Welcome to our P.3 Class Page.

We really hope that you enjoy looking at all our photographs and videos of our school activities throughout the year.

(The most recent activities are at the top of the page.)

In Numeracy we have continued to focus on the layout of the 100 square.  We got the chance to physically order four non-consecutive numbers. Sometimes we had to order starting with the smallest number, at other times starting with the largest. We always had to look carefully at the Tens digit as this gave us a clue as to the size of a number.

In Numeracy we had to identify the missing numbers in a sequence. This started off easy, as our teacher set out cards that were counting in 1s. It became a little more difficult when we started to count in 2s – sometimes with odd numbers and sometimes even. We even had to count in 5s.

This week Dave Wiggins form the “Walk, Wheel & Cycle Trust,” came to talk to us about Active Travel and Road Safety. He told us that active travel is when we have to move to get to a diffferent destination. We might walk, cycle or even scoot. We must make sure tat we are in the company of an adult if we wish to do this. It means we are getting some exercise and helping parents to save money. It is a safer way to travel as there would be less traffic on the road and it is much better for the environment. We talked about how to keep safe during these activities, and how important it is to wear a helmet when cycling but also to wear a High Visibility Jacket whenever we are out and about on the roads.

In Literacy and WAU, we explored Procedural Text and celebrated Diwali at the same time. We created “Chocolate Coconut Balls” which is a sweet treat that is made when celebrating Diwali. We discussed the different “actions” that were made as we worked, such as set (out the ingredients) weigh, pour, mix, roll, melt, dip etc. Although we enjoyed creating the sweets, it was far more enjoyable eating them. They were delicious.

At Christmas, we have the extremely important job of supporting the P.1 & P.2 pupils when they stage their Christmas Performance of “Whoops-A-Daisy-Angel. This week we had the opportunity to show off all our singing practice as we joined forces with the other class for rehearsals. We are so excited.

This week was “Anti-Bullying Week,” so we kicked it off by taking part in “Odd Socks Day!” This served as a reminder that we are all different and that it is important that we respect each others differences, as this is what makes us unique. The theme this year is “Power for Good.” We discussed what was meant and thought that it was best described as doing good, kind and fair things and if we see or hear someone not doing this, we can try to encourage them to be fair and friendly.

In Literacy and WAU this week, we continued exploring Diwali. We read the story of “Rama and Sita,” as this is an important aspect of the Diwali celebration. It highlights how good overcomes evil and light overcomes darkness. Nemi came into school and showed us her “bindi” which

represents good fortune and vitality and is often worn during the Diwali Festival

We had great fun reinforcing our knowledge on telling the time, playing “Pairs,” when we had to match the time on a analogue clock to one on a digital clock.

We took part in our annual "Gaeilge 24," making the effort to speak as much Irish as we could throughout the school day. Aidan was awarded with a prize for making a big effort in our class for doing so.

Congratulations to Lilly-May for achieving 3^rd place in our local Credit Union Art Competition.

We took part in our annual "Woolly Hat Day," to raise funds for our local charity Mourne Stimulus. We had great fun, wearing all our hats of different styles and colours.

We looked in depth at the layout of Non-Fiction Books. We had the opportunity to look at the Contents pages to identify what information might be found in the book. We knew that the Index helped us to find the specific page for the information we wanted and the Glossary gives the meaning of new words. Our teacher then posed a question, we had to decide what book may provide the answer. We used the Index to find an exact page and read the result. After that we had the opportunity to pose questions for each other. We had to find the information we wanted and then turn a sentence into a question. It was great fun!!

Congratulations to Katie Murphy who won first prize in the ICT, KS1 competition “Design a Star Award Certificate!” using the Just2Easy Programme. The certificate is to be awarded in our Weekly Presentations to the children in the lower classes of the school. Katie was also declared our class winner of the “Smartie Tube Challenge.” Her creation was chosen by the members of the School Council.

On Tuesday morning, as part of our WAU Topic we travelled to the Newry and Mourne Museum for a Halloween storytelling session with Lucy Shanahan. We had great fun as we listening to the stories she shared and sang some spooky songs with her.

In ICT we took part in the C2K Junior Newsdesk Adobe competition where we had to 'Turn Yourself Into A Toy' using an AI poster. We had to describe the toy we wanted to create in great detail and then the computer generated the picture. We concentrated and worked worked really hard to describe what we wanted. We were so pleased with our results. Three lucky winners, chosen from schools all over the North of Ireland,  will have a pizza party for their class. The winners will be announced after Half-Term.

