Learn and Share

Tuesday 18th July

Thank you to everyone who came to our final learn and share session of the year. We really enjoyed sharing learning from Art, Computing, DT, Reading, Geography and RE with you and it was lovely to see how confident the children were.

Showing Respect in a Mosque

Tuesday 4th July

We have been enjoying putting our RE floor book together over the last few weeks. Last week, we learned about different ways of showing respect in a mosque, including taking off shoes, being quiet and facing Mecca. This week, we will be looking at different prayer mats and designing our own based on these.

Stella and the Seagull

Tuesday 27th June

We have recently begun a unit of work in English based on the text 'Stella and the Seagull'. It has prompted much discussion about the problem of plastic waste and what we can do to help. The children will be writing a persuasive speech to inspire people to act in support of the environment and reduce their use of single-use plastic.

Mini Warriors

Thursday 22nd June

National School Sports Week brought us even more fun today through the Mini Warriors session we had this afternoon. The children had to use all of their strength and stamina to complete a huge range of challenges in pairs and did an outstanding job!

Vertigo Adventures

Wednesday 21st June

We had an AMAZING morning at Vertigo Adventures, trying out the high ropes and 'The Plummet!'. I could not have been more impressed by the children's courage and their support for one another. Everyone faced their fears and had a go. I am so proud!

PSA Sing-a-thon - 16th June

Year 3 took part in the PSA Sing-a-thon today with Year 4. They managed to sing all of the songs listed below and you can hear clips of them all on the audio track. (Most of the songs were chosen by the children!)

It is not too late to donate online at: https://donate.giveasyoulive.com/campaign/stpeters-year3-singathon 

We are raising funds for new laptops for the children to use. 

1) Dragon Days

2) You couldn't make it up

3) No way down

4) Natural 

5) Bad Habits

6) Here comes the sun

7) Happier

8) Mr Blue Skies

9) Shotgun

10) Peaches

11) Baby Shark

12) Pompeii

13) We are family

(KS2 Choir songs can be found on the Music Page - KS2 Choir)

Kew Gardens

Tuesday 13th June

Despite the heat, we had a lovely day at Kew Gardens. Once we arrived, we headed straight for the Children's Garden which is organised into 4 sections related to things plants need to grow well (earth, sun, air and water). We then had lunch, followed by a walk down the borders admiring the great variety of plants and flowers on display. In the afternoon, we visited two of the glass houses and noticed how the plants changed when we entered a new climate zone. A big thank you to our parent helpers for surviving the heat and making the trip possible!

Empathy Day

Thursday 8th June

Today is Empathy Day! We celebrated by sharing short stories about showing empathy, watching an assembly about what empathy means and how we can show it, and then the children wrote their own Empathy Resolutions which we will use to decorate our classroom.

Biscuit Bear

Wednesday 7th June

This week, we have started exploring Biscuit Bear by Mini Grey. This is a text aimed at younger children and will support the children to read aloud to an audience as well as produce their own stories suitable for younger children. We began by writing diary entries as Horace, detailing the events leading up to Biscuit Bear coming to life.

Correspondence Problems

Tuesday 23rd May

Year 3 continue to work hard using the bar model to solve complex word problems. We have been looking at questions that ask us to compare, working systematically to identify the steps involved in finding our answer.

Walk to School Week

Friday 19th May

This week has been Walk to School Week and Year 3 have been recording the number of children walking, scooting or cycling to school each day. Well done everyone!

Biomes

Wednesday 10th May

In Geography, we looked at the animals and plants that live in different climates, then discussed that this is called a 'biome'. In preparation for looking at jungles and deserts in the coming weeks, the children then mapped the position of tropical and hot desert zones in South America.

Changing Shadows

Tuesday 9th May

Year 3 have been doing an investigation to see what happens when you move a torch closer to an opaque object and further away. They carefully measured the size of the shadow made by the object. 

Coronation Fun!

Friday 5th May

We celebrated the coronation of King Charles in our circle time groups this morning. We enjoyed a crown-shaped biscuit made by Mrs Bennett, played lots of party games and listened to music. Year 3 even had a visit from King Charles himself!

Climate Graphs

Wednesday 3rd May

The children produced some AMAZING climate graphs for St Albans today in Geography. First, we looked at 9 climate graphs for different places in the world. We discussed the rainfall and temperature in each unknown location and matched it with a description of its climate. We then used data about St Albans to produce our own climate graphs showing average temperature and rainfall.

Dictionary Skills

Wednesday 26th April

In Guided Reading, the children worked in pairs to find out the meaning of words from our upcoming chapters of The Land of Roar using dictionaries.

Some of the words we looked at were nostalgia, dinghy and infuriate.

