We have had another fun second half of our Spring Term! It has been extremely busy from the very first week back which saw us taking part in the Eisteddfod, World Book Day and our very own Platinum Jubilee celebrations.
We continued with our theme ‘Keys to the Castle’, which some children decided has been their favourite theme ever! (No pressure for our theme next term 😬)
We kicked off the second week back with an action-packed ‘Theme Day’ that saw us participate in a whole range of activities based on our topic. We built mini replicas of Caerphilly Castle in Lego, ordered some historic events on a timeline, located castles around Wales and plotted them on a map of Wales, designed and created a stained glass window, followed an old fashioned recipe to make some gingerbread sweets and used our super maths skills to crack the code and reveal the name ‘Princess Gwenllian’. We then learnt all about her the following week and produced some fantastic comic strips retelling her life. The day was so much fun and the children documented it in their own digital scrapbooks on Seesaw.
The theme for Science Week this year was ‘Growth’, so we carried out a bean experiment to investigate whether a seed needs light to germinate. We put one bean seed in the cupboard with no light and the other on the windowsill with plenty of light. We nearly all predicted that the seed without light wouldn’t grow, so we were very surprised when it was the first seed to show any sign of life and start sprouting.
We also carried out a catapult investigation, where we looked at the weight of missiles and the impact on the distance they travelled. We really enjoyed using our maths skills to weigh the missiles and our measuring skills when recording how far they had travelled. Our missiles were different types of chocolate which made the investigation even more fun.
We have also enjoyed looking at how to code on the computer and use algorithms to create a game, on the computer programme called Scratch.
One Year 3 class were also really interested to learn about 3D printing and had a go at using modelling software to design their own castles using 3D shapes, which they then sent to our 3D printer.
Year 3 have also been lucky enough to visit Caerphilly Castle on a school trip this half term. After learning about castles as part of our theme, it was great to listen to the children recall the parts of the castle and the history behind it as we walked around. We also took part in some archery sessions, we think we may see some of the children at the Olympic Games in the future, witnessing their skills in the sport, they were very accurate and so many of them hit the centre of the target.
Last week we used our persuasive writing skills to plan and produce leaflets for Caerphilly Castle, explaining why we think everyone should visit. We were so impressed with the standard of the leaflets that we emailed the visitor centre to tell them and they have agreed to put some of the leaflets on display there. Well done Year 3, we are so proud of you!
This term Miss Millet’s class took part in the fortnightly rugby sessions with Janice from Gateway Rugby and after Easter, it will be Mrs Parry’s class taking part in their P.E. lessons every other Wednesday.
In our Forest School sessions with Mrs Buckley, we have planted some vegetable seeds and put them in the school’s polytunnel to grow. We can’t wait to see how much they have grown when we visit them again next term.
Have a lovely Easter and we look forward to seeing everyone in the Summer Term. Make sure you check Seesaw for some exciting news about our new theme next term.
