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One of Year 3's '50 Things to Do at Swan Lane' is to take part in an orienteering challenge. The children had a great time using the map to navigate around the school grounds to find the different clues.

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Developing the children's vocabulary is a hugely important part of our English lessons at Swan Lane. Teachers select key vocabulary that they would like the children to know and use in their spoken and written work for each unit, and these target words are practised in different ways every day, so that they can become fully embedded in the children's memories. One of Year 3's favourite vocabulary activities is charades: the children act out one of the target words for their friends to guess. Can you guess the target words being used today?

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Today in Year 3 we have been celebrating all things mathematical to mark the NSPCC's Number Day. After welcoming our families into school first thing, we spent the morning completing some different maths challenges, including some practical measuring around the classrooms, which complemented our recent work in lessons.

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Year 3 welcomed a record number of parents and carers into school this morning for Maths Day. Children and their families participated in a carousel of different multiplication-themed activities in the hall. Thank you so much to all who attended - it was lovely to see so many of you! We really appreciate all your support with your children's learning.

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In our English lesson today, we explored some of the vocabulary in our class text, 'Stone Age Boy' by Satoshi Kitamura.

The children practised classifying words into groups of nouns, verbs and adjectives. Some of the words fitted into more than one category, which made for some interesting debates!

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This morning in Year 3 we have been using the Purple Mash program 2Calculate to present data in a spreadsheet.

The children were so adept at completing the challenges that we also managed a quick 5-minute times-tables practice at the end!

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This morning in Year 3 we have been having some fun role-playing some of the characters from our current text, Stone Age Boy by Satoshi Kitamura.

The children 'stepped into the shoes' of the two main characters, and tried to imagine what each would be thinking and saying when they meet for the first time.

Practising inference skills in this way helps to deepen the children's understanding of the texts they read, as well as being lots of fun!

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Year 3 were delighted to welcome parents and carers into school this morning for one of our regular reading mornings. Everyone enjoyed sharing their chosen books with their loved ones.

Thank you to all our parents and carers for your continued support with reading at home - it really is invaluable and very much appreciated by your children's teachers!

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This afternoon in Year 3, we have been finding out what makes a healthy, balanced diet. We explored a range of different foods and classified them according to whether they were fruits and vegetables, carbohydrates, protein, dairy or oils and fats. We have also been learning how many different portions of each food type we should eat each day to make sure that we eat a healthy balance of foods.

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Computing - Debugging Branching Databases

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Computing - Debugging Branching Databases

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In Year 3 this morning, we have been completing our unit of work focusing on Branching Databases. The children completed a 'Helpdesk Challenge,' spotting and fixing errors in given Branching Databases.

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This afternoon, the children in Year 3 have been finding out all about Stonehenge. This world-famous monument dates back to the Neolithic Stone Age, and the children were fascinated to find out how and why it was built and used by people living so long ago. They then faced the tricky challenge of recreating their own 'Stonehenge' using the Lego, with some brilliant results!

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As part of our WOW Day, we found out about some of the threats which Stone Age people faced in their daily lives, and learnt about some of the ways in which people adapted and used the resources around them in order to feed, clothe and shelter themselves. The children enjoyed discussing the different aspects of life in the Stone Age and sorting them into groups in a Venn Diagram.

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Year 3 had a wonderful day today learning all about survival in the Stone Age. We wrapped up warm and headed into our Woodland School area so that the children could have a go at creating shelters using the resources they could find in the natural environment. Although it was very chilly, it was lots of fun!

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Enterprise Sale - Reindeer Hot Chocolate

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Enterprise Sale - Reindeer Hot Chocolate

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Thank you to all who attended the Year 3 Enterprise Sale after school today. Our scrumptious Hot Chocolate Reindeer sold out in minutes!

Special thanks to Mrs Bishop for helping the children to make them all, and then holding the fort with our stall until Mrs Vaqueiro and Mrs Hurst could join her.

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50 Things to do at Swan Lane... Volcano!

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50 Things to do at Swan Lane... Volcano!

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One of Year 3's '50 Things to do at Swan Lane' is to make and erupt a volcano.

Everyone loved watching our model volcano exploding, thanks to the simple chemical reaction created when bicarbonate of soda meets vinegar.

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Today, we all enjoyed a trip to the Everyman Theatre in Cheltenham to watch the Pantomime. A splendid time was had by all!

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Year 3 had a very special visitor today... Father Christmas himself!

