'We have a responsibility to look after our planet. It is our only home' - Dalai Lama

This week the children learnt all about recycling and how by recycling we are contributing to saving our planet. The children learnt all about the types of materials that we can recycle, and those we can’t. They also learnt about what items can be made in to compost. They then came up with different ways that we can help to save the planet. They came up with some fantastic ideas! Hopefully they will share these with you at home, although I am sure you do many of these already. As part of our learning around recycling this week, I have chosen 6 children to be our litter pickers and eco warriors around school. They will work with Mrs Hodgkiss each week to ensure our school and grounds are kept litter free. They will also lead other activities around school to educate the other children about how they can help to save the planet too. Those children are Joshua, Emelia, Lexi-Rose, Scott, Ayson and Riley. I know they will do a fabulous job!

I would also like to welcome Scott to our class. Scott started in Year 3 on Monday and he has already become a wonderful addition to our school. The children have made him feel very welcome which has been lovely to see. Welcome Scott!

What we have been up to this week

English - we have learnt all about Julius Caesar this week by looking at a variety of non-fiction texts and making notes from them. We then created a poster all about this great army general!

Maths - we have focused on divisibility this week.

Science - we started a new topic on Light this week and learnt about the difference between light and dark.

History - we became Roman spies and learnt about Britain before the Romans invaded.

R.E. - we looked at the meaning of The Last Supper and how this special event relates to Mass.

Art - we practiced Roman Mosaic borders and corners and watched videos of Mosaic excavations in Leicester and Chedsworth.

Certificates

Here are our award winners for this week:

Golden - Scott

Writing - Emelia

Maths - Elsie

Well done everyone!

Headlice

Please continue to be vigilant and check your child’s hair regularly for any signs of lice.

Have a lovely and sunny weekend,

Miss Heim-Sarac

'No act of kindness, no matter how small, is ever wasted' - Aesop

We have had a busy but lovely week in Year 3! It has been so nice to have the sun shining down upon us…we have managed to get outside lots and enjoy the weather. The children have worked really hard this week and it is nice to see the children maturing as we come closer towards the end of their Year 3 journey. I can’t believe we’re nearly in May! We continue to have lots of discussions together each week around kindness, respectfulness and maturity. In particular, we are focusing on kindness lots at the minute. I am trying to instill in the children how important it is to treat others how we want to be treated. If we can do this, we will not only be happier in ourselves but we will also make the people around us happier too.

What we have been up to this week

English - we have done some super writing this week! The children wrote two letters of application for the job of Chief Roman Investigator. They had some help from me with the first letter; however they completed the second letter independently. I was very impressed as the children remembered where to use conjunctions in their writing.

Maths - we have used our knowledge of multiplication and division facts to solve some problem solving questions.

Science - we carried out an investigation as to how water is transported through a plant. We also completed a Science test to mark the end of our Plants topic.

History - we took our Roman shields outside and created some Roman Army formations (see pictures below!).

R.E. - we started a new topic - The Eucharist. We began by learning about the events of The Last Supper.

Art - we learnt about the artist Romero Britto with Mrs Gibbons and created some artwork based on his style.

Music - we started our Music lessons with Miss Benson again. The children recapped their A and B notes ready to learn G next week!

Certificates

Here are our award winners for this week:

Golden - Joseph

Writing - Avie

Maths - the whole class!

Well done everyone!

Cape of Pride

Well done to Rion who had the opportunity to wear the cape of pride this week. There are lots of exciting privileges to be had for those children chosen to wear the cape so I will be keeping my eye out next week for some more children to wear it!

Headlice

Please continue to be vigilant and check your child’s hair regularly for any signs of lice.

Curiosity boxes

Most of the class have today brought home a Curiosity Box which were kindly donated to school. The boxes will either have a theme of ‘Amazing Earth’ or ‘Deadly Creatures’. They are filled with fantastic resources and investigations for your child to complete. I would love to see pictures of anything you do at home so please send these to me on Class Dojo! There were sadly a few children who missed out as we didn’t have a full class set (to make it fair I drew names out of a pot) but what was so lovely was other children in the class then donated their boxes to every one of the children who didn’t receive a box. I was blown away by this act of generosity! I have promised those children that when we next receive anything similar in to school they will be the first ones on the list to receive the treat.

Have a lovely and sunny weekend,

Miss Heim-Sarac

Welcome to our Summer Term!

Welcome back after the Easter break! I must say, the children have come back to school with a great attitude and have worked hard this week. It has been lovely to see the children being kind to one another and thinking about others too. Kindness is going to be a big focus in our class this term as it is important to show kindness and respect to those around us just like Jesus would have done - and we really want to follow in His footsteps! The children have also blown me away with how much their lining up has improved over the last few days. They are working very hard to be good role models to the younger children. Keep it up Year 3 - I have every faith that you can do it!

What we have been up to this week

English - we have a started a non-fiction unit of work on the Romans. The children are applying for the job of Chief Roman Investigator so we firstly spent some time looking at the job advert and understanding what we needed to do to apply! We worked out that the children will need to create a leaflet on the Romans. To get us prepared, we looked at some vocabulary and researched the meaning of these words in the dictionary. We also learnt about conjunctions and how to use them in our writing.

Maths - we looked at the 8 times tables and their matching division facts.

Science - we learnt about the life cycle of a flowering plant.

History - we created our Roman shields and they look fantastic! Next week we will be taking them outside and practicing some Roman Army formations.

R.E. - we thought about Reconciliation and described this sacrament in our own words.

Art - we started a new art project this week on Roman mosaics. Firstly, we learnt about what mosaics are and how they are made. We also learnt what materials they are made with. Next, we looked at some examples of Roman mosaics. The children then practiced and created their own mosaics using the Greek Key pattern.

