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Year 3 - Whitebeam Class
Welcome Back, Whitebeam!
After a restful Easter holiday, it’s lovely to have Year 3 back and ready to learn. We have had a great first week of the summer term and the children should be very proud of how hard they have worked!
Spring Week 9 & 10
Over the last couple of weeks, Whitebeam have experimented with programming MicroBits, which are tiny, pocket-sized computers created by the BBC. By creating a sequence of instructions for the MicroBits, the children were able to programme them to flash in different patterns. If it didn't work, the children had to use their de-bugging skills to fix the problem!
Year 3 also celebrated World Book Day 2024 in style, dressing up as their favourite characters and filling the classroom with colour. We took part in a 'Stop, Drop and Read' and were also able to join a virtual author visit from Louie Stowell, best-selling author of the Loki: A Bad God's Guide series.
In History, we have carried on with our topic of Romans by exploring Roman armour. We learned that the armour was so heavy, that soldiers would need someone to help the get into it! Of course, we had a try on of our own, which looked a little strange with our World Book Day costumes!
To celebrate Science Week, we were very lucky to have some students from Preston Secondary School in to talk about the meaning of STEM and lead some experiments. All in all, it's been a jam-packed fortnight!
Spring Week 7 & 8
Whitebeam have had a great start to the second half of Spring term! Our Outdoor Learning activities are well underway, with the children crafting some Roman teepees and catapults in the outdoor classroom. Everyone showed superb teamwork and resilience, even whilst getting wet and muddy! Year 3's latest D.T. project has been to create a pneumatic toy, which involved making a character whose mouth could be opened and closed using a gas system (in this case, a balloon and pipe!). They all looked fantastic and the children had lots of fun testing them out.
In English, we have studied poetry and have written our own 'nonsense' poems, inspired by poets like Spike Milligan and Edward Lear. Using alliteration, Whitebeam created some wacky, tongue-twisting poems that they should be very proud of. Some great examples by Dua and Millie can be seen below!
Spring Week 5 & 6
Whitebeam have been getting very argumentative these last few days...in our balanced arguments, of course! We began by studying some examples of balanced arguments and picking out the key features, including fronted adverbials like 'Furthermore,', 'On the other hand,' and 'In addition' that can help build a discussion. We then planned and wrote our own balanced argument that weighed up the pros and cons of school uniform. Surprisingly, we could think of lots of reasons why school uniform is great! In RE, Whitebeam have explored the Holy Trinity and how we represent this in our school. Much to our delight, there were lots of snacks that can help with this! For example, pretzels can be used to represent the three divisions of the trinity, as can the ingredients of a doughnut!
Dua brought in a wonderful show-and-tell for us to enjoy, which included a presentation and a fascinating Indian tea kettle called the Kashmiri Samovar. The rest of the class had a great time learning about how it works and were lucky enough to see it up close!
Spring Week 3 & 4
Year 3 had a wonderful time celebrating World Religion Day, looking at the daily lives of children from various faiths, (such as Christianity, Judaism and Buddhism). We were lucky enough to have Zayn, Dua, Keyaan, Zayn and Ezaan teach us all about the key beliefs in Islam, and we were even treated to some verses from the Azan from Dua (video below!). They also showed us the Arabic writing they have been learning outside of school. Eric then answered our questions about his religion, Buddhism, sharing his knowledge of traditional festivals and customs.
Later that week, Whitebeam continued their work on plants, learning the stages of a plant's life cycle. This involved acting out germination, growth, pollination and seed dispersal, and we had some excellent volunteers who took their parts very seriously. The cast included Phoebe the Seed, Edward the Sprout, Thea the Sun, Lily the Raindrop, Isla, Tyler and Dua the flowers, Dylan the Bee and Thomas the Bear!
Spring Week 1 & 2
We’ve had a busy couple of weeks back at school after a restful half term break. In Maths, we have looked at money problems involving change and have also started telling the time minute on an analogue clock. We also started our new Science topic, investigating the parts of a plant in more detail, along with their purposes. Below are some lovely pieces of work by Emmett and Nyah to show what we have learned. Following on from this, we conducted an experiment to investigate how water is transported within plants. First, we cut the stems of the flowers to make sure they were all the same length and we measured out the water to ensure it was a fair test. We poured an equal amount of food colouring into each cup of water so that we are able to observe the water moving through the plant.
