Hill Top Primary Academy

Welcome to Year 3

  The adults in Year 3 are:

Miss Scawthorn and Miss Colquhoun

Reminders: 

Forest school takes place on a Thursday morning.

PE takes place on a Tuesday. This is the day children will come into school wearing their PE kit. 

Homework: 

Children should read three times a week. Please sign when your child has read in their reading records.

Maths and Literacy/ topic homework will be set on a Friday. Homework should be returned by the following Friday. 

Please note the KS2 expectation is that all children complete both their homework and reading. If they do not complete their homework, they will have to attend a break time session with one of our class teachers.

Please see a copy of Year 3's Curriculum Map for 2021-22 below.

Welcome video and Year 3 expectations

Brainwaves

Brainwaves task- Learning a new skill. 

The children learnt the importance of practise when a new skill is being learnt. They worked in teams to teach the ‘alien’ a new skill of how to throw a ball safely and correctly. They used fantastic team work and speaking skills to give instructions to their alien in the group!

Maths

Year 3 have been learning about place value for their first two weeks in school. They have been using super problem solving skills to find missing intervals on number lines and challenging themselves by seeing how many ways they can represent a number... We definitely have some Maths super stars!!

Brainwaves Exit Point

For the Exit Point task, Year 3 looked at how our brain makes lots of connections everyday. We used string to represent how our thoughts all link together to build a bigger idea about something.

Saving The World

Writing Task

I have been absolutely blown away by the amazing writing Year 3 have been producing. We have been looking at how to write a non-chronological report and been basing our report around Sloths. We have learnt lots about sloths, including what their appearance is and where they live. Listen to some of our fantastic habitat paragraphs below.

The Big 10 - Visualise

Today the children learnt about the term ‘visualisation’ and listened to a descriptive fact file about the Rainforest. They drew what they visualised in their minds and then used their speaking and listening skills to present to the rest of the class.

Knowledge Harvest

Geography task 1

The rainforest is responsible for sourcing many products, foods and medicines that we use in our everyday lives. Year 3 were surprised to find out just how many things we get from the rainforest! They drew a house and added the different items we get from the rainforest. I think you’ll be surprised to see just how much. Please see below.

Rainforest tribes - Geography task 2

Year 3 have been learning about the tribes that live in the rainforest. They had to compare their own lives to a child who lives in a tribe. They found it very interesting to think about the differences with their lives and a rainforest child’s life. 

Geography Task - Deforestation

The children have been learning all about Deforestation. We have looked at three main areas: causes, effects and solutions. Year 3 thought very hard about the serious effects deforestation can have on rainforest tribes, animals and everyone in the world. We produced some beautiful double page spreads. Here are the children in action!

Design Technology Task

Year 3 have been learning about tribal masks that indigenous people of the rainforest wear in their daily lives. They worked together to determine that the only colours used on tribal masks are bright and bold so that they stand out to other tribe members and potentially even scare away danger!

Design Technology continued...

Today the children got to begin their rainforest tribal masks. We discussed how to colour in the different shapes in straight lines so that the paper mask did not dissolve. I was blown away with the effort that the children put into their masks.

Can you guess who is who? Here are our finished products!

Non-chronological reports

Over the past half term, Year 3 have been learning all about non-chronological reports and what they include. The children have been working hard to improve their sentence structure by thinking about different ways to begin sentences and using conjunctions to extend and add more detail. Myself and Miss Colquhoun were blown away by the effort the children put into these.

Science Task 1

Year 3 learnt about the different animal classifications and what makes each animal fit into its variation group.  They then had to match each rainforest animal into its correct group. They did a fantastic job and were surprised to find out that a dolphin is in fact a mammal!

Science 2

This week, Year 3 compared the difference between the soil in the playground and the soil that would be found in the rainforest. They used their observing skills by going into our playground and finding lots of different matter in the soil. They then recorded their observations and thought about whether they might find similar things on the rainforest floor.

Science 3- Layers of the rainforest

 Year 3 have been learning all about the different layers of the Rainforest. They have been using key terms to describe the forest floor, understory, canopy and sunlight zone. The children have an excellent understanding about each zone, its' features and the animals which may be found there. To further their learning, Year 3 went into the playground to create their own 'layers of the Rainforest collage'. They labelled each zone, worked fantastically in their teams and then viewed each others collages.