Certificates

Here are our award winners for this week:

Golden - Ola

Writing - Rion

Maths - Zak

Well done everyone!

Cape of Pride

Well done to Frankie and Jacob who both had the opportunity to wear the cape of pride this week. There are lots of exciting privileges to be had for those children chosen to wear the cape so I will be keeping my eye out next week for some more children to wear it!

Headlice

Please continue to be vigilant and check your child’s hair regularly for any signs of lice.

Have a lovely weekend,

Miss Heim-Sarac

'He is not here for he has risen just as he said' - Matthew 28:6

The week leading up to Easter is known as ‘Holy Week’. It marks the final week of Jesus’ life, from Palm Sunday (when Jesus entered Israel’s capital city, Jerusalem, looking like a king), through Maundy Thursday when Jesus ate his last supper with his disciples, to his arrest, trial and eventual execution on Good Friday. The belief that Jesus died on the cross to cancel out the bad things of the world is one of the most important beliefs in all of Christianity. Equally important are the events of Easter Sunday itself, when Christians celebrate Jesus coming back to life. His resurrection is a sign of his power over death, and symbolic of the new and eternal life He gives to people.

What we have been up to this week

English - we had a writing focus on Holy Week. Each day we watched Miss Haggerty’s reflections and applied them to our work. We retold each day of this special time - Palm Sunday, Maundy Thursday, Good Friday and Easter Sunday. The work the children produced was wonderful!

Maths - we looked at the 4 times tables and their matching division facts.

Science - we wrote a conclusion for our plant investigation and drew a detailed diagram of our plants now that our investigation has finished. We have learnt that a plant cannot grow without water, heat or light.

History - we started to look at designs of Roman shields ready to create our own after the Easter break.

R.E. - we learnt all about Holy Week and the events leading up to the Crucifixion and the Resurrection.

Art - we finished our daffofil dance art. The children have worked so hard on these wonderful paintings and we have had lots of compliments on them now that they are on display. I will upload some images of these after the break.

Certificates

Here are our award winners for this week:

Golden - Elsie

Writing - Bobby and Oscar O’C

Maths - Joshua

Well done!

Cape of Pride

Well done to Isabella and Riley who both had the opportunity to wear the cape of pride this week. There are lots of exciting privileges to be had for those children chosen to wear the cape so I will be keeping my eye out once we return to school for some more children to wear it!

Headlice

Please continue to be vigilant and check your child’s hair regularly for any signs of lice.

Notices:

NOTICES:

• We return to school on Monday 12th April, and start and finishing times will remain the same.

• PE days after half term will remain the same-Tuesdays and Thursdays. Please ensure your child is not wearing earrings on these days.

• We have enjoyed some lovely weather this week! If this weather does continue after half term, please ensure your child in wearing sun screen on these hotter days.

• I have not set any homework over the Easter break, but please still encourage your child to read as much as possible.

Finally, thank you from the bottom of my heart for all of your support this term. It has been very challenging at times and we are all more than ready for this break. I wish all of you a holy, healthy and happy Easter and I will look forward to seeing the children soon.

Miss Heim-Sarac

'They took branches of palm trees and went forth to meet him, and cried, Hosanna! Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord!' - John 12:13

This coming Sunday is Palm Sunday, which commemorates the entrance of Christ into Jerusalem (Matthew 21:1–9), when palm branches were placed in His path. This marks the beginning of Holy Week, leading to His arrest on Holy Thursday and his crucifixion on Good Friday. Next week, we will be exploring a part of the Easter story each day. We have also been challenged to create two canvases to mark two of the stations of the cross which will be taken over to Church next week.

What we have been up to this week

English - we have started a new non-fiction unit on the Romans. This week we have looked at various images from Roman times and generated questions about them.

Maths - we had a focus on collecting and presenting data to tie in with the 2021 Census. We had a mini class census and then presented the data using bar charts.

Science - we have continued with our plant investigation and we have also been caring for our vegetables (pictures below). We also dissected daffodils to learn about the different parts of the flower and their jobs. Finally, we learnt about pollination and fertilisation.

History - we looked at the 5 reasons why the Roman army were so powerful.

Music - we did some further practice on our recorders and played along to the song ‘Hey You’.

P.E. - we had a handball tournament and a yoga lesson this week.

R.E. - we focused on the Sacrament of Reconciliation and finished our booklets from last week.

Art - we have continued with our daffodil dance art project and started painting this week. They are looking fantastic!

Certificates

Here are our award winners for this week:

Golden - Mickey

Writing - Riley

Maths - Bobby

Well done!

Cape of Pride

Well done to Zak and Amelia who both had the opportunity to wear the cape of pride this week. There are lots of exciting privileges to be had for those children chosen to wear the cape so I will be keeping my eye out next week for some more children to wear it!

Headlice

Please continue to be vigilant and check your child’s hair regularly for any signs of lice.

Homework

Now we are back in school we will revert back to our weekly homework set through Class Dojo. There will be a reading, Maths and English task (I usually include a word search too for the children to have a go at). Homework is due in on a Tuesday.

Nature boxes

The children brought home some nature boxes yesterday which were kindly donated by Blackpool Park Rangers. Maybe you could have a go at some of the activities over the Easter break.

