Week 13 at home...(and Year 2 transition activities)

Usually at this time of year we would begin to reflect on our time in Year 3 and all the things we have learnt, and start to look forward to the challenges September and a new year group will bring. We would have our transition morning with our new teacher and take part in Sports Day…these things can’t happen this year (not in the traditional sense anyway!) and unfortunately there are lots of things we have missed out on together this year. If I think about it too much I get a little bit sad, so I try to stay positive and instead think of all the wonderful things we HAVE done together! What we can do though, is carry on with our wonderful home learning (for only 2 more weeks!) and embrace this new normal for now! One thing is for sure, I will never forget my lockdown class of 2020! You are all stars and I am so proud of you all.

What we have tried to do is come up with ways of still allowing the children to take part in the things they would usually do at school but at home. That’s why, as mentioned in my blog last week, Miss Dixon has arranged a Sports Day for the children from home. This year’s 'Sports day' will take place starting today, Monday 6th July, until Wednesday 8th July. If you have not already done so, please take a look at the sports section of our school website for further information about our sports day from home and school. It is important that everyone participates as you will contribute to your house team possibly winning! You will need to complete the challenges within those days and email me your entry with one photo of yourself completing a challenge by 4pm on Wednesday. Any after 4.00pm will not be counted. After the event, photos will be displayed on the Sports page of our website: http://www.ourladyassumption-sch.co.uk/pesports-news. You will need to e-mail your entry to: year3@our-lady.blackpool.sch.uk

As I also mentioned last week, Mrs Ormerod and Mrs Parker will be setting the children a transition activity this week. Please see this week’s Year 4 blog for more details. I had a sneak preview of this task and it looks fantastic! I know you will enjoy it Year 3. Mrs Ormerod and Mrs Parker are very lucky to be having such an amazing class next year, and I know they are very excited. Show them just how fabulous you are children!

On top of this activity for Mrs Ormerod and Mrs Parker, the children still need to complete their Class Dojo activities for me as normal. This week’s learning project is ‘Under the Sea’ and there are lots of lovely learning opportunities on there for the children to do. Here is the link:

Home Learning Project - Under the Sea

Please note, if you have siblings in other year groups they may have a different topic for their learning project as we are currently going back and using ones that we may have missed along the way. We are happy for you to choose one topic for all children if that is easier for you.

Another resource I wanted to share with you this week is a creative writing/drawing/poetry week designed by the author Cressida Cowell and the Book Trust:

The event is running all of this week, please follow this link for more information and a schedule of events:

Cressida Cowell Summer Camp

Have a lovely week Year 3 - work hard, have fun and remember how proud I am of you all and how much I miss you!

Miss Heim-Sarac

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Year 2 Transition activity

Hello Year 2! Can you believe that it is nearly time for you to join me in the Juniors! Mr Whetnall has told me some fantastic things about you, it sounds like you are a wonderful class. I can’t wait to meet you properly. You might think that coming upstairs to Year 3 might be a little bit scary but I can promise you it isn’t. We have lots of fun but we also work very hard too.

I don’t know many of you that well so I wanted to set you an activity where you could tell me a little bit about yourself. So, the activity I would like you to complete for me is:

Create me a poster which tells me all about YOU! (Things you might want to include are: a picture, your favourite colour, who your friends are, what subject you like the best, your favourite thing about school and what you think you need to work on in Year 3)

Make your poster as colourful as you like! Once your masterpiece is finished please send a photo of yourself and your poster to year3@our-lady.blackpool.sch.uk. You might want to send me two pictures: a picture of you with your poster and a close up of your poster so I can read what information you have put on there. Please make sure I have received your pictures by this coming Friday.

I will respond to your e-mail with a picture of a poster that I’m going to create which will tell you all about ME! Then you can get to know me a little better too.

Thank you Year 2 and I can’t wait to see your posters.

Miss Heim-Sarac

Week 12 at home!

Good morning and welcome to week 12 of home learning! The weather is looking very miserable today, I hope it improves for you all as the week progresses! I can’t quite believe how close we are now to the end of the academic year. What a year it has been! Time really does fly and I couldn’t be prouder of you all. You have made me the proudest teacher in the world during lockdown and I will never forget my Year 3 class of 2020. I am so grateful to your parents for all their hard work over the past few months - I am in awe of you all. Thank you from the bottom of my heart.

