If you have a Year 3 child can you please answer a question?

[Ivyleagueunderthesea]

I’m going to be teaching year 3 next year and I’ve not been out of EYFS for years.

I’m looking forward to it but I have a slight problem. In EYFS I have a stack of books I can read or tv programs I can put on in the case of a spare 5 minutes.

My question is, what books and TV programs does your Year 3 child like? Something on iplayer or short story books that I can grab.

thank you.

My ds laughed like a drain watching the Michael Rosen chocolate cake poem on youtube and the one when he puts a stick in his brother's bed.

Horrible Histories, always popular

You put tv programmes on?
I assume this is not a state school

doesnt the school have a canon of texts for Y3? You read the class reader

I don't want to sound pompous but my Yr3 DD never has a spare 5mins for TV or the teacher reading to them. They watch newsround occasionally as a class or sometimes they get Deadly 60 or the dengineers at lunchtime but not regularly.

If I'm teaching ks2, spare 5 minutes are: class reader, newsround or games (20 questions, hangman, countdown, wordle...) very occasionally a quick YouTube video about our topic if I've already checked it out.

I think you probably work at our school - they seem to have a ridiculous amount of screen time in the classroom. I can see why screens are useful in EYFS but surely year 3 children should be practicing being patient?

I work in Year Three. We have never watched a TV show to kill time and have only had two wet plays this year when the screen was on but to be honest most of them prefer colouring, Uno, Snakes & Ladders, etc, to watching.

I do sometimes show them Green Planet (in small bursts) or Newsround, but that is hard to fit in.

I do read to them though, so important! The class reader is for in English lessons... I read fun novels, picture books, etc, which are high quality and often tied to our learning. e.g. "The Penguin who wanted to find out" when we were learning about Shackleton. Also some classics... My Naughty Little Sister went down a treat.

My year 3 likes the wimpy kid books, little people big dreams books and loves Harry Potter but is at the higher end of reading ability in her class.

She usually has a school library book on the go that they read before school etc.

TV wise she likes blue peter, newsround, annoying YouTube videos and disney plus.

When DD was Yr3 those spare 5 minutes were Just Dance videos from YouTube or a times table song.

Back when my teen dd was that age, the teacher would put on Strictly.

Class book.
Heads Down, Thumbs Up game.
Hit The Button (times table game if you have an interactive whiteboard).
Be careful with Horrible Histories - not all Yr3 are comfortable with the gory bits.

CBBC is your friend. Also newsround and the literacy shed.

KS2 teacher here! Newsround is probably the go to on the very, very odd occasion we have time!

Some book faves: The boy at the back of the class, The Nowhere emporium, Brightstorm

Other 5 minute activities: Times tables (like TTRockstars) to prepare for the Y4 multiplication check, Y3/4 spellings, handwriting

I've just asked my yr 3

Class book - The last firefox.

Tv - newsround. And they also quite often play wordle.

DD watches Newsround in her class. Horrible Histories you can get just the songs on youtube if you're worried.

Teaching them games works well as well - hangman, heads down thumbs up, fish and chips/apple pie (different schools seem to have different versions), unlucky elevens and the like - plus a longer class story to read in installments is usually a good time-filler for those dead 5 minutes at the end of a session.

Boggle and just write the letters up on the board (I'm sure there's an online interactive whiteboard version out there somewhere) would be another good one as well.

I used to do a lot of lower KS2 supply, those were my general standbys

To shows- Horrible histories, worst witch, deadly 60, art ninja, hetty feather, operation ouch, the zoo is great for short stand alone funny episodes, and my dd8 still loves odd squad. She’s loved worst witch being read to them but I think that was year two, I’ll ask her tomorrow what other books they’ve had this year as they have half an hour a week on Friday last thing as a wind down.

Green planet

Books: The Treehouse books, David Walliams, The Worst Witch and Harry Potter.
TV programs: Horrible Histories and loads of really random stuff on YouTube.

I'd be annoyed if you watched a lot of TV tbh, but at that age my kids I would put on something like Springwatch or other cheerful nature programme.

Horrible Histories is tedious, please don't!

That's sad.

A shared book with the class is fun.

Ah Year 3 (8-9) was all about Horrible histories, Tom Gates books, those find Wally type books but with different themes

Project work, crafts that are more inventive and educational , dressing up and learning new hobbies as well as the usual science, maths and reading . A well planned out demonstration of a science principle or anything practical when learning goes such a long way as you really capture their imagination! My DCs still remember the fire of London demonstration , the rocket in the playground demo , the how not to break an 'egg on a fall from height' project and the cola and mento trick! I'm pretty sure they were all Year 3s

@Tiani4 year 3 in England is 7-8. So a touch younger.

Go Noodle is great for mindfulness and guided dances. They also have indoor recess for wet play.

I've taught Y3 for years and sadly I agree we never really have a spare 5 mins. If we do it's the class reader which we don't get enough time on usually, or times table practice. We occasionally use the old BBC class clips videos for science, RE or history lessons. Re books, there are loads of short Teary Deary novels related to all the KS2 history topics - Anglo Saxons, Vikings, Romans etc. My class love these.

When I taught year 3 they enjoyed Roald Dahl Revolting rhymes and Kid Normal.
We watched newsround. The bribe to get them changed from PE quickly was an episode of Shaun the Sheep if there was enough time!