Friday 12th July 2019

it is hard to believe that we have just had our last full week of the school year. The children have come SUCH a long way in Year 3, I am sure you join us in being very proud of them.

On Monday we had a thrilling STEAM lesson where the children were able to test how their model boats fared in a paddling pool filled with water. They used weights to see how many grams their boat could hold without sinking, and used Doron’s hand-held fan to propel their boat across the water. It was a lot of fun!

On Monday we will be sending home the children's books. Please make sure that the children come to school with a sturdy extra bag to carry things home in.

Morah Neta says please can all children bring back their Ivrit reading books as soon as possible. Many thanks!

On the same note, please check your bookshelves and reading folders to make sure that all books from our class or school library have been returned. Thank you!

A huge well done to ALL of the children for their performance in the cross country. 

Have an an amazing weekend, see you all next week.

Shabbat Shalom!

Friday 5th July 2019

This week we finally finished our re-drafts of letters from Tranio from Escape from Pompeii and some of them are up on display. They all look really amazing, the children did a fantastic job of editing and copying up their work neatly.

On Friday the children had their second transition session with Ms Rose, they had a wonderful time and are very excited to be in Year 4.

We spent time this week going through the script for our end of year presentation and allocating parts. We worked hard to becoming fluent with the lines and learn the song with the help of Mr Fingerhut. 

The end of year presentation afternoon takes place on Tuesday at 2pm prompt. 

Children should come to school on Tuesday wearing dark trousers or skirts and a coloured t-shirt (as plain as possible). Thank you and looking forward to seeing you!

The children all looked incredible on Friday with their crazy hairstyles!

The children’s homework this week is to complete the third chapter of their story in Creative Writing.

Shabbat Shalom, enjoy the sunshine. ☀️ 

Friday 28th June 2019

In English we have been working on the children’s redrafting and editing skills. We made a list of things to check, such as spelling, punctuation, sense, and use of capital letters. We also discussed how children could improve their work, using more ambitious vocabulary, stronger verbs, different conjunctions and starting sentences in different ways.

In Maths we worked on adding two and three digit numbers, and revised how to make an ‘exchange’ from another place value column when crossing tens or hundreds. 

On Thursday we were blessed with amazing weather for our second session at Forest School. The children were shown how to make dens using rope, tarpaulin and twigs found nearby for tent pegs. They worked really well in their groups and worked hard to solve problems together without asking for too much help. The finishing touches for the dens were produced using branches, twigs and leaves, and included seating areas and a little front garden. Then there was time for some nature-based craft activities, for example making pictures with water mixed with charcoal that the children crushed themselves, and making headdresses.

• If you have any hand-held fans at home, please send them in to school on Monday for our next STEAM lesson.
• A little reminder to please send in an afternoon snack for your child. We try to have a classroom break most afternoons, but many of the children say they are hungry but don’t have a snack to eat.

Th children were very lucky and excited to spend time with their new teacher, Ms Rose, on Friday. We hope they enjoyed their session, we know that they are going to have an amazing time in Year 4.

The children will have another session with Ms Rose next week and before the end of term, the current Year 3 team and the new Year 4 team will be carrying out a full transfer of information.  

Shabbat Shalom, have a great weekend and enjoy the sunshine.

Friday 21st June 2019

What a week it has been!

We began with Sports Day on Monday. I hope that all the children had the most fantastic day. They tried their best in all their activities and showed admirable sportsmanship, focusing on team work and having fun being active. The children behaved really well overall and should be proud of themselves, as we are.

This week enjoyed having a strong focus on our Geography unit- Extreme Earth. In the actual lesson we learned about how volcanoes are formed, and we will be continuing next week. We had a live demonstration of all the model volcanoes brought in by the children 'erupting'- it was a lot of fun! Raphy also

asked if he could show the class his plasticine model of the Earth and it's layers.

Coming up next week we are excited to see the Year 6 play and also for Forest School on Thursday. Please ensure that the children are dressed in weather-appropriate clothes, including SPF as the weather forecast at the moment says it will be very warm that day.

Shabbat Shalom to all, have a lovely weekend.

Friday 14th June 2019

We hope everyone had a lovely Shavuot.

This week in Maths we continued consolidating the children's calculation skills, focusing on addition and subtraction to make sure that these are really secure before Year 4. In addition we have been ensuring that we do some reasoning and problem solving each day.

In creative writing the children began writing their chapter stories with Mrs Sondhelm. These have been sent home for the children to finish and need to be back by Tuesday for their next creative writing lesson.

On Wednesday some of the children went to play football, well done to them for all their hard work and perseverance. The remaining children worked on their skills of redrafting. After a discussion about the different things we need to look for and edit before rewriting, such as punctuation, capital letters, and sense, the children began writing out their chosen piece of work. We then had a lovely Art lesson, painting a volcano erupting at different stages.

On Monday it is Sports Day! We are hoping for nice weather. Please ensure that the children have enough snacks, lunch and water, and weather appropriate clothing.

Have a great weekend, see you at the Kerem Funday!

Friday 07.06.19

This week in Maths we have been going over all our calculation skills, starting with addition and subtraction. It is very important that the children all embed this learning before moving on to Year 4. They are doing an amazing job in this work. Through this we have also been extending our use of mathematical vocabulary, ensuring that this is always used to reason both verbally and in written answers.

In English we have continued our work on the story Escape from Pompeii, looking at the stages of a volcanic eruption and describing this in detail. The children's descriptive writing has improved so much, they are using more quality vocabulary and considering how to vary their length, conjunctions and openers. One area that still presents a challenge is remembering to include full stops (or other pieces of punctuation) at the end of sentences. Please use any opportunities to reinforce this at home. 