Today (Monday 29th June) is the Feast of Saint Peter and Saint Paul. Over the weekend, Father Jim celebrated this Feast with a Mass which you can watch here on the church website. Father Jim has also put together a Mass (as he did for Ascension) especially for the children which should be available today on the children’s page. It features readings, drawings, hymns etc from children across all Blackpool Catholic Schools.

Please continue to prioritise the tasks on Class Dojo for your home learning this week. The learning project this week has a focus on food (which as you can imagine I was very happy about) so please feel free to dip in and out of that if you need any further work! Here is the link:

Home Learning Project Week 12 - Food

Please note, if you have siblings in other year groups they may have a different topic for their learning project. We are happy for you to choose one topic for all children if that is easier for you.

Here are some further notices that I would like to share with you:

• This year’s 'Sports day' will take place between Monday 6th July - Wednesday 8th July. Please take a look at the sports section of our school website for further information about our sports day from home and school. It is important that everyone participates as you will contribute to your house team possibly winning! Children will need to complete the challenges within those days and email me their entry by 4pm on that Wednesday. Any after 4.00pm will not be counted. Here is the link to the sports section of our website: http://www.ourladyassumption-sch.co.uk/pesports-news

• Note about Sumdog - Our subscription to Sumdog ends this week. You will find that once the subscription ends, some access to premium games and content will disappear.

• Next week, as part of our virtual transition days, Mrs Ormerod and Mrs Parker will be setting the children a task on my blog which needs to be completed the week beginning the 6th July. I will still be setting and receiving your weekly work but Mrs Ormerod and Mrs Parker will be waiting for the one piece they set you. More details of this will be in next week’s blog or on Class Dojo!

I hope you have a lovely week Year 3 - keep up the amazing work and remember that I am so proud of you all!

Miss Heim-Sarac

Week 11 at home...where has the time gone!

I can’t believe we are coming in to week 11 of home learning. We really have come so far since the start of lockdown. Can I just start by saying thank you again not only to the children for their extremely hard work, but to you as parents for your continued support during this time. You really have made sure that your children are making the most of their home learning experience, and I could not have done this without you. I will be forever grateful! I know that home learning is not always straight forward, and I can imagine that as time has gone on it has gotten trickier. However, you are doing a fantastic job! I am always here to help if you need anything, either through Class Dojo or e-mail (year3@our-lady.blackpool.sch.uk)

Last week saw more outstanding work by the children, and I loved seeing all of the amazing Neil Armstrong posters and solar system models…

This week, the theme of the home learning project is transport, here is the link:

Home Learning Project - Transport

I have uploaded this week’s tasks on to Class Dojo - as always, please prioritise these activities. The children can also log on to TTRS, Sumdog and Education City for extra tasks to do.

Have a lovely week Year 3 and stay safe,

Miss Heim-Sarac

P.S. I found this quote earlier by Anne Frank. Her diary inspired me when I was a child and I love this quote! We have many reasons to be happy despite what’s happening in the world!

'This is one small step for a man, one giant leap for mankind.' - Neil Armstrong

This week we are going to be learning about SPACE! I find space really fascinating, and it was only a couple of weeks ago that we saw the SpaceX rocket launching from Florida. I have wanted to give the children a themed week for a while, so imagine how happy I was when I found out that this week’s learning project is all related to space! Here is the link for you:

Learning Project - Space

There really are some fantastic ideas and opportunities for learning included, so please take a look! Our creative and writing tasks this week on Class Dojo will also be space themed. There is nobody more knowledgeable about space than Father Jim, who as you know was a scientist before he became a priest, so please e-mail him with any space related questions that you may come up with this week! His e-mail address is: oladyblackpool@gmail.com!

Church is now open for individual private prayer. Father has uploaded a plan for this on to the Church website so please take a look. He has also uploaded the Mass for the feast of Corpus Christi which was on the 11th June.

As always Year 3, you blew me away last week with your hard work. No matter what task I give you, you always rise to the occasion! I think last week’s creative task was my favourite one yet! Seeing all of your beautiful positive words that you had created really made me smile. Here are your lovely creations:

Please don’t forget that along with the tasks on Class Dojo, the children still have access to activities on Sumdog, Education City and TTRS.

Have a lovely week Year 3, I am so proud of you all!

Miss Heim-Sarac

Week 9 Home Learning!

