Year 3 - Larch

Transition Activities for Year 4 - 13.07.20

Please find attached a transition activity for you to complete with your child this week.  If you have any questions about it, please contact Mrs Lewis through Class Dojo.

Home Learning

Welcome to Larch Home Learning page.  If you click on the stars below you will find your learning tasks for this week. Please also see the separate Home Learning page which offers a selection of additional activities and web learning links.  

World Ocean's Day - 2020

On World Ocean's Day, people around the world celebrate and honour our oceans, which connect us all. You can find out more at the following website:

https://worldoceanday.school/

To mark this day (Monday 8th June) Plymouth City Council and The Plymouth Sound Marine Park have created a series of activities and worksheets for the children to do. If you do complete any of the activities then don't forget to upload a picture to your portfolio. Some will be chosen to be part of this week's newsletter.

VE DAY - 75th Anniversary 

Tomorrow (8th May) is the 75th anniversary of Victory in Europe day. You may have already completed some lovely work linked to it this week and some of you may have activities planned for tomorrow and the weekend. The attached information below explains what we would like the children of Woodford Primary School to do to celebrate this very special day and a link to The Visit Plymouth website where thay have activities for the children to do. Please take photos of anything you do including your decorated house (if you do that) and post them onto your child's portfolio on The Class Dojo.

Just for fun home learning

Why not choose some activities from the grid below to keep you busy over the next week? 

15.4.20

Good Morning Larch class,
We hope that you all had an enjoyable Easter with your families, enjoying the sunshine and eating chocolate. Now that the Easter holidays are over we need to get back to the learning and get those brains ticking!

Thank you to those of you who are already completing the English and Maths tasks that are found on our class page of the school website under home learning and posting photos in your individual portfolio. It has been lovely to see your smiling faces again. Some of you have earned lots of home learning dojos already. For anyone unsure of how to access their portfolio, we posted a link in messages yesterday. If for any reason you have trouble, then please get in contact.

I know quite a few of you have been practising your spelling bee words and working through the year 3 spelling bee words which is fantastic. There is a list of challenges for those who have completed the year 3 lists. I will add all the challenges onto this English star on the website. There is also weekly spellings on the spelling shed too. This week it is 'ly' words. Please let us know how you are getting on so we can support with ideas, patterns or rhymes etc.

Don't forget to keep going with the TTrockstars and numbots too. It will really help improve your mathematical fluency.

Keep safe everyone and take care!
Mrs Parker and Mrs Beresford

Important message for parents

We are sending individual messages to every parent/child each week to make sure everything is fine at home.  We can offer help and support as necessary as well as celebrate your child's achievements.  If you do have a question, query or need some advice, please feel free to send us a message and we will get back to you as soon as possible. Even if everything is good, we would be really grateful if you could send us a quick reply and let us know how things are going.

Regards

Year 3 Team 

Home Learning - end of week 1

It has been wonderful to see all the Year 3 pupils sharing their learning and time at home this week. You have been busy uploading your photos of baking, art, science, Joe Wicks exercise and signs of Spring spotting to name just a few! Year 3 have also been busy painting and displaying stay safe rainbow pictures to display in their windows for the community. A special well done to Alice in Silver Birch class who completed all the Numbots levels this week.

Lots of learning is going on too, well done Year 3! So proud of you all. 

Scroll down to the Home Learning section every Monday for new activities.

Best wishes, 

Year 3 teaching team. 

Who was Boudica?

Year 3 are learning about the Romans and have been describing Boudica and her rebellion against Roman invasion. We hope you enjoy reading these brilliant descriptions of the fierce, determined Celtic queen. These include powerful adjectives, a range of fronted adverbial sentence starters and description of both her appearance and personality. Well done Larch writers!

Boudica was the fierce looking leader of the Iceni tribe. On her head she had the tawniest brown hair that fell down to her hips. Around her body she wore a tunic with bright, diverse colour.s. She also had a dark mantle that looked like a coat on Boudica’s legs she had tall boots. Around her neck she had a golden buckle to keep her mantle on and she sometimes wore a necklace. Boudica held a pointed spear in her hand. This annoyed, determined leader was convinced she would win the battle. Her spirit was a tough as a diamond and was unbreakable. Boudica thought no doubts about the battle and would be outraged if they lost.