The Boy, the Mole, the Fox and the Horse Songs
Hello Whitebeam! Below you can find a link to the songs that we need to practise for our play. If you can access these at home, please have a go! :)
Welcome back Whitebeam!
Welcome back Whitebeam Class and happy new year! We are looking forward to an eventful term of learning over the coming weeks. Before half term, we will be performing our play: The Boy, the Mole, the Fox and the Horse. Details will be coming out soon regarding parts and costumes so look out for a letter home!
Coming soon.... February 2024
Week 12 & 13 - Cave Art & Electric Posters
Year 3 have had a very creative couple of weeks packed with art and D.T. In small groups, the children created a textured cave wall by covering cardboard in lentils, cous cous and sand. We then made our own paints using flour, water and natural colourings, such as charcoal and spices and used these to cover the cave background. When this was dry, we added handprints and animal sketches!
In D.T., we created electrical posters for a science museum that informed the public of the effects of friction on moving vehicles. After writing up a paragraph of easy-to-read information, the children drafted two designs for their posters, picked their favourite and drew up their final piece. We then added a simple circuit to the poster so that it could light up!
Week 10 & 11 - Odd Socks Day and Inter Faith Week
It's been a very busy fortnight in Whitebeam this week, starting off with Odd Socks Day! The children were invited to wear odd socks as a reminder that everyone is different, and we had a wide array of footwear on display. We discussed the importance of diversity and inclusion, and reminded ourselves that it's crucial to make everyone feel safe and involved when we are in school. Following this, we celebrated Inter Faith Week, and we were lucky enough to have Dua bring in some significant items from home to share with us. These included a model of the Ka'bah and some writing about the key beliefs in Islam. This coincided with Children in Need day, and we raised lots of money for this fantastic charity. In our Science lessons, we conducted an experiment to test the effect of friction on movement, and found that carpet created the most friction with our wind-up car! We also created some charcoal drawings of UK animals in art, which we scrubbed with paper towels to create texture. Finally, in Dance, Mrs Hill introduced an interpretive style that looked really effective when everyone performed together (video below!)
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Week 9 - Remembrance
To remember and pay tribute to those who have lost their lives fighting in wars, Whitebeam made some beautiful, poppy-covered lanterns to take to our whole-school Remembrance service. The children were able to hold them up and reflect on the sacrifices made by brave soldiers all over the world. Aside from our Remembrance Day work, we have been busy learning about the different types of magnets and which materials can attract or repel them. We learned that many of the items in our classroom that we thought were magnetic actually aren’t, and being made of metal doesn’t always equal magnetism. In Geography, we travelled across the many counties of the UK, labelling them in our books and trying our best to remember all of their names!
Week 8 - Welcome Back!
After a restful half term, it’s wonderful to have everyone back and ready for some more learning! This week, we celebrated Bonfire Night by writing some fantastic fact files about Guy Fawkes, explaining his upbringing and how the Gunpowder Plot came to be. Alongside this, we made sure to learn the Firework Code to help us stay safe over the weekend. We also started our new Geography topic, in which we are learning all about the countries, counties and cities that make up the UK. In RE, we looked at traditional Christian baptisms, which involved a trip to St James’ Church and a very informative demonstration from Rev. Keen. Finally, we continued Black History Month by discussing why we celebrate it and why this year’s theme of ‘Celebrating Our Sisters’ is so important. We collated our ideas into a brilliant poster that has helped us reflect on the month.
Week 7 - Travelling Back in Time…
The main event this week centred around our Stone Age learning, as we all dressed up and celebrated Stone Age day. In true cave person style, we scrapped our tables and chairs and got comfy on the floor of our classroom cave, wearing animal printed clothing and jewellery made of teeth and bones. We played hunting games, grunted our way through the register and listened to the crackling of the ‘campfire’ around us. Later in the day, we were joined by parents to have a go at making hand axes, cave paintings and jewellery.
Our class cup this week was won by Dylan, who has shown lots of courage and determination over the last couple of weeks. Well done, Dylan!
Week 6 - Hello Yellow!
