Class 3

About Class 3

Years – 3 & 4

Class Teacher – Miss Belinda White

Teaching Assistant (TA) - Mrs Jodie Needham

Teaching Assistant (TA) - Mrs Victoria Pursey 

This Term in Class 3

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 Gallery

Below are some photos of what Class 3 have been doing this week.

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.