Thank You from Year 3

Year 3 parents; we wish you all a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year! 
Thank you for all of the gifts we received.

Enjoy the holidays with your lovely children and we look forward to seeing you in the New Year!

Miss Pearson, Miss Rooney, Miss Wright & Mrs Pitts.

Year 4 Church Performance (Mon 19/12) IMPORTANT INFORMATION!

On Monday the children of Year 4 will be performing for a special Christmas service at St George's Church on Chippenham Rd at 5pm.
At 1:30 we will be going straight to the venue, then remaining there to rehearse until the performance starts at 5pm.
Before the performance we will be ordering pizza for the whole year group.
If your child has not been involved in the school-based rehearsals and is therefore not performing at the church, you may pick them up from school on Monday either at 1:30, or the normal time of 3:15 (they will spend the final part of the day helping out in other year groups).
Finally, we invite parents and carers to come and watch the performance at 5pm. The children have been working very hard to perfect their artwork, drama, rap, poetry, dance and singing and we would love to see you there to appreciate the fruits of their effort!

Willow class star writer

Although Willow made it a particularly difficult decision this week, the wonderful Mr Ellis Drummond is our star writer. Ellis, your writing has improved significantly,  evident through your balanced argument: to conserve or develop on rainforest land. You posed an extremely powerful argument, engaging and forcing your reader to make an informed decision. You effectively used a range of rhetorical questions, implemented a variety of appropriate conjunctions and successfully used the PEE model to structure your ideas. Your writing certainly did not fall into the big L (lazy) category! This can only mean one thing Mr Drummond... Onwards and upwards!

Perimeter war in Willow!

Today in maths, Willow were faced with a challenge set by the one and only Einstein. On a previous occasion, Einstein visited Broadford, with the intention of finding two dimensional shapes around the school with a specified perimeter. Although he was close to discovering the shapes, he was not close enough. Therefore, he challenged Willow to a 'perimeter war', asking them to explore the school and investigate perimeter. Many of the children were successful and managed to find 2D shapes, which were closer in perimeter to the ones Einstein found. 

Shape Hunting in Year 3

This week, the Year 3 children have been using their investigative skills effectively to determine the different features and names of 3D shapes. Using their shape dictionary, they were able to deduce the names of the shapes by reading the definitions and comparing them with the physical shapes in front of them.

Misconceptions were identified quickly as they read each definition of the 3D shapes. 

"I didn't know that a square was just a special type of rectangle! I was confused when it said a cube had 6 rectangular faces. I now know that a square is just a rectangle with 4 equal sides." Adam, Hazel

After the children were confident in the features and names of the different shapes, they continued their hunt outside to see if they could find 3D shapes in the real world! 

"It's a bit out of shape, but this ball is definitely a sphere!" Alex, Sequoia 

Great job Year 3! I wonder if you can name any 3D shapes at home, too?

Year 3 Spellings: w/c 12.12.16

Please find below Year 3's spellings for the week below:

Willow class star writer

This week, our star writer is the amazing Abena Pim-Wusu. Evident from the balanced argument Abena  produced, it is clear that her writing has improved significantly. It is certainly one to be proud of. Successfully, Abena used a range of alternative nouns to engage her reader, used various conjunctions to link her writing and effectively implemented the PEE model to add structure to her writing. Abena, it was a pleasure to read and I hope your exceptional work ethic and attitude towards learning continues!

Tackling the tarsia

This week in maths, Willow have been recognising and identifying equivalent fractions. After the success of Tuesday's lesson, it was clear the children were ready to face a challenge... The equivalent fraction tarsia puzzle. Although it may seem simple (which it did at first to the children) they soon discovered that it required a high level of thinking, investigating and problem solving. Across the room, brains could be seen pulsating in the children's heads.

Ranita, who decided to tackle the 2 chilli tarsia, commented that:

the tarsia was so brain boggling, it actually made my head hurt. 

Despite such claims, Ranita, alongside partner Samanyu Handoo, persevered with the task and in the final minute of the lesson, managed to complete the tarsia.

