A Christmas gift for the fabulous Eco Warriors- Year 3!

A Christmas gift for the fabulous Eco Warriors- Year 3! 

The Year 3 team were so impressed with how passionate the children were when we were learning about the Rainforest that we decided this year for Christmas instead of buying something that may get lost or broken, that we would buy the whole class a gift that would help save an endangered species. 

We have adopted an orangutan from the Borneo rainforest. All the information about this will be on our whiteboard in the morning. We are going to have a competition to name the orangutan teddy, this will be sent home on Thursday. 

We still have a jam packed week full of Power Maths, performances, Christmas lunches, crafts and party games! 

Please can we have ALL costumes in tomorrow as the performance will be filmed. 

Many thanks

The Year 3 team 

Trip cancelled tomorrow.

Due to the impending weather forecast tomorrow, we have made the decision to cancel the trip to the United Church in town. We felt that it was too far to walk in the rain and wind. 

We hope that this is a trip that the class can do next year instead. 

Reminders and getting ready for our Christmas performance.

What an incredible week we have been having. The children have thoroughly enjoyed their STEM week so far but there is still more to come...

Tomorrow (Friday) looks set to be another busy and fun day at the Prince of Wales school. The children will have their last STEM activity and we have a few surprises up our sleeves for them to enjoy.  

Here's some reminders for the next few days:

Tomorrow (Friday 6th December)

* Non school uniform day. Donations very welcome for the Christmas Fayre.

* Power Maths parent session at 2pm. 

* Science Fair at 2.30pm (children are welcome to leave with a parent or carer from 3pm).

* Buttermarket Christmas lights sing along. The event starts at 5.30pm, we will be singing at 6.30pm and the event finishes at 7pm. 

Home learning / over the weekend

* All children have been given a piece of paper with the details of their costume for the Christmas play. Please can you have a look at home to see if you could find or make a costume for them. Please talk to a member of the year 3 team if you have any questions or concerns. POWSA have some spare costumes that they may be able to lend. 

* Children will be sent home with their scripts over the weekend. Please support you child to read and learn the lyrics of the songs. 

Next week

* Journey to the stable on Tuesday morning. If any parent or carer would like to volunteer to join us please let a member of the year 3 team know. 

* Rudolph run for Weldmar on Thursday. Sponsorship forms went home on Wednesday. Please ask if your child didn't get one.

*   Christmas Fayre on Friday 3.30pm - 5.30pm. 

STEM week

Welcome to STEM week!

I hope the children liked arriving at the North Pole this morning. In our assembly this morning Professor Barbour explained about climate change and what was happening to the Arctic ice. All week the children will be with their lunch tables and work with all of the teachers on a set of challenges.

In the afternoon we will be doing Power Maths and our Christmas play practice.

Year 3 Superheroes

Wow, what a busy week we've had and what absolute superheroes your children have been.

In addition to the normal timetable, the children have planted trees to combat climate change, started rehearsing their Christmas performance and completed their Big Write. What has impressed us most has been the children's fantastic attitude to their learning this week. It has been wonderful to see them working hard and trying their best.

Home learning
1) Read and complete an AR quiz.
This week we would like you to focus on reading with your child. Regardless of their reading ability, it would be helpful if you could listen to them read and discuss their book with them. Please also encourage them to complete an AR quiz once they have completed their book.

2) Science fair preparation 
If your child would like to be involved in next Friday's science fair please use this week's home learning time to prepare.

 

We hope you all have a lovely weekend.
The year 3 team 

The Big Climate Fightback- planting trees to save our world!

The Prince of Wales School have signed up to be part of the Woodland Trusts 'Big Climate Fightback'. We have pledged to plant over 100 new trees in our school grounds. 

'Trees are the ultimate multi-taskers, helping to combat the two environmental emergencies facing our planet: climate change and biodiversity loss.

