Welcome to the Summer Term.  Hope you all had a great Easter break. It’s hard to believe how fast the school year has gone already!

In Maths, we have been very busy with our unit on ‘Fractions’. We have been working very hard on comparing and ordering non-unit fractions, using factions and scales and looking at fractions on a number line.

In English, we continued on with the very popular unit on the BFG. We challenged bully stereotypes and we also did some very interesting writing where we created our own bullies that could have been in one of Dahl’s books. Dahl would have been very pleased with their writing.

In Geography, we started our exciting topic of Volcanoes and learned about some of the famous ones and located them on an atlas.

The children were back in the library yesterday so they have all taken out a library book to read.

Year 3 finished their History topic of Ancient Egypt by visiting the brilliant British Museum for a presentation on Egyptian mummies.  We also visited the Egyptian galleries and everybody’s favourite mummy – Ginger – a natural mummified body preserved not by human embalming but by hot sand. He is an impressive 5000 years old and doesn’t look too bad for his age.  We enjoyed looking at the mummified animals especially the cats.  We also learned  more about mummies in the presentation from a very knowledgeable Kay. What a great way to start the Summer term!

Huge thank you to all the parents for coming on the trip with us.

On Friday, we had a Eid themed assembly and Jessie treated us to some seasoned chicken to celebrate this important festival for Muslims.

The homework can be found below. There is no comprehension this week just spellings and Mathletics.

Mr Gane has asked that all parents/carers take the time to read the link below.

Nine-year-olds added to malicious WhatsApp groups

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cy0l4z8n1p9o

Have a lovely weekend,

Mrs Jeffrey

A short blog this week as it’s the Easter Holidays – it’s been a whirlwind of a week finishing off units, completing quizzes and assessments but we finally did it.  The results of these tests will help us in identifying pupils’ strengths, as well as areas of improvement that we can work upon during the summer term.

The annual Easter Bonnet Parade was very colourful affair with lovely creations – clearly everybody had made a great effort in creating their bonnets – the judges must have had a particularly tricky time choosing.

On Wednesday, the children enjoyed a music workshop given by the Royal Albert Hall.  The children chose their own groups and were given an instrument.  Under the leadership of Kevin, they had fun shaking, striking and hitting their instruments along to his percussion.  Every single child was engaged and they even managed to perform for 20 minutes to a delighted Year 1.  Thank you to Miss Rachel for organising.

There is no homework for your child over the Easter holidays but if you really want to do some maths work with your children, I would recommend practising times tables (up to x12), their related division inverse operations and telling the time.

The Summer term promises to be another fun filled time.  We have trips planned to The British Museum, the Science Museum, Ealing Gurdwara and Gunnersbury Park Museum.   We will also be visiting Bute House to do some DT and making things for the middle garden.  They have some delightful ideas which I’m excited to tell the children about.

I hear that some of you have made plans to travel over Easter, some of you are staying closer to home.  Whatever you do – have a wonderful Easter break and enjoy those chocolate eggs.

Mrs Jeffrey

I feel that we’re heading towards the end of a term given what a very busy week we’ve had!

Thank you for coming to see the children’s books this week and making time to meet for parents evening.  It was a good opportunity to celebrate their progress since November.

In Maths this week, we started our unit on fractions where we were busy learning about unit fractions (where the numerator is always one) and comparing and ordering unit fractions. Again, I can’t emphasise this enough, times table knowledge is so important for this topic so keep practising (don’t forget to practise the inverse as well).

In English, we have been taken to Giant Land and discovered that our BFG is the best of all the giants.  The children did their own dream jars and we will look at stereotypes of bullies next week. Our GPS focus this week was on using the suffix ‘ly’.

In Science, we recapped on our learning on Plants from across the unit and completed our end of unit test.

In RHE this week, were talking about how to improve our school environment which gave me a chance to go over the 7 Rs that we use as our school green theme.  7Rs?  Ask your child to see how many they remember.

In RE, Tolu taught us about Peter’s denial of Jesus.

In Computing, we added records to our database of favourite foods.  Next week, we will retrieve information from the database.

In History, we found out about gods and goddesses of Ancient Egypt.  In Art, we used the paper we made last week to create our scrolls – they look great and the children have taken them home.

Yesterday, we wore odd socks to support World Down Syndrome Day. We started the day with a special assembly with Mr Schumm where we celebrated the children in our school who have Down’s syndrome. In class we watched a very informative video which explained the syndrome using illustrations. We also watched a lovely music video made by the families and children with Down syndrome using Makaton. We then created our own odd socks in support of the day.

This week we also celebrated Neurodiversity Week. We watched our favourite video that tells us all about autism. We watched a video with some primary school children who told us all about autism, ADHD and dyslexia. We also read through a PowerPoint which helped us to understand the different thinking styles that affect how people communicate with the world around them.

Amazing Things Happen (Autism Video)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ezv85LMFx2E

What is Down syndrome?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CCCUIsct8Bw

The homework can be found below. Don’t forget to complete your Mathletics too!

Some things to remember for next week…

• The Easter Bonnet parade on Tuesday
• The Easter Church Service is on Thursday morning
• Mr Schumm’s Easter raffle will be on next week too. Tickets for the raffle can be purchased on ParentMail.
• School breaks up next Thursday 28^th March

What a week!

Enjoy the weekend,

Mrs Jeffrey

Hello grown-ups,

In Maths, we were busy learning about, measuring and calculating perimeter. We finished our unit on ‘Length and Perimeter with a test. Next week, we will be moving on to our unit on ‘Fractions’ so it’s vital that they know and keep practising their times tables.

In English, we have been hooked on our new class reader The BFG.  Although many of the children are familiar with the text or the film, they have been avid listeners to the first few chapters.  It’s been lovely to see their little faces light up when they are listening to the wonderful, rich vocabulary crafted so brilliantly by Roald Dahl.

In Science, we enjoyed a BBC Live Lesson for British Science Week. The children had to use their scientific knowledge to help Mwaksy Mudenda and Zoologist Yussef Rafik solve a series of invertebrate-themed tasks. There was help from Norfolk Bug Parc expert Dr. Jess French, Dr. Andy Chandler-Grevatt from Brighton University. The children really enjoyed the interactive lesson. They also did a short ‘brain’ activity when they had to draw evenly spaced dots on the perimeter of the brain and join up the dots. Hopefully they learned that despite everyone following the same rules, each drawing was unique – just like our brains!