Good morning everyone and welcome back to week 9 of home learning! I can’t believe we are in week 9! It feels like such a long time ago that we were all together in school. We are now in Summer 2, our final term of Year 3. Today, school opens more widely to more children but unfortunately our year group isn’t included in that yet. We will continue with our fantastic home learning, and look forward to the day when we can see each other again! Due to school opening more widely, I will be in school a little bit more than I was before half term, so that may mean that on Thursdays and Fridays I take a bit longer to respond to the children’s work and any messages I receive.

I hope you all had a wonderful half term - how fantastic was the weather! Hopefully you spent lots of time outside, I certainly did! With the lockdown rules easing slightly, it was the perfect weather for a socially distanced chat or walk with some friends or family that you haven’t seen for a while!

By now, you are all aware of the work I expect the children to complete each week. This is mainly the tasks on Class Dojo, however I would encourage the children to still access Sumdog, Education City and TTRS as I am still setting work on there for them to complete if they can.

Each week, I also post a link to a weekly project that you may also want to dip in to with your child, this week’s theme is music:

Home Learning Project - Music

I would also encourage the children to visit the Church website: https://www.olablackpool.org/children-s-page. This link will take you directly to the children’s page. You can send Father Jim a question through the site, I know he would love to hear from you all. Father Jim also streams the Mass each week - please take part if you can.

Finally, thank you for all your continued hard work and support. It means so much!

Take care and stay safe! I miss you lots!

Miss Heim-Sarac

P.S. I have mentioned before how I believe that hope is so powerful! I found a lovely quote that I wanted to share with you…

Come, Holy Spirit!

Good morning everyone! I just wanted to start my blog this week by saying THANK YOU to you all for all the hard work you are putting in at home. The standard of work that you have been completing is very high and I have been impressed each week. I really am extremely proud of you all. Thank you also to your wonderful parents - you are all amazing and doing a great job of home schooling!

On Thursday it was the feast of the Ascension and Father Jim recorded a Mass for this holy day. If you didn’t get a chance to watch it, please do, here is the link to the website: https://www.olablackpool.org/. Father has recorded a child friendly version of the Mass, so please click the button that says ‘press for the school Mass’. You may even be able to spot some children you know!

As you know, the next two weeks are our half term holiday. Time really does fly! That means that I will not be setting any work for your child to complete on Class Dojo. You have all earned this well deserved break, so please spend some quality time with your family and have fun! I am going to post some links below to some Pentecost related activities, we celebrate Pentecost on the 31st May. Feel free to dip in to these as you please, there is no pressure to complete them all or indeed any.

I will also post some optional ‘fun’ activities on Class Dojo - again, there is no pressure to complete them, but they are there if needed.

Here are the Pentecost activities:

Strandz website

Pentecost Story

Pentecost creative activites

Y3 Pentecost activities

During the half term holiday I won’t be accessing any e-mails or messages on Class Dojo. We have got a busy period of time ahead of us as we prepare the school for the potential re-opening after the half term break.

Stay safe, be good and have fun!

Miss Heim-Sarac

Hope will see us through!

Our country is facing such a challenging time, but throughout it all it is hope that has got me through so far. Hope that one day things will be back to ‘normal’, hope that we can see our loved ones soon, hope that I will be reunited with you all again soon. I am hopeful for lots of things! I feel so lucky that I still get to communicate with you all through Class Dojo and see all of your little faces. You all look so happy in your pictures and I am glad that you are embracing and enjoying your time at home. Thank you to your wonderful parents for doing such a great job! It has been so lovely to see that you are also doing fun things at home as well as school work, balance is so important.

As you now know each week I will post the following tasks on to Class Dojo for the children to complete:

• A writing task

• A reading task

• A tell me about your week task

• A creative task

• 3 Maths activities (white rose)

• A daily LBQ quiz

If you are stuck for time or your child is struggling to motivate themselves to do their work, please try and prioritise the Maths and English tasks. I know that home schooling is not always plain sailing!

Here are the optional tasks for your child to do if they have the time:

• Sumdog

• TTRS

• Education City

• Home Learning Project Week 8

As I have mentioned previously, please continue to access the Church website as Father Jim is on hand ready to guide us through this difficult time. He really does love to hear from the children so please get in touch through the website!