They absorb carbon, fight flooding, reduce pollution, nurture wildlife and make landscapes more resilient'

We have a variety of different trees from Silver birch, Rowan, Oak to Cherry. Every class in the school will be partaking in the planting of these saplings. On Monday afternoon half of the class started the campaign off by planting Rowan saplings by our Forest School area. 

Everyone in Year 3 will have a chance to plant a tree by the Christmas holidays.

Clothes for tomorrow

Good evening

Just reminder that Ravenclaw and Gryffindor will need their Forest school clothes tomorrow

This week's Home Learning and upcoming dates

Hello everyone,

We have been delighted by the number of year 3 children completing their home learning each week.
This week all children were given a maths worksheet linked to the maths they have been learning in class.

The class were also asked to continue to think about their ideas for an adventure / explorer story that they will be writing next week. Talking and expressing thoughts verbally is a vital part of the writing process for children. If possible it would be very helpful if you could talk to your child about their story ideas.
Questions to prompt discussion:
1) Tell me about the main character of your story. What do they look like? What is their personality like?       
2) Why is your character going on an adventure? 
3) Where are they going to explore? Arctic or Antarctic?
4) What problem could your character face on their adventure?

There are lots of things happening in the next few weeks. Here's some dates for your diaries.

Monday 25th November - Deadline for returning Christmas cards order envelopes to school.
Friday 29th November - POWSA Christmas film night.

Friday 6th December - Deadline for online Christmas card orders.
Friday 6th December - Non school uniform day - donations welcome for the Christmas Fayre.
Friday 6th December - Christmas STEM fair (children encouraged to create Science, Technology, Engineering or Maths projects linked to Christmas).
Saturday 7th December - Buttermarket Christmas market.

Tuesday 10th December - Year 3 Journey to the Stable school trip (details to follow soon).
Friday 13th December - POW Christmas Fayre 3.30pm -5.30pm

Wednesday 17th December - Year 3 and 4 Christmas performance at 11am
Thursday 18th December - Year 3 and 4 Christmas performance at 11am


 
 

Land art and magnets!

This week in Year 3 we have had Rob in with us for a session on land art. Rob is a chainsaw artist who is very skilled in using the outside environment in his work. The children had to make a piece of art using inspiration from the artist Andy Goldsworthy. There were some fantastic results.

Also this week we have been investigating with magnets. Year 3 investigated 'Are all coins magnet? Prove it'. They worked in groups to find out the coins that are magnetic and the ones that are not. I wonder if your child can remember the differences in coins and why some 2p and 1p are magnetic and why some aren't?  If you look at the Science page of our knowledge organisers you can see everything that we are currently covering on magnets. We are using the terminology or attract, repel and north and south poles. 

Year 1 - Bits and Pieces!

Hello everyone,

Firstly, thank you to everyone for their effort with the first week of spellings last week! The children showed us that they had clearly been practicing these ready for the test! This will continue on a weekly cycle until the end of the year. 

Coming home this week will be a couple of things...

1. Weather Diary - the home learning project for this half term is to keep a weather diary for 2 weeks. It is up to you when you start and finish the weather diary as long as it is before the end of the term - 20th December! This will hopefully give way to conversation and observation about the world around us. 

2. Assembly lines - Our class assembly is next Friday (29th) and we are already hard at work preparing for it! Children will be coming home with their assembly lines before the end of the week for you to practice at home. This will help to build up confidence ready for day! 

Year 1 team

Home learning and outdoor clothes for all next week!

There is a definite chill in the air these days which helped us begin to imagine the cold temperatures that polar explorers experience.

As the temperature drops, could parents and carers label extra clothing items, like gloves and hats, with your child's name please. It will help us reunite any missing items that could be easily misplaced.
Please note that there is a slight change to the timetable. In response to the wet and colder weather we have been having, I made the decision to teach gymnastics this term instead of outdoor PE. Children still need their PE kit which stay in school for the term.

Outdoor clothes for everyone next week please
Next week all houses will be doing some sculptures with an outdoor artist. Please could all children bring in their outdoor clothing on Monday.

