Half term is here!

Time really does fly when you’re having fun! I can’t believe we are at the end of another half term; and what a half term it’s been. The children have been fantastic and have worked so hard; I am very proud of every single one of them. This week, in our worships, we have been thinking of the gifts God has given us; and how we can use these gifts to shine God’s light. Well, the children have certainly done just that this term. They have been kind, respectful, hard working, curious, active and faith filled. A joy to teach!

Here is what we have been up to this week…

-Maths: we have been learning about equivalent fractions.

-English: we have learnt all about the present perfect and simple past tenses - very tricky but the children used their growth mindsets to rise to the challenge!

-Computing: we spent Tuesday afternoon learning about how we can be safer online for Safer Internet Day. We learnt all about our online identity and how we can choose what information we share online.

-Art: the children completed their artwork of The Wild Robot using watercolours and poster paints. I am very impressed!

Notices:

• World Book Day - 5th March. The children can come dressed as their favourite character from a book or they can bring a prop based on their character. If the children choose the second option they will still need to be in school uniform.

• Thank you for all your kind donations for silly sock day.

• Please spread the word about our Reception/Year 1 Julia Donaldson event on the 28th February - 5-6.15pm. Tickets are £3 from the office.

• After half term we will be starting our Daily Mile! The track has been painted on the playground and the children are excited to begin. More information to follow after half term.

• On February 28th mid term reports will be sent home.

Awards this week went to:

-Golden: Ebony

-Writing: Kyran

-Maths: Abigail

There will be no homework over the holiday however please encourage your child to still read daily.

Have a lovely half term,

Miss Heim-Sarac

'Be faithful in small things because it is in them that your strength lies' - Mother Teresa

In our worships this week we have had a focus on faithfulness. We have discussed what this means and learnt about some of the Saints who showed their faithfulness in beautiful ways. We spoke about Anna, who fasted and worshipped at the temple for 60 days before Jesus was presented at the temple. There must have been times when Anna wondered what she was doing but she still carried on with her mission. That is because she had true faith in God. For the children, we discussed that being faithful means doing everything we do with great love; however small those things are.

I have been super proud of the children this week; they have done some fantastic learning…

-Maths: we have been focusing on our times tables this week and their matching division facts.

-English: we have now completed our new episodes of A Tale of Two Robots and we have now planned a new episode of The Iron Man. The children have also recounted the book we have just finished reading in class, The Wild Robot. Lots of wonderful writing this week!

-Science: we spoke about how we use magnets in our everyday lives and came up with inventions that include magnets that could make our everyday lives easier. There were some interesting suggestions!

-R.E: we learnt about the story of The Lost Sheep - a story that tells us that whenever we sin and stray off our paths; God will always be there to find us and bring us home.

-Geography: we learnt about the different features of various European countries.

-Art: the children have started to create some fantastic watercolour pictures of The Wild Robot. Some of these entries will be entered in to our local Seasiders art competition. Watch this space!

Notices:

• Silly Sock Day on the 13th February - children are still to wear school uniform but with their silly socks/tights. Please bring a £1 donation on this day.

• We have our last Yoga session with Mrs Ward this coming Tuesday. After half term the children will only need to wear their PE kits on Mondays and Thursdays.

• Safer Internet Day is on Tuesday 11th February. We will be spending the whole morning learning about how we can be safer online.

• School finished for half term on the 14th February at normal finishing time.

• On February 28th there is a Julia Donaldson Reception and Year 1 event, tickets are £3 at the office. Please spread the word about this.

Award winners this week:

-Golden: Leo & Lily

-Maths: Summer

-Writing: Idana & Livia

Please see the homework tab for this week’s tasks and have a lovely weekend,

Miss Heim-Sarac

'It is not enough to love the young; they must know that they are loved' - St John Bosco

Today we went to Church to celebrate the feast day of St John Bosco; who is the patron saint of children; and magicians apparently! We also decorated a candle to take to Church as Sunday is the Presentation (Candlemas). The children were so well behaved at Mass and made me very proud. It really is a lovely experience for the children to attend Mass and it also gives them an opportunity to practice their prayers and responses in preparation for their Holy Communion journey later this year.

Here is what we have been learning this week…

-Maths: this week we have had a focus on place value addition of two and three digit numbers. We even challenged ourselves and added two 4 digit numbers by partitioning! Wow!

-English: we created a conversation between Robert and Nita to add to our new episode. We then created a boxed up plan so we are ready to write up our episodes on Monday.

