Autumn Antics

3V made the most of the glorious autumn weather this week by taking to the great outdoors for some of their lessons.

Our literacy focus this week was poetry, so on Monday morning we headed outside to seek inspiration from the season of mellow mists and fruitfulness, using all our senses to describe autumn's beauty.  

We have been looking at developing imagery using simile, metaphor and onomatopoeia in our writing this week, and the children have tried to incorporate some of these into their poetry.  I have been extremely impressed with the quality of the poems they have produced, and will be using them to create a display of the poetry and artwork in the classroom.

Diwali Celebrations

Year 3 completed their studies of the Hindu faith with a Diwali celebration in the classroom.  The children retold the story of Rama and Sita and thought about how Diwali is typically celebrated by Hindus across the globe.

And since you can't have a celebration without some special food, there was a tantalising array of Indian party snacks for them to try.  The children enjoyed sampling the different foods on offer - the poppadoms in particular were very popular!  

It was great to see everyone trying new foods and showing their best table manners as they shared in the feast.

Tutankhamun's Tomb

Class 3V continued their studies of Ancient Egypt with an afternoon stepping into the shoes of the famous archaeologist, Howard Carter.

The scene was set: it was autumn 1922, in the Valley of the Kings.  Lord Carnarvon, a British aristocrat, had spent eight years financing the search for the lost tomb of the boy Pharaoh, Tutankhamun, but to no avail.  His patience (as well as his money!) was running out.  Howard Carter knew this was his last chance.  He was almost giving up hope...

Quite unexpectedly, a young boy, who was employed by Carter as a water carrier, stumbled across some old stone steps buried in the sand.  Could this be the entrance to the lost tomb?

Filled with trepidation, 3V took it in turns to investigate the mysterious tomb that had appeared in the literacy area.  Since the the tomb was sealed, awaiting the arrival of the Egyptian authorities, the class had time only for a very quick peek into the gloom.  They knew they had to remember what they had seen in order to make field sketches of their finds...

Ready to investigate the mysterious tomb!

Armed only with a torch, each pupil took a turn investigating the contents of the tomb.  They could only look for a few seconds, in case the stale air inside the ancient tomb overcame them.  They had to use all their powers of observation to remember what they had seen, in order to create a field sketch of an artefact.

There was a fascinating selection of artefacts inside.

We then looked in detail at the different artefacts, piecing together the pictures of the different grave goods that we had found.  There were so many different things, each made of lavish materials such as gold and jewels.  We decided that the tomb must belong to someone very important.  But where was Tutankhamun himself?

We looked closely at original photographs of the tomb again.  There was a patch of plaster that didn't seem to match.  A guardian statue stood on each side... What could be hiding behind the wall?

The anticipation in the room was palpable as we peeled back the plaster... to reveal an enormous wooden door emblazoned with hieroglyphs!  Surely this must be the tomb?  Inside, there was a stone coffin, and another, and another, until finally the glorious golden sarcophagus was revealed!  We were able to confirm that we had indeed found the tomb of the boy king, Tutankhamun.

A volunteer examined the tomb, on which the famous curse was inscribed: "Death shall come on swift wings to him who disturbs the peace of the King."  In spite of the risk, the final box was opened, to reveal the beautiful, ornate mask of Tutankhamun himself!

The children were delighted to have discovered the lost tomb of Tutankhamun...

The children had such an enjoyable afternoon discovering Tutankhamun's tomb for themselves, using photographs of the the discovery and the artefacts found by Howard Carter to piece together the story.  

Mrs Vaqueiro

100% Attendance!

Class 3V were celebrating again in this morning's assembly following another week with 100% attendance!

In addition to winning some delicious Maltesers, Class 3V have been rewarded with another non-school uniform day, which will be on Friday, 19th October.

Well done everyone!

Mrs Vaqueiro

Science Experiment Update!

3V are delighted to reveal the results of their recent celery experiment!  

Avid readers of this blog will recall that the class were conducting an experiment to try to prove that plants will suck water up their stems towards their leaves.

This afternoon, we had a look at the results, and we were amazed to see how well the celery had taken up the coloured water - the tops of the celery had turned blue!  We snapped the celery stalks open and could clearly see that the xylem (water tubes) inside the stems were full of blue coloured water, while the control experiment, which had just plain water to drink, remained clear.

Take a look at the fantastic results!

A Very Volatile Volcano

3V had an impromptu extra lesson on Friday afternoon when one of the pupils brought in an amazing model volcano.  We took the learning outside the classroom in order to investigate further...

By filling the volcano with bicarbonate of soda, and piping through some vinegar, we were able to watch the dramatic scientific reaction as the acidic vinegar met the alkaline bicarbonate of soda.  

We will be taking a more in-depth look at volcanoes later in the year, and finding out what makes a real volcano erupt!

Non-Uniform Reward Day!

Congratulations to 3V who managed 100% attendance during the week 24th-28th September!  

As a reward, the class is allowed to come to school in non-school uniform next Friday, 12th October.  Confirmation letters for parents and carers will be sent home with children this evening.

Fantastic attendance, everyone - keep up the good work!

Mrs Vaqueiro

Mummification Mayhem!

In our history lessons in 3V we have been learning all about the Ancient Egyptians.  This week, we looked at how the Ancient Egyptians looked after their dead.  

We learnt that the Ancient Egyptians believed that the body should be preserved as well possible, so that the soul could recognise the body when the two were reunited in the afterlife.  

We looked at all the grisly details of the mummification process and then acted out the mummification for ourselves.  We had brilliant fun mummifying a pupil and going through all the necessary steps to ensure that he was beautifully preserved!

Water Transportation Experiment

Recently, in 3V we have been looking at the secret life of plants.  We have been learning all about how plants stay alive, including looking at the way in which they adapt to different surroundings.  We learnt how plants growing in desert conditions conserve water, and how plants growing under the dark rainforest canopy manage to maximise their exposure to light.

This week, we have been looking at the inside of plants, and how they transport nutrients and water from their roots to their leaves.  We have been practising our scientific thinking skills in order to design an experiment to try to prove that water travels up the stems of plants.  

To do this, we carefully measured out plain water and dyed it blue with food colouring, before adding a stick of celery to the water.  In order to keep the experiment fair, we have also put a stick of celery in the same amount of plain water to see whether the results are different.  This is called the 'control.'

We are hoping that the celery will turn blue as the dyed water passes through the stem - we'll keep you updated!