In Art we looked at photographs of volcanoes and discussed the colours at various stages and also the media that we could use to best show the textures we could see. This was especially productive as we had spent so much time in English describing volcanoes.

This week we began learning about Geography. Our topic is called 'Extreme Earth', and we began with a discussion of what we know and what we'd like to know about this topic.

Many of the children have run out of ink in their frixion pens. Please send in some refills. Many thanks.

I'd also like to practise the children's cutting skills during soft starts, if you have any catalogues at home, such as Ikea or Argos, please send them in. Thanks!

24.05.19

The school have been working on the topic of birth celebrations. Jake, Chloe and Shai delivered interesting facts about Christenings to the whole school assembly, well done!

Friday 17th May 2019

This week we finally began our STEAM project!

Guest teacher Mr Forbes (to Year 3, anyway) came to introduce the project and help us on our way. The children were put into teams, with each team tasked with designing and making a sea-worthy boat. They were given a list of constraints and issues to consider. Each team gave themselves a name. The children are very excited to begin brainstorming and designing their vessel next week.

In Maths we worked on subtracting lengths, focusing on problems involving the difference between two lengths.

In English we had a lovely time exploring the four seasons. We listened to Vivaldi's famous piece of music, and tried to identify which season was being represented by each clip of music. We then focused on each season one at a time, discussing vocabulary, words and phrases that each season evokes for us. After discussion and brainstorming, the children wrote a paragraph about each season. They came up with wonderful ideas and wrote in very beautiful and almost poetic styles. Well done Year 3!

On Thursday we were very lucky to host a school from France, who came to join us for Tefillah.

Shabbat Shalom, wishing you all a great weekend!

Friday 10th May 2019

This week has been great fun in Year 3!

In English we began our new class text, Escape from Pompeii by Christina Balit. We read the first page and discussed the rich vocabulary, then writing our own sensory descriptions. 

In Maths we continued working on the unit Length and Perimeter, focussing on calculation skills- adding and subtracting different lengths.

In History we are finishing off our learning about Roman Britain in the coming weeks. This week the children learned about Hadrian's Wall.

On Thursday the children had an amazing day celebrating Yom Ha'atzmaut at school. They had an Israeli lunch, took part in different activities and over £800 was raised on the sponsored walk. Well done!

Thank you for all the materials sent in for our STEAM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Art and Mathematics) project. We will be starting this on Monday.

Have a lovely weekend, Shabbat Shalom!

Friday 3rd May 2019

Welcome back!

We hope you all had a lovely Pesach and a fantastic break. 

It has been lovely seeing the children back at school this week, although it has been a short one.

In Maths we recapped our learning from before the holidays on units used for measuring length (mm, cm, m) and the relationships between them. We then moved on to adding and subtracting lengths. 

In English we finally began some formal learning about the use of apostrophes. We began learning about how apostrophes are used in contractions (can't, isn't, wasn't I'm, she's)- when two words are 'contracted' together to make one word, and some letters are replaced by an apostrophe. Next week we will move on to how apostrophes are used to show possession in singular contexts (e.g. 'that is our friend's cat', 'Anna's brother is called Tom.'). It will take some time to embed this learning, especially as some children are already have a misconception about how apostrophes are used, for example using them inappropriately in plural nouns. Please support your child by discussing the examples of apostrophes you find when reading, whether they are doing the reading or being read to. 

In History the children began making a fact file poster about Boudicca, the infamous Celtic queen who led an army in rebellion against the Romans. 

You will have seen that the children received a new homework grid for this term, with tasks based on our History/Geography topics, the Romans and 'Extreme Earth'. We will be starting the latter topic after half term, so please save those tasks for then. This week the children were asked to complete a task from the grid, but were not given Maths homework in addition to this. A gentle reminder that the homework is due in on Mondays, or any day before this.

Our PE days this term are Wednesday (PE) and Thursday (swimming). Please make sure that all the children have a (re-usable) bottle at school, so that they can stay hydrated at those important times. Although the water bottles are kept inside the classroom so that they are close at hand if the children need them, the expectation is that they are re-filling them and doing the majority of their drinking at break and lunch times. The children mostly leave them in the classroom, however! Please help me to encourage them to take their water bottles out to break and lunch with them. Many thanks.

Wishing you all a Shabbat Shalom and a brilliant long weekend.

Friday 5th April 2019

Happy Friday everyone!

This week in Year 3 we learned about the Roman invasions of Britain. The children made a poster with all the facts, which they found as part of a reading comprehension.

In Maths we concluded our learning on the topic of Statistics, and began the next unit of length and perimeter. The focus is on measuring accurately, choosing the most appropriate units to use (mm, cm, m) and how they relate to one another, before moving on to perimeter. We started this unit today.

In English we worked on the children's understanding of story structure, using our plan to write an organised story.

Some quick reminders/requests:

• Birthday treats- in general biscuits or cupcakes or doughnuts are preferred rather than cakes, for which a knife has to be found in good time for the end of the day, and makes quite a lot of mess. Any cakes sent in will of course be given out, but if there is a choice one of the other options is preferred. Many thanks for your understanding.
• In  the summer term we will be starting out STEAM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Art and Maths) project in class. For this project we will need an assortment of materials, the sorts of things that you would recycle at home- rinsed out plastic bottles, boxes from deliveries, kitchen roll tubes etc. We will also need some cling film and kitchen foil. We will begin collecting these from now, so please send in anything you have that might be helpful (although not too much before the holidays as I'll need to find somewhere to store it!). Many thanks!
• Please see the poster below about coming to school in costume next Friday in support of Camp Simcha.

Have a wonderful weekend, Shabbat Shalom!

