This has been a very exciting week of learning, coronation celebrations and Bikeability, all sandwiched between two bank holiday weekends! We had a wonderful whole school lunch on Friday to celebrate the King’s Coronation, with traditional British party food, Union Jack flags and a fantastic big band to accompany our delicious meal.
English
This week in English, we have begun focusing on Varjak Paw (also our guided reading book) and examining the language and characters in more detail. We have been comparing Mesopotamian Blues with normal cats, particularly looking at their contrasting personalities and experiences.
Maths
We continued learning about fractions and progressed onto representing fractions as part of a whole and placing them on a number line. We used problem solving to help us to understand how dividing a whole into three parts is 1/3, and we practiced the stem sentence, ‘I would mark 1 and 1/3 here because…’. The extra challenges from the lesson can be found here: Y3 Sum1 W3 MATHS Challenges
Science
This week, we continued learning about electricity. We explored how wires, bulbs and cells can be placed together to create electrical energy, and we created our own circuits using these components.
This website, How do you draw electrical symbols and diagrams? – BBC Bitesize, is a useful tool to help develop knowledge of electrical symbols and diagrams. Another fantastic website is https://wiredthegame.com/, a free online game which teaches about circuits and control through gaming. As always with anything online, we would advise parental supervision for these websites.
Guided Reading
We continued following the journey of Varjak Paw and are now waiting in suspense to find out what happens to him next! We had a class discussion about how we thought he might be feeling when he was trying to leave the house, as well as looking more deeply into the use of language devices in the text.
Next week:
English: We will continue looking at Varjak Paw, and we will be placing ourselves into the roles of the cats! We will use comparative language and write in role, which will include using speech marks to represent when characters are speaking.
Maths: We will progress with fractions and begin looking at representing unit fractions. We will look at what the ‘numerator’ and ‘denominator’ are and use the stem sentence, ‘The whole has been divided into…equal parts….of the parts has been shaded.’
Science: In STEM, we will continue to explore the use of electrical circuits. We will be focusing on predicting and explaining which materials conduct electricity and what makes a material a conductor or insulator.
Guided Reading: We will continue with reading Varjak Paw and focusing on Varjak’s dream of Mesopotamia in Chapter 7. The chapter can be found here: Varjak Paw Chapter 7
Notices/ Reminders / Requests:
There is no school on Monday, as it is an extra bank holiday for the king’s coronation.
DT – We are looking at pneumatic systems in DT over the coming weeks; if you have any used washing-up liquid bottles or ‘squeezy’ bottles, please do send them in next week – a form of recycling! (We will recycle them once we’ve finished).
PE – All Year 3 classes have PE on a Tuesdays and Fridays. It doesn’t feel *that* warm reliably yet outside, so adequate outside kit is still a sensible decision!
With best wishes and thanks
Year 3 Team