Have a look at what we’ve been learning…
Forest Schools
Year 3 enjoyed a summer circular walk up through Holywood, across the stepping stones and over the Jack Walker bridge before arriving at Demesne Mill. The class took in a rather steep hill which enabled them to run through the fields. At the mill, the children climbed trees, made dens and swung on a rope swing. In lunch break, the class prepared and cooked chocolate bananas on the camp fire and washed it down with a hot chocolate. After lunch the children took to the water to build dams and many got very wet. The children thoroughly enjoyed their day!
Football Speeches
As England are in the final, Year 3 have been creating their own half time speeches to keep our nation’s team motivated! You can watch them here.
KS2 Sports Day
On Thursday, Years 3, 5 and 6 took part in Sports Day. The events were competitive and everyone did really well! The winner of the KS2 Sports Day were the Blue Team!
The Flowering Plant
We looked more closely at the pollination process and what is inside a flower’s petals. The children created their own bright petals so that insects would visit their flower. They then used blu-tac for the ovaries and cotton buds for the stamens and stigma.
KS2 Mini Olympics at Parkside Academy
KS2 were invited to take part in a mini-Olympic carousel at Parkside Academy. The children took part in throwing, running and jumping events. The event was brilliantly run by the Year 9 sports leaders and Mrs Inglis, a huge thank you to them. The children thoroughly enjoyed being at their first event outside of school this year!
Durham Messy Maps
In class we have been looking at Durham and why people visit our local city. The class made ‘messy maps’ of Durham City centre to show some of the features that people may visit such as; the castle, cathedral, shops and the university.
Musical Instruments
We have been learning to play music with 4 beats in a bar using 3 notes in music. We have been playing these pieces on the glockenspiels.
Wells
We have been making wells as part of our mechanics topic this half term. Firstly, we designed our wells and the mechanical system we would use. Some children opted for a pulley system others for a wheel and axle. The children then built the wells measuring and sawing pieces of dowel before putting all the pieces together. Overall, the children thoroughly enjoyed the project and we now have 31 working wells!
Captain Tom Challenge
Year 3 took part in the Captain Tom Challenge 100. The class discussed Captain Tom’s achievements before completing the maths challenge. The children had to work out the amount of 100 1ps, 2ps and 5ps before figuring out how long each line of 100 would be. The children also attempted the challenge of creating a tally and bar chart after counting 100 different coloured balls.
Outdoor Adventures and Activities
We enjoyed some OAA team building activities today. We were able to support each other’s weight and communicate effectively to lower a stick together without anyone’s hand leaving the stick. We also used a map of the school grounds to meet up at different points around the school.
Adam Bushnell
Year 3 were lucky enough to receive a visit from Adam Bushnell, to help them write about magical settings and characters. The children drew a witch or wizard’s home before seeing what was hidden on their shelves. Potions, daggers and even a zombie’s hand could be found! The class wrote their own spells and even had a go at rapping them to a beat. A big thank you to Adam for a fantastic morning!
Nim-7
In Maths, we are looking at working backwards. The children developed a strategy playing the ancient game Nim-7. The class developed a strategy by working backwards so that they could always win as long as they went first.
Outdoor Adventures
Year 3 were delighted to welcome Alice from OASES who took the class for an afternoon of Outdoor Adventurous Activities. The children learnt how to use a compass and read a map, before putting those skills to the test. The children thoroughly enjoyed the orienteering part of the afternoon, finding the ten points dotted around the school. There was even time for some map reading bingo at the end of the session.
Advent Calendars
We completed our advent topic by creating our very own class Advent calendar. The children made cubes and coloured them in bright festive colours. Each child stuck an image in their cube, so that when the door was opened there was something that represents Advent. Some of the choices were love, hope, joy, the star and the nativity scene.
Stone Age
To finish off our Stone Age topic, the class went out to Demesne Mill and foraged for materials to help them make a Stone Age settlement of their own. The children came back with sticks, stones, moss and even worms to help them build their shelters.
Back in the classroom, we began painting our backdrops and constructing our settlements using clay. Before covering them in leaves, sticks and moss to help insulate our shelters. The children added rivers and farmland, so that the Stone Age people that settled in their land would have access to water and food from farming.
Magnet Games
We finished off our Magnets and Forces topic by using what we had learnt over the half term to create games using magnets. Some pairs made fishing games, where the children had to use fishing rods with magnets attached to catch as many paperclips as possible. Another type of game was the maze game. Here children had to guide the paperclip through a maze using a magnet underneath the maze. The final type of game was a racing game. The children made two types of racing game, one where the magnets repelled each other and they used this to push their car (magnet) around the race track. The other they used the force of the magnet to attract the car (magnet) and pulled it around the race track.
Compass Fun
Continuing on with our magnets topic, the class used compasses to find their way to different points on the yard. After counting their steps and plotting the directions, they then swapped books to see if other groups ended up in the same location.
Magnet Magic
Year 3 continued investigating magnets and their powers. We learnt that we could use a magnet’s magnetic field to make it look like a paper clip was floating in the air like magic! The class went onto test the strength of different magnets by seeing which magnet had the strongest magnetic field. In order to do this, we tested which magnet could hold the most paper clips in a chain. We had some interesting results but most of us found it to be either the bar magnet or our magnetic wands.
Anti-Bullying Week
In Anti-Bullying week, we all wore odd socks on the Monday to celebrate our individuality and express ourselves! In the week, we discussed how everyone is different and we should not treat others differently because of this. The class watched videos based on examples of this and this led to some brilliant discussions. At the end of the week, we created our very our Anti-Bullying jigsaw, where we all wrote what we will do to make sure that no one in our school feels left out.
Scrap Yard
We continued our work in Science on forces and magnets this week. The class had to use magnets to sort through the scrap yard to find out what materials were magnetic and which were non-magnetic.
Space Day
As part of KS2’s space day, Year 3 put the planets in order before orbiting the sun. We also discussed how planets also rotate while they orbit the sun. The children already understood that it takes 24 hours for the Earth to complete one full rotation and 365 days for the Earth to orbit the sun.
After this we all made 3D models of the Solar System.
Then we used Jaffa Cakes to show the different Moon phases. Cutting the Jaffa cakes into half moon, crescent moon and gibbous moon shapes, whilst trying not to eat them!
Cricket
This week, Year 3 had their second cricket session with Darren. In the session, the class focussed on practising their bowling and batting. The children thoroughly enjoyed the session in the sunshine!
Kites
In our kites topic this week, for Design and Technology, the class learnt about the different types of kites and their benefits. They also made their own Delta Kite using card, straws, tape and ribbon.
