Spectacular science
Yesterday, we enjoyed a mind-blowing science lesson in which we practised our observation skills (LO: To be able to use observations to verify predictions).
We started off by moulding some ‘Soapy Foam’ (other brands available) into a sphere.
We knew we were going to leave the soap (untouched) all day. We each made a prediction about what we thought would happen:
- ‘I think it will shrink because the water in the soap will evaporate.’
- ‘I think it will expand because of the pressure from the air.’
- ‘I think it will turn into a puddle because it will melt.’
Then, as a group, we ordered our predictions from least likely to most likely.
We observed the soap throughout the day. This is called an ‘observation over time’. Ask your child what happened and encourage them to explain why they think this occurred.
In the next part of the lesson, we filled a small glass with water. We filled the glass to its absolute full capacity – ask your child what we noticed about the top of the glass. On the table, we had a range of items (cotton wool, counters, paper clip, Base 10 rod, Multilink cube) and predicted what would happen if we put them in the glass. Obviously, the water would be displaced and overflow, right? Well, we all decided that the cotton wool had the best chance of fitting in the glass without any water spilling over the slides so we investigated. We put the cotton wool in the water and observed what happened…
You’ll never believe it but the cotton wool went into the glass without a single drop of water being spilled! Ask your child if they can explain to you why this strange phenomena occurred (hint: think about particles and the three states of matter).
Everyone’s mind was blown. Especially this person…
Homework review (Creative)
I was really impressed with this week’s homework. Well done, everyone! To celebrate the monumental (ask your child what this word means – we came across it in our class novel this week) efforts from Y5 we took part in our first homework review of the year. We had the chance to see everyone’s responses and left comments in books to say well done.
Here are a few of our favourites…
And, here is our absolute favourite piece this week. Well done, Ben. Your model classroom was incredible. I love the attention to detail!
Hotseating
On Thursday, we wrote a diary entry as Henry from ‘The Incredible Book Eating Boy’. In order to get into character, we thought about what questions we’d like to ask Henry if he were real and then some of us took on his character, fabulously.
8Rs Creative Homework
A fabulous start to homework from Year 6. We enjoyed a wonderful presentation from both Edward and Aleena and saw a whole host of different ways we could us the 8Rs at home, at school and in extra curricular activities.
As always, we spent some time looking at each others’ before sharing a comment in everybody’s book.
Here are some we particularly liked:
From constellation art to Mr Fluffy – Year 3’s weekly round-up
This week, the children were extremely excited to make their monsters. As you can see from their facial expressions, they came up with some terrifying creatures! Challenge your child to describe their monster using interesting adjectives!
We discussed vocabulary and their impact upon readers with ‘shades of meaning’. Children worked in groups and talked about what each word meant and where an author might use it.
We had a go at acting out each word, from creeping to marching, from worried to petrified:
Great drama skills!
In maths, we have been working on missing number patterns, using detective skills to figure out which numbers complete the sequence. Not only have we been practising our 5s this week, but also counting in 50s with our ‘First to 1000’ game!
We used iPads and books to research the question: ‘What is a constellation?’, and presented our results back to the class…
We drew known constellations, but designed and named our own creations, too!
We have also been inspired to make some constellation art, using different paints and glitter. Hopefully we’ll have some clear evenings this weekend so you can go stargazing, something a lot of children have been very enthusiastic about. See if you can spot any of the constellations we’ve talked about this week!
Sadly, this week brings the end of our time with Orion and the Dark, but children have been writing their own version of the story. With some fantastically creative ideas from the class, we turned the story on its head and entitled ours ‘Orion and the Sun’. A boy who is afraid to go outside goes on an adventure with his new friend Sunny to find out if there’s more to life than his video games! I’m looking forward to reading the results!
A warm welcome to our new class pet, Mr Fluffy…
…who helped us discuss our Living and Learning theme for this week which was “I show I am ready to learn and I respond to feedback”. Congratulations to Jessica, who won this week’s Living and Learning certificate, for our brilliant conversations about her work and for always being one of the first ready to learn. Congratulations to Adam, this week’s Star of the Week, for his enthusiasm, contribution and all round hard work.
Another great week in Y3! Well done everyone!
Creative homeworks
Here’s a selection of our favourite creative homeworks from this week.
Story mapping
We’ve been planning our own story today based on our class novel, Lost and Found. Children have drawn pictures to represent what happens in the story. This will help them sequence the story when they write it tomorrow. 
PE – basketball
Yesterday, in PE, we practised our basketball skills. We focussed on our dribbling skills and played games that allowed us to improve our skills whilst working as a team. More importantly, we made sure we worked up a sweat and had fun!
Please remember that your child should have their PE kit in school every Tuesday and Wednesday (preferably every day). However, from next week onwards (for 4 weeks), PE will be on Monday and Wednesday. This is to accommodate a visitor.
What’s that coming over the hill?
Is it a monster?
Continuing on with our text focus, Orion and the Dark, we have had fun creating our own monsters.
First of all, the children were asked to describe their monster. Using different parts of the body we were able to create a bank of adjectives. Using these, the children went on to create some expanded noun phrases. Here is an example of how we set this work out.
- ears noun
- wrinkly ears adjective noun
- wrinkly, old ears adjective adjective noun
- wrinkly, old ears that can hear a pin drop extra detail
- My monster has wrinkly, old ears that can hear a pin drop. full sentence
Then, it was time to get creative. The children sketched their monsters first. After this, using clay, we set to work. Children had to select tools needed to make patterns, cut, flatten and decorate their models. When complete, the models were baked and are now on display in the classroom.
Below, are a few pictures of the children at work.
Skills
In our topic lessons, and other lessons, children have the opportunity to use many skills such as ICT, improving their own learning and performance, working with others and problem-solving.
Here the children are working with others and using their thinking skills to predict what their learning might be at the start of a topic lesson on seasons.
