Penguins - Year 3
24/7/18
Happy summer holidays!
Thank you for such a fantastic year, Penguins. I am really going to miss you all but I know you will continue to be superstars in Year 4! Thank you all for your lovely cards and gifts too - I am a very lucky teacher! Enjoy your break and have lots of fun!
Miss Reed
10/7/18 - We created a text map for our new WAGOLL poem named 'Walking with my Iguana' by Brian Moses. Can you remember the actions we made to help us recall the poem, Penguins?
5/7/18 - We taught the Year 2's (soon to be Year 3's) skills we have learnt in our English learning this year! Miss Reed was very impressed with our knowledge.
2/7/18 - Penguins Afternoon Tea. We hope all our guests enjoyed the food we prepared for them!
Woburn Safari Park
On Friday 15th June 2018, Year 3 went on a trip to Woburn Safari Park. It was an opportunity for us to consolidate our learning about rainforest animals.
As soon as we arrived at Woburn, we went on the road safari to look at lots of different animals including: lions, tigers, elephants, giraffes, rhinos, bears and more! We were all very excited as the animals kept coming up to our coach! A black bear came right to our coach door – we thought he looked like Baloo from The Jungle Book. A monkey also jumped on the roof of our coach!
After the road safari, we went to look at the sea lions and monkeys. We were lucky enough to walk through the monkeys’ enclosure and get really close to them. Then we went to visit the penguins – and of course we had to have a class photo next to them! Penguins with Penguins!
Then it was time for our classroom session with a leader from Woburn Safari Park. She taught us about rainforest animals – some of which were at the park. We got to touch a snake named Savannah.
Following this, it was time for lunch! We had all worked up a big appetite. Some chickens were trying to eat any crumbs we dropped on the floor!
After lunch, we went to see the elephants up close and personal. We were allowed to touch the elephant if we wished! It was an incredible opportunity. Then we went to see some birds that you might find in the rainforest. It was very warm and muggy in their enclosure – similar to the climate of a rainforest.
Finally, we had a play on the outdoor play area to round off our day. We had such an amazing day and created lots of fantastic memories.
You can see the photos from our trip below!
Woburn Safari Park - 15/6/18
24/5/18 - Creating bar graphs outside on the playground with data we collected inside the classroom.
18/5/18 - Investigating how water is transported in plants!
15/5/18 - Our new text map for our WAGOLL persuasive text - ‘’Why should you drink water?’ Can you remember the actions we created?
11/5/18
What have we been up to this week?
This week we have been...
- measuring time in minutes on analogue and digital clocks
- writing our narrative texts (which have been to an amazing standard!)
- comparing Sherwood Forest to the Amazon Rainforest
- writing poems about plants
- thinking about peace
Please check your child's book bag for letters about watching The Jungle Book (2016) movie on the 25th May & also the second letter for our trip to Woburn Safari Park on the 15th June.
10/5/18
Optional homework
This week I have set some optional homework for Penguins to research information about deforestation. We will start to look at this topic next week but it would be fantastic if children had some background knowledge on deforestation prior to their learning. You could create a poster, a collage - anything you wish! Good to be greens will be given to all those who have a go!
Miss Reed
4/5/18 - We used the internet to find out facts about the rainforest in our topic lesson.
26/4/18 - Check out our new amazing palm tree!! A huge thank you to Debi for making it for us. We love it and it goes with our rainforest topic perfectly.
24/4/18 - Our new text map for our new focus text 'The Great Kapok Tree.' Can you remember the story and actions?
23/4/18 - The Bear Necessities dance class with Miss Nizzer
23/4/18 - To start off 'Healthy Me' week where we are focusing on our mental health and well-being, we participated in a dance class led by Miss Nizzer to see the positive effects exercise has on our mental well-being.
20/4/18 - We launched our new topic today: 'Rainforests'. We met animals from the rainforest, made models of layers of the rainforest, learnt a dance from the Jungle Book and created our own songs about the rainforest. It was a brilliant day!
18/4/18 - Playing 'Musical Clocks' in Maths! We are now experts at telling the time to the minute.
18/4/18 - Learning skills that we can use in cricket with our new coach, Mr Sanderson! What a beautiful day it was for it!
