Spring 2 (Social Justice)
Science
What conditions do seeds need to germinate?
We have really enjoyed checking on our experiment over the past 2 weeks. Today we gathered our findings by making and recording observations.
Our variable was the conditon that our seed was kept in. We changed the moisture, air and the correct temperature for 3 seeds and created a control for us to compare our findings to.
After making observations we decides to 'dissect' our investigation and look at what had happened underneath the soil. We were amazed how the roots had grown in 3 of the seeds. We also got to see the inside of the seed and we could name the parts!
Homework projects
Well done everyone who completed their home learning project. It was great to see everyone's hard work!
Our final outcome
This half term we have been working towards hosting an exhibition of our work in the form of a museum. The children were so excited to showcase their learning and work this half term to our community.
Every child was an 'Egyptologist' and had their own replica artefacts to share and discuss to our visitors.
Well done Class 3, what a great event!
History
Painting our Shabtis
Class 3 made their own Shabtis on their visit to Derby Museum. They have been patiently waiting for them to dry so that they can paint them.
They have used shades of blue, just as the Egyptians did, to paint their Shabtis and they are looking forward to sharing these with their families at our exhibition event soon.
Planting trees
Our school has taken delivery of some beautiful fruit trees for our school grounds. Class 3 and R had a lovely afternoon exploring the outdoors and planting our new trees in our developing forest area.
We also had a fantastic time using natural materials to make flower crowns, animal houses and worm farms.
Derby Museum
Class 3 have had a fabulous day at Derby Museum.
We took part in a 'Secrets of the Mummies' workshop where we learned about the mummifiation process and got to mummify a (pretend) Pharaoh. We learned to write in hieroglyphs on real papyrus paper and found out what it felt like to be a scribe.
We had great fun making our own Shabtis out of clay and look forward to painting these once they are dry.
Snow much fun!
We made the most of the snow today (for a short while) and enjoyed making snowballs and snowmen. We were pleased to go back inside afterwards to warm up!
Maths
Equivalent lengths
We have been learning to compare lengths in M, CM and MM.
The children have been measuring objects and working out their size in a range of units. We made a number line of equivalent measurements to help us.
Science
How can we plan an investigation?
We have been planning our investigation to answer our question "What conditions do seeds need to germinate well?".
The children worked together to decide what equipment they will need and how they will carry out their investigation, including how to make it a fair and valid test.
We are looking forward to carrying out our investigation next week!
History
How were the pyramids built?
We have been learning about the pyramids in Ancient Egypt. We explored The Great Pyramid of Giza and were so surprised at how big it was! We then had a go at building our own pyramids in teams- this was trickier than we anticipated. It helped us appreciate how difficult this task was for the people living in Ancient times.
We then discussed how they were actually built. We explored different theories and decided why they could/could not be true. We were amazed to learn how gangs of humans dragged the enormous rocks up the causeways to the top of the pyramids!
Class 3 Newsletter
Tree planting
Class 3 have been tree planting today! What a lovely morning it has been, we made our way over to the community garden which was an empty patch of land. When the morning was over, the children had left behind an orchard.
The children dug holes before adding their partially grown trees, they then added protective measures to prevent damage to the trees and watered the roots into the ground.
The children have been making plans to visit, climb trees, and bring their own children along when they're older. We are so proud, as always, of the thoughtful and kind nature of the class and how they got fully involved in this project.
Starbooks and World Book Day
We love to celebrate reading and books every single day in class 3 however, with it being World Book Day we turned our classroom into 'Starbooks' and had a special 5-course tasting menu, where we sampled a range of texts.
The children enjoyed sharing stories, making predictions from the front cover, reviewing books and deciding whether they would continue reading after hearing the first chapter. We did all of this whilst enjoying a warm chocolate milk- in true Starbooks style!
Pop up library
We have been celebrating World Book Week here at school and have enjoyed our 'pop up library' where parents were invited to join us to share a story.
It was great to see so many children and parents reading and sharing stories together.
Maths
Measuring in metres and centimetres
Today we have been using a tape measure to measure in metres in and centimetres. We were very careful to be accurate and precise.
Maths
length and perimeter
We have begun our Maths topic by discussing why we need to know how to measure things?
We discussed the following points:
If you need to build things.
If you need to fit furniture in your house.
To measure the football pitch.
To be a teacher.
To know how big the wall is.
To measure clothes.
To see how long your journey is.
To measure curtains.
Fantastic work thinking of real examples of why measuring is important and relevant to our real life.
Computing
Branching databases- yes/no questions
We have begun our learning about branching databases and how to organise and group objects.
We grouped objects and worked as a team to guess which objects were chosen based on yes/no questions.
Tree planting
Class 3 were lucky enough to have a special visitor in to talk to us about a new project that is happening within our community.
Jenny came in to talk about the Smalley Community Garden and the work they are doing in our local area. Class 3 are going to be helping this project by planting an orchard or apple, pear, damson and cherry trees.
2021-2022
Science
Parts of a flower- flower dissection
(Explanation by Darcey)
We worked in pairs to dissect a flower (daffodil) and learned all of the scientific names for the parts of a plant. When dissecting we found the petal, leaf, stem, stamen, stigma, style and ovary. We have also learned the different functions of each part of the flower.
Geography
Water pollution
Today we have been learning about water pollution. The children begun with discussing what the ocean means to them and the ocean's role in our world.
The children discovered pictures showing the impact of water pollution on our environment. They shared how this made them feel and created a bank of questions that they want answering.
English
Calligram poems
In Class 3 we have been working towards writing a calligram poem. Using our global theme and our core text ‘Once Upon a Raindrop’ for inspiration, we created poems in the shape of a raindrop.
We have been learning how to use alliteration to create rhythm. We have used various resources to build ambitious vocabulary banks to support us when writing. Then we drafted, edited and re-drafted our poems.
We performed our poems using our voices and actions to enhance and emphasise.
Fruity Friday
In class 3 today we have been making fruit kebabs!
Geography
The water cycle
As part of our global theme, the environment, we have been learning about the water cycle.
We have been learning key vocabulary: evaporation, condensation, precipitation and collection. We have learned a new song to help us remember this process.
We then made our own version of the water cycle. The children were very excited to watch the water cycle happen in our classroom.
Art
Who was Claude Monet?
The children have been researching our artist 'Claude Monet'. We created a fact file about his early life and his influence on the art world. Once the children discovered he was one of the founders of Impressionism Art, they practised some of the key techniques and skills of this art form. We are building up to producing our own version of the 'Water Lily Pond'.
Science
Water transportation in plants
In today's Science lesson, we have been learning about water transportation in plants. We set up a comparative experiment to answer the question, "Does temperature affect the speed of water transportation in plants?"
The children made predictions about what they think will happen. They then set up their experiment using blue dye and white flowers. They spent the day carefully observing every few hours whilst making notes on their observations.
"I predict that the warmer environment will make the water be transported quicker" - Ava.
"The cold environment will be best" - Jenson
"I think it won't matter what temperature the room is, the plant will transport water the same" - Moira
Spanish
“Heads, Shoulders, Knees and Toes en Espanol”
This half term’s focus in Spanish is learning about ‘My Body’ and the simple body parts, along with learning the actions that we all make. The children have also learnt how to sing “Head, Shoulders, Knees and Toes” in Spanish and produced some creative work this week, to reinforce their vocabulary.
PE
Bowling skills
Our sport for this half term is Cricket. We have been practising our bowling skills and improving our technique. The children have loved coaching each other to improve their accuracy.