Father Christmas and his helpers greeted the children in the reading cabin. They shared a festive story and Father Christmas answered some of the children's questions, before giving the children some special reindeer food to sprinkle outside on Christmas Eve.

We thank the PTFA for inviting Father Christmas to come and visit us, and Father Christmas too for taking time out of his busy schedule to come and see the children!

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Recently, in their Art lessons, Year 3 have been finding out about The Green Man, a traditional motif often found in Art and Architecture.

For this unit, we have been learning to draw faces more accurately, and today we have been embellishing our facial drawings with collage work depicting the Green Man, using a variety of different media.

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Yesterday the whole school celebrated Christmas Jumper Day! Everyone looked very festive in their jolly Christmas jumpers.

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In Year 3 we have been busy getting ready for next week's enterprise sale. This time, the children in Year 3 have been making these adorable reindeer hot chocolate treats, and will be offering them for sale at the enterprise workshop, which will take place after school next Thursday, 18th December. We look forward to seeing you there!

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In our RE lessons in Year 3 recently, we have been exploring what Hindus believe about God. We have been finding out about the Trimurti, and making connections between the Hindu deity Vishnu, the battle between Good and Evil, and the Diwali story.

Today, we explored some of the avatars of Vishnu, including Prince Rama, and discussed the ways in which Vishnu, as Prince Rama, helped to protect the world from evil.

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This week in our computing lesson, we have been exploring and creating branching databases using Purple Mash. The children enjoyed thinking of appropriate binary questions to sort the different items into categories efficiently and effectively.

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In our English lessons, we are all enjoying studying 'The Firework Maker's Daughter' by Philip Pullman.

This week, we have been exploring the author's use of figurative language, and creating our own similes to describe both a volcano setting and the character of the Fire-Fiend, Razvani.

As you can see, the children have shared some wonderful, creative ideas for their descriptive writing!

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This morning in Year 3 we began our new Computing topic: Branching Databases!

The children practised using questions with only yes/no answers (binary questions) in order to identify different items. They tried to group items with similar qualities together e.g. colour or type, so that they could eliminate wrong answers more quickly and reach the correct choice within the fewest possible steps.

Next time, we will use the Purple Mash program to create our own Branching Databases online.

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Year 3 have been having a wonderful morning celebrating all things mathematical! The children enjoyed a variety of games and activities designed to challenge their mathematical understanding, help them practise those all-important maths skills, and master their times tables.

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This morning, in Year 3, we have been completing some vocabulary work. The children practised using the first 3 letters of a word to locate it in a dictionary.

They also practised using the context of the word to help them find out the correct meaning where a word has more than one definition.

Finally, they practised using context alone to try and work out the meaning of a word.

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This morning in Year 3 we have been programming algorithms using the 'repeat' command. This saved us lots of time and made our algorithms very efficient!

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Recently in Year 3, we have been finding out about different aspects of the Hindu Traditions. In our last lesson, we learnt that, although Hindus believe in one God, Brahman, the many different aspects of Brahman are represented by lots of different deities. We were fascinated to find out about some of them!

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Every year, the children at Swan Lane make special Christmas decorations to be used on our school tree at the local church. This year's theme is 'Father Christmas.' Year 3 enjoyed making these jolly baubles as their contribution this morning - we can't wait to see the finished tree!

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This afternoon Year 3 took part in a carousel of different activities exploring the qualities of various different rocks. We tested our different igneous, sedimentary and metamorphic rock samples for density, permeability and durability. We also used a branching database to identify some mystery rocks, and spent some time researching the different rocks using our class topic books.

Now we have gathered our data, we will be able to analyse and present our findings.

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This week in Year 3 we started our new topic in Music: Latin Dance! We had a great time listening to some different examples of Latin American music, and even had a go at learning some Salsa dancing! It was great fun!

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In computing, we have been refining our route planning skills even further, using 45 and 90 degree turns to program a turtle to travel around our maps, and debugging our programs independently.

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On Friday we also took part in a History Themed Day, organised by Mrs Edwards. Year 3 were challenged to find out all about the life and achievements of the American civil rights campaigner, Rosa Parks. We really enjoyed spending the day exploring the different resources and finding out more about this fascinating lady!

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On Friday, we celebrated Children in Need day. Everyone came to school in non-uniform, and the Pupil Leadership Team organised a number of challenges for us to complete throughout the day!

