Welcome to Year 3!
Our Year 3 Team: Mr Smith, Miss McMahon, Miss Jones, Miss Caraher, Miss Parkinson and Miss Murphy
We are very excited to start a new year and have all of you lovely children in our classes. We are going to have lots of fun learning the curriculum below. We will keep you updated on the exciting things we get up to every day via our chatter pages and through our school app.
Please try and read with your child every night. Really focus on asking questions about their book as this will help them with their reading comprehension. Please also spend time every night going over times tables with your child. There are lots of fun, free online resources that you can use.
We can’t wait to get to know you. We are going to have the best year together!
Year 3 Team
Information for Parents
Click here for our Yearly Overview for 2024-2025
PE
PE kit consists of navy blue shorts, a sky blue polo shirt and pumps or trainers.
3TS – Wednesday
3KM – Wednesday
Timetables
Year 3 had lots of fun learning about and talking through different ways we could save money by saving electricity. We learnt the benefits of turning off things we aren’t using and saving money by doing this. We had to create powerful images to show the importance of fossil fuels and why we need them. We then wrote our own pledge On how we will try to save money, well done Genius’s!!!⚡️💡🔦
Year 3 had a great workshop this afternoon on how to save energy and how to be NRGenius’s. They had to create a powerful image representing why we use fossil fuels. We learnt all about renewable energy and how these are better for our environment. We ended the session by making a pledge to try our best to save energy. 💡⚡️
This week, we worked scientifically by sorting and classifying different types of rocks. We explored the rocks and discussed their characteristics. The children came up with great words such as ‘rough’ ‘bumpy’ ‘smooth’ ‘sharp’
This week, year 3 began their gymnastics topic. We discussed different ways to balance using small and big body parts and made these shapes. Overall, a great introduction to gymnastics!
11:00 11.11.2024
Huge respect in our class to recognise the soldiers that have fallen in the past. We did a minute silence in the morning and then created amazing poppy art work based on our art topic ‘painting with scissors’ in the afternoon.
Superstar 🌟sisters! Both have done work at home based on their current topics 👏. Well done guys.
We used our skills and techniques we have been practising by replicating how Henri Matisse created his art. We applied this method to our Ancient Egyptian topic in History.
Year 3 have been working hard to identify nouns, verbs and adjectives and using them in their English work.
Year 3 had a great P.E. lesson outside. We are making the most of the sunshine whilst we have it. The children had to use their speed and agility in todays lesson and work in teams of 4 to collect the most high-fives. We also had a skipping competition to see who was a top skipper in our class.
Year 3 had a wonderful time learning all about the celebration of Diwali and how it is celebrated within the Hindu community. We had lots of fun using a variety of different coloured paints to make Diya lanterns. We looked at and talked about different rangoli patterns and made our own ones. We have lots of amazing artists in our class!
Today, year 3 had a workshop based around Diwali. The children enjoyed learning about this celebration. They learned how it called ‘the festival of lights’ and created their own pieces of art that candle lights are placed in. We got to dress up and took part in a traditional Diwali dance.
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Year 3 had a wonderful day exploring the museum and looking at the different artefacts from ancient Egyptian history. We walked the length of the River Nile and spoke about the process of mummification. We also watched some of our friends become Pharos!
Today Year 3 looked at the celebration of Diwali and enjoyed watching how it is celebrated. We enjoyed looking at the different activities and looking at how the Rangoli designs are made!
Year 3 really enjoyed this weeks computing lesson. They all love using scratch to code and create their characters.
In English, we are starting a new book. Before the children heard the name or seen the front cover we looked at various clues and made predictions about what it could be about. The children came up with great ideas. Based on the clues, some children thought it was about an explorer who visits different parts of the world. Others thought it was about different habitats. The book will be revealed next lesson! 📜📚🌍
Year 3 had an amazing day at the Liverpool Museum. We gained so much knowledge about Ancient Egypt which will help as we continue to study this topic in our history lessons. Mohammed, Azad and Banu dressed up as embalmers and they mummified a fake Egyptian body. It was a great opportunity for the children to learn all about this and step back in time. 😊
This week year 3 have their computing lesson consolidating the coding that has been covered over the past few weeks. We have managed to get two characters to move separate ways by using different events and different motion blocks, we then introduced repeats and how we can use these to keep our code nice and tidy.
Author of ‘The late crew’ Rob Ferguson came to visit our school today. Some of us were so excited to even get our books signed by a real life author! We even designed our own alien that we could use in our stories. 
Year 3 have been working on writing instructions in their English lessons and are working really hard to do it independently!
