Each week, usually on a Friday, you will find an update about our weeks learning and adventures! Within this class blog I will summarise what we have been up to in our lessons, inform you of any WOW moments from the week and also remind you of any useful information, whether this be homework or dates. This information will also be posted on dojo so if you have any questions please do not hesitate to contact me via dojo or email.
Friday 9th November 2022:
Good morning all,
We hope you are all ok and managing to avoid all of the illnesses out there! A few of the bugs are slowly making their way through staff and children in Year 3 so please continue to be vigilant and ensure you follow the 48 hour absence from the last episode of sickness and diarrhoea. We have quite a few nasty coughs around too, thank you for monitoring these.
Please can I politely request that children are practising spellings and completing 3 weekly reads to an adult. Last weeks spelling scores for most children were pretty low and when we discussed them, most children mentioned they hadn’t practised last week. If spelling booklets are misplaced, please dojo for an extra copy or you will find them on our webpage - https://www.dovedaleprimaryschool.co.uk/spellings-homework-1/. Your children know which group they are in.
When reading to an adult, please can you record this in the days of the week set out in diary rather than the achievement box as occasionally we’re struggling to fit spelling scores in the bottom box. When reading, please also pop your initials so we can ensure we do not miss awarding any children their rewards for 3 weekly reads.
Please can you also make sure we have reading diaries in school everyday too. Occasionally children are forgetting these which makes it difficult for children to use throughout the day. Next Tuesday, your child will most likely come home without their reading diary, this will be for one night only and is part of some school monitoring with SLT. I know lots of you would like diaries back with a Saturday and Sunday box so I have passed these comments over for next year.
A reminder that Thursday is our final forest school session of the year. It will involve the fire pit and toasting marshmallows and pancakes. It’ll be pretty cold again so please remember to send your child in warm clothing with hats, scarfs and gloves. We will not be doing an outdoor PE on Thursday so please can we request that children bring their school uniform to change back into.
On one final note, Tutankhamun won the attendance prize for Autumn Term 🥳. We are currently deciding what we would like our prize to be and I will confirm on dojo tomorrow.
Thanks for all your support. We’ve had a fantastic autumn term so far!
Miss Bestwick 😊
Friday 4th October 2022:
Tutankhamun Class have settled in brilliantly after half term and have made a positive start to their new learning across all curriculum areas.
In English the children have linked their learning to Ancient Egypt and the current news around Howard Carter. We have explored who Howard Carter was and learnt all about his life including childhood, education and early work. With this we focused on the skill of note-taking and then turning our notes into detailed sentences. In Maths we have fully mastered mental strategies for crossing over 10s when subtracting. A little tricky at the start of the week but with perseverance we managed to succeed.
Our afternoon sessions have been as busy. We have completed our final masterpiece of Vincent Van Gogh's famous Starry Night painting. These will be showcased in our art gallery for parents/carers to see. We have kickstarted our learning in Science by sharing all of our knowledge on Light and learning scientific definitions for both light and dark. In computing, children were keen to start their new unit on creating media. We managed to make pictures move by creating our own little flip-books using post it notes and eventually moving on to stop-frame animations using Stop Motion technology on the iPad. I know the children were keen to continue this learning at home so we discussed how these can be recreated on iPads using Stop Motion or I-motion.
It was a pleasure to meet you all at parents evening this week - sharing your child's journey in Year 3 so far. Thank you for time and support in ensuring your child makes the best possible progress.
Homework this week is 3x weekly reads, spelling practice (please see booklet provided at parents evening or access the 'spelling and homework tab for a breakdown of the terms spellings.) We also have a My Maths task focusing on mental strategies for addition and subtraction. This is to consolidate their basic knowledge and skills we have been learning in class.
A reminder that Monday 7th November is individual class photos. Children are to come to school in uniform for their photos. Children do not need to bring PE kits to change into. We have rhythmic gymnastics so will be able to manage without PE kits for one week only.
Thanks for your continued support.
Miss Bestwick 
Friday 21st October 2022:
And just like that our first half term in Year 3 is complete. A busy but fun half term with children developing in more ways than one! We have seen children develop in confidence daily and they are really beginning to increase in maturity and independence too! Behaviour has started to settle and the class have been a delight to teach!
Moving into the next half of Autumn Term, our curriuclum will build upon knowledge from last term and begin to introduce newer concepts too. Please head over to our 'curriculum info' tab where you will find a breakdown of each subject. Below this you will find knowledge organisers too which will support with the children's learning at home.
Children will be continuing in the same spelling groups as last half term. A breakdown of spellings can be found on our 'spelling and homework' tab. This half term, I have edited the spelling booklet slightly to include the homework focus aswell. Hopefully this will make it slightly easier for you to follow.
Next half term the children will be participating in Forest School sessions led by Miss Barrett. This will replace our outdoor PE session. Next half term, indoor PE will be on a Monday afternoon - children to come to school in their PE kits as usual. Our Forest School session will be on Thursday mornings. Children can come to school in their forest school clothing but must bring their school uniform to change into after the session.
Next half term we will be running our parent drop in sessions. Thank you to each and everyone of you who have signed up to discuss your child's start in Year 3. Most of your sessions are on Wednesday 2nd November 2022 however I have managed to slot others on alternative days - thank you for your flexibility with this!
Enjoy your half term and I will message nearer to the return to school. Polite reminder that Monday 31st October 2022 is an INSET and therefore school is closed to pupils.
Thanks.
Miss Bestwick