By Samuel, Larch class.

Boudica was the leader of the Iceni tribe. On her head, she a had a great mass of the tawniest brown hair She wore a tunic full of diverse colours. In her hand, she carried a great, long spear which she could throw long distances. In the glistening light, her spear shone brightly. Her thick mantle kept her warm in the winter. Her tunic was tied by a belt; she was very beautiful. Her eyes were the scariest of all. Her tunic blew in the wind as well as her beautiful hair, Boudica fought the Romans because she wanted revenge. She had an unbreakable heart. In her heart she showed no mercy towards the Romans. Even though her husband, the king died she was still bold and tough. She didn’t have a single fear. She never failed apart from the battle against the Romans.  

By Olivia, Larch class.

How did the arrival of the Romans change Britain? 

Today we started our new, exciting History topic...
The Romans! We have spent the day learning about the Roman Empire. The 'hot seat' was used to persuade Emperor Claudius whether he should or should not invade Britain. Can you remember some of the reasons for and against to share with someone at home?
 

Does the size of a magnet increase the force?

Investigating different sized magnets to see if size increases magnetism. 

We are Scientific investigators...

Hurricanes
 

Today we learnt about hurricanes and how they are different to tropical storms. We watched some videos of the destruction they can cause. Can you remember the different parts of the hurricane? This afternoon we used pastels to create our own hurricane pictures.

Forces

This week we have started learning about forces. We learnt that a push and pull were forces that could speed an object up or slow an object down.  We also completed an investigation on the effect of friction on a moving vehicle.  We measured how far a car travelled on carpet, Lino, tarmac and on a wooden table.  Can you remember which surface had the most / least friction? 

SAVE THE TURTLES!

Today we have been designing posters about saving the sea turtles. We have learnt that only 1 in 1000 reach adulthood. Our posters show how the local Floridians and tourists can help protect them. Can you remember what they can do to help?

HAPPY NEW YEAR! WELCOME TO 2020

This week we have been thinking about New Year's resolutions.  On Friday Catherine (Mrs Andrews), from Devon Wildlife Trust came into school to talk about making a resolution for the planet.

We focused on the problems caused by plastic pollution.  Larch class had a go at composing lyrics to an instrumental version of Wonderful Life. Our song was called Dangerous Life.  Here are is our version

2.12.19

Today the Larch class pupils turned into Stone Age artists! We researched cave paintings, practised new skills of using charcoal and pastels, blended colours and developed our sketching skills. Did you know that the study of caves is called Speleology? We thought about how cave paintings tell a story without words.

The Larch class enjoyed spotting the different Stone Age animals and talking to each other about what each cave scene depicted. We also found out that Stone Age artists 'signed' their work with a handprint.

We created our own caves by working underneath our desks and drawing on crinkled paper on the wall. The lights were turned out and we lit mini (battery operated) tea lights and watched our drawings flicker and move in the light just like cave artists!

Mayflower 400 Poetry Competition - November 2019 

Congratulations to Toby and Emily who were the Larch class winners for their poetry writing about 'The First Thanksgiving'. They both used detailed ideas using their senses and feelings and good alliteration to create rhythm in their verse. Well done! 

Investigating the properties of rocks

This week the children have been investigating the properties of rocks.  They have been completing a scratch test to see how soft a rock is.  They also have been using a pipette to drop water onto a rock to test its permeability.  The children also used science dictionaries to find the definitions of scientific words and used non-fiction books to find out new facts and information.

Art in Larch!

As part of learning about Rocks and Soils in Science we have been designing our own fossil imprints. We  created a fossil shape on a Styrofoam tile and then we learned how to use printing ink, a wet and dry roller and our tile to print our fossil pattern. Can you spot which animals and plant shapes were used in our designs?

Summer Reading Challenge

Well done to everyone in the Larch class that completed the summer reading challenge. The children were presented with their certificates in achievement assembly today.

Fantastic fossils! 

This week we have been learning about the different types of fossils, how they were made and also making a fossil of our own! We have researched Mary Anning who was a scientist and famous for being the greatest fossil hunter of all time. She had to really persevere to uncover the fossils and her findings gave scientists the first look at which animals lived millions of years ago. Her most famous finding the 'Ichtyosaurus' is still displayed in the British Museum in London. We have writing about why she was so important as a science. Well done to Emily in Larch class who has written this brilliant report from her research! 