-Science: we conducted an experiment to see whether the surface of a table would affect the speed a plastic tub would travel on it. We used lots of different materials to do this and spoke about friction.

-R.E: we continued to look at Zaccheus and wrote about a time when we had sinned but were forgiven.

-Geography: we labelled, on a map, the different countries that make up Europe.

Awards:

-Maths: Henri

No other awards were handed out this week due to us being at Mass. These will be handed out in Monday’s assembly instead.

Notices:

• On Thursday 13th February we will be having a ‘Silly Sock Day!’. The children are still to wear their school uniform; along with their silly socks or tights. We are asking the children to bring in £1 on this day as we are raising funds to revamp our school library.

• The children have been given the opportunity to design the front cover of the programme for the RSC’s Taming of the Shrew at the Grand Theatre in March. If your child would like to take part; please can they bring their design in no later than Monday. It needs to be on an A4 sheet of paper; and portrait. No text allowed; just pictures!

• On Friday 28th February we are having our Julia Donaldson event for Reception and Year 1. Please spread the word about this event as it promises to be lots of fun! Tickets are available from the office for £3.

Please see the homework tab for this week’s tasks.

Have a lovely weekend,

Miss Heim-Sarac

'St Peter committed one of the greatest sins, denying Christ, and yet they made him Pope. Think about that'- Pope Francis

This week we have started our new R.E. topic ‘Called to Change’. We will be learning all about sin this term and this week we spoke about how God will always forgive us as long as we say sorry and really mean it. We role played an argument with a friend and then added in a resolution where we apologised to one another. We also spoke about how important it is to forgive someone who apologises to us; which isn’t always easy. The power of God’s forgiveness is so strong that he forgave St Peter; who committed one of the greatest sins - denying Christ.

We have, as always, worked very hard this week in all of our learning…

-Maths: we have compared and ordered numbers.

-English: we have planned and started to write our new episodes of ‘A tale of two robots’. We have also learnt all about inverted commas.

-Science: we have started to think about how objects move on different surfaces ready for an experiment next week.

-Geography: we started a new topic on Europe. We located Europe on a map and thought about the different countries that make up this continent.

Award winners this week were:

-Maths: Flo

-Writing: Leo

-Golden: Livia

Please see the homework tab for this week’s tasks.

Have a lovely weekend,

Miss Heim-Sarac

'You can make anything by writing.' - C.S. Lewis

We were super lucky to have a writing workshop with our patron of reading Dan Worsley on Wednesday. Dan is a fantastic author and guided us through how to create an opening to a story about an alien encounter! The children learnt how to describe a character effectively and also how to show the reader how a character is feeling without actually saying it. The children loved every second and have written some fantastic pieces of writing to show Dan when he next visits us.

Here is what we have been learning about this week…

-Maths: we have continued our theme on measurement and have learnt all about capacity. We did this practically by estimating how much we thought containers could hold; and then we filled them with water and poured that water into a measuring jug to find out each container’s capacity. Thank you to all who sent in containers - I have returned any that I know you will want back; and will recycle the rest.

-English: we have started to think about writing our own science fiction story! Next week we will be writing a new episode of the text we have been looking at this term (A tale of two Robots). I am excited to see what Robert and Nita (two room cleaning robots!) are going to get up to on their adventures!

-R.E.: this week we have been thinking about questions relating to Mary that are difficult to answer. We thought of our own questions and then had a go at trying to answer each other’s. Father Jim popped in to see us today and he helped us to answer some of the trickier questions the children had come up with!

-Science: we learnt all about pushes and pulls.

-DT: we made our very own Iron Man models which have now come home. The children worked very hard on these despite them being quite tricky to make!

Our award winners this week are:

Maths: Vinny

Writing: Sophie

Golden: Maia

Well done!

I also wanted to say a huge well done to all the Y3 children who auditioned today for our upcoming performance of the RSC’s Taming of the Shrew at the Grand theatre. I was blown away by their confidence and enthusiasm! We wish we could take all of you with us! Unfortunately; only 30 children (across years 3,4,5 & 6) can take part. Children who have gained a place in the performance will be told next week.

Finally, a message from Ebony in Year 3…

From Fri 28th Feb - Sun 1st March 2020, I will be performing in a fantastic show for all the family. ‘The world at your feet 2020’ is a production that celebrates the best of song and dance including Riverdance, Tap, Ballet, Jazz, Contemporary and Musical Theatre by the elite students from Blackpool’s Whittaker Dance and Drama Centre (est 1952). Tickets can be bought from The Grand Theatre Box Office either in person, over the telephone (01253 290190) or online at www.blackpoolgrand.co.uk

Please see the homework tab for this week’s tasks.

