Year 3 visited Creswell Crags this week and we had such a fantastic time. We travelled back in time to the Stone Age period and developed our prior knowledge, learned in the classroom, through this hands on experience. 
Our first activity, was a cave exploration. We visited a real cave that was occupied by Stone Age people thousands of years ago. The children wore hard hats and had torches on their exploration and everyone was so brave and inquisitive during this activity. 

The second activity was shelter building, The children were put into groups and given the following equipment: 3 large sticks, some rope, a reindeer skin and 2 large pieces of leather. The children had to work together to build a shelter that would survive cold and harsh conditions. They did a fantastic job!

In science, the children have explored a variety of types of rocks including: granite, marble, chalk, basalt, sandstone, limestone, slate and clay. The children have sorted these rocks according to their appearance in a previous lesson and were able to say whether the rocks were: hard, soft, bumpy, smooth, rough, large, small etc.

To develop this learning, the children were given an investigation question to think about:
Which type of rock would be best suited to be used as a kitchen worktop?

The children were unsure at first until they were questioned further:
What does a kitchen work top have to be suitable for? What do you use a kitchen worktop for? Might anything spill on it?
The children decided that the best rock material for a kitchen worktop would need to be:
hard -food is cut up on worktops sometimes
waterproof - water and food is often on a worktop
The children tested each rock by using a pin to scratch or break the rocks and a pipette of water to check whether the rock was permeable or impermeable. 
All of the children decided that granite or marble would be the most suitable material for a kitchen worktop as it is hard and waterproof.

In history, the children have been learning all about the Stone Age. This week's earning has focussed on the Mesolithic Period, also known as the middle Stone Age. 

The children were given information and facts about this period and were encouraged to ask questions in class. We looked at where they would settle and why they would do this. We explored photographs of artefacts found from this period of history and through these artefacts learned about the weapons and tools used in Mesolithic times. The discussion about weapons, led us on to finding out about what the ate during this time and why this might affect where they chose to settle and find shelter. 

After the class discussion, the children worked in groups and travelled back in time. The children were told to imagine that they lived in the Mesolithic Age. They were given 7 things to consider: food sources, water, shelter, weapons and tools, clothing, fire and pottery. 

In their groups they had to rank these items in order of importance for survival. 
The children worked incredibly well in their group sand talked and discussed their ideas about which items were essential to live and which were not. They explained carefully their ranked list and worked well as a team. Each group presented their ideas to the rest of class at the end of the session and all children presented well and could explain their thinking. 

Over the past 2 weeks, the children have hit the ground running and have been super busy in class. 
In maths, the children have been understanding commutative law and have demonstrated this understanding through multiplication and the use of arrays. The children can confidently give the equations to match a given array and can create an array to match a given equation.

In science, the children are learning about rocks and soils. This week, the children have explored the properties of different types of rocks and have learned their names. They have also sorted the rocks according to their properties. Next lesson, they will be investigating which rock types would be most suitable for different purposes. 

In art, the children have been looking at cave paintings. They are already familiar with what cave paintings are as we are learning about the Stone Age in our history lessons. The children have studied cave paintings and have then tried to recreate some of the drawings that they have seen by thinking carefully about the shapes they can see. The children used pencil to draw these designs and thought carefully about how to space them on their page. The next stage is for the children to use a variety of mediums such as paint, charcoal and pastels and think about what brushes and techniques to use. 

All of the children have leanred how to successfully log on to a computer and login to TTRockstars! I know that many of them are also logging on at home and becoming experts at their times tables. By the end of this half term, we will all be amazing at our 2, 5 and 10 times table!