Year 3 - mums advice pls ?

[jessica36]

I would like my dd to do some extra work this summer, not much but a little bit to keep her busy on rainy days. I asked the teacher what we could do that would be helpfull towards year 3, i know she meant well but she said just let her enjoy the summer (which i will also do offcourse).

Can any year 3 mums tell me what would be helpfull for dd to know/learn towards a year 3 level ?

Thanks ;)

Not sure what your school is like but from my experience good things to do prior to year 3 would be times tables, telling the time, reading and encouraging dd to read all sorts of things. Also maybe look at the Egyptians as this topic seemed to be one of the main ones for us. We also did castles and other types of homes too. Have fun!

Ds1 is going into year 3 in September. His teacher has given them a (fun) story-writing project to do, and she's said she'd also like them to keep some sort of journal re days out etc.

Just let her do whatever she enjoys doing, imo the holidays are for having a rest from school type work, not academically preparing for the next term.

How about creating a scrap book / journal of things you get up to over the holidays? Great for lit practise, and IT too if you use something like photostory; besides, kids love all that cutting and sticking and taking photos. My kids (dd yr3, ds yr6) have been asked to do this by school in past. Even if your dd hasn't been asked, it would be nice for her to be able to take something in in Sept and show her teacher/class.

Last summer I bought some work books from our local lib (found them slightly better than the usual fare but they're all pretty much of a muchness) and did a page each with them both most days. I know that makes me sound like a tyrannical and terribly boring mother, but it didn't eat into our 'play time', they didn't really mind and most kids are up for anything that involves you focusing your attention on them. It not only helped keep their brains ticking, but gave them a chance to go over areas they struggled with or get a head start in others.

My Ds2 is just going into year 3 in September and ds1 will be going into year 5. I always do a bit of work with my dcs in the holidays as well, but usually try to find some way of making it fun.

I'd agree with philmassive, times tables, telling the time and lots of reading - all of which can be done in a fun way. Last year I bought my dcs Terrific Times Tables and some of this range of workbooks to do and they really enjoyed it. I usually ask them if there's a specific series of books they'd like to read over the summer as well and sign them up to the library's summer reading challenge.

This year they are both signed up for Maths Whizz, which they love, so will carry on with that. They will also be learning mind-mapping with me this summer and this will also be a fun thing, with them getting as creative with it as they want to and choosing their favourite topics to use.

It sounds a lot, but it generally pans out to half an hour to 45 minutes a day, plus the maths whizz, which they don't see as learning anyway.

Ds1 has Aspergers, so it helps him to structure the holidays in order keeps his anxiety low. He also goes through roughly a paperback every two days, sometimes quicker if they are short like the BeastQuest books, so we have to make sure we have plenty of books available.

I would just encourage her to enjoy reading - fluent reading and understanding will probably help more than anything else to accessing the National Curriculum.

Thank you - wow - excellent tips to do ! Love the book suggestions - and yes, i agree with the reading part. My loves it so maybe some new reading books. Moosemama - what is mindmapping if i may ask ? Interested to do the Maths Whizz with her also - it looks like fun and she loves "computer time". Do you rate it highly and do your childeren do this weekly or daily.

I will make sure there will be plenty of play time, but i do try to combine both where possible and with these usefull tips i feel ready for the summer ... well nearly, where is the sun ?

Mind mapping is a way of organising information or your thoughts in a more creative way than the usual list based linear fashion we're used to. My ds1 struggles with organising and structuring his work and creative/abstract thinking, so I thought we'd try mind mapping and see if it helps at all. There's some information on it here. I've bought the Tony Buzan Mind Mapping for Children book and another one that has exercises to work through. We've tried a couple of exercises already, word association sort of stuff and both boys really enjoyed it.

The boys do Maths Whizz daily at the moment, but they actually recommend just 30 minutes a week to improve skills and I suppose their usage may drop off a bit when they've been using it for longer. They've been doing it for a couple of months, still enjoy it and see it as a fun thing to do, rather than work. From my point of view it helps me to see which topics they breeze through and which ones they are struggling with. I sit with them on a few of the sessions, particularly the pencil and paper maths questions, to get a clearer idea of how well they're understanding what they're doing. I looked at Carol Vorderman and Mathletics as well, but felt Mathletics was too competitive for my dcs and Carol Vorderman did some things in a different way than they do at school, so Maths Whizz was a clear winner for me really.

I agree about times tables. At our school they are expected to know them all by Year 3 although little appears to be done about teaching them tt in KS1.

Work on punctuation too if you have lots of rainy days and handwriting if this is a weakness.

one teacher told me that knowing the times tables can really help with future maths.

we also do maths whizz - just fab!

what sort of things does your DD like to read? my DS likes funny silly books and we get through his choice of library books at great speed.

If she likes computer time - a good one for times tables is Timez Attack. My boys love it. We've only got the free downloaded version and they love playing it. I keep promising myself I'll pay for the full package one day.

I notice they have one for division now and will be bringing in addition and subtraction around christmas time this year.

She like to read lots of stuff altough anything history isn`t a hot topic. We always seem to end up in the - do i have to ? mood.

Loves national geographic books, the Worst Witch books are a favorite and so are Mr majeika books, I bought her those fairy collection books, but after reading 4 she lost interest, all the same she found.

I`ll certainly focus on those timetables, luckely she enjoys maths so that is a bonus.