I hope you all have a lovely weekend,

Miss Heim-Sarac

P.S. Here are some pictures of the children with the vegetables they have been growing as part of our Plants topic…

'Saint Joseph reminds us that those who appear hidden or in the shadows play an incomparable role in the history of salvation. A word of recognition and of gratitude is due them all' - Pope Francis

Today, Friday 19th March, marks the Feast of St Joseph. In a new Apostolic Letter entitled Patris corde (“With a Father’s Heart”), Pope Francis describes Saint Joseph as a beloved father, a tender and loving father, an obedient father, an accepting father; a father who is creatively courageous, a working father, a father in the shadows. The Holy Father wrote Patris corde against the backdrop of the Covid-19 pandemic, which, he says, has helped us see more clearly the importance of “ordinary” people who, though far from the limelight, exercise patience and offer hope every day. In this, they resemble Saint Joseph, “the man who goes unnoticed, a daily, discreet and hidden presence,” who nonetheless played “an incomparable role in the history of salvation.” In this way, let us all celebrate the ‘ordinary’ in our lives and find joy in the simple pleasure of serving God.

What we have been up to this week

English - we have looked at various information texts about the Romans and answered questions about them.

Maths - we have started to look at the 3 times tables and their matching division facts.

Science - we started a plant investigation where we have taken away one element of what a plant needs to grow to see whether it can still thrive. We also planted our own vegetables and we have already seen some of the seeds begin to sprout!

History - we started to look at the Roman Army and why they were so powerful.

Music - we did some further practice on the a and b notes.

P.E. - we had a handball tournament and completed a daily mile.

R.E. - we focused on the Sacrament of Reconciliation and completed a booklet with instructions on how to receive this sacrament.

Art - we have continued with our Art project and this week we did a full practice of the Art work we will be starting from next week and we also went outside to observe the daffodils in the allotment.

Certificates

Here are our award winners for this week:

Golden - Hallie

Writing - Frankie

Maths - Charlotte

Well done!

Two important requests!

Firstly, can I please remind you that if anybody in your household is awaiting the results of a Covid test that you please refrain from sending your children in to school until you receive the results of the test. The guidelines clearly state that all household members must isolate until the results are received. We want to keep school as safe an environment as possible but we cannot do this if the rules are not being followed. Thank you.

Secondly, despite numerous chats with the children about this, some children are still continuing to discuss with other children in school the clown Pennywise from the film IT. This is extremely concerning and a completely inappropriate topic to be discussed especially in a school environment. I have made Miss Haggerty aware and if this continues I will have to speak to individual parents about this. Some of the children have stated that they are seeing clips and images of this character via You Tube so I would urge you to consider putting some parental controls on your children’s devices. I would also ask you to remind your children that this is not an appropriate topic for them to bring in to school.

Homework

Now we are back in school we will revert back to our weekly homework set through Class Dojo. There will be a reading, Maths and English task (I usually include a word search too for the children to have a go at). Homework is due in on a Tuesday.

I hope you all have a lovely weekend,

Miss Heim-Sarac

Welcome back!

It has been so lovely to welcome the children back to school this week. We had missed them so much. I must say, I am so impressed with how well the children have settled back in to our school routines after so long away. This just proves how resilient they are and what a fantastic job you have done with them at home. It now feels as if we have never been away! The children are all tired now and deserve a good rest this weekend.

We have done lots of work this week on our well being. I thought it was important to focus on this with the children having been away from school for so long and because the Covid situation has been ongoing for such a long time. We created self-esteem wheels where we wrote down our best qualities. The children are going to keep these in their trays for days when they are feeling a little sad so that they can be reminded of how fantastic they are. We also created a bag for our worries and places our worries inside. Finally, we have completed a well being journal each day which the children will be bringing home with them this afternoon.

What we have been up to this week

English - we completed our well being journals.

Maths - we have had a recap of column addition and subtraction followed by a test today.

Science - we recapped the different parts of a plant and completed a booklet to showcase our knowledge.

History - we started our Romans topic and looked at the start of the Roman Empire.

Music - we practiced playing the a and b notes on our recorders and then attempted to play along with a song called ‘Hey You’ on Charanga.

P.E. - we had a handball tournament and completed a daily mile.

R.E. - we created our Lenten promises.

Art - we have started an Art project which will take us up to the Easter break based on daffodils. This week the children learnt how to draw daffodils from different angles.

I am so impressed with everything the children have managed to achieve this week.

Certificates

Here are our award winners for this week. It was so hard to choose as the children have worked so hard and settled back in to school so well.

Golden - Poppy

Writing - Amy

Maths - Amelia

I also want to say congratulations to Jacob who was our class winner for the bookmark competition.

Reading Folders

Quite a few children came back in to school this week stating that their reading folders had been lost. We have replaced these with a new reading folder and reading record. However, this does mean that a few school reading books have been misplaced. I have told the children that if this happens again there will unfortunately be a charge issued to parents for the misplaced books. We are willing to forego this on this occasion due to the extended period of time that the children have been away and the nature of the absence. It is important that the children learn to take responsibility for their things and I would appreciate your support with this.

Homework

Now we are back in school we will revert back to our weekly homework set through Class Dojo. There will be a reading, Maths and English task (I usually include a word search too for the children to have a go at). Homework is due in on a Tuesday.

I hope you all have a lovely weekend,

Miss Heim-Sarac

Well done my little superstars!

Thank you!

I just want to start by saying a massive thank you to all of you. Over the last few months, you have truly been incredible and have made me very proud. The resilience you have all shown and the hard work that you have put in week on week has been amazing and I thank you so much for that. I also thank your parents for the support they have given you in your work and for keeping me updated on what you have been doing. You have not only supported your children through this difficult time but me too and I will never be able to thank you enough for that. Your children are extremely lucky to have you.