Have a lovely weekend,

Miss Heim-Sarac

Wise men still seek him…

It has been a joy to welcome the children back to school this week after the Christmas break. I had missed them! They have come back refreshed and ready for 2020. I have been amazed at the fantastic work they have produced this week and with their mature attitudes to each other and school life.

Our first day back at school saw us celebrating the Epiphany. We had a whole school assembly to learn and talk about this special day. This term our own gifts to God will be to show him how we can be curious and active as followers of Jesus; just like the wise men were.

Here is what we have been learning about this week…

• Maths: we have had a focus on measurement; in particular, length. We have learnt all about measuring and drawing lines to the nearest cm and mm; tricky stuff!

• English: we have started a new unit of work on fantasy stories. We are all enjoying immersing ourselves in our text; A Tale of Two Robots. We have also been reading The Iron Man alongside this as our class reader.

• Science: we have started a new topic - Forces & Magnets. We created concept maps to work out what we already know about this subject; and we will add to these as our topic progresses. We also conducted an experiment where we measured how many Newton’s were needed to lift certain objects using force meters.

• R.E.: we imagined we were Mary being interviewed about the events that had happened to her after The Annunciation up to the visit from the wise men. First of all we acted out this interview and then we wrote down what we thought her answers would be to various questions.

• Art: we have created some fantastic chalk and oil pastel drawings of the Iron Man.

Our award winners this week were:

• Writing: Lily

• Golden: Idana

Please see the homework tab for details of this week’s tasks.

Have a lovely weekend,

Miss Heim-Sarac

Merry Christmas to one and all!

Here we are; at the end of our Autumn term. I just wanted to take the opportunity to wish you all a happy and peaceful Christmas. It really is the most wonderful time of the year! Your children have worked unbelievably hard this term and I couldn't be prouder. I am extremely excited to see what 2020 brings.

It goes without saying that this final week in school has been incredibly busy in various ways; but we have finished off today with a lovely party to celebrate the festive season and our achievements in Year 3 so far. Thank you very much to those who attended our Carol Service on Wednesday. The children were fantastic and played their parts brilliantly; I was smiling from ear to ear throughout!

Our award winners this week are:

Maths: Abigail

Golden: all of Year 3 - for all the hard work they put in to our Carol Service

Writing: Idana

Have a lovely Christmas and Happy New Year,

Miss Heim-Sarac

‘Advent helps us find Jesus in the needs of others’ - Pope Francis

This week we have continued to prepare ourselves for Christmas and the coming of Jesus. We have focused on this during our daily worships and took time to reflect on what we need to do to prepare. We have thought about the importance of saying sorry when we have done wrong but we have also discussed how important it is to accept an apology when it comes our way. Above all, we have remembered that we need to have a loving heart at all times.

Most of our week has been taken up with Carol Service practice! The children have blown me away with how hard they have worked and I know they will impress you all on Wednesday.

Despite the busyness we have managed to fit in some fantastic learning…

-Maths: we have been learning how to choose an appropriate strategy when faced with an addition or subtraction.

-English: the children completed their instruction text on How to Wash a Woolly Mammoth and then wrote another instruction text on How to Catch Santa! Some amazing writing has been produced this week.

- R.E: we unpicked the Hail Mary and had a go at writing this special prayer in our own words. We also role played the visit between Mary and Elizabeth; and wrote a letter to Elizabeth explaining why Mary said yes to God.

Notices:

• Our carol service is this Wednesday at 2.30pm over at Church.

• On Thursday we are holding our Christmas Jumper Day. Please bring a £1 donation to Cafod.

• Instead or bringing in individual Christmas cards this year we are asking the children to bring in just one card for the whole class and to make a £1 donation to Cafod. Thank you for your donations and cards so far.

• If your child has been suffering with a tummy bug please only send them back to school 48 hours after their last incident of sickness/diarrhoea. This will help us greatly in the battle against bugs at this time of year!

• School finishes this Friday at 2pm for the Christmas holidays.

Awards this week:

• Maths: Lillie

No other awards were handed out this week due to us watching the fantastic dress rehearsal of the Reception nativity.

Please see the homework tab for this week’s tasks.

