In PE, the children are being taught new skills in gymnastics. The aim of the past 2 weeks has been to begin to look at basic rolls and balances. The children have worked well in their pairs to demonstrate these skills and have been so confident in this that they have put together a sequence of 4 rolls and balances as a pair that they then performed to the class. 

This week, the children have started a new topic within computing. In this week's lesson the children have been learning about animation. The aim of the lesson was to explain that animation is a sequence of drawings or photographs. Within the lesson, the children had to draw a sequence of pictures on post it notes to create an effective flip book style animation.
The picture they chose had to be simple enough to draw repeatedly, across several pages but with an element of the picture to be changed each time so that when the pages were flipped, the drawing appeared to move. We had great fun making these and the results were brilliant. 

This week, we began our brand-new French unit, where the children will be learning to understand, respond to and say a range of common classroom instructions. It has been a fantastic start!

During our first lesson, we explored some key phrases that will help us follow simple directions in French — things like écoutez (listen), regardez (look), and asseyez-vous (sit down). The children enjoyed practising these new words and using actions to show what each instruction means.

Even after just one week, many of the children were already able to recall several of the instructions confidently and demonstrate their understanding through movement. It’s wonderful to see their enthusiasm and growing confidence in using French around the classroom!

The picture below shows all of the instructions that the children will be learning as part of this unit. We can’t wait to see how their understanding and pronunciation develop over the coming weeks.
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So far, in science, the Year 3 children have learned all about different types of rock. They can now name rocks and their properties and understand how rocks are formed.

Last week's learning saw them give explanations of how igneous, sedimentary and metamorphic rocks are formed and give the properties of these rocks. 

This week, the children have furthered their understanding by learning about types of soils. The children  can name the children can begin to explain how the Earth is made up of different layers of rock and soil. To help them to remember them different layers and to help them to explain how each layer is different, they made a 'dirt pudding; to represent this. 

Each child was given a clear, plastic cup. These are the layers that they created:
1. mantle - honey used to represent this liquid rock layer
2. Earth's crust - a cookie used to represent this 5-50 mile thick layer
3. bedrock - layered thin apple slices used to represent this layer of  rock
4. subsoil - chocolate pudding used to show this dense layer (it is lighter in colour as it contains fewer nutrients than the top soil and is densely packed and clay-like).
5.topsoil: crushed Oreos to make the nutrient rich top soil. 

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!

This half term, we have been reading The Iron Man by Ted Hughes. Inspired by the story, the children have used it as inspiration for their collage project in art. As part of this, they explored using different tones and shades of the same colour to recreate the Iron Man. They carefully tore small pieces of paper and overlapped them to build texture and depth in their artwork. Have a look below to see their fantastic creations!

Today, we were very lucky to visit Weston Park Museum in Sheffield as part of our current history topic, Ancient Egypt. During our visit, we explored key artefacts throughout the museum to help us find clues about how people lived during Ancient Egyptian times. We also made comparisons with the Bronze Age, as both civilisations existed at the same time. A highlight of the trip was learning more about the process of mummification and understanding why pharaohs chose to do this. The children examined artefacts commonly found in tombs—such as scarab beetles, shabtis and ankhs—and worked in groups to recreate their own versions. The children thoroughly enjoyed their day out of school and are excited to continue exploring the topic back in the classroom.