Earthquake-Proof Buildings

We worked in table groups to design and make our own earthquake-proof “buildings” – made from cocktail sticks and jelly sweets.  We then had an earthquake to find out whether or not our structures would survive!  The children worked really well in their teams and came up with some really creative ideas.

Stick Skeletons

Today Year 3 took their science learning outside! We have been learning about the bones in the body so went outside and made skeletons out of sticks and other natural materials. It was great fun trying to find the right sized sticks, twigs and leaves!

Holy Spirit Day!

We had a really exciting day on Holy Spirit Day when we celebrated Pentecost in school. We thought about our ways of celebrating Pentecost and also learnt about how other countries celebrate. We made our own Holy Spirit doves, bringing down the 7 gifts. We had an afternoon of quiet reflection in prayer spaces created in the meeting room.

World Week!

We have had a fantastic week celebrating World Week in Year 3. We have been focussing on Nigeria and Islam but it has been so interesting to hear about all the different cultures within our class too. This week we have made Nigerian cloth by using batik, we have been storytellers, retelling a traditional Nigerian tale; we have tasted food from all around the world; we have welcomed visitors who helped us to understand more about Nigerian culture and have taken part in many more fun activities.

In our learning about Islam we visited the Mosque and learnt a bit more about how Muslims pray, as well as the different parts of the Mosque.

It has been a really interesting and enjoyable week!

First Holy Communion

On Saturday the children in Year 3 celebrated their First Holy Communion. It was a really special and holy day for the children. To celebrate, the children had a party in school on Monday.

Stonepit Field

To support our science work about rocks and fossils we visited Stonepit Field. To start our trip we became time travellers and found out about how life has evolved on earth – it was fascinating! We then looked at rocks and learnt about different types of rocks and finished our morning by going on a fossil hunt.

Guitars

Year 3M were very lucky to welcome a visitor from Milton Keynes Music Hub who introduced them to guitars. The children learnt about the different parts of a guitar and were even able to have a go at playing a tune! It was a great experience and made the children very excited for learning the guitar in their music lessons in Year 4!

Roman Day

To finish off our learning about the Romans the children took part in Roman Day. We baked Roman bread, the children designed and created their own Roman instruments and in the afternoon we had a banquet where the children were very brave in trying lots of Roman foods. The children all looked fantastic in their costumes and had a really enjoyable day.

Sepo Fundraising

On Tuesday we had a fantastic day raising lots of money for Sepo, our parish charity. We all took part in the mini marathon (and got very wet) and then in the afternoon we ran a Whack the Rat stall and took part in lots of other fun activities.

Science Week

We have had such an exciting time celebrating Science Week. We have participated in lots of fun science activities and as a class have been looking at the journey of light.

The Garden of Gethsemane

During Lent we learnt about the events that took place in the lead up to Jesus’s crucifixion. Here we learnt what happened after the Last Supper and used the pictures to help us retell what happened in the Garden of Gethsemane.

Roman Catapults

In Design and Technology we have been learning about Roman catapults. We learnt about the different types of Roman catapult before designing and making our own model 'onager catapults' from lolly sticks. The children showed great teamwork and communication skills to support each other while they made their catapults.

Flowering Plants

Working in groups, the children used the materials in their Wonder Boxes to make a model that would explain the function of the different parts of a plant.  We had some great teamwork which resulted in some wonderful creations!

What happens at Mass?

As part of our RE lessons we have been learning about the different parts of a Mass. We ordered the main parts of Mass and chose which we think is the most important. There were some interesting and well justified opinions.

Can Magnetism Be Blocked?

We worked as a whole class to try and find out whether magnetism can be blocked by materials. We worked out which things would need to be kept the same to keep the investigation fair and produced a results table as a class.

Verulamium Museum

As part of their Romans topic the children visited the Verulamium Museum in St Albans. They took part in a Market Day session during which they found out the purposes of a range of Roman artefacts and even got to dress up like Romans! They were also able to explore the museum and found out many interesting facts about Roman’s daily lives.

St Thomas Aquinas Feast Day

On St Thomas Aquinas Feast day we learnt about the life of St Thomas Aquinas and created one of his symbols – a monstrance – using gold paper. We also celebrated our school’s patron saint by taking part in Mass.