In History this week, we were busy finding out who the pharaohs were and why they were important.

In RHE, we looked at all the different ways that we can look after our school environment.

In RE, we looked at the role of Judas in the Easter Story and how he is depicted in pictures of The Last Supper.  We also sequenced the Easter story.

In Computing, we continued our learning on databases.

Today, we enjoyed drama with Mark understanding how ‘acting is reacting’ or possibly ‘reacting is acting’…

We finished off the week by making paper which will dry over the weekend, ready for us to use next week.

The spelling homework is below, reading comprehension based on The BFG this week – it’s a change from the usual text but the children really love it so even if you have to read it for them – give it a try. Don’t forget to do your Mathletics.

Looking forward to seeing you all for Parents’ Evening next week!

Have a great St Patricks weekend!

Mrs Jeffrey

This week has been ‘one of those weeks’!

In Maths we have been learning about length and equivalent lengths – mm/cm and cm/m.  Understanding the number system and multiplying & dividing by 10 and 100 is fundamental to their learning.

In English, we are still enjoying our Poetry unit.  This week we read Roger Gough’s The Sound Collector and thought about our own ideas.  We remembered our work based on Grace Nichols’ Morning.

On Thursday, there were hardly any children in the class – instead I had the slightly unnerving task of teaching witches, wizards, superheroes, animals and other wonderful book characters including Weirdo! We enjoyed a dedicated reading session and chose a book from the visiting bookshop.  We also designed some bunting ready to decorate our classroom.

In Computing, our lesson was all about databases – we looked at a weather database and completed the worksheet.  Next week, we will create our own class database.

In History, we continue our topic of Ancient Egypt and learned about how they organised their society.  It was interesting to hear the children’s views and opinions about the roles people had and how they would rank them nowadays!  In Art, we looked at more examples of Ancient Egyptian paintings and drawings and worked with pastels to draw some Egyptian objects.

In RHE, we looked at the money and where it comes from, why we need it and how we can save for something special or think about whether we can upcycle or recycle to be kinder on our wallet and the environment.

In RE, we were lucky to have Tolu teach us about Jesus’ teachings and British values.  We came up with our own commandments and discussed what we do in school that reflect British values.  We also discussed that even if we didn’t consider ourselves British or follow the Christian faith – that many of the values and commandments are still valid.

On Friday, we watched a short video celebrating International Women’s Day. We also had a drama session on the theme of bullying.

Well done to all of those who entered the Spring Bulb Competition.  All entrants were  acknowledged and received a certificate for their efforts!

The spelling homework is below.  Please note spelling words on the left and HANDWRITING GUIDE on the right!  The GUIDE should be self explanatory – these are not the words for spelling practise this week.  Don’t forget to do your Mathletics.

A message from Ms Allen

Royal Academy Young Artists Competition

There is still just under a month left to enter your artwork into the Royal Academy Young Artists Competition. The artwork can be in any medium you’d like: painting, drawing, sculpture or even performance art!

The deadline for entries is 5pm March 27th. Please visit: https://youngartists.royalacademy.org.uk/ to find out more and enter your child’s artwork.

If you have any questions about the competition please email Mrs Allen: e.allen@ststephensce.lbhf.sch.uk

Have a great weekend and keep tapping those ‘Beat the Street’ cards.

Mrs Jeffrey

Happy St David’s Day!

I naively thought after the buzz and excitement of last week, this week would be decidedly calmer…no chance….

In Maths we finished our unit on Multiplication and Division this week. Our last few lessons were on dividing a two digit number by a one digit number with exchanges and remainders. The children completed their end of unit test with good marks all round!

In English, we are really enjoying our Poetry unit.  We started with Valerie Bloom’s River poem and looked at language features such as similes, metaphors and personification. Then we wrote a kenning about ourselves.  Then we watched a charming short Hungarian animation based on the poem Stream School which we loved.  We discussed the language and the use of personification and the story behind the story.  We wrote our own version of Stream School.

In Computing, our lesson was all about fact, fiction and opinion.

In History, we started our topic of Ancient Egypt and ordered historical events in chronological order.  In Art, we looked at examples of Ancient Egyptian paintings and drawings and stained pages in our sketch books before drawing some Egyptian objects.

In RHE, we looked at all the people around us to can help us and keep us safe. We discussed the roles and responsibilities.

In RE, we were lucky to have Tolu teach us about love.  He started the lesson with the question, “Should love change us?”  Then we learnt about what Jesus taught the people to do.  This segued, completely unplanned, into their drama lesson about love and hate.  The children had a lively session role playing in situations where there was an element of unfairness.  I enjoyed watching them work together and perform.

Almost spontaneously, as the sun had chased away the morning rain, Christos and I took the children out to collect points for the Beat the Street challenge.  It was fun and one of the children even claimed that it was the best field trip ever…

Don’t forget next Thursday is World Book Day and we will have our character parade at 9 am in the hall. The children need to be in school on time to ensure they don’t miss our class parade. The children are to come to school dressed in their costumes, ready to go. Mrs Pereira has sent out a ParentMail with loads of information about the day, please check it out!

Also check your ParentMail for information about the Spring Bulb competition.

The spelling and comprehension can be found below. Don’t forget to do your Mathletics.

A message from Ms Allen

Royal Academy Young Artists Competition

There is still just under a month left to enter your artwork into the Royal Academy Young Artists Competition. The artwork can be in any medium you’d like: painting, drawing, sculpture or even performance art!

The deadline for entries is 5pm March 27th. Please visit: https://youngartists.royalacademy.org.uk/ to find out more.

Have a great weekend and remember to keep tapping those cards…

Mrs Jeffrey

Lots of exclamation marks this week!

In English this week, we continued our unit on Information texts. We researched and planned our texts about animals and wrote our texts using clear sections, headings and sub headings and included a ‘Did you know?’ or ‘Interesting Facts’ section.

In Maths, we spent the week looking at short divisions with an exchange and using flexible partitioning. Next week we will be moving on to short divisions with remainders.

In RE, we completed our unit on ‘The Bible’ and completed our end of unit assessment. We will be looking at the Commandments and Easter story this term.

