About Class 3

Class Teacher – Mr Kyle King

Class 3

This week in Maths, we have been focusing on arithmetic practising new skills and developing our knowledge further. In English, we have been writing narratives. We have also enjoyed our Garden Party this week listening to our friends play instruments they have been learning throughout the year.  

This week in English, we have been writing in first person a narrative about being stuck in games or books. We have also been learning about how to write complex sentences and have been including them in our narrative writing. In Maths, we have been learning about how to work out area and perimeter. We have also started to focus working on statistics. In Topic, we have been learning about botanical gardens and we have started to create our own.

This week in Maths, we have been learning the properties of different shapes. We have also focused on recognising lines of symmetry. As well as starting to draw and make some 3D shapes. In English, we have been learning how to write explanations. We have also learnt about what connectives are and have been adding them into our explanation writing. In Topic, we have been learning about how shadows are formed and light. We have been also been doing experiments thinking about the properties of materials/objects in relation to shadows and light.

This week in Maths, we have been learning about angles. We have been focusing on right, obtuse and acute angles. Alongside this we have also been looking at polygons and quadrilateral shapes learning about there different properties. In English, we have been learning how to write in a form of two sided argument for and against. In Topic, we have been learning about light and how shadows form. Alongside this we have also been learning about sun safety, thinking about how we can stay safe in the sun but still enjoy the lovely weather.

This week in English, we have been learning how to write in Argument form. We have also been learning about what superlatives, modal verbs and generalisers are thinking about how we can add them into our own writing. In Maths, we have been learning about time and how to read clocks. We have also been learning about the difference between AM and PM. As well as developing our knowledge on analogue and digital clocks. Alongside this we have also linked in learning about Days, Months and Years. In Topic, we have been learning about different parts of a flower. We have also been doing some flower pressing to add to our class art work. 

This week in maths, we have been converting, comparing, adding and subtracting money amounts. In English, we have been learning about writing in 1st person and plural 1st person. Alongside this we have also been learning about how to use superlatives and ambitious words. We have then put all this knew knowledge into practice in our own writing. In Topic, we have been learning about parts of plants. We did an experiment using food colouring and celery to see how xylem works. To see how water and nutrients that plants need travel up from the roots to the feed the other  parts of the plant. 

This week in English, we have been learning how to use comparative and superlative adjectives in our 3rd person narrative writing. In Maths, we have been adding and subtracting linear units of measurement. Then help us with using our knowledge and skills to solve real life problems involving measurement. In Topic, we have been continuing our learning of Romans this time focusing on Romans from Britain.

This week in Maths, we have been adding and subtracting different units of measurements. We have also been learning how to read then convert different measurements. In English, we have been writing about living in Roman cities and towns. The main focus within our writing has been on adverbs and connectives. In Topic, we have been learning more about the Romans. 

This week in Maths, we have been learning how to measure using Millimeters , Centimeters , Litres, and Meters. We have been reading and comparing scales with these different measurements. In English, we have been learning about how to write instructions and practising writing our own. This is to help prepare us for making wraps by following our own instructions. In Topic, we have been continuing to learn about the Romans. 

This week in Maths, we have been learning how to convert units of measurement. We have then been adding and subtracting them. In English, we have been looking at Biographies. We have been learning about the difference between Biographies and a Autobiographies, and practising writing our own Autobiographies. In Topic, we are continuing to learn about the Roman Empire. This time we have been focusing on the Roman Army and the Social Hierarchy of the Roman Empire. 

This week in Maths, Year 3 have been multiplying and dividing by 10 and 100. Meanwhile Year 4 have been continuing to develop there skills on decimals. In English, we have been looking at Roman Myths  . In Topic, we have been starting to learn all about the Roman Empire. 

This week in Maths we have been developing our skills on  multiplying and dividing by 10 and 100. We have also begun our learning on decimals.  In English, we have been writing non chronological reports using determiners and factual language. In Topic, we have been very creative making toy cars and automotions using axels and cams.

This week in Maths we have been finding equivalent fractions, building on our knowledge to start adding and subtracting fractions with the same denominator. In English, we have been writing repetitive poems. In our poems we have been using alliteration, metaphors and modal verbs. In Topic, we have been looking at Human Form. We also really enjoyed learning about L.S Lowsy, an artist who painted Urban Landscapes and Human Figures. From this, we have been creating our own precision drawings. 

This week in Maths we have been learning unit and non-unit fractions. In English, we have been using complex sentences to write explanations. In Art and Design Technology we have sketched, printed and sculpted ammonite fossils as well as motifs. 

This week in Maths we have continued to practice our skills and knowledge of short division. In English, we have been looking at writing our own first person accounts. In Science, we have done experiments using forces and magnets.

This week in Maths we have continued to develop our knowledge and skills to learn short division. In English we have been learning about playscripts and then writing our own. We have also enjoyed reading with our buddies this week for World Book Day. 

This week in Maths Class 3 have furthered their learning and skills on short division. In English we focused on different stories; identifying and understanding moral dilemmas. In Topic we really enjoyed starting our new focus on forces and magnets. 

