Big Writing - w/b Monday 19th April 2021

 

For our first Big Writing after the Easter holidays, we will be basing our work on the opening chapter of ‘The Iron Man’ by Ted Hughes. 

You can watch an animated version of part of the story here: 

https://www.bbc.co.uk/bitesize/clips/zd2d7ty

It would be useful if you could discuss and practise the following with your child:

· using the word of the week ‘thunderous’

· Talk about onomatopoeia (words that sound like their meaning) e.g. crash, pop, squelch, sizzle

· Think of positional language e.g. below, above,  beside, beyond

· Practise using simile for description e.g. as bright as the sun

 Thank you,                                                                  

Mrs Vaqueiro

 

Writing to HM The Queen

A couple of years ago, the teachers devised a list of  '50 Things to do at Swan Lane' - a 'bucket list' of enriching childhood experiences that we would like every child to enjoy during their time at Swan Lane First School.  Although successive lockdowns have made it quite tricky for us to arrange some of our 50 different experiences, as a staff we resolved this week to try and ensure that we ticked off at least one of our memorable moments.

One of Year 3's '50 Things' to do is to send a letter to HM the Queen - and (hopefully) to receive a reply!  Since Her Majesty is shortly to celebrate her 95th birthday, the children in 3V have spent the week finding out a little about the Royal Family.  We looked at the Royal Family tree and line of succession, learnt how to greet the Queen with a curtsy or bow, and how we should address Her Majesty if we were ever lucky enough to meet her. 

We then drafted letters to wish Her Majesty a very happy birthday, and ask a number of searching questions about her pets, her favourite kind of birthday cake, and whether she hopes to have a birthday picnic in the grounds of her palace.  Many of the children were also intrigued to know whether it is difficult to keep your balance while wearing a heavy crown!

We are sending our letters off in the post at the end of the week, and we will let you know if she responds!

Easter Cards

The children in 3V have been very busy creating beautiful Easter cards this afternoon.  

Here are a few of their masterpieces!

Big Writing - w/b Monday 29th March 2021

This week’s Big Writing task is to write a letter to HM the Queen in anticipation of her 95th birthday in April.  This is one of Year 3’s '50 Things to Do at Swan Lane' – and the exciting thing about writing to the Queen is that she usually writes back!

It would be useful if you could discuss the following with your child in preparation for Big Writing:

·     Discuss the features of a letter. How should it be set out? How should we address the Queen?  How should we sign off the letter?

·     Find out some facts about the Queen.  Where does she live? What are her children called?  Does she have any grandchildren?  Does she have any pets?

Anything that we bring in before Thursday can be used to support our letter writing.

Thank you             

Mrs Vaqueiro

 

The Mysteries of Magnets...

Are all magnets created equal?

In 3V this afternoon we have been continuing our scientific work, investigating the properties of magnets.  We conducted an experiment to find out whether some kinds of magnet are stronger than others.  Using a ruler, a paperclip and three different kinds of magnet, we decided to find out.  We took care to record our answers in a table as we went, and to keep our experiment as fair as possible, we measured carefully, using the same paperclip for each kind of magnet.

Here are some photos of our experiment in action!

Red Nose Day Celebrations

The children in 3V celebrated Red Nose Day with a red-themed non-school uniform day today!  

Big Writing - w/b Monday 22nd March 2021

For next week’s Big Writing, we are going to be describing a Roman Battlefield scene.

We will be using the picture below as a stimulus for our writing. 

It would be helpful if you could discuss the following with your child in preparation for Big Writing...

1) This week’s word of the week is valiantly

2) Discuss the technical vocabulary of the Roman  soldier

3) Discuss what they can see in the picture below using positional language (above, beyond, in the distance…)

4) Talk about how they might feel if they were a Roman soldier on the battlefield.

Any work brought from home can be used in Big Writing on Friday.

Many thanks,

 

Mrs Vaqueiro

 

Mindfulness - Space Breathing

As part of our PSHE work since returning to school, we have been focusing on different ways to feel calm and let go of our day to day worries.  

The children really enjoyed taking a few minutes this afternoon to focus on their breathing and relax - we agreed that it would be great for them to try doing this at home before bedtime, to help them get a good night's sleep.  If you would like to try it at home, you can listen to a guided relaxation session here.

Marvellous Magnets!

As part of our science work this half term, the children in Year 3 have been learning about different forces. Today, we explored the amazing world of magnets!  

We learnt that magnets have an invisible force field around them, which pulls certain materials in and makes them stick.  We enjoyed watching paper clips jump across the desk to stick to our magnets!

We then watched an amazing video clip showing how magnets affect iron filings.  You can watch it here.  We were fascinated!

Then, we looked at how magnets are used in the real world.  We discovered that electro-magnets are often used in recycling centres to sort different materials.  

Finally, it was our turn for a 'Scrapheap Challenge.'  Each group had a tray of different materials to sort into magnetic and non-magnetic materials.  Most children predicted that the magnets would attract metals - but then some of the results turned out to be quite surprising!  

Can you guess which metallic objects didn't stick to the magnets - and can you work out why?