In Geography, we completed the end of topic assessment and were able to name lots of coastal resorts where they had been on holiday or where they may like to go.

In RHE, we had an in class lesson with Sarah and Harold from the Life Bus to teach us about Acceptance.  We re-acquainted ourselves with Harold the Giraffe before Sarah introduced the session.  She explained about the different parts of the brain and how each part affects our emotions and behaviour.  Then we discussed different scenarios and how we would deal with them.  Then we passed around a bag with cards.  When the music stopped playing, one of us would pick out a S, C, A, R or F card and say something about SAFETY, CARE, ACHIEVEMENT, RESISILENCE or FRIENDSHIP.  After that, we completed the statement on the board sharing our goals.  We finished the session by singing Harold’s Acceptance Rap.

Today the school was awash in red and gold as we enjoyed a special assembly for Lunar New Year, where we firstly got to watch very upbeat ‘umbrella’ dance.  Then we had the famous ‘Dragon Dance’ headed up by Mr Schumm and his band of merry children. Then we were spellbound and truly captivated by the ‘fan & ribbon’ dance.  We trilled when we saw the wonderful coloured ribbons making beautiful shapes.  We enjoyed a Asian themed lunch with rice & noodles, dumplings, prawn crackers and fortune cookies.  This afternoon we enjoyed a Lunar New Year workshop which was also filled with coloured bands! We also filled our day with lots of Lunar New Year activities!

This half term we are lucky enough to have our Drama with Mark sessions. Mark will be covering a variety of current topics with the children and judging by the noise levels from today’s session, the children had lots of fun!

The spellings homework can be found below. Don’t forget to do your Mathletics too!

We made it – officially half way through the academic year.  I’d like to start by saying, that despite the bumpy start to Year 3, the children have really made progress and I (and other teachers) have noticed a positive change.  They are settling down in the morning calmly and even ‘reading for pleasure’.  It’s still a really chatty class but they respond much quicker to instructions.  I am looking forward to teaching them for the rest of the year.  We’ve had a class assembly and began celebrating Lunar New Year.  Next term, we have a trip planned to the British Museum to see the Egyptian mummies and of course, Easter activities.

It’s been another busy week.  This week, we have been looking at Children’s Mental Health Awareness with Miss Fulford doing some activities with the class.  We also enjoyed learning some Makaton, trying out some of the signs and watching We’re Going on a Bear Hunt and The Very Hungry Caterpillar in Makaton.  We also had a visit from Marlyne who told us more about her job in finance at Mondelez.

In English, we have completed some reading comprehension on animals.  The children have planned some ideas based on themselves in preparation for an information text which we’ll do after half term.

In Maths, we are still struggling with multiplication and division work in my supported group.  If you really want to support their number skills, please encourage them to practise their times tables and their corresponding division facts.  This is the foundation they need for many of the maths work!

Year 2 gave a marvellous performance on Chinese New Year and we followed the theme with some cooking.  It is always hectic but the children had a wonderful time peeling, grating, chopping, mixing, stirring, basting, filling, sticking, rolling and finally tasting their vegetable spring rolls.  The rolls all looked unique but were made with love and joy and one cannot ask for more than that!

Unfortunately the library system was still down today so the children were unable to change their books.

No official homework this week.  As I mentioned before, I have been looking at the spelling results to make sure your child is getting the appropriate level of challenge – it’s a good chance to check their spellings over the half term if I have emailed you.  I will also be checking their Mathletics so take this opportunity to catch up with any incomplete tasks.

I know some of you have plans to travel over the half term, whether you’re home or away, have a lovely break!

Gung Hei Fay Choy!  Happy Lunar New Year!

And Happy Valentine’s Day!

Mrs Jeffrey

In Maths, we were busy multiplying two digit numbers by one digit numbers without exchange and with exchange. In my supported group, we have really struggled to secure the partitioning method – next week we’ll try another method.  In the independent group, they have looked at the link between multiplication and division and solved lots of related word problems. Remember to continue to practise the times tables with your children – this is imperative for so many areas of the curriculum.

In English, we were busy learning about coordinating and subordinating conjunctions and using them to write our own sentences – you’ll find they will need to practise this in the spellings homework this week.  We started to look at Information Texts and worked with partners on elephants.

In Computing, we have had fun coding to show a flashing heart and to create a name tag.  Then we enjoyed some free time coding using Beaver Achiever and One Hour of Code.  We also created an online safety poster.  Thanks to Mr Faith for giving an assembly on Coding Day and sourcing the activities.

In RHE, we looked at how to reduce danger/risk in some situations.

The library system was back up and running this week so the children were able to check out new library books.

We also enjoyed cricket and dance sessions this week too!

The homework and comprehension for this week can be found below.  I’ll be reviewing the spelling tests results so the children have the right level of difficulty for their spellings.  Some of you need more practise than others – please make sure you put in the work!

February half term marks the halfway point in the academic year – we’re nearly there!

Coming into class in the morning is noticeably quieter and calmer.  They now really understand the phrase ‘reading for pleasure’.  They respond really quickly to the tambourine as well!

Let’s look forward to next week with a focus on Children’s Mental Health Week and the theme this year is ‘My Voice Matters’. The children are encouraged to wear their favourite scarf on Friday. Please check your ParentMail for an email from Miss Bill with more information.  We’ll also be doing Lunar New Year activities.

Enjoy the weekend,

Mrs Jeffrey

What a circus – oh what a show!  The audience were ‘speechless’, one said it was ‘legendary’ and Mr Gane used ‘Fabadabadoo!”.  They saved the best for last performance and I hope you got a chance to see them at their best.  Needless to say, they all worked extremely hard to learn their parts, the lyrics and dances – thanks to Miss Rachel and Miss Whiting for their help.  Thanks also go to Miss Natalie, Christos for their support in production and props.  It would be remiss not to thank Claire and Tommy for their fantastic props as well.  Thank you for helping the children learn their parts, sending in their costumes and sending them in punctually, also a final thank you for your kind words of appreciation.

During Maths, we completed our end of unit test on Multiplication and Division Block A and we started our new unit on Multiplication and Division Block B. My supported group were finding multiplying two digit numbers by one digit numbers a challenge – please do make sure they spend some time on this for homework this week.

