Santa visits Year 3

The Children had a fantastic time last Friday when they took their letters to Santa. All of the pupils had some festive fun in Jolly Jesters, before meeting the big man himself. Their behaviour was fantastic and all had a gift to take home. All of our parents will get a photograph of their child with Santa over the next few days.  

Christmas Concerts

Dear Parents,

This year's Christmas  Concert is Pierre Pan, as part of the concert our boys are performing the Haka  and will need black T- Shirts and white shorts , if possible. The girls are singing "I want You To Want Me" and will need a cheerleader type of costume if possible (no pom poms needed).

Many thanks for your co-operation

Mr Llewellyn

Mr Burgess

N.B. Additional ticket sales will be available this Thursday 8th December on a first come first serve basis.

Words we would use to write a letter - Words to learn by 25/11/11

1. Formal
2. Informal
3. Writing
4. Letter
5. Dear
6. Opinion
7. Furthermore
8. Despite
9. Believe
10. Reply
11. Sincerely
12. Faithfully
13. Problem
14. Swiftly
15. Respond

Words for week ending 11/11/11

o-e, oa and ow words

1. float
2. goal
3. groan
4. moon
5. foam
6. broke
7. rope
8. hope
9. note
10. vote
11. code
12. hollow
13. borrow
14. tomorrow

Going Green

This week in year 3, is Going Green week. We are looking at how we can reduce the amount of water that we use in our daily lives. To kick start the topic we did a teamwork activity that made us think of water as a precious commodity. We were split into groups, and had to get water from one end of the yard to the other using sections of drain pipes. The winning group had the most amount of water at the end of the course. Year 6 were on hand measure the water, and to check that all the rules were met. The children worked brilliantly in their groups, showed superb teamwork and started to think of water as a resource.

Shape and Space In Year 3

Before Half Term we looked at shapes and their properties. The topic culminated in both classes making the shapes in the hall. As the children worked in groups they had to create shapes from squares to octagons and discuss the properties of the shapes using words such as equal length, parallel, right angles etc.

Words to lean by 21/10/11 i-e, igh, y words

fly
sky
spy
shy
cycle
python
sigh
sight
fight
flight
right
bright
side
slide
tide
posted by Sam

Words for week ending 10th October - a-e, ay, ai words

1. ace
2. lace
3. place
4. space
5. age
6. page
7..stage
8. pay
9. pray
10.spray
11.rain
12.trin
13. strain
14.trining
15.brain

Our Harvest Donations - thank you for your generosity.

 

A magnet activity that we did in class - have another go at home.

Magnets create a magnetic force that attracts materials with iron and steel in them.

This week we have been investigating magnetic forces. We found out that all pennies made before 1992 are not magnetic. All newer pennies are, do you know why? If you don't ask a child in year 3.

The further a penny is from the magnet the weaker the force. This is why we can twist the last penny if we blow on it.

   

We found out that we can use a tape measure to make money travel uphill!

We also investigated how many pennies we could pick up in one go. The stronger magnets could attract more pennies.

We tried to build large structures with our pennies. The further from the magnet you build your structure, the weaker the force is, so you have to plan your build carefully.

Forces Activity - Have a go at this year 3!

Investigating Forces

We began our investigation into forces by looking at toys and asking, why and how does the toy move, what forces act on the toy? Is friction acting on the toy? What is air resistance?

 Year 3 science is lots of fun.

Spelling words for week 3- 7 October

candle
handle
paddle
middle
angle
bangle
rectangle
jingle
fiddle
single
jumble
tumble
crumble
grumble
jungle
Posted By Cameron

Words for week ending 30th September - Un, dis, de,re and pre words

Untidy
Unwell
Untie
Unhappy
Dislike
Disobey
Disagree
Disappear
Decode
Defuse
Refill
Revisit
Reorder
Preset
Preview

Words to learn for week 19th - 23rd September

Double ff, ll,ss words.

1. Off
2. Puff
3. Cliff
4. Tell
5. Sell
6. Smell
7. Spell
8. Fill
9. Frill
10. Grill
11. Dress
12. Press
13. Cross
14. Pressing
15. Spelling

Autumn Term 2011 - Half Term Overview

Year 3 Autumn Term 2011

Topic: The World around us: Looking at Pontyclun, what it is like? Who lives here? Where it is in Wales? Where it is in the world?

Dear Parent/Guardian,
We would like to welcome your son and daughter into Year 3. We are sure that they will have an enjoyable year ahead with us as we have lots of fun and interesting lessons planned.

