The History of Britain performance
On Thursday, Key Stage 2 were treated to a performance from Hobgoblin Theatre Company: The History of Britain.
The journey started 800,000 years ago where we were introduced to ‘super hairy man’. We learnt that these men hunted with flint.
Then came the Ice Age, 120,000 years ago. This was when the land we now call ‘Britain’, separated from Europe to become an island. We found out that this was when the English Channel was created. We learnt people continued to hunt with flint tools and this was when the boat was invented.
The journey continued to 4000 BC, the Stone Age. This was when Stonehenge was created. Farming and clay pottery both became an organised trade in Britain.
We zoomed forward to 800 BC, where people built hill forts, began to trade with Europe and make jewellery.
60 AD saw the Romans control of Britannia for 70 years. Queen Boudica revolted against the Romans.
Did you know Colchester was the capital of Britain at this time?
Then, it was 878. We met King Alfred and the Vikings…
We learnt that there was a lack of a British army and ships to fight the Vikings invading Britain at this time. Did you know King Alfred’s decedents went on to unite all the British tribes under one King?
Fun facts:
1. Vikings didn’t actually have horns on helmets!
2. Many Viking words influence our language. Wednesday, Thursday, market and street are all Viking words!
We flashed forward to 1066: the Battle of Hastings. William the Conqueror brought Britain out of the dark ages. Children learnt that William came from Normandy of France to beat King Harold in battle.
We sped forward to 1348 and saw an interview with an early victim of the plague. The victim said he was infected as he was preparing for the feast. A flea from a rat, stowed away on the ship, had carried the disease to Britain.
We learnt that the symptoms of The Black Death included a high temperature and vomiting. Victims died within a couple of days. Soon, half of the population of Britain died.
The play then went to 1215, when the Magna Carta was introduced. Children learnt that this was when an official parliament was formed and people in charge of the country had to listen to he opinion of the people.
We then traveled to 1558 and met Queen Elizabeth I.
The children learnt that the Great Fire of London took place in 1666, in the form of a well-known cookery show! Children saw how the fire started in a baker’s oven and spread, engulfing a large portion of London.
Can your child remember where tea, initially shipped to the UK, was from? How did it travel to the UK?
Can they remember the vocal warm up tongue twister?
During the Victoria times what major form of transport was invented?
The play ended with an appearance from Winston Churchill. We learnt that Churchill was voted as the most important British historical figure as he was the Prime Minister during the Second World War.
Well done, Key Stage 2! Fantastic audience participation.
Show and tell
In Year 3, pupils earn Dojo points as a reward. Pupils can earn Dojo points for being on task, good teamwork, pushing themselves out of their comfort zones, participation and making good choices. Once pupils get to 50 Dojo points, this is celebrated by getting a prize and bringing in a show and tell.
We’ve had some brilliant show and tells so far this year with pupils sharing things they treasure from home. This has included: Yu-gi-oh cards, artwork, certificates, stick insects and a giant marrow. One child in our class recently won a certificate for writing an epic story from the Broughton Hall Children’s Literary Festival. Well done! Check out the pictures below!
Unrelated to Dojo rewards, if there is a big event within your family, like a new sibling or winning a prize/certificate out of school, we would like to celebrate this in class too. Please encourage your child to share these events during show and tell.
Writing
This week, we have been looking at instructions. We have specifically investigated recipes.
One of the features throughout recipes is adverbs. Initially, the children found adverbs tricky to grasp. We talked about how adverbs add information to (or describe) a verb. However, I can officially announce that Year 3 are now adverb experts…
To start with, we spent time picking out adverbs from recipes. We talked about why we need them.
Saahir: ‘We need them so we know what order to do the method in, like ‘first’ and ‘last’.’
Billy added: ‘We need them because it makes the writing more interesting.’
We talked as a class about low value adverbs – ones that we hear all the time. We then agreed a list of high value adverbs that would be really interesting and a little bit challenging to use.
See the pictures below!
Can your child remember the difference between: finely and finally?
Living & Learning
This week, reflecting and remembering are the two Rs for learning that we have focused on for Living and Learning. We talked about the importance of both of these Rs and what they mean to us. We also carried out a game that puts both of these Rs into practice.
The class sat in a circle and played ‘I went to the shops and bought…’. The aim of the game was to remember the sequence of items that the children before had listed, and then add to it themselves. Initially, we thought the class may struggle after ten items. As the session went on and more children had a turn, we quickly realised how wrong we were!
Without being prompted to do so, the class had made up actions to accompany each item that was listed. This meant that the class supported each other to remember the long shopping list. When we reflected on the task as a class, the children commented how useful the actions were when they were trying to remember all the items on the list.
Astonishingly, every child could remember the full 30 items on the shopping list! This was due to their quick thinking and developing a strategy to help them to remember. Well done, Year 3!
Ask your child – can they still remember any items?
Road safety
Year Three greatly enjoyed their road safety assembly this week. Anne, from Leeds City Council’s road safety team shared some important messages to make sure the children know how to stay safe. See the pictures below!
Can your child remember the song about the Green Cross Code?
Bounce into basketball
School Savings Club
The School Savings Club paying in sessions for this year are at 3.15-3.45pm on the following dates (the penultimate Thursday of each half term).
- 18 October
- 13 December
- 07 February
- 21 March
- 16 May
- 11 July
If you’re unable to attend in person, please hand in any money to be deposited to the office in a sealed envelope addressed to Mrs Tiffany.
If your child would like to open an account, please ask at the office.
There is an extra incentive for pupils in Year 3 as Leeds City Council will add £10 to your child’s account.
Road safety assembly
Anne, from Leeds City Council’s road safety team, delivered some great safety messages in our assembly this morning.
Can you remember the green cross code?
- Think!
- Stop!
- Look!
- Listen!
Mass park and stride
Thank you to all families who joined our mass park and stride this morning from Marks and Spencer. Special thanks as well to Leeds City Council road safety trainers, Dom Jacques and Living Streets representatives and especially Kerby for supporting this event to mark the start of International Walk to School month.
It was great to see so many families join the walk to school using Marks and Spencer to park their car rather than parking near the school gate.
Keep up those active journeys to school for a happy and healthy start to the day.
Start your day with an active journey
Today marks the start of International Walk to School month.
During October, we’re working alongside Living Streets to encourage families to travel in active ways to school. There are prize draws every week for children who have made active journeys to school (biking, scooting, walking or park and stride) with an added prize draw for those children who have made active journeys to school throughout October.
We realise that some families do need to come in the car to school so we are promoting Marks and Spencer car park (200 2 hour free spaces) as a place to park and then ‘stride’ the last part of the journey to school. This will avoid congestion at the school gate, improve health benefits to families and counts as an active journey.
Tomorrow, we will be working with Leeds City Council road safety trainers to deliver pedestrian training to Years 1, 2 and 3. Reception class will enjoy a class based safety session and Year 5 will be using the speed indicator device to check vehicle speeds in the 20mph zone outside school.
To start the day, join us for a mass park and stride meeting at Harrogate Road outside Marks and Spencer from 8:30am.
What? Mass Park and Stride
When? Tuesday 2nd October from 08:30am
Where? From Harrogate Road outside Marks and Spencer (200 free 2hr park and stride parking spaces)
Why? To encourage families to make active journeys to school and keep cars away from the school gates.
Who? Leeds City Council’s Road Safety Team, Kerby the road safety mascot, Living Streets representatives plus as many families as possible.
If you don’t come by car, join us on the route to school.