Adventure time in Year 3

Hello everyone,

Year 3 are continuing to impress us all with their lovely, caring attitude towards each other and their super attitude to their learning.

We didn't have RWI/spelling groups in the same way last week, so your child doesn't have new spellings or an RWI book to read. This week's home learning is to practise recalling number bonds to 10. Children should have come home with a paper sheet, but if they didn't, an electronic copy can be accessed here. 

Knowing number bonds within 10 without having to count objects or fingers makes other maths learning that we will cover later in the year much easier.

This week, our maths warm-ups will focus on adding and subtracting 1 and 2 from any number. When we add 1, the children are learning that the answer is the number that comes next when we count. When we subtract 1, the answer is the number that comes before.

We will also be reminding the children about odd and even numbers and practising counting in 2s. The children will learn that when we add 2 to an even number, we get the next even number (for example, 6 + 2 = 8), and when we add 2 to an odd number, we get the next odd number (for example, 7 + 2 = 9). We will also practise subtracting 2 in the same way.

This is something that you could easily practise with your child at home by asking questions such as, "What is 1 more than 8?", "What is 1 less than 12?", "What is 2 more than 7?" or "What is 2 less than 10?"

Last week, I trialled a slightly different approach to the children's learning in some lessons, whereby they worked in Adventure Time groups and used more role play, collaboration and focused teaching opportunities. The children responded really well to this approach, so it is something that we will continue with next week.

Giving the children opportunities to talk about and apply their learning through role play helps them to develop a deeper understanding of the topics we are studying. It also gives them opportunities to develop their speaking and listening skills, use their imaginations and collaborate with their peers.

Geography

Last week, we looked at the tropics and located the Equator and the Tropics of Cancer and Capricorn on a map. The children were invited to become weather reporters and talked about the weather in a chosen country or region.

This week, the children will be learning about lines of longitude, focusing on the Prime Meridian. They will look at which countries the Prime Meridian passes through and imagine that they are going on a journey from Greenwich, London, down to Antarctica, following the Meridian.

They will consider which countries they will pass through, how they will travel across the land and water, and what they might do in each country along the way.   

Music

In music, we will continue to listen to the music of Tchaikovsky. The children are also learning how to play the recorder.

They are learning to hold the recorder at the top with their left hand and that their left thumb needs to cover the back hole. They are learning that their left pointer finger also covers the top hole to make the note B, while their pointer and middle fingers cover the top two holes to make the note A.

This week, they will also practise moving between the notes A and B. 

Computing

In computing, the children are learning to code. They are learning how to add and change backgrounds and how to add and adapt characters and animals.

They have been experimenting with sequencing code to make a character move, disappear, reappear and collide. They also enjoy adding sounds!

Art

The children will be looking at nature to find inspiration for printing that they will be doing in future weeks.

This week, they will be finding natural objects that they can use to make imprints in salt dough or play dough.

Upcoming Dates

Every Wednesday - please continue to send suitable forest school clothing for your child to change into. 

Every Friday - please continue to send your child into school wearing their PE kits. 

Friday 9th October - Autumn Fest

Tuesday 13th October - Parent and carer's evening 

Wednesday 14th October - Class excursion 

Thursday 15th October - Year 3 & 4 class excursion 

Thursday 15th October - Parent and carer's evening

Friday 23rd October - Harvest from 2.50pm

This week's spellings and home learning

Hi everyone,

As we are very much entering a period of changeable autumnal weather, a gentle reminder to please ensure that jumpers and cardigans are labelled so that they can be returned to their owners on warmer days. Please also ensure that your child has a labelled jacket for days when the weather is a little damp.

Thank you also for sending your child into school in their PE kit on Fridays and providing their Forest School kit on Wednesdays.

The children's home learning packs should have come home on Friday. The main activity was for children to think about countries around the world that they have either visited themselves or have a connection to through the travels of friends and family.

If your hard copy didn't make it home, an electronic copy can be found here. 

The children also had their spellings sheets sent home with links available below:

Group 2

Group 3

Our spelling and RWI sessions follow a 'stage, not age' approach. This means that some children in our class are taking part in RWI phonics lessons, while others are working in spelling groups. If you or your child are unsure which group they are in, please email me and I will be happy to let you know.