I hope you’re having a lovely weekend,

Miss Heim-Sarac

May this season remind you of the hope, joy, love and peace found in Christ

The past couple of weeks in Year 3 have flown by! I cannot believe that we are nearly at the end of our first week of Advent. During our worships this week we have focused on how we can prepare for the coming of Jesus. We have spoken about the true meaning of Christmas; and how we need to keep this at the forefront of our minds when we find ourselves focusing too much on all the excitement Christmas brings (although it is important to also enjoy this wonderful time in all its glory!)

Here is what we have been up to in our learning over the past two weeks:

• English: we have immersed ourselves in the text How to wash a Woolly Mammoth which is an instruction text. The children have really enjoyed this book and have performed role plays, created posters and learnt all about prepositions and bossy verbs to prepare for writing their own instruction texts. Today we have planned our instructions ready for writing on Monday.

• Maths: we have been dividing with remainders, looking at our times tables and matching division facts, subtracting by counting up and adding using partitioning. Phew!

• History: we have finished our topic on The Stone Age. Our final task was to design a piece of Iron Age jewellery. The children have also written an information text on the Stone Age, Bronze Age and Iron Age. Their writing is coming on in leaps and bounds!

• Science: we have also completed our topic on Animals including Humans. We finished with a focus on the functions of the skeleton and how our muscles help us to move.

• R.E.: we have focused on Advent and made our Advent promises.

In class we are also reading The Christmasaurus and the Winter Witch. There is a section of the book where the children visit the North Pole and come across a forest full of wishes. The children have spent time creating their own wishes and they will be on display soon.

Notices:

• 19th December: Christmas Jumper Day. Please bring a £1 donation for Cafod.

• Instead of bringing in individual Christmas cards this year we are asking the children to bring in just one card for the whole class and donate £1 to Cafod. Thank you for your donations so far.

• KS2 Carol Service will be held on the 18th December at 2.30pm. Practice starts next week! We look forward to seeing you there.

• Just a reminder that if your child has been off with sickness please keep them off school for 48 hours after the last symptom.

• Our Advent services at school started this morning. We have a further two scheduled for the next two Fridays - these will be held in school at 8.15am. Please join us! There will be tea and toast available afterwards.

Our award winners for this week and last week are:

• Golden: Franchesca & Maisy

• Writing: Malachy, Ollie & Sam

• Maths: Idana & Malachy

Everyone really is working so hard, well done Year 3! I am very proud of you all.

Please see the homework tab for details of this week’s tasks.

Have a lovely weekend,

Miss Heim-Sarac

Staying SMART online - beware what you share!

We have finished off our week with an internet safety afternoon. It is so important that we teach the children not only how to stay safe online; but how to use the internet effectively. We focused on three elements: reliability, safety and accepting. We spoke about how if we receive anything from an unknown person, we shouldn’t open it. We should also tell an adult. We also discussed how we can stay safe online by not sharing our personal information (address, phone number, passwords, email, name). Finally we learnt about the relatability of information on the internet. We spoke about sites such as Wikipedia where anybody can contribute; so it is important to double check the information we have found on trustworthy sites or in books.

This is what we have learnt this week…

-English: we have finished our information texts and have now moved on to learning about instruction texts using the book How to Wash a Woolly Mammoth.

-Maths: we learnt how to use place value to solve additions and subtractions of money.

-History: we started to learn about the Iron Age and the hillforts where they lived.

-Science: we recapped our learning on animal and human skeletons.

The children have had yet another fantastic week of showing perseverance and resilience. They are also starting to work together very well as a team; I couldn’t be prouder!

Notices:

• next Friday we have a Julia Donaldson event on in school for reception and year 1 children. Whilst the children in my class can’t attend; if they have any younger siblings I would encourage them to come along! It promises to be a fun evening with lots of activities and a fabulous raffle at the end! £3 a ticket and parents do not need to stay.

• some dates for your diaries: 19th December Christmas jumper day and 18th December ks2 carol service at church.

• a big thank you again for all your donations to the shoebox appeal - we managed to fill approximately 30 boxes altogether!

• please can you send in this coming week an empty 4 pint milk carton with your child? They need to be clean please!

• a North Face coat has gone missing that belongs to a child in Year 3. Please can you check that this has not been brought home in error; we would love to reunite this coat with its owner!

Maths: Ebony

Golden: Max

Writing: Henri

Please see the homework tab for this week’s tasks and I hope you are all having a lovely weekend!

Miss Heim-Sarac

Do not be afraid Mary for I bring you good news...