Arthur and Clodagh were the lucky winners if a Special Hallowe’en Draw conducted by Mr Hardy, in recognition of all the hard work carried out during his P.E. Sessions.

We paid a visit over to the Main School Building to have a look at all the very imaginative entries  for the Hallowe'en Smartie Tube Challenge .

We had great fun on the IWB, playing "What's the Time?" where we had to reading the time to the hour or half  hour on an analogue clock and match it to the correct time on a digital clock. 

A lot of scary characters came to school on Friday to help us with our Hallowe’en celebrations. Do you recognise anyone? 

We had fun decorating muffins and cookies, and eating all the “treats” that had been brought in.

As this was Maths Week Ireland P.6 had the task of creating and developing a Maths Game for our class. So, on Friday afternoon they came over to our room so that we could play their games. They had all put a lot of thought and effort into their creations. It was a lot of fun. They were very impressed with our Mental Maths Skills. 

As part of our WAU Topic we took part in a live ICT session through Just2Easy. We had the opportunity to follow live step by step instructions on the IWB and use Just2Easy to create our own creepy Halloween picture using JIT Paint. We then designed a haunted background and layered it with spooky Halloween clip art.

In Literacy this week we examined Instructional Texts. These texts give us instructions on how to do something. We have looked at the characteristics of these texts, such as bossy verbs, time related words and diagrams to help understanding. We looked at pictures that showed us how to create an Ice-cream Sundae. We had to put the pictures in the correct sequence and then we had to think of an instruction that could match them. We then had to think of alternate words to use, so that we would not be using the same words too often.

In our Problem Solving Session we were tasked with finding out how many different ways we could make the number 12 using 3 different numbers. We decided that there were certain rules that needed to be followed,

e.g. the same number could not be used twice,  a zero could be used. We all decided that we would work with 12 cubes to aid our work. breaking it into three sections and recoding the numbers achieved. However, Molly and Katie discovered a pattern and they began to work with that. We realised that there were many more number combinations to be had, than we had initially thought.

In Numeracy we combined the topics of Shape and Data Handling. Using a Venn Diagram, we were encouraged to sort 2D shapes according to two given criteria. The first set of criteria were “red” and “4 or more sides.” We then got to pick a random shape from the “Shape Sack,” place it in the diagram and state why we thought it should be there. As we were presented with different criteria our sorting skills really improved.

We took advantage of the lovely, dry, mild, weather and had a session of Activity Based Learning outside. We were so excited to play with some of the new equipment and discover its many uses. The favourites were the painting screen and the balance beam.

In Grow in Love, we were invited to bring a set of Rosary Beads to school, and we participated in the Pilgrims of Hope “One Million Children Praying the Rosary for Peace,” initiative. We were taught how to use the beads to help us count the prayer as we recited the Hail Mary.

We had the opportunity to improve our “estimation” skills. We were presented with a number of objects on the IWB for a few seconds and then we were asked to write down how many objects were thought there were. The number was never more than 20, but it can be difficult to estimate when the objects are randomly placed and not in a pattern.

This week we had a visit from our local Missionary Priest Fr. Nicky Hennity. He told us about how he worked in Kenya, which is a country near the equator, in a place called Mombasa, so it is always hot. He said that he swims in the Indian Ocean as the water is always warm and he sees lots of different wildlife. We discussed all the different animals that he has seen on his travels such as zebra, lions and giraffe. He informed us about some of the behaviours he has witnessed from the elephant and the mountain gorilla. He reminded us that all these fabulous beasts were created by God, as we were. He informed us that his work was to spread God’s message of love throughout the world. We sang for him, and he was very impressed.

We participated in “Restart a Heart Programme.” This showed us what to do if there is a person whose heart has stopped beating. We were shown how to look for danger, check if there is any response from the casualty, and what to do if there is no response. We placed our hands in the “CPR” lock and then performed compressions on our teddies. It was fun, but it is a very important.

In Numeracy, in the topic of Shape, we have increased our awareness of the properties of shapes, and the fact there are regular and irregular shapes. Using a 7 shaped tangram, we identified the shapes we were given, (5 triangles, 1 square, 1 parallelogram). We were shown a selection of “pictures” that can be created using these shapes and were encouraged to try to create them as best we could. We had great fun making rabbits, horses, cats and dogs.

We celebrated Rosh Hashanah this week. We had such a good time as we had the opportunity to taste the food that is eaten by the Jewish people as they observe this occasion. We had Challah Bread, Honey Biscuits, apples dipped in honey (well, we dipped everything in honey) and Pomegranate. We really enjoyed the opportunity to taste new foods, textures and flavours. We are looking forward to our next celebration.