In English we planned, wrote and edited our teacher creature stories based on The Monster Crisp Guzzler.  I’m looking forward to reading the rest of the stories which promise to be exciting stories of danger and rescue. They have characters named Mr Libby Chippy and Jonas who might be triggered by blackcurrants plums or smart clothes and turn into a werewolf, cheetah or dragon.  My goodness – I hope I don’t have bad dreams tonight!

We had the wisdom and privilege of Tolu in this week’s RE lesson.  He gave us a crash course on the history of the spread of Christianity using a timeline and the world map and then taught us about the Bible being a map for Christians and choosing a favourite Bible verse.  I shared my favourite with the class (1 Corinthians 13:4-8 about the greatest gift) and Christos shared his opinion about Colossians – it was quite a joyous lesson!

Next Friday, the class have a cricket training session with Middlesex Cricket Club – please send the children in their PE kits.

Homework this week is spellings and Mathletics.

The children all deserve a good rest this weekend!

Have a lovely weekend!

Mrs Jeffrey

After all the assembly practice we’ve had this week, I have new found respect for the likes of Steven Spielberg!  Miss Natalie and Christos have volunteered their services as Stage Manager and Set Design.  The children have actually been brilliant as learning their lines.  They just need to remember to project their voices!  They are excited at their upcoming performance and we look forward to seeing you there. Please remember to send in clothes and costumes next week.

During our Maths lessons, we continued to practise our 3 and 4 times tables to work on a range of related number sentences and word problems, as well as division calculations that used inverse operations.

We’re enjoying the Monster Crisp Guzzler.  This week we have written a short description of our teacher creature and summarised Chapter 3.  Next week the children will plan and write their stories based on the story.

This week’s homework is Spellings and Mathletics.  No comprehension but children should be learning their lines for their class assembly, song lyrics and poem (all can be found on this page) for Thursday 25^th January – we look forward to seeing you there!

Stay warm this weekend.

Mrs Jeffrey

Royal Academy Young Artists Competition 2024

The Royal Academy Young Artists Competition has opened again this year! Children can enter with any art they have made, be it at home or at a club. The winning entries are displayed at the Royal Academy of Arts in central London! The deadline for entry is the 7th of March. To find out more about the competition, or to enter your child’s artwork, please visit: https://youngartists.royalacademy.org.uk/

If you have any questions about the competition, please email Mrs Allen (e.allen@ststephensce.lbhf.sch.uk)

Happy New Year!  The whole Year 3 team thank you for the lovely cards, messages and generous gifts!  The flowers have already bloomed and look lovely in class.

It has been lovely to see them and hear news of their holidays.  With trips being made by bus, tube, trains, planes and camels – I hope the daily commute into school isn’t too dull! We’ve heard about visits to our very own London’s West End, places in England, Europe, Africa, Asia and America.  We’ve been regaled with tales of sleepovers with cousins and grandparents – whatever you did – I hope you enjoyed it and are ready for the new year.

This term, we welcome Miss Fulford who is training to be a teacher.  She will be with us until February half term.  She has experience working as a 1:1 and is enjoying her time with us already.  You will be able to meet her over the next few days at the end of the day.

A four day week?  Well, that might have been, but we’ve crammed a lot into our first week together!

Our class assembly is Thursday 25^th January – SAVE THE DATE.  Scripts have been sent out and links to songs can be found on our class page.  As part of homework, they will be expected to learn their lines and the two songs so there will be no comprehension until February.  It is mostly based on the Stone Age so (most of) the children will need to be in Stone Age-esque clothes (think Flintstones, The Croods, Bet Lynch [if you’re a certain age]).  We will also need other props – I’ll send you a ParentMail with more details in the next few days.

In English, we have started our book The Monster Crisp Guzzler and will be writing a story based on a teacher creature at the end of the unit. The children enjoyed creating their own teacher creatures and shared their creations with the class.

In Maths, we practised our 3 and 4 times tables by answering a range of number sentence and word problem-related questions. PLEASE KEEP UP THE TIMES TABLE PRACTICE.  The children should also be learning the inverse to times tables facts.

In Science, we have started our new topic of Plants and have set up our beans in transparent cups so we can monitor how they (hopefully!) grow over the next few weeks.  I was reminded by Miss Kelly, our lead in Science, that the children had already done this in previous years so while they were excited by their bean planting, we will also plant some flower bulbs next week.  Please send in clean jam jars (labels off please!) or similar jars for the children to plant their bulbs – they will be able to take both plants home for February half term.

We finished the week with a cricket training session led by Middlesex Cricket Club – you might need to remind the children about competitive sport!

Homework this week is spellings and Mathletics tasks.  Reading folders will go home on Mondays.  Homework to be handed in by Wednesday.

Phew – is it only the first week?

Enjoy the weekend!

Mrs Jeffrey

The Christmas holidays are finally here!  What a term it was! We have finished the term with the same energy as they started the term (supplemented with some Disney Plus, popcorn and hot chocolate!)  They have had an exciting, activity-packed week, which has included the return of our Key Stage 2 Christmas Quiz hosted by Mr Faith.

I hope you enjoyed their beautiful singing in the concert last night.  They were superb and looked like they were born to perform!  What superstars!  We also enjoyed the Church service this morning where we sung our hearts out to some traditional carols.

Apart from the rehearsing, we have been finishing off some end-of-unit assessments so we’re ready for the new term. The children have saved their best for last and excelled themselves with their wonderful story writing.  Their myths have been set in Ancient Greece, the Far East, Macedonia and have included, amongst others, classic Greek gods and goddesses waging war against each other as well minotaurs, Cereberus, hydras, firesnakes and other half-and-half creatures!  The best of the stories have been the ones which have followed the success criteria but I’ve enjoyed reading them all.

The first term of the academic is always the hardest but all your help (reading and on trips), support, understanding and kind words go a long way – for that I am grateful!  Also a big thank you for the lovely class card and generous gifts – we are truly blessed.

Maybe it won’t be a Silent Night but we wish you all a peaceful Christmas and all the best for the New Year –  whether you’re near or far.

Mrs Jeffrey

Please note that there is NO HOMEWORK for the Christmas holidays; homework will be given out on the first Friday back (12th January).  Reading folders should be returned by Friday 12^th January.