Year 3 had a great afternoon applying their painting with scissors skills to some Ancient Egyptian paintings. We discussed the pictures and what we could see, using our art vocabulary. We then had the challenge of focusing on a small part of these images and then had to recreate this.
We have a super star in Year 3 who is working hard to add within 10.
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Year 3 have been exploring the force friction by testing the distance cars travel on different surfaces. We discovered that the surface carpet had high friction but plastic had low friction.
Year 3 had another great ‘Hands’ practice. We are really enjoying learning new sign language.
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Year 3 had a great start to their first shared write of the year. We have been learning about imperative verbs, rhetorical questions, adverbs and how instructions are laid out. We put all the new skills we have been learning to the test and used them to create a set of instructions about how to be a mischievous child, based on our reading book ‘Seen and Not Heard’
Parents watch out! Your children came up with some very interesting ideas!
In PSHE, we talked about what makes our school a dream school. The children gave answers such as,
“Our school has adults that listen.”
“We learn in our school.”
From this, we discussed that a nightmare school wouldn’t have the lovely things that Smithdown has. We created posters for our nightmare school. Some amazing imagination was used. 😊
In P.E. we learned about how we use speed in everyday life and played a variety of activities where we needed to use our speed and use the techniques discussed.
We used a car and a ramp to create a fair test for friction. We found out that plastic is smooth so has a low amount of friction and sandpaper is rough and bumpy so has a high amount of friction.
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Year 3 all had a go at being an archaeologist and excavating some ancient Egyptian artefacts – just like Howard Carter!
WOW what an exciting afternoon! In history, the children learnt about Howard Carter and how he excavated ancient remains. The children then put their excavation skills to the test and uncovered some artefacts. They had great fun 🤩
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We looked at different forces in science and were able to organise them into a push and pull Venn diagram.
Year 3 have been introduced to scratch. Children navigated to the website and created a new project. Today we focused on being able to create and insert sprites and backgrounds and then looked at how we can code a sprite to change costume when pressing the green flag.
In P.E. this week, Year 3 had a great time practicing their coordination skills. We used beanbags and skipping ropes to do this. We threw beanbags into the air, and before catching it with our other hand we had to clap hands behind our back. We also had to run to the end of the skipping rope and catch the beanbag before it fell on the floor. Everyone had a smile on their face attempting these moves.
Some AMAZING entries for the Merseyside Police competition! Children have worked hard creating lovely pieces of work with great messages as well. Well done to everyone who has submitted already. Last day tomorrow (Friday 13th September).
We explored new vocabulary in our new topic – Seen and not Heard. We acted out each word and drew a picture to help us remember them.
A great afternoon in our computing lesson.
Today, the children used the IT suite and developed computing skills by logging onto the computer, opening a website and paying a coding game, ‘Rodocodo.’ Mathematics and direction skills game into play when deciding how many jumps their character needed to make. The children really enjoyed this.
Year 3 had a brilliant morning taking part in their first Spanish lesson of the year. 🇪🇸 The children learned how to say their names and they took part in fun Spanish games to learn their numbers.
Today year 3 have started their place value topic by creating numbers with counters.
Today we have recapped living memory and beyond living memory in History from year 1 and 2 topics.
We have had a lovely couple of days and we have started our first piece of writing – a set of instructions!
We used Henri Matisse as our inspiration for our art topic. We used his method of painting with scissors to make our collages.
We all feel so very grateful and proud of the children we have helped grow this year! A big thank you to all our families. ❤️
A massive thank you to all parents and children who donated money to Alder Hey. The children on the school council were very lucky to be invited down to Alder Hey for a cheque presentation.
The money raised is going to help brighten the lives of children and their families, all over the country, who require the help of Alder Hey.
What a great Spanish day! Red and yellow everywhere 🇪🇸. Can’t wait for food and dancing later.
I’m sure many of us thought we would never witness a volcanic eruption!!! Today we did. The children in year 3 have been learning about volcanoes. We created our own, painted these and even made them erupt! We a had so much fun doing this experiment!!!
Year 3 had an exciting afternoon learning about how water is transported around pants. We completed an experiment with a celery stick and food colouring. We made a prediction about what might happen to the celery. Come back next week to see the results.
We used celery to investigate how xylems transport water and nutrients to the rest of the plant. Watch this space and see what we find out! 
Super morning with our LKS2 sports day! We had a great day for it and we all tried our best with every activity.
I love starting off our Wednesdays with our singing assembly. It puts a smile on all our faces and gets us ready for our work.