Sun Safety

Tuesday 25th April

In Science today, we discussed the benefits and dangers of exposure to sunlight. The children then created posters to offer useful advice about how to stay safe in the sun. Advice included:

• wearing sunglasses with a high UV rating to protect our eyes
• wearing a hat with a wide brim, especially in the summer
• applying sun cream regularly to prevent wrinkles and sun burn

RE Floor Book

Tuesday 18th April

In the Summer term, we will be using a whole class floor book for our RE lessons. We began our first lesson by thinking about rules that we follow at school and home, as well as religious rules and why these are in place. We then talked about the 5 pillars of Islam: Shahada, Salah, Zakat, Sawm and Hajj.

Learn and Share

Tuesday 28th March

Thank you so much for coming to St Peter's Learn and Share this morning. It was really lovely to see the children's enthusiasm to talk to you all about some of the things we have learned and even do some teaching themselves!

"I think learn and share was really, really fun because it was a chance for our parents to learn what we’ve been learning from us." – Nivi

"I liked learn and share because instead of the grown ups being the teachers, it felt like we were the teachers instead." – Gautama

"I loved learn and share because it was a chance to teach your parents what you’ve learned." – Sasha

2Email

Monday 20th March

In Computing, we have started learning how to use the 2email software on Purple Mash. We talked about the need to think carefully about the words used in an email due to the digital footprint they leave behind. The children began their emails with a greeting, answered and asked a question, before signing off.

Fractions

Monday 13th March

The children have been working hard to develop their understanding of fractions using the bar model. Their confidence has grown immensely! 

The Iron Man

Friday 10th March

The children have produced some excellent writing this week related to our current text, The Iron Man by Ted Hughes. Today, they wrote diary entries in role as Hogarth describing the capture of the Iron Man. 

Bar Model

Thursday 2nd March

In Maths, we have started using the bar model to solve worded problems involving multiplication and division.

Planet Omar

Wednesday 22nd February

We are still loving our guided reading text for this term, Planet Omar: Accidental Trouble Magnet. We have started doing paired reading and I was so impressed by the children's enthusiasm and teamwork. 

Cathedral Trip

Tuesday 21st February

The children took part in two workshops run by St Albans Cathedral to develop their historical and geographical knowledge. Tasks included using a compass to locate various sites around the Cathedral, describing the position of one place in relation to another using compass points and using grid references to locate information around the building and places of interest on a map.

Gymnastics

Tuesday 7th February

We have been really enjoying our Gymnastics sessions with Mark this half term. Today, the children worked in groups to produce some very difficult balances. I was really impressed by the teamwork shown. 

Enlarging Patterns

Thursday 2nd February

Today in Art, we looked at a variety of patterns from the natural and human worlds. The children used viewfinders to select an interesting part of their chosen pattern to enlarge, looking closely at the lines and shapes.

Proud Poets

Tuesday 31st January

The children in Year 3 should all be so proud of themselves. Today, they each came up to the front of the class and bravely performed a poem of their choice. It is such a nerve-wracking thing to do but I was so impressed by the children's confidence and ability to overcome their worries. We still have a few more poems to listen to before the finalists are revealed.

Looking at Maps

Thursday 26th January

The children looked at a map of St Albans from 2020 and compared this to a map of the same area from over 200 years ago. We noticed that some things had stayed the same (Cathedral, River Ver, London Road, Sopwell Nunnery, Holywell Hill) and a lot had changed. There are now lots more houses and less green space.

Chinese New Year

Tuesday 24th January

Some members of our class are celebrating Chinese New Year at the moment and brought some special items in to show us during circle time. The children really enjoyed seeing and sharing.

News Reports

Monday 23rd January

We started our new unit in English today. We are building up to write our own newspaper reports related to The True Story of the Three Little Pigs. The children used the 5 W's (who, what, when, where and why) to pick out the key points from a news report and then looked through examples of First News newspapers!

The Hippocrump

Thursday 19th January

We read the poem, 'The Hippocrump' and discussed the vocabulary that tells us what he looks like. The children used oil pastels to create their own versions of The Hippocrump which look amazing!

Spreadsheets

Monday 16th January

As part of our new Computing unit, we gathered data about Year 3's favourite ice cream flavours. The children then inputted the data into a spreadsheet using 2calculate and then created a bar chart to present their data.

Why do Places Change?

Thursday 12th January

In our first Geography lesson of the year, we looked at photos of two different places before they experienced a huge change. The village of Glenridding was flooded in 2015 and the London Borough of Newham was transformed for the 2012 Olympics. The children labelled physical and human features, showed the position of each county on a map and then described the changes. We then had a discussion about how one of the changes had a positive impact and people had control over it, and one had a negative impact that people had no control over.

Welcome Back!

Tuesday 10th January

I hope you all had a relaxing break and are feeling refreshed for the start of 2023. The children have settled back into the routine really quickly and all seem happy to be back. We will start Gymnastics sessions this afternoon alongside our other weekly PE lesson with Mr Morgan on a Monday.

