Nature in Art - Andy Goldsworthy

This afternoon, the children in Year 3 have been getting back to nature!  Led by the ladies from Artbase, each class headed outside into the autumn chill to gather natural resources and create their very own natural sculptures, inspired by the work of the artist Andy Goldsworthy.  Everyone had great fun and the results were stunning!

Christmas Penguins

This afternoon 3V, have been getting into the Christmas spirit by making our contributions towards the decorations for the school Christmas Tree.  Every year, Mrs Manion chooses a theme for the tree and each class uses their creative skills to make and contribute different ornaments for the tree.  This year, the theme is Penguins!  We really enjoyed making our colourful cardboard penguins, and can't wait to see them on the Christmas Tree in a couple of weeks' time.  We made plenty, so each child will also be bringing one home too!

We also managed to complete our Christmas cards, although these will be staying under wraps until they are ready to be brought home nearer the big day!

Chocolate Rocks!

In 3V this half term, we are learning all about rocks and soils.  We have been looking at the three different ways in which rocks are formed.

Igneous rocks are formed deep underground, where the temperature is extremely hot.  Pockets of magma (molten rock) form under the earth's surface.  When these cool and solidify, igneous rock is formed.

Sedimentary rock usually forms under the sea.  Layers of dust and grit become compacted over many thousands of years, eventually solidifying to create sedimentary rock.

Metamorphic rock is created when heat and pressure affect an existing rock to such an extent that its structure changes, creating a new type of rock.

We recreated these different processes using a very popular ingredient... chocolate!  

First, we broke a bar of delicious chocolate into pieces.  Mrs Greaves took it away to melt it carefully in the microwave.   This would be our igneous rock! 

Meanwhile, we layered several different chocolates, coco-pops and sweets in a baking dish.  These represented our sedimentary rock.  After the melted chocolate had been cooled and crumbled in (representing the erosion process that takes place over hundreds of years), it was taken away again to be heated in the oven.  The heat from the oven represented the metamorphic process.  

Once the dish was cool enough to handle safely, it was brought back into the classroom, where we looked at the changes that had occurred to our chocolate rock.

Finally, Mrs Vaqueiro broke the chocolate rock into bite-sized pieces for us to enjoy!

French - Les Numeros

Now that the children are in Year 3, they have started to have weekly French lessons.  This week, they have been learning to say, read and write the numbers 0-10 in French.  They first practised pronouncing the vocabulary, and then played a matching pairs game in their table groups, before completing some French reading and writing challenges in their books.

English - The Firework Maker's Daughter

This morning we have been exploring the cover and blurb on our new class book: The Firework Maker's Daughter, by Philip Pullman. 

We have been looking closely at the details on the cover and using our inference skills to make suggestions about the book.  I was SO impressed by some of the children's ideas - they spotted so many clues and gave brilliant reasons for their suggestions.  We had a really valuable class discussion and now can't wait to get started on the book itself!

Here are some of the children's ideas...

Attendance Award - Extra Playtime!

Last week, 3V won the school attendance award.  This means they earnt an extra playtime!  We took the opportunity to enjoy the autumn sunshine on Friday afternoon and have fun on the adventure playground.