Autumn Walk

This week (owing to Friday's TED) there will be no Big Writing, so the children in Year 3 are instead turning their attentions to poetry.  We will be writing an autumn-themed poem, focusing on the five senses.  With this in mind, we decided to make the most of a gloriously crisp and sunny autumn morning by taking a stroll around the school grounds to seek inspiration in nature for our poetry writing.  We looked at the evidence of the changing seasons in the trees and flowers, and even spotted a rainbow high above in the clouds!

It was a beautifully sunny day, although there was a definite chill in the air.

The horse chestnut tree generated a lot of interest.

The stunning crimson berries were like jewels.

We even spotted a rainbow overhead!

European Languages Day

Today at Swan Lane we celebrated European Languages Day.  Each year group chose a European country as their focus for the day.  Year 3 (perhaps somewhat predictably!) chose Portugal.

We began by learning some basic greetings - we can now all say hello and goodbye to someone and introduce ourselves in Portuguese.  We also learnt how to sing 'Twinkle Twinkle Little Star' in Portuguese, as well as learning the names of the colours and different fruits.  Mrs Vaqueiro also brought in some Portuguese language children's books from home for everyone to look through.  

At parties, Portuguese people will often serve a 'chocolate salami' cake (which isn't as disgusting as it sounds!).  We had a go at making one using melted chocolate, biscuits and dried fruit.  The cake needs a few hours to set in the fridge, so we were able to enjoy a slice after afternoon break.

In the afternoon, we had a look at all the popular tourist destinations in Portugal and used Google Earth to find out where Mrs Vaqueiro's husband and his family are from in Northern Portugal, before designing our own tourist information posters.

It was great to have the opportunity to do something a little bit different from usual on a Monday - hopefully the children have learnt something new and had some fun along the way!

Presentation to Parents and Carers

To conclude their studies of the Ancient Egyptians, Year 3 hosted a presentation afternoon for parents and carers, giving them the opportunity to showcase all they had learnt about Ancient Egypt, and practise those all-important oracy skills with a variety of different people.

3V chose to share their knowledge of the discovery of Tutankhamun's tomb, the amazing artefacts discovered by archaeologists, and to explore whether there was any truth in the rumours of a so-called 'Curse of Tutankhamun.'  They also showed off their hieroglyphics skills, translating secret messages and helping their visitors to create their own Cartouches.

We were delighted to have such amazing support from parents and carers, who really entered into the spirit of the afternoon (many had perhaps not expected to spend the afternoon dressing up as 1920s archaeologists and crawling into an Egyptian tomb!) and it was a real boost for the children's confidence to have a chance to share all the fascinating things they have learnt about the world of Ancient Egypt.

Thank you very much to all who attended our presentation - we really do appreciate all your support with your children's learning.

Hieroglyphic writing station - with the all-important Rosetta Stone.

The famous Curse of Tutankhamun - but can you believe everything you read in the papers?

Some of the artefacts recovered from the tomb were mysterious: archaeologists needed to try and work out how they were used and to whom they belonged.

The scribes practised their best hieroglyphic handwriting in readiness for the visitors.

Archaeologists made field sketches and notes about the artefacts.

The Tomb Guides were ready to show the visitors the marvels of the tomb!

Practising their debating skills - was there any evidence to suggest the curse was real?

Parents really entered into the spirit of the occasion!