Santa Run

Monday 19th December

This morning, we took part in the Santa Run for Herts Young Homeless. If you would like to make a donation, please see the latest Newsletter for a link.

Biscuit Henge

Wednesday 7th December

After learning all about how Stone Henge was constructed last week, today the children used their teamwork skills to recreate it using biscuits! They included the sarsen and blue stones, working out how to balance the stones on top and get them to stand up straight.

Fossilisation

Tuesday 29th November

Having been introduced to the process of fossilisation last week, this week children deepened their understanding further. We used the index of various non-fiction texts to locate information about fossils and discussed the key scientific vocabulary that is useful when describing the process.

Formal Written Addition and Subtraction

Wednesday 23rd November

After a number of weeks learning and rehearsing mental strategies of addition and subtraction, we have now spent time on the formal written methods. The children have made a huge amount of progress and are confident with calculations where they need to use regrouping.

Anti-Bullying Week

Monday 14th November

To kick off antibullying week the children designed their own pair of odd socks. Odd socks day is an opportunity for people to express themselves and celebrate that we are all unique. Lots of children also wore odd socks too!

Drama 4 All Workshop

Wednesday 9th November

This morning, Year 3 took part in a Drama 4 All workshop. The children went on an adventure that involved making a magic potion out of different ingredients including fairy dust and chocolate. They ate all of the dragon's chocolate muffins and did the opposite actions to save themselves. We had a great time and there was a lot of laughter.

Diwali

Wednesday 2nd November

We were lucky enough to welcome Gautama's Mum into our classroom this afternoon to talk to us about Diwali (the festival of light) which happened during half term. We talked about the different stories of Diwali and then had a go at making our own rangoli patterns to welcome Lakshmi. Thank you SO much for coming in and sharing with us.

The Bear and the Piano

Tuesday 18th October

In English, we are looking at the book, 'The Bear and the Piano' by David Litchfield. Yesterday, we explored new vocabulary from the blurb and made predictions based on the image on the front cover. We will explore the theme of temptation throughout this unit of work. 

Tag Rugby

Monday 10th October

We had a lovely afternoon in the sunshine developing our tag rugby skills with Mr Morgan. The children had to attack, defend, pass and score tries in teams. 

Monoprints

Thursday 6th October

The children used lolly sticks to press a pattern into a piece of polystyrene. They then inked up their designs and printed these into their sketch books. 

'Think 10' for Addition

Tuesday 4th October

We have moved on from place value and are now looking at various addition strategies. The children worked hard to master the 'think 10' method when adding ones to 3-digit numbers. This method relies on children's knowledge of number bonds to 10 as well as regrouping.

Exploring Texture

Thursday 29th September

We had a lovely afternoon exploring texture through printing. The children produced some beautiful artwork using Lego, netting, beadstring and even a tennis racket!

Right and Responsibilities

Tuesday 27th September

In PSHE last week, we talked about what our 'dream school' would look like, how the children would feel and what they would be proud of. We then used the book 'We Are All Born Free' to introduce the UN's human rights in a child-friendly manner. This week, the children discussed what our responsibilities are as part of the St Peter's community. They also noted down rewards and consequences for making responsible and irresponsible choices. Some of the rewards included feeling proud of yourself, feeling happy and receiving positive comments. Consequences including feeling unhappy and possibly getting hurt as a result of an irresponsible choice.

Celtic Harmony: Stone Age Day

Tuesday 20th September

We had a great day at Celtic Harmony where we watched a fire-building demonstration, built shelters for hunter-gatherers, tried hunting using training spears and learned about the types of plants and animals that people from the stone age would forage for.

Describing a Stone Age Camp

Tuesday 13th September

In English today, the children imagined they were sitting around Om's family's camp from Stone Age Boy. We talked about our 5 senses and the children then wrote down what they could see, hear, smell, feel and taste. Tomorrow, we will use these ideas to write a setting description.

Reading Staircase

Thursday 8th September

Prehistoric Artefacts

Thursday 8th September

Today we were lucky enough to handle artefacts from the stone, bronze and iron ages. These included arrow heads, spearheads, coins and axe heads. We looked at pictures of early human shelters, roundhouses and cave paintings. Thank you so much to Mrs Hamilton and Mrs Boggis for organising the loan box from a local museum for us. We have already had claims of this being our favourite topic so far!

Welcome to Year 3

Wednesday 7th September

Welcome to our Year 3 class page. We have had a super start to the year and I have been impressed by the children's maturity and enthusiasm. A real highlight for the children has been using the gym equipment at play and lunchtimes. In Maths, we have been using different equipment to represent 3-digit numbers and have started looking at Stone Age Boy in English lessons.