17/4/18 - A mysterious creature took residence at our school over the holidays! What was the creature? Where did it come from? We were SO excited to have a look at the evidence that the mysterious creature left behind...
17/4/18
We are back!
Welcome back Penguins! I hope you all had a great Easter break. I am really looking forward to our learning this term and I know you will be too!
Our topic for the summer term is Rainforests, with our focus question being ‘What would happen if the rainforest vanished?’ We have a variety of exciting texts we will be focusing on in English including ‘The Great Kapok Tree’ and Disney’s ‘The Jungle Book’.
In Maths we will be continuing our learning through the use of Maths No Problem. We will be starting off the term learning about time before moving on to learning about graphs.
During Science this term, we will be learning all about plants and animals (including humans).
In Geography we will be locating rainforests across the world and comparing forests that we know in England to rainforests in different countries.
In Art we will be exploring and replicating the art of Henri Rousseau.
In RE we will be exploring Peace.
We will continue to have our Spanish assembly once a week led by Miss Donkin on a Wednesday.
Homework will continue to be given out on a Thursday and is due back in on a Tuesday. Reading records are to be handed in on Monday mornings please.
PE will continue to be on a Tuesday afternoon. We will start swimming this term in our newly refurbished pool – I will let you know which day of the week when it is confirmed.
Our trip to Woburn Safari Park is on Friday 15th June. Please let me know if you would like to come along and help!
Our WOW day is on Friday 20th April. The children have the opportunity to come to school dressed as an animal from the rainforest or a safari leader.
Keep checking our class page to keep up to date with all our learning experiences!
Please feel free to speak to me for any further information.
Miss Reed
29/3/18
I can't quite believe we are at the end of another term already! It has been a super fun and busy term and the children have been loving their learning across the curriculum. I would like to take this opportunity to thank parents for all their continued support this term. I wish you all a fantastic Easter break and will look forward to seeing my Penguins back at school on Tuesday 17th April.
Miss Reed
21/3/18 - To celebrate World Poetry Day, Karl Nova, a poet, joined us to share some of his great work and enthusiasm for writing poetry!
19/3/18 - Today in English we started our new unit where we are learning to write a formal letter. Here is our text map of our WAGOLL text.
9/3/18 - Flag Fen trip! We had the most amazing day, it really brought our topic learning to life! #stoneagetoironage
1/3/18 - Reading hour with Year 1 to celebrate World Book Day! We loved reading with the younger children. We used thinking hats to ask the children questions about the story they read to us.
1/3/18 - World Book Day!
28/2/18 - Playing in the snow!
26/2/18 - We went to Hogwarts and created bubbling potions in Science!
21/2/18 - Today in English we talked the text and created actions for our new WAGOLL narrative called 'Stone Age Boy.' Then, we created our own story maps in our English books.
21/2/18 - During our maths learning today we estimated the capacity of different containers. Then we identified the actual capacity of the container and compared our estimated answers with the actual answer. We used our team work skills to ensure we strove for accuracy in our recordings.
20/2/18 - Our new text in English is 'Stone Age Boy'. We created questions using thinking hats that we could ask the boy from the book. The boy does not have a name. Then, some of us were chosen to be 'the boy' and we asked him questions, using our knowledge of the text to ask and answer the questions.
20/2/18 - We have started our new unit of learning in maths which is all about volume. Today we were measuring volume and reading intervals on measuring beakers.
9/2/18 - Testing different soil types permeability.
9/2/18 - We got busy in the kitchen and made Stone Age stew! We used blueberries, strawberries and honey. It was delicious!
9/2/18 - Superheroes day! We raised lots of money to help us improve our dinner hall.
2/2/18 - Making compost bins in Science with REAL worms! Ruth said it was the best lesson EVER!
19.1.18 - Performing the poems we created this week in English! Here is a snippet of Theo performing his poem named 'Ten Things Found in a Caveman's Pocket.'
15.1.18 - In our topic lesson today we turned our classroom in to a cave! As artists, we used chalks, oil pastels and charcoal to draw designs which were similar to those found in cave paintings from the Stone Age. We had great fun and produced some great artwork.
10.1.18 - Year 3 Maths Open Evening. Thank you to all parents who attended. It's great to see parents engaged with our children's learning!
