Autumn Term

Folk Tales

Our first text of Year 3 is called 'The Tin Forest'. We began by looking at the front cover of the book and sharing predictions about what we thought it was about and what might happen. 

The children have loved listening to and reading the story. They have acted in role and thought carefully about the Old Man's feelings. The children have used prepositions to describe the wild forest that the character dreams of.

This week we have started chunking the plot and planning our own innovations of the story. The children have worked very hard and created some beautiful storyboards! Super work, Year 3.

Click on the pictures below to see some of the children's work. 

Biography

Our second unit of this half term is 'Biography' and we began by sharing our own important memories and how they made us feel when remembering them.

The children have explored several biographies based on different famous people such as J K Rowling, Roald Dahl, Beatrix Potter, David Beckham and Usain Bolt. We also discussed how to answer questions about a biography text and how to find specific information in different paragraphs.

The children chose famous authors and celebrities who they would be interested in finding out more about. We made a list and the children researched their favourite person to create a fact file. The children then sorted this information into the correct paragraphs and wrote their final biography.

For their independent write the children were inspired by a TV programme they watched presented by David Attenborough so as a class we chose to write a biography about him too.

Everybody has worked so hard and the children should be very proud of the writing that they have produced! Take a look at their fabulous work below. 

Fables

This week we started our next unit all about 'Fables'. We listened to the soundtrack of a film and the children made predictions about the characters, the setting and the events. We then watched the video clip which was called 'Ostrich and Penguin' to find out if we were correct!

We have explored different versions of Aesop's fables using film clips and books. The children worked in pairs to read a fable and then use a story map to retell it aloud to the rest of the class using expression.

The children then chose two characters to include in their fable to match the moral 'Slow and steady wins the race'. They did a fantastic job writing their fables - well done everybody!

Shape Poetry

We have been busy exploring a variety of shape poems this week in Year 3. The children have loved reading different poems and identifying vocabulary in them. We have created a 'magpie wall' in class where the children have recorded interesting words and phrases including alliteration and similes.

The children will be writing their own winter-themed shape poems next week and have been busy planning and drafting their ideas. Take a look at the photographs below to see some of their fantastic work. 

Spring Term

Story as a Theme

We will start the new year by exploring the text 'Stone Age Boy'. The children will be making predictions, participating in shared reading and using dictionaries to explore new vocabulary. 

The Rhinos and Elephant groups have worked with Miss Chapman to create a story map of their new, innovated text. We changed the main character and the animal that they meet in the cave. 

We have been learning about inverted commas as part of our grammar this week. The children read some text messages that the boy and Om from the story send to each other. They had to put inverted commas into the correct places and think about other words to use instead of 'said'.

Poetry visitor

Today the school was visited by a famous poet called Paul Cookson. He performed lots of his poems in assembly and then visited our class in the afternoon. Paul helped the children create their own Kenning poem about a visit to the zoo. He also let everybody have a preview of his new book which will be released in bookshops soon! 

Discussion

This week in English we have started our new unit all about discussions. The children have explored different discussion texts and identified the features of this type of writing. We have also had our very own debate with the children sharing their opinions on 'Should children wear a school uniform or not?'. They shared some fantastic arguments for and against to answer this question. Next week the children will begin writing their own discussion about this. 

The Iron Man 

This half term we are reading 'The Iron Man' in English. The children will be reading each chapter of the novel and will be exploring the interesting vocabulary they find. We will be writing descriptions of the Iron Man using adverbs, alliteration and similes. The children will also be changing the main character and writing their own innovation of the text.