We have had another fantastic week in Year 3. I am so proud of the children this week as they have shown perseverance and resilience in all they have done. We have had a big focus on growth mindset this week; and I think the children are beginning to understand how important mistakes are in our learning.

Here is what we have been up to this week…

-Maths: we have continued our work on fractions by finding fractions of amounts.

-English: we have started and nearly finished our own information texts - an entry for an A-Z holiday guide.

-Science: we have named the bones in our skeletons we made last week - not only using the common bone names, but the scientific bone names as well.

-R.E.: we retold the story of the Annunciation this week. We also looked at different pieces of art showing the Annunciation and decided which ones were our favourite and why.

-History: we continued our learning on the Bronze Age by focusing on the grave goods Bronze Age people were buried with. We learnt what these items could tell us about the person. The children also picked 5 items they would pick for someone in thousands of years to find about them and whether they would be able to tell what kind of people we were from these objects.

Our award winners this week were:

Maths: No award this week due to our Remembrance Day assembly on Monday

Writing: Izzy

Golden: Abigail

I haven’t set the children any homework this week, however, please can the children be reading nightly and practicing on times tables rockstars at least three times a week. I will be testing the children next Friday on the division facts for the 2s, 5s and 10s.

I hope you have had a lovely weekend,

Miss Heim-Sarac

At the going down of the sun and in the morning, we shall remember them

We have spent some time this week learning about Remembrance Day and discussing why this is a day of reflection. We spoke about WW2 and Hitler; as well as Anne Frank. The children were fascinated by her story. We made our own poppies which we will display with pride on Monday. We will also observe a silence to honour the fallen and the victims of our world wars.

We’ve had a very busy week in Year 3 and have done some amazing learning…

-English: we have been continuing our focus on information texts; and have been having a go at summarising information with a focus on the positives and minuses of different places when deciding where to go on holiday.

-Maths: we have been doubling and halving this week as well as starting a new unit on fractions!

-Science: we made our own skeletons using split pins and we are going to name the different bones next week. You might be able to spot the skeletons in our classroom window!

-History: we have moved on to looking at the Bronze Age. We role played how bronze is made (smelting) and then ordered this process in our books.

-R.E: we are looking at Mary Our Mother this term. We have spoken this week about the Annunciation and why Mary was chosen to be the Mother of Jesus. We discussed special jobs we had been given to do and how that made us feel; as well as making sure we pick the right person when a job needs doing!

Notices:

-We have now finished our Yoga sessions with Mrs Ward on a Tuesday. There will therefore be no need for children to come in their P.E. kit on a Tuesday. We have really enjoyed learning how to be mindful and we will definitely be putting this in to practice in the classroom!

-A date for your diary: the KS2 carol service will be held on the 18th December at 2.30pm over at Church. We look forward to seeing you there!

-We will be having a Christmas Jumper day on the 19th December - we are asking for a £1 donation on the day.

Award winners this week:

Maths: Livia

Writing: no award this week

Golden: Malachy

Please see the homework tab for details of this week’s tasks.

I hope you all have a wonderful weekend,

Miss Heim-Sarac

‘Remember that nothing is small in the eyes of God. Do all that you do with love’ - St Therese of Lisieux

Welcome back! I hope you all had a lovely half term. We have had a short week back at school but we have filled it with lots of fabulous learning! We have also celebrated Math’s Day and All Saint’s Day.

On Math’s Day the children spent the morning designing their very own theme park! They were business men and women with their own offices and some tricky decisions to make! They had to come up with a good plan in order for the bank to loan them the money they needed to build their park. This involved lots of teamwork and communication, as well as using skills such as measuring and calculating additions and subtractions. They did a fantastic job! Thank you for all the effort you made with the children’s outfits.

We celebrated All Saint’s Day on Friday at Church with a lovely Mass. The children behaved beautifully and I was very proud of them all. We have enjoyed learning about some saints this week and the way they lived their lives. Very inspiring! Due to us being at Mass on Friday no certificates have been handed out this week.

Here is what we have been learning about in our lessons…

Maths: we have learnt how to place numbers on a number line. We have also completed a problem solving and reasoning test.

English: we are continuing with our learning on information texts. We were also treated this week to a Marvels & Mayhem workshop by a lady called Emily who showed the children some fantastic resources about the Blackpool circus. The children then designed their own circus act.

Science: we have learnt about the three types of skeleton: endoskeleton, exoskeleton and hydrostatic skeleton.

R.E.: we learnt about different saints and created our own prayer to say thank you for three things we currently have; and asking for one thing we need help with. We chose which saint we wanted to pray to.