Whitebeam class have made Miss Feltham and Mrs Pippard extremely proud once again this week as they tackled column addition with regrouping, something that takes a lot of practice to nail! They also wrote some lovely play scripts that retold the story of Goldilocks and the Three Bears, with a few taking place by the seaside or in the jungle. In History, we threw ourselves back in time and wrote about a day in the life of a Stone Age person, including our morning routine, where we would live, how we would hunt and the entertainment we might have enjoyed. For a mid-week snack, the children made their healthy vegetable tarts that had been designed by them in our DT lessons. The tarts were topped with seasonal vegetables and, of course, a sprinkle of cheese. We finished the week with a very calming Hello Yellow day, and the children brought a smile to everyone’s faces with their yellow outfits. We discussed the importance of talking about mental health and took part in some mindful meditation and breathing exercises.
Well done to Nyah, who won our class cup this week for her brilliant behaviour, superb attitude to learning and kindness towards others!
Week 5: Poetry & Bony Tony
To celebrate National Poetry Day this week, Whitebeam took part in a top secret challenge that was left in our classroom by a mysterious detective called P.I. Poem. Using the word cards he gave us, the children created a beautiful poem about Stonehenge, which luckily linked with our History topic - it’s as if P.I. Poem knew! We were also very lucky to be visited by best-selling author Annelise Gray, who told us about her brilliant Circus Maximus series that is set in Ancient Rome. This week marks the start of Black History Month in the UK, so we have been looking at influential Black figures in history, particularly women, as this is the theme of BHM this year. In computing, Whitebeam explored the meaning of ‘input’ and ‘output’ and how this can be applied to technology. Rounding off a busy week, we recapped the bones in the human body and explored the function of muscles and tendons. To help us visualise how they work, we created cardboard hands that can be controlled by tugging on the string tendons. We also built the newest member of the class (although he looks like the oldest), Bony Tony!
Well done for another week of hard work, Whitebeam! Special congratulations to our cup winner this week, George - he has shown role behaviour since the beginning of term and is always a delight to have in the class.
Week 4: Arts Week
Creativity has been the focus in class and across the school this week, as we have been celebrating Somerset Arts Week. We have looked at symmetry in maths, combining this with art by creating pictures and patterns with lines of symmetry. The children also created some beautiful pictures of Stonehenge by painting a background and arranging silhouettes of the ancient stones, and they are going to look lovely on display in the classroom! To experiment with pointillism, the children also painted some hand tree pictures, using a cotton bud to create dots instead of strokes. In PE, we learned a traditional Greek dance (commonly known as Zorba’s Dance), and the children did a fantastic job at working together and staying in time with the music. Our cup winner this week was Phoebe, who has shown brilliant progress with her handwriting and focus. Congratulations, Phoebe!
Week 3: Absolutely Choc-ka!
Week 3 in Whitebeam started with the children inventing a brand-new chocolate bar, showing off their ambitious vocabulary and creativity in their descriptions. Mrs Pippard kindly took all of their wonderful ideas and mixed them into a gigantic, real-life chocolate bar for us to share as a well-earned treat! To carry on the theme of sweets, the children also got stuck in to making some delicious apple crumbles, showing how seasonal foods can be used in cooking. In our History lesson this week, we took a deep dive into Stonehenge and its possible uses, and it was lovely to share our existing knowledge of this monument. As it was National Coding Week, we have been thinking deeply about AI and its potential costs/benefits, and refreshed our knowledge of internet safety to make sure that we are using technology responsibly. This led to some fantastic discussion and advice posters. We have also welcomed Nyah, a new class member who has settled in brilliantly and has worked incredibly hard. Congratulations to our Golden Star earners, Daisy, Olivia and Isla - you have been role model students this week!
Week 2: Library Learning
We’ve had another busy week in Whitebeam, and the children have risen to every challenge! To learn more about the features of information texts, we spent some time in our wonderful school library. After exploring the shelves, we hunted for contents pages, glossaries, headings and diagrams and recorded our findings. To celebrate Roald Dahl Day on Wednesday 13th, we wrote some absolutely fantastic fact files about the man himself, researching his early life, career and education. The children pulled out all of the stops with their handwriting and presentation and wowed us with their impressive knowledge. Dance lessons have also continued this week, and it looks like everyone is getting the hang of the very fast-paced moves. You should be extremely proud of your hard work this week, Whitebeam!
Week 2 Dance Video
Week 1: Welcome Back, Whitebeam!
Wow, what a busy (and boiling!) first week back we've had! Some of the highlights included dancing along to our 2 times tables song, making some delicious fruit skewers after learning about seasonal foods and writing some absolutely fantastic descriptions of Mr Twit. We even had a surprise visit from Mr Twit himself...see if you can spot him below! 