Why was Mary Anning so important?

By Emily I

Mary Anning is famous because she was the greatest fossil hunter who ever lived. She born in 1799 and her family were very poor. She lived in Lyme Regis near a lovely beach with a wonderful sea. She spent hours on the beach looking for things she never saw before. She always found strange creatures. Her father taught her how to carefully hammer the rock he said it took a lot of patience. Then when she found lots of fossils she sold them to get money for family. When she was older she went the beach and discovered a rock but it was different to all the others. It took a week for her find out what it so was, so she got a scientist . the scientist gave her 25 pound for her amazing skill. the scientist called it a Ichtyosaurus. 

September 2019

Your School Parliament needs you!

Larch class have been democratic this week, voting for pupils in their class that they would like to represent them on the Woodford School Parliament. Lots of pupils were willing to take on this challenge so well done to all of you for volunteering! The final vote count saw Toby and Olivia elected as the 2019 - 2020 Larch class representatives. Well done and we look forward to sharing our ideas and suggestions with you, to take forward to meeting with Mrs Parker and Mrs Johns. 

Plympton Cross-Country - 26.09.19

Well done to Ben who helped Woodford win the year 3/4 boys cross-country competition at Hele's School this week!

Salt Dough Fossils

Have a look at our salt dough fossils. We enjoyed making them. Can you work out which dinosaurs they are?

What are the stages of fossilisation?

This week we have been learning about the fossilisation process.  Today we had a go at acting out the process. Have a look at our photos and see if you can guess what stage of the fossilisation process we are trying to act out? 

1. The animal falls to the bottom of a river or sea bed.

2. The flesh is eaten by other animals or rots away.

3. Sediment settles on top of the creature or plant.

4. The sediment gets squashed and turns to rock.

5. Water dissolves the bones, leaving the mould.

6. Sediment and minerals fills the mould and turn to rock.

7. Weathering wears away at the rock exposing the fossil.

The ‘Starburst’ Rock Cycle!

We used Starburst sweets to model the rock cycle.

First we snipped different coloured Starbursts into pieces of sediment.

Then we squashed layers of each piece of sediment on top of each other to make Sedimentary rock.

After that we pushed and squished the rock in our hands to change it into Metamorphic rock.

  We then heated the rock to turn it into magma.

Finally we let the magma cool so it turned into Igneous rock.

Aspirations Day

The children came to school dressed up on Friday as a person or job they aspire to be when they older.  We had a variety of fantastic costumes and outfits. Thanks to all the parents for their efforts!

During the day the children listened to presentations from different parents about their current job roles.  They were keen to ask questions and find out more! We were lucky enough to meet Bee and Catherine (Mrs Andrews) from the Devon Wildlife Trust.  We had a chance to make slime from seaweed.  The children also looked at packaging and found lots of food and beauty products contain seaweed! Mrs Shearing-Brown discussed her role as an Information Access Officer.  She also shared all the other many roles from librarians, bin collectors, landscape gardeners to environmental health that are part of Plymouth City Council.  In the afternoon, we listened to Mrs Aryton who shared her role as a glass artist.  She brought in a range of items she had made and discussed her love of working with glass.  The children had a go at producing a glass window commission for a peer.  Mrs Blackler engaged us all with her audios of 999 calls. We also managed to say good afternoon to a police call handler on duty over her handset.  We finished the afternoon looking at our feet with Mr Oliver.  He discussed the issues that a podiatrist deals with from corns, verrucas, bunions to ingrowing nails.  Apparently the main reason for feet issues are incorrect shoe sizing and designs.  We all drew around our foot on a piece of paper and cut it out.  We then used the template to put inside our shoes to see if our shoes fitted nicely or whether our foot templates were crumpled. It was a very interesting day!

Safety Walk

During our first week back we have talked a lot about how to keep safe in school as well as the school respect rules.  We have walked around the school discussing the fire exits and the yellow markings. We acted out and discussed our fire drill procedures.  All the children passed the safety quiz at the end of the lesson!  Can you remember how to keep safe in P.E.?