Notices:

• this coming Tuesday will be our final yoga session. After that there will be no need for the children to wear their PE kit on a Tuesday

• thank you for your donations to the shoebox appeal! I have been blown away by your kindness.

• no homework this weekend - however, I have asked the children to read and have a go on times tables rock stars.

• your child has brought home their first set of spellings for this term, please practice when you can! There will be an end of term test - date to be confirmed.

• next Friday the children will be tested on their 2, 5 & 10 times tables - please practice!
  

It was so lovely to meet you all on Parent’s Day and I am very excited to see what the rest of the year brings.

Have a lovely weekend,

Miss Heim-Sarac

'Be yourself. Everyone else is taken' - Oscar Wilde

Wow! I cannot believe that we are at the end of our first term together already. Time really does fly when you're having fun! I am so proud of all the children and the progress they have made so far this year; I really have loved every second and I can’t wait to see what next term brings. All of your children are unique and they should be very proud of that, and we are going to focus in on this next term by thinking about our strengths and qualities we possess.

We have had a busy but fun week together…

-In Maths we did our first assessment; which we worked super hard on! Well done Year 3! We also continued to look at time.

-In English we continued our learning on information texts and their features.

-In History we built Stonehenge out of biscuits - we named it ‘Biscuithenge’! Messy but fun!

-In P.E. we continued our games topic and practiced our chest and bounce passes.

-In R.E. we thought about our godparents and why they have such an important role in our lives.

Notices:

Harvest - your child has come home with a letter regarding donations for Harvest. This year we are supporting the shoebox appeal and as a class we have been asked to donate toiletry items. This could be a toothbrush, a flannel, soap (but please no liquids). If these items could be brought in to school the week we return we would be very grateful. Thank you for all the donations received so far.

Parent’s Day - I look forward to meeting you all on the 28th to discuss your child’s progress so far.

Math’s Day - We will be celebrating this day on the 31st October (the Thursday after we return). Your child can come to school in an outfit that represents number in some way! Some ideas could be: dice, a domino, a calculator…however, it could also be as simple as a t-shirt with a number on it!

Homework - there will be no homework over the holiday; however I would still like the children to be reading daily if possible (this can be a book from home).

I wish you all a wonderful and restful holiday.

Miss Heim-Sarac

We love Shakespeare!

We started the week learning all about the Merchant of Venice before the RSC visit on Tuesday. We learnt about the setting and characters, created freeze frames of different scenes and spent time in the hall with Year 4 acting out the play in ten sections. The children absolutely blew me away with their acting and understanding. Well done Year 3!

On Tuesday we were treated to an amazing performance of the Merchant of Venice by the RSC. What a show it was! The children were beautifully behaved throughout and they were very sad when it came to an end! A big well done to Sophie, Lillie and Oliver who took part in the performance by presenting the caskets and reading a line from the play. We are so lucky to be able to experience a performance of a Shakespeare play first hand from the RSC.

Here is what we have been learning this week…

-English: we have written some fabulous recounts of Stone Age Boy and started a new topic on information texts. I have asked the children to bring in any leaflets they may see when they are out and about this weekend that give the reader information - for example, a leaflet about local attractions.

-Maths: we have looked at measurement this week and had a focus on telling the time on an analogue and digital clock.

-History: we have learnt about Stonehenge and we will be making our own models of this famous landmark next week.

-R.E.: we have looked at the story of The Paralysed Man and retold it. We have also learnt about the importance of our Baptismal promises.

Our award winners this week are:

Maths: Tyler

Writing: Max & Oliver

Golden: Jayden-Thomas

We break up for school next Thursday, the 17th October, at normal finishing time and return on Tuesday 29th October. Please ensure you have an appointment with me for Parents’ Day on the 28th October which will be held in the school hall.

Please see the homework tab for this weeks tasks.

Have a lovely weekend,

Miss Heim-Sarac

How do you eat scones?

What a week we have had! Firstly, I just want to say how hard your children have worked this week but also how hard they have been trying to make the right choices. They have blown me away this week and I am so proud of them! This has definitely been our best week in Year 3 so far and I hope it continues.

We were very lucky to have had a special visitor in our class this week - my sister! She spent Tuesday and Wednesday with us and the children loved having her here. She lives in Devon, and spends a lot of her time on a farm, so as you can imagine the children were very excited about this. She brought in some lovely videos and pictures of various animals, and the children had the opportunity to ask her some questions. On Wednesday afternoon, she brought us all a scone with clotted cream and jam! I was so impressed as pretty much all of the children tried them. We of course had them the Devon way (cream, then jam!) Yum!