Great work Willow! Keep it up.

Lucian explores the Rainforest!

Following our topic on the rainforest, Lucian Bundy has carried out extra work at home. Presented in an array of colour, Lucian has collected an endless amount of facts, facts that I certainly was not aware of. He also discovered additional facts that could support his writing this week, based on a balanced argument. That said, I can not wait to read Lucian's work tomorrow! Keep it up Lucian.

Willow recreate the digestive system!

Today, Willow experienced a once in a lifetime opportunity: recreating the digestive system, using simply a bowl full of mashed up food (which the children struggled to comprehend was JUST food), a masher, a pair of tights and a polystyrene cup. Not everyone can say they have done that can they?

As you can see below, there were some pretty diverse reactions. From the squeamish, to those who embraced the smell and willingly dug their hands in.

However, squeamish or not, it was fair to say that by the end of the lesson the children were able to correctly identify the journey food takes through our body and explain how it is eventually deposited at the end of this process. As always, great work Willow!

Christmas Leaflet Competition

A big congratulations to Ketty Omwanghe in Sequoia class, who won our Christmas Leaflet Competition. Ketty has made sure that her picture is related to the story for our Christmas Concert and has obviously put a lot of effort into making her picture look bright and colourful. Keep your eye out for her beautiful picture, which will be used on the front cover of our Christmas Concert Leaflets.

Willow class battle for the rainforest!

To conserve or to develop on rainforest land? That is the question.

This term in topic, Willow have been exploring the rainforest. Specifically, they have been investigating why animals are becoming endangered! In line with this, they have been researching why the rainforest is so important, revealing that: the rainforest provides 20% of the oxygen we breathe, many medicines (25%) have origins from plant derived sources in the rainforest and that much of the food we eat also stems from the rainforest! At this point in their learning, it seemed almost unjustified to destroy this unique ecosystem.

However, Willow soon shockingly discovered that 50 football pitches of rainforest is being destroyed every second. As Samanyu Handoo correctly calculated, that's 100 football pitches in 2 minutes! The question being: Why?

To truly understand and grasp why some people want to obliterate precious acres of flora and fauna, Willow took on the role of four different characters and sat in the hot seat: being interrogated, questioned and challenged by their fellow audience.

After this, Willow took part in... THE BIG DEBATE: To conserve or develop on the rainforest land? Although they hoped to reach a conclusion, they soon found that this proved difficult. 

What do you think?

Birch get Messy in Science

In today's science lesson, Birch Class discovered the journey that food makes once we eat it!

We mashed our food up with our teeth (the masher), then it was transported to the stomach (ziplock bag) when the enzymes (orange juice) helped break down our food molecules. From there, the good nutrients of the food was passed through the walls of the small and the large intestines (a pair of tights), then the waste was passed through the anus (polystyrene cup).

Have a look at the photos below - can you tell who is doing which function? Apologies for any dirty clothes - it did become pretty messy once we reached the small intestines!

Year 3 Spellings - w/c 5.12.16

Please find below Year 3's spellings for the week:

Can't stop Jess now!

Jessica Simpson has truly outdone herself: carrying out numerous work at home, challenging and capitalising on her learning and making her teacher especially proud! It's always great to see that children are not only extending their learning in school, but out of school as well. Jessica has exceeded this, creating her own work on the rainforest, a balanced argument and time in maths. She's more or less covered the curriculum! Keep up the great work Jessica, it is no wonder you are doing superbly in school!

Willow class star writer

This week, Willow are proud to announce Lea Cerqueira as our star writer! Lea, your writing has  improved significantly and you have made astounding developments and progress, particularly evident in your version of the utterly bizarre poem... The Magic Box.  Crazy, yet realistic you successfully incorporated the poetics devices we were aiming to use: onomatopoeia, personification, alliteration and similes. I particularly liked 'I will put in my box... A fairy flying frantically across a blanket of coal.' Not only did you use alliteration and an adverb, but you also challenged yourself to include a metaphor to describe the midnight sky. Keep up the fantastic work Lea!