Friday 29th March 2019

I can't believe how quickly the month of March has flown by, and that there are now only two weeks until the end of the Spring Term.

This week in Year 3 we have been working hard to complete our money unit in Maths. The children did very well and have learned how to use a number to add and subtract amounts of money, which is a scaffold for adding and subtracting mentally. We also began our statistics unit; so far we have looked at pictograms and bar charts as different ways to present information visually. The challenge in this unit has been processing the information and using the key, remembering the number that each picture on the pictogram represents. This could be 1, 2, 5, 10 etc.

Maths Homework: I felt that the children weren't quite ready to complete the work I had prepared for homework, so instead their Maths homework is to work on their times tables. They can do this in any way they please, using a times tables book if they have one at home, or if they have access to Doodle Maths, the online game Hit the Button (https://www.topmarks.co.uk/maths-games/hit-the-button.) They can also learn them by rote verbally or by chanting if that is helpful for them. Anything is fine as long as they are using the time to work on their times tables skills.

In English we wrote a story plan for our own adventure story.

This week we continued to work hard on handwriting. The children received their Frixion pens and have been enjoying using them. The children have asked if they can use pens for their homework too, and I have told them that they can use a Pilot Frixion pen if they have one at home, but no other type of pen. They can still use pencil, so please don't feel that you need to rush out and buy pens. Please ensure that only pencil is used for Maths, and discourage rubbing out of both pencil and pen. Many thanks.

Shabbat Shalom, have a wonderful weekend!

Friday 22nd March 2019

We have had one of the most busy and exciting weeks ever this week!

In Art we made our Bronze Age-style beakers out of terracotta clay. The children worked very hard to use the designs they made in History lessons to decorate the beakers using small dots, which were made using special tools (AKA cotton  buds cut in half!).

On Wednesday when some of the children were out of school at the football tournament (well done to those children!), we looked at a picture of a person and discussed what we could see, what we could infer about the person and questions we wanted to ask about them.

In Maths we continued working on money. As part of this we created a special 'pop-up shop' in the classroom, decided how to price all of the items, made shopping lists which were then swapped with others, and 'went shopping'. The children had to price up their items and pay at our 'cash desk'. The cashiers had to give the correct change and choose the right coins to use. We had a lot of fun!

Friday 15th March 2019

This week in English we continued learning about the story 'The Tunnel' by Anthony Browne, exploring fairy tale themes and describing and comparing the two characters from the story, Jack and Rose, who are brother and sister.

In Maths we kept going with our unit on money. We worked particularly hard on the skill of adding amounts of money, using a number line. This method involves various mathematical skills; rounding up to the next whole pound, partitioning amounts of money (for example if you added 38p to get to the nearest pound, how much more do you need to add if adding £1.24?). This models how to break down calculations to make them easier to solve, as well as how we might add amounts of money mentally when shopping. We also began subtracting amounts of money and next week we will learn about change. With regards to the homework this week, this is a practical task working on the crucial life skill of understanding the value of money and how to use it to shop. It is not necessary for the children to write down what they have done, but I am always happy to see if they would like to write it down. 

In Science this week the children investigated sources of light and had fun predicting if items were a light source or not. Thank you for all the light related items sent in. 

Shabbat Shalom, have a lovely weekend!

Friday 8th March 2019

It has been really lovely having a relatively 'normal' week this week, we enjoyed having our usual lessons and routine.

Apologies that some of the blog post from last week seems to have disappeared, I'm not sure when that happened but am hoping that some parents might have read the full version!

In English lessons this week we started working on our skills of reading and comprehension, which we will hopefully continue with every Monday. The children made a fantastic start. We then began reading the story 'The Tunnel' by Anthony Browne. We only read the first half, up to the part of the story when the little girl in the story follows her brother through a tunnel, not knowing what she would find at the other side. The children then wrote a prediction of what they think might be on the other side, using clues from the story so far to explain why. The children are very intrigued to read the rest of the book now!

Handwriting 

We are working very hard on handwriting and will continuing to practise as often as we can at school. Some of the key areas we are working on, which will be relevant at home too, are pencil grip (‘tripod’ grip with the pencil being pinched between the thumb and forefinger, with the middle finger supporting the pencil), letter formation (that each letter, and numbers too, begins and ends in the correct place and with the correct formation such as round letters formed in an anti-clockwise direction) and proportion (for capital letters to be larger, so for some children their general handwriting needs to reduce in size, for ascenders or ‘tall’ letters to reach greater height and and ‘descenders’ to reach beneath the line). Please support at home whenever you can. 

The children will shortly be receiving Pilot ‘Frixion’ handwriting pens. These will be named and it will be the children’s responsibility to look after them. If any get lost they will have to be replaced from home. Many thanks for your support and understanding.

It was fantastic to have such positive conversations with the parents we saw at the consultation evening on Wednesday night, and we look forward to seeing the parents we have not yet seen on Monday.

wishing you all a Shabbat Shalom and a lovely weekend. 😊

The next day we wrote a recount of our outing. The children organised their writing using paragraphs for each event throughout the day, and used time words and phrases such as first, then, next, after, a while later, meanwhile etc.

On Wednesday we had a Shabbat UK assembly in the morning with Tribe, where we guessed who the special guest was, hidden beneath the Challah cover. We also had the chance to go into the Shabbat UK done, where we watched an animation about Shabbat and we discussed this afterwards. It was a lot of fun!

Friday 15th February 2019

What a busy week we have had at school this week! Book week has been truly amazing.

On Monday the children took part in Mrs Sondhelm's Book Quiz, and the Year 3 team won the quiz!

