After a great half term securing the 5x tables, as well as revising our 2x tables, we will now be working on the 3x tables, below are the focus facts we will be securing in class. 

3 x 3 = 9

4 x 3 = 12

6 x 3 = 18

7 x 3 = 21

8 x 3 = 24

9 x 3 = 27

Our latest Hour of Code project was deeply enjoyed by year 3. If you want to have a go at home, here is the link: 

https://game.rodocodo.com/hour-of-code/

As part of our topic we looked at food from the Mediterranean, especially dips. We taste tested a selection of different ones and also practised some of the food hygiene and preparation skills you would need when making foods such as dips. 

On 25th April, we had a wonderful day on Hunstanton beach completing a beach study of a British beach. We looked at the natural and man-made geography of the area, what facilities and amenities there were available. We also completed some sketches of the sea and we made some Andy Goldsworthy inspired sculptures and pictures from natural materials on the beach. The children had a wonderful day and were a real testament to the school in the way they conducted themselves. 

NCETM Maths Challenge- Summer 1st

After a great half term securing the 2x tables, we will now be working on the 5x tables, below are the focus facts we will be securing in class. We found that our scores out of 40 very quickly got higher with our new approach last half term and it was great to see confidence build. 

3 x 5 = 15
4 x 5 = 20
5 x 5 = 25
6 x 5 = 30
7 x 5 = 35
8 x 5 = 40
9 x 5 = 45

Summer Term Routines: PE days will continue to be a Tuesday and a Thursday, however please ensure that kit is in school from the start of the week, as our timetable can sometimes be subject to last minute change. 

Year 3 really enjoyed their Journey into Easter day, completing different art activities based on the Easter story, from the Last Supper to Jesus' Resurrection. 

As part of year 3's activity day - linked to our learning challenge questions 'What Does it Take to be an Olympian?' - we designed and made healthy fruit smoothies. Children worked in pairs to choose their fruit and blended them together before enjoying their healthy creation. We also enjoyed a great circuit training session with Mrs Baxter, discussing the benefits of being active and living a healthy lifestyle. They then spent the afternoon playing golf with Mr Farnham. I think there will be lots of tired children this evening! 

For World Book Day, we joined in with the live lesson run by BBC teach. We got to reinvent a story, we chose 'The Three Little Pigs', setting it in a city with their houses becoming a flat, a house and a mansion. We created a new villain for the story and a new twist at the end. 

As part of World Book Week 3VB went to visit Rainbow class for some shared reading. The children all sat together and read stories to each other, talking about the pictures and what happened in the book. Mrs Baxter was very proud of 3VB, they were great role models for the younger children 

Our new approach to times tables is a 'Maths Challenge' approach. 

• Is a systematic, whole class approach to learning the times tables.
• Aims to break down the learning of the times tables into manageable chunks learning a times table at a time 
• Teaches the importance of the commutative law and the relationship with division facts.
• Rote learning in which children learn the number facts AND a sound pattern (this is important). 
• Little and often - A two minute times table test, twice a day.
• 40 questions in each test. The children have two minutes to complete the test. An average of 3 seconds per question. 

As you can see, we are going right back to 2x tables and progression from there has been carefully mapped up to follow the children up the end of year 4, by which time they will have covered all necessary times tables facts. 

Spring 2nd Focus Facts:

2 x 2 = 4
3 x 2 = 6
4 x 2 = 8
5 x 2 = 10
6 x 2 = 12
7 x 2 = 14
8 x 2 = 16
9 x 2 = 18

3VB have really enjoyed using their coding skills to make a game called 'Smoking Car' on Scratch Online. They had to create backdrops, insert a sprite then code that sprite to point and move in different directions as well as then 'draw' as it travelled. Great work everyone!

On Friday 20th January, Year 3 were visited by Artistry in Cocoa from Newmarket for a chocolate making workshop. They were told all about where chocolate comes from and how it is made, from the cacao bean through to the chocolate we buy from the shops. They all enjoyed a tempering chocolate demonstration and then got to make their own chocolate lollies to take home. This was a great, enriching experience for our current Learning Challenge curriculum topic: Where Does Chocolate Come From? Check out some pictures below. 

Year 3 Routines: Our PE days are Tuesday(mornings) and Thursday (afternoons). Ensure that children have both indoor and outdoor kit in school, we recommend bringing kit in on a Monday and sending it home on a Friday to ensure we covered in case of any last minute timetable changes. 

In science this half term, we have been learning about rocks and soil. We finished off our learning by making delicious edible soil. The Oreo at the bottom was out bedrock layer, the parent rock layer was made up up of chocolate chips, the sub soil was a layer of angel delight. On top of that was the top soil (crushed Oreos), we use this layer of soil the most and it is home to lots of animals (including our gummy worms!) Finally, was the organic material layer, this was represented with green sprinkles and would be made up of grass, leaves, twigs etc. 

This half term we have been learning all about volcanoes: what they are, how they are made, what effect they have on the area around them and why people live near them. We have also discussed earthquakes and what you would do if you were ever in one. They children have really enjoyed this topic and we look forward to finding out 'Where Does Chocolate Come From?'

This term we are answering the questions: ' Who First Lived in Britain?' and 'What Makes the Earth Angry?' Please see document for more detail.