This week in Woodpecker Class we have had an explosive start to our new topic by looking a volcanoes and fossils. In art we have been exploring ammonites, their patterns, shapes and colours. We had a go at sketching some only using a pencil to recreate the colours and patterns.
Plaistow meets Plaistow
Woodpecker Class were really excited to be able to (virtually) meet our friends from Plaistow Primary School in London yesterday. Badger Class also joined to observe. The aim of our meeting was to share and compare our schools and local areas. After sharing our presentations with each other there was a lovely opportunity for the children to ask each other questions.
The differences were fascinating for all the children - there were lots of envious sighs in our Year 3 classroom when we heard that they could have McDonald's delivered! Similarly, the Plaistow children were amazed by the fact that we only had one shop and lots of woodland surrounding our school.
It was a lovely opportunity to collaborate with Plaistow Primary School and to build upon the link that we started with them last year, and we hope to be able to run more of these activities throughout the school during the year.
Bell Beaker Pots
As part of our topic into the Bronze Age, we have been looking at the Bell Beaker People and their traditions. Pottery was a huge part of their culture and had a very distinctive style. We designed our pots last week and this week we have had a go at making them using clay. All the pot look great and I cannot wait to see them when they have been painted.
Ratatouille
As part of our science and D&T we made ratatouille this week. We were given a list of ingredients and a recipe. We need to chop all the vegetables up and then mix them with chopped tomatoes and herbs. We had to measure the red wine vinegar and oil carefully, before adding it into our dishes.
Buddy Reading
This week Years 2&3 have joined forces for reading. Everyone found a buddy and shared their books with each other. Miss Hall and Miss Dore were impressed by everyone’s reading skills and enthusiasm for sharing books.
Woodpecker's Campout
After sports day, we held our Year 3 camp out. Everyone was excited to be spending the night in a tent! All the Woodpeckers had fun playing, helping around camp and learning about bats. Our bat walk was one of the best yet!There were so many bats! We also had a look at Venus and ate lots of cake. Thank you to everyone who helped with the tents.
Lacrosse
Today we had a go at lacrosse. We had great fun learning all the skills and we discovered that its actually quite tricky to catch the ball, especially when running around!
Tchoukball
Today we experienced a new sport called Tchoukball. We had great fun learning news skills.
A brilliant day at Butser Ancient Farm
Today Woodpecker Class visited Buster Ancient Farm to explore more about the Iron Age. We had a fantastic time digging for artefacts like archaeologists, exploring round houses, building fences by weaving sticks, spinning wool and carving chalk using flint tools. We packed so much into one day and have learnt so many new facts!
Plaistow and Kirdford Henges
This week we have been researching Stonehenge in English. We then looked at other henges, such as Woodhenge, and identified what makes a henge. We designed our own henges in our topic books, thinking about how we could use natural materials. This afternoon we went outside, collected all the things we needed and built them.
Enjoying the sun!
We have had a busy first week back in Woodpecker class. We have launched into our new topic, Tribal Tales, and have started looking at the Stone Age.
As the sun has been out this week, we have completed several of our lessons outside.
Year 3 Football
On Friday 24th March, a football team from Year 3 took part in a football tournament at Tanbridge House School. They were up against some strong competition, especially as we were the smallest school there. The team came out fighting in the group stages and won their first match 4-0. At the end of the group stage we were second. Next came the playoffs. We were up against a good team but our players kept their heads up and kept on attacking, which led to a great goal in the closing minutes of the game.
Overall the team came 4th out of 10 teams.
I was so impressed with their skills, teamwork and determination. Well done to all the players, I am very proud of you.
Mapping Plaistow
This week we have been focusing on Plaistow and all the lovely things you can do in the village. We then had a go at creating our own maps of Plaistow.
Marvellous Maps
This week we have started our new topic Urban/Rural Pioneers. As part of this topic we looked at maps of the local area. We spotted places that we knew and then used the key to find a range of different features.
Scrumptious Smoothies
As part of looking at recipes and writing instructions we made smoothies. We had to write shopping list with amounts for Miss Dore. Then when our fruits arrived we had to prepare them and then blitz all the ingredients together in a smoothie machines. We enjoyed tasting our smoothies, but not all of them were tasty!
Marvellous Measuring
This week we have been focusing on measuring using metres, centimetres and millimetres. Today Miss Dore set us the challenge of measuring different parts of the play ground accurately.
Diving into the Red Sea
We have been exploring the Red Sea. As part of this, Miss Dore brought in her scuba kit which we tried on. We decided that it is not particularly comfortable and very heavy!
Underwater Photography
These are a few of our underwater photographs.
The Underwater World
As part of our at week we have looked at an artist who builds model ships and then submerges them in ponds, rivers and lakes. He then photographs the ships underwater. In class this week we explored the Red Sea and in particular the wreck of the Thisltegorm. We then created underwater Egyptian landscapes landscapes and had a go at some underwater photography.
Art Week - Our Balloon
We have kicked off our art week by researching Egypt. We then used this research to create pictures using a range of materials. We then created a class hot air balloon to represent Egypt. Thank you Helen for helping us.