Literacy

Year 3 have been learning about what a fronted adverb is and how to use them in their writing. There has also been a huge push on joining letters. Year 3 were experts with knowing how to use fronted adverbs in their writing. Take a look below.

Science 

Year 3 have been learning about plants, their features, functions and how water travels up the stem. They carried out an investigation to determine how water travels through a stem. Working together in a team, the children set up their own experiment, using celery and food dye. They even wrote out their experiment and presented what they had done as a team.

Science

Year 3 have been learning about food chains and linking their knowledge of them to relate to the rainforest. They made their own rainforest food chain wheel, using subject specific vocabulary. E.g. Primary consumers, secondary consumers, prey, predator.

Charity Reindeer Run!

The children were very excited to complete the reindeer run and be visited by Santa! It was amazing to see their huge smiles throughout.

Christingles

During our RE lesson, we learnt all about the Christingle and what everything represents. Here are some pictures from our Christmassy afternoon!

Christmas Party

Year 3 had a fabulous time dancing the afternoon away! I saw some amazing dance moves, lots of laughing and huge smiles on their faces throughout. We finished the party with some juice and cake. 

Temples, Tombs and Treasures

Unit Summary

The people who helped create the first great civilisations were not unlike you and me. Today we can learn a lot about these people and their way of life through the things they left behind – from everyday objects to magnificent and rare treasures.

Explaining the Theme

In History, we’ll be finding out:

• Why rivers were important to ancient civilisations
• What daily life was like in Ancient Egypt
• How to write using Egyptian hieroglyphics
• About the different rulers of Egypt
• About Ancient Egyptian religion and burials
• How the Ancient Egyptians might have built the pyramids
• About the treasures discovered in Tutankhamun’s tomb
• How to use different sources to find out about Ancient Sumer
• How to compare life in Ancient Sumer with life in Ancient Egypt

In Music, we’ll be finding out:

• About the instruments used in Ancient Egypt and Ancient Sumer
• How to create our own music to retell a story from an ancient civilisation

In Art, we’ll be finding out:

• How to plan and create our own tomb wall painting
• How to make an Ancient Egyptian headdress

In International, we’ll be finding out:

• How to plan an Ancient Egyptian celebration to share with friends and family

Entry Point

For the entry point task, Year 3 were given a selection of images all relating to Ancient Egypt. They discussed with their partner as to what they thought the pictures were. We then discussed the key words as a class and the children created their own Egyptian Key word poster to help with their learning throughout Spring term 1.

Egyptian Society Drama Lesson

Year 3 have been learning lots of facts about Ancient Egypt. They have learnt about the River Nile and its’ importance and also about Egyptian Society. They then worked in their table groups to create a performance for the rest of the class.

Champion Reader

We love reading for pleasure in Year 3. Every week, a new Champion Reader will be announced. The champion reader gets to choose someone to sit in our comfy reading area during reading time, every day, for a week!

Take a look at our fantastic hieroglyphics work.

Below are some of our independent traditional tales with a twist. Over the past 3 weeks, we have been reading the story ‘The Egyptian Cinderella’ and comparing it to the original. The children then learnt about different features to include in their story, such as: varied sentence openers, conjunctions and expanded noun phrases. 

In design technology, Year 3 have designed and created their own Egyptian Cartouches. They learnt that only names of important Egyptian Pharaohs/ Nobles had their names carved into the walls of tombs and cartouches. They were able to learn a new skill of how to carve, sketch and create a 3D design. I was very impressed with their problem solving skills!

After designing their cartouches with clay, the children went on to painting their designs. They thought about the different colours and tones that would be used in the Ancient Egyptian times. Here are some photos of the children in action!

Feel the Force- Entry Point

Today the children investigated how friction would change between different materials and a marble. They worked in teams to carry out their investigation and were surprised to find out that the bubble wrap provided most friction, whilst there were a few differing ideas for the material providing least friction. They practised their presenting skills for a few minutes in their groups before talking about their findings to the whole class. 

World Book Day 2022

Well, what a fantastic effort by every child in the class! The children absolutely loved celebrating world book day, showing their passion for reading and sharing in front of the class. We had an array of different book review T-shirt’s, from Tom Gates to Little Miss Sunshine. We also had a visit from Book Man and the children got to take part in a 40 minute workshop. They had to work in groups to produce freeze frames of different scenarios and stories… Can you guess any stories?