This Week in Maths, Class 3 focused on multiplying three different numbers and connecting this with short multiplication and using the rule of commutativity. In English, the children made notes from chapter books read aloud and wrote them in there own words. We also planned our own chapters using language features and adverbs. In Topic we thoroughly enjoyed creating our own volcanoes using paper mache. We are also really looking forward to going on a ramble in the village to look for our own rocks!

This week in Maths Class 3 focused on multiplication using formal methods. This included using the grid method in there expanded and compact forms and building up to solving worded questions by the end of the week. In English we focused on writing notes from a chapter book being read aloud. We also wrote our own chapter books using adverbs and speech. In Topic we finished our focus on volcanoes by looking at Mount Vesuvius and the site of Pompeii. We also really enjoyed working on our explanation and facts on Valentine's Day for the Church service on Friday.

This week in English Class 3 focused on starting to write their own chapter books using the characters they developed previously, incorporating adverbs and time connecters. In Maths we learned about commutivity, using our multiplication and addition skills. In RE we looked at understanding the topic of Tawhid in Islam. In Topic we researched deeper into our theme of volcanoes to understand specific case studies including Mount Vesuvius in Pompeii.

In Maths this week Class 3 focused on developing their multiplication skills using the grid method. In English we focused on producing a character sketch, which we will incorporate into writing our own chapter books and play scripts in the coming weeks. We are also very excited to share our class assembly with the school this Friday. We have been working hard on practicing our songs and pulling together information on all of our previous topics this year including History, Science and Geography.

This week in English Class 3 were working on writing a non chronological report about Mary Anning. This links to our topic about rocks where we also looked at fossils and how they are formed. In Maths Class 3 focused on multiplication and division and understanding specific rules such as the commutative rule. We also thoroughly enjoyed dancing at the New Years Disco last Friday.

This week Class 3 are writing book reviews based on the books we read over the Christmas Break. In maths we focused on doing multiplication with multiplication squares. In Science we were looking at sedimentary rocks and the layers of the Earth. Before Christmas the whole school really enjoyed a visit from one of the tractors from the Banbury Tractor Run.

This week, we have worked really hard and made amazing progress in a number of subjects. We have focused on improving our understanding of various areas of Mathematics, strengthened our skills in Reading Comprehension, and even learned some important First Aid techniques. We really enjoyed the surprise Panto and have enjoyed dressing up this week for Christmas Jumper Day and supporting our local farmers.

This week class has been full of exciting activities and learning! We started with a fun recap of addition and subtraction, diving into place value to strengthen our Maths skills. In Geography, we explored new topics, discovering different places and learning about their features. We also had an exciting time playing dodgeball, working together and staying active. Our creativity was on full display as we wrote poems, expressing our ideas in fun and meaningful ways. It has been a week of growth, teamwork, and lots of learning, and we can’t wait for more! We really enjoyed decorating our classroom to get in the festive spirit!

This week has been productive and enjoyable as we made great strides in our class production. We worked together, honing our skills and learning how to collaborate effectively to bring our ideas to life. In addition, we explored the fascinating world, uncovering new knowledge that expanded our understanding. We also delved into Roman numerals, gaining confidence in reading and writing them. Lastly, we focused on instruction writing, practicing how to give clear and concise directions. Overall, it's been a week full of creativity, learning, and growth, and we look forward to more exciting challenges ahead!

This week, we have been diving into exciting topics across our subjects! In Maths, we tackled estimating, rounding, and negative numbers, honing our problem-solving skills. In English, we wrote detailed geographical reports about the UK, exploring its diverse landscapes and key facts. Over in Art, we’ve been delving into colour theory, learning how colours interact and how they can express mood and emotion. It’s been a creative and challenging term, and we’re proud of everything we’ve achieved so far. We really enjoyed the snow day and playing outside on the playground and field with the whole school. Stay tuned for more updates as we continue our learning journey!

This week in class, we have been busy exploring and learning across a variety of topics! In RSE, we focused on understanding hazards and how to stay safe. In Maths, we tackled the skill of estimation, while in English, we honed our writing by creating engaging newspaper reports. On top of all that, we’ve been dedicated to practicing our lines for our upcoming performance. It’s been a productive and exciting week!

This week we have been hard at work beginning to learn the songs for our production. We have also been writing our own versions of some traditional tales! Class 3 were very proud of the football team that represented Shenington at The Warriner football event.

This week, in Class 3 we have written our report about a unicorn and a story featuring the same unicorn. In Maths, we used all this year’s learning to complete our end of year assessments. Our Topic work focused on learning about mountains of the United Kingdom and mountain ranges of the World.

This week in English, Class 3 have written stories set in familiar settings, using fronted adverbials, expanded noun phrases and dialogue. In Maths, we have used multiplication facts to solve division questions. We have also looked at landscapes including rivers and reproduced one in our own style.

This week in Maths, Year 3 have been practising adding and subtracting to solve problems as well as finding ways to check our answers. We have written character descriptions using expanded noun phrases in English. In our Topic work, we learned about the different processes which shape rivers over time, and how humans use rivers for various purposes.

Class 3 have enjoyed writing various different poems using types of word play. We have learned to read analogue and digital clocks, and to solve problems involving time. In Topic, we learned about the different parts of a river and the journey it makes from the source to the mouth. We also really enjoyed planting Sunflower seeds in Forest School!