Home Learning
This week I was very impressed with the children's ability to verbally retell the story of Ernest Shackleton and the crew of the Endurance. This incredible story of survival and resilience has clearly captured their imaginations.
 
For home learning this week I would like the majority of the class to finish their retelling of the Endurance story in their writing books. These children have been sent home with their blue literacy books, some instructions and an overview of the main events of the story. Hopefully the children have what they need to complete their writing but if you need any extra support or you have any questions, feel free to email me  c.browne@princeofwales.dorset.sch.uk
Please return all literacy books by Wednesday, thank you.

For those children that completed their stories in school I would like them to complete some research on a polar animal of their choice.


Thank you for getting involved with BBC's Children in Need day today. The children looked fantastic in their spotty inspired clothes and a big thank you to those people that donated cakes and bought cakes, pin badges and keyrings. 

Ipad art with Jason Wilsher-Mills- WOW!

This morning we worked with Jason Wilsher-Mills to create a picture on the ipads of a person. The children started with the face and worked with layering the picture. They had to be brightly coloured. We then looked at the whole person, Jason specified that he wanted the children to draw someone with a physical disability. Jason will be using some of the pictures in his development of a computer game. The children loved the session and the outcomes were fantastic!

Outdoor learning in Year 3

Last half term in Year 3 we didn't stick to our usual Forest School sessions. Instead we had our outdoor sessions with the archeologist Julian where we fired our own pots. There was one 'Forest school' session. This half term it is very much the same. We have an exciting opportunity to work with a professional artist who is going to work with the children outside looking at sculpture using natural materials. For this we would like Slytherin and Hufflepuff to have their Forest School clothes on Tuesday pm please. Then the following week on the Monday pm Ravenclaw and Gryffindor will have their session.

I will keep you up dated with what groups needs their Forest school kits in school when but Tuesday is the first outdoor session of this term.

Thank you, and if you have any questions about this please do come and see me

Mrs Thorpe

Antarctic Explorers

This week year 3 explored the Polar regions and learnt about the incredible story of Ernest Shackleton and his crew. The children were fascinated by this true story that saw 28 men attempt to cross Antarctica, having to live on the ice after their ship the Endurance became stuck and later sank. They asked fantastic questions about the expedition and the men's lives and imagined what role they would have wanted if they were on the expedition. They acted out the main events before writing the opening of their own recounts of the story. If you get the chance to talk to them about the expedition at home it would be very helpful for their writing next week and I'm sure you will be impressed by the facts that they have remembered.

For home learning this week we would like the children to design their own menu for a Polar expedition. We discussed the need for high energy food that wouldn't take up too much room. Blank menu sheets were provided but feel free to design you own should your child want to.

Next week looks set to be another busy and exciting one for year 3 with the trip to the Children's Bookshow at the Pavillion on Monday. Please ensure that children are in their full school uniform (or their Youth organisation uniform for Armistice Day). After the bookshow the children will visit Weymouth Cenotaph and lay the poppy wreath they made in class on Friday.

On Tuesday Mrs Thorpe has two very special workshops planned, watch this space for details. 

It is BBC Children in Need on Friday. This day will be a non-uniform day with the theme spots. A donation of £1 is suggested for your child to come in non-uniform. Throughout the week keyrings and pin badges will be available to buy and on Friday there will a cake sale after school. Any cake donations will be gratefully received on Friday morning at the front office.   

We hope you have a lovely weekend.
The Year 3 team.   

Brrrr lets go on an adventure!

Welcome to Autumn 2 and the beginning of our 'Polar' topic. As highlighted in the Knowledge organisers we will be learning about Antarctica by visiting there! Tomorrow we will go to Antarctica with the use of the VR headsets. We will learn where it is in the world, some interesting facts about it and begin to learn about latitude, longitude, the Equator, Northern Hempisphere, Southern Hemisphere, Arctic and Antarctic Circle.

Tomorrow we will also be looking at the children's home learning and changing their library books. Please can we have book bags, home learning and AR books in tomorrow.

We look forward to hearing about your half term!

See you in the morning.