We will break up for half term this coming Friday, so no work will be set for the week beginning the 25th May and the week beginning the 1st June. I will post some fun (hopefully!) activities on Class Dojo for the children to complete over the half term break. I will be spending the majority of the half term writing reports and helping to get school ready for the potential re-opening on the 8th June.

Stay well, I miss you all!

Miss Heim-Sarac

Year 3's message for our NHS and key workers...

'Keep smilin' through, just like you always do, till the blue skies drive the dark clouds far away' - Vera Lynn, We'll Meet Again

On Friday it was VE Day which was celebrated all over the country, and rightly so. VE day marked the end of WW2, and this year was the 75th anniversary of that day. 75 years ago our country was facing a national crisis and now in 2020 we are yet again facing another crisis. This time, we aren’t being asked to send the men in our family to fight the enemy, or to create blackout shelters for when there is an air strike. We aren’t being asked to ration our food or to live with barely any money or means of survival. It certainly puts in to perspective that what we are being asked to do now is not that difficult a task (although it can sometimes feel that way!) We can stay home for a while longer to enable our country to get back on track! We may have days where we are grumpy and sad because we really want to see our friends or family, but on the whole we are all doing so well at following the government advice. Keep going Year 3, we can do this!

One song that I kept hearing on Friday was Vera Lynn’s ‘We’ll meet again’. This song was brought out at the start of WW2 in 1939 but it was seen as a symbol of hope that the war would soon end. When I listened to the lyrics I realised that some of them could easily speak to our current situation so I thought it very fitting that the title of my blog this week is a lyric from the song! Vera Lynn is now 103 years old and sang the song again this year to commemorate VE Day.

We are now in WEEK 7 of home learning! WEEK 7! I can’t believe it! 7 weeks of fantastic home learning. I can’t deny that I miss you all very much, but as I’ve said many times, the learning you are doing at home is brilliant. You are working so hard, and putting in so much time and effort, and it’s really paying off Year 3. Some of you are making huge progress in areas such as handwriting because you are taking the time to PRACTICE! I couldn’t be prouder.

Please continue to prioritise the tasks I set on Class Dojo, and please feel free to message me on there or e-mail me on year3@our-lady.blackpool.sch.uk if you are having any trouble with the tasks or any technical issues with Dojo. I am loving seeing pictures of your work and also pictures of the other activities you are getting up to at home.

The children can also access Sumdog, TTRS and Education City for further activities if they have time. There are also the resources on the Oak National Academy and BBC Bitesize that the children can also access. I feel that now would be a good time to mention, again, that we WON our TTRS battle with Year 4 last week :) WELL DONE! It was a big win too! We will now have a break from battling for a little while (I know parents will be happy to hear this!)

Please remember to visit the Church website for updates from Father Jim and also to access the weekly Mass which he streams. I hope some of you are managing to do this each week. Miss Haggerty is also posting prayers on to the school website.

Here is the link to the learning project for this week:

Home Learning Project Week 7

Have a good week and keep well,

Miss Heim-Sarac

'For all those finding it difficult: the sun will shine on you again and the clouds will go away' - Captain Tom Moore

Good morning and welcome to week 6 of home learning! During this strange time there have been lots of things happening that have been unbearably sad; however there have also been lots of positive things happening too. For me, Captain Tom Moore and his outstanding fundraising efforts for the NHS have really stood out as a beacon of positivity. This man, who is now 100 years old, has raised a staggering amount of money for the NHS, from his back garden! When we look back on this time in years to come, I know he will be remembered fondly. As Captain Tom said, the sun will shine on us again soon, hopefully sooner rather than later. Well done Captain Tom!

This week, we will carry on as we have been, by prioritising the tasks set on Class Dojo. I know I have said this many times, but thank you so much for all of your hard work so far. A big thank you also to your parents for supporting you.

I will continue to set tasks on Sumdog, Education City and TTRS for the children to complete if they have time. Please see my blog from last week for the links to the new Oak National Academy and the BBC bitesize lessons that are now available for the children. If you have used any of these resources, please message me on Dojo and let me know your thoughts.