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In our maths lessons recently, we have been exploring the relationship between multiplication and division, and have been practising sharing and grouping using concrete resources in order to support our understanding of this brand new topic.

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This morning in our computing lesson we have been creating algorithms using the 2Do program on Purple Mash. The children had to make their own algorithms and then spot and debug errors in their programming.

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We finished off our Hindu workshop with a little bhangra dancing this afternoon. The children (and adults...) had a great time learning some new dance moves!

We have had a wonderful day learning all about different aspects of the Hindu Traditions today - many of the children described it as 'THE BEST DAY EVER!'

We would like to thank all the staff who helped to make the day so special for the children - especially Mrs Majmudar, for sharing her faith and traditions with us, the kitchen staff for providing us with all the scrumptious treats, and Mrs Bishop, who worked tirelessly behind the scenes to keep things running smoothly for us. It was very much appreciated by us all!

Mrs Vaqueiro and Mrs Hurst

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Fireworks are a very important part of Diwali celebrations all over the world. We enjoyed using oil pastels to create some colourful, firework-inspired artwork!

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Here are some more of the dazzling diva lamps made and decorated by the children. Aren't they spectacular?!

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We had a wonderful time creating and decorating some beautiful diva lamps, which the children should have brought home with them this afternoon! These brightly coloured, sparkly lamps are traditionally used at Diwali, to commemorate the safe return of Rama and Sita to their kingdom after many years in exile.

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During her talk with the children, Mrs Majmudar told us all about the delicious treats and she and her family and friends share at Diwali. We were all left feeling rather hungry, so we were particularly excited to try some different Indian foods ourselves.

Everyone displayed beautiful manners and there were lots of requests for seconds - especially when the poppadoms were served!

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We were extremely privileged this morning to have a visit from Mrs Majmudar, who came to tell us all about her Hindu faith, and to share with us some of the traditions and stories associated with the Hindu festival of Diwali, which recently took place.

The children behaved impeccably and asked some wonderfully insightful questions about the Hindu Traditions. We thank Mrs Majmudar for giving up her time for us this morning, and sharing her knowledge and experience with us!

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Wow! What a wonderful, colourful day we have had in Year 3! We have been finding out about some aspects of the Hindu faith today, and have plenty of pictures to share. Here are our delightfully kaleidoscopic children ready to celebrate with us...

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This morning in Year 3 we have been continuing our work on Route Planners in computing. The children have been practising writing algorithms to move a turtle around a treasure map. They then tested their algorithms using the 2Do Purple Mash program, making any necessary corrections.

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This afternoon, we had another Spanish lesson with Mrs Vaqueiro. Everyone learnt how to greet other people and introduce themselves. We had a great time playing different vocabulary games.

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Avid readers of the Year 3 Padlet will know how much Mrs Vaqueiro and Mrs Hurst love to take the learning outside in the sunshine, and today was no exception! The children were challenged to complete a Scavenger Hunt to find the Spanish words for all the different colours. It was lots of fun!

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Today, Year 3 have been exploring Spanish language and culture as part of our whole school celebration day. Our classrooms were a riot of red and yellow in homage to the Spanish flag.

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Science - Life Below Water (Global Sustainable Development Goal 14)

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Science - Life Below Water (Global Sustainable Development Goal 14)

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This afternoon, we have been exploring Global Sustainable Development Goal 14, linking to both our recent study of the plant world, as well as our focus Guided Reading text, 'The Sea Book.'

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In our computing lessons this week, we have been creating algorithms to help a turtle navigate around a maze, using the 2Do program on Purple Mash.

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In our Art lesson this week, we completed observational sketches inspired by Henri Rousseau's rainforest paintings. We used different pencil techniques to complete a sketch of a toucan. Don't they look life-like?

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In our RE lesson this week, we have been finding out all about The Ten Commandments. We explored the different rules and had a class discussion about which one we thought was the most important, before trying to think of an eleventh commandment of our own.

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History - Ancient Egyptian Mummification

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History - Ancient Egyptian Mummification

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This week in our history lessons, we have been finding out all about the Ancient Egyptian practice of mummification.

We had a wonderful time acting out all the grisly steps of the mummification process!

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English - Organisational Features of a Text

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English - Organisational Features of a Text

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In our English lessons, we are currently working towards writing a non-chronological report all about life in Ancient Egypt.

Today, we have been exploring the way in which authors organise their writing so as to make it accessible for the reader. We practised organising information into different categories, and then devised some inspiring subheadings to use in our own writing.