This week, Class 3 have been investigating, using and constructing different ways of showing data (pictograms, bar charts and venn diagrams). In English we have enjoyed reading and writing calligrams and shape poems.

We began our new topic all about rivers and mountains by learning key vocabulary for rivers.

This week Years 3 and 4 have been using Roman numerals and symmetry in Maths. In English we have written instructions for How to make an Ancient Egyptian mummy. Our Topic work involved making and evaluating mechanisms to help Egyptian tomb builders lift and move heavy rocks.

This week Class 3 have written instructions for making a simple circuit. In Maths, we have continued our shape work with properties of 3D shapes and symmetry in 2D shapes. Our Topic work has involved testing different materials to see which were conductors and which were insulators.

This week, Class 3 have been learning about the properties of 2D shapes and using formal methods of division in Maths. We have written our own diary entry about an amazing discovery as an assessment piece. In Topic, we have explored electricity, showing awareness of safety and environmental issues. We made a simple circuit and explained how it worked. We have also been learning about the discovery of Tutankhamun’s tomb and the treasures which were in it.

This week, Year 3 have been working with fractions and decimals in Maths. In English, we have investigated features of diaries and are writing our own diary entries using the story The Tunnel. Our topic work involved learning about the lives of rich and poor people in Ancient Egypt in order to make simple comparisons.

This week, in Year 3, we have been comparing, ordering, adding and subtracting fractions. In English, we have written our final report on Egyptian Pharaohs. Our Topic work has involved investigating different aspects of the Ancient Egyptian civilisation and beginning to compare it with Ancient Sumer.

This week, Class 3 have been using measures for length and height, weight and capacity to compare amounts, read scales and solve problems. In English, we have written a report about Ancient Egyptian gods and goddesses. Our topic lesson concluded our study of Ancient Sumer and looked forward to learning about Ancient Egypt.

In Class 3 this week, we have been multiplying and dividing by 10 and 100, as well as using tables facts to help us divide. Our English work has involved planning and writing a report on Farming in Ancient Sumer. In Topic, we learned about what it might have been like to live in a Sumerian city and how society was organised.

In Class 3 this week, we have been using column subtraction to solve word problems and learning to use expanded column multiplication. In English, we punctuated direct speech and incorporated that into our final adventure story. In Topic, the children have investigated Ancient Sumerian inventions.

This week Class 3 have been using column addition and subtraction to answer questions and problems. In English, we have been learning to write exciting adventure stories. In our Topic work we have discovered how and why Ancient Sumer became the first civilization and have explored chronology using a time line.

This week in Maths, Year 3 have been using place value to solve a range of questions and problems. Our English has involved using ambitious adjectives and similes to describe a setting for a story so that our reader feels as if they are actually there! In Topic we have begun to learn about two Ancient Civilisations – Sumer and Egypt. We looked at some ancient artefacts and began to suggest what they might be used for.

This week, Class 3 have been continuing with short stories, using given starters to write our own stories. In Maths we have been working on finding fractions of amounts using this skill to solve word problems. We have learnt about Mary and Joseph’s flight to Egypt and the role King Herod played in the Nativity story. In art, we have created our own work of art based on potions.

We performed our production to the school and the parents and were very proud of what we achieved as a class.

In English this week, we have been continuing with story writing, focusing on exciting openings to draw in the reader and fantasy story settings.

In Maths we have started converting improper fractions to mixed numbers and adding fractions.

We had fun with non-newtonian fluids in science, making oobleck (cornflour and water) and noticing how under pressure it becomes solid. Mrs Bell was not happy with elf when he decided to make cornflour angels – what a mess!

In Class 3, we have been looking at what is needed to perform safe operations and the history of anaesthetics. We are very glad that we didn’t live in a time where operations were conducted without any pain relief!

We learnt how to set out letters and then wrote our own to a friend explaining how we’d witnessed the first use of  ether.

In Maths we have been looking at division and some children have moved onto fractions.

During RE, we considered the roll of Mary as a mother, and how famous people talk about their own mothers.

This week in Class 3 we learnt the key parts of Macbeth’s Romeo and Juliet. We wondered what would have happened if they drank different potions or the potions went wrong and then wrote our own, sometimes quite dark, alternative endings.

In Maths we have been learning and practicing column multiplication as well as consolidating our basic times table facts.

As it is Anti-bullying week, we made our own odd sock display, thought of some kind words to write on cut outs of our own hands, acted out different scenarios and gave advice to the person being bullied.

This week in Class 3 we have been immersing ourselves in our topic of potions.

We read the Witch’s brew from Shakespeare’s Macbeth and used this to write our own rhyming couplet poem, considering the number of syllables in each line.

In history we learnt about the medicinal use of herbs and how potions were used in the past. There were some ingredients we would not like to use today!

In Maths we were building on our learning of x table facts last week to use them to multiply 2 or 3-digit numbers.

In RE we looked at the role Mary plays in churches around the world, particularly in the Catholic faith, and the celebration of the Assumption of Mary.

In art we are continuing to design our own potion bottles to work from when we papier mache them next week.

We have been very active, some children attending the cross country and representing the school brilliantly, with the others doing PE and extra dance.