Unfortunately, last week we lost our TTRS battle to Year 4. However, we were so so close! I have a feeling this week is going to be our week! The battle starts at 9.30am tomorrow and ends at 5pm on Tuesday. Good luck! After this week we will probably have a break for a short while from battling! We will need a rest as it’s quite stressful :)

Here is a link to this week’s home learning project if you have been following it:

Home Learning Project Week 6

Please also continue to utilise the Church website - the link is on our school website and takes you straight there. Father Jim has done lots of work on the children’s page of the website to give the children access to lots of interesting information but also to allow them to contact him if they wish. His e-mail is: oladyblackpool@gmail.com. Father loves to hear from the children so please get in touch! He also regularly posts videos on to the page. It is so important that we keep our faith going during these unsettling times!

Stay safe Year 3, I’m sending my love to you all…

Miss Heim-Sarac

Week 5 home learning...

Good morning everybody! I hope you have all had a lovely weekend. I cannot believe we are in Week 5 of home learning. Time has really flown since we entered lock down. I can only hope that we are all back together as a class soon. In the meantime though, all I can say is WOW! The work you are doing at home is absolutely fantastic. You are all working hard and trying your best. That is all I can ask for.

As you are aware by now, I would like the work set on Class Dojo to be prioritised. Each week there will be three Maths activities, a writing task, a reading task, a creative task, a ‘tell me about your week’ task and daily LBQ quizzes. I will continue to set activities on Sumdog, Education City and TTRS for the children to access if they have time. Last week, we unfortunately lost our TTRS battle with Year 4 but that was certainly not because we didn’t try! It was very close towards the end! I have set up another battle for this week, starting tomorrow at 9.30am and ending on Tuesday at 5pm. Let’s see if we can win this week Year 3, I have faith in you!

There are lots of other fantastic resources on the internet now for you to access for further activities. Two of those are the new Oak National Academy which the government unveiled last week and also BBC Bitesize have uploaded lots of new lessons on to their website. I would urge you to take a look at these sites and see what you think (https://www.thenational.academy/ & https://www.bbc.co.uk/bitesize)

For those of you following the learning project I have been posting, here is the link to week 5:

Home Learning Project Week 5

Further additional resources:

• Lancashire Stay at Home programme - this has some fun physical activities the children could have a go at!

• Church website - this link will take you directly to the children’s page on the Church website. Father Jim would love for the children to contact him via e-mail (oladyblackpool@gmail.com) and ask him any questions they may have, just like our ‘ask Father Jim’ book at school! You will also notice that next to certain items on the website there is a red marker. If you click on the image it will take you to a video which will explain what it is and it’s importance. See how many you can find!

• On our school website there are daily linked prayers from a website we use in school called TenTen. You may want to use these as a way of starting your day together! We are going to start saying these together in school with the children who are still attending.

• Further R.E. activities - this link will take you to a document with many different R.E. tasks for all year groups - take a look at the Year 3 activities.

I know that I have listed a lot of different resources above - please know that these are just for guidance! I think it is helpful for you to know where to look if you are looking for extra activities to do but at the same time I don’t want to bombard you!

Thank you again for your continued support - stay safe and have a good week!

Miss Heim-Sarac

Week 4 home learning...

Hello everybody! Firstly, thank you so much for all of your continued hard work and effort you are putting in at home. You make me smile daily with all of your messages, work and photos that you upload on to Class Dojo. I feel like the luckiest teacher in the world! I also want to thank your parents for their continued support, it must be very tricky for them to take on the role of teacher at home so make sure you are polite and respectful and work hard!

As you now know, each week I would like the children to prioritise the work I set on Class Dojo. If you are struggling for time, please focus on the Maths and English tasks first. For the Maths tasks I use the White Rose Maths resources which are very well put together and include great video tutorials for the children to follow.

I will still set the children activities on Sumdog, Education City and times tables rock stars for them to have a go at if they can. Which brings me on to some very exciting news for this week…tomorrow at 1pm we are going to have a BATTLE with Year 4 on times tables rock stars! The battle will end on Wednesday at 5pm and the aim is to get as many points as possible. We must win! :) It is my understanding that the children can earn points towards the battle from any game on TTRS, whether it be garage, studio etc. There will be a banner at the top of your child’s home page which will tell the children how many points each year group has. Good luck!

Here is the link to this week’s learning project for additional ideas to keep the children busy:

Home Learning Project Week 4

As always, please feel free to e-mail me (year3@our-lady.blackpool.sch.uk) or send me a message on Class Dojo if you need anything!

