In year 3, we have been investigating friction. We found out that when we rolled a toy car down a smooth surface the car travelled the furthest. This was because there was less friction. We tested cardboard, carpet, foam, wood and plastic surfaces. We also measured the distance the car travelled using a metre stick. In Hazel class, we found out that plastic was the surface with the least friction and foam was the surface with the most friction.
We had our introduction lesson to our half term's Science topic 'Forces and Magnets' today.
We discussed what we already know. This included there being no gravity in space and not all metal being magnetic.
We thought of things we would like to find out. These included 'Is gold magnetic?' 'Why is there no gravity in space?'
We ended our lesson exploring a selection of magnets. We found lots of magnetic items around the room and were fascinated by the force field that is created when two of the same poles repel against one another.
Year 3 have spent the last half term reading The Firework Maker's Daughter by Philp Pullman. We have carried out reading and writing tasks based on the text in our English and Guided Reading lessons and today spent the day celebrating all things fireworks!
We worked in groups to create our own shadow puppets and theatres- we will perfom our stories later in the week.
We used different media to create fireworks; chalk, marble rolling and a coded firework display on Scratch.
Finally, a firm favourite activity among the children, we made star biscuits and decorated them with icicng and sprinkles.
The children have really engaged with the text and enjoyed today's activities.
With not long left before our sport's day, we have begun practising our athletics skills.
In last week's lesson we learnt the technique of sprinting! You have to take big strides and your hands have to go 'pocket to mouth'
This week we learnt how to relay. The key to being successful in a relay is how you communicate with your team.
We found it tricky to sprint, hand over a quoit, let our partner know to start running and to stop running to let them take over!
Practise makes perfect though so we shall persevere and be ready to wow you on sport's day in a few weeks!
During science day we listened to the story 'Greta and The Giants.' The inspiring picture book retells the story of Nobel Peace Prize nominee Greta Thunberg – the Swedish teenager who has led a global movement to raise awareness about the world’s climate crisis.
Greta is a little girl who lives in a beautiful forest threatened by Giants. When the Giants first came to the forest, they chopped down trees to make houses. Then they chopped down more trees and made even bigger homes. The houses grew into towns and the towns grew into cities, until now there is hardly any forest left. Greta knows she has to help the animals who live in the forest, but how? Luckily, Greta has an idea…
The children in Hazel class recreated a scene from the book and used collage materials and different media to make one of the trees in the forest.
In our maths lessons, year 3 have been looking at decimals as one tenth of a number. We worked in pairs with cuisenaire rods to find the whole part which was made of 10 tenths. We all had different sized rods from each other. After comparing two of the rods we cailrified that both are tenths but that the red tenth was smaller than the green tenth. We found out that the larger the tenth, the larger the whole.
On the last day of half term Miss Ferguson accompanied a selection of year 3 girls to a football festival organised by Stevenage FC. Six schools took part in a round robin festival which gave the girls the opportunity to have fun and play football. Each school played each other in games lasting 12 minutes long meaning each school played an hours worth of football.
All girls who participated received a medal and during the football games certificates were handed out to the girls which demonstrated one of SFC's four values. These values are:
Be Connected – For great teamwork and working well with others.
Be Inspiring – For setting a great example to others.
Be Fair – For being considerate and thinking of others.
Be Ambitious – For working hard and never giving up on your goals.
The girls were amazing, and due to illness, were just a squad of 6 girls who worked tirelessly without substitutes. Well done year 3 girls!
Here are year 3!
On our stadium tour during the author day visit, we even got to sit in the dugout!
On Friday, some lucky year 3 and 4 children were chosen to attend a World Book Day author event organsied by the Premier League and hosted by Stevenage Football Club. The children met Michaela Morgan who is well known author, who has had many books published. Her most famous books for children are Night Flight, The Walter Tull Scrapbook and Respect. She delivered an informative talk to the children and even signed their own copy of The Walter Tull Scrapbook which had been donated by The Premier League. The children took part in some World Book Day activites and even went on a Stadium tour! An amazing day was had and it was also a great opportunity for our children to have the experience of meeting a 'real life author.'
For World Book Day the children in Hazel class read the book How To Be A Lion by Ed Vere.
The book taught the children the importance of being true to yourself, mindfulness, and standing by your friends. In the book they met Leonard, a lion, and his best friend Marianne, a duck.
Leonard and Marianne have a happy life together--talking, playing, writing poems, and making wishes, But one day, a pack of bullies questions whether it's right for a lion and a duck to be friends. Leonard soon learns there are many ways to be a lion, and many ways to be a friend, and that sometimes finding just the right words can change the world.
During the day the children created fact files about lions, made a zig-zag books to retell the story in their own words and even followed a tutorial on how to draw Leonard.