This week in Class 3, we have moved on to our new topic of Potions. In English, we read extracts from The Worst Witch and Harry Potter and used these as inspiration to write our own version of a potions lesson.  In science we learnt about states of matter and what happens to the particles in solids, liquids and gases, and in art class, we looked 2 works of art based on love potions before designing our own potions bottles.

Maths lessons have been focused on learning and using times tables and in RE we have started a new big question which is looking at the role of Mary in the nativity story.

This week Class 3 have been writing the middle of their story based on a picture book. We have been using direct speech and sentences containing fronted adverbials.

In Maths, we have been using the adjustment method to simplify mental calculations. We learnt to add 9 and 99 by adding 10 or 100 and subtracting 1, then moved on to subtracting 9 and 99 by subtracting 10 or 100 and adding back 1. We enjoyed looking at shells and pictures of shells and creating our own!

This week we have been studying a poem called The Sea and have created our own sea poems, which were all very different, but equally fabulous. In Maths we were adding 10s, 100s and 1,000s and noticing what happened to the other digit columns. We then used this knowledge to solve some word problems. We have also learnt about some different Hindu Gods and practised solving friendship problems. In Music this week we started to learn the recorders which was very exciting and noisy!

This week Class 3 have continued working on their number bonds to 10, 100 and 1,000 and using these to complete mental addition and solving number problems.

In writing we have created our own Roald Dahl villain (they were truly gruesome) to celebrate Roald Dahl day and we have been looking at 'The Sea' poem in preparation to write our own.

In RE we learnt an old India story called the Six Men and The Elephant, which is important in the Hindu religion. 

What a busy first week back! The week, Class 3 have been settling in to the new class with a new teacher. We have been working on Place Value and partitioning and ordering numbers. In writing, we are using our new topic of the Blue Abyss to identify word classes and to write descriptions using powerful adjectives and adverbs.

We had a fabulous (although very hot) forest school, where we found a baby frog and some baby mice!

What a busy week! With Class 4 on residential this week, we are the oldest children in the school  We have even been into Class 4 for some group work which made us feel very old! We have been doing loads this week, obviously working really hard in Maths and English, but also, we got to go swimming as a class with a few of the Year 2s, which was really fun! We also practiced our dance and songs with Jo (our dance teacher) and Mrs Harcourt (our music teacher) ready for the Bugsy show. What a week! 

Pickle Ball

On Thursday, all of Class 3 attended the Pickle Ball festival at the Warriner School. Pickle Ball is a new sport that has made its way over from America, and it's safe to say that it was awesome! We all showed what it meant to be a great sportsperson and had a fantastic time in the process. It was super to mix with other children our age from other schools and play little games run by the Sports Leaders. We spent the whole morning learning new skills and making friends 😄 I think Pickle Ball is now one of our favourite games. Just check out the pictures to see how much fun we had 🙂 🎊!

Term 6, week 2! 

Wow this week has sped by! We have been working super hard all week across the curriculum and are super confident with our multiplication. Our favourite is multiplying 3, 1-digit numbers together. In English, we have been continuing to gather and organise our Predator facts into paragraphs. Animals are so cool!  

Sports day.  

We have been preparing and awaiting Sports day and it is HERE! It is a beautiful day and we are all dressed in our team colours. This week, we have been working with Class 1 to help them prepare for the events as it is some of their first time. We really enjoyed showing them how each race works, particularly the hula hoop skipping. This was the most fun as we got to have a go as well as using our skipping ropes.  

Bring on the races and good luck to everyone! 😊 

First week back at school!  

This week in Class 3, we have been looking at the difference between non-fiction and fiction texts. We have been exploring a range of literature and sorting them into groups. With the texts we identified as non-fiction, we discussed the key language features and used post it notes, in pairs, to find the features in our books. This was loads of fun as we were able to share our favourite fact from the books. Did you know, narwals tusks are 3m long? Also, the sale of narwal tusks allowed creative traders to introduce the myth of the unicorn. In Maths, we have been recapping our learning on addition and subtraction and using the formal method. We have all worked really hard on this and have also been fantastic at learning our times tables this week. 

New topic. Our new topic this term is Predators and we have already been looking at food chains and eco-systems for different species. This topic is going to be fun! 

Birmingham Think Tank!  

What a trip! We were fantastically behaved and made the school proud. We arrived in Birmingham and headed in for our morning briefing, once we were briefed and our bags were safely away the fun began! Firstly, we visited The Past where we saw weird and wonderful feats of human design. It was really cool that we could even go on the steam train (not moving of course). Then we made our way outside in the glorious sunshine to the Science Garden. This area was full or interactive activities for us to try. There was water balancing experimenting, wind turbines, rocket shooters and much more. Some of us got quite wet but still enjoyed every minute! After the Science Garden we stopped for a well-deserved lunch in the lunch hall. This was a nice opportunity to share with our friends all the fun we had had and what we were looking forward to. After lunch we visited, We Made it, looking at what we have made. On this floor we also saw the water tipper tip gallons of water out which was awesome to watch. Next we moved up a level to Our changing planet and Wildlife these were super interesting and it was great seeing some gigantic fossils. Then it was time to leave. What a fantastic day!  

