Goodbye Fashion, hello Rainforest! Our final topic of year 3 is all about the amazon rainforest, so naturally the learning street is feeling a bit overgrown.
We kicked off our learning with the story “The Vanishing Rainforest” by Richard Platt. This deeply interesting and powerful story follows Remaema, a member of the Yanomami tribe, as the destructive nabë from towns and cities come into the rainforest, dividing her family and her people. Using this story as our hook, we’ve been making progress in punctuating direct speech, inferring different characters’ viewpoints and planning for writing.
In maths, we have been progressing our learning about fractions. We began the week comparing and ordering fractions and then approximating them to real life contexts, like measuring water in a jug. All of this has been helping us to understand the importance of recognising whether the whole is the same before comparing two fractions and that the whole can be worked out if a unit fraction is known.
Perhaps the most exciting, child-led learning of the week happened on Wednesday – and it didn’t actually have much to do with the rainforest! The year 3 project for STEM day was to make and then improve a falling propeller, perhaps developing a different aircraft entirely. We saw all sorts, from helicopters to aeroplanes, some parachutes and even a hot air balloon! You can see a video that shows our efforts here.
Moving back to the rainforest, our topic for this term just had to be geography! This week we were treated to a song all about saving mother nature from the damage and danger caused by humans, which you can listen to here.. We then had a go at composing our own reflective song about how we can play our part in protecting the environment. In science, we began investigating the function of different parts of a flowering plant, using what we’d learnt in English and Geography to discuss what plants need to grow and thrive.
We’ll certainly miss our Art and Forest School sessions this term, but while other children in the school get to have their turn at those now, it’s our turn for some computing! We began with our weekly recap of e-safety before setting up a class blog and adding to it.
Well done to everybody in year 3 for such a fulfilling first week back!
Next Week:
English – We’ll continue our exploration of the rainforest theme, reading Katherine Rundell’s The Explorer.
Maths – We are recapping the topic of subtraction.
Reminder:
Now the weather is getting warmer, please can we ask your support to make sure children have sun protection whilst they are outside during break and learning times.
On arriving at school, children need to have:
- a sun hat
- sun cream applied
- a small bottle of sun cream
- a full bottle of water
Where children are not wearing their sun hats, playground supervisors ask children to stay in a shaded area during break times. Please see the following link for the school’s Sun Protection Policy: http://universityprimaryschool.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2015/07/UCPS-Sun-Protection-Policy.pdf
Wishing you a restful weekend in the sunshine. If you fancy a PE challenge, click here. It’s all about the teamwork you’ve been practicing: bbc.co.uk/teach/supermovers/ks2-pshe-teamwork-with-the-super-movers-crew/zkpdvk7
Year 3 Team