I have loved receiving photos of your smiling faces and they have really helped keep us connected whilst we’ve been apart. I now look forward to next week when we can all come back together in the classroom once again. It might feel a little bit strange coming back to school but we’ve got some lovely things to look forward to over the next few weeks. I will make sure you all feel back at home on our first day back, and I will hopefully settle those nerves within minutes! I think after our first day, it will feel like you have never been away!

Return to school

ALL children will be welcomed back to school on Monday 8th March. Drop off and pick up times will be the same as before for all of Year 3. 9am drop off at Thornhill Close gates, and 3.30pm pick up from the same place. For our family groups, drop off will be at 8.40am at Thornhill Close and pick up will be from the same place at 3.15pm. On Fridays, pickup will still be at 1.15pm for all of the class; apart from our family groups who need to be collected at 1:05pm. Our PE days will still be Tuesdays and Thursdays. Miss Haggerty has but a detailed blog up on the News page, with more in-depth information about our return to school and the safety measures that will be in place-it is important that you read this before the children’s return. Click here to read this.

With this message in mind, please ensure that if your child is unwell, you keep them off school and arrange a test. We will continue to screen children in school and if we think they are unwell or the children complain of feeling unwell, we will be sending them home for a test to be arranged before they can re-enter school. As the virus changes, the symptoms that we have to keep an eye for are also changing. It is no longer just a case of a cough, fever or change in taste/smell - please keep an eye out for the following symptoms……

All staff will continue to do TWO COVID tests each week, so please be mindful that things in school COULD change with very short notice. Everyone needs a back up plan in case our bubble has to close with little notice. In the event of our Bubble having to close, we will revert to Home Learning set through the HOME LEARNING page, the google drive and Class Dojo.

World Book Day

It was so lovely to see you all yesterday in school and on zoom. You all looked fantastic and I loved sharing a story with you. I hope you all managed to complete some of the World Book Day activities that I put on the google drive for you…as well as lots of reading of course! In school, we read outside and learnt how to draw with Rob Biddulph. We also created our own bookmarks and book covers. It was a busy but fun day!

Certificates

Year 3, I am so VERY proud of all of you for how hard you have worked at home and in school over the past eight weeks. For those of you at home, your Class Dojo Portfolios look amazing and are a super record of all you have done at home during lock down. For those of you who have been at school, your folders look super too!! I am amazed by all your dojo points too. Here are our award winners for this week…

Learners of the week: Lexi Rose and Elsie

Busy Bee award: Ola and Joshua

Shining Light award: Oscar O’C and Jacob

Finally…

I would also like to take this opportunity to say a massive THANK-YOU to my wonderful teaching assistants, Mrs Hodgkiss, Mrs McCooey and Mrs Dunford without whom none of this would have worked. These wonderful ladies have pulled together and taught the children in school three days a week which has enabled me to work from home and support my son through his home schooling. They are absolutely wonderful (which I always knew anyway!) but I will never forget their commitment during this time.

Have a wonderful weekend and I can’t wait to see you all on Monday!

Miss Heim-Sarac

'Lent is a time for reconsidering our feelings, for letting our eyes be opened to injustice, to open our hearts to those suffering' - Pope Francis

Lent provides us with the opportunity to stop and reflect over the past year and consider how we can become closer to God in the coming year. We have all done a lot of reflection in the last year as a result of the situation we have found ourselves in and we have had time to consider the changes we would like to make to our lives when we finally reach the other side. Well, that time is coming. Let us use this period of Lent to prepare ourselves for what is to come and to ensure that we emerge a better person, and one closer to God, when we reach Easter.

I hope you have all had a lovely week - how fantastic has it been to finally have some sunshine! Spring is certainly in the air. It has been great to see all of the fantastic learning that the children are continuing to do at home. Once again, I have been so grateful for the hard work from those of you at home who have kept your children’s learning going through this difficult time. Our return is nearly here but please don’t give up yet! I still need to see your home learning work and it is still so important to complete the tasks as much as physically possible. Please keep going for one last push!

We will welcome all children back to school on 8th March - please see Miss Haggerty’s recent post regarding this. Whilst we are delighted to have all our school family back together again, it is still vital that we stick to social distancing rules, wear masks whilst on school grounds for drop off and pick up times and ensure that if your child is unwell you keep them at home. We must do all we can to keep each other safe to ensure that we are doing all we can so our school bubbles remain open to all. Many thanks for your continued support with this.

https://www.ourladyassumption-sch.co.uk/news

This coming week, we have World Book Day to celebrate!

We would like to invite all children in school and at home to dress up as a BOOK character for a day filled with reading fun! If your child is at home, please send photos of their reading, work and costumes through Class Dojo, and at school myself and Mrs McCooey will be delighted to see you all dressed up for the day. To support our work on World Book Day I have arranged a Reading Bookmark Competition, supported by our wonderful PTA. Whether your child is at school or at home they can all join in! If at home, please send your completed bookmark back to me by email year3@our-lady.blackpool.sch.uk by Monday 8th March. The competition will be judged at school and all winners will be announced on Friday 12th March. (There will be a class winner and an overall KS1 and KS2 winner, with prizes having been donated by the PTA.)

BOOKMARK COMPETITION ENTRY

The bookmark entry will also be available to download from the google drive (the link to this is under the home learning tab). I have also put on to the drive lots of different activities for your children to complete that day. There will be no matching tasks for these on Dojo - please just upload pictures of the work under your child’s portfolio along with pictures of their costumes and anything else they get up to that day! If the children do not want to dress up, they could decorate an item at home relating to a book, for example: a paper plate or wooden spoon. If they are coming in to school that day they could always bring this item in to school with them to show me.