The penultimate week before the end of Term 5.  

This week with Church service fast approaching we prepared for our Pentecost recital. This week we have been eagerly practicing our lines, with the Year 4s learning facts as well as the sonnet that the Year 3s have also learned.

In Art and Design, we created fantastic, collaged flames that represent the flames that appeared above the heads of the disciples so that they could spread the word of God and Jesus. These were super fun to create, and we are really excited to use them in our performance!  

In Dance this week we continued perfecting our dance routine ready for the end of year performance. We were even able to practice alongside the Class 4 singing performance to see how well the two performances fitted together.  

English this week has focused on creative writing, and we have been thoroughly enjoying creating our stories that will displayed in our classroom ready for all to see. We are even going to be creating our food animal hybrid character to go alongside our narratives! In Maths, we have been continuing with time focusing on converting between different units of time and adding and subtracting times. 

This week in Class 3!  

What an exciting week, Year 6 were being superstars * completing their SATs which meant Year 5 came and joined us!

It was great having them with us for Maths and English they were really great at sharing their ideas. In English, we took inspiration from Cloudy with a chance of meatballs and created our own food creatures as well as a food themed setting. After deciding on our character and its habitat, we began to consider the problem our character might face and wrote the opening of our stories. The best bit was sharing these with the rest of the class- everyone had such creative ideas!  

In Maths, we explored time. We got to have our own clocks to work out different times and learnt Roman numerals to read some analogue clocks. The best part was definitely time bingo! There were even stickers to be won 😊 

In Music and Dance this week we have been working hard on our singing and routines for the end of year production- we looked and sounded great! 

Coronation week in Class 3!  

This week, along with the excitement for the upcoming coronation, we have been learning lots as usual!  

In Maths we have been finding the area of different rectilinear shapes. We have been using the formular length x width (L X W =) to complete our calculations and have even answered reasoning questions around the area theme. 

In Science, we have been testing our magnet game prototypes! These were so fun. We did a round robin where we were able to test each other’s games.  

Now we are dressed in RED, WHITE and BLUE ready for our coronation celebrations!  

HAPPY CORONATION WEEK!  

What a week! This week seems to have zoomed by in Class 3. We have got into the spirit of the upcoming royal coronation and drawn portraits of King Charles III. We had to follow instructions from Sam Barnet on our interactive whiteboard as he guided us through the portrait line by line. It was so exciting when our lines actually formed King Charles’ side profile! These were sent home for our parents to upload and to be joined by other portraits completed across our school and the country forming a collective King Charles. We are really looking forward to finding our portrait in the larger art project.  

In Science, we wrote rules and instruction on how to play our magnetic games. We ran out of time to get to follow the rules and play our prototype games, so are very much looking forward to putting the games to the test and seeing if they both work and of course are FUN! In Music, we have started learning how to play the recorder. We have even been given our own recorder which we have kept safely in our draws. 

Term 5!  

It has been fabulous to be back together in Class 3. Our first week back has been super busy and we have been learning loads. In Science this week, we have been investigating magnets. We were using magnets to organise objects into magnetic and non-magnetic properties, we were very surprised to discover that not all metals are magnetic. Our next lesson involved us designing a game that had magnetic components. We worked together in our table groups to decide what we wanted our game to do and then got MAKING. This was so much fun! We are now looking forward to testing out our prototypes and the prototypes of other groups. In Music we have begun preparations for our end of year production and started learning some of the songs which sounded great. 

During Maths, we have been learning all about measure. We had loads of different measuring equipment out and we compared length and height as well as converted between mm, cm, m and km. The most fun was when we drew around our partners on the playground and measured them in metres and centimetres. In English we have been writing diary entries from inanimate object perspectives. It has been so fun thinking about what a pencil does all day or how a sharpener is feeling! 

See you next week 😊 

Final week of Term!  

This week we have been really busy with Easter activities. We have excitedly made Easter cards (using finger painting of little chicks having a great time, some of us even added little party hats to show their fun!)

Easter bonnets (we created SUPER fluffy bunnies, which were very gluey and fluff got everywhere!) We have updated our light display replacing our super sunshine’s with our very own representation of the Northern Lights (these are located in the hall with our sunshine’s being moved to the outside our classroom door).  

We are all very excited to show off our Easter Bonnets at our Easter Bonnet parade in front of parents on Friday and we are giving ourselves a ‘Pep talk’ ready for the egg roll competition. We are all very much looking forward to these events.  

What a brilliant term! Well done for all your hard work Class 3.

Penultimate week of term 

Another learning filled week in Class 3!  

Super shapes 

In Maths this week we have been investigating shape and angles. ANGLES NOT ANGELS  We have been using the angles as a method of direction. This has been really exciting as we have directed our classmate around the classroom and played Simon says with 90, 180 and 360 degree angles. We cannot wait to continue this learning next week.  

Patron Saint of Ireland 

This week we have been looking closer at the life changing events in St. Patrick’s lifetime that shaped who he was and his teachings. We looked at the celebrations on Friday and looked closer at his life and the extraordinary events that happened this week. We were shocked when we found out that he was likely born to a wealthy Roman family in Wales!

