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!

Home learning - Year 3

Home learning - Thursday 12th September 2019

There are two parts to this week's home learning: we would like the children to continue their learning about rainforest animals and also prepare for Monday's exciting pottery lesson.

1) Children should choose a rainforest animal and represent this animal however they would like. For example they could write a poem, draw a picture, create a sculpture or create a fact file about the animal.
We would like the children to use their imaginations and encourage independent work as much as possible please.

2) If possible, we would like the children to have a look in the garden for any old bits of pottery. The children will be given some 'find bags' on Friday and we would like any pieces to be brought in on Monday please. Gloves are recommended if possible as any pieces found could be sharp.

   

Midweek information Y3

Thank you to everyone who attended our parent information session. There will be a newsletter going home with the information that we have shared today and the key dates that you need to know.

In our Power Maths sessions this week we have been using base 10 equipment, place value arrow cards and part whole models to understand the value of three digit numbers to 1000.

Part whole models are a really simple thing to practice at home. Could you fill in two of the numbers and let your child complete it? Can your child make a 3 digit number where they use an object to represent hundreds, tens and ones? Please share the pictures of this or the sheets with us we would love to share this in the class and on our working wall! 

In Literacy today the children started to collect information on an animal of the Rainforest. Tomorrow they will start to compile their booklets. 

Using our senses in the Rainforest!

Today we were transported into the Rainforest! Year 3 sat amongst the dark leaves and could hear the parrots squawking and the monkeys calling and we didn't even need to leave the school (we were in the teepee!) We tasted pineapple, coconut and papaya and thought what it would be like as an animal of the Rainforest. We used our senses to write descriptive sentences describing how the animals moved and the sounds they were making.

This afternoon we started to learn about the French artist Henri Rousseau. In particular we looked at his painting 'tiger in a tropical storm'.



I wonder if your child can remember a fact about Henri Rousseau? What did he used to do?

Year 3 followed step by step instructions of how to draw their own tiger. These are on display in our classroom. I was so impressed with how open minded the children were about this task and didn't let this challenge put them off.

Whilst one group were drawing tigers, we had another making Rainforest terrariums. These mini ecosystems will start to look more like a Rainforest in the next few weeks. If you want to have a go at home then there are lots of suggestions on how to make them on pinterest.

Year 3- Week 1

We have had a busy first week in Year 3! Everyone is settling in well and learning our new timetable and routines. 

In Literacy and topic we have introduced our rainforest topic with some stunning rainforest photographs. The children have been discovering where rainforests can be found and they can hopefully show you with their bodies the four layers of a rainforest: emergent, canopy, understory and forest floor. 

Swimming

Swimming for year 3 is now going to be held on Wednesday afternoons starting on 25th September. A letter will be going out shortly with  more details. 

Home Learning

For home learning we would like the children to label the Equator, the tropics of Cancer and Capricorn and colour the map where rainforests are found around the world. Their challenge is to see how many countries they can list that have rainforests in them. Home learning to be handed in by Tuesday 10th September.

Parent Information Session

We will be holding our parent information session on Wednesday morning at 9am. Hopefully we will see you there. 

Have a wonderful weekend.

Ms Browne, Mrs Thorpe and the Year 3 team

Year 3 Swimming - 6th September 2019

Year 3 Swimming will commence from Wednesday 25th September.  More details about this will follow shortly.

Please can you help?

Year 3 are going to be doing Science on Monday and are in need of large glass or plastic jars with lids please. They need to be see through such as the ones below. If you have any or know anyone in catering that may buy large glass jars of coffee, conserves or chutneys please could we have them.
Thank you in advance.

Welcome to the MAGIC of Year 3!

Welcome back! What a fantastic first day back we have had. We've had visits from the Serpent King, discussions about what we would like Year 3 to be like and even bubbling potions. 

The Serpent King delivered our sorting hat this morning and the children were all called out from a special list. They had to sit on the throne and listen to the hat talk, then they looked inside the hat to find the 'house' that they have been placed in. The houses are Slytherin, Hufflepuff, Ravenclaw and Gryffindor. As a class we discussed that it did not matter the name of your group as we are a Year 3 team and so everyone is equal. These houses will be used as part of our rewards scheme in the class. More information on this and the other systems we have in place will be discussed in our parent information session on Wednesday in the school hall from 9am. 

Tomorrow we will start our new Power Maths Scheme. This is a brilliant resource we will be using on a daily basis. However at home please do still encourage your children to access Mathletics and TT rockstars. If you need passwords for these then please see a member of staff. We will also be introducing French to the children so be ready for some French greetings! 

Swimming will start next Wednesday. All the children need swimming costumes (1 piece) or trunks, a towel and goggles. 

We will be regularly blogging information and some notices will go on the board outside the classroom. Please do come and speak to any of the team if you have any concerns or questions. All of us communicate with each other on a regular basis. 

Bring on a magical, inspiring, fun and generally awesome Year! 

The Year 3 team