St Pius X Catholic Primary School

'Restore all things in Christ'

01229 828406

admin@st-piusx.cumbria.sch.uk

Schneider Road, Barrow-in-Furness, Cumbria LA14 4AA

Welcome to Year 3

Autumn 2 2023-24

What a lovely half term. We have particularly enjoyed learning about the Tudors and their way of life. We had fun and created a beautiful scent in our classroom making pomanders to help us write our instructions in English. We had a lovely visit to the library where we listened to stories and spent time exploring the library. The best part of the half term was our visit to Ordsall hall in Salford where we enhanced our learning about the Tudor period.

Autumn 1 2023-24

What a lovely start to the year! In music, we learned about R&B music including listening to and appraising a number of artists from different eras. In science we learned about magnetism and investigated the strength of a range of magnets and which materials are magnetic. In Geography, we tried to understand why people might live near volcanoes, including understanding that there are different types of rock in a given area and weighing up the pros and cons of living in volcanic areas. We then wrote about this in English. We had a lovely day with artist and illustrator Sophie and enjoyed our visit to the library bus.

Summer 2 2023

Our final half term of Year 3 - what a wonderful year it has been! In design and technology, we researched, designed. made and evaluated our own purses. We used sewing machines and stitching techniques to add our detail to our purses. They turned out great and we can't wait to use them in the summer holidays! We went on the school trip that we have been excited for all year - WATERPARK! We had so much fun canoeing and having a go on the high and low ropes. We can't wait to return for our residential in Year 5. Pius Calling was such a blast (even if we did get soaked to the skin). We sang beautifully and put on a fantastic show for our audience. We are so excited for our new adventures in Year 4!

Summer 1 2023

It's been a wonderful half term in Year 3. On Monday's we have been going swimming - we have worked so hard on our swimming skills. We have been learning songs for the Big Sing event at the Forum; it was so exciting performing on the big stage! After this in music, we enjoyed our topic, all about disco music - we particularly loved the music by ABBA and the BeeGees. A local artist, Sophie Martin, came in to work with us on watercolour paintings based on our town - our finished pieces were very impressive. We were lucky enough to be able to celebrate the King's Coronation together in school by dressing up in red, white and blue and taking part in Coronation activities. The half term ended with a glorious, sunny day for sports day - it was fantastic!

Spring 2 2023

What a quick half term we've had! But we still managed to fit lots of fantastic learning opportunities into it, having lots of fun whilst doing so! We started by celebrating World Book Day with the book 'The Invisible'. We were challenged to dress up as someone who helps us or something we would be if we were invisible, like Isabelle felt in the story at times. Have a look below at our amazing costumes. To end our Stone Age to Iron Age topic, we went on a school trip to Footprint, a National Park site in Windermere. We took part in a range of prehistoric activities from cave paintings to hunter gathering and fire starting. We have also celebrated the Feast of the Annunciation as part of our Mater Christi Trust. 

Spring 1 2023

We have been working very hard in Year 3 this half term. We started our Stone Age to Iron Age history topic and we have loved learning all about the prehistoric times. In music, we have been introduced to Bob Marley and reggae music. We really enjoyed exploring songs by Bob Marley and learning to sing the song 'Three Little Birds' and how to play our glockenspiels to the song, too. We celebrated Number Day by dressing up in numbers or as our Times Table Rockstars character - this was great fun! Before breaking up for our half term, we began to prepare for Lent by thinking about the promises we would like to make. We are going to try our hardest to keep these promises, or give up things we like, even though we think it could be difficult.

Autumn 2 2022

What a busy half term we have had! From school trips, to Christmas performances - we have done it all! 

We have been learning all about the Tudors in history and we went to Ordsall Hall in Manchester to find out even more about how the Tudors lived. It was fantastic! We have also sketched our own Tudor portraits, influenced by the Tudor artist, Hans Holbein. We really enjoyed developing our skills in tone and texture. Alongside our Tudor topic, we also made our own Tudor pomanders and wrote a set of instructions to show our step-by-step process. 

In December, we became very busy with Christmas activities. We all enjoyed the pantomime, Christmas lunch, Christmas performances and Christmas parties. It has been the most wonderful time of the year!

Autumn 1 2022

We have had a wonderful start to Year 3. We have been working very hard and have settled into the juniors very well. We have been learning all about the Sacrament of Baptism in RE and demonstrated our learning and understanding through a role play of a baptism. We really enjoyed this! We celebrated the Harvest Festival by putting on a whole school assembly for parents. We really enjoyed preparing for this. 

Summer 2 2022

What a wonderful final half-term we have had in Year 3! 