INSET day on Monday 8^th January – the children are back in on Tuesday 9^th January 2024.

4 days to go… tick tock!

During our English lessons, we have been practising our ‘challenge words’ using inverted commas (speech marks) correctly – they did well considering there is so much to remember. We enjoyed the complicated tale of Medusa with its twists and tales and did some drama around this.  We also described a mythical setting in preparation for writing our own myths next week.  I have spoken about Year 3 writing expectations and how they should be writing in paragraphs and not writing ‘list of sentences’ ie not starting each sentence with the same few words.  I hope they will remember this next week when they write.  We also discussed how to keep the language in the style of myths so not to use similes such as ‘fast as a car’ or phrases such as ‘soggy doggy’!  They will be encouraged to use paired adjectives, similes, inverted commas and interesting vocabulary next week.  Some of them will be challenging themselves with fronted adverbials.  I’m already looking forward to reading their stories.

In our Maths lessons, we have been very busy with multiplication. Please ensure that you practise times tables with your children as regularly as possible, as quick recall of them (along with their associated inverse operations) will prove invaluable over the first few weeks of the Spring Term (and, indeed, throughout your child/ren’s time in Key Stage 2.)

In our RHE lesson, we reflected upon the idea of prejudice, and what we can do when people are being bullied using Zeb from planet Dee as our case study.

The final homework for 2023 is spellings, Mathletics tasks and practise the songs for next week’s Carol Service.

Have a great weekend

Mrs Jeffrey

In our Maths lessons, we completed end of unit tests, arithmetic and problem solving papers.  This will give us a good opportunity to review how the teaching is going and if we need to move children in the groups.  Our next topic will be multiplication and division so please encourage times tables practise! 

In our English lessons, our GPS lesson focus was on the words ending in double consonants and short vowels. We love the topic of myths and have had fun creating our own mythical beasts.  We watched a short animation called The Tiny Crusader and acted out the story and did some hot seating.  We also found time to complete a reading comprehension on Apollo and the Chimera.

In History, we recapped on all that we have learned and designed a poster all about Prehistoric Britain.

During RE, we learned about John the Baptist and the important role he played in preparing Christians for the arrival of Jesus. After reflecting upon his words, we then thought about ways in which we could announce the return of Jesus to modern society, writing ‘emails’ and ‘Tweets’ on paper about the same.

In our Computing lesson, we used J2E to code and create different geometric shapes.

In our RHE lesson, we looked at ways in which we can celebrate our differences (seen – appearance and unseen – favourite foods) and this linked well to a video we watched about autism which we found enlightening – we learnt that people with autism are not ill or broken but see the world in a unique way.

We have sent home the Carol Concert lyrics please practise them at home, as the children have a rehearsal with Ms Bell next week.

Homework this week is spellings, comprehension and Mathletics.  Please make sure the comprehension is completed – the homework book will be returned unless it is completed!

Have a lovely weekend,

Mrs Jeffrey

First Sunday of Advent this weekend and only 3 weeks until the Christmas holidays.  How time flies especially when we’re having fun!

In our English lessons, we’ve started looking at Myths and Legends and have been enjoying reading, listening and watching some myths.  We have described the minotaur in detail thinking about paired adjectives and adverbs. We also had the wonderful opportunity of meeting the author David Mackintosh on Wednesday morning.  They had a lovely warm up exercise sketching various things.

During our Maths lessons, we have been working hard on the concept of exchanging and are now subtracting 2-digit and 3 digit numbers from 3-digit numbers.  It’s not been all plain sailing and we still far from fluent in this important skill.  If practising column subtraction (or addition) at home, remind them to set their numbers out correctly in the right columns to minimise mistakes.  Also using simple estimations to quickly calculate rough answers is a really useful skill, and one I encourage you to practise with your child. An example of this would be: to work out 98 + 49, you could round the numbers to 100 and 50, then add the two together in your head in a straightforward fashion.  Increasingly, we are seeing that although children can read a number or a calculation, they don’t necessarily grasp the real concept of the number system.  Even checking their calculations would improve their mathematical knowledge ie when subtracting, their answer should be less than the number they start with.  Just a reminder to stay on top of Mathletics tasks as these are a consolidation of what we are learning in class.

During our Science lesson, we completed our topic of Forces and Magnets by designing a poster illustrating how magnets are used in our world and completed the end-of-unit quiz.

In History, we found out how people lived in the Iron Age.

During RE, we learned about John the Baptist.

We decorated salt dough decorations which you will be able to buy at the Christmas Fair.

Miss Rachel is organising the Christmas Carol evening and details about it will be sent out by ParentMail.

Homework this week is spellings and Mathletics tasks.

Enjoy reading the OFSTED report!

Wrap up warm and enjoy the Christmas Fair!

Mrs Jeffrey

We started the week with the Big Live Assembly to celebrate Children’s Day and heard from children in Ghana, Bangladesh and Liverpool.

It was double Science this week and the children enjoyed the Scientist in Residence workshop with Mercedes where they worked on the topic of Magnets and Forces.

In English, we read Island Man by Grace Nichols about a man who dreams about his old island life but now lives in London.  We composed our own poems about our city lives and what we like about being on a beach.  We tried to use our senses, paired adjectives, alliteration to make our poems interesting.  We are enjoying the story of The Marble Crusher by Michael Murpurgo which is our class book.

In Maths, we’ve finally cracked addition and subtraction bridging over 10s and 100s.  Yay!  Some of us may use pictorial representation to support our learning but we’ve definitely made good progress.  We’ve also been trying to use bar models to represent calculations to solve problems – not sure what a bar model is?  Ask your child to show you!

In History, we learned about how people lived in the Bronze Age.  In Art, we learned more about prehistoric Art and how cave paintings tell us about how people lived.

In RE, we learned the words ‘prophet’ and ‘foretell’ and what was foretold about the first Christmas.

Homework this week is spellings, reading comprehension and Mathletics tasks.  Miss Kelly and I have set different comprehension tasks this week – it was planned that way!

Have a lovely weekend!

Mrs Jeffrey

After the buzz and energy from last week, we’ve been rather depleted in energy levels and dogged by illness this week.  Despite this, we have managed to do some work.