The homework packs should also have contained logins for accessing school accounts and passwords for the different apps. I have created some screenshots showing how to access the links, should these be helpful. Some programmes, such as TTRS and EdShed, can also be accessed easily through an online search.

Where possible, we strongly encourage children to complete AR reading quizzes at home on library books they have read. There will also be some time in school for children to complete these in Year 3.

As your child moves towards becoming an independent reader, these quizzes offer an opportunity to develop their reading comprehension.

Year 3's library day is Thursday. Ideally, book bags should come into school daily, but we know that life happens! If book bags could be in school on Thursdays for library day and Fridays for homework sheets, that would be really helpful.

As ever, please get in touch via email or at drop-off or pick-up if you have any questions, comments or concerns.

Kind regards,

Ms Browne & the Year 3 Team      

Year 3 spellings & home learning

Hello everyone,

We really hope that your child is enjoying their time in Year 3 so far. What stands out so far is what a kind and caring group of children this Year 3 class are. They really do embody Choose Kindness, which is wonderful to experience.

This week, we will continue to develop our skills in naming our emotions and practising breathing exercises, which can be helpful when we have big emotions. ‘Five-finger breathing’ and ‘smell the roses, blow out the candle’ are popular, but there are plenty of other techniques that your child may prefer.

In English, the children will be writing a setting for a ‘magical place’, based on the book Leon and the Place Between. They will be using adjectives to describe their locations and experimenting with prepositions to describe where different features of their magical place are located.

Forest School will be on Wednesday, and children are asked to bring in Forest School clothes and shoes that they can change into.

PE is on Fridays, and children should come to school wearing their PE kits, please.

We were really impressed with the number of children who returned their French and English home learning last week – well done, Year 3! This week’s home learning is based on maths and their DT learning. The children should have come home with a paper homework sheet, but here is an electronic link: Home learning sheet 

The children were also given their spellings on Friday. Electronic copies can be found here: Group 2 , Group 3 Children may also like to use EdShed to practise their spellings via the Spelling Shed games. I will put together a post this week showing how parents can support their child in logging on to this, as well as Times Tables Rock Stars.

Have a lovely week everyone, and thank you for your continued support!

Kind Regards,

Ms Browne & the Year 3 Team

 

Bonjour from Year 3

 

Bonjour from Year 3!

We have had a lovely first week back and have been really pleased with how well the children have settled into school.

Here’s a brief update on what we have covered this week and what the children will be learning next week.

English, Reading & Spellings

In English, the children have been revising the different types of sentences: statements, commands, questions and exclamations. They have also been experimenting with adding adjectives to sentences to create detail and interest when describing settings.

The children have completed their first AR tests of Year 3. It isn’t uncommon for AR numbers to be slightly lower after the summer holidays than they were before the break. We will aim to assess them again before half term.

RWI and spelling groups will all start this week. For those children in spelling groups, spelling activities will normally come home on Fridays. Children can also use EdShed to practise their spellings.

Maths

Last week in Power Maths, the children revised 2-digit numbers and were introduced to hundreds. They then began learning to count, read and write multiples of 100 up to 1,000 in both numerals and words (for example, 300 = three hundred).

This week, they will learn how to represent and partition numbers to 1,000. They will build 3-digit numbers using concrete resources such as Base 10 equipment (place value blocks) and place value counters.

They will explore how numbers are composed of Hundreds, Tens and Ones, for example understanding that 235 = 200 + 30 + 5.

Finally, using number lines to 1,000, they will learn how to place 3-digit numbers accurately.

This video might be helpful for more information about what the children are learning.

French

In French, the children enjoyed learning about France, including understanding where it is in the world and what France is famous for. They even had the opportunity to taste some croissants and pain au chocolat!

They will continue to become familiar with saying Bonjour (hello/good morning) and Salut (hello), and will start saying Je m'appelle (my name is).

Home Learning

This week, the children have been asked to write a statement about France and a question they would like to know the answer to about France.

Paper copies should have come home on Friday, but electronic copies can be found here.

A few reminders

• Please send the children into school with a named rain jacket.

• No toys should be brought into school.

• Please bring in Forest School kit every Wednesday.

• Children should come to school in their PE kits every Friday.

• Monday 28th September – School Photos (individual)

• Friday 9th October, 5pm–7pm – AutumnFest

• Friday 23rd October, 2.50pm – Harvest Celebration

Forest School & PE kit reminders

 

Hello everyone,

We've been having a lovely week so far. I will blog in more detail later in the week but just a quick reminder for clothes this week. 

