Year 3 – November Update
Posted by admin
Lots has happened in the first three months of the school year! Not least, one of the most significant and challenging events of Year 3, the Y3 CAMP.
In this edition of the Blog, you will be able to see a short video compiled by the teachers on camp, as well as some photos from the two days.
All the staff were very proud of the growing independence of the students and how they demonstrated their coping skills and resilience during the two day trip.
Returning from camp meant an opportunity to do some valuable reflections about the experience and for the students to set some well being goals at the end of our Who We Are unit of inquiry.
Please find below details of our current and upcoming learning in different aspects of the curriculum.
Unit of Inquiry:
Our upcoming unit of inquiry will be How the World Works:
Central idea: Matter exists in different forms which can be changed and used for a variety of purposes.
During this unit of inquiry, the students will be learning about different forms of matter, how they are constructed and how they can change through physical and chemical changes. The students will be involved in various practical investigations whereby they can create and observe these changes and record their findings.
This is always an enjoyable unit and many of the students also extend their enthusiasm to the home.
This website gives some great ideas for you to try at home. We will be doing some of these in school too.
https://www.thoughtco.com/kitchen-science-experiments-for-kids-604169
In addition to the practical explorations, the students will be learning how to write up their findings scientifically including making a hypothesis, recording the equipment used, method, results and making conclusions.
It would be amazing if you did attempt one of these kitchen science experiments and send in to class some photos or a short video for sharing with the class.
We really want to instil the idea that science is fun, and also that it is all around us.
Language:
Explanation texts. Writing to explain or instruct.
Writing focus: Organisation.
Reading focus: Non-fiction: Summarise and synthesise, make observations, draw conclusions.
The students will be learning how procedural texts are constructed and have the opportunity to write different examples, developing their ability to organise their ideas in specific ways to suit the purpose.
They will be using Big Universe (the school online library) as well as a range of non- fiction texts to support our unit of inquiry about the states of matter.
How you can support at home: This is a time when reading and following recipes together is a good idea at home as these are good examples of real life procedural texts. A good opportunity to do some festive baking, perhaps?
Also any toys or games at home that have instructions are worth drawing their attention to, as they will come to understand the importance of how these types of texts are organised and why.
Maths:
Focus: Addition strategies and problem solving.
Central idea: We can use / choose different strategies to add numbers.
We can interpret and solve addition word problems.
Recently, we have been teaching a variety of addition strategies which are designed to help the students think mathematically and find the most efficient way to make calculations. It is not JUST about finding the answer, it’s about understanding where the answer comes from.
e.g. Bridging Strategy:
Bridging strategy looks at using multiples of ten, as these are EASY to add mentally to other numbers.
For example, 28 + 7 = ? might be solved by bridging 30, with 28 + 2 = 30, then 30 + 5 = 35. (which is an easier mental calculation)
Success in bridging is built on a foundation of knowledge about place value structures (e.g. 30 + 5 = 35) as well as number facts for 10 (e.g. 8 + 2 = 10) and numbers less than 10 (e.g. 5 + 2 = 7).
Partitioning Strategy:
Partitioning involves separating the ‘parts’ of a number (e.g. the hundreds, tens and units), adding the separate parts, then adding all the sub totals.
E.g. 135+ 153=
(add the units) 5+3=8
(add the tens) 30+50=80
(add the hundreds) 100+100=200
(add all the subtotals together) 200+80+8= 288
The point being these are easier for the student to add mentally than the original question.
For this strategy the students need to understand the place value of each digit, which is a good reinforcement of our earlier work on place value.
After learning the strategies, the students have been solving word problems in order to practise using the strategy.
E.g. Jen invited 127 people to her Halloween party. Larry invited 132 people. Write a number sentence that shows how many people were invited altogether.
The students are encouraged to look for the important information in the question, and clues to tell them what needs to be done to solve it. i.e. the word altogether means this will be an addition problem.
So, 127+132=
Using partitioning:
(units) 7+2= 9
(tens) 20+30= 50
(hundreds) 100+100= 200
200+50+9= 259
259 people were invited to Halloween parties altogether.
Pattern and Function:
Upcoming unit: Pattern and Function: Patterns can be observed, described and represented using numbers and other symbols.
We will be exploring patterns in our number system, which will include skip counting patterns and looking at the multiplication tables for 2,3,5 and 10.
We will be translating patterns using pictures, shapes and symbols. The students will be looking for and identifying simple rules for patterns and calculating future terms by using the rule, and creating patterns of their own using various materials, pictures, symbols and numbers.
Wellbeing
The students are just completing their well being goals after spending the whole of their unit of inquiry ‘Who We Are’, learning about the pathways to wellbeing using the SEARCH framework. This will be appearing on Seesaw.
They have all identified an area of their wellbeing that they would like to develop, giving examples of what they intend to do and how they will know if they are successful.
Once these have been published on Seesaw, feel free to discuss it with your child at home and see if you can support them with their goals.