I will also be hosting a zoom call on Thursday at 10:30am where I will be sharing a story with the children at home and at school. The details for the zoom will be on Dojo and the google drive.

Here is a message from Miss Benson letting you know what the Music lesson for the coming week is:

Year 3 'Music & Image'

Listen to the song ‘The Dragon Song.’ Close your eyes and listen to the words. Can you imagine everything in the song?

Also, have a go at Challenge 1 in the Warm Up Games section.

When we are back in school, Year 3 will be continuing to have their recorder lessons on a Wednesday. Please ensure that your child’s recorder is in school for the Tuesday of each week.

Finally, I would like to share with you who achieved the certificates for this week:

Learners of the week: Zak & Frankie

Busy Bee awards: Avie & Max

Shining light awards: Lexi Rose & Hallie

Golden award: Ayson

Well done!

Have a lovely weekend and remember how proud I am of you all!

Miss Heim-Sarac

Happy half term!

We’ve made it! Children, I am so unbelievably proud of you all for your hard work and perseverance over the past 6 weeks. Thank you from the bottom of my heart to all of your parents too - your kindness and patience has made this whole experience a lot easier. I will be forever grateful to you all. The children at home and in school have done some amazing work and have made good progress - have a think back over everything you have achieved over the past 6 weeks and I think you will be surprised! You are all ready and deserving of this upcoming break. I realise that there are so many things that we can’t do at the moment, but I intend to focus on the things we can do. Next week, I am going to go on lots of walks, read, stay up late and spend time with my family. Hopefully the weather will be pleasant enough that we can spend lots of time outside.

Next Wednesday, 17th February, marks the beginning of Lent, a very special time of reflection, leading up to the death and resurrection of Christ. As we are on half term next week, I have just attached a few activities that you may wish to do to mark the beginning of this special period of time. If we were in school, we would be writing our Lenten Promises on this day, so I have also attached the template for this and it would be lovely if you do manage to still write yours. Our promise is a time to reflect on what we could do differently or maybe more of/less of during this time. Perhaps we could be more compassionate towards others, or take more time out for peaceful prayer? Or maybe you feel you need to be more forgiving to others, just as Jesus was. Have a careful think about what your promise could be.

Ash Wednesday Power Point Lenten Promise Sheet What could we give up for Lent?

Please also keep an eye on the Church website as I am sure Father Jim will be posting information or even a Mass for Ash Wednesday next week: https://www.olablackpool.org/

Here are our learners of the week:

Bobby & Isabella

Well done to both of you, again it was a very tricky decision as you are all working so hard! As I said in my video on Dojo last week, after half term I am going to change the way I celebrate my learners of the week on a Friday. I am going to have a few more certificates available for the children to achieve as I am so spoiled for choice so this will enable me to celebrate more children. More information on this after half term. I am also going to be including a PE task and a spelling task in the activities I set for the children starting after half term.

Thank you again for all of your hard work and support. Have a lovely half term break and stay safe.

Miss Heim-Sarac

'This little light of mine, I'm gonna let it shine'

On Tuesday, February 2nd, the Church marks the feast of Candlemas, or the Presentation of the Lord. This marks 40 days since Christmas and the end of the Christmas period in the Church. The Gospel of Luke says that Jesus was met in the temple by Anna and Simeon where Simeon held the baby Jesus and called him a Light to the World.

The festival is called Candlemas because this was the day that all the Church's candles for the year were blessed. On Candlemas night, people often placed lit candles in their windows at home - I thought this was something that we could all do this year to welcome the Light of the Lord into our homes. Let’s Shine Our Lights for Jesus! In the RE tasks I have set this week, I have focused on Candlemas as a theme so there are some lovely activities for your child to have a go at.

Next week also marks the beginning of Children’s Mental Health Week and the theme is Express Yourself. There has never been a more important time to focus on supporting the mental wellbeing of our children. On this website there are links to assemblies and resources which can be completed and looked at at home to support resilience and mental health discussions. Please take a look. Expressing yourself is about finding ways to share feelings, thoughts, or ideas, through creativity. This could be through art, music, writing and poetry, dance and drama, photography and film, and doing activities that make you feel good. This year they are asking children to ‘dress to express’ and this will be the theme of our creative task on class dojo this week.

A huge well done to you all for your hard work both at home and in school this week. To say that I am proud is an understatement! You are all working incredibly hard, which makes it very tricky for me to choose my two learners of the week; however it was Rion and Jacob who I chose today. Well done boys! Miss Benson has also chosen two ‘Music stars of the week’ and these awards went to Charlotte and Isabella. Well done!

Here are some instructions from Miss Benson about this week’s Music sessions on Yumu/Charanga:

How did you all get on with the ‘Listen Out’ task last week? How many instruments did you hear? Well…there weren’t any! Everything you heard in‘Don’t Worry Be Happy’ was Bobby McFerrin using just his voice and body percussion! Do you think you could do that?

This week, I’d like you to start by listening to ‘54-46 was my number.’ Work through the questions under the ‘questions’ tab. Click ‘next’ to see each question. There are 4 questions to answer. This is another example of reggae.

Next is a fun task – yes it’s another ‘listen out’ task! This is on ‘Can’t Stop the Feeling.’ Click on each instrument and really listen to how it sounds. Each instrument has its own sound. Then see if you can pick out which of these can be heard in the short extract. Select the ones you can hear and submit – are you correct?

Finally, please refer to the home learning tab in the Year 3 section of the website for my google drive link where you will find all the resources for this week’s home learning. As always, the matching tasks will be on Class Dojo by Monday for you to upload your children’s work once complete.