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We had our second group to make our traditional Italian bolognese. They had a great time preparing the ingredient and seasoning it to perfection! Thanks to our amazing head chef once again – Monica.
We had an amazing afternoon erupting our volcanoes! We even had a very dangerous and violent composite volcano with thick magma which increased the pressure when erupting.
Happy Eid to all our families celebrating! We had a lovely day and week celebrating with all our children and adults.
Our first group created their very own authentic traditional bolognese sauce! We have linked our DT unit with our Geography topic of Italy. Super behaviour and sensible cooks.
We have created our volcanoes and painted them. They look amazing! We are going to erupt them this week and see what happens when an active volcano blows. Watch this space…
In year 3, we have been ensuring we are taking care of our own well-being and have been doing 100 of a various of movements. We all enjoyed doing 100 starjumps and jogging on the spot for 100 seconds. We recognise the positive impact movement and exercise has on our mental well-being! 😊🏃♀️👟⏳
Year 3 had a lovely day at New Brighton! We collected a range of natural materials from the woods and the beach, and used these to create a painting of the seaside. I think everyone’s favourite part was playing in the sand!!!!
A fantastic community picnic. The sun shone.
An amazing community food table with so many lovely dishes to share.
Year 3 explored the different parts of a flowering plant. We found out that there are male and female parts and that bees and other insects help move pollen from flower to flower.
Year 3 and 4 girls had a super experience with an introduction into rugby. They had a chance of practising kicking, tackling and their footwork.
What a week we have had! Year 3 had a lovely trip to New Brighton to find natural resources so that we could create landscapes in the theme of Frances Hatch. We glued on things we found and used water to extract the pigment out of them to colour paper.
Year 3 had an amazing trip down at Goodison Park as part of our Everton In The Community project. 
We took part in a cooking demonstration and enjoyed the yummy chicken paella we made.
Year 3 have continued to look at Altering media. Children recapped how we can edit the photos to change its appearance. They were then set a task to use a photo editor to change a bright image of a forest into a dark and ‘gloomy’ one.
Year 3 used the pigment from different foods and natural resources to paint and mark make. 
Year 3 had a great afternoon exploring shadows. Thankfully we got a lovely sunny day to complete this lesson. We drew our shadows and after some time we returned outside and noticed how the position of the sun meant our shadows had moved. 
Super work creating our Bronze Age Bell Beaker pots. We created a similar shape and added patterns to them.
Year 3 have been learning a new skill in their P.E. lessons. 
They have started to learn the rules and skills of cricket. They had a great time learning how to be a batter and a baller in this weeks lesson.
Year 3 used their factor and shape knowledge to find equal groups of shapes with 24 lollipop sticks. 3 octagons, 8 triangles, 4 hexagons and 6 squares could be made!
Year 3 used a very old way of producing photographs without a camera. We used light sensitive paper to create a cyanotype capture. The children created their designs using natural resources found around schools – similar to Anna Atkins.
This afternoon Year 3 continued looking at Altering Media, the focus today was being able to edit pictures to change their appearance. Children used Flickr to search for images linked to Italian food, then using the edit feature in Microsoft Photos children needed to change the appearance of the photo by changing the position, adding in filters and making other adjustments.
Year 3 had a wonderful afternoon creating cyanotype art pieces, influenced by the Artist we are currently exploring, Anna Atkins. The children collected a range of natural materials, placed them on Cyanotype paper, let it sit in the sun for 10 minutes, removed the design and rinsed the paper.
Don’t they look amazing!!!
Year 3 had a brilliant morning with Everton in the Community. They
all had smiles on their face throughout the morning. Especially when the beach balls came out ?⚽️
Year 3 made predictions of what materials they thought would be the most reflective and the least reflective. They then tested that and checked to see how much light was reflected off each one. We spoke about material characteristics and why they absorbed or reflected some or a lot of the light.
We looked at division using concrete and pictorial representations to help our understanding of the concept. We were more confident by the end of our work!
Year 3 continued their new unit Altering Media. Today we focused on the importance of using the correct style of images when making a collage of pictures to advertise a place. We used Google images and Flickr to get a selection of images to advertise Italy. We discussed the importance of picking the correct type of image ensuring the brightness was correct and it demonstrated the features wanted to show.
Year 3 had a great morning making pizza! They mixed all the ingredients, kneaded the dough and added toppings all by themselves. All whilst looking the part in their chef hats and aprons! I think everyone would agree that the best part was being able to eat it. 
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3KM have been loving practising their throwing and passing skills in P.E. The nicer weather is meaning we can enjoy our P.E. lessons outside.