On Tuesday the day began with 'Write with your Child'. We were so happy to welcome parents, cousins, aunties and grandparents to the school, thanks to all who were able to come. Reminder that the stories need to be completed, typed up and brought back in to school after half term, so that they can be made into a special book of stories. After this we held our class poetry recital, which we all really enjoyed. Well done to all the children for choosing, learning and performing their poems, they all did a fantastic job.

Later on Tuesday the Book Week debate took place, with the children debating the statements 'Technology could Replace Teachers' and 'Technology makes us Cleverer'. After this they had a special afternoon break, with a choice of activities- going out to play with friends, art, puzzles and games, and drama.

On Wednesday we ended the day with a whole-school silent (well almost silent) reading session. All children and staff brought their books to the Landy gallery and spent time just reading.

On Thursday all the adults in the school read a story to different groups of children. Year 3 were split into 2 groups and were read to by Morah Neta or Mrs Borman. Mrs Collins read to a group of Reception children. At the end of the day we all went to the hall for the school poetry recital, listening to some excellent poems recited by pupils, parents and staff from across the school.

Even with all this excitement, we still managed to squeeze in some other lessons this week. In Maths we worked on subtracting two digit numbers from 3 digit numbers. In History we began learning about the Bronze Age, the era that followed the Stone Age. Next comes the Iron Age, also known as Celtic Britain. In Art we finished some very effective silhouettes of Stonehenge.

Reminders

On Tuesday 26th February (the second day after the holidays) we will be going on our outing to Celtic Harmony. The children will need to have with them a bottle of water, healthy snacks and a packed lunch. Please ensure that they are dressed for the weather, all of the activities take place outside or in a large Celtic roundhouse, and it can be very cold. The children should wear their PE uniform and bring coats and outdoor accessories such as gloves.

Shabbat Shalom, have an enjoyable and restful half term.

Friday 1st March 2019

we have had a really exciting week in Year 3.

Without a doubt, the highlight was our outing to Celtic Harmony on Tuesday. We spent the day with our Celtic guides, experiencing what life might have been like for Celts living in the Iron Age in Britain. Activities included twisting reeds into ropes to make a headband, painting Celtic symbols on our faces to scare our opponents in battle, archery and a scavenger hunt. We were very lucky with the weather, it was lovely to spend so much time outdoors. 

Friday 8th February 2019

In English this week we wrote our own lines for the poem Where Teachers Keep Their Pets by Paul Cookson. We began by reading through the poem and identifying its features. We found some of the word classes that we have worked on, such as nouns, verbs and prepositions. We also noticed all the words that rhyme in the poem and made a small rhyming dictionary together. You can read the poem below.

In Maths we continued learning about multiplying 2 digit numbers, including when the tens or hundreds boundary is crossed and an 'exchange' takes place (when ten ones are exchanged for one ten, or ten tens are exchanged for one hundred). We then began looking at division, using concrete resources to 'share' the numbers in tens and ones.

If you would be interested in attending a short meeting, where the new Maths curriculum and ways of teaching number can be explained, please let me know (acollins@keremschool.co.uk). Many thanks.

In History we made timelines, plotting the significant changes that took place in Britain between the Stone Age and the Iron Age. We began discussing how the Bronze Age began (following the Neolithic period of the Stone Age) and will be learning more about this in the coming weeks.

Reminders

Next week is Book Week and there are many activities planned. We are especially looking forward to Year 3's 'Write with your Child' session on Tuesday morning.

Throughout Book Week the Book Fair will be in the Hall, where there will be books available to purchase.

Friday 1st February 2019

Happy snowy Friday!

In Art this week we concluded our project on Pointillism, some examples of the children’s artwork can be seen below.

This week in Science, children investigated which type of magnet was strongest.

In Maths we moved on from single digit multiplication to multiplying two digits. We used equipment to show the 2 digit number 2, 3 or 4 times, and then used the column multiplication method. We will be continuing with this as well as dividing two digits next week. Please note that we will be working on conceptual understanding and not using formal methods such as ‘bus stop’, so please hold off using these at home to avoid any confusion. Please ensure that the children continue to learn and practise their times tables (2, 5, 10, 3, 4, 6 and 8). Thank you for your support. 

In English we have been enjoying reading various poems with a school theme. Please keep practising the children’s poems for Book Week.

Shabbat Shalom!

Friday 25th January 2019

In English lessons this week we moved on to learning about performance poetry. We watched some examples of well-known poet Michael Rosen performing his poems, and discussed what made his performances engaging. The children then worked in small groups to perform a poem for the class. At the end of each performance we took the time to give positive feedback. It was so nice to hear the children praising the work of other groups.

As part of our upcoming Book Week, the children will need to select a poem and learn it off by heart so that they can perform it to the class. We will then choose the best performances together. Please help your child start looking for a poem and learning for our recital, so that they have lots of time. Thank you for your support.

In Maths this week we looked at comparing statements involving multiplication and division using the symbols greater than >, less than < and equal to =. We then we moved on to using known number facts to solve more tricky related calculations. 

In History we spent a lot of time discussing the fascinating discovery made in Orkney in 1850, when a wild storm ripped the grass away exposing the ruins of Skara Brae, a Neolithic Stone Age village.

In Art we began using paints and cotton buds to recreate artist Georges Seurat's painting, La Seine a la Grande-Jatte (1888).

At the end of next week we will be holding elections for our class School Council representatives. We have had a discussion about what this involves. If your child would like to stand, please help them to write a short speech, explaining why they would like to be on the School Council and how they feel they can contribute, and email it to me (or bring it in) by Wednesday.

THANK YOU!

Thank you so much to all the children for giving me a lovely birthday!

Special thanks to all the parents who so kindly gave their children snacks to bring in, we had a wonderful time together.