Have a lovely weekend,

Miss Heim-Sarac

'We have a Lord who is capable of crying with us, capable of walking with us in the most difficult moments of life' - Pope Francis

I can’t believe we have come to the end of week 3 of blended learning! I continue to be so impressed and humbled by the effort the children are making with their work and by the support from parents and carers. This is an unbelievably tricky time and so many of you will also be juggling working from home on top of home schooling your children. It’s an impossible task so you should all be extremely proud of yourselves! I just want you to know how grateful I am for your kindness during this time. It makes the current situation a whole lot easier!

We have now established a good routine and you are all aware of my expectations each week for work and also where to find the resources you will need. Each week, I will update the home learning section on the year 3 part of the website with my google drive link where you can find all of the materials you will need for the week ahead. I also post regularly on Class Dojo and that is how I mark the children’s work. I can, however, also be contacted via e-mail (year3@our-lady.blackpool.sch.uk).

We have also established a good routine in school now, and whilst it really isn’t the same without all of the class being there, the children are working hard and are completing exactly the same work that the children at home are doing. I would ask that if your child attends school but doesn’t attend full time, that they complete the home learning tasks for the days they are not in school. The tasks can be found on the weekly timetable.

This week I have awarded my first ‘learners of the week’. I will pick two children every Friday (one from home and one from school) who will be awarded a certificate and 20 dojos. These awards will be given to the children who that week have really blown me away with their effort and the quality of their work. It is important to remember that just because we are not in school doesn’t mean we can’t put 100% in to the work we are doing. My winners this week were Joshua and Charlotte.

I hope you have all had a go at logging on to Yumu/Charanga and that you have managed to have a go at the activities that Miss Benson has set for you. She has passed on a message for you for this week:

This week I want you to listen to “Jamming” by Bob Marley. Like last week’s song, this is an example of reggae. Work through the questions under the ‘questions’ tab. Click ‘next’ to see each question. There are 4 questions to answer. Do you know what a ‘jamming’ is? Click on “about the song” to find out!

Next is a fun task – yes it’s a ‘listen out’ task! This is on ‘Don’t Worry Be Happy’ by Bobby McFerrin. Click on each instrument and really listen to how it sounds. Each instrument has its own sound. Then see if you can pick out which of these can be heard in the short extract. Select the ones you can hear and submit. This is a really tricky one!

Good luck!

This sounds fun Year 3! Let me know how you get on. Well done to Hallie and Isabella for completing the work on Yumu/Charanga. Miss Benson and I are very impressed! I am going to award you 5 dojos each for your hard work.

I hope you all have a lovely weekend and stay safe! Please contact me if you need anything at all.

Miss Heim-Sarac

This too shall pass...

I must begin by saying a huge thank you to you all. Your support is truly appreciated, and I am so pleased to see that you have all established new routines, and have adjusted to your new ‘classrooms’. I have been so impressed with the work I have been sent this week and the work produced by those in school. This week, I am going to try to record instructions to each task I set on Class Dojo. This should give you and your child a bit more information as to what I am expecting.

From now on, Miss Benson will be providing music tasks for the class to complete on YUMU/Charanga. I have sent login details, via email or Dojo, to all parents with each child’s login details.

It is a requirement that we have regular contact with parents/children with regards to work being completed at home. I know how challenging it has been for so many (if not al!) of you parents trying to establish your own routines, now you have your child(ren) learning from home. With this in mind, I am very flexible in terms of when their work is sent. It is, however, important that I have communication with you regularly. As always, thank you for your support with this.

Please find the google drive link, with all resources for this week, on the home learning tab on the year 3 section of the website.

On a final note, whilst we are all going through a very rocky period of time, this too shall come to pass eventually.

Have a lovely weekend,

Miss Heim-Sarac

Together, we can get through anything!

Thank you so much parents and carers for your support this week while we got everything up and running for home learning. It has certainly been a tricky week but I am so proud of all the children for how well they have taken everything in their stride. They have worked hard and I am so impressed with the standard of work that has been submitted so far. By Monday morning each week the new home learning post will be available on the school website (under the home learning tab) and the activities will have been updated on Class Dojo for the children to complete. If you are struggling to bring some structure to your day, I have also included a weekly timetable on my google drive that you might like to follow.

The children who are in school will be completing the same work that I set for the children at home. That way, when we do all come back together, I know where we are all up to. Each week, there will be the following home learning to complete:

• A daily maths worksheet with a matching video link explaining the concept for that day

• A talk for writing booklet (the whole booklet is to be completed over the week)

• 1/2 RE tasks

• 1/2 Geography tasks

• 1/2 Science tasks

• A creative task

• 2 Reading tasks (this will usually be me asking you to record your child reading). Outside of this, I do expect the children to be reading daily

As I said on Class Dojo earlier this week, I understand that there will be some days where the children are having a bad day or you may have a lot of work on yourself and therefore home learning has to take a back seat for the day. That is absolutely fine - please just let me know. In any case, if you’re in a situation where you are wondering what tasks to prioritise, I would always suggest the Maths and English tasks. I can be contacted on Class Dojo or via e-mail (year3@our-lady.blackpool.sch.uk) if you need anything.

At the start of next week I will be e-mailing to you your child’s login details from Miss Benson for a music website called Charanga which is fun to use and will support their music learning. Miss Benson will be uploading activities on there for the children to do with their recorders and the site also gives access to Charanga Music World which is a fun journey through music with the recorder. I will certainly be taking a look and having a go as I am also learning how to play the recorder along with the children!

I am really looking forward to the time when we can be together again. Please stay safe and know that I am thinking of you all.

Miss Heim-Sarac

Merry Christmas!

