Year 3 Reading Page
In Year 3 reading is one of our favourite things!
In Year three reading is an important part of our day at school. We read in all of our subjects, not just English. For example, in R.E. we regularly read stories from the Bible, psalms and prayers. In science, we have received letters, emails and challenges, where we use our reading skills to find out what we need to investigate. In history and geography, we use our reading to research and find out things, including finding out about how volcanoes are formed. Even in maths, we use our reading when tackling word problems and challenges.
Every day in the classroom, time is spent reading. Sometimes we read quietly or sit and listen to our teachers reading. At other times we might complete a guided reading activity or a reading comprehension activity, where we read a set text and answer questions about it (with support from adults within the classroom).
Home Reading
In Year Three we encourage children to become more independent in their reading, by offering a range of books, which can be chosen from our school reading scheme, library or classroom selection. We expect children to change their own reading book, as and when they finish it. Every day, we celebrate home reading using our “Reading Road Around Britain”. Each time a child reads at home, their car is moved along the road, where they are able to gather rewards and prizes for their effort.
As a child I loved to read; visiting the library was such an exciting time as I got to bring home new and exciting books. Roald Dahl was my first favourite author and still is. His imagination and made up words make his books a pleasure to read. I remember reading the enormous crocodile so many times that I could recite it off by heart and would do daily, performing it in front of my family!
As I grew older I fell in love with Enid Blyton’s books, particularly her Famous Five and Secret Seven series. I loved the adventures she bought to me, wherever I was curled up reading.
After training to be a teacher I have fallen back in love with picture books. I discovered a whole new world, where picture books can be used across KS1 and 2 to inspire children’s own writing!
‘The Dot’ is my current favourite book (although it changes quite often!). As a lover of art and picture books, this book drew me in. It’s not only a lovely story, with beautiful illustrations to match, but it has a lovely message: that anyone can be an artist.
Reading is important to Mrs Andrews.
I loved reading books as a child. My earliest memory is of reading books at bedtime and waking up in the morning having spent the night lying on books – I had gone to sleep reading…again.
As a child, I enjoyed reading books by Lorna Hill and Roald Dahl (Danny, the Champion of the World, George’s Marvellous Medicine), but my favourite author was Judith M Berrisford. I was enthralled by the adventures of her heroine, Jackie, and would totally immerse myself in the world created on the pages of that series of books. It was wonderful.
It is very hard to choose, but I would probably say that my favourite book was ‘Wind in the Willows’ by Kenneth Grahame. I find the awe, nostalgia and camaraderie captivating and the beautiful use of language to describe the countryside and its inhabitants makes me want to read lines over again:
“All this he saw, for one moment breathless and intense, vivid on the morning sky; and still, as he looked, he lived; and still, as he lived, he wondered.”
“The Mole was bewitched, entranced, fascinated. By the side of the river he trotted as one trots, when very small, by the side of a man who holds one spellbound by exciting stories; and when tired at last, he sat on the bank, while the river still chattered on to him, a babbling procession of the best stories in the world, sent from the heart of the earth to be told at last to the insatiable sea.”
“Book as a Hook”
We use a “book as a hook” to support our literacy lessons. This means that the teacher chooses a book, which is then used to inspire our writing.
This year we have used:
The Orchard Book of Greek Myths, in particular the stories of “Bring Me the Head of Medusa” (story of Perseus) and “The Man-Eating Monster” (story of Theseus and the Minotaur”)
“The Wizard, the Ugly and the Book of Shame” by Pablo Burnasconi.
Leitmeritz is a powerful wizard who uses his Red Book of Spells to help everyone – everyone, that is except his sad, blue assistant, Chancery. Chancery is not handsome. In fact, most people simply call him “the Ugly”. But one day, while the wizard is away, the Ugly tries to cast a spell on himself with disastrously funny results.
We have also read and written poems, based around the themes of Bonfire Night and Remembrance day. In particular, we used the poem: “Poppies for Remembrance” by Moira Andrew to inspire our writing.
We know that reading every day supports every area of our learning, from supporting our spellings to helping us come up with ideas for our own writing in literacy. We also know that everybody is constantly reading things all of the time, without even thinking about it – posters around school, food labels so we know what we are eating, the TV guide so we know what we are going to watch, instructions on computer games, adverts, road signs, names of board games… Words are literally EVERYWHERE!!
Ideas and Resources for Parents
Children love to listen to other people reading to them, whether it is their teacher, friends, parents or brothers and sisters. To help you find books that are suitable for Year Three, I would recommend these lists to begin with.
https://www.booksfortopics.com/year-3
https://www.booktrust.org.uk/booklists/1/100-best-books-6-8/
https://www.explorelearning.co.uk/blog/recommended-reading-lists/
And, of course, there is always the library!!