We have also done some fabulous learning, as always, this week…

-In English we have looked at compound sentences and sentence openers. It's so important that we don’t just use ‘the’ at the beginning of our sentences.

-In Maths we have been looking at 3D shapes and we have also started to learn subtraction by counting on.

-In Science we looked at how our lifestyles might affect our diet. We had a go at creating a menu for somebody based on their lifestyle - for example, a bodybuilder will need more protein in their diet and a marathon runner will need more carbohydrates.

-In R.E. we have been looking at the extraordinary month of mission which is taking place throughout October. We have learnt about St Therese of Liseux who is the patron of this event, as well as looking at John Henry Newman who is to be canonised on the 13th October. We then watched a video about a nun who is a missionary and who travels to Africa to help people there. We also created our own missions to achieve this month.

-In History we learnt about Skara Brae which is a historical site in Scotland from the Stone Age. We used the ipads to research this special place.

Our award winners this week are:

Golden - Dainton

Writing - Ebony

Reading - Leo

We have the amazing RSC coming in to our school on Tuesday to perform The Merchant of Venice. We are so excited! It is such a fantastic opportunity for the children. If you would like to see this performance, there is one in the evening at 7pm. Please buy your tickets from the office to avoid missing out!

Please see the homework tab for this week’s tasks.

Have a lovely weekend.

Miss Heim-Sarac

The greatest wealth is to live content with little - Plato

The highlight of our week was definitely European Languages Day which we celebrated yesterday! As a class we were ‘Greece’ and what fun we had - we really immersed ourselves in Greek culture. We learnt lots of interesting facts, made our own Greek flags, designed our own Greek vases, listened to Greek myths, learnt some Greek dancing and learnt some Greek phrases! Not to mention the food tasting! I was so proud of the children as they all had a go at trying the food - olives, feta, pitta bread, tzatziki and Greek yoghurt! Well done Year 3!

We have also been doing lots of amazing learning in other areas…

-English: We have had a conjunction focus this week and have also had a go at creating some compound sentences.

-Maths: The children have been learning how to double and halve numbers up to 40.

-History: The children have made some fantastic cave drawings and they have also had a go at trying to work out what sources can tell us about the past.

-R.E.: We have focused this week on signs and symbols of Baptism. In our worships we have been thinking about putting God first and not placing too much importance on material things.

-Spanish: The children have also started their Spanish lessons with Mrs McVey which will take place on a Friday afternoon.

Our award winners this week were:

Maths: Dainton

Golden: Lillie

Writing: Edie

Please see the homework tab for this week’s tasks.

I hope you all have a wonderful weekend.

Miss Heim-Sarac

We are actors, writers and bumblebee breathers!

Firstly, I apologise for the delay in getting this blog to you - unfortunately I was not in school Friday or yesterday due to the sad passing of my godfather. It has been lovely to be back in school with the children today as I have missed them! Last week saw lots of fabulous learning…

Maths: the children learnt how to order and compare numbers; add and subtract 2 two digit numbers AND start to learn their multiplication tables (3s and 4s)! The children will be Maths superstars before we know it!

English: the children created some fabulous sentences using adjectives; as well as writing their own adventure for Barney & Stig from Stig of the Dump. They also created some fabulous freeze frames for Stone Age Boy! We definitely have some budding writers and actors on our hands.

History: we pretended we were Stone Age hunter gatherers and went on a hunt around the school grounds to see what we could use to help us to survive if we lived in the Stone Age.

R.E.: Father Jim kindly conducted a Baptism over at Church for us so that we could see first hand how a child enters the Christian Family. Thank you for the beautiful pictures you have sent in with the children from their own Baptisms.

Science: we looked at the nutrient pyramid and learnt why we need different nutrients in our diet.

Your child may have mentioned to you that we have learnt how to ‘bumblebee breathe’. Ask the children to show you how to do it! It helps the children feel calm and mindful; and we have been practicing this at numerous points throughout the school day.

Reminder: European Languages Day on the 26th (this Thursday). We will be learning all about Greece so please can the children come to school dressed in white and blue (the colours of the Greek flag). Thank you!

Award winners:

Maths: Oliver

No other awards were handed out due to school photographs being taken on Friday.