The Year 3 team

Year 3 - 25th October

Congratulations to year 3 for their wonderful rainforest assembly. All the children have worked hard leading up to today and we are so proud of everything they've achieved over this term.

Thank you to all the parents that were able to attend our consultations this week. It was a great opportunity to discuss their learning with you. If you still need to meet with us please contact us after half term and we will try to arrange a suitable time. 

To get the children ready and excited about next term's topic their home learning is to do some research about the Arctic and Antarctic. 

We hope you have a restful and enjoyable break and we will see you next term.   

This week in Year 3

This week we will be finishing off our Rainforest leaflets. These contain all of the information that the children have been learning this half term. We will also be practising for our assembly on Friday. Please encourage your child to practice their lines at home.

Last week the children completed a AR quiz and have been given a new AR number. I have a record of these if your child is unsure. Please do take your child to the library when you can and complete quizzes at home.

This week is also our parent consultations. There are still a few spaces left if you haven’t already signed up. Please see a member of Year 3 if you are unable to make the allocated times.

This week's home learning

Home Learning
For this week's home learning, most children have been given some lines to practice for our class assembly which is next Friday 25th October.
Please help your child read and learn their lines so that they can be confident to deliver them on Friday.

Be aware that a few children don't have lines as they have been given a different role in the assembly.

Power Maths
In Power maths, all groups are continuing to work on addition and subtraction. They worked incredibly hard this week and we are very proud of what they are achieving. Even though the children may be answering problems involving  3-digit numbers they will always need to have a strong recall of number bonds to 10.  If your child would benefit from practising you might like to ask them addition problems where the answer is 10 or less than 10 (e.g. 4 + 5 or 6 + 4).  Hit the button can also help children to develop a quicker recall of number bonds within 10   https://www.topmarks.co.uk/maths-games/hit-the-button 

Please also encourage your child to access mathletics, time tables rockstars and to read 15 - 20 minutes a day.
 

Filming for our assembly next week

Thank you everyone for all the wonderful masks that have come in for our class assembly next week. They are all amazing and you can tell a lot of thought and effort has gone into them! The other children in the school are going to be so impressed next week when we show them all. 

Tomorrow afternoon we will be filming the video section for our Assembly! The children involved in this part are: Benji, Florence, Jacob, Charlie Bu, Toby, Elliott, Mia, Gracie, Harry C, and Noah M

Could these children please bring a change of clothes to wear for the filming. Could you please bring in some plain dark clothing (ideally black) as we will be using the green screen! If you don’t have any dark clothes then don’t worry. 

If anyone has any fancy dress tails or wings that we could borrow for tomorrow, then they would be a great addition too! We are also on the look out for a plastic axe to borrow for a couple of weeks. If you are able to help us out with these props then could we please have them in school tomorrow morning, ready for filming in the afternoon. 

Thank you for your support with this

Miss Stewart 

Wearing the VR headsets to transport us to the Rainforest!

On Monday we were transported to the Borneo Rainforest. The children wore the Virtual Reality (VR) headsets. I showed them the change in the Rainforest due to deforestation. We also visited a Orangutan conservation centre. This activity helped the children understand the reality of deforestation. 

Today the children started their Bigwrite. Thank you to everyone that supported their child at the weekend to discuss the impact of deforestation and what we could do to reduce it. The children had some fantastic ideas and will have some more time on Thursday to finish these off.

The classroom is a hive of activity as we are beginning to get ready for our assembly (next Friday, the last Friday before half term). Thank you to everyone that has bought in a animal mask, these all look amazing! 

This week in Power Maths

This term, as a school, we are focussing on our new Power Maths scheme and ensuring that all children benefit from this excellent program. 

Staff have been very impressed with how well year 3 have adapted to the new way of working. Power Maths typically involves paired work with the use of physical resources, before moving towards deeper independent practice questions in their own workbooks. 

We are keen to ensure that all children approach maths with a growth mindset and have the belief that they will succeed (with perseverance). We encourage them to embrace mistakes and take them as an opportunity to learn and deepen their knowledge. 