After a full morning of hard-work and learning, we became Little Lifers First Aiders. We learnt all about following DRAB to care for someone who has been hurt. We were also able to invite Mr Egypt into our school, who took us on a journey right through Ancient Egypt - it was fantastic to learn so much, wrap each other up as mummies and to hold real ancient artefacts. Our end of term trip to Waterpark, Coniston was full of exciting and adventurous activities which we loved having a go at. We were really brave, as we were climbing rather high. 

We have worked so hard all year and we are definitely ready for our summer holidays now, to relax and prepare ourselves for Year 4!

Summer 1 2022

What a brilliant half-term we have had! We started our swimming sessions this half-term and every single one of us has made fantastic progress and have built on our confidence in the water - we are very proud! We have enjoyed reading our new book, 'The Iron Man', and creating some of our own openings of a narrative, based on the story by Ted Hughes. We have worked exceptionally well on our fractions this half-term and are now feeling much more confident about them, compared to when we started them last half-term. In Geography, we have been learning all about megacities and the advantages and disadvantages of living in cities. We have also enjoyed a fantastic STEM day, where we were able to develop our skills and knowledge in all of these areas.

Spring 2 2022

We have had a fantastic, fun-filled half term in Year 3. We have been learning all about life from the Stone Age to the Iron Age, which we have really enjoyed. To end our topic, we visited Birkrigg to find remains from this era, including a stone circle! It was a lovely morning and we even finished it off with a yummy ice cream from Roy's Ices! We have also spent an afternoon in the woodland area at St. Paul's Catholic Primary School. We listened to the story 'The Stone Age Boy', which inspired some of us to have a go at flintknapping. We also created some art, which was inspired by some photographs of work by Andy Goldsworthy.

Spring 1 2022

It has been a brilliant half-term in Year 3. We have written our own versions of a twisted traditional tale, based on 'Little Red Riding Hood'. In Design and Technology, we have researched, designed, made and evaluated our own biscuit packaging; we needed to make sure that they would keep the biscuits safe and not get broken, alongside ensuring that they were appealing for the customer. We did a very good job at this.

Autumn 2 2021

We have had a very exciting half-term in school, from fantastic school trips, to finally welcoming our families back into school to watch our assemblies and Christmas performances. We have been learning all about the Tudors and went to Ordsall Hall, in Salford, where we stepped into the life of a Tudor for the day and helped to prepare for a wedding feast. The whole day was very intriguing and we learnt so much about the lives of rich and poor Tudors. This half-term, we also started 'Well-being in the Woods', where we spent an afternoon exploring the woods. We look forward to going and adventuring again next half-term! After a very busy term, we are all ready for a well-deserved Christmas break!

Autumn 1 2021

Welcome to Year 3! We have had a fantastic first half-term together and have settled so well into Key Stage 2. We have celebrated Roald Dahl Day, National Poetry Day and our Art through the ages day, where every class researched an artist and explored their work; we learnt all about Georges Seurat and Pointillism. We have written our own fables with a moral and have worked really hard to change them into playscripts.

Summer 2 2021

We have made it to the end of our first year in the juniors - and what a year it has been! We finished our year off with lots of exciting days, such as our Sport's Day, STEM day, our school trip to Water Park in Coniston and a fun-filled and educational visit from Mr Egypt, who took us on a journey from the beginning to the very end of the Egyptians. On our STEM day, our challenge was to get all of the characters across the river, following specific rules. First of all, we had to decide what resources to use to make the boat, as it had to be able to hold 30 coins and be able to float. We did a fantastic job at this!We really enjoyed all of these opportunities that we had to take part in. Now, we are ready for a lovely summer and look forward to returning as Year 4s! 

Summer 1 2021

What a fantastic half-term we have had together! 

Spring 2 2021

After the half-term break, we had just 2 weeks left of remote learning before we could come back to school. We were so excited to get back into the classroom. To make our first day back extra special, we repeated our World Book Day (based on 'The Day the Crayons Quit' and 'The Day the Crayons Came Home' and all came into school dressed in our brightest colours. We had an amazing day and Mr McGoldrick even surprised us all to the ICE CREAM VAN! 

We have been writing our own informal letters in English, imagining that we were the poor tan crayon from the story 'The Day the Crayons Came Home'. 

In design and technology, we have been designing, making and evaluating our own prehistoric shelters, similar to what they lived in during this period. We had to investigate different materials to ensure that our shelter would be suitable for someone (in the prehistoric period) to live in.

Spring 1 2021

We have spent this half-term doing our learning remotely. We have been lucky enough to stay in touch with the rest of the class due to our daily Zoom sessions for each of our lessons. It has been a challenge for everyone, but we did an amazing job at getting our work done and also being able to show our grown ups what kind of things we get up to in a school day. 

As well as Zoom lessons, we also took part in alternative 'screen-free' days; Well-being Wednesdays and Fitness Fridays. We had good fun participating in whole school challenges and uploading pictures and videos to our Home Learning & Keeping in Touch Facebook page. 