On Wednesday, please can children bring forest school clothes to get changed into. 

On Friday, please can the children come to school in their PE kits. 

Also, as the weather looks as though it has turned please can the children bring a named rain jacket into school. If it is slightly drizzly, we do still like to get them outside for some fresh air and movement. 

If you have a parents' message group, I would be really grateful if someone could share this reminder. Thank you 🙏 

Kind regards,

Ms Browne & the year 3 team 😊

Optional Year 3 Home Learning Activity

 

Today, we started drawing our own cartoon self portraits for our class display. We followed a video 'Draw with Rob' and drew the outlines of our portraits on A5 paper. We will finish these by colouring them in next week. 

Some of the children were very keen to draw more and so if they would like to draw themselves again or draw someone else, the link is below: 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oCDta3CQ9Ak&t=2s   

I will start sending home learning sheets home from next week.  

Welcome Back to School Year 3

 

Hello everyone,

Myself and the rest of the year 3 team were so impressed with the super focus and positive attitude they had today.

I hope your child had a good day - I'm sure they are tired, but I hope full of greater confidence - as they absolutely smashed their first day! 

Today, we talked a lot about recognising our feelings and beginning to identify what we can do when we have any uncomfortable feelings. We also practised some  sensory break activities and learnt how to do some regulatory breaths. 

We developed some great ideas for our Class Charter which will help give the children guidelines as to how to treat each other, how to approach their learning and how to look after their classroom and wider environment. The children had some fantastic suggestions which I will weave into a whole Class Charter over the next week. 

From next week, the normal timetable will begin and there are some key activities to be aware of:

The children will have Forest School on Wednesday afternoons. Please could you send a change of suitable clothes and shoes in with them for this activity  (please see the flier below for more details). 

The children will have PE on Fridays. From this academic year onwards, in line with the Dorchester middle schools in years 5 & 6, the children should come into school in their PE kits. This will hopefully reduce lost property in school and will maximise PE lesson time. Please could children come into school wearing PE kits every Friday from Friday 11th September.    

The year 3 Knowledge Organisers will be available later in September. I will post additional information on the blog shortly but for now, please thank your child for such a wonderful first day in Year 3. 

We were very proud of each and everyone of them. 

Kind regards,

Ms Browne & the year 3 team. 😊

 

Happy Holidays Year 3

As another school year comes to an end, we just wanted to say a huge thank you to you and our amazing Year 3 children.

We can't believe how much the children have grown this year. Looking back to September and seeing them now, they are so much more confident, independent and ready for the next step. It's been such a pleasure to watch them grow, not just academically but as young people too.

Every single child has brought something different to our classroom. They've certainly kept us busy with their energy, enthusiasm and brilliant personalities, but we wouldn't have wanted it any other way. 

One of the biggest highlights has to be the Tenner Challenge. The children absolutely amazed us with their ideas, determination and teamwork. They should all be so proud of what they achieved. It really showed what they can do when they work together and believe in themselves.

We'd also like to say a heartfelt thank you to all of our parents and carers for your support throughout the year. It really does make such a difference. Thank you as well for the lovely cards and thoughtful gifts for the Year 3 team. Your kindness and generosity are so appreciated, and we're very grateful.

To our Year 3 children, thank you for making every day different. Thank you for making us laugh, for working so hard and for being yourselves. We are so proud of each and every one of you, and we know you'll all go on to do amazing things in Year 4.

Have a wonderful, well-deserved summer break. We'll see you all again soon! 

The Year 3 Team.xx

Bring a bag / return a book Monday

 

Dear Parents and Carers,

Please could you send your child to school with a plastic bag on Monday, as we will be sending this year's exercise books home.

If you have any library books or RWI books at home, please could you return them by Monday.

Thank you,

The Year 3 Team

Tenner challenge - proud teacher moments

Dear Parents and Carers,

Just a quick message to say a huge thank you to you all, and an enormous well done to the children for everything they have put into the Tenner Challenge over the past two weeks.

Together, the children raised an incredible £535. To achieve this in just two half-hour after-school sessions is a fantastic accomplishment, and the money will go towards the many Inspired to Learn experiences the children will enjoy during their final year at POW. We are also hoping to arrange a well-deserved treat for the children on Monday to celebrate their success!

