What Was Stonehenge Built For?

This afternoon, Year 3 explored the different theories that surround the mysterious Stonehenge. We read through the range of evidence available and thought like historians to come to our own conclusions about it.

We also had a go at building our own miniature versions of Stonehenge, which didn’t take nearly as long as the pre-historic people would have taken (They took over 1000 years to finish Stonehenge!) and with much smaller resources. Did you know that the stones used are over 4m tall and 4000kg – Colossal, indeed!

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Mirror, Mirror in my Hand…

We’ve learned that light travels in straight lines in our Science lessons and this week, we put that knowledge to the test using a mirror to guide us along lines on the playground.

The (slightly less than we’d like) light from the sun reflected onto the shiny, smooth, flat surface of the mirror, which reflected into our eyes to show our reflection – but it was mirrored and made following the lines without looking particularly challenging!

We have also set up an investigation to find out the effects of ultraviolet light. Watch this space for the results, but in the meantime, comment your predictions below!

What Makes a Good Poem?

This term, we are exploring poetry in English, but what makes a good poem? Yesterday, we looked at a wide range of poems, from limericks to acrostics, which all follow their own set of rules.

As a class, Onyx decided that a good poem includes:

• A fun title
• Rhymes
• A theme
• Interesting new vocabulary
• A rhythm
• Paragraphs/stanzas

As well as exploring different poems, we’ve been keeping a keen eye out for interesting vocabulary and using a dictionary to find the definitions. Our Working Wall is filled to the brim with exciting words – Comment below your favourite words that you have discovered this week!

Continuing our Reading Adventures!

Last term, it was lovely to get to know that Year 3 are keen, avid readers who have enjoyed a wide range of books that we have at school. It has been insightful to read the comments from home about the books children have been reading and it would be fantastic to continue our reading adventures this term.

Please remember to bring in your Reading Diary every day so that your class teacher can read the comments and offer support with home reading (and stamp in Merits!).

Reading is absolutely fundamental and can be a passageway to exciting ideas and exploring our imaginations. This term, your child will be bringing home not one, but two books each day: A banded book (which they can read to you) and a non-banded book (which you can enjoy together!).

There are some free resources available for e-books, too, if this is how you’d rather access books at home. Oxford Owl has a fabulous range of books available at different book band, so if you’ve finished your banded book, the possibilities are endless: https://www.oxfordowl.co.uk/for-home/find-a-book/library-page/ (Sign up for free to access the books)

Ready to read? Great! Here are some tips to make sure that reading is exciting at home:

1. Make time to read – at least ten minutes a day makes a huge difference!
2. Find a lovely, comfortable spot to relax and read.
3. Grab a drink or a healthy snack – Think of it as a film in your mind!
4. Choose different types of books, newspapers or comics.
5. Don’t like what you’re reading so far? Change it!
6. Take turns when reading.
7. Talk about the book and ask your child questions about it.
8. Pay attention to the language. Have you spotted any new, exciting vocabulary?
9. Relax and enjoy the moment. Reading isn’t a task, it is a chance to unwind and lose yourself in a book!

Designing a New Pen Pot!

On Friday, we used our research to inform our design brief, which in turn aided our pencil pot designs. They were wild, wacky and definitely different to our current pencil pots! After designing four different sketches and estimating the materials and size, we looked at each other’s designs and held another tally to get an idea of the general favourite of our designs, which will help us decide the final designs.

Next term, we look forward to creating our final designs, so please save up some cardboard that we can use to recycle into a new pencil pot.

How is Our School Connected?

In Computing, we explored the both wired and wireless connections around us using our knowledge of what we’ve learned this term. We created our own computer network on our tables and demonstrated how information transfers across networks via wires and how a wireless access point connects even more to the network.

Using Our Detective Skills to Infer!

Today we used our inference skills to find out the clues to an investigation. We read the evidence and then read between the lines to see which of the suspects wasn’t telling the truth!

Hidden Figures in Black History Workshop

We had an exciting day exploring Black History in assembly, following by a fantastic workshop that focused on lesser-known or ‘hidden figures’ in Black British History.

Thank you Paige for such an informative session. Year 3 were so excited to share their newfound knowledge when we went back to our class!

Are there any other ‘Hidden Figures’ that you could find out about? Research about them or the people we talked about today and bring in the information on a poster to share with the class!

TTRS: Onyx Vs. Jet!

Starting tomorrow, we will be hosting a weekly Battle of the Bands between Onyx and Jet class. Children will need to log on to TTRS to participate. Any activity will be recorded as participation in the competition and each week, the winning class will win a handful of marbles!

Good luck everyone!

How are digital devices connected & how do we use them?

This week in Computing, we explored connections and networks, learning about how computers and other devices send messages to one another. We then compared using a digital device to a non-digital device for activities such as writing and drawing. Some of us found it particularly tricky to fill a piece of paper with one colour, while our partner had already filled it in with one click! Meanwhile, some of our writers felt like they had more freedom with their pencil than when using a keyboard.

Which method did you prefer for your activity and why?