Church service 

With Church service fast approaching we are ready and excited to share our fantastic rendition of our Easter poem as well as joining the rest of the school singing hymns and enjoying their performances.  

This week in Class 3 

Science this week saw us investigating electricity! After learning about mains and battery power we decided to create our own circuits using electrical components provided. We all managed to connect our electrical cell to our component and get it to work! We saw bulbs lighting, fans whizzing, and we even heard a buzzer sounding! We have decided to investigate the results of adding more cells to the circuit and if this will make a bulb brighter, keep it the same or will it become more dull? We are looking forward to our next Science lesson to investigate our predictions.  

In Maths, we have been looking at reflective symmetry and we all undertook a practical investigation into symmetrical reflection. We used paint and a butterfly. We had to paint a pattern on only one side of the butterfly (some of us even used quadrilateral shapes as the pattern) and when we folded it in half we watched to observe the results. We saw that the pattern was a perfect mirror reflection of what we had designed. I am sure we will now be more aware of the beautiful examples of symmetry in our environment.  

Music has been just as fun and exciting as usual. Mrs Harcourt has been teaching us to read music and accompany it with both our singing voices and musical instruments. We love these sessions and many of us have joined choir as a result. 

Snow again!  

Another exciting week in Class 3. On Tuesday we welcomed the Footy Kids coaches into school and were so excited to join them at their inflatable court. We spent all morning undertaking drills and learning new skills and then we finished with a friendly match Class 3 vs Class 3! It was so fun, but we were very tired after 😊 A big thank you to the coaches who came as they were wonderful and really helped us to have the best time.  

In RE we have been learning all about the Jewish Spring festival, Passover and the Christian festival of Easter. We have been looking closely at both events trying to answer our big question, ‘Does Easter make sense without Passover?’ This has encouraged us to think critically about the two religious festivals which has created some very interesting thoughts and questions.  

In Maths this week, as well as continuing our work on statistics we have also been working hard on our times tables. We created some fortune teller inspired times table origami as well as fact family multiplication and division triangles and we have also been trying to find the hidden images in multiplication mosaics!  

And of course the snow… As you can see from the pictures we have had tonnes of fun out in the snow this week!  

Another extremely exciting week!

World Book Day was definitely a highlight of the week with everyone coming dressed in fantastical costumes representing a range of different books! It was so exciting coming into school and spotting all the costumes of our classmates. We now have so many new ideas for books to read 😊.  

We started the day with a costume parade and different children (1 per year group) were awarded BEST DRESSED! A decision that was taken very seriously by Mrs Rennie, who due to the amount of awesome costumes, found this decision extremely difficult. Next our book cover poster competition was awarded and a winner per class was chosen. This competition was initiated by Mrs Rennie and the Librarians and it was fantastic fun! A huge well done to all who participated as you have made the wall outside Class 3 and 4 look wonderful with all your designs. After that we returned to class and completed lots of fun World Book Day activities which School Council had organised for us. They were all super fun although, the origami koala bookmark was reeeeeally tricky to make  . Meanwhile, to our amazement the super Mrs Rennie had also organised with the Librarians an excellent surprise. None other than the GREAT Michael Morpurgo appeared on our classroom screens! He spoke to us about a range of topics including his inspirations for writing War Horse. It was a thoroughly enjoyable session and we were absolutely inspired!  

In Science, we looked at push and pull freeze frames where our classmates had to guess which force was being used.

On Tuesday, some children went to St.Mary's Church in Banbury to sing in the Rotary concert - children singing for children.

Term 4: 

We were ready and eager to start our new term. At the beginning of the week we were so excited to compete in our Shrove Tuesday Pancake race! It was so fun watching everyone race with their frying pans and pancakes and it was even more exciting when we raced ourselves! We really concentrated on our 3 pancake flips we had to complete throughout the course. We flipped at the beginning, middle and had a victory flip at the end. We can’t wait until the next pancake race! 😊 

In Science, we wanted to complete last terms topic on Tremors. We investigated the force of different earthquakes, using different tectonic movements. We used felt to represent the tectonic plates; soil to represent the Earth’s crust and Lego to represent life on Earth with buildings, animals and people roaming. We found that two plates colliding into each other creating the force, pressure, resulted in maximum destruction of our Lego worlds. We are now very excited to start our new topic Magnificent Metals!  

In RE this week, we have been learning all about Shrove Tuesday, Ash Wednesday and Lent. We have been looking at the key pillars of Lent and have used images to spark thoughts and ideas about charity, praying and fasting, as well as the beginning of spring. For almsgiving (charity) we looked at the story of the Good Samaritan and created our own clay figurine versions. For fasting, we traced around our hands and drew an image of what we could live without. For Ash Wednesday, we thought about the representation of the start of spring and finger painted our own depiction of the spring month. 

(Please see latest news for photos of us joining in the pancake race)

Last week of Term 3! 

This week we have been having loads of fun with poetry. We first created an acrostic poem, with the acrostic title, volcanoes and used loads of different poetic devices to make them super interesting and entertaining to read. These are now proudly displayed in the classroom 😊 We even got to show them off to some of our parents who visited for open morning! Another genre of poetry we have been exploring is kennings. We have really enjoyed these as we were big fans of riddles anyway and kennings are basically a set of couplet words that are joined by a hyphen that describe something without telling you what it is. We have displayed the kennings that we created with the question, ‘what am I?’ so any guests visiting Class 3 can see if they can guess what our theme is. 