Next week in Power Maths we will be looking at addition and subtraction. To help your child prepare you might want to help them practice / secure their quick recall of number bonds to and within 10 and 20 (e.g. 5+3 is a number bond within 10 whereas 6+4 i s a number bond to 10). 

Hit the button is a good website to help develop quick recall of number bonds.

https://www.topmarks.co.uk/maths-games/hit-the-button

I have also set some work for the children on Mathletics.

Please don't hesitate to talk to myself, Mrs Thorpe or Mrs Bernard if you have any questions about Power Maths or would like any additional work to support your child.         

End of Food & Farming fortnight and home learning

Congratulations to the children in Year 3 for their wonderful performance during this morning's harvest assembly. A big thank you to the parents and children that brought in food for our harvest collection which will be donated to Dorchester food bank.

On Thursday the children looked wonderfully wacky with their colourful and inventive hairstyles. I think we must have been quite the sight walking to Maiden Castle farm! The children learnt about what the farm is doing during harvest time and I was impressed with the children's deeper questions to the farmer as they sought to understand the mechanics and workings of the farm. They truly are KS2 children now.

This week Mr Spracklen observed every class during their Power Maths lessons. He was impressed with how well year 3 are embracing the new program. In due course we will hold some parent training on this new scheme but in the meantime we encourage you to continue sharing mathematical problems as they occur in everyday life and encouraging your children to access times tables rockstars and mathletics.

For this week's home learning we would like the children to make an animal mask for their upcoming assembly. Even though the assembly isn't until the 25th October we would still like the masks next week please as there will be filming and rehearsals starting on Wednesday. 
We would also like the children to discuss with you their ideas for a letter they will be writing on Monday about the destruction of the Amazon. An important part of writing is developing ideas and talking about what they write before they even put pencil to paper. Many of the children, rightly have some strong opinions about deforestation which I hope they share with you.

Our day of visitors

Today we had a number of visitors in school. This morning Tom the vet gave us a talk about what he does as a farm vet and how he looks after farm animals.

This afternoon Mrs Stentiford came in and gave us a fascinating talk about Sikhism. We learnt about how practising Sikhs live and what it is like to visit a Gurdwara. Mrs Stentiford spoke about the Khanda and it's meaning. She showed us the pictures from her family history and her own traditions.

At the end of the day the children listened to a talk from Holly Johnson from the 'Simply Vegan' magazine. Where the children learnt what is it to be a vegan and how important it is to eat vegetables.

Thank you so much to all of our visitors today.

Food & Farming Week 2 & Home Learning

Year 3 enjoyed a busy week last week. In addition to our visitors from the Priest house museum, the children also enjoyed an interactive workshop from Prof Stentiford from Cefas. The children got the chance to do some hands on science and animal identification whilst also learning about healthy eating and food sustainability - which links to our topic work next week about threats to the rainforests.

Next week is the second week of our Food and Farming fortnight and we have more fun learning activities and special visitors planned.

Class trips
On Tuesday afternoon the class will be going on a trip to Brace of Butchers and on Thursday afternoon they will be visiting Maiden Castle farm. As the weather has been very wet recently could all children have a pair of wellies, a waterproof coat and a change of trousers on Thursday please.
If you would like to volunteer on either of these trips please let Mrs Thorpe know on Monday.

Thursday is also Wacky Hair for Hospice care so I hope to get some wonderful photographs of the children and staff with their wacky hairstyles and wellies at the farm!


Friday - Harvest Assembly & Autumnfest
Our Food and Farming fortnight will culminate with our Harvest Assemblies and Autumnfest.
Our Harvest assembly will be at 10am on Friday in the hall.
This year we will be taking donations for Dorchester food bank during our harvest.

Autumnfest will be on Friday from 5pm - 7.30pm. Tickets are available now from the office. £5 for a family of four.