Sending lots of love to you all,

Miss Heim-Sarac

P.S. Here is a lovely poem I found this week which I wanted to share with you all:

'Accept the risen Jesus in to your life. Even if you have been far away, take a small step towards him: he awaits you with open arms.' - Pope Francis

Good morning and welcome to week 3 of home learning! I hope you have all managed to have a lovely Easter, even under the current circumstances. Thank goodness for the beautiful weather we have been blessed with this past week. I hope you all managed to take a moment to reflect this weekend on the Resurrection of Jesus and the events of Holy Week. It is such a special time for us as Catholics, and whilst we were unable to celebrate in Church, I am sure you celebrated in your own way at home. Father Jim is recording Mass regularly and putting these on the Church website, so some of you may have taken part in his Easter Sunday Mass.

I just wanted to recap my home learning expectations with you. Please prioritise the tasks I set on Class Dojo. In a previous blog I explained what tasks I would be setting weekly (daily LBQ quiz, a reading task, a writing task, a tell me about your week task, a creative task and three Maths activities). I totally understand that we have some parents who are key workers and therefore time is limited for you at home to complete these activities. If this is the case, prioritise the Maths and English tasks if possible. Above everything, I understand this is a tricky time at home in general even if you aren’t a key worker as the children’s routines have changed and (like my son at the moment) their motivation to do school work might be quite low. Please be reassured that if you don’t complete a particular task, there is no judgement on my part. I really appreciate the effort and work that is being done and I am very grateful for your support. I am always on hand for you to e-mail me or message me on Class Dojo if you do have any concerns (the e-mail address is year3@our-lady.blackpool.sch.uk) I cannot tell you how lovely it is to be able to still be in contact with the children and to see what they are up to at home.

I will be logging on to Dojo very shortly to set the activities for this week. Thank you to all who took part in the Easter activities I set - I can’t wait to have a look through those today! The children can also do activities on Sumdog and Education City, and they can also keep practising their times tables on TTRS. I will post a link below to the Learning Project for Week 3 for those who find it useful:

Home Learning Project - Week 3

Sending you all lots of love and stay safe!

Miss Heim-Sarac

'Holy Week is a privileged time when we are called to draw near to Jesus: friendship with him is shown in times of difficulty' - Pope Francis

Firstly, I just want to say a huge thank you for all the hard work you have been putting in at home with your children. We are currently going through an unprecedented challenge in our lives; yet the children have shown great resilience and positivity and for that I am so unbelievably proud. The work and pictures I have received on Class Dojo are so heart-warming and have made me smile over the past couple of weeks. I am looking forward to the time when we can get back to normality and have our little year 3 family together again. Until then, keep up the amazing work you are doing and just know that I am thinking of you all.

I also wanted to say a huge thank you to our key workers who are putting themselves at risk daily for us - I am in awe of you all, thank you. My Our Lady’s colleagues certainly deserve a special mention, they are all amazing!

This Sunday is Palm Sunday and marks the start of our Easter holidays. I will not be setting any work next week, however, I will post some fun Easter tasks on Class Dojo for the children to complete. I won’t be checking these or my e-mails until Tuesday 14th April, however it will be lovely for me to log on then and see what you have been up to. So, feel free to also post pictures to the children’s portfolios for me to see when we return. On the 14th I will start setting tasks on Class Dojo as usual.

Here is a link to some other Easter activities you might want to have a go at with your child:

Easter Home Learning Pack

Father Jim has also created a Children’s Page on the Church website where they can ask him questions and look at some video clips he has posted. Please take a look!

Father Jim’s Children’s Page

Have a happy and holy Easter with your families, and stay safe.

Miss Heim-Sarac

Week 2 at home...

Good morning!

Firstly, I just wanted to say THANK YOU for all the hard work the children are putting in at home. I was blown away last week with the work, photos and videos I received. Just to be clear, I would like the children to prioritise the tasks I am setting on Class Dojo. I have now invited you all to this site using your e-mail addresses. If you haven’t done so yet, please finish the set up process so you can access the tasks I will be setting the children. Here are the tasks I will be setting each week:

• Daily LBQ quizzes (these do have a time limit so they need to be completed the day they are posted)

• A writing task

• A reading task

• Three Maths tasks (to be completed in order)

• A ‘tell me about your week’ task

• One creative task

Aside from the LBQ quizzes, all tasks are to be completed by the Sunday of that particular week. I will award the children one dojo for each task they do. We are aiming, across lower key stage 2, for a target of 3,000 dojos. If we reach this target, the children will receive a lovely reward on their return to school (even if it is September when this happens).