Spring 2 PE- Netball

We have been very lucky to have some beautiful weather to accompany our netball sessions! The children have been learning the four main passes in netball: chest pass, bounce pass, over head pass and shoulder pass. They practiced in pairs and then played some group games to improve their skills further.

Art- Typography

Feel the Force- Exit point

Parachute making!

Science Week 2022

The theme of Science Week this year is ‘Growth’. Mrs Secker started Science Week by delivering an assembly to the children on Monday morning. The children were introduced to the different type of trees and the ‘Growth’ theme. To celebrate Science Week, the children went down into the wildlife area and observed the different living organisms that surround a tree. They created tally charts to organise their findings. 

Blue and Yellow in Support of Ukraine

Chocolate Entry Point

Year 3 kick-started their Chocolate topic by being transported to Willy Wonka’s Chocolate Factory. They watched the old and new versions of Willy Wonka’s famous chocolate room and were surprised to hear that every single thing in his room was edible!

After watching the video, the children had to design their own chocolate factory. They had some amazing ideas and were thoroughly engaged in the task.

Finally, the children got to play a taste senses game. They were asked to close their eyes and hold out their hand. Each child was given a small piece of either white, milk or dark chocolate. They first hard to smell the chocolate and see if that gave away what flavour it was. Still with their eyes closed, the children tasted the chocolate and had to guess which one they thought it was. As you can guess, they were very excited and the winner came out to be milk chocolate, with the least favourite being dark!

Geography task 1

Working in pairs, the children had to use the information given to create a poster around the journey of a Cacao bean. They described the journey it takes from its' country of growth, right up to when it is on the shelves in the supermarkets. 

We love writing in Year 3! Here are a few photos of us in action. We have been writing about the well known fable, ‘The Hare and the Tortoise’ but changed the characters of the story to create a new version! We have really been trying to add lots of punctuation and grammar to make our fables interesting and flow very well.

Chocolate continued...

Last week, Year 3 learnt about tooth decay and how to keep our teeth healthy. They then explored the sugar content in different food and drink items. Finally, they created their own model of the mouth, including all of the teeth and labelled their poster with ways to keep teeth healthy, what  might happen if they eat too much chocolate and how they should correctly brush their teeth.

The children were incredibly engaged during their wrapper design task. They thought carefully about materials and which would be most suitable for a chocolate bar wrapper. In pairs, the children designed their own chocolate bar wrapper and presented their work to the class. Mr Wonka was also listening in the background and will soon get back to the children as to which wrapper he will use in his factory!!!

The Queen’s Platinum Jubilee

Design Technology - Castles

To start our final term in Year 3, we have recently begun a new topic, learning all about Castles and their features. I was very impressed with the initial knowledge from the children, they knew lots of parts of castles before we had covered it! We talked about why each feature of a castle was important. We then went outside and worked in pairs to create a castle with labelled parts. It was lovely to see how the children were role playing after they had done their designs!

Music-

To celebrate World Music Day, the children started their new topic, which is all about composing a piece of music around the subject of 'Mountains'.  We began by listening to different excerpts of music which did not have names. The children had to use their listening skills to determine where they could be whilst listening to the music by thinking about the different instruments and textures they could hear. They then looked at lots of different pictures of mountains and were set the task of creating their own composition. The composition had to have a repeated rhythm, varying dynamics and a clear story. The children loved this task and were incredibly engaged for the hour session. Here are their finished products!

D-side

On Friday, we had a special visit from Dave at D-side. He spoke to the children about cigarettes and their effect on the human body. He began by showing the children different pictures of how they used to be advertised- They could not believe that Santa Claus used to be advertised holding a cigarette! Next, the children learnt about what different substances are inside a cigarette and were shocked to see how the tar could build up on someone's lungs. The hour was were informative and left the children very knowledgeable about cigarettes and their effect on the body.

Music Experience

Today, the children in Year 3 and Year 4 were very lucky and got to take part in a musical workshop run by Dani, Ed and the Leeds Lieder group from Leeds University. The workshop was split into different activities: conducting, performing and composing. Every child was incredibly engaged throughout the whole experience and came out smiling and singing the new songs they had learnt. 

SPORTS DAY 2022

Music - Mountains

 The children have been learning how to play a Glockenspiel in pairs. They began by looking at the notes and thinking about which might play a high pitch and which might play a low pitch. We then worked as a whole class ensemble to create 8 different repeated rhythms to match the video we had watched. Everyone worked really hard and learnt lots of new musical vocabulary.