Homelearning 
For home learning this week we have asked the children to research foods, materials and medicines that originate from the rainforests of the world. We would also like them think about foods that are grown in Britain.
Please also continue to send in children's autumn and harvest photographs which we will exhibit at the harvest assembly.       
   

Y3- Clay pot firing and the start of Farming Fortnight

Welcome to our Farming Fortnight! 

Over the next couple of weeks we will be have a number of learning activities based on farming and local produce. Thank you to everyone that has handed in acorn shells. We will be able to use these in our Harvest art work. 

Today Julian and Sue came back to help us finish our pots. We weighed the pots to see the difference in weight since they had dried out. Then we put them in a fire which had to be 600 degrees! After about 1 hour the pots were finished. We were lucky that none had broken. Julian has now taken our pots to go in to an exhibition in Wimborne. We will get them back soon. This was a fantastic Science experiment which all of the children thoroughly enjoyed. Thank you so much to The Priest House Museum, Wimborne and Julian and Sue Richards. 

Swimming, home learning and next week

Swimming
Well done to all those children that went swimming yesterday. Myself and the rest of the year 3 and 4 teams were very impressed with how well the class adapted to the new routines. 


Home learning 26th September
We would like the children to:
- take photographs or draw pictures of things that remind them of autumn or the harvest. Please either email these or bring them into school by 8th October. 
- collect and bring in any acorn cups.
- continue with their practice challenge from last week, if they need more time. 


Forest school clothes on Monday for everyone
On Monday please can all children bring in their forest school clothes for their final clay workshop.   

We love puddles!

Today in Forest School we put on our wet weather gear on and headed outside. Everyone collected apples from our Forest School area then we went in to the dry of the polytunnel to make bird feeders. We used lard and bird seeds to make our feeders. We then went back out in the rain to place our feeders and have little splash in the puddles!

Everyone will need their Forest School kit for Monday please as the whole class will be having a session outside with Julian the Archeologist. 

The group that stayed inside with Mrs Bernard started to design and plan a collaborative project based on the Rainforest. 

Y3 Forest School is starting

Just a reminder that Forest School will start this Monday for Slytherin and Hufflepuff. Please can we have full warm wet weather gear (trousers, long sleeve top, fleece, raincoat) in school including wellingtons. We will endeavour to go outside in all weather and if you child doesn’t have their outdoor clothes they may need to stay inside. 

Thank you

Mrs Thorpe

Home Learning - Year 3 19/9/19

In this week's home learning we would like the children to practice something and then write about their experiences. We are looking for perseverance not perfection. 

Praising your child for showing determination and any improvements they make in their chosen activity, however tiny, will help them develop this important skill. 

(Hard copies of the home learning will come home on Friday. Apologies for the delay). 

  

 Home Learning 19th September 2019

To celebrate the rugby world cup we have set you a practice challenge. To become good at anything, including rugby, you need to practice. 

1. Choose something that you would like to improve (e.g. times tables, riding a bike or kicking a ball).
2. You can choose anything but it should be something that you are NOT already good at.
3. Fill in the table and tell us how you got on 

The sections on the table to complete will be:

• What I need to practice.
• How many days I practised. 
• How many minutes I practised. 
• Please write about how you got on with your challenge. 

If you have any photographs of your practice attempts or personal bests we would love to see them!

Y3 Clay workshops

During the afternoon yesterday we were joined by Rachel, Brian and Barbara from the Priest House museum in Wimborne. They gave a talk on pottery through the ages. The children looked at pieces of pottery and had to classify the era. They then looked at their own finds. Thank you to everyone that bought pieces of pottery in.

This morning Julian and Sue Richards lead a workshop. Julian is an Archeologist who was actually one of the team who worked on our school grounds before the school was built. He discovered the site of the roundhouses where our meadow is now!

In the workshop the children had to weigh the clay and temper then mix together before they formed their pot. We had some fantastic thumb and coil pots.

These pots are now drying before we fire them in a couple of weeks time.I wonder if your child remembers what happens if there is moisture in the clay?

Julian also identified one piece of clay as being 800 years old!