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In science this week, we designed an experiment to prove that water is transported through plants from the roots to the leaves. The children had to choose from a range of resources to try to devise a good way of proving their hypotheses that plants transport water up from the roots to the leaves. They showed excellent collaborative and scientific thinking skills as they designed their experiments, using blue food dye to demonstrate the movement of water through stalks of celery. The results were impressive (and also proved the hypothesis!) - well done Year 3!

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In our reading lessons recently, we have been focusing on the key Year 3 skill of summarising text. The children have been practising reading a page or two of their book - The Sea Book - and trying to explain what they have read in a couple of short sentences. This is quite a tricky skill to master, but they have been giving it a very good try!

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English - Retrieving and Recording Information

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English - Retrieving and Recording Information

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This morning, Year 3 began their new English topic. This time, the children will be working towards writing a non-chronological report all about the Ancient Egyptians. This will also complement their learning in history. Today, the children had to work together to research the answers to some fiendishly tricky questions about different aspects of life in Ancient Egypt, using different printed resources. The information that they found will be used to help them write their non-chronological reports at the end of the unit.

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This morning in their computing lesson, Year 3 have been revisiting e-safety. The children devised a set of rules for using email safely, and shared these, via email, with their teachers and friends.

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Mrs Hurst simply couldn't resist taking this picture of two 3HT children with a real love of reading! Whilst in the queue, waiting to be picked up at the end of the school day, these boys were desperate to spend a just a few more minutes with their library books. We are so lucky to have such a wonderful range of library books to choose from - and the children really do love to read them!

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Today in Year 3 we have learnt a new method for solving addition problems: the column method. We set out the numbers neatly in place value columns, which makes it much easier to add them together. Everyone grasped the new method very quickly - well done Year 3!

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This morning, in our English lesson, we have been learning how to use a thesaurus to find more interesting synonyms for commonly used words.

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This afternoon, we have been finding out about the many different and ingenious ways that plants disperse their seeds. It was fascinating!

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English - Apostrophes for Contraction Game

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English - Apostrophes for Contraction Game

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Today we have been finding out how to use apostrophes for contraction. We enjoyed playing a game together, matching our contracted words and phrases to their full-length counterparts.

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In our reading lesson this morning, the children practised their summarising skills again, by playing a game of 'Just a Minute' with their Talk Partners. Each child had to try to speak about one of the animals in The Sea Book for 60 seconds, without hesitating or repeating any words! Their partner had to listen carefully to spot any mistakes. It is trickier than it sounds!

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This week, the children in Year 3 have been enjoying some time in the library. Each child can borrow a book to read in school, in addition to their standard reading book. We have a wonderful variety of books, and the children always look forward to choosing new ones!

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In our Reading lesson today, we introduced the key Year 3 skill of summarising text. The children selected key words and phrases from the given text and then had to summarise the ideas from the text in their own words. It is quite a tricky skill to master, but everyone had a good go!

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In their computing lesson today, Year 3 have been finding out how to send emails with attachments using the 2Email program on Purple Mash.

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In our Art lessons recently in Year 3, we have been exploring the Colour Wheel. The children have been finding out about primary, secondary and tertiary colours, and experimenting with blending different colour combinations to create warm and cold colours.

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This morning in our English lesson, we have been finding out about adverbs of time. In groups, we practised matching adverbial words and phrases to different sentence stems in order to sequence the story of 'Meerkat Mail' correctly. Then we had a go at writing our own sentences using fronted adverbial words and phrases.

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In order to consolidate their understanding of our target vocabulary, the children enjoy a variety of games and activities which give them the opportunity to practise using the different words. This morning, we have been playing charades: the children chose a target word to act out for the class, who then had to try and guess which one it was. Can you guess which words they are acting out?

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In our Computing lesson today, we learnt how to write and respond to an email using the 2Email program on Purple Mash.

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For our English lesson today, we continued work on our focus text, 'Meerkat Mail.' The children practised writing Expanded Noun Phrases to describe each of the places that Sunny visited. Each group had a different mystery location to describe. If they were able to describe it well enough using the Expanded Noun Phrases, then their classmates would be able to identify the location. They did brilliantly, and there was lots of wonderful vocabulary being shared.

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As part of each English unit, the children are expected to learn six target vocabulary words linked to the class text. The children are encouraged to use the words orally as well as in their writing. This morning, we practised using one of our target words - drenched - correctly in a sentence.