I will still set the children activities on Sumdog, TTRS and Education City (although Education City appears to be not working well at the moment) as I know they enjoy using these sites. They also have their home learning packs to complete as well as potentially doing some activities off the learning project I posted about last week. Here is the link to this week’s project:

Home Learning Project Week 2

If you do have any questions or concerns, please e-mail me on: year3@our-lady.blackpool.sch.uk or contact me on Class Dojo.

Father Jim is also posting a weekly Mass on the Church website. To access this, click on the ‘Church’ button on the school website and it will take you directly to it. I personally think this is a lovely idea and it gives the children a way of still being able to connect with Father and to still be able to take part in Mass during this time.

School will be closed next week due to some essential work being done on our water tanks. This ties in with our Easter holidays anyway so I won’t be setting any work next week.

Thank you again for your support and stay well! As always, please tell the children how much I am missing them.

Miss Heim-Sarac

Week 1 at home...

I hope you all managed to have a good weekend, and a Happy Mother’s Day for yesterday to all!

Each week, on a Monday, I will post a blog detailing the work for the week ahead that the children need to complete. This will be on Sumdog and Education City mainly - however myself and Mrs Cunningham-Kay are going to trial setting work through Class Dojo. This will mainly be writing and reading tasks. A text will come home to you shortly if your e-mail address is not registered to school as this is how we will be contacting you about this. I have posted work for this week on Sumdog - unfortunately Education City appears to not be working at the moment but I will set work on there as soon as I can. The work set for the week will be due in on the Friday of that week. Please also see the following link to a learning project you could undertake with your child at home. There are lots of fantastic ideas on there and it may help you to structure your week.

Learning Project Week 1

Aside, from this, please continue reading at home and completing the home learning packs that came home last week. The recommendation is that children should be doing school work for two hours a day.

We have also set up year group e-mail addresses so that you can contact us with any questions. The year 3 email address is:

year3@our-lady.blackpool.sch.uk

Please note I will only check and respond to e-mails during school hours.

Enjoy your week and stay safe - please tell the children I am missing them already!

Miss Heim-Sarac

'Life changes very quickly, in a very POSITIVE way, if you let it.'

This week has been unsettling in many ways but through all of it the children have remained positive and I would certainly encourage you to foster that at home! We are in unchartered waters but we will all hopefully be back to normality very soon. I sincerely hope that I have the opportunity to teach your wonderful children again this academic year.

Please see the below post re: home learning - the children have all brought home everything they need to be able to access any work I will be setting. I will be doing a weekly post to the website every Monday so please check here for updates.

I will keep you all in my thoughts and prayers - stay safe!

Miss Heim-Sarac

Home learning

In light of the current situation regarding school closure, we have sent home learning packs to support home study. Below is a list of additional useful resources/websites to further enhance their learning. Our blogs will be updated in due course with additional information and support. Under the difficult circumstances of this week’s announcements, we have been very proud of how the children have shown resilience and maturity.

Thank you for your continued support,

KS2 team

Home learning activities

Read

Read as much as you can at home-there’s nothing better than getting engrossed in a good book!

Write

In your home pack you have been given a yellow notebook. The children could keep a diary of the things they do at home or encourage them to write short stories.

Websites we already use and your child has a login for:

Discovery Education : Espresso 

We have a whole school subscription for Espresso which is part of Discovery Education. There are loads of resources and games that you can access that link to the National Curriculum.

https://www.discoveryeducation.co.uk/login/eha/?service=espresso

Username and password will be sent home to you via text.

Sumdog 

https://www.sumdog.com

Free access has been granted for all resources on Sumdog during school closures. Use your own sumdog login username and password provided in your learning pack.

TTRockstars

Keep practising your times tables by logging onto this website using individual username and password that has been sent home.

https://ttrockstars.com

Other websites that are offering home learning resources are:

Classroom secrets home learning:

The pack we have sent home, comes from this website but they have many more resources on offer for children to use:

https://classroomsecrets.co.uk/free-home-learning-packs/

Twinkl  

Twinkl is also a resource that we use in school and has many resources that can be used at home. 

https://www.twinkl.co.uk/search?term=school+closure

Oxford Owl

Maths and English resources

https://home.oxfordowl.co.uk/school-closure-resources/?region=uk

Third Space

Please see letter regarding access to Third Space maths.