Thank you for making time for Parents Evening – I hope you find it useful and have spoken to the children about targets if they have been given any.  It’s always good to get feedback from the parents so we can work together to give, provide and support the children the best we can during their time at school.

In English, we are learning about Grace Nichols and been reading out her poems and choosing our favourite ones.  We have written our own poems based on her poem titled ‘Morning’ and a few of the children performed their poems in front of the class.  The children will get a chance to write their poems out for display in the classroom.

In Maths this week, we have been very busy exchanging in both column addition and column subtraction. Please challenge the children with some calculations at home!

In RE we continued to look at wisdom. We wrote a letter to our future selves offering as much advice as we could in the letters. The children will take the letters home at the end of the year.

At the end of the week, we had a noisy Science lesson where the children learnt about force meters and how different surfaces (rubber, wood, sandpaper and carpet) meant different forces were needed to pull objects.  We learnt there was less friction between two surfaces if they were smooth and more friction where surfaces were bumpy and therefore more force was needed.  Next week, the children will have a session with Mercedes our Scientist-in-Residence.

Homework this week – spellings and Mathletics tasks.

Have a fantastic weekend,

Mrs Jeffrey

What a week!

We’ve had very special guests in this week and the children were at their finest – looking smart, standing proud and welcoming our guests warmly.  Mr Schumm thanks the whole school community for their support.

In Maths – we’ve been using bar models to represent problems.  We’ve been securing our knowledge on bridging 10s and 100s using the column method.  We’ll be moving onto column subtraction soon.

In English, we have used our plans to write instructions on How to Catch a Dragon – I’m looking forward to reading ‘Top Tips’ and ‘Handy Hints’ as there are plenty of dragons in the west London area.  We also had our second book club of the year, where we shared books we were reading.  I was thrilled to be asked interesting questions about the book I’ve just finished reading, Iza’s Ballad by Magda Szabó.

In Art, we are starting to look at Prehistoric Art and building on last week’s lesson started drawing, sketching animals using basic geometric and organic shapes.

On Wednesday, we visited Gunnersbury Park Museum to take part in a Stone Age workshop.  We looked at primary and secondary sources of evidence to consolidate what we have already learned in class.  They impressed Paula, our guide, with their knowledge and identified some of the artefacts she had – a real mammoth’s tusk (yes real and found in the grounds of Gunnersbury Park), flint and an axe head.  We learned how they hunted and foraged before becoming more settled and kept animals and grew their own plants.  Then we braved the wet weather, complete with our (mock) animal skins to test our survival skills in the wild (of Gunnersbury Park).  We ‘caught’ our dinner by ‘spearing’ wild buffalo and built shelters using branches and our skins.  We finished our session by trying seal gaps in our wattle (weaved twigs) by using a mixture of clay and straw – thankfully they left out the animal dung for our children.  What a fun learning experience!  Thank you to our parent/carer volunteers.

On Friday, we celebrated Parliament Week. To mark this occasion, we were joined by MP for Hammersmith and Fulham, Andy Slaughter, who spoke to the children about our British Values and the importance of democracy. The children asked a variety of probing questions which sparked a healthy debate.

Back to business next week – homework this week is spellings, reading comprehension and  Mathletics tasks.

Please sign up for Parents Evening if you haven’t already done so.  Have a lovely weekend.

Mrs Jeffrey

Half term already seems so long ago… the children have had a fantastic start to our Autumn 2 term.

We didn’t quite manage to avoid the rain for our cross country run but managed to miss the deluge shortly after we arrived back at school – thank goodness.  The children were full of energy and enthusiasm as we arrived, sprinted off at the start line and then completed the course with differing levels of energy and spirit!  Well done to everyone – each child finished the course.

In English, we have enjoyed planning our instructions on how to catch a dragon.  We have come up with some lovely creative ideas.  We’ll be writing out instructions next week.

In our Maths lessons, we have started our lessons with bar model work and how to use them to solve problems.  We have using column addition and trying to add and subtract bridging over 10s and 100s.  This has proved quite challenging!  We need to remember how important it is to line up our ‘ones’, ‘tens’ and ‘hundreds’.  We’ve used base 10 equipment and drawing to help us with the concept.  We will do some more work on this next week – using number lines and partitioning.

During RE, we began work on our class value of wisdom and proverbs.  In Computing we looked at a journey of an email.

In Science, we have started looking at Forces and choosing whether an action is a ‘push’ or a pull’ and learned about the force of gravity.

During History, we started our unit on Prehistoric Britain. We looked at what the term ‘prehistory’ means and how archaeologists carry out different jobs in order to find out how people lived.  We will find out more from our trip.

We finished off the week with an Art lesson where we looked at everyday items around the room and sketched their basic shapes using geometric shapes as a starting point eg circle, oval, rectangle, cone etc;  Next lesson, we build on seeing our subjects (animals) using shapes.

The homework and Mathletics tasks can be found below.

Please check ParentMail for detail forthcoming trips and outings.  Also please sign up for Parents Evening if you haven’t already done so.

Have a great weekend!

Mrs Jeffrey

We have conquered the first half term with a flourish!  The children are settling down to Year 3 – bringing in their fruit, swimming kits, PE kits, reading folders, homework & library books on (generally!) the right day.  They are coming into school quietly in the morning and settling down to reading, handwriting and spelling practise and finally responding to the tambourine!  Parents have been reading their ParentMails to stay on top of last minute changes and useful reminders – thank you!  We had help along the way… thanks to …

• reading volunteer – Claire
• volunteers for the Royal Academy – thank you to Guy, Natalia and Zaffran
• helpers for Hispanic Day – thank you to Carrie and Adriana

This week, the children wrote a set of instructions about how to make a picture which linked to our visit to the Royal Academy last week. We also completed end-of-half term tests on Geography and Science.

Celebration of Black Voices Week

We’ve been learning all about Malorie Blackman.  We’ve enjoyed reading about her and her picture book ‘We’re Going to Find the Monster’ as well as short stories by Floella Benjamin and Oti Mabuse.  We even tried to follow the instructions for Oti’s dance mentioned in the book.

