Summer 2 

Dear Parents/Carers/Children of Dolphins Class,

We can hardly believe that we are entering our very last term of Year 3! This year has gone by so fast. We are extremely proud of the progress the children have made this year and feel they are definitely getting themselves ready for Year 4!

In Maths, we will be continuing our work on Time, before moving onto Shape and Statistics. In English, we will be studying 'The Great Kapok Tree' and exploring the rainforest. We are back to Geography in Summer 2 and we will be exploring the Amazon which links beautifully to our English text. We will be continuing our learning about plants and animals in Science and exploring our emotions in our PSHE sessions. PE will continue to be on a Friday afternoon and  Swimming/forest school every Thursday afternoon, so please don't forget to ensure you bring the correct kit. We have been finding recently that more and more children aren't bringing the correct kit. For further information, have a look at the Year 3 curriculum overview link at the top of the class page. 

Please see below for some key reminders and updates for you to ensure we start off the new year smoothly:

• A reminder that the school day now starts at 8.40am for Year 3. The school gates will be open at 8.30am, so please ensure your child is on the playground and ready to line up to enter the classroom when the whistle blows at 8.35am. Learning begins at 8.45am, so it is extremely important that your child is in school on time to ensure they don't miss any vital learning.
• Tuck Shop is still available at break times. Children can choose to purchase a piece of toast, a crumpet, a cookie, a yogurt or a piece of fruit daily if they wish. Chocolate or strawberry milkshakes have also been added to the menu. Orders for this will be taken during registration time. Children must bring their own money for this.
• Dolphins class will have Swimming/forest school on a Thursday afternoon (your child will know which group they are in). 
• PE will continue to be on a Friday afternoon this half term. A correct PE kit is needed. Black or white shorts or jogging bottoms with no logos on them and a plain white T-shirt. If your child does not have the correct kit, they will be given one to wear from school supplies. We will be outside for the rest of the academic year, so it may be worth bringing in a hat to wear as well.
• Please ensure everything that belongs to your child is clearly labelled as to avoid missing items as the term progresses.
• Reading records will be checked every Monday morning. Children are encouraged to read at least 5 times a week at home and children completing this task will be rewarded with a reading raffle ticket each week. We will be keeping a track of this this year to ensure children are bringing in their records weekly. 
• Lots of children are not logging onto TTRockstars and Spelling Shed at the moment. Home Learning tasks are set weekly on both of these apps/websites. Please encourage your child to access these every week. 

As always, if you have any questions, please don’t hesitate to ask. We will be on the playground from 8.30am every morning and at the classroom door at the end of the school day at 3.25pm. 

Best wishes,

Mrs Holvey

Spring 2

I would like to remind you of our groups for swimming and forest school for spring 2 (23/2/23).  Both groups will now swap over. So, if your child was in forest school they will now be swimming.  PE  remains the same every Friday.  

Thank you. 

Mrs Holvey

Spring 1

Hi Dolphins! I am very excited to start our Spring 1 learning when we return after Christmas!

English - We will be writing our own narrative using the book 'The Queen's Nose'. Remember to be playing on spelling shed!

Maths -  We will carry on with our multiplication and division learning. Keep practicing those 3,4 and 8 times tables at home! Remember to play on TTRS as well. 

History-  I am very excited about our history topic this term - Ancient Egypt! Can you find out any facts in the holidays to tell me when we come back?

PE - Penguins class will be swimming during Spring 1 as well as learning to play hockey and learning Egyptian dances!

Science - Our new science topic is light and shadows. Hopefully we will be able to do lots of experiments over the term to support our learning. 

Have a fantastic Christmas and I look forward to seeing you in 2023!

Mrs Holvey

Spring 1

I would like to remind you of our groups for swimming and forest school.  Both groups will now swap over. So, if your child was in forest school they will now be swimming.  PE  remains the same every Friday.  

Thank you. 

Mrs Holvey

Autumn 2 Science

We have been learning all about forces in science.  We explored magnetic force using magnets and made a magnet maze with a paper plate, paper clip, magnet, and our own maze design.

