Term 4!

Class blog: 28/02/2024

This week we have had another swimming lesson and we really enjoy practising swimming skills with friends.  In maths we have been adding millimetres and centimetres to make metres.

In English we have been learning about fables like Ananci and the Tiger.  We have been adding describing words to simple sentences.  In French we have read “Le Petit Chaperon Rouge”.  Can you guess which story this is?

We are going on a school trip to Dover Museum this week – we are all very excited!

Term 3

01.02.24

For this week's blog, the Blackbirds were reflecting on their first three swimming lessons.

Here are some of their comments:

- "It's so much fun."

- "We are given challenging tasks like swimming through hoops - like  dolphin!"

- "I like playing rock, paper, scissors, shoot under water."

- "I love swimming lessons with my friends, because we learn together and have each other to talk to."

- "The water is warm - I love jumping in from the side."

- "The swimming teachers are nice. They get in the water to help you if you are nervous."

- "I love the competition between Bus A and Bus B each week."

So it seems Blackbirds feel the lessons are going swimmingly so far :) 

Term 3

Happy New Year!

11/01/24

This week in Blackbirds class we have started a new sport in PE - Rugby! Our first lesson was muddy, frosty and fun! 

In History we travelled aaaaaaaaall the way back in time to the Stone Age! Phew! 

We placed the Stone Age, the Iron Age and the Bronze Age on a timeline. 

Our Science topic this term is rocks, soils and fossils. We had a visitor who talked about rocks and fossils and bought in some fascinating examples to share with us. 

We are SO excited to be starting swimming this week.

Week 5

It's been another busy week in Blackbirds! This week the children have been working hard to produce some beautiful descriptive writing based on the image below, from our key text 'Flotsam.'

Here is a sample of one child's work, to give you all an idea of the standard of writing the children can produce in Year 3!

'Glowing and glimmering in the deep blue sea, where there is no electricity, the angler fish gave their light to the lamp. The light from the lamp shone down on a glass bowl, where the darting fish chased each other in and out.

Staring in at the Octopuses' pet fish was a clown fish with a shocked face! The Father octopus in the armchair was reading the Bible to the baby octopuses, who were listening sleepily to their bedtime story."

Weeks 3 and 4

This week we took our first class trip to complete fieldwork as part of our river topic. We took part in a river walk and learned all about the Stour - its floodplains, banks and bridges - as we meandered along beside it. 

During our Class Assembly time, Blackbirds have continued to discuss the need for clean water, a decent toilet and access to good hygiene around the world. Over the past two weeks, the children have collaborated to produce a range of posters aimed at encouraging other children to support Water Aid.

Here are a selection of our creative and persuasive posters: 

Week 2

This week we have produced some great pieces of writing (linked with our 'Water Cycle' topic), describing the adventures of a little raindrop named Bill! We wrote from Bill's perspective, imagining that he was sending a postcard home from his exciting journey around the water cycle! 

Continuing the theme from last week's class discussion time, we watched this information video by WaterAid to learn more about the problems caused by lack of access to clean and safe water around the world. We were astonished to learn that 1 in 10 people around the globe do not have clean water to drink, with a shocking 1 in 3 people lacking access to decent toilets and basic hygiene conditions. 

The children were tasked with taking action. In small teams, they are designing posters to raise awareness for WaterAid's campaign to eradicate safe water inequality by 2030. 

We will share some of their designs here when they are complete. 

Week 1

This week we have been learning about the water cycle, including exploring where water is stored in different places on earth and why it is important for the planet. This has led us to some very important conversations about where in the world people do not have access to fresh water and we have explored some of the charities which try to help this situation. This has been particularly poignant in this very hot weather when the children we able to reflect on how lucky we are to be able to turn on a tap and get safe, clean drinking water. They were shocked to see that children can walk miles everyday to collect dirty water for drinking and washing and we reflected on the work charities like Water Aid do. We all agreed that more should be done to make sure that everyone in the world has access to clean, safe drinking water.