Whilst the amount of money raised is remarkable, it isn't what has made the Year 3 team the proudest.

Over the past fortnight we have watched the children collaborate, solve problems, adapt their ideas, support one another and show an incredible level of independence. They demonstrated resilience when plans needed to change, confidence when speaking to their customers and genuine pride in the products, games and activities they had created.

Year 3 is a class full of wonderfully different personalities, ideas and ways of thinking. One of the joys of the Tenner Challenge was seeing so many children flourish in ways that aren't always captured in the classroom. Some discovered a talent for designing and creating products, others were natural salespeople, while some excelled at organising, encouraging their teammates or finding imaginative solutions to problems. Watching each child find their own role and contribute to the success of their team was a real privilege.

Thank you again for your support. Whether you baked cakes, helped make products at home, donated resources, or simply came along with a pocket full of change, you played an important part in making this experience such a memorable one for the children.

It was a wonderful end project for their time in Year 3 and we couldn't be prouder of them.

With love (and proud happy tears),

Ms Browne and the Year 3 Team

Tenner challenge and PSHE update

 

Hello everyone,

Year 3 have been working hard to get their Tenner Challenge stalls ready for this week. They will be sharing their ideas with the school community directly after school on Wednesday 15th and Thursday 16th.

Parents who are available to help run stalls can access the school from 3:00 pm on these days via the office entrance.

If you have needed to purchase ingredients or other items for your child's stall, please send the receipts in by Thursday morning. We will reimburse you from the stall's profits over the two days.

PSHE Today

We had a very positive PSHE lesson today. I was very impressed with the maturity the children showed throughout the lesson. We revised the scientific names for male and female body parts, and the children were introduced to the changes that happen to their bodies during puberty.

We discussed that puberty begins at different times for different people, and we briefly covered the natural bodily processes of menstruation and wet dreams.

The children asked some thoughtful questions—many of them about deodorant! Your child may, of course, wish to ask you questions about what they learned today. If you would like to access some additional information to help answer any questions they may have, please follow this link.

As ever, if you have any questions, please email me or speak to a member of the team.

Kind regards,

Ms Browne and the Year 3 Team

     

Inclusive sports Fortnight

 Dear Parents and Carers,

What a wonderful fortnight of inclusive sporting activities we have had at Prince of Wales School. I've included some photographs of the activities the children have enjoyed at the end of this blog.

We are rapidly approaching the end of term, with only one full week of learning remaining. Next week, the children will continue preparing for their Tenner Challenge stalls while also taking part in their usual learning across the curriculum.

PSHE Next Week

On Tuesday, the children will have their first PSHE lesson on how their bodies change during puberty. I have decided to teach the girls and boys separately on this occasion to help them feel comfortable asking questions openly.

During the lesson, we will revise the names of the male and female body parts and introduce the concept that mammal babies are created from an egg and a sperm. 

I will not be covering how the sperm and egg meet during this lesson. Depending on the scheme used by middle schools, this may be taught in Years 5, 6 or 7. If children ask questions beyond what is covered in the Lower Key Stage 2 curriculum, I will explain that these topics will be covered later at middle school or encourage them to discuss them with their parents or carers.

The Tenner Challenge

The children will be running their Tenner Challenge stalls straight after school on Wednesday 15 July and Thursday 16 July. Any parental support would be greatly appreciated, although we hope the children will take the lead in running their stalls.

HomeLearning

There are no spellings or home learning sheets this week. However, the children are welcome to work on the Tenner Challenge projects should they wish to. 

Upcoming Dates

Friday 10 July – Please note that Dance Day has been cancelled due to the hot weather.

Tuesday 21 July 2026 – Last day of term

Wednesday 22 July 2026 – INSET Day

Thursday 23 July 2026 – Summer holidays begin

Tuesday 1 September 2026 – INSET Day

Wednesday 2 September 2026 – INSET Day

Thursday 3 September 2026 – All children return

Year 3 Dance Day Cake Sale Cancelled

 

Dear Parents and Carers,

Unfortunately, the Year 3 cake sale planned for Dance Day has had to be cancelled.

Due to the high temperatures forecast, the format of Dance Day is likely to change, and it will no longer be appropriate for the children to sell cakes.

We apologise for any disappointment or inconvenience this may cause and thank you for your understanding.

Kind regards,

The Year 3 Team