Please find below our Nativity that we filmed this week. I am SO proud of all of the children for how hard they have worked to learn their lines and the words to the songs. Well done Year 3! Thank you for all the hard work you put in at home with your children. A big thank you also to Father Jim who put this video together for us.

The Nativity the children have performed was created for a charity called Mary’s Meals by Frank and Denise Cottrell-Boyce. If you would like to find out more about this charity please follow this link: https://www.marysmeals.org.uk/useful-links/about-marys-meals/. The PTA have kindly made a donation to this charity on Year 3’s behalf.

I wish you all a healthy and happy Christmas with your families. Thank you for all your support so far this year and I will look forward to seeing the children again in the New Year.

Miss Heim-Sarac

'Peace is not something you wish for; it's something you make, something you do, something you are and something you give away.' - John Lennon

This weekend marks the second Sunday of Advent - Peace. We have been taking part in daily advent reflections in class based on the story A Christmas Promise. It has been lovely to take some moments of peace and stillness during the day to reflect on what Advent means and to think about the true meaning of Christmas. The children also made their Advent promises and they are so beautiful. The children have thought long and hard as to how they can help others over the next few weeks or improve themselves in some way. We only made one promise as we want to make sure that we can keep it. Ask your child what their promise is!

The children have really blown me away with how hard they have worked this week; and I am starting to see the children maturing and making better choices which is fantastic. Here’s what they have been up to in their learning…

• Maths: we completed an end of unit test and looked at addition and subtraction patterns.

• English: we completed semantic maps of some key vocabulary we are looking at this term, we started to explore a text called The Green Children and some of us did our Star reading tests.

• Science: we learnt about why exercise is important to keep us healthy.

• R.E: we learnt about the sacrament of Reconciliation and why it is important to say sorry.

• History: we learnt about the Iron Age and the hillforts they lived in.

Notices:

• Christmas Jumper Day is on the 11th December.

• Just to remind you that we are asking the children not to bring in individual Christmas cards in for their friends this year but to just bring in one card for the whole class.

• Usually at this time of year we would be preparing our carol service to perform over at Church. Sadly that cannot happen this year but we do have something else planned. The children will be learning and performing a short nativity that we will be recording and sharing on the school website just before the Christmas break.

Our award winners this week are:

Golden: Rion. For such a big improvement in his behaviour and attitude.

Writing: Ola. For working so hard in her RWI Phonics group.

Maths: Joseph. For such an improvement in his confidence towards his Maths work.

Well done Year 3 - you’ve had a super week and I am really proud of you all.

Have a lovely weekend,

Miss Heim-Sarac

Christmas is coming...

Well, I know I’m early with the Christmas festivities, however I feel this is the year when we can bring a bit of joy in to our lives before December begins! I love Christmas anyway, and I always have my tree up early, so it has brought me great happiness to bring the festive spirit in to our class room this week! The children came in to the class room on Monday to see the decorations up and the Christmas tree assembled and their little faces were a picture! They were so happy. We have since made decorations for the tree and other Christmas crafts which we have all enjoyed doing! I also love this quote that I’ve shared at the start of my blog this week…how important it is that we all have courage for the difficult few months ahead, tenderness for what has happened so far this year and for all those affected by Covid 19 and that we have hope for the future after the craziness of 2020!

This weekend is also the first Sunday of Advent and the theme is hope.

We have yet again had an extremely busy week, and the children have worked SO hard…

-Maths: we have really focused on column subtraction this week and are very close to mastering it. To say I am proud of the children is an understatement. Well done year 3!

-English: we have had a vocabulary focus this week and have explored lots of fantastic words that we are going to be hearing, saying and writing a lot during our unit of work this term. We have explored these words in different ways, including acting out the word, exploring the words meaning using dictionaries and thesaurus’ and using semantic maps.

-Science: this week we have recapped our learning on the functions of the skeleton and compared the skeletons of different animals.

-R.E: the children wrote beautiful letters from Mary to her cousin Elizabeth explaining why she said yes to the Angel Gabriel.

-History: we learnt about grave goods and why these were buried with people from the Bronze Age when they died.

-Music: we have started to learn the note ‘a’.

Our award winners this week are…

• Golden: Lexi Rose. For coming in to school with a smile on her face every day and working so hard despite the challenges she has faced this week.

• Maths: Poppy. For persevering with column subtraction even though she found it tricky to begin with.

• Writing: Ayson. For writing a beautiful letter from Mary to Elizabeth.

Notices:

• Christmas Jumper Day is on the 11th December.

• Thank you for supporting Silly Sock Day, the children looked great!

• Please do not send your child in with individual Christmas cards this year for their friends due to the current situation with Covid. Instead, why not send your child in with one card for the whole class?

• From now on, if your child is isolating at home and is otherwise well, their home learning will now be set through Google Drive. I will post the link to it under the ‘home learning’ tab on the website and on Class Dojo. On the drive you will find a suggested weekly timetable as well as all the resources you will need to complete the work. This should make things easier as everything will be in one place. Once your child has completed their work, whether it is on paper or electronically, please send me copies or pictures of the work to either the year 3 e-mail address (year3@our-lady.blackpool.sch.uk) or upload images/copies to Class Dojo. Either method is fine.

I hope you all have a lovely weekend,

Miss Heim-Sarac

Weekly news (week ending 20th November)

Good evening,

Firstly, I do apologise in the delay in getting this blog to you. Due to a technical issue at home over the weekend, I was unable to upload it when planned! Last week was great, and here is what the children got up to…

-Maths: we did lots more work on column addition and subtraction. We started to focus more on column subtraction where two lots of regrouping is required. This is really tricky but the children are rising to the challenge and I am so proud of them!