Tu Bishvat - 21 January

We had a very enjoyable day eating fruit, playing games and learning about Tu Bishvat.  Thank you to all of you for providing the fruit and to the special mums who cut up the fruit and presented it so beautifully on individual class platters. 

Looking ahead to March, we shall be having Consultation Evenings when I shall update you, please G-d, on your child's progress in Jewish Studies.  Unfortunately, I was unable to attend the Consultation Evenings in the Autumn Term.  Should any parent feel a particular urgency to see me before the March Consultation Evenings, please email me so that we can set up a mutually convenient appointment.  

Best wishes

Mrs R Stahl

Jewish Studies teacher

Tu B'Shvat Monday 21st January 2019

Tu B'Shvat is on Monday and we are all looking forward to seeing all the fruits the children bring in.

As Monday is a PE day, they should still come to school in trainers and tracksuit trousers. These can be in the Tu B'Shvat colours or flowers if you have these at home. 

Friday 18th January 2019

For the last couple of weeks we have been working on our new Art project, examining the work of artist Georges Seurat and learning about pointillism, a technique of painting in which small, distinct dots of colour are applied in patterns to form an image. 

On Monday the children had a brilliant e-safety session with Luke about staying safe online.

In English we used the book How to Wash a Woolly Mammoth to become better acquainted with imperative verbs (usually used in instructions, e.g. turn, wash, scrub, soak, stroll) and prepositions (words which tell us where, e.g. under, over, on top, behind, after). This complements their work with Mrs Sondhelm in Creative Writing. 

In Maths we continued learning about multiplication and division, this week looking at multiplying and dividing by 4 while reinforcing the concept of what we mean by 'multiply' and 'divide' using concrete resources and diagrams.

This week in Science the children used Newton meters to measure the force it takes to move a shoe on different surfaces.

Reminders

• Please let us know if your child is unable to take part in PE or Gym, and make sure that they are wearing school uniform instead of PE uniform.
• Our email addresses are  acollins@keremschool.co.uk     and    lsteel@keremschool.co.uk (Thursday)
• The email address year3teachers@keremschool.co.uk is not in use. If you think that you have emailed that address about an important matter, please write to us again and we won't have received it. Many thanks!
• Next Friday 25th January is 'Bluish Jewish' day. The children may come to school dressed in blue and are asked to bring a (minimum) donation of £1.
• 'Write with your Child' will take place on Tuesday 12th February.
• Our outing to Celtic Harmony is on Tuesday 26th February.

Shabbat Shalom, see you next week!

Friday 11th January 2019

Welcome back to Year 3 and happy 2019! We hope that all the children and their families had a lovely winter break, we have enjoyed hearing about them this week.

On Monday the children wrote about their holidays in English, using a simple structure of introductory sentence, and 3 events or activities to describe. Some of the children are still forgetting to include basic punctuation in their every day writing; please watch out for this and we will continue working on it in school too.

In Maths this week we began learning about times tables and what this means conceptually. We began by looking at and recognising equal groups, showing these using cubes and counters and writing statements such as '6 groups of 3'. We then moved on to multiplying and dividing by 3. The expectations for times tables in Year 3 are for the children to know 2, 3, 4, 5, 8 and 10 by the end of this year, though this may not be realistic for all children. We will be working on times tables on Fridays in Maths, but it will also be necessary for the children to learn them by rote at home. There are a number of good apps available to help, including the (free) game Hit the Button (a game on the following web site https://www.topmarks.co.uk/maths-games/hit-the-button) and Times Tables Rock Stars.

In History we learned about Stone Age food, starting off with children who had chosen to complete the homework task last term giving us facts about how people got their food in the Stone Age and moving on to comparing their diet to ours today.

The children received their new homework grid for the term on Wednesday. We read through most of the tasks to discuss and clarify them. If there are any questions about this, please don't hesitate to contact me (Mrs Collins).

** Not to be missed **

Next week is E-Safety Week at school. On Monday 14th January at 7.30pm-9pm there will be an E-Safety meeting for parents, to help parents understand how to help children stay safe online.

Wishing everyone a Shabbat Shalom and looking forward to a fabulous term.

Thursday 13th December 2018

The week began with our Chanukah performance. The children were amazing and a great thanks to Mrs Sondehelm for all her help.

Below Max, Rosie and Chloe, told us their favourite parts of the week:

"In Science this week we tested how hot different places in our body are. We took a piece of chocolate and placed it between two fingers to see how quickly it would melt. If melted quickly then your hands are warm, if it took a long time to melt your hands are cold. We also got to eat the chocolate at the end!

In Computing we used Tynker. This is a coding programme, where we tried to figure out how to move our character around.  It was really fun.  In Maths, we did some problem solving and in Ivrit we used JiTap where we made games in Ivrit!"

Have a wonderful winter break, we look forward to seeing you all in 2019!

Friday 7th December 2018

Happy Chanukah to all our Year 3 families!

This week at school we have been having whole-school Tefillah each morning, as we say the extra tefillot of Hallel over Chanukah. We have also gathered as a school each afternoon to light the Chanukah candles and sing Chanukah songs together.

We have also been busily rehearsing for our Chanukah show on Monday. We have made a relatively long play, and the children have learned a lot through the process. We can't wait for many of you to see it on Monday. Children should come to school in their clothes for the play (unless they are wearing a toga), which they can continue wearing for the day.

In English this week we began a research project in preparation for writing a non-fiction report about different birds. We looked at the features of reports and brainstormed possible subheadings to help guide the research and organise the writing.

In History we learned about what people wore in the Stone Age and how their clothes were made.

There wasn't any homework this week so that the children can celebrate Chanukah with their families. 

Shabbat Shalom!