3KM have been working scientifically by exploring the question ‘do we need light to see things?’
The children had 5 boxes with a different item in each. They had to peer through the hole in the box and make a predication on what the object could be. When more light was added to the box, some objects could be seen a lot easier than others. 
3KM had an amazing time being reporters today. They asked our ‘witness’ questions about a strange sighting he had. They then worked in groups and took turns asking and answering questions. This will help us when we come to write our own newspaper reports. 🙂 
Monday afternoon Year 3 started their unit focusing on media and photographs. Children spent the lesson becoming familiar with how to correctly take a photograph. We created a checklist on the best way to use the camera on an iPad and children then spent the lesson taking a range of images. 
Year 3 have been working hard on poems about #Goldilocks this World Book Day! 
This afternoon Year 3 have been using all the skills that have been developed over the past few weeks to create a pong game. Children needed to use repeat loops, If statements and motion blocks to create their game.
This afternoon we focused on being able to use the wait block when controlling Sprites. Children used this block to get two Sprites to tell a knock knock joke.
Year 3 have continued to explore Scratch. Yesterday we investigated how we can use the x and y axis to get a Sprite to move to a specific location on the screen. Children were able to plot their Sprite to move to a certain position and then change costume
This Friday, 8th December 2023, we will be having our very own Santa Dash! A chance to squeeze in an extra fitness session whilst having some festive fun ??♀️????♂️?????
Watch this space! ?
3KM applying their balancing, rolling and jumping technique using apparatus #smithdownpe @SmithdownPrimY3
3TS worked super hard this morning to apply their skills of rolling, jumping and balancing to using apparatus safely #smihdownpe @SmithdownPrimY3
3TS explored the Puja in R.E. then moved onto some tricky rolling in gymnastics. Well done! @SmithdownPrimY3 #smithdownpe #smithdownre
3KMc exploring how opposite poles repel and like poles attract with magnets #smithdownsci @SmithdownPrimY3
What ancient Egyptians believed about death? We used role play to become priests that would have preserved bodies and prepared them for being buried. We washed, pulled organs out, placed the body in salt, embalmed the body and then placed it into a coffin. #smithdownhist
This afternoon, 3KM have had so much fun learning about mummification in History! #smithdownhis #smithdownyr3
3KM have had fun using imagination to draw pictures to represent our new vocabulary for our new novel ‘Dear Earth’ ??? #smithdowneng #smithdownYr3
In English, 3KM have been discussing predictions on what our new novel could be about by using colours for reference of different habitats ??? #smithdowneng #smithdownyr3
Having fun in Spanish this morning! #smithdownextra #smithdownyr3 #smithdownspanish
#smithdownextra #smithdownY3. This morning 3KM have been discussing different ways how we can be kind to others no matter our differences, we had some lovely things to say!
Year 3 had lots of fun today in maths adding and subtracting ten from a three digit number. A lot of the fun came from being able to write all over our tables! #smithdownmath
Lovely singing voices this morning! Year 3 have been learning all about our rights. We have discussed about having the right to learn and believe what you believe! #smithdownextra
In year 3 today, we practised doing peer to peer massages on each other. They completed many different strokes and we all felt very relaxed. Thank you very much for this @MrsCarpenter30 #smithdownextra
Great start to the week focusing on the importance of attendance and why we need to be in school! Lots of different reasons that help us in different ways. #smithdownextra
What an exciting afternoon excavating some Ancient Egyptian artefacts! We all became archaeologists and discovered things like Howard Carter. We found some things that may have belonged to Tutankhamen. ⚰️?? #smithdownhist
Year 3 have had fun being Archaeologists this afternoon! We have been using a picking tool to remove the dirt, look at what we discovered! ? #smithdownhis #smithdowny3
Super start to our “Painting with Scissors” topic with a focus on Henri Matisse. Amazing inspiration applied to their own work✂️? great work Year 3! #smithdownart #theartsatsmithdown
What an experience! Year 3 went to a stately home to feel what one looked like and felt like. Sudley house was perfect for helping us understand our new book – Seen and not Heard. #smithdownenglish #smithdownextra
Having fun acting out our new vocabulary for English! #smithdownenglish #Y3
We have been exploring different push and pull forces that require contact between two objects. Lots of toys and actions helped us understand these forces. Year 3 did a great job of organising the forces into our Venn diagram. #smithdownsci
What a week it has been already! Year 3 children have settled in so well and demonstrated their maturity and attitude towards their work. They could remember lots of their previous learning in History. They could organise events into living memory and beyond. #smithdownhist