Physical Exercise Links

Young Champions has been created by sports coaches, movement specialists and sports scientists to provide young children with home practice sessions to develop fitness, motor and sports skills. It will help children of all ages and abilities to play sport to the best of their ability and keep them active and healthy. Parents can sign up here:

https://www.amaven.co.uk/young-champions

An alternative one is The Body coach TV 9am Monday to Friday with Joe Wickes.

'A Christian carries the light! He is a lit lamp. Always forward with the light of Jesus!' - Pope Francis

This week in Year 3 we have all been shining our lights for Jesus in lots of lovely ways. The children have worked so hard and produced some fantastic work. Not only this; but we achieved 100% attendance for the second week running and we collected the most stars for lining up beautifully. Well done Year 3! The children have also been thinking about how they can transform in to better people during our worships by thinking about how they can be more grateful, kind, selfless and caring.

Here is what we have been up to this week…

-Maths: we have done two tests this week and recapped how to subtract by counting up.

-English: we have learnt about stage directions and how to include them when writing a playscript. We have also created a new piece of dialogue between two characters in our play, A Tune of Lies.

-Science: we made our own compasses and went on a treasure hunt around school! We also did an experiment on magnet strength by seeing how many paperclips (in a chain) different magnets could hold.

-R.E.: we have learnt about the story of The Prodigal Son and we have also started to learn about the sacrament of reconciliation. We have thought about what we need to do to prepare for this sacrament.

Another busy week!

Notices:

•  Coronavirus: we are encouraging all children in school to wash their hands more regularly and thoroughly. Today, our school nurse demonstrated to the children how to do this - by washing their hands for 20 seconds to the tune of happy birthday (approximately twice through). We are also asking all children to catch any coughs and sneezes in tissues which are then to be put straight in the bin and hands washed. Please also encourage this behaviour at home. 

• A reminder to the parents of children taking their Holy Communion this year - please ensure your child’s ‘I Belong’ book is in school every Tuesday.

• A date for your diary: Tuesday 31st March, 9.15am - this is the Year 3 Easter assembly on the events of The Last Supper.

Award winners this week are:

-Maths: Maisy

-Golden: Vinny

No writing award was handed out today.

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

Have a lovely weekend,

Miss Heim-Sarac

'Wherever I am, if I've got a book with me, I have a place I can go and be happy' - J.K. Rowling

On Thursday, the children celebrated World Book Day and had a wonderful time! I was very sad to have missed it as World Book Day is one of my favourite days of the year. I have seen some lovely pictures of their costumes; thank you very much for all your effort with these! I have been out of school this week to help produce the Shakespeare Festival at the Grand Theatre. Mrs Sinclair, who taught the children in my absence, has said the children behaved brilliantly and she had a great week with them. This doesn’t surprise me, I certainly missed them while I was away! I wanted to say a huge congratulations to all the children who took part in the Shakespeare performance this week - they blew us away with their confidence and commitment. A big thank you also to the parents of these children who have supported them on this journey. Some wonderful memories have been made!

Last week, we also marked the start of Lent with our Ash Wednesday mass over at Church. We then came back to school and made our own Lenten promises. The children really took the time to think carefully about what they wanted to do - not just by fasting, but by praying and giving too. Ask your child if they are managing to stick to their promise!

Here is what the children have been learning over the past couple  of weeks…

-Maths: we have learnt how to find fractions of amounts, how to spot right angles, what the properties of 2D shapes are and how to find the perimeter of a shape!

-English: the children have continued their work on playscripts and have also learnt how to identify and use subordinate clauses.

-Science: the children have continued their work on forces and magnets and have learnt how to identify the poles on a magnet.

-Geography: the children created a fact file on a European country.

Plus lots of other fantastic learning!

Notices:

• Last Friday I sent home your child’s mid-term report. I would be very grateful if you could return the slip at the bottom of the report with any comments you may have. Please also feel free to make an appointment to see me if you wish to discuss your child’s progress.

Award winners:

-Golden: Sam & Millie

-Maths: Summer

-Writing: Leo and Vinny

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

Have a lovely weekend,

Miss Heim-Sarac