We finished the week by taking part in our Annual Sponsored Walk, in aid of the Mourne First Responders.  Once again, the sun shone for us as we walked around Mourne Park. It was a beautiful setting for the event and each and every one who took part really had an extremely enjoyable experience. We used our ears to listen to the sounds of the birds, animals and the river. We used our eyes to see the beautiful colours of the Autumn leaves.

In Numeracy we have continued to explore Shape. We once again looked at some of the “shape” artwork that has been created by different artists such as Braque and Delaunay to see what shapes we could identify in their work. We were introduced to the pentagon and the hexagon. We also learned that there are different types of triangles, such as equilateral and isosceles. We were given some 2D shapes and were encouraged to draw around them any way we wanted on our pages, overlapping as much as possible. We then coloured in each different section achieved to create our own shape pictures.

We had great fun using ICT to reinforce our knowledge of Place Value. 

Place Value Basket Ball!

We had the very important task of voting for those we want to represent us on our School Council. We had the opportunity to watch the "promotional videos," created by the P.7 pupils, informing us, as to why we should vote for them. We then had to make our selection in secret. 

In Irish we learned how to pronounce our names i nGaeilge, and how to say “Maidin Mhaith,” to each other. We also explored how to describe how we are feeling.

In Numeracy we have been exploring Place Value. In pairs we were tasked with counting a large number of cubes. We counted in so many different ways; in 1’s, 2’s, according to colour, rainbow colours but we discovered that is was a lot easier to count the cubes if they were built into a tower of ten. We were then able to count up all the tens and add on the extra single cubes. We were encouraged to describe them as Tens and Ones, stating what the whole number was, and then trying to write that number in words.

In WAU and ICT we worked on “Rosh Hashanah.” We logged onto Just2Easy and using the “mix” option in JiT, we created a “Fact File” about Rosh Hashanah. “Mix” means that there will be a ‘mix’ of pictures and text on our work. It was great fun typing onto the screen, we had to find where the letters, were on the keyboard, because they are not in alphabetical order. We had to find the special keys that help us create a capital letter, a space between our words, a full stop, and of course the delete button, just in case we make a mistake.

In PE this week we focused on teamwork and how we have to listen to each other, focus on the task at hand and work together if we want to get the desired result. We realised that encouraging and supporting each other is a major element of collaboration.

We had our first Irish Session Bean Uí Riain this week. She had her “furry” friends with her who helped us remember their animal names and colours. We had fun singing in Irish “Twinkle-Twinkle Little Star!” “Travelling to School,” and “The Rainbow Song!”

Our WAU Theme for this term is Celebrations Around the World. We have been learning about Rosh Hashanah the Jewish feast of New Year, that takes place during the month of September. Rosh Hashanah lasts for two days. The Jewish people do not work, and they go to their Church which is called a synagogue. A special horn called a ‘shofar’ is blown to signal the start of Rosh Hashanah. Sweet food like apples and honey are eaten. Challah bread is dipped in honey. Pomegranates are eaten to wish that in the new year, people will do as many good deeds as the number of seeds in a pomegranate. We had great fun creating some of the elements associated with Rosh Hashanah. 

In our ICT session this week. We all had the chance to log on to our Chrome Books using our individual usernames and passwords. We signed into the “Mathletics” site and worked on the tasks that our teacher had set for us to reinforce the work we have been doing in class. 

In PE this week we had the opportunity to “Rob the Nest,” developing our skills as a team (tactics had to be discussed,) and following the rules of the activity.

In Numeracy we have been exploring the 30 Array. We discovered that there are a lot of patterns to be found on this Array. However, “Pete the Painter!” slipped into our class and he loves to cover up numbers, so we had to try to identify the numbers he had covered up by using our knowledge of the patterns.

Look at all these happy faces, glad to be back at school.

In Literacy we practiced our Talking & Listening Skills as we told each other about our Summer Holidays. We then listened to the story of Michael and his Mum’s trip to the seaside in “Sand, Waves and Ice Cream.” We worked in pairs to sequence some pictures of the story on the correct order.

In ICT we logged in to JiT and using the “draw” tool experimented with some ideas we had as a design for a   “Star of the Week” Certificate.                                         

In Phonics we have been reinforcing all our letter sounds and practicing how to blend these sounds when we are reading, but also how to segment sounds when we are spelling. We had great fun playing “Pairs” on the IWB where we had to match the sound action to the letter. 

In Numeracy we revised our number knowledge, counting forwards and backwards in ones starting from different numbers. To help reinforce this skill we played “Count Around.” (outside, P.E style.)