Early Learning Workshop
- Have you ever wondered what a phoneme is?
- Do you know how to split a digraph?
Make sure you come along to our Early Reading Workshop on Tuesday 03 October at 6pm.
Find out how we teach phonics and reading and how you can support your child at home.
See you there!
From Addition Missions to Egg Rolls – Year 3’s Weekly Round-Up
We took on the role of spies this week in Maths, with secret addition missions to accomplish. We also practised how to mark our own answers and we’re shaping up to be independent and responsible learners.
For a more concrete representation, we have used place value grids to help us visualise how to add a 3 digit number to a 1 digit number.
Our maths talk this week has revolved around explaining what happens when we solve these calculations.
In English, this week, we have analysed what makes a good description. This helped us write our own as a group…
… and then move to more independent writing by the end of the week. I have been blown away by the quality of the children’s writing, especially their use of expanded noun phrases and prepositions.
As we continue our journey with our Explorers topic, we identified and described human and physical features of geography. Our flying ship was cut off from its communications with HQ this week, so we had to describe our location using photos taken out of the portholes.
PE was a highlight of the week again, as we continued to work on our flexibility and coordination in gymnastics. Some of the stretches were a little tricky but I’m sure our core strength will be improving as the weeks go by! Why not try a back support or an egg roll whilst you’re watching TV or even doing your spellings!
We’ve discussed what it means to be a part of a team, alongside our Living and Learning theme this week: “I am resourceful. I am resilient.” We talked about our goals and how we will need these two Rs for Learning to achieve them.
Well done to certificate winners Leo, who is a great example of someone who doesn’t give up when they face a challenge, and Nryan, whose spelling investigation impressed me greatly.
Another fantastic week in Year 3 – well done to everyone!
Arctic Explorers
In topic lessons this week, we’ve been exploring the less explored. We learnt about the first British woman to climb Everest and then delved right to the deepest part of the ocean: the mariana trench.
Then, we set sail to the Arctic. After discussing what we knew (and didn’t know) about it, we imagined that we were at a research camp, ready to set out on a day-long expedition. Working in the Arctic requires lots of calories so we worked in groups to plan what food we would take with us. We had to think about eating enough calories (3305kJ) to have enough energy for the journey; taking enough for all four members of the team to eat; and ensuring we stayed within our expedition budget of £60.
The children found the task difficult but worked well and resiliently together.
Amazing Grammar Learning
This week, we’ve been learning/revising loads about grammar and punctuation. To ensure the children were actively learning, we spent the week making a PaG board game. Each day, we focused on a specific area of grammar (word classes, punctuation, sentence types) and at the end of each lesson we prepared test style questions for each area.
Today, we enjoyed playing our games. Obviously, we weren’t just playing; without realising we were learning. It was great to see children helping each other learn whilst having fun.
Super Spelling
Last week, children were given a list of words to learn. I asked children to evidence their learning in their spelling books. Three children in particular really stood out.
Lori and Nicky showed that they had definitely been practising their spellings…
And so did Pia…
It’s important to remember that different children learn in different ways. What you see here may not work for your child. However, what I really like about these examples is that the children have actively engaged with the process of learning their spellings. They haven’t just learnt them by rote for a test. It’s likely that these children will have learnt these spellings for life. These children are also demonstrating that they have learnt how they learn best – this is a huge predictor of future of success. Well done to everyone in Year 5, especially Pia, Nicky and Lori.
Science learning
To continue our weekly science learning, we planned an investigation today. We started off by looking at a range of balls and wondered what we could investigate.
In groups, we decided on one investigation that we could carry out in school. Then, we had one minute to convince the rest of the class that everyone should carry out our investigation. Here’s the results of our vote:
Then, we planned the investigation that we will carry out next week.
Science – exploring magnets
This afternoon, we’ve been learning about magnets.
We started off with a bit of general exploration.
Next, we explored which objects in the classroom were and weren’t magnetic.
Here is a photo of some things we found which are and aren’t magnetic:
We came to the conclusion that wood and plastic are not magnetic and that only some metals are magnetic.
Arctic Explorers
In topic lessons this week, we’ve been exploring the less explored. We learnt about the first British woman to climb Everest and then delved right to deepest part of the ocean: the mariana trench.
Then, we set sail to the Arctic. After discussing what we knew (and didn’t know) about it, we imagined that we were art a research camp, ready to set out on a day long expedition. Working in the Arctic requires lots of calories so we work in groups to plan what food we would take with us. We had to think about eating enough calories (3305kJ) to have enough energy for the journey; taking enough for all four members of the team to eat; and ensuring we stayed within our expedition budget of £60.
The children found the task difficult but worked well and resiliently together.
Class Conscience Alley
During our Living and Learning session today, we created a thought tunnel which is also known as a ‘Conscience Alley’.
A ‘Conscience Alley‘ is a useful technique for exploring any kind of dilemma faced by a character, providing an opportunity to analyse a decisive moment in greater detail. The class forms two lines facing each other.
The children take on two contrasting viewpoints to provide a tunnel of thoughts for the character to travel through. The character then walks between two rows of children (the alley). Each side offers alternative advice representing the conscience of the character. At the end of the row, the character has to make a decision based on which side was more convincing.
We linked this activity to our class novel ‘Robinson Crusoe’. Here is the dilemma faced by the stranded explorer.
‘After weeks of believing he was alone, Crusoe spotted footprints in the sand. These were much larger than his own. Was there human life on this desert island? Considering his safety, Crusoe turned the idea of following the footprints around in his head. Was it a risk worth taking? His life could be at stake!’
As Robinson travelled through the alley, he was offered advice to aid his decision. He was given suggestions for going and for not going.
Here are just a few of the suggestions.
“Don’t go it may be dangerous.”
“You must explore these footprints they could help you.”
“I suggest you go but take your weapons.”
“It would be good to go as there may be food.”
“This is your one chance to freedom. You must go.”
“It’s not a good idea.”
“It could be dangerous!”
“I think you need to risk it. It may be a survivor from the ship.”
Robinsoe Crusoe decided it was a risk he needed to take. It may be his way off the island.
Geography of the United Kingdom
This afternoon, we’ve been learning about the political geography of the United Kingdom. We’ve learnt that England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland make up the United Kingdom.
