow without misconceptions. We then looked at a piece of writing and in partners, year 3 had to decide if their piece of writing was set of instructions or not. We then highlighted the features of instructions. They have all worked so well and we are looking forward to writing our own instructions to make a 'Christmas cushion' in our DT lessons.  

It's Beginning to look a lot like Christmas!

Wow! What a wonderful surprise to wake up to, coming to school and seeing our school yard covered in snow! Today, Year 3 were super excited to get outside and they enjoyed some time playing with their friends in the snow. They were building snowmen and making snowballs!

The Lion and the Mouse

In Literacy we began our first topic by focusing on 'Fables'. We have enjoyed looking at the book 'The Lion and the Mouse' by Jerry Pinkney. It is an unusual book as it has no writing, just illustrations! So we have been working on our inference skills and inferring what is happening in the book. The children have had some great ideas and predictions on what is happening. Year 3 worked so well together to order the events of the story and then created a freeze frame of each event. 

The children have started to plan their own Fable, and have worked well on using adverbs, prepositions and conjunctions. Their ideas have been amazing!

Autumn Disco

The children had so much fun at the school Halloween disco. They danced and sang the whole time, with some children even getting up on stage to sing karaoke! 

They thoroughly enjoyed their hot dog and treats. They looked fabulous in their costumes and outfits. Thank you to parent/carers for making such an effort. We had some very tired children on Thursday! 

Friendship  Conflict 

In PSHE, we have focused lots on our topic 'Friendship'. We looked at the difference between 'friendship conflict' and 'bullying'. We talked a lot about strategies we can take to help resolve conflicts. The children came up with some great ideas including; talking about the situation, taking themselves out of the situation and telling an adult. In this lesson, the children were giving some scenarios and they had to act it out then have a discussion about whether they think it is a 'friendship conflict' or whether it is 'bullying'. Year 3 have some excellent acting skills and they have great discussion skills!

PE

In PE, year 3 have been lucky enough to work with Alex the sports coach, who has been covering our topic of 'ball skills' this term. The children have took part in warm-ups and understand why we need to do this before playing sports. In todays PE lesson, the children were playing handball, using their hand-eye co-ordination to try and throw the ball into the goal, whilst the 'goal keeper' tries to stop the ball from getting in. Year 3 worked so well and love to show their competitive sides during PE lessons! 

Christmas Dinner!

Year 3 had such a lovely time eating Christmas Dinner this week! The food was delicious, and we had a special Christmassy pudding. We sang some Christmas songs and we even had a visit off the one and only Santa Claus!! We had a wonderful day!

Christmas Party!

Year 3 and 4 had lots of fun this afternoon at their Christmas Party! All the children looked great in their party outfits and enjoyed playing different party games. Corners, ‘Let it Snow’ and Christmas Bingo were amongst the favourites and we even had time to have some party snacks too!

Rocks

In Science, we have started our topic 'Rocks, Fossils and Soils'. We started our learning by investigating rocks, we have learnt that there are three main types of rocks, igneous, sedimentary and metamorphic. We went on a rock hunt around the school grounds to see if we could spot some natural rocks and some man made rocks. We then went inside and investigated the features of these rocks so we could organise the rocks by their properties. Year 3 have been great Scientists!! 

World Mental Health Day

In year 3, we celebrated World Mental Health Day on the 10th October. The theme for 2023, set by the World Foundation of Mental Health, was ‘Mental health is a universal human right’. We started with a discussion about what Mental Health was, we watched a video that explained it is how we feel on the inside and we talked about what we can do when we're not feeling so good on the inside. The children shared activities that they enjoyed doing that made them happy. We then took part in an activity in which the children talked about what they love about themselves and how their feelings on the inside can affect their actions. 

Lots of the children said listening to music made them feel happy on the inside, so we decided to have an afternoon of playing some music while we worked. The children loved choosing songs and had a sing along. We had such a nice afternoon! 

Making Shadows!

In Science, we are part way through our topic 'Lights and Shadows'. This week we have been learning all about light, we have identified what are sources of light and which are not. We found an interesting fact that the Moon is not a source of light, but in fact the light is actually a reflection from the Sun. Year 3 have also worked hard to decide if certain objects are transparent, translucent or opaque. We used some torches to check if our predictions were correct. 

We then focused on shadows and learnt that shadows are the absence of light. If an object is blocking the light a shadow can form. We made our own shapes and using torches we made our own shadow puppets.

Year 3 had lots of fun and are budding scientists! 

Making a Jam Sandwich

Following on from our learning on our new topic 'instructions', Year 3 had written their own set of instructions for making a jam sandwich. They ensured they were precise and easy to follow. They checked they used everything needed in a set of instructions, they had a title, a list of things needed, the steps were set out in chronological order, time connectives, imperative verbs and adverbs were used throughout. Today, year 3 tested out their instructions and they were successful. They enjoyed making them and then eating them! 

Cross Stitching!

In DT, the children have worked so hard to make their Christmas cushions. The aim of the task was to learn how to make a cross stitch. Year 3 also made some running stitches along the edges to secure their pieces of material together. they use some cushion stuffing to fill out their cushion. They then cut a Christmas holly design by cutting two pieces of felt. After, they used this design to work on their cross stitching. They had such a lovely time making these, even though it was a bit tricky! Not only did they make these cushions, in Literacy they had written their own instructions to make these. An amazing job by all!