Friday 30th November 2018

We combined our Art and History lessons this week to learn about and create our very own cave (style) paintings. They are now hanging up on a line across our classroom and look really fantastic. The children enjoyed learning about how people in the Stone Age made the paint they used, how they made their marks and what cave paintings usually depicted.

As a class we have been discussing the costumes for our Chanukah performance, which will take place on Monday 10th December. A separate letter will be sent home about this, but don't worry no one will have to buy anything especially.

It was lovely to see the other parents at the consultations on Wednesday night and to hear such positive feedback about the children's start to Year 3. Please do contact us by email if there are any concerns you have about your child or if you'd like to let us know something.

Please note, at school the children are doing lots of independent reading, and at home they should still be reading with an adult as often as possible. Many thanks for your support.

Shabbat Shalom!

TATE UPDATE

Monday 26th November

Today we finally had our session with Jessica, a special photographer from the Tate, who came to take our class photograph. Jessica led a discussion and some short activities about art, photography, creativity, individuality, and what it means to be a ‘Londoner’. The children all looked very smart and had a lovely time. Our photograph will be part of an installation at the Tate Britain from November 2019. It will then be given to the school to keep.

Friday 23rd November 

It was so lovely seeing many parents this week on Tuesday night at the Parent Consultations; we look forward to seeing the rest of you this coming Wednesday evening.

The children should have come home with the script for our Chanukah show, as well as the lyrics to our song. Please help your child learn their lines over the weekend to help our rehearsals run smoothly. We hope that many of you will be able to come and watch us on Monday 10th December.

In Art most of the children have finally finished their ‘Golden Autumn’ collages. They look very effective and the care and attention the children took over their work was amazing. Next in Art we will be looking at Stone Age art and making our own cave paintings.

In Science the class have been learning about the skeleton and it’s functions.

Our session with the photographer from the Tate will take place on Monday morning. Please make sure that all the children come to school looking neat and tidy and in full school uniform, including school Kippah, sweater and correct school tie for Key Stage 2. Hair must still be tied up. Thank you!

REMINDER at the bottom of the Year 3 page there is a link to the Ivrit blog, don’t forget to have a look regularly to see all the activities and news from our Ivrit teachers. There will also be important information about oral assessments that are happening next week for Year 3,5 and 6.

Pupil Quotes

 Joe says: "I enjoyed researching cave paintings."

 Liya says: "I was happy to finish my collage in Art."

 Shai says: "I felt happy this week."

Enjoy looking at our latest photos and Shabbat Shalom from the Year 3 team.

Friday 16th November

Welcome to a new week in Year 3!

The children have been enjoying getting acquainted with their ipads and seeing how these can be used to enhance their learning. They are being taught how to look after them and behave sensibly with them. We have special class monitors (of course we have no end of volunteers for this role) who help to give out and put away the ipads in the correct place.

In Maths this week we continued adding and subtracting one digit numbers from 3 digit numbers, this time involving an 'exchange' (what we might have called 'borrowing' when subtracting), such as 348 + 5, or 276 - 9. The emphasis for all our learning in Maths is on understanding rather than procedure alone- you may have noticed in the children's homework that this can involve diagrams and drawings (pictorial representations of the concrete equipment we use sometimes at school). Please support your child by encouraging them to use the methods and strategies they are taught at school, rather than ones you might rely on. We would be very happy to clarify any methods taught at school as and when this is needed.

In English we are working on the children's reading skills and are encouraging the children to read as much as possible. We began reading the story 'The Owl who was Afraid of the Dark' by Jill Tomlinson. We discussed the language used and defined any unfamiliar words, and completed some reading comprehension exercises on Chapter 1.

We are also currently enjoying shared reading (a book read aloud to the children) of 'Gobbolino the Witch's Cat', recommended by Mrs Sondhelm. We also try to spend around 20 minutes each day silent reading, during which children also have the opportunity to read to an adult and choose a new reading book when needed. It is therefore really important that the children bring their reading folders in to school each day. 

Thank you and a huge well done to everyone for getting their consent forms for the Tate Year 3 photography project. Our session will take place next Monday 26th November, so keep an eye on the class blog to read all about it!

Mitzvah Day takes place this weekend. Year 3 have spent time decorating tissue boxes for Jewish Women's Aid, and making Chanukah cards for the children of Aleh, a home for disabled children in Israel. See the Mitzvah Day website for details of projects that you can get involved with. 

Friday 9th November

Hi everyone!

It is unbelievable that we are into the second half of the Autumn term, where has it gone?!

Despite the many interruptions to school weeks at the start of the term, the children are very settled and enjoying learning new things.

In English lessons this week we did some recap work on the use of punctuation and capital letters. Common errors in the class include not using full stops, not using capital letters where they should be (at the start of sentences and for proper nouns), using capital letters where they should not be (in the middle of words/sentences), and forgetting to use question marks. 

Please help your child to embed good habits by reminding them to make sure that all use of punctuation and capital letters is correct at home, whether in something formal such as homework, or less formal like a birthday card for friends or family.

In addition, understanding of what a sentence is, and therefore where it ends, begins in reading. In class we read part of a text, first with me modelling and then each child had a turn, making sure that we read it sentence by sentence with a pause at every full stop and a breath at commas, but smooth reading for the rest of the sentence (no pauses at the end of a line!). Try this out at home when reading with your child.

In Maths we moved on from place value to begin our work on addition and subtraction. This week we focused on subtracting a one digit number from a 3 digit number, and the children used their excellent understanding of place value to make accurate calculations and explain what they did and why. We are also spending an increasing amount of time working on reasoning and problem solving, allowing the children to build up these valuable mathematical skills.