Below, we have put together a grid highlighting the work that your child will be covering over the next half term . We hope that it provides all the information that you require. To keep you informed on what your child is doing over the coming weeks please visit our class blog at: www.pontyclunpri3.blogspot.com

In addition to the blog your child has also been given a moodle account. Over the year homework, links to educational sites and information will be put on the moodle for your child to access. If you do not have internet access at home your child will be given additional opportunities to access the internet in school, or will be given alternative paper based homework.

Your child has been given a reading day when they need to bring their school reading book and reading record to school. As far as we can, we will make every effort to listen to your child read on that day. At Pontyclun Primary School we encourage our parents to read daily with their children in order to develop their reading skills. Please sign your child’s reading book if they have completed a book and we will be delighted to change the book on any day of the week.

Your child has also been given a small yellow book to write spelling words in. These words are given out each Monday and we encourage the children to learn them to the best of their ability by Friday. On a Friday we will carry out a short dictation in our literacy books which will include the focus words. Please encourage your child to learn the words each week. The words will also be posted on the year 3 blog.

As part of the transition between year 2 and year 3 we are trying to enhance the children’s learning by maintaining elements of the Foundation Phase. We have designated role play, construction, small world, ICT, reading, writing and maths areas in our classrooms. This is a similar setup to what the children experienced in Year 2. As this is a relatively new approach to teaching in the Juniors, we could really benefit from any of the following if you no longer require them:-

Construction: Knex, lego, etc

Small world, dolls, doll houses, little action people, small farm animals, castle and knights, pirate ships etc.

Role play: Any dressing up clothes. Princess costumes, fur coats, cowboy costumes, play kitchens, play tents etc.

Yours sincerely,

Mr Llewellyn and Mr. Burgess.


PE Days
J1 – Mr. Llewellyn Wednesday (Outdoor) Friday (Indoor)
J2 – Mr. Burgess Friday (Outdoor) Monday (Indoor)

If possible, please could your child wear their “house” t-shirts for PE.


Half Term Overview

Numeracy

· Adding on 1s and 10s
· Adding on 1s, 10s and 100s
· Place value
· Addition facts
· Shape
· Symmetry
· Measuring length using decimals
Literacy

· Introduction - myself
· Familiar story settings :
· The structure used when describing settings,
· Vocabulary used to describe settings
· Writing our own setting to a story
· Instruction writing
· Shape poems

· Geography
· Where in the world is Wales and Pontyclun?
· Drawing plans and looking at land use in Pontyclun
· Jobs people do
· What changes have taken place in the village?


Welsh

· Revision - numbers
· Who are you? Where do you live?
· Clothes
· Work on Y Ty


RE
· Who are leaders?
· Qualities that make a good leader
· What made Jesus a good leader?

· Story of the paralysed man – role play
· Make model
· What is a parable? – Worksheet – the Mugging
· Read ‘The calming of the Water’



Science
What is a force?
Magnets repel and attract
Is it magnetic?
Magnets and their uses
Magnetic toys
Springs in every day objects
We can create a force by compressing a spring / elastic band


INFORMATION COMMUNICATION TECHNOLOGY – ICT

Moodle training
Revision work- font, size and colour
Changing fonts to suit product
Deleting and changing words
Creating leaflets

PE Outdoor activities – Ball skills
Indoor – gymnastics

Art

· Self portrait
· Primary colours – how to use paint
· Mixing colours and matching
· Make prints using polystyrene
· Print repeating picture

Homework
Some homework will be set via the moodle
(access via blogwww.pontyclunpri3.blogspot.com)

Spelling words will be given out on a Monday for the following Friday’s dictation.

Reading – We expect each pupil to be reading at home on a daily basis. Please update your child’s reading diary weekly.

Literacy – literacy work will be sent home as and when the teacher feels that it is appropriate.

Numeracy – Numeracy work covering the topics above will be sent home as and when the teacher feels that it is appropriate.

"ain" and "air" focus words for week September 12-16th

1. Rain
2. pain
3. train
4. grain
5. Spain
6. stain
7. strain
8. brain
9. drain
10. stain
11. chain
12. air
13. fair
14. pair
15. chair
16. stairs

Words collected by Alex J1

Cardiff City training session

Well done keeper, show them how it's done!

Year 3 showed off their penalty taking skills to Cardiff City coaches when they paid a visit to our school.
Just gets past the keeper
Good goal!

Coached in squash

Some budding champions!

Drayton Manor Trip

The children all enjoyed a great day out at Drayton Manor, even the weather was good.