Autumn 2 Computing

In computing this term, we have been very busy sending and responding to emails.  We also made our own laptops. We had to cut out each part and reconstruct it using our knowledge of computer parts. 

Autumn 2 RE

We were very lucky to receive a visit from Major Gary Chaundy from the Salvation Army. He spoke to us about our RE topic- what is it like to follow God and the Salvation Army's mission. 

Forest School Autumn 2

Art Autumn 2

Our topic this half term has been prehistoric art. We have created our own cave walls and then made our own paints using natural resources. 

Welcome back!

I hope everyone has had a wonderful break! 

As we are now in Autumn 2, I would like to remind you of our groups for swimming and forest school.  Both groups will now swap over. So, if your child was in forest school they will now be swimming.  PE  remains the same every Friday.  

Thank you

Mrs Holvey

Supporting Your Child At Home

In Year 3, your child will be set three tasks to complete at home to support their learning in school. These are Times Table Rockstars, Spelling Shed and reading at least 5 times a week. If you have any questions about home learning, please do come and speak to us.

Times Table Rockstars is a website/app that supports your child's knowledge and retention of times table facts. At the end of Year 4, your child will sit a multiplication check to assess their knowledge of their times table facts up to 12 x 12. This is why it is extremely important in Year 3 that we are learning and retaining times tables knowledge in preparation for this. 

Currently, the children have been set tables by the class teacher. These will be a variety of 2's, 5's, 10's, 3's and 4's. Sometimes the games will ask the children a times table that looks like the following- 2 X 9. Although the children have yet to be taught their 9 times table, multiplication is commutative, which means the calculation can be switched around to read as 9 X 2. As the children know their 2 times table, they will then be able to answer this calculation. Times Table Rockstars also displays calculations in division form. It is important that the children are exposed to this, even if division is an operation they currently struggle with. We will be covering division in further detail as the year progresses, but please continue to encourage your child to have a go if they are faced with a division calculation. 

Spelling Shed is a website that supports the children's knowledge of spellings covered during our Phonics sessions in school. Each week, the children will be set a list of spellings that matches those taught in school to continue to revise through a variety of games. We also revise these spellings weekly during our English sessions. 

Reading is absolutely vital to all learning we do as both a child and as an adult. If your child has a SoundsWrite book, please look at the following below to provide you with some ideas as to how to explore the book together multiple times over the course of the week. It is important that the book isn't just read once and returned. 

Day 1 -  Discuss the pictures in the book before you read it and let your child make predictions about the book. Look at the title – does it help them predict what the story will be about? Once the predictions and discussions are out the way, let them read the book from start to finish without any distractions. Your child will segment (sound out) and blend (put the sounds in the word back together) unfamiliar words.  If they cannot read the word after several attempts, point to each sound and help them to blend and segment. They may want to discuss something, but discourage discussion as much as possible and remind them they can talk about the book after they have read every page of the book.  Allow your child to read all pages, giving compliments throughout like “well done!”, “you are reading so well!” “keep it up!”. After your child has read the full book, return to the title page and ask them some questions about the story. For example: What happened in the story? Who are the characters? Did you correctly predict the story? Did you enjoy the story? Why?

Day 2  – Reintroduce the book to your child.  Can they remember what the story was about? Have a discussion with your child, and then begin to read the book.  Your child should be more confident in reading the book this time, as it is now familiar.  They may not need to segment and blend as many words this time as they may remember the word from the previous reading session.  Your child should read the book quicker.  Allow for discussion again at the end of reading every page this time.

It is important to know that your child has understood what they have just read.  Starting on the first page, look at text and ask your child a question about this page.  What is the character doing? What is his name? Where is he going? What did he say? Do this for each page, asking the child a question about what they have read on the page.  This helps your child to fully understand the story.

Discuss the target sound with your child (the book will tell you this sound on the front cover).  Ask your child to turn to the first page and point to any words that contain the target sound.  For example, if the target sound is ‘ee’, they may see the word like ‘tree’ or ‘sheep’, which contains this sound.  Ask the child to try to find all words containing the target sound and count how many of these words are in the whole book.  Make this a game – see if they can spot more words than you can!