In Art we are finally able to make some progress in our 'Golden Autumn' inspired artwork. We looked at our photos again from our afternoon in the park, noting that the sky was a clear blue with some white cloud streaks. We then used blue paint and water to make a blue wash on our page for the background of our collage. Watch this space to see the final outcome in the coming weeks!

One of our class focuses this term outside of formal learning is kindness and communication. Unfortunately there have been a number of incidents this week where children in the class have been unkind to others about their work and the level of challenge they feel comfortable with, among other things. It is so important that we nurture a classroom culture where the children build each other up in their confidence, encourage one another to take risks and not be ashamed of mistakes. If there are appropriate moments at home to emphasise this, both at school and as a life skill, this would help the children understand its importance. Thank you!

Announcements and Reminders

• Please please please sign the consent form (even if you do not consent, we still need to know) for the Tate Year 3 project. No children will be excluded from any activity if their parent does not give consent, just their photo will not be used. I need to complete an online form saying that I have consent from parents on Monday, or the session will be cancelled. Thank you for supporting this exciting opportunity.

Shabbat Shalom, see you next week!

Jewish Studies 26th October - 17th Cheshvan

In our Jewish General Knowledge lesson, we are trying to learn the spellings and order of the 12 months of the Jewish year, which follows the moon. This year,  5779, is a leap year, which means we shall get a whole extra month. 
Twice a term there will be a test on the facts we have learned. In this way, hopefully by Year 6 we will have built up a vast bank of Jewish facts that will be useful till we're 120 years old!

Jewish Studies Rosh Chodesh Kislev - 9th November

We looked at Avraham's family tree to explain how Rivkah was related to Yitzchak - in more ways than one. Despite the wicked home she came from, she was good and kind and deserved to be Yitzchak's wife.

Friday 26th October 2018

Last Friday we were visited by Enav from Israel and her special guide dog,  Jeff. She talked to the children about the role that guide dogs play in enhancing the lives of blind people. 

In English this week we worked on the skill of writing dialogue in stories. The children creatively wrote a conversation that might have happened between Om and the Stone Age Boy in our story, with a focus on punctuation and capital letters. We then added speech marks and 'said' or an alternative. The children did a great job!

In Maths we compared and ordered numbers, and used our knowledge of counting in fives to help us identify and count the multiples of 50 forward and back. On Monday we tried out Graffiti Maths, when the children are given various tasks and they write their answers and all the steps they take to get there on a large shared piece of paper. This allows the children to work independently while having mathematical discussions with the others on their table, enhancing their learning and allowing them to notice and correct their own misconceptions.

In History we spent time discussing what we already know about the Stone Age, and what we'd like to find out. Then we learned some facts about What the Stone Age means, when it took place, and the areas of the world that were populated at that time.

Reminders

• The homework given out on Wednesday is due in on Monday 5th November, our first day back after half term.
• On Wednesday 7th November there will be a 'Read with Your Child' meeting with Mrs Sondhelm, starting at 8.45am in the dining room.

We hope that you all have a wonderful half term!

Friday 19th October 2018

This week in Year 3 we finally had our first History lesson. We contemplated ‘What is History?’ and learned about chronology. We began learning about the Stone Age through the text we are studying in English, Stone Age Boy by Satoshi Kitamura. We enjoyed sharing the story and the children listened with interest to the insights the story gave us about life in Stone Age Britain. The children used this text to write a description of story settings or characters.

How parents can help at home:

You could practise composing descriptive sentences orally, including adjectives but also challenging your child to think of all the different ones they could use and select the best/most appropriate one.

In Maths we used the knowledge of place value that we have built up over the past few weeks to learn how to add and subtract one, ten and one hundred. 

Reminders

All spelling books must be back by Friday and Homework by Monday.

On the subject of spelling, please join me in urging all of the children to spend time learning the words on their spelling lists, even if they are a strong speller. The aim is to expose the children to a wider range of vocabulary and encourage them to use them in their written work and spoken language too. If they spend a few minutes a day looking at the words and using them in sentences this will help them do this. Many thanks for all your support.

Shabbat Shalom, enjoy your weekend!

Friday 12th October 2018

Hello everyone, it's been great to finally have a full week at school.

Apologies for the lack of blog post last week- a technical hitch resulted in it being deleted accidentally.

The first set of spelling lists and homework assignments have now been set, please don’t hesitate to ask if anything is unclear.

Year 3 went to the park last Friday to record observations of our own ‘Golden Autumn’ scene. We are really looking forward to getting started with our artwork, thank you to everyone who has sent us magazines to use.

In English we enjoyed reading the story ‘The Day the Crayons Quit’, and its sequel ‘The Day the Crayons Came Home’. We used this opportunity to reflect on different types of text we have come into contact with, and how they can be recognised. We listed the features of letters and compared formal and informal ones.

In Maths we continued to explore the place value of multi-digit numbers and identified which digit changed when we add 1, 10 or 100.

We also began some special activities to help the children develop their fine motor skills. This involves a carousel of activities each day during soft start, see our photographs below.

Don’t forget to look at the Ivrit page, where there are special Ivrit class blogs with information, topic vocabulary and some photos/videos from Artishrei.

Wishing you all a Shabbat Shalom and a great weekend!

Jewish Studies - Wed 10th Oct - Rosh Chodesh Cheshvan

Thank you so much to all the many parents who joined us this morning for learning and Tefillah.  We do hope you enjoyed the morning and we wish you all Chodesh Tov - a good month!

Jewish Studies - 12th October 2018/3rd Cheshvan 5779

We’re reviewing the different Brachot we say on food. Do you know the Bracha for a) almond macaroons b) avocado (pear) c) turnip and d) milkshake? Talking of Brachot, we know where to find the Bracha on seeing a rainbow. As beautiful as a rainbow is, its appearance in the sky means Hashem is remembering His promise not to destroy the whole world with a flood again.