We have also been exploring earthquakes, looking closely at the forces behind them. We decided to focus on the force: friction. Friction in the context of earthquakes is created by the tectonic plates moving against each other, either in the same direction or opposite directions. We investigated how friction works by creating paper frogs that could climb up string. We noticed that the friction force created inside the straws between the straw and the string caused the frog to be moved up the string. The rubbing together of the two materials caused friction resulting in movement, just like earthquakes! 

Class 3’s Assembly 

It has been so exciting this week! We have had the opportunity to share what we have been learning about so far with the rest of the school and our parents. We shared facts and figures that we had learnt as well as sharing beautiful readings from both our diary entries and our non-chronological reports, displayed as a fact files. We were also able to conduct a live experiment of a vinegar and bicarbonate of soda erupting volcano as well as a Coke and Mentos volcanic eruption. We were very relieved it all went off without a hitch! 😊

Let’s experiment!  

We have taken our knowledge of fair tests down to Class 1 and 2 to demonstrate the force of a volcanic explosion.  

Experiment 1- Coke and Mentos eruption: 

We started with our makeshift volcano (Coke bottle) and then added our ‘volatiles’ (the Mentos) and saw a fantastic flow of bubbly liquid shooting out of our improvised vent. We compared the eruption height to that of real volcanoes and saw the similarities between how magma reacts to volatiles and heat like Coke reacts to Mentos and heat.  

Experiment 2- Lemon volcanoes: 

During this experiment we added bicarbonate of soda to a cut lemon. When we added the bicarbonate of soda, it started to fizzle and foam a little bit. Then when we mixed it more the lemon started foaming a lot more, bubbling up and over the sides of the lemon. Eventually the reaction slowed down and stopped. We used four lemons with a different colour food colouring per lemon, as an independent variable to see if it made a difference to the bubbly foam. There is still some debate about which colour was best!  

Experiment 3- Vinegar volcano: 

We saved our fantastic volcano models for our final experiment as we investigated the reaction between the acidic, vinegar and the alkaline, bicarbonate of soda. When we added these substances together the reaction between them released CO2 which caused bubbles, with the addition of washing up liquid this created the appearance of lava erupting from our volcano (which was great fun to watch!). 

We loved sharing our experiments with Class 1 and 2.  

Volcanoes! 

It’s the end of another fun packed week, in Class 3, we have been collating our knowledge of volcanoes to make our very own collection of active volcanoes. As part of our topic ‘Tremors’ we have investigated the structure of the Earth and how the movement below the Earth’s crust leads to the creation of volcanoes. During D&T this week, we created model volcanoes with papier-mâché (using the very generously donated newspapers), plastic containers (to represent the magma chamber, conduit and vent), cardboard boxes, child friendly plaster cast material (which was very fun to use!) and loads and loads of PVA glue. On Friday afternoon we will be taking one of our fantastic models down to Class 1 and 2 to demonstrate the magnitude of an eruption.  

In Science, we are looking at fair tests and will be making sure during our bicarbonate of soda and vinegar experiment that we only change one element (food colouring) to see if that makes a difference to the overall explosion. We are all extremely excited to see the results!  

It has been a fantastic start back to school and it is great to see the children so enthusiastic about starting the new term. 

Our term got off to an extremely exciting start with our New Year disco! We were able to play party games, learn dance routines and of course have loads of FUN! It was great to see the whole school together playing and eating treats- it’s safe to say we LOVED IT :D.  

We've had a very busy first full week back at school. We were very excited to discover our new topic of ‘Tremors’. We have already started investigating the structure of the Earth, how volcanoes are formed and looking at real natural disasters particularly the eruption of Mount Vesuvius. We have taken our time investigating the eruption in order to put ourselves in the shoes of the Roman citizens of Herculaneum and Pompeii and we wrote a diary entry as though we experienced the devastating event.  

Forest School was extra special this week as we received a treat! During Forest School we made delicious hot chocolate and were even given a chocolate digestive to dunk! YUM.   

We had some extra special guests visit this week as Dogs Trust came to speak to us about how to stay safe around dogs. It was great as Becky, the lady from Dogs Trust, asked us lots of questions and we were able to ask her lots too. We learnt lots about what dogs might mean when they do certain things and now we have a much better understanding about when it is appropriate to approach dogs.  

What a wonderful, jam-packed week we have had!  

Nativities:  

We have had the opportunity to attend all the KS1 nativity performances and thoroughly enjoyed their enthusiastic singing which made us want to join in! We also absolutely loved the creativity and seamless transition of the Class 4 performance of their three different pantomimes, which made us laugh and we also loved being able to BOOOOO. However, nothing could exceed the excitement of our very own performance! We had the opportunity to show off our backdrop that we had created to reflect both the dingy sewers as well as the vibrant town of Hamelin. Our pantomime programs that we put together during our English lessons that showed our brilliantly different back stories of each character. Teachers and pupils from across the school commented on our enthusiasm and the tremendous amount of effort that had obviously been put in to learn our lines and movements. I was so tremendously proud of Class 3 and their hard work really shone through with their incredible delivery to parents on the day!  