Caroline did a super lightning craft workshop with the children to make a red rooster – a character from the ‘Anansi’ series. We read an Anansi story and on Friday, we enjoyed an Anansi play.  If you’re in the Shepherds Bush area over half term – check out www.shepherdsbush.market.org for BHM activities which include live music, art, poetry and creative workshops.

During RE, we finished our unit on what Sikhs believe and on Friday, we wore red clothes and had an excellent RHE session related to ‘Show Racism The Red Card’ where Christos encouraged the children to take part in some drama scenarios.

Remember to plant the bulbs this week so you can enter the flower competition.

Please note that there is spellings, reading comprehension and Mathletics homework for your child this half term.   Remember to keep practising times tables, telling the time and number bonds to 100. There is a link to recorder practise from Miss Rachel – please remember to bring recorders back to school on Monday.

Whether near or far, home or away – I hope you have a wonderful half term break!

Mrs Jeffrey

A fun packed week!

We had assemblies galore this week.  On Tuesday, we celebrated World Mental Health Day by watching two short films and completed activities discussing who was in our ‘circle of support’ and chose ‘Progress not Perfection’ as our class theme.

We also joined in the Great Big Live Assembly for Black History Month as an introduction to our learning next week when we focus on famous black British women firsts. Watch this space!

On Wednesday’s Hispanic Day – the school was awash with colours of Spanish countries – thanks to Ms Pereira for organising. We started the day by coming together to sing ‘Somos como las flores’ in Spanish. We then watched an amazing ‘illusion Flamenca’ by some Mexican dancers in traditional costume. During the day, we had volunteers Carrie and Adriana who read Galapagos Girl in Spanish to us.  We learned about Ecuadorian sun festival and we took part in a dance workshop. The children also created some maps inspired by our book – children had a great time! For lunch we enjoyed a Spanish feast of nachos and dips.  Finally at the end of the day we all came back together to watch and listen to a live music from Columbia! Olé!

Talking of music, the children have been given recorders this week.  Use the link on our class page to hear music to practise to!

We had a busy Thursday which kicked off with Year 6 assembly on the theme of Schummi-land.  Then we had great time at the Royal Academy of Art.  First our guides Harry and Amy took us to view two pictures – David Hockney’s crater based picture (very orange) then Constable’s Leaping Horse picture (lots of muted colours and tones).  Then they gave us instructions so that we could create pictures using charcoal and paints based loosely on the theme of climate change.  I have to admit – I wasn’t sure of the direction at the beginning but as if by magic (and a lot of charcoal dust!) unique pieces of art were produced by the children.  It was a lovely space to work in and the children certainly got into the swing of things under the trusty RA supervision.  Thank you to our parent volunteers.

In RE, we learnt about the 5 ‘K’s of the Sikh faith – kesh, kachera, kanga, kara and the kirpan and compared Sikhism with Christianity.

We also finished our class book ‘You’re a Bad Man Mr Gum!’ which was a big hit with the children and inspired some of them to choose a book from the series as a library book.

Homework this week is spellings and Mathletics tasks.

Have a restful weekend ahead of a busy week before half term!

Mrs Jeffrey

Happy Fridays!

We have finished marching to and from the swimming pool and were blessed with warm weather. Thank you for your patience at the end of the day – the planning of the swimming was done with great consideration and despite the ‘late back to school’, it paid off (good weather means no coats/hats/scarves and fewer sniffles!). The children have all become confident water babies.  They were all re-assessed at the end of their course with some children now able to complete 25m confidently; a requirement at the end of KS2. On Friday, they enjoyed a well-deserved play in the pool.  Congratulations to all of them!  It will be business as normal from next week.

Business as normal?  Well, we do have an annual Hispanic Day on Wednesday based on this year’s theme of festivals – Year 3 will be learning about the sun festival celebrated in Ecuador.  We have the pleasure of having a native Spanish speaker and a parent joining for a session.  We shall be having a dance workshop in the afternoon.

In Maths, after completing our unit of work on place value and have completed our end of topic assessment.  We will make changes to the two Maths group so the support is where it is needed.  I just want to emphasise that ALL the children, regardless of their Maths group, will learn the same lessons and will complete the same core tasks.

During our RE lesson, we looked at the forming of the Khalsa, a pivotal time in the history of Sikhism.  We learnt that Khalsa means the ‘pure ones’.

In Geography, we used fact cards and atlases to find out key features of continents.  We also asked Flavia, our adult helper for the day, about Portugal.

In RHE, we discussed the importance of having a pet and how we might feel if we lost it.

Please see your ParentMail for trip details.

Homework this week is spellings, reading comprehension and Mathletics tasks.  If I have given your child a spelling sheet – this is the work I would like them to do – not the spellings on our web page.

Comprehension can be downloaded from our class web page and printed at home if necessary – please note we do not provide the sheet.

Yet another warm weekend forecast – how wonderful!  Enjoy!

Mrs Jeffrey

PS Library sessions will return to Wednesday afternoons

Slap bands and wrist bands bought in the Poppy Appeal will only be on sale in the mornings and children will need to put them in the bags to take home.  Badges can be pinned on uniform.  Thank you for your understanding.

It was good to see a few of you at the Family Supper last night.  I devoured some delicious chicken dumplings and sticky cake.

We have been blessed with warm walking weather for our daily swimming lessons and the children have enjoyed the walks to the swimming pool as much as the lessons themselves.  They have been taking in all sorts of experiences on their walks such as admiring sports cars, cooing at cats in hammocks, spying spiders in webs, recognising rosemary and picking flowers and leaves.  Whilst we would usually encourage their curiosity – please remind them that a brisk walk to the swimming pool is not the time to be smelling, picking and stopping at wonders!  At the pool, they have been assessed and put into 3 groups and it’s been lovely to see them enjoying their lessons with colourful swimming caps, pool noodles and floats.

In English, I have enjoyed reading their stories based on Omnibombulator with tales of hungry birds, dodging dangerous creatures and meeting new friends.

Through the power of ParentMail and the parents WhatsApp groups, most the children bought in their library books and were able to either borrow or renew books.  We spent some time enjoying our new books.  This segued smoothly into our first book club of the year where children talked about books they were reading.  Watching Newsround today, I was reminded of one of my all time favourite books by Michael Morpurgo – Kensuke’s Kingdom. A great read whether you’re a child or not. (The children can visit the library next Monday lunchtime or Friday morning.)