Day 3  – Allow your child to read the full book to you.  After they have done this, tell them that you are going to say a sentence from the book, and they will write it down.  Depending on your child’s confidence, pick a sentence with around six words, but that contains a word with the target sound.  Say the sentence slowly and get your child to verbally repeat it.  Say it in a silly voice and your child can copy.  Ask them to say the sentence in a silly voice and you copy.  Say the sentence once more, counting the words on your fingers as you do.  Ask your child to write the sentence, still showing the amount of words on your fingers, and then put a finger down each time they write a word, until the sentence is complete.  If they have spelled a word incorrectly, highlight this word and say it very slowly, so that they can hear each sound as you say it.  Choose one or two more sentences and repeat the activity.

Day 4 - Allow your child to read the book to you.  After they have done this, ask them to pick a word from the book that contains the target sound.  Ask them to think of their own sentence, using their chosen word.  Ask the child to say the sentence aloud a few times (in silly voices if they want to!) then count the words in the sentences, showing the number on your fingers.  Ask the child to write their own sentence down (encouraging them to use a capital letter at the beginning, finger spaces throughout and a full stop at the end).

Day 5 – Final read. Please return the book to school ready to receive a new book..

Hi everyone! 

We have now organised swimming and forest school for this term.  The children in Dolphins Class have been split into two groups. One group will attend swimming all term and the other forest school.  You should of received a slip from your child informing you which lesson they will attend. If your child has forgotten their slip it will be the lesson they attending last week.  

Thank you Mrs Holvey 

Autumn 1 Updates

Welcome Back to School Dolphins Class!

Dear Parents/Carers/Children of Dolphins Class,

We hope you have had the most wonderful summer making memories together as a family and we cannot WAIT to see you all on Monday, ready to start your new adventure into Year 3 and Key Stage 2. We have some fantastic learning planned for this half term; we hope you are ready to embrace all of the new knowledge coming your way!

Please see below for some key reminders and updates for you to ensure we start off the year smoothly:

• The school day now starts at 8.40am for Year 3. The school gates will be open at 8.30am, so please ensure your child is on the playground and ready to line up to enter the classroom when the whistle blows at 8.35am. Learning begins at 8.45am, so it is extremely important that your child is in school on time to ensure they don't miss any vital learning.
• Now the children are in Year 3, they have access to Tuck Shop at break times. Children can choose to purchase a piece of toast, a crumpet, a cookie, a yogurt or a piece of fruit daily if they wish. Orders for this will be taken during registration time. Children must bring their own money for this.
• Forest School and Swimming will be on a Thursday afternoon this half term. Please ensure your child has both kits in school for the first week as we will be sorting groupings out on the day. A further update will be posted to inform you if Forest School kit or Swimming kit is needed moving forward. A reminder that children need long trousers and spare trainers/wellies for Forest School and a full swimming costume/swim shorts and a swim hat for swimming. If you would like your child to wear goggles, we need a signed permission note to inform us of this. Girls must have their hair tied back and earrings for all children must be removed. 
• PE will be on a Friday afternoon this half term. Correct PE kit is needed moving forward into this academic year. Black or white shorts or jogging bottoms with no logos on them and a plain white t-shirt. If your child does not have correct kit, they will be given one to wear from school supplies.
• Please ensure everything that belongs to your child is clearly labelled as to avoid missing items as the term progresses.
• Reading records will be checked every Monday morning. Children are encouraged to read at least 5 times a week at home and children completing this task will be rewarded with a reading raffle ticket each week. We will be keeping a track of this this year to ensure children are bringing in their records weekly. 
• Something new for Year 3! Home Learning tasks will be set weekly from Week 2 on TTRockstars and Spelling Shed. Children will be shown how to access these tasks in school and logins will be sent home during the first week back. 

Mrs Heighton is the class-teaching assistants and she will be with the class all week. 

If you have any questions, please don’t hesitate to ask. I will be on the playground from 8.30am every morning and at the classroom door at the end of the school day at 3.25pm. 

We look forward to a brilliant start to Year 3. Please remember to check back here to see our super learning this year in Dolphins.

Mrs Holvey