Birch Y3 - Summer Newsletter

Year 3 have worked incredibly hard this term and have done some fantastic learning!

As mathematicians we’ve explored fractions by building fraction walls, adding and subtracting fractions, and finding fractions of amounts and shapes. The children also got creative designing their ultimate back garden using polygons, while learning to identify and draw shapes with parallel lines and perpendicular sides. We also looked at time, focusing on minutes past the hour. One of the highlights was making our own clocks and using them to quiz our friends!

In English, our fiction writing has been centred around portal stories. The children produced some wonderful pieces full of rich language features, including similes, personification, expanded noun phrases, and fronted adverbials. In our non-fiction unit, we’ve been exploring discussion texts, and the children have really enjoyed taking part in mini-debates, learning to express arguments for and against with confidence. They’ve worked hard on using generalisers, modal verbs, and transition words to structure their ideas clearly.

Our geography topic this term has been all about settlements. The children used both historic and current OS maps to investigate our local area, identifying physical and human features that have remained, disappeared or are newly developed. We also took a virtual journey to New Delhi, using Google Maps to explore the Indian capital and compare it with our own surroundings.

Science has been full of excitement, especially during our “Grip Strength Championship,” where children tested the enquiry question: Does handspan affect grip strength? They really enjoyed going head-to-head in a pattern-seeking investigation to find out.

In Design and Technology, the children were incredibly proud of their electric posters, which combined creativity with practical skills. This has been a real favourite for many! In computing, we’ve been learning how to format text and pictures using Word. The children applied these skills confidently to design posters and magazine covers.

There have also been some fantastic highlights outside the classroom. The VR workshop on Ancient Egyptians gave the children a unique opportunity to step into the past and experience history in an immersive and engaging way. Another standout moment was the Singing Picnic, where we enjoyed games in the sun and proudly performed a song we had prepared to other schools.