Jewish Studies - 5th October 2018/26 Tishrei 5779

We've started learning Chumash.  We're locating text by looking for the chapter and sentence numbers (Perek and Passuk numbers).  We know there are no speech marks in the Chumash, full stops look like double diamonds and sometimes a Hebrew word can mean up to 5 English ones! We've learned our first Shoresh (root of verb):" to say" which is Alef-Mem-Resh.  We found it in Baruch She'amar, too.  So exciting!

28th Sept - 19th Tishrei. Jewish Studies

There's so much to do still. Yomtov's not over yet. We have to prepare the 5 aravot for Hoshana Rabba on Sunday - last chance to get rid of our averot (our bad deeds). Today we learned we shouldn't do any unnecessary writing on Chol HaMoed so we did a crossword in Hebrew about Succot and a wordsearch all in our heads!

Friday 28th September

We've had a very exciting and busy week at school, with much of our time spent on our educational visit to The Tate Britain on Wednesday and Succah visits.

Our visit to The Tate

It was so exciting to go on an outing together with the rest of Key Stage 2. We had a wonderful guide, her name was Claudia, and she showed us a number of paintings on display in the gallery and helped the children to pick out themes and make inferences about the era in which they were painted and the artists' moods based on the subject, landscape or colour palette. Thank you to Mrs Shannon and Mrs Eliott, who were with us on the trip.

Pupil Quotes

Rosie says: "It was really special walking through the gallery seeing all the historic paintings."

Shai says:  "I liked hearing about the paintings and the artists."

Ella Bracha says: "I liked how all the paintings we looked at were different."

Sarah says: "I enjoyed looking at the colours of the paintings."

Artishrei request

We will be working on producing a piece of artwork using collage related to our Artishrei painting. If you have any suitable magazines or paper at home please send them in. Thank you!

On Thursday the children went to visit the Succah of Family Dagul. 

Thank you for having us!

Reminders and Announcements

Now that the children are in Key Stage 2, they should be wearing a proper school tie, rather than the ties with elastic. Thank you!

On 7th November there will be a meeting for parents about reading in Key Stage 2, led by Mrs Sondhelm. It will start promptly at 8.45-9.20am and will take place in the dining room. We hope to see you there!

Artishrei Competition

In honour of Artishrei, we have launched a whole school Art Competition. We would love as many children as possible to enter. The children can work alone or with others to create a piece of artwork entitled ‘New Beginnings’. They can use any medium and there will be prizes for the winning entries!

Wishing everyone a Chag Sameach!

Friday 21st September 2018

Hi everyone!

We hope that all families had a good fast and a meaningful Yom Kippur.

It has been a short week at school this week, but we have still been busily working.

In Maths we have continued to explore numbers up to 1000 (3 digit numbers).  We recapped the mathematical symbols greater than >, less than< and equal to =. The children wrote their own statements using these symbols and two or three digit numbers of their choice.  We then looked deeper into the value of each digit in 2 and 3 digit numbers, drawing diagrams to represent them.

In English we completed a reading comprehension about penguins and began to recap some important grammar for written sentences, starting with capital letters. We have also been starting to learn about word classes (nouns, adjectives, adverbs). You can help your child by asking them to tell you when they spot an adjective in the book they are reading, or to point out a noun and ask them to think of an adjective to describe it.

We also spent some time reflecting on areas of our character or conduct that we would like to improve, to prepare the children for Yom Kippur.
 

Artishrei

We are looking forward to our trip to The Tate on Wednesday, where we will have a guided session on our Artishrei painting, which you can see below.

Reminders and announcements

• We are trying out keeping snacks in school bags next week, so labelling will not be necessary.

• Please make sure that your child has a named water bottle at school so that they can get a drink easily throughout the day. These are kept in the classroom.

• Our Rosh Chodesh Learning and Tefillah for Year 3 will take place on 10th October, 8.30am with light refreshments and a guided one-to-one study session for you and your child.  This will be followed by our special musical Tefillah and Hallel in the Shul at 9am and we will be finished by 9.45am. We hope that you can join us and we look forward to welcoming you.

NEWSFLASH:

Please mark your diaries ...

Wednesday 10th October

Rosh Chodesh Cheshvan

Year 3 Pupil and Parent Learning and Tefillah

8:30 am

Landy Gallery

We hope you can join us!

Jewish Studies - 14/09/18

We have been talking all about forgiveness and compared HaShem to human judges.   A person who commits a crime is sent to prison by the judge - saying sorry will not get him released from jail.  However, HaShem is a compassionate judge who wants us to realise that we may have done something wrong and forgives us if we are sincere.

We learnt the story of Rabbi Amnon of Mainz, Germany who lived in the 11th century.  He was asked by his friend the Bishop to become a Christian, though of course he refused.  Every Rosh HaShanah and Yom Kippur we say Rabbi Amnon's prayer - Unetane Tokef - which he taught his good friend Rabbi Klonymus in a dream and which makes us realise what solemn days these are.

Shabbat Shalom.

14/09/18

Welcome to Year 3!

We have enjoyed getting to know each other since the start of the school year and the children are learning their way around the classroom.

One of our first tasks was to create a set of class rules, the children had very sensible and thoughtful suggestions and they are now up on the wall of our classroom.

Pupil Quotes

Amelie says: "I am so excited to be in year 3. I am looking forward to going swimming and learning History."

Sarah says: "I am looking forward to earning lots of Housepoints. I can't wait to get an ipad and like my new teachers."

Ari says: "I really enjoyed making our class rules and decorating our hands to go around them."

Josh says: "I am excited to use lots of drama in our English lessons."

Liya says "I am looking forward to Art lessons."