Hello and welcome to the Swifts class blog page.

Here you can touch base and check out all of the exciting activities we are getting up to in year 3. We will keep you updated as we continue our learning journey and can't wait to share all of our successes and achievements with you all. 

Which adults are in Puffins class?

Mr Addison - Class teacher

Mr Ahern - Teaching Assistant

Mrs Hurford & Miss Burrett (1:1)

Term 4 and 5 – Shake, Rattle and Roll

We are brave, powerful warriors, and we will meet in battle! This topic will focus upon the Romans and how they changed Britain. Using different source materials, we’ll investigate the Roman Empire and the impact they made upon Britain, especially in the local area. We will learn about where the Roman Empire was established and compare the human and physical geographical features of Italy and Britain as well as looking at Mother Nature’s awesome energies as they hiss and roar deep within the Earth. Plates collide, spewing lava. Rocks rain down and mud slides in torrents. Towns and cities vanish under ashen clouds. Discover the dangerous and ferocious world of natural disasters and glimpse the savage and deadly effects of Mount Vesuvius.

English – In Reading, we will finish off “Varjak Paw” before linking in our History and Geography work by using “Escape from Pompeii” then the non-fiction text “Meet the Ancient Romans”. In writing, we shall continue with some performance poetry before writing diaries and recounts concerning the events in Pompeii. Finally we shall begin to look at the narrative of “ Charlotte’s Web”.

Maths – In Maths, we will be continuing our measurement however this time turning our attention to length and perimeter. We will be looking at accurate use of a ruler to measure to the nearest cm and half cm as well as, making sensible estimates. Furthermore, we will learn how to find the perimeter of shapes and using this to help a fictional Roman Emperor to find the size of his rooms in his new villa! We shall then look at mass and capacity and to finish this term, we will introduce time.

Welcome back to Term 5 where the Romans have been in school...

Thursday 18th May - Science

What drinks should be part of a balanced diet?

Children in Swifts class thought about what drinks are healthy and unhealthy. They discussed which of these drinks should form part of a balanced diet - Coca-Cola, Coke Zero, water, sparkling water, fruit cordial and orange juice. 

We poured each drink into a beaker and added one egg. The eggshell is very similar to the enamel in our teeth, so if the drink affects the eggshell in any way, we could assume it could do the same to our own mouths!

We have stored the eggs in their liquids in a cupboard and will keep you updated with their progress!

Thursday 18th May - potting the beans!

Today the children moved their French Bean seeds from a damp tray, where they had been soaking up water, into actual pots with compost!

We will keep you updated with the progress of the beans as they continue to grow and develop.

Term 3 – Location, Location, Location

Buckle your seatbelt and hold on tight as we go on an epic adventure of discovery. Have you ever taken the time to appreciate the beauty of our environment or indeed the country in which we live? During this unit, we will learn about the many physical and human wonders that the United Kingdom holds and comparing it to a country in Eastern Europe. We shall use our developing compass skills and introduce the terms latitude and longitude. Toss aside your Sat Nav, brush up on your map skills as we journey around the continent of Eastern Europe. Where will we find our favourite ‘Location, Location, Location?’

 English – In reading this term we shall use the text “Varjak Paw” by S.F Said to develop our comprehension skills. In writing, we will investigate poems using adjectives and similes before focusing on “Mysterious Alleys” to develop our tension and suspense in writing paying particular attention to the plot within such narratives. Moving on with our year 3 English curriculum, we will continue to work on our use of fronted adverbials, noun phrases, adverbs and inverted commas.

Maths – This term, we will be continuing embedding our multiplication and division skills before moving into length and perimeter and fractions.

Term 1 & 2 - Ancient Britain

Take a moment to step outside and stand quietly and still. Turn off all your technology and try to forget the modern world. Imagine this place 5000 years ago. What would you have seen?

Experience life without modern tools and luxurious home comforts – would you survive? In our topic we will discover how people evolved from hunter gatherers to farmers and the beliefs these prehistoric warriors held. We will also investigate where and why humans settled in the places they made home and how some of these still exist in modern times.

English – During this unit, the children will explore poetry by creating acrostic and mesostic poems then later in term two, look at performance poetry. In Reading, we shall firstly use the non-fiction book “Find out about the Stone, Bronze and Iron ages “ to gather information about our topic as well as identify key features of non-fiction texts. We shall then be using Ted Hughes’ thrilling “The Iron Man” for both our reading and writing lessons. Through the exposure to this rich text, we shall be creating narrative as well as information texts and non-chronological reports. Children shall continue to build upon their writing skill such as, capital letters, full stops, conjunctions, fronted adverbials and apostrophes to name a few! They will then have the opportunity to apply this across the different genres of writing.

Maths – During this unit, we will be investigating the number system and ensuring our knowledge of place value is sound. We will look at the value of different numbers as well as attempting to order them and compare them. Following on from this, we will be recapping adding and subtraction practically before moving onto use of the formal column method. After, we will be focusing on multiplication and division where will be looking at different methods to calculate problems as well as continuing to gain confidence with our times tables.

Pointillism (Art)

By Lilly, Molly and Edith

We have been learning about pointillism and have looked at the works of artists such as George Seurat and Yayoi Kasuma. We have been re-creating some of their work and also using their art as inspiration for our own pieces. We used pointillism to create decorations for our class Christmas Tree. Today we have represented Seahenge through pointillism. 

English Detectives

By Elizabeth, Hanna and Ewa

In English this week, we became detectives during a scavenger hunt outside to find statement, question, exclamation and command sentences. We have also learnt about using the correct punctuation for each. We worked in small groups to find the clues and created our own examples.

EXAMPLES

Question:     How did you do that?

Command:   Go to bed.

Statement:   I am tired.

Exclamation: What an awful noise!

We have been learning all about speech/dialogue and how to correctly use this in our writing. We have been writing our own narratives and using our speech skills to move the plot on. 

Swift class have been learning about Lincolnshire Day and the geography of our county. We have learnt about the Legend of the Imp, re-enacted the story and sculpted our own from clay. We thoroughly enjoyed completing an orienteering trail around the school grounds to locate the Imp and we found him hiding in the gazebo! The class have also made some beautiful artwork inspired by their Stone Age learning.

A fantastic day visiting Flag Fen just outside of Peterborough. We investigated artefacts from the Stone, Bronze and Iron Ages, listened to a Bronze age tale around the fire in the roundhouse, created clay beaker pots and saw the famous "Causeway". A terrific day out to enhance our topic on Ancient Britain.