Classes mixing 

Throughout the week we had the absolute privilege to host multiple classes. We have really enjoyed teaching the Foundation and Year 1 pupils how to make different Christmas cards. We also loved the opportunity to be a part of Class 4 as we created tree decorations from lollipop sticks. It has been so much fun being able to have different children with us and we have shown what a caring and kind class we really are.  

SNOW! 

With snow there is always fun, and we made the most of the opportunity we had. On Monday we all waited as Miss Reynolds lined us up so we could all run on the untouched snow together and we were allowed all the way up the field. We made snowmen, snow sculptures and generally had a lot of fun! On Thursday we were even given the opportunity to slide down the mound (if we were wearing waterproof trousers) like a toboggan, which was so exciting.  

I don’t know how we were able to cram so much fun into one week, but we have! 

With the pantomime fast approaching Class 3 have been avidly preparing for our much-anticipated performance (We cannot wait :D). We have been diligently learning our lines and creatively expressing them with additional movements when we have practiced on a real stage! We have been feeling like real actors and it has been so fun. We have made sure our show is full of audience participation so that our parents, friends, family and village neighbours enjoy it just as much as us! Class 3 have also designed, painted and glued our huge backdrop which started as a mammoth task but has developed into a piece of art we are all incredibly proud of! It will give the show a real sense of atmosphere. Seeing as it is such an anticipated performance, we thought we needed to make it just like the pantomimes we see each year, so…we have created our very own program which we have written information for during our English lessons this week. We have even created some beautiful tickets so that friends and family can be admitted to see our show. We are so looking forward to performing and we hope you are able to make it!  

Year 3 & 4 Dodgeball Festival  

On Thursday 1^st December, Class 3 travelled to The Warriner School to take part in a multi-school inclusive Dodgeball festival. The whole event was based around inclusivity and respect. All teams were encouraged to congratulate each other at the end of each match and they willingly and excitedly high fived and positively commented on each other’s performances. They not only showed off their fantastic Dodgeball skills (for some of them it was their first time playing Dodgeball EVER!), but they also demonstrated lots of teamwork, sportsmanship and honesty. The children had a great time and should be super proud of their efforts. Well done all, we were all so proud of how beautifully you represented the school! 

We have also enjoyed spending time at Forest School this week.

Shenington CofE Primary School’s baby ducks!

During Term 1 and some of Term 2 Class 3 have been host to our very own little family of ducks!  

Our journey initially started with a mixture of 6 duck and chicken eggs arriving at school. Class 3 placed these eggs in an incubator at the back of the classroom. We eagerly awaited the arrival of our new classmates, counting down on our calendar for their arrival. These initial eggs unfortunately did not hatch, but a helpful mum from our class provided us with a new incubator where we placed another 6 duck eggs. These eggs successfully produced our first baby duck! Our helpful parent cared for the newly hatched duckling, returning the duckling the next day as soon as it was ready. This new arrival soon became the most popular member of the school, receiving visits from all staff and classes! 

Class 3 decided to ask the school to vote on a name for our first duck which the School Council expertly organised. After ideas were taken and votes were counted the School Council revealed to the school that our first duck was to be named Lucky Duck.

On Friday 21^st October 2022, the last day of term 1, which also happened to be on our school Open day. Our next 3 ducklings were getting ready to be seen. This created quite an event for our parents who had the opportunity to odal over Lucky Duck and see the first cracks appearing on the three other little eggs. The whole school were very excited to see our next duckling hatch which happened to be on Big Gaz’s Birthday (who became the name’s sake for one of the lucky ducks). The first little duckling (Little Gaz) was to be shortly followed by two more little healthy ducklings (Donald and Bingo)  

The children have loved this valuable learning experience and have been learning about the Life Cycles of ducks and other animals in class. This experience was a real ‘confidence giver’ to those unused to handling and caring for animals. The unforgettably beautiful and utterly sweet-natured ducklings intrigued and inspired topics across the school and throughout the classes. Class 4 even borrowed Lucky Ducky during their Darwin project to look at her beautiful evolving beak and wings. I am sure the children will agree that there are not many sights guaranteed to melt the heart faster than newly hatched ducklings.  

Ducks love water from shortly after they hatch, so we had the opportunity to swim them for the first time in their lives in a suitable water container, which was fascinating to watch. We even created an ‘island’ in the middle of the classroom– perfect for sitting the whole class around in a circle to observe their antics! We saw them go from tentatively exploring to very quickly and confidently diving and whizzing about! We watched their natural instincts kick in and it was truly amazing and very moving to witness.  

Because of their robust and docile nature, the ducklings were well equipped for all the love they received from our class and the rest of the school! It was an amazing experience that I am sure the whole school won’t forget in a hurry.  

The ducks have been recently relocated to a local farm where they have their very own pond and chicken neighbours. 

Class 3 Curriculum

The Curriculum Overview provides an idea of the whole school approach to the curriculum, while the Class 3 Curriculum gives more detailed information of what is going on in Class 3 during the term. Further information can be found in the weekly newsletters, at parents evenings, open mornings or pop in to school and speak to the Class Teacher.