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In Art this afternoon, we began our new unit by practising some different pencil techniques. These will come in handy when we have a go at some observational drawing, as we will be able to use different techniques to indicate light and shade in our work.

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In our maths lessons today, we used the Base Ten to support our understanding of flexible partitioning.

We tried to find different ways to partition three digit numbers, recording our answers in our books using pictorial representations and part/whole models.

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We have been developing our detective skills in English lessons this week, by looking more closely at the postcards that feature in our focus text, 'Meerkat Mail.'

We spent some time working in groups to spot the different clues in each card that would help to understand more about how the main character, Sunny, is feeling at each stage of the story.

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This morning, we enjoyed some time exploring the reading corners in our classrooms. The children really enjoyed sharing the books they had chosen with their friends.

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In our English lesson today, we have been creating detailed, annotated story maps to support our writing for Meerkat Mail. This helps the children to sequence the events of the story accurately and record any useful vocabulary that they might wish to use in their own, independent writing.

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In our science lessons this half term, Year 3 will be learning all about Plants. This afternoon, we have been exploring flowering plants.

The children learnt the names and functions of each part of a flowering plant, and then had the opportunity to dissect a real flower in order to observe and identify its component parts. It was sometimes quite tricky to match the real parts to the labelled diagram, but everyone persevered!

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We had a very exciting start to our week this morning, as we began to explore our new class text, The Sea Book by Charlotte Milner.

We have changed the way in which we teach guided reading this year, so that we are now following a whole-class approach to the teaching of reading, using the Pathways to Read programme. We have chosen some really beautiful and exciting books to share with the children, and we have really been looking forward to getting started!

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To round off our wonderful WOW day, we headed outside into the sunshine to play a code-breaking game. The children had to decipher a mysterious hieroglyphic message using the symbols hidden around the playground.

We have all had a brilliant day, and everyone is now looking forward to digging deeper into Ancient Egyptian history as we find out more about life long ago on the banks of the Nile.

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Art and Craft - Ancient Egyptian Jewellery

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Art and Craft - Ancient Egyptian Jewellery

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Once we had finished exploring the tomb and its artefacts, the children had fun making some Ancient Egyptian jewellery using lots of gold paint and glitzy sequins!

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We looked at some original photographs of Howard Carter discovering the tomb of Tutankhamun. The children enjoyed putting themselves into the shoes of the archaeologists who discovered the lost treasure, and tried to imagine what the team were thinking and saying as they made their exciting discoveries.

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After exploring the tomb, the children then had to piece together the evidence that they had found. They really loved finding all the different parts of the puzzle and putting them together.

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Year 3 had a great time exploring the mysterious tomb and thinking about some of the interesting artefacts that were found in the antechamber. They took it in turns to crawl into the tomb, and then made field sketches and notes about the artefacts they saw there.

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We had a wonderful day celebrating all things Ancient Egyptian! We followed in the footsteps of Howard Carter and learnt all about the discovery of the lost tomb of Tutankhamun...

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We are really looking forward to our Ancient Egypt-themed WOW day tomorrow, Friday 5th September!

Year 3 children can come to school in non-uniform, but please remember to send them in with coats and shoes that are suitable for outdoor play, as we will be spending some of the day outside. The children will also be outside as usual for playtimes.

Many thanks.

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Today, Year 3 children will bring home a letter about spellings. We use Spelling Shed in school to support the teaching of spellings. Where parental permission has been given, children will also be able to access their own online Spelling Shed accounts and play spelling games at home, to support their learning in school and practise those all-important spellings.

Teachers will set specific weekly tasks for the children to complete, starting from Monday 8th September. If children would like to log in at home and play some of the games in the meantime, please make sure they choose Stage 3 games as these will be suitable for them.

We also have access to Grammar Shed as part of our Spelling Shed package. Children are welcome to explore these online games as well, again at Stage 3, as they will support their learning in school.

Many thanks.

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In Year 3 this morning, we have been practising finding Place Value in two digit numbers. The children have been using practical resources such as Base Ten and Place Value Counters in order to refresh their their memories of tens and ones. Mrs Vaqueiro and Mrs Hurst were really impressed with their problem-solving skills!

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Mrs Hurst and Mrs Vaqueiro were delighted to welcome the children into Year 3 this morning. We have all had a wonderful day getting to know one another!

We will share regular updates here about all the exciting things that we are doing in class, so please do check back to find out all about the children's learning in Year 3.