Autumn 2 2020

We have had an eventful half-term in Year 3. Unfortunately, our bubble closed for 1 week and we had to move to remote learning. The children rose to the occasion spectacularly and we were so impressed with the commitment from both the children and their families. Well done, Year 3!

We did a fantastic job of writing our own versions of The Three Billy Goats Gruff. We were SO impressed with our work and we can't wait to continue improving our writing! We also continued to learn about the Tudors and have had a go at using our new sketching skills to complete Tudor portraits (we found out that these portraits sometimes looked NOTHING like the person).

Unfortunately, our build-up to Christmas was very different this year, but we still managed to have lots of fun in our classroom. We enjoyed our Christmas party and lunch, Christmas Jumper Day and performing our song for the Nativity.

Autumn 1 2020

Welcome back to school! The children have settled back into school (and into the juniors) extremely well. Although we are trying to keep things as normal as possible, Year 3 are adapting so well to the changes in school (such as assemblies in our classroom and via Zoom, with Mr McGoldrick and the other classes in the school).

In P.E., we have been learning all about pathways and patterns in gymnastics. We have also had some good weather, so we were able to take part in a cross country around our school field - it was very tiring, but lots of fun!

In topic, we have been learning all about the Tudors. We particularly enjoy learning about Henry VIII and his 6 wives, who were: 'DIVORCED - BEHEADED - DIED - DIVORCED - BEHEADED - SURVIVED. We enjoy singing along to this song, too!

We have also enjoyed our themed days, such as 'Hello Yellow Day' and 'Roald Dahl Day'.

Summer 2 2020

This term, we continued to do our learning at home. We have had lots of time to spend with our families, which has been very fun! We were lucky enough to be able to come into school on the last day of term to see all of our friends and teachers (from a distance, of course). It was so lovely to see everybody and we can't wait to get back to school in September now!

Summer 1 2020

This half-term has been very different for everyone, due to COVID-19. Instead of learning in school, we have kept ourselves and others safe, by staying at home! We have all kept in touch by completing Mr McGoldrick's daily challenges online, doing some learning at home and being able to spend lots of time with our families.

Spring 2 2020

We have been very busy this half-term, as we kicked it off by becoming first aid trained, thanks to Little Lifers, who taught us everything we needed to know to help others! We had a very practical morning, where we were able to learn how to look after someone if they needed help. We know that DRAB stands for 'Danger - Response - Airways - Breathing' and this is what we must follow to protect ourselves and others. 

We have used our knowledge of key traditional tales, to learn how to write our own play scripts. We then used this to create a play script for us to follow in our class assembly. Our class assembly fell on World Book Day, so we created our own version of Little Red Riding Hood, who met lots of different traditional tale characters along her way. We had lots of fun performing this!

Spring 1 2020

We have all returned back to school eager to learn, after a lovely Christmas break! This term we have started our new topic, Stone Age to Iron Age. We had a fantastic visitor, who is a local historian, to introduce this topic to us. It was very exciting because he brought lots of artefacts in for us to have a look at and hold. They were very old. 

We had a visitor from the United Utilities, who came to talk to us about how we can help to save the water. We found out how much water we potentially use in a day and we were amazed! We all made our individual promises about how we can save water in our daily lives. 

In P.E. this term, we have started to learn a dance for the U.Dance Festival that will take place at the Forum. We are working together to create a dance about light and shadows, which links in with our science work that we have been doing this half-term! 

We became our 'Times Tables Rockstars' on number day! We dressed up as our characters, or wore numbers and completed number challenges. We were challenged to use the Lego to solve problems, or complete challenges on a number of different challenge cards.

Autumn 2 2019

It has been a very exciting term, as we started to prepare for all things Christmas! We have been very busy preparing for our Christmas shows. In the Key Stage 2 Christmas nativity, we were the noisy sheep - BAAAA! For the Christmas Fair, we created our own pom pom bauble Christmas decorations, which we found out took a long time!

In P.E. this half-term, we attended sessions at Hoops, where we learnt lots of new tennis skills! It was lots of fun and we enjoyed becoming tennis players!

We have been working very hard this term, so we are all ready for a well deserved Christmas break!

Autumn 1 2019

We have settled into Year 3 and the juniors really well this term. 

We are learning all about the First World War and how it started. We ordered ourselves, in date order, to create the timeline of the First World War. We have also made our own propaganda posters and made them look really old, like they were from 1914. 

In science, we have been learning all about healthy diets. In design and technology, we have enjoyed planning our own healthy sandwiches, which we are going to make ourselves next half-term!

We took part in the sponsored run/walk around our school field. We collected sponsors to raise funds for a new school minibus. We were really lucky, as it was a lovely day!