Year 3 have finally reached the end of their Gods & Mortals topic, with sports days, unexpected closures, bank holidays and a jam packed curriculum it has taken a little bit longer than expected.

On Monday, a mysterious box with a heavy lock is found. A sign on the box says ‘Do not open’. What should YOU do? Year 3 spent time discussing reasons for and against opening the box.  Then they heard the story of Pandora’s Box.  Ask Year 3 to tell you about  the moral of the story? Have you ever let your curiosity allow you to do something you shouldn’t have?

When Pandora opened her box all sorts of evil things flew out so Year 3 decided to create their own boxes and fill them with good things that could be let out! What feelings, hopes and good things would you put into your box?

The next stage was to design their boxes. There were lots of questions for consideration…how big will it be? How will it open and close? Will it have a lock? What colours and decorations will it have? How can you make it special?

Finally, time to use their cutting, sticking and modelling skills to make the box.

Have a look at our beautiful boxes.

In our literacy unit, balanced arguments, we are debating the issue of zoos and deciding whether they are cruel or a valuable way to conserve endangered animals. To help make this decision, we visited Dudley Zoo to study the type of enclosures they use and find out about their work in conservation.

We were able to make observations about the treatment of animals as well as find out more about endangered animals around the world and their natural habitats.

Luckily, the weather was sunny and, apart from a few tired feet, everyone had a great day. Highlights included feeding nectar to the lorikeets, listening to howler monkeys and watching the endangered Humboldt penguins being fed.

On Thursday 8th June 2017 Year 5 visited Blakesley Hall, a timber framed house, in Yardley, Birmingham.  We explored the lives of Richard Smallbroke, his family and their servants.

We looked for clues in each room to discover what life might have been like.  We visited the kitchen, dining room bedroom and long hall.  Have a look at our photos.

Year 4 had a problem to solve in science this week. How could we make the light bulb light up? With only a battery, a bulb and two wires, we had to investigate how to make light. We discovered that it was important how we connected the battery and that the wires had to make a complete circuit. Next week, we are going to take this investigation further. Is there anything else we could use instead of a battery to make the bulb light up?

Year 5 had a very strange character visiting their classroom this week.  We were a little scared and confused by their appearance.  Their visit marked the start of our new topic, Peasants, Princes and Pestilence.  Have a look at the the photo of our visitor and ask Year 5 all about their odd costume and what was happening in and around London during 1348.

In World Book Week, we read Paw Prints in the Snow by Sally Grindley and based all of our literacy work around this book. We looked at the WWF website and researched other endangered animals to create a fact file.  We then wrote a persuasive piece to try and persuade our class mates to adopt an animal. We are going to have a class vote to decide the winning animal. Watch this space to find out more!

At the end of the week, on World Book Day, we were lucky enough to meet Sally and learn a little more about how she creates her wonderful books.

This half term in RE Year 3 are exploring Jesus and the miracles he performed.  We are trying to answer the question :-

Could Jesus really heal people?

Today we looked at the miracle of healing of the paralysed man.

To help us understand the story more we used role play.

On Tuesday 29^th November 2016, Year 3 welcomed a special visitor into their classroom.  Paul, came to help us learn more about rocks and fossils, which we are learning about in science.  We learnt about different areas in the country where different type of rock comes from, the different types of rocks and also how the tectonic plates are constantly moving.  We then looked at fossils and learnt a little bit about how they are formed, where you can fossil hunting and what you should take with you when you go.  We had a great morning exploring all of Paul’s samples.  Why not ask us about our favourite types of rocks and fossils in Year 3?

To help us with learning how to write direct speech we have been using role play.  Using role play helped us get into character and create a conversation between ourselves and our partner.  We then put this conversation into speech bubbles.  Then from the speech bubbles writing dialogue using inverted commas.  The children explored different situations including

Looking out of a window with their mum or dad.

having a friend over for tea

standing in the dinner line

Being in a maths lesson with their uncle

a rainy playtime with their best friend.

Have a look at our photos and why not have a conversation with Year 3 whilst doing any of these activities and see where it leads you.  You may be surprised.  We were!

In Maths lessons this week Green class have be working hard to ensure they are able to measure accurately to the nearest centimetre. This is in preparation for next week’s exciting Maths Week at St. Clement’s.