8.1.18 - Today in English we talked the text. We learnt our new WAGOLL poem called 'Ten Things Found in a Wizard's Pocket'. We created actions for the WAGOLL too. Then, in our co-op groups, we rehearsed the poem and then performed it to the rest of the class. Check out the pictures below!
5/1/18
In our Science lesson today we launched our new topic for this half term 'Rocks.'
In co-op groups we looked at a selection of rocks. We decided whether the rocks were natural or man-made.
We learnt that there are three types of naturally occurring rocks: igneous, metaphoric and sedimentary. Also, we learnt that the scientific name for man-made rocks is anthropic rocks. Anthropic rocks are made, modified or moved by humans.
We also learnt a song called ‘Geology rocks’ to the tune of Clementine. It was all about igneous, sedimentary and metamorphic rocks. We created actions to help us remember the three rock types. The song lyrics are below - feel free to sing-a-long at home!!
Geology Rocks!
Hot volcanoes, spreading lava,
make a rock called igneous.
Hot volcanoes, spreading lava,
make a rock called igneous.
Sand>mud>shells, press, sedimentary,
is a ma-ny layered rock.
Sand>mud>shells, press, sedimentary,
is a ma-ny layered rock.
Squash and bend it, metamorphic,
is a rock that has been changed.
Squash and bend it, metamorphic,
is a rock that has been changed.
Now we all know our three rock types
let’s re-cite them one by one.
Igneous and sedimentary,
metamorphic, rocks are FUN.
4/1/18 - We enjoyed a fun 'Wow Day; to begin our new topic. 'Who Ruled Prehistoric Britain?' We began learning about the Stone Age, Bronze Age and Iron Age by learning about Stonehenge. We know lots of facts about it now (make sure you ask us!) We had the challenge of creating stonehenge out of biscuits in our co-op groups. Here are our creations.
We also became archaeologists as we took part in an excavation to find more facts.
We learnt a song named 'We Will Rock You!' (Stone Age version) and created actions to go with the song. We put on a great performance. Then we learnt and performed a poem by Michael Rosen called 'I was born in the Stone Age.'
4/1/18
Happy New Year!
Welcome back Penguins! I hope you have all had an enjoyable and restful Christmas break and are eager to dive in to lots more fun learning this term!
Our topic for the Spring term is the Stone Age to the Iron Age, with our focus question being ‘Who ruled prehistoric Britain?’ We have a variety of exciting texts we will be focusing on in English including ‘Stone Age Boy’ and ‘Wizard’s Pocket’.
In Maths we will be continuing our learning through the use of Maths No Problem. We will be focusing on further multiplication and division before moving on to length.
During Science this term, we will be learning all about Rocks.
In Geography we will be locating key prehistoric sites around Britain.
In Art we will be studying and creating our own cave paintings and clay pots.
In RE we will be looking at what it is like to be a Sikh in Peterborough.
We will continue to have our Spanish assembly once a week led by Miss Donkin. This assembly is now on a Wednesday morning.
Homework will continue to be given out on a Thursday and is due back in on a Tuesday. Reading records are to be handed in on Monday mornings so I can check how your reading is going at home.
PE is still on a Tuesday afternoon – please bring a hoodie or jumper as it will be cold outside!
I would like to take this opportunity to thank parents for all their support so far this academic year. It really does make such a difference to your child’s learning.
Please feel free to speak to me for any further information.
Miss Reed
19/12/17 - Wishing all my wonderful Penguins a very happy Christmas! I hope you all have a relaxing break and a great start to the new year. Thank you to both children and parents for making this term so enjoyable.
Miss Reed
18/12/17 - Check out our published stories! I am so proud of Penguins efforts with writing their narratives. Please check your child's book bag as I have sent a copy home for you to keep! They really are wonderful. Miss Reed
15/12/17 - KS2 Sing-a-long nativity! We looked fabulous!
14/12/17 - In maths we made songs about the 3 times tables!! Check out George, Isla and Amie!!
8/12/17 - In our final topic lesson this term we got to create our own model of the River Nile and its surroundings out of cake! We used a sponge cake layer for the base, blue icing for the water, brown sugar for the sand, toblerone pieces for the pyramids and smarties to represent boats and fish in the Nile. It was a great afternoon. Check out our models – watch out Great British Bake off!
8/12/17 - Dressing up as panto characters!