The Feasts of Our Lady

As part of our learning about the journey through the year, we spoke about how we pay tribute to Mary. We remembered that we especially think of Mary in May and October and also thought about the hymns we have about Mary. We discussed how these make us feel and why we like them.

Investigating Pattern

This half term our art focus will be pattern. We began our topic by investigating how patterns can be created and considered repetition, symmetry and rotation. The children used different shapes to create patterns and then created their own pictures by putting the shapes together.

Spanish Festive Period

We took a break from our Christmas preparations to learn about the festive period in Spain. The children were shocked to find out the children in Spain don’t receive their Christmas presents until the 6^th January! The children then enjoyed participating in the Spanish New Year tradition of trying to eat a grape on each gong of the clock at midnight on New Year’s Eve – it was more difficult than they expected!

Cooking – Pitta Pizzas

As part of our topic this half term the children have been learning about Florence in Italy. Today the children made their own version of a traditional Italian food: pitta pizzas! They used cheese graters, knives and other equipment to make margherita pizzas.

Judaism Week

During Judaism week Year 3 have been learning about Shabbat (Sabbath). We were fortunate to have a visit from Mrs Elijah on Monday who showed us what happens during Shabbat, some of us got to dress up in a Kippah or Tallit and we were all able to try the Challah bread.

Tea Bag - Fair Testing

The children worked in small groups to plan and run an investigation testing which material is the best for a tea bag. They decided what they needed to keep the same to keep the test fair and also what criteria made a good cup of tea. During this investigation the children showed a good awareness of how to keep a test fair and also some excellent teamwork and cooperation!

Art Exploration

Our art lessons this half term will link to our topic work. In this lesson, the children were given free choice of a variety of materials to create a representation of the Santa Maria Fiore Cathedral which is in Florence. Using a mixture of: charcoal, collage, wax crayons, chalks and pencils the children created a wide range of artwork.

Leaf Multiplication

Today we did outdoor maths! We used leaves to show our understanding of multiplication.  We counted the number of points on leaves and then showed calculations using our repeated addition.

Mighty Zulu Nation

We had a fantastic day on UN Day, when we welcomed the Mighty Zulu Nation theatre group to the school. Their dancing and singing was amazing and we learnt a song with Year 2, which we performed in front of the whole school at the end of the day.

No Pens Day

On No Pens Day, we followed instructions to make a natural paint from red cabbages and lemon juice. We then painted the war paint onto their Celtic warriors. In the afternoon, we got to watch Key Stage 2 children debate, which was really interesting and fun to see!

October – The Month of the Rosary

To help us celebrate the month of the Rosary, Mrs Simmons came and taught us about the history of the Rosary. We then prayed a decade of the Rosary together.

Debating

We have been preparing for No Pens Day by learning about balanced arguments and debates. Today we have been practising our speaking skills by debating in class.

Transparent, Opaque and Translucent

As part of our science topic, we have been learning about transparent, opaque and translucent materials. We explored a range of materials and tried to decide which category they fell into.

Neolithic Carved Balls

Year 3M have been investigating Neolithic carved balls. We had a lovely (messy) afternoon making our own carved balls, with clay, ready to experiment and find out what they may have been used for.

Class Assembly

Year 3M have been working extremely hard practising for their class assembly, teaching everyone about Harvest!  We finally got to present it today, it was very exciting! Thank you parents for all your support.

Building Stonehenge

Year 3M had a fantastic afternoon working with Bob to build a model Stonehenge using only sticks and elastic bands. It took problem solving skills and lots of good teamwork to make these massive structures from sticks. The children behaved excellently and as a result their final products were extremely impressive!

LearnPads

This week 3M have been learning about adding two numbers together. The children used games on the LearnPads to help them practise adding two numbers mentally and were also able to practise their times tables.

European Day of Languages

3M learned about Scotland on European Day of Languages. We learned lots of exciting facts about Scotland and made our own thistles, which are the national flower of Scotland. We were able to try lots of tasty foods from around the world. It was a fun day!

The Big Dig

As part of their topic work, 3M took part in the Big Dig, where they acted as archaeologists by discovering lots of artefacts from prehistoric times. They then tried to work out what the objects may have been used for. It was great fun, if a little muddy!