Upcoming dates for your diary:
Family Fun Day: Saturday 7th December
Term 1 reports go live: Thursday 12th December 2019
Welcome to Year 3
Posted by kimward
Introduction:This is the place where you will be able to keep up to date with what is going on in Year 3 in terms of your child’s learning in Unit of Inquiry, Language and Maths, as well as reminders of key dates and some photographs or video clips of life in Year 3.
What an amazing start to the year the Y3 students have had! All the teachers and EAs have been very impressed at how quickly they have been learning new routines and expectations.
It was a pleasure to meet you at the Parent Information Fair last week and begin to develop those connections and relationships that will enable your children to flourish and be well supported this year by us all. For anyone who was not able to attend, a copy of the slide show we used at the presentation is included for your convenience HERE.
We would like to draw special attention the the two slides about creating ‘BREAKER SPACES’. If you have any old electronic equipment that you no longer want or need can you please send them in to Mrs. Klatt. She is developing opportunities to take things apart and investigate how things are made, sparking an interest in science and technology. (STEAM)
Unit of Inquiry:
HOW WE ORGANISE OURSELVES
Central Idea: Organisations are structured to solve problems and achieve goals.
We have spent the first few weeks of school getting to know each other and also building an understanding of how people work together. This first unit introduces the idea of teamwork and how groups of people in different settings can work together to achieve goals. The students will explore different groups or teams of people they know about – for example the adults in the school, and explore their roles and how they work together. They will be interviewing members of the school leadership team as well as EAs to find out how they work together for the smooth running of the school.
They will also carry out some teamwork challenges in groups to develop their social and communication skills. This year we have decided to spread this unit of inquiry across the whole year, as there are many opportunities in other units of inquiry where it is appropriate to spotlight the value of collaboration and effective teamwork. For that reason, next week, we will be moving straight onto our second unit.
WHO WE ARE
Central idea: Understanding who we are as individuals and as a community helps us GROW.DISCOVER.DREAM.
The focus of this unit of inquiry is on visible wellbeing. We will inquire into the SEARCH Framework and explore the elements of this in different, practical ways with the students to help them gain a deeper understanding of their strengths- how to use them, and how to develop the, their emotional management – using the zones of regulation to support this. We will also look at strategies to develop their attention and awareness, relationships, coping and habits and goals. Once again this wellbeing focus will permeate all units throughout the year. By having a strong focus early on, we can build on the students’ understanding and support them in having more agency around their own wellbeing.
This unit leads into Y3 Camp, which is timely and will enable them to apply many of the skills, strengths and strategies they will have been learning about in school.
Language:
Focus: Narratives – People write stories for the enjoyment of others.
The students will begin by retelling stories that they have heard to help them understand the structure of narratives. They will have the opportunity to create stories of their own, reflecting the structures they have learned.
We will begin guided reading sessions in groups during school at the students instructional level, which will be a little more challenging than their home readers (fluency books).
We will begin teaching the students pre-cursive letters, with joiners, this term to prepare them for cursive handwriting later in the year.
We will be revisiting the high frequency words, continuing the work done in Y2 on this and also introduce more phonics to support spelling and word study.
How you can support at home:
We ask that you not only listen to your children read at home, but also read to them and discuss and share books with them. The books they bring home from the library are based on their interests. We encourage reading for pleasure and enjoyment.
Maths:
Focus: Place Value: The base ten place value system is used to represent numbers and number relationships.
During our first maths unit, the students will:
- Apply place value to partition and rename four-digit numbers.
For example 4,356 is 4000+300+50+6 (this is partitioning)
- Skip count by twos, fives, tens and hundreds starting from a number other than zero
- Recognise, model, represent and order four-digit numbers
- Round numbers to the nearest 10 or 100
The students will engage in various place value games and activities in order to reinforce, consolidate and learn these concepts.
How you can support at home:
You can support at home by working with them one-to-one and also by taking advantage of the many activities on StudyLadder (accessed through Ding! – check the diary for login details) which support our class learning.
Wellbeing:
The start of a new school year is always a time to build positive relationships and set the tone for a happy and productive year for all.
The year 3 classes have been reconnecting with character strengths and how these can help us. We have also reconnected with the zones of regulation as a means of the students easily communicating whether or not they are in the green zone (for learning)- and if they are not, how to get back there using various tools and strategies.
We have all spent a good deal of time developing essential agreements with our classes to establish the kind of environment the students would prefer to learn in.
Throughout the year we will be asking the students to engage in various wellbeing practices, including circle times, reflecting using ‘See. Hear. Feel’ and engaging with a reflection journal. Although we have a particular focus during our Who We Are unit of inquiry, aspects of visible wellbeing will permeate school life throughout the year.
Important Dates for your Diary:
Class Assemblies:
3LKT (Mrs Klatt’s class) – 10th September 2019 (done)
3CHN (Ms Hanlon’s class) – 26th November 2019
3KWD (Mrs Ward’s class) – 26th May 2020
3SPT (Mr Pratt’s class) – 6th June 2020
Parent-Teacher Conferences: 18th and 19th September 2019
Y3 Camp: Thursday 24th and Friday 25th October 2019