-English: we started our vocabulary focus for our stories with gardens topic. We used an online dictionary to find out the meanings of words we didn’t know.

-Science: we learnt the name of the main muscles in our body and where they are located.

-History: we learnt about how bronze was made in the Stone Age. See if your children can remember what this process is called (smelting).

-Music: we are continuing to learn the ‘b’ note on our recorders (I’m learning along with the children!)

-R.E: we retold the Annunciation and made our very own Angel Gabriels.

-P.E: we played a match of handball! We just need to remember all the rules now.

Notices:

• FRIDAY 27TH NOVEMBER - Silly Socks Day organised by the PTFA. Wear your silliest socks for the day - girls, you can wear silly tights, or your socks over your tights for extra warmth! Please can we ask that the children bring in a donation of £1 in a named sealed envelope so no-one has to touch the money when it comes into school. Many thanks.

• CHRISTMAS JUMPER DAY FRIDAY 11TH DECEMBER - we would like to invite the children to wear their Christmas jumper for the day to school - over their usual school uniform. We ask that this is a JUMPER and not a DRESS or SUIT or ONESIE. Many thanks.

I hope you all had a lovely weekend,

Miss Heim-Sarac

'No act of kindness no matter how small is ever wasted' - Aesop

World Kindness Day was on Friday and we spent the morning preparing our own act of kindness for Miss Haggerty. We wanted to say thank you to her for all her hard work running our school and for keeping us safe. We created an assembly where all the children wrote and presented their own message to her and they were so lovely and thoughtful. It really was a beautiful morning and I was so proud of all the children for how excited they were to do something nice for somebody else. Well done Year 3!

This week we also took part in the 2 minute silence on Remembrance Day. It gave us the opportunity to reflect on and remember those soldiers who have fought for us in both world wars.

It has been a busy week, but as always I am proud of the children for their hard work. Here’s what we have been up to…

-Maths: we have now started to add numbers using column addition with exchanging. We started by exchanging ones in to the tens column, but we have now also been able to move on to exchanging tens in to the hundreds column. The children have truly blown me away with how hard they have worked on this.

-English: we have had a big focus this week on subordinate clauses and how to include them in our sentences. The children also wrote a wonderful story opening based on an image.

-Science: this week the children have learnt about the main bones in our bodies and their function.

-History: we made Stone Age houses and then compared them to our houses today.

-R.E: we have started our new unit of work on Mary, our Mother. The children have learnt about the Annunciation and what the Angel Gabriel said when he visited Mary.

-Music: the children have now received their recorders! For now, they will stay in school but at some point the children will be bringing these home to practice.

Our award winners this week were:

Golden: Zak - for his beautiful behaviour and hard working attitude.

Writing: Elsie - for a wonderfully written story opening.

Maths: Oscar O’C - for his brilliant work on column addition.

I’m looking forward to the week ahead!

Miss Heim-Sarac

'Everything, even sweeping, scraping vegetables, weeding a garden and waiting on the sick could be a prayer if it were offered to God.' - St Martin De Porres

Welcome back to our second half term of Year 3! It was so lovely to see the children back this week after their break. They have come back to school ready to learn and excited for the term ahead. We started the week by watching a virtual Mass for All Saints Day which we would usually celebrate over at church. Father mentioned two particular saints in his homily, one of them being St Martin De Porres, and we decided to do some research in to Martin’s life. We found out that Martin became a monk when he was 15, and he was also a doctor and a barber. God granted him the ability to be in two places at once! He lived a truthful and holy life and always put others before himself. He prayed lots, sometimes all night, and once offered himself as a slave to try and help the monastery where he was living as they were in a financial crisis. St Martin is the patron saint of people of mixed race and his feast day is the 3rd November. As a class, we discussed how we could be more like St Martin.

We also watched an assembly by Miss Haggerty where she talked about the two Jesuit values that we are going to be focusing on this term…eloquent and truthful. We discussed as a class what these two words mean and we are going to try very hard to foster these qualities in ourselves this term.

Whilst it is of course lovely to have the children back in school, it is still important that we all remain vigilant and follow the government coronavirus guidelines such as when to isolate or seek a test. Miss Haggerty has put these guidelines on the general page of the website, and I would urge you to have a read. For example, if yourself or any other family member has coronavirus symptoms or are awaiting the results of a test, your child must stay at home until the results are received.

Here is what we have been up to this week…

Maths: the children have blown me away this week with their hard work as we begin to learn how to add and subtract using the column method. So far, we have focused on calculations where no exchanging is required. We will tackle this next week!

English: this week we have started our new English topic which focuses on stories with gardens. The children have enjoyed looking at images from various books and talking about what they can see as well as making predictions as to what might happen in the story. We have also started to learn about subordinate clauses.

History: we have learnt all about Stonehenge and it’s mysteries this week. The children also made this famous monument out of biscuits!

R.E.: the children created their own Baptismal promises.

Music: the children are going to be learning how to play the recorder this term with Miss Benson. They are very excited!

P.E: the children are going to be working on their team work and communication with George from BFC this term. They are going to be doing this whilst learning how to play handball.

It has been a busy but fun week back!

Our award winners this week are:

Writing: Hallie. For creating some beautiful Baptismal promises.

Maths: Jacob. For impressing me in his work on column addition and subtraction.

No Golden Award was handed out this week.

One final thing…we are collecting toothbrushes, soap, combs and flannels for the Shoebox Appeal this year. Thank you for your donations so far! It is not too late to contribute if you wish - the boxes are not being sent until next week at some point so please send in any further donations at the start of the week if you can. Thank you!

Have a lovely weekend,

Miss Heim-Sarac