8/12/17 - In spelling, we created and played our own version of 'snakes and ladders.' We focused on the words ending in the 'g' sound spelt 'gue' and words ending in the 'k' sound spelt 'que.' We had great fun!
24.11.17 - Investigating the effects of friction on different surfaces in Science!
20.11.17 - Our new focus text in English is 'The Scarab's Secret'. Please click on the link to read the story at home so you can remember it and magpie ideas from it in your writing Penguins!
17.11.17 - We identified what forces are and how they are measured in our Science learning today! We were super scientists.
16.11.17 - Anti-bullying week. We created this beautiful quote poster. We printed our finger prints on to the poster to say that we agree that we are all different and that is beautiful!
16.11.17 - Ant-bullying week: We talked about how we are all different on the outside but on the inside we are just the same - just like eggs!
15.11.17 - Penguins - counting in 4's.
13.11.17 - Odd Socks day for Anti-Bullying Week!
10.11.17 - We took our learning outside today in Science as we used equipment from inside the sports shed (such as footballs and skipping ropes) to explore forces – pushes and pulls in particular. We discussed with one another what direction our forces were acting in.
9.11.17 - Ancient Egypt day! Year 3 had the most amazing day today as we all took part in Ancient Egypt day which was led by a gentleman named Mark who was from ‘Portals to the Past’. We started the day with a talk from Mark about Egypt and its history. Then we had to go on a hunt for facts when answering a quiz which was really fun. After break Mark talked to us some more about Ancient Egypt. Following this, we played Hounds and Jackals. After lunch, we were transported back in time where Ryan was our Pharaoh. Unfortunately, Pharaoh Ryan’s reign did not last and he found himself on a journey to the afterlife where the Priests of Anubis and his mummy wrapping priests helped prepare his body. As he was safely on his travels, a new pharaoh was announced, Pharaoh Ruby! To celebrate, all of the people of Egypt went on a hunt and we got to try catch some 'animals' to feed us in the banquet. It was a tie with 11 points each to Penguins and Zebras. Thank you to all parents for the amazing costumes too!!
6.11.17 - We made our own board games in Topic about Ancient Egyptian pharaohs!
6.11.17 - Reciprocal Reading
3.11.17 - As part of our Exciting Writing today, we went outside to see a bonfire. We got to sit around the bonfire and think about what we could see, taste, smell, hear and feel. Then, we created some fantastic poems about the bonfire.
1.11.17 - As a class we created a text map for a WAGOLL information text on the Greek God, Zeus. We created actions to help us remember the information text and talked about vocabulary that we could magpie when we create our own information text on an Egyptian God. Remember to practice recalling the text with the actions at home, Penguins!
31.10.17 - In Art, we made a class set of canopic jars. When a person was mummified, their lungs, liver, intestines and stomach were put in special containers called canopic jars. Each organ was protected by a different Ancient Egyptian God. Qebehsenuef, who has a falcon’s head, looks after the intestines (dried pasta ribbons!). Duametef, a jackal-headed god, protects the stomach (pink balloon!). Hapi, the baboon-headed god, protects the lungs (orange peel!). Imsety, with the human face, looks after the liver (dried teabag!). We had great fun designing the God's heads to put on the canopic jars.
30.10.17 - Kameron visited the Imperial War Museum in London during half term. He showed some Egyptian artefacts he found on his travels to the class. It's lovely to see children so engaged with our Ancient Egypt topic. Thank you for sharing, Kameron!
30.10.17
Welcome back Penguins!
I hope you all had a fantastic half term break. It was great to see you all back today and eager to learn! We are all looking forward to our Ancient Egyptian workshop next week on Thursday 9th November.
I’m so proud of all of Penguins hard work so far this year, let’s keep up the brilliant work ethic we have in Year 3 this half term and beyond.
Miss Reed
12/10/17 - Today in computing, Penguins investigated different websites and apps. They now know that there are age restrictions for websites and can explain why. Check Penguins out working hard on the laptops below!
12/10/17 - In Maths today, Penguins challenged themselves at their Learning Without Limits station to add 3 digit numbers together using dienes to find out the answer. They double checked their answers using the column method. Super learning Penguins!
