Year 3

Welcome to Year 3
St Dominic and St Catherine of Sienna are our Class Saints

Mrs Khan, Mrs Nixon-Ward and Mrs Blandford re the Year 3 Class Teachers.

Mrs Hackney and Mrs Furnival are the Learning Support Assistants working with Year 3.

Today, the children in St Dominic led our Candlemas worship to celebrate the Feast of the Presentation of the Lord. We reflected on Jesus as the light of the world and thought about how we can, too, be the light of all nations. We brought in candles from home to be blessed. 

In our Geography unit this learning block, we have been learning all about the rainforest. We have looked in depth at the effects of deforestation and what impact this is having on God's Earth. In light of our learning, we decided to put our faith into action and demonstrate the Catholic Social Teaching principle of 'stewardship'. We have planted daffodil bulbs on our school grounds to show love and care to our school environment and respect for God's creation.

Today, Year 3 completed their Catholic Life Pledge, which linked to the Catholic Social Teaching principle of Human Dignity. This pledge was chosen to promote equality and celebrate diversity. The children in Year 3 came to school wearing different colours to represent differences in us all and created placards to advocate for change. In our morning assembly, the children explained their pledge to the whole school and followed this up at the end of the day by visiting every classroom in the school to give them the important message of - BE KIND, LOVE EVERYONE AND RESPECT OUR DIFFERENCES. Throughout the day, we discussed Martin Luther King's famous 'I have a dream' speech and thought about the importance of judging people not by their skin colour, but by the content of their character. The children then wrote their own poems to express their own views and beliefs on equality and inclusion for all.

On Friday, Year 3 were looking at the Neolithic period of the Stone Age and how they started to erect monuments. They re-created their own Neolithic structure - Stonehenge, using Bourbon biscuits.

Thank you to Olivia and Hannah in St Dominic who were the first two children to take home our new prayer bag over the past two weekends. They have shared with us their family worship and explained to us the four part structure, which they planned themselves.

In RE, the children in Year 3 have been learning all about the sacrament of Baptism. We each had specific roles and reenacted a Catholic Baptism. We thought about and identified the symbols of Baptism and what they mean.

Year 3 have had lots of fun classifying rocks in our science lesson. In pairs, we chose our own categories in which to sort the rocks and chose how to represent this.

Year 3 have really enjoyed European Day of Languages. We have been finding out all about Italy. We created our own fact files and flags, created our own piece of artwork inspired by Leonardo Da Vinci’s Mona Lisa painting and even learned how to say greetings in Italian!

After weeks going hungry in your stone house, you’re desperate to join your dad and sister, Etta, out on the hunt. But the hunt party is attacked by wolves, and in the confusion you and Etta get lost and discover a house made of wood. What other new technologies do these people possess, and how will they lead you back to your dad?

Today, Year 3 thoroughly enjoyed their Now Press Play experience, which immersed them into their history topic of 'Prehistoric Britain.'

In science, the children in Year 3 had the ultimate 'rocks' experience using Now Press Play. They put on their pink headphones and were given the following mission:

When the Firebreathers burn down the Emperor's wooden palace again, you are sent on a special mission to planet Earth to collect some good rock samples. But will you find enough samples in time? And will the Firebreathers let you keep them? All the children had an amazing experience.

In RE, Year 3 have enjoyed learning about the 7 Sacraments. We worked in small groups and acted out the sacraments thinking carefully about the signs and symbols associated with them.

In Year 3, we have enjoyed learning about place value through the use of practical equipment.

Today, we celebrated Mary's birthday and reflected on her life during prayer and liturgy.

The children have really enjoyed learning about how plants grow, how new seeds are formed and how those seeds are dispersed. We are very lucky to have the opportunity to grow our own food producing plants in school. The children learn how to care for the plants to gain the best crop and they are always delighted to find spiky cucumbers and  lovely juicy tomatoes in our poly tunnel.

What an event! We all had a great time at our Sports Day. The weather was just right and all the children enjoyed competing in their activities. The tug-of-war was a firm favourite with children and adults alike. I think we may have found some of the GB athletes of the future! 

Year 3 enjoyed learning how to dance to Jai Ho with the expertise from Miss Heath. Scan the QR code to see the children and their spectacular moves. 

For our Geography topic 'India' we took part in an Indian themed day. We made tile printings in the Paisley design. Afterwards, we danced to Jai Ho. Then in the afternoon we enjoyed a selection of Indian snacks.

The children had a fun time making 'brochette de fruits' (fruit kebabs) they said the tasted amazing!

Year 3 Reminders

All children need to be provided with a water bottle for school. We need to ensure that our children are fully hydrated!

How many blue experiences can you tick off?