Year 3

Spring 1 - Week 5

Over the past couple of weeks we have been preparing for the Sacrament of Reconciliation. This week saw us thinking about good and bad choices we choose to make and the effect these choices have on us, others and God. We are also preparing for the 'Reconciliation Meeting' on the 9th February in Church. You will notice that your child has brought home an invitation to this meeting. We would appreciate if you could spend a short part of the day in prayer. Talk with your child about the importance of asking for forgiveness and why we go to Church to confess our sins.

Spring Week 3 

This week, we have started our new topic Prayer. We have looked at how Jesus prayed in various places and talked about the things Jesus might have prayed about. We have also continued to talk about our Gospel Virtues: Eloquent and Truthful. 

Spring 1 - Week 1 and 2

These past two weeks we have looked at our new Gospel Virtues, Eloquent and Truthful. We have explored what they mean and discussed how we will be focusing on making sure we are both eloquent and truthful in our lives. At the start of the term, we learned more about the life of Pope Benedict XVI and created our fact files about him. The children have also sang and responded in our mass which celebrated The Epiphany. In our lessons this week we have explored the meaning of surprise and how the shepherds were surprised when the Angels visited them and later when they visited Jesus. 

Autumn 2 - Week 6

This week was dedicated to 'The Nativity' where we performed the story of Jesus' birth as a whole school. It was a beautiful event as the light of day was gradually turning towards darkness and it felt really spiritual. The children in Year 3 were concerned with the journey to Bethlehem where we sang 'Calypso Carol.' 

We begun our Advent topic where we have been focused on the Angel Gabriel appearing to Mary and informing her that she is with child. This week the children undertook role play, put themselves in Mary's shoes and 'Hot Seated' Mary, were encouraged to ask questions and undertook a 'Big Write' whereby they retold The Assumption. 

Autumn 2 Week 4

In RE this week we have been focusing on the Bible story Zacchaeus. We thought about how Jesus forgave him for the mistakes he made and then linked this to the Sacrament of Reconciliation. We looked at the Rite of Reconciliation, examined our conscience and role played the act of confession. 

Autumn 2 - Week 1

We began the week with our Gospel Assembly on Zacchaeus. We read the Gospel story, reflected on it and related this story to a real life event. We thought about our own lives and on how important it is to say 'sorry' to each other. We thought about our own lives and discussed why it is important as the children will prepare to receive the Sacrament of Reconciliation. We wrote a prayer to say 'sorry' for what we have done wrong. We have begun learning the 'Act of Contrition.' 

During family prayer we would appreciate your support in encouraging your child to reflect on the times they and you have all made wrong choices and ask God to guide and forgive you.   

O my God, because you are so good,

I am very sorry that I have sinned against you; 

and by the help of your grace,

I will not sin again.

Amen

Autumn 1 - Week 5

This week was special as we have had St. Edward's Day. We learnt about St. Edward and completed a poster giving information about St. Edward's so when visitors come round our school they can learn about him too. During our RE lessons we have been learning about the seven Sacraments that people receive and we are delighted to say that one child in the Year 3 will be undertaking the Sacrament of Baptism very soon so we will be excited to celebrate this important event with her. In preparation for receiving the Sacrament of Reconciliation we have been learning the Act of Sorrow prayer.

We have been recapping our knowledge and understanding of Baptism from previous years and building on this knowledge by focusing deeper on the symbols used within this Sacrament. We held a Baptismal role play whereby all the children experienced what it was like to participate in a Baptism and how the individual is welcomed into God's family. We held our Sacramental meeting on Wednesday 28th September in the hall and discussed the Sacraments and the children's journey of faith. We had our first mass of the term this week where we sang beautifully and listened to Father Denis teaching us about God’s word.

Year 3 have already got off to a busy and reverent start to the academic year.

In the first week of term we celebrated the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary with a special prayer service, followed by activities where we could make things dedicated to her. 

We have explored our school mission statement and thought of ways that we could show everybody that "Jesus is at the heart of all the we do."

We have started to learn about our class saint, Saint Therese. She inspires us to live in simply and put love at the forefront of daily life. 

We have been finding out all about our Gospel Virtues for this half term and have tried to find times when Jesus was Compassionate and Loving and have thought of ways that we could follow his example.

Our topic in RE is belonging. We have thought about groups that we belong to such as groups and clubs outside school and discussed how we belong to the church through Baptism.

The year that was...

On Wednesday 3rd November, Year 3 celebrated Mass with the rest of Key Stage 2. We focused on the Solemnity of Our Souls from Tuesday and thought about all the people we know who have died. We read beautifully and were extremely reverent throughout Mass. It was wonderful to be able to sing our praises to God and enjoyed singing our favourite hymns again.

We celebrated beautiful prayer time together this week by focusing on the good works of the Legion of Mary. As it was their special anniversary of 100 years, we learnt about how they began, the work they do in our parish and school, and around the world. We then learnt about the importance of our Rosary Beads. How to hold them and how to pray the prayers associated with the Rosary. Do you know how many Mysteries there are and the different focus days they have? Ask us, we can share our understanding with you.

We then finished our time together, by praying a Decade of the Rosary, thinking about people we know who are in need of our prayers.

Celebrating Mass on the Feast of Our Lady of Sorrows 15th September

We were so proud of children as they celebrated Mass together at St. Edward’s Church. Due to Covid restrictions we have been unable to celebrate Holy Mass together in person and have been following live streams every week, so it was so nice to be back together with Father Denis again. The children were so reverent and carefully practised their readings, speaking eloquently. A highlight of Mass was definitely being able to sing together again, which the children did with great enthusiasm, learning the signing to go with some of the hymnals as well.

Congratulations to Alexander and Una as they celebrated living their lives through our Gospel Values. Thinking carefully about the information they give to the class, being eloquent in their answers. An excellent example to set to everyone.

Well done to Eliza and Kodeigh who have demonstrated the Gospel Value of eloquence. During our lessons they give clear explanations of their knowledge and understanding. When necessary, they will ask good questions to help themselves and others further their understanding. Excellent work!

Celebrating the Nativity of Our Lady

Year 3 and 4 shared a beautiful prayer service together to celebrate the day when we remember the birth of Mary. Quiet reflective music helped us focus our thoughts on Mary and our prayers were for people, especially children, around the world. The children were eager to share their personal prayers with the phase and are thinking about how they can create their own prayer circles for their classes, choosing their favourite passages from the Bible, their favourite hymns and having complete ownership of their special prayer time together.

R.E Craft Work for Mary

After our prayer time together, we began our Art work to celebrate the life of Mary our Mother. Ideas came from @CatholicIcing to help us create 3D artwork for Mary.