12/10/17 - As part of Outdoor Classroom Day, Penguins took their spelling lesson outside today! Miss Reed would say a word with the long a vowel sound in (our spelling focus this week), and we had to run to the correct spelling of the a sound in the word e.g. 'straight' - we would run to the tree that had the 'aigh' on. We had lots of fun learning outside.
10/10/17- In our spelling lesson today we all participated in a 'dictionary race'. Miss Reed said a word and we had to find it in the dictionary in our pairs. If we found the word first, we got a good to be green! We loved this activity. Super spelling learning took place in Penguins today.
09/10/17 - We were extremely lucky today as George C and Daniel delivered a presentation to the class about papyrus and scarab beetles. George prepared the presentation at home with his Grandad and then Daniel and George rehearsed for the presentation in their own time which is fantastic. Penguins really enjoyed watching and had lots of questions to ask Daniel and George afterwards. It is great to see Penguins so enthusiastic about our topic at the moment. Well done boys!
09/10/17 - We worked with a partner to mummify a tomato. We wanted to see what would happen when we left the tomato and if it would last longer and be preserved. We scooped out the seeds, washed it with hand sanitiser and filled it with natron (salt and bicarbonate of soda). These are similar things that the Ancient Egyptians did to the mummies. We are going to leave them for a couple of weeks and then see what has happened.
09/10/17 - We had fun in our topic lesson this afternoon as we continued to learn about the process of mummification. We began with the fun task of mummifying each other. Here's how we got on!
06/10/17 - Today in Science, we investigated how the size of shadows change throughout the day. We found out that in the morning, the length of our shadows were longer than us and that our shadows pointed to the West. We discovered that at midday (lunch time) our shadows were the shortest. As well as this, we discovered that in the afternoons our shadows pointed towards the East and were longer than they were at midday.
05/10/17 Today was our church afternoon and Kevin from St Matthews came in to talk to us about the colour of the church season. Then we designed new robes and stoles for Mr Hurst using the church colours.
We had great fun today learning the different stages of mummification. You can see us acting out the steps for mummification below. 5/10/17
'How pickled onions are made' - Penguins text map 4/10/17. Remind yourselves of our WAGOLL at home!
Egyptian Banquet 15th September 2017
08/09/2017 - In English we created a Text Map for Egyptian Cinderella and created actions to help us remember parts of the story. Remember to practice the story and actions at home Penguins!
07/09/2017 - Looking after our 'babies' (jelly beans) with care in PSHE! We now understand that our peers may look after items and/or people differently but they still care just the same!
Welcome to Penguins class!
I have loved seeing your smiley faces back at school and it is great to see you are all ready to do lots of fun learning in Year 3.
Our topic for the Autumn term is Ancient Egypt, with our focus question being ‘Were the Egyptians ahead of their time?’ We have a variety of exciting texts we will be focusing on in English including ‘Egyptian Cinderella’ and ‘The Scarab’s Secret’.
In Maths we will be continuing our learning through the use of Maths No Problem. We will begin by focusing on our knowledge of numbers and their value.
During Science this term, we will be learning all about Light and we have some great experiments planned!
In Geography we will be building our own Nile – this links in to our Ancient Egypt topic.
In Art, Penguins will be studying and creating their own hieroglyphics, whilst in Design and Technology they will be building their own pyramids!
This year we are really lucky that we will be having a Spanish assembly once a week, led by Miss Donkin. Miss Donkin is going to help the children become more confident in Spanish.
Useful information
Mrs. Selves is our teaching assistant.
PE is on a Tuesday. Please ensure kits are in school and are clearly named.
We encourage children to read regularly and children will receive a reading raffle ticket for reading 5 times a week. Children should record their reading in their reading record daily. Now children are in KS2, they can do this independently, however we would ask that you sign the reading record weekly to show that you have acknowledged your child has read. Children should bring their recording record book into school every day. Thank you.
Please remember your water bottles every day as our classroom does get very warm. Please make sure the water bottle is clearly named and is only filled with water or squash only. Thank you.
Homework will be given out on Thursdays and is due in on Tuesdays. If homework is not handed in by Wednesday morning at the latest, children will spend their Wednesday dinner time with Mr. Fitzpatrick in homework club to complete it.
Children will be lining up in the morning outside Penguins door. They will be released from the same place at the end of the day.
We have a fun and busy term ahead and I’m super excited to get started.
Please feel free to speak to me for any further information.
Miss Reed