Miss Heim-Sarac

Savage Stone Age

I can’t believe that we have had two weeks together already! This week the children have been so enthusiastic about their learning which has been lovely to see. It is such a big step for them to come in to Year 3; but they continue to amaze me with how well they are taking it all in their stride. I’m excited for the coming week together!

Maths - we have been looking at what happens when we add and subtract a 1 digit number to/from a 2 digit number. We spotted lots of patterns and could then apply this to larger numbers too!

English - we have immersed ourselves in the story of the Stone Age Boy this week! We have learnt the story through story maps and boards; and used adjectives to describe a setting from the story. We also created a piece of drama!

History - we started our Stone Age topic by looking at what prehistory means. We placed the three parts of the Stone Age on to a timeline.

Science - we created a healthy meal on paper plates (following the guidance from the eatwell plate). Ask your child what meal they designed!

Yoga - we had our first yoga sessions with Mrs Ward. It was so relaxing and she taught us how to have a mindful body.

R.E. - we wrote about a special occasion in Church. Next week we will be starting to learn about how we join the Christian Family - Baptism. I have asked your children to please bring in a photo from their own Baptisms (please don’t worry if your child hasn’t been Baptised/you don’t have a photo). The photos can be copies. If these could be in school for Wednesday that would be great.

Roald Dahl Day - on Friday the children celebrated Roald Dahl day and took part in lots of fun activities!

Phew! As you can see, we’ve been very busy! The children were also given their login details for times tables rock stars. We are currently trialling this in school and so far the children seem to be enjoying it. They can log in at home also; so please can you ensure your children are logging in at least three times a week to practice their tables. Thank you.

Our award winners this week were:

Maths - Sam. For blowing me away with his number bond knowledge.

Golden - Sophie. For settling in to Year 3 beautifully.

Writing - Tyler. For producing some fantastic sentences this week.

Well done!

Please see the homework tab for details of this of this week’s tasks.

Finally, some dates for your diary…

26th September - European Day of Languages. We will be looking at Greece this year so please can the children come to school dressed in the colours of the Greek flag.

31st October - Math’s Day. The children can come to school dressed in an outfit related to number I.e. a domino, dice etc.

I hope you have had a lovely weekend.

Miss Heim-Sarac

Welcome to Year 3!

Hello and welcome to Year 3! Each week, I will write a blog for you to read about what your children have been learning. I will also include any important notices and homework tasks.

Your children have blown me away this week. They have started Year 3 with a positive attitude and an enthusiasm to learn. I couldn’t ask for any more!

Despite it being the first week back, we have still managed to do lots of amazing learning…

Maths - we have been recapping our number bonds to 10 and 100, and then looking at adding three and four numbers together! The children have done some fabulous work and you wouldn’t think they had just had six weeks off!

English - we have completed our star reading tests this week and we have also written a story set in the past.

Science - we have started a topic on animals (including humans). Firstly, we thought about what we already knew, and then we had a go at sorting some foods in to the five main food groups as we are going to start our topic thinking about diet.

R.E. - we are starting our year thinking about our Christian family. We discussed this as a class and then we drew a picture of who we thought was in our Christian family. We also spoke about a special time we have shared with our families.

Art - we created some beautiful adjective posters with watercolours to describe ourselves! They are super!

We also voted for our school councillors for this year. Well done to Max & Abigail who will be the Year 3 representatives. I know they will do a fabulous job.

Important notices:

• P.E. days are Monday and Thursday. In Autumn term the children also need to wear their PE kit on a Tuesday as they will be taking part in a yoga session on a Tuesday afternoon.

• Your child will come home with a reading book and log. Please sign and date when your child has read. I do expect the children to read nightly. Once the children have read a book they will then take a quiz on accelerated reader based on their understanding of the book. If you have any questions about accelerated reader, please ask. I will be sending home a letter next week with your child’s details so that you can log in yourselves and track their progress.

• The children will come home with weekly spellings to learn (starting next week) but there will be no weekly spelling test. Instead, the children will consolidate their learning through activities in class and an end of term assessment.

• I will put details of times tables work that I would like the children to complete at home on my blog next week.

• Please do not hesitate to call school or catch me at the end of the day if you would like to chat about your child. I will be more than happy to do so! Unfortunately, I am unavailable in the morning as I will be in the class room preparing for the day ahead.

• Homework details will always be put on the website on a Friday under the homework tab. Homework is given out on a Friday and due in on a Tuesday. There will be no homework this week.

I am extremely excited for the year ahead - your children are so lovely and I can’t wait to see what the year brings!

Have a lovely weekend.

Miss Heim-Sarac