Welcome to Larch

The children have had a great start to the term.  We have enjoyed seeing them returning to school with lots of smiles and stories to share!

Plymouth University geology workshop

Year 3 children had a great time at the university this week, looking at dinosaur teeth, fossils and minerals.

Enterprise Week

We had a great time in Enterprise week.  In year 3, we decided we would design our own cotton bags that would promote a message about reducing the amount of plastic and helping to save the planet from plastic pollution.  The children created great slogans and illustrations for homework which they used in their design. We used texile markers to add colour to our design and added a label to encourage people at the Summer Fair to buy our bags.  The bags went down a storm at the fair and we made over £100 of profit which the school is hoping to donate to Devon Wildlife Trust.  Well done Year 3!!!

Congratulations! 

Well done to all the Larch class Mathematicians who have worked so hard on learning their times tables and achieved their times table caps. 

Brilliant progress everyone! 

Chinese Dance                                                     

This half term the children have creating their own Chinese dance with Mr Wallace.  They worked in their house teams to create a dance which had a jump, travel and gesture included in the sequence.  The children used props such as scarves, ribbons and fans.  They performed their dance to Mrs Parker and Mrs Beresford who were very impressed.

Bake Sale

A group of girls from the Larch class today held a bake sale in aid of Children in Need.  They organised the event, produced posters and baked and purchased doughnuts, cookies and cakes for the event.  They even had a guess the number of sweets in the jar which was won by Elizabeth in the Cherry Class. They raised an amazing £74.36. Well done to everybody involved.

This week during our learning about Megacities in Geography we have been researching cities in South America and why Brasilia was built to replace the original Capital city of Rio de Janerio in 1960.

We studied maps, photos and watch aerial footage taken of Brasilia. Our class thought about what it would be like to have a new Capital city built to replace our capital of London. To show what we had learned we wrote a 'breaking news' report to present to the class telling the people of Rio de Janerio that a new capital city was going to be built and what it would include. We presented our reports at the news desk.

Excellent news reporting Larch class and Geography learning!

Signs of Spring

Today the Larch class went exploring the school grounds for signs of Spring.  We found different flowers, buds, catkins, blossom and even an empty egg shell around Katie's garden as well as lots of tadpoles in our new school pond. Spring has definitely sprung at Woodford!

Summer term 2019  - Welcome back Larch class!

Experiment!

We learned how to handle the clay and how to use water as a glue to join and to keep hydrated for moulding.

Next we experimented with creating different shapes using rolling, spiralling and cutting. Then we experimented with how to create different textures and patterns on the clay using tools.

Make!

To create each dragon eye we shaped a base of clay and chose a coloured eye. Next we moulded and shaped the clay to create pattern and texture for the eye. We were very pleased with our final masterpieces and everyone commented on how unique each eye was, well done Larch class! The next stage is to dry out the eyes and then we may add some colour using paint or just leave it grey which emulates the grey

 dragon style.

BIG Pedal April 2019

Congratulations to the Larch class who have been walking, scooting and cycling to and from school in the last 2 weeks.  You have all participated brilliantly in the school's Big Pedal event. On Thursday the class took part in an obstacle course; making their way expertly around the playground.

P.E. - We are active!

Basketball with our weekly Plymouth Argyll sports coach

Every week in the Spring term we have been enjoying a P.E. learning session with sport coaches from Plymouth Argyll. We have all learned some great ball skills and can work with control and accuracy. We think the photos below show how much the Larch class have grown in confidence. Well done Larch class!

Science Workshop 

11.3.19

Today, in the lead up to National Science Week, we had the pleasure of working with Mrs Brinkworth, who is Head of Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) for Plymouth City Council. 

Mrs Brinkworth did lots of Science experiments with us first to warm up our brains and we discussed what we thought was happening in each activity. Next we watched a video clip about how engineering is all around us and how design has shaped the City of Plymouth from the Tamar bridge to Smeaton's Tower. Next we worked in design teams to complete a challenge! We had spaghetti and marshmallows and had to work as a team to build a bridge in 15 minutes. We did brilliantly as you can see from our photos below. 

Thank you Mrs Brinkworth for a really inspiring workshop in the Larch class. Perhaps a career in Engineering maybe in the future of our clever Year 3 pupils?