Resourcefulness in Willow maths class

The children in Willow maths set have been demonstrating how resourceful they can be this week by creating their own pictorial resources in order to support their learning of fractions.

By turning their questions into pictures, they were able to break the problems down to produce the correct answers. 

"Look at the resources I made to help me answer the questions!" Oliwier, Year 3

Well done Willow maths class! 

Lilly's Stone Age to Iron Age project

Lilly took the initiative to do some research into Year 3's Stone Age to Iron Age project over the weekend and presented her new-found knowledge of the past in a striking (and genereously-proportioned) montage! Ash Class look forward to seeing the next product of Lilły's industrious commitment to her learning!

"it took most of the weekend to find all the facts and do the artwork but I really enjoyed deepening my understanding of our history topic" — Lilly

Using manipulatives in Willow maths set!

Willow class have been incredibly hands on with their maths this week in trying to solve tricky fraction problems.

They have been learning all about how to find a fraction of an amount and were able to use a range of objects to help support and deepen their mathematical understanding.

They conducted their own investigations and soon learned the importance of knowing their timetables in order to find fractions of amounts. Here, you can see Finley and Sonia attempting to find 1/4 of 22. They soon realised it wasn't easy to do!

"It was so much fun using the objects to help us understands the maths!" Chloe, Year 3

A great start to the unit Willow maths set! 

Ash Class Star Writer

The star writer in Ash Class this week is Isabelle Reynolds. We were writing to appeal to Sea Parks to end the plight of their captive killer whales. Isabelle worked with impressive resilience and put a great deal of effort into using her best handwriting. Even more importantly, the content of her writing was lifted by her use of powerful adjectives and persuasive openers.

"I really wanted Sea Parks to realise how badly they are treating these poor orcas!" — Isabelle 

Stone Age pots in year 3

The children of Ash, Birch and Willow class have been applying their sculpting skills today in Art by creating pots in the style of those found in the Stone Age.

After carefully planning their designs, they molded the air drying clay to the shape they wanted their pot to be.

Intense concentration was needed to ensure their pattern was exactly as they had planned.

In order to create their patterns, they investigated what people of the Stone Age might have used to create their designs. They left the classroom and went on a hunt outside for a range of organic objects to use. These included: twigs, shells and different types of rock- including slate!

Once the classes had decided on what they were going to use to etch on their pattern, they made a start.

Some children found this process rather difficult as they were putting their fine motor skills to the test. 

"I found it challenging to keep my hand still whilst etching on my pattern." Trinity, Birch class.

The finished products were pretty incredible! What do you think? 

Great work Year 3!

Grace gets resourceful in maths!

Grace in Year 3 has used one of her four learning powers in maths this week to solve some word problems on 3 digit addition.

She was incredibly resourceful using her laminated smiley face to help highlight the key information I order to solve the challenging word problems. 

By using her learning power, she managed to solve all of the problems correctly. She then managed to challenge herself further by creating her own word problem!

Great work Grace!

Persuasive Writing in Willow

Willow class have been learning all about how to write a persuasive argument this week. More specifically, they wrote a letter to 'Sea Parcs' encouraging them to stop keeping Killer Whales in captivity.

In order to form the most effective argument, they followed a Point Explain Evidence paragraph structure. That way, their argument was supported with sufficient evidence that 'Sea Parcs' could not dispute!

The children worked hard on their sentence types, creating some great 2A sentences (2 adjectives before a noun).

For example, "It is a widely known fact that Killer whales are powerful, huge creatures..." Eriya, Willow class.

They also ensured to use alternative nouns for Killer Whales throughout their writing such as 'Orcas' and 'marine mammals'.

Can you spot any of these features in their writing?