In Maths, we have completed our first unit of place value and will complete the assessment next week. We will be using these to inform us about possible changes in the Maths groups starting after half term

During our RE lesson, we looked at the importance of leaders and what it takes to make a good leader and related this to Guru Nanak.

In Geography, we have located countries around the world using maps and atlases.

In Science, we have been learning about omnivores, herbivores and carnivores.  We used Chromebooks to research natural habitats of animals and what they eat.

Please remember to bring in non-perishables for our Harvest Festival for our Church Service by Wednesday.

Please check your ParentMail next week for details of a forthcoming trip.

Homework this work is spellings and Mathletics tasks.  I have been changing spellings lists for certain children to try and find the ‘best fit’ for their ability – thank you for your patience and understanding on this.  The handwriting sheets are beginning to be used properly and is already making a difference to those children using them – please encourage them to use it/show you how it’s used.  Homework should be back by Wednesday.

I think we’re going to squeeze another warm weekend in – how wonderful!  Enjoy!

Mrs Jeffrey

We are settling down to a working week and working very hard.

During English, we planned and started to write our own detailed descriptive pieces from a ‘bug’s eye’ view. We have working hard on paired adjectives and making our work interesting by using conjunctions and some of us have been using fronted adverbials.  Next week, we will write our first Year 3 story based on the class reader Omnibombulator and try to include our homework spellings ‘ou’ words which make an /ow/ sound and an /u/ sound.  I’m looking forward to reading tales of Kyle the Caterpillar, Florence the Butterfly, Speedy the Spider escaping the clutches of birds, mean bugs and climate change!  We are also still enjoying the antics of Mr Gum who can’t seem to keep out of trouble.

In Maths, we continued our work on number and place value. We built upon last week’s work, finding 1, 10 or 100 more or less than given numbers. We then compared and sequenced numbers up to 1000 and developed our understanding of the terms ‘ascending’ and ‘descending’. We have been using 100 squares, counting beads and Dienes to support our work.

In our RE lesson about Sikhism, we learned about a special symbol called the ‘ik ongar’ and that it means ‘theirs is only one god’.  We drew symbols which we thought reflected our beliefs and ideas.

In Science, we learned about balanced diets and what we should eat more of as well as what we should eat less of.

In Geography, we learned about countries of the world and in DT we looked at seasonal foods from around the world.

In Computing, we finished our posters on staying safe using SMART as the starting point.

Please remember homework books back in by Wednesday (but house points for early returners), library books on Thursday (or Monday lunch library) and reading folders on Friday.

This week’s homework is spellings, comprehension and Mathletics tasks.  Please follow the handwriting guide and use the handwriting sheet provided so we can encourage the children to use ‘tall’ and ‘short’ letters. The children’s spelling groups may change as the term goes on – this will depend on their spelling scores.  Their reading comprehension will be their English group ie. blue, yellow or green.

As Year 3 will be swimming for two weeks, we will not follow the timetable as per our website page.  We may teach Maths in our classes rather than in groups.  The children need to be in their PE kits every day for the next two weeks.  We aim to be back at school about 3:30pm but we may be a few minutes late so please just wait at the front reception area.  Please check your ParentMail for swimming information.

Almost definitely time to pack away those Summer clothes!  Have a good weekend.

Mrs Jeffrey

We’re all settling in to the year quickly and have been busy.  We have democratically voted for our class school councillors, prayer group and librarians.

This week’s homework is spellings practise using the handwriting sheet attached inside the homework book (spelling group for your child can be found in the inside cover of homework book), Mathletics tasks and times tables practise which should be shown in the back of the book.  Please let your class teacher know if you experience problems with accessing Mathletics.  Homework is given out on a Friday and due back in by Wednesday but children are encouraged to bring it in sooner for house points!  Reading folders go out on a Monday and are not due back in until Friday – please encourage children to re-read the books if they finish them quickly.

During Maths, we built upon last week’s work, using number lines for numbers up to 100. We have also made practical use of our newly-refined number and place value skills by starting to solve number and place value-related partitioning problems.

During English, we enjoyed Dick King-Smith’s ‘The Omnibombulator’ as a reference text for our work on stories with familiar settings. Next week, we will plan and start to write our very own descriptive pieces from a ‘bug’s eye’ view. As part of the writing process, next week we will be sure to re-read our work with a view to improving it, a key part of the Year 3 English Writing curriculum.   In our GPS lesson, we jumped straight in with learning how to use a dictionary which is an essential skill. We are still enjoying the hearing about the antics of Mr Gum and some of us have chosen a book from the series to read in class or the library.

During Geography, we identified and located continents on a world map and enjoyed singing the continents song we learnt in Year 2.

In our RE lesson, we designed a wisdom poster based on Year 3’s value of ‘Wisdom’.

During Science, we started work on Animals including humans learning how we need food for growth and energy and sorted foods into groups.

In our Computing lesson, we started to learn about the importance of online safety practices signing a contract and designing a poster using SMART as a reminder of how to stay safe online.

The written homework for this is to be handed in no later than this coming Wednesday 20^th September 2023.

Our poem for the half term can be found on our class page.

Please practise this with your child/ren on a regular basis ahead of us performing it as a class at the end of the half term.

Almost definitely the last weekend before the Summer wardrobe gets put away!  Enjoy!

Mrs Jeffrey

Welcome to Year 3!

It was lovely to see the children looking smart, healthy and tanned from their holidays.  We have been sharing tales of our travels to Lyme Regis, the Lake District, Dorset, Somerset, Rye, Swanage to name but a few places in the UK as well some of our adventures further afield including mainland Europe, America and Asia – what a well travelled bunch we are!

We have been busy working on self portraits and our links with the other countries.  We have also practised our Bible verse and written prayers based on Year 3’s value of wisdom.

We are also enjoying our class book Mr Gum and hearing about what happens in Lamonic Bibber.

Please refer to the ParentMail for more details about life in Year 3.

Gymnastics and PE will be on Mondays and Tuesdays respectively so please send your children into school in the PE/Gym kits – which they can stay in all day.  Children who have sports clubs before or after school are expected to change into their school uniform for the school day.

It’s been lovely to have an extended Summer – enjoy the warm weather this weekend.

Mrs Jeffrey