We are all looking forward to an exciting time in Year 3! 

As we prepare for Key Stage 2, we thought we'd introduce ourselves. As you can see, we are: 

full of creativity; full of ideas; full of surprises; full BEANS(!); full of Key Stage 1 and now we are hungry for more. 

Watch out Key Stage 2! Here we come!!!

It’s good to have friends, isn’t it! Our friends and family are such an important part of our lives!

Today, we were learning about respecting each other. The world can be a truly wonderful place, especially when we treat others as we wish to be treated. We always respect, always befriend, always nurture, always show kindness and care, always play together and always show the love that we ourselves have been shown. This is our aim and together we can achieve it!

We had a wonderful day with our friends and we also enjoyed making new friends! Have a wonderful term from everyone in Year 3!

Now, on with the show...

The Autumn Term has arrived and what an entrance it has made!

Today, Year 3 were invaded by a huge Roman army! Fortunately, they 'asked' us to join them (there wasn't really a choice!). To join the army, we constructed shields by using recycled cardboard and tested them to make sure they were strong and sturdy. We also used felt tips, crayons and various other craft materials to decorate and personalise them - clearly, the Romans had style and so does Year 3!

As a year group, we all got into Testudo Formation to work as a team to block oncoming arrows and boulders from the enemy.

We then triumphantly marched like Roman Soldiers back to the homeland. (Please note: No humans were hurt in the making of this Roman battle scene!)

Instead of drawing boring old timelines, we were given large pieces of a Roman Timeline to find out more about the invading Roman armies (as well as their emperors and other important details like that). The timeline was cut up and mixed up into lots of pieces - making no sense at all until it was put back together again! You wouldn't expect to find many artefacts in one piece after 2000 years now, would you?

To help put it back together, we all had to use our detective and archaeologist hats. We had to search for any connections between the information and illustration cards. Then, we had to organise ourselves in chronological order! It was tough, but we did it! This was so good that we created a display in each classroom to remind us of the key events in Roman history. What an amazing journey! Why not look at our class displays to find out more?

I wonder where the Romans lived and where they invaded? How could we possibly find out (I hear you cry!)?

Well, good questions! Bravo! All of us in Year 3 are very clever and we know where to look! Forget google... and as for Yahoo - you can go and ask Jeeves... Bring on the LIBRARY!!! Everyone descended on the school library (like eager Romans wanting to learn) and we made a wonderful discovery. We uncovered a huge trove of atlases which contained all the answers we needed (coincidentally!) - including a large map of the UK! As we found different locations from historical Roman events, we also competed with each other to see who could find important cities on the map the quickest. 

Who do you think was the fastest? Was it the boys or was it the girls? Guess what! (Predictably) Everyone won - it was a draw!!!

Hang on! How did Pandora's Box sneak into our Romans topic? Well, now that we've stumbled across it (and we couldn't resist), we thought we'd link it to PSHE (as you do!). We have also made comparisons between the Ancient Greek gods and goddesses and the research that we've been conducting about the Ancient Roman gods and goddesses.

We created a range of Pandora's Boxes by carefully cutting out and constructing 3D nets of cuboids. We decorated them to entice Pandora and, while we were at it, we also created shape robots. Could we link this to the myth? Probably not! But somebody had this bright idea and then we all wanted do it - which extended our knowledge of shapes and our ability to draw them!

Returning to Pandora's Box - we thought it would be nice to fill the boxes with wonderful gift cards of what we'd like to bring to the world, such as: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, humility and self-control (amongst others). These would then be pleasant surprises for anyone who opened our Pandora's Boxes. Just think of it as our gifts to the world!

What a wonderful Eid celebration! We all had a party and ate delicious food before playing exciting party games. We're not sure where all the photos went(?). Maybe we were having too much fun! Well, we didn’t want to keep all the fun to ourselves, so we created Eid cards to take home for our families. Eid Mubarak everyone! Have a wonderful celebration.

Some rocks think they're hard...and some are real softies at heart! You've just got to get to know them - just get beneath the surface!

That's exactly what we explored today (in a way)! We used our senses to learn about the properties of different rocks and we thought about their purposes (especially those rocks which the Romans chose to use in their building projects). We tested the strength of different rocks by chipping away at them. We also tested them with water to identify which ones were permeable. It turns out that, even though many rocks look similar, they have very different properties and can be used in many different ways. Those Roman builders knew what they were doing!

The ground beneath our feet often goes unnoticed. Above the rock, on the surface of the Earth, is (well) earth! Like rocks, there are different types of soil which have different properties. As curious scientific investigators, we just had to take a look. We used magnifying glasses to closely look at soil samples and you'll never guess what we found (although you probably will!): leaves, worms, plants, twigs, ants and more. Following this, we tested the different soil samples to see which was the most permeable - reflecting on how this would affect plants as they grow.

We couldn't finish our Romans topic without learning about Pompeii. As well as learning about rocks and soil through Science, we learned about physical features in Geography. One example of a physical feature is a volcano!

Oh no! The Poor People of Pompeii! We researched the events surrounding the eruption of Mount Vesuvius and then reported on them through our very own newspaper reports. It felt so real, as if it had happened only yesterday. When it came to our assessment, we came up with our own twist on the newspaper reports. What if, a few days later, a mythical beast rose from Pompeii's ashes and had to be outwitted by one of our made-up Roman deities?

Well, that's another story! As well as our creative writing, we used our Design and Technology skills to create our own volcanoes. We then planned and tested different amounts of baking soda and vinegar to see which volcano could erupt the fastest. Why not ask your teacher to do something like this in your lessons too?

Maths is for everyone - and we have been developing our skills even when we have English as an Additional Language. There are so many wonderful games and opportunities which are fun and also help to develop our maths skills! We enjoy working together on problems using large resources, such as hundred squares. Also, with our buddies, we created our own games (based on Snakes and Ladders) and then played them together. We also learned about the artwork of Piet Mondrian before creating our own versions, using different sizes of rectangle. Which shapes could you use in your artwork? Could you be the next Mondrian? Maybe our shape robots will be famous after all!

Did you ever pick your nose? Well, why did you pick that one? Was it a good shape and size? A small or large nose? All the better to smell you with, I suppose - if that's what you wanted to do. Perhaps that's enough about picking noses!! COMIC RELIEF is here and we have raised lots of money for this fantastic cause by having a lot of fun.