Happy Easter from Year 3

Easter has been celebrated in many different ways this week. Year 3 have joined in the whole-school events, including the Stations of the Cross and celebration on Wednesday. Well done to Sophia and Pauric who were the Easter Art winners in year 3. The children loved seeing the chicks, which as well as being very cute are symbols of the New Life of Easter, represented by Jesus. We hope you like the Easter cards the children have brought home. In RE, throughout the week, the children have been reading the scripture and exploring the feelings of the different characters’ from their various points of view. Here are the children role-playing scenes from the Garden of Gethsemane. Can you see who is playing Jesus saying, “I left you for one hour and you could not stay awake…” and who are the soldiers coming to arrest Jesus; and who is playing Judas identifying Jesus to the soldiers? The children thoroughly enjoy role-play and are very good at showing emotions in a “tableau”. Today the children considered the ultimate sacrifice Jesus made, for love; and what they can do, for love. Tomorrow they will play the parts of journalists interviewing witnesses of the events all those years ago.

We have continued to explore ways to add and subtract money. The children have been very adept at applying calculating methods – such as using number bonds to 10/100, partitioning and compensating – to money. If you have any opportunity to use money over the holidays, that would be really useful, as would using analogue clocks to tell the time.

The children can take the beautiful new books home now. I’ll send home a spring-themed bookmark for everyone tomorrow, so they have something to mark the page they are on without needing to fold the page/put something thick inside the book etc.It’s also useful to remember that carrying the water bottles separately, out of bookbags, is a good insurance policy to not spilling water over the bag’s contents, including the lovely new books.

From what the children say, there are lots of exciting things planned this holiday, from foreign holidays, to seeing family to having a fun time at home and the local parks. Whatever you do, I wish you a very happy holiday and holy Easter.