Birkbeck Primary School

Elm Class

21st June 2024

What an exciting month it has been!

Summer Showcase

Last week, most of our class had an incredible experience to perform on the stage at Churchill Theatre Bromley. The children had a fabulous time performing, travelling on the 'VIP' buses and experiencing the backstage are of the theatre.

At 7pm, it was finally their chance to shine and they brilliantly performed 'Chitty Chitty Bang Bang' in their year group and then 'The Greatest Show' and 'Can't Stop the Feeling' with the rest of the school. Some children also participated within the Birkbeck Ensemble (playing their glockenspiels and reading sheet music) and the school choir. 

We are so impressed by the talent in our year group and look forward to see them performing again in the future. Well done!

English

This half-term the children have been retelling the story of the 'Diver's daughter', focusing on their use of inverted commas for speech. They have been using fronted adverbials, expanded noun phrases and all their senses to thoroughly describe their settings and have been thinking carefully about how to influence their reader to feel certain emotions. I will post examples of their final pieces on the next class blog!

Hampton Court Palace

We took a step back in time this month when we visited one of Henry VIII’s most luxurious homes, Hampton Court Palace! We saw the beautifully maintained grounds featuring lush gardens, flower beds and bush mazes. Explored the depths of Henry’s apartments, seeking out his many tapestries and portraits, gazed in awe of his weapons collection that had been arranged in a majestic and artistic geometric pattern and we enjoyed an incredible workshop that taught us to question what we thought we knew about Henry VIII, as we used artefacts to investigate the infamous monarch!

(I do not have many children's permission from the form at the start of the year. Happy to release this photograph again if more consent is given.)

Maths
One of Year 3’s favourite subjects has been deliciously interesting this month as we have dived into geometry. Year 3 students have been investigating the properties of both 2D and 3D shapes, understanding what the difference between parallel and perpendicular is and creating 3 dimensional constructions of familiar shapes. Using crafting sticks and marshmallows, we crafted the edges and vertices of cubes, cuboids, triangular and pentagonal prisms. We will now be exploring “Mass and Capacity”, so if you need a hand with measuring out the flour in any recipes…you should be able to find plenty of help!
Design Technology (DT)

We finally unveiled our Tie Dye project and were thrilled by the stunning results and creativity on display. The children experimented with various techniques, each producing beautiful and unique pieces that truly showcased their artistic flair.

Moving forward, we've started exploring Pneumatics. Pneumatics involves using compressed air to create movement, and it's a key concept in many mechanical systems. The children have designed toys that incorporate pneumatics and learned about the importance of using exploded diagrams to aid their designs. Over the coming weeks, they will build their pneumatic toys, and we can't wait to showcase the completed results.

Kind Regards,

Miss Finlay

21st May 2024

 Welcome back to our class blog!

DT

This week, our enthusiastic Year 3 students finally embarked on an exciting journey into the colourful world of tie-dye as part of their DT curriculum. The objective was to explore colour and mood through tie-dye and create their own unique, vibrant master pieces.

They prepped their plain white T-shirts, and experimented with various folding techniques and binding methods to create unique patterns. Spirals, stripes, and crumples were just a few of the designs they explored. Once their shirts were prepped, it was time to apply the dye. The children carefully chose their colour combinations that reflected their personalities.

Currently we are waiting for the dye to set.  Stay tuned as we will soon be unwrapping our shirts to reveal our designs.

 

Mathematics
In Maths this month, we have been using clocks to understand how to read, represent and calculate time. In order to do this, we took the time to understand the meaning of the intervals around the clock and what each of them meant, gained an understanding of each hand that can be found on the clock and how we can use the 5-minute intervals to quickly and effortlessly read the time.
Coming up next, Year 3 shall be learning all about angles, including identifying, comparing and drawing angles and using them to recognize and describe 2-D and 3-D shapes!
 
History
We have been exploring more of Henry VIII’s infamous feats this month as we dived right into history. We looked at how Henry VIII became intent on becoming the head of the church in the eyes of the law and in the eyes of God with the “Supremacy Act”. We learned about his determination to fund his lifestyle with a barrage of taxes including a beard tax! Not only this, but Year 3 have explored the 6 wives of the former king, understanding why he married each wife and just as importantly, why he divorced, executed or moved on from each.
Science

This term we have been exploring Animals including humans. We began the unit by exploring the diets of animals, exploring what is meant by carnivores, herbivores and omnivores and then we moved onto the  differences between invertebrates and vertebrates. We looked at real animal x-rays and compared them with photographs of animals! 

After this, our learning turned towards humans, exploring how our muscles work in pairs, how to design a healthy meal and how to find out the nutritional value of different foods.

Kind Regards,

Miss Finlay

 

19th April 2024

Welcome back to our class blog for our final term. See below a Powerpoint summarising all the learning for the Summer term.

Kind Regards,

Miss Finlay

 

y3 summer final.pdf

 

 

20th March 2024

What an exciting month March has been. With World book day, Roman day, Scientist days and much more, this blog will only touch the surface of the engaging learning opportunities the children have experienced. 

History - Roman Day

Last week we had an immersive history day where the children dressed up as Romans and experienced life in Roman Britain. Throughout the day, the story unravelled about how they were invading Britain and going against Boudicca and her tribe, the Iceni! 

The day began with a carousel of activities where the children were able to create traditional Roman items including, mosaics, necklaces, clay pots, traditional games, pouches, wax tablets and also take part in extracting olive oil for oil lamps, writing their name with charcoal and marching with roman shields. Following this, the children began to prepare for the afternoon's roman banquet. They were split into groups of actors, dancers, soldiers and servants and practiced their tasks. To conclude the day, we had our Roman banquet, where it was announced that the Romans had successful destroyed Boudicca and had taken over. The children sat around the edge of the hall, watched each others performances and were served traditional roman food (bread, cheese, grapes and 'wine'). 

It was a fabulous day, ask your child what their favourite part was!

 

Maths

Our Spring term began with the children learning about and understanding the value of money. They learn about converting pounds and pence, adding and subtracting and finding change from an amount. After this we moved onto our statistics unit where the children interpreted and created tally charts, bar models and pictograms. Then we moved onto measurement and perimeter. The children were excited last week to use trundle wheels to measure various sections of the playground and record their perimeter findings.

As we transition into our next topic, fractions. We are entering an exciting phase of learning where students will deepen their understanding of fractions and their applications in real-world scenarios.

Science Day

We have had such an adventurous and scientific month in Birkbeck ... we actually became scientists! Celebrating our knowledge in the best possible way by dressing up like famous scientists that have helped shape the world of science as we know it!

We weren't satisfied with only this though, we had some visitors that gave us a hands-on experience with our science topic. For Year 3, we have been exploring various forces that affect our world and we have particularly focused on magnetism! We have been experimenting with various magnets, looking at the different materials that can be attracted, what happens when two magnets meet and seeing magnetic fields with our very eyes by using iron filings! Ask your children about magnets today as I'm sure they have a lot to say about it!

 In addition to these forces, Year 3 have also been exploring the various forces that can affect us human beings such as gravity, friction and uplift. I wonder what else we can find out about forces!

 

22nd February 2024

Welcome back to our class blog!

English

In Spring 1 the children have written an information text titled 'All about the Romans' where they thought carefully about how to share information to a reader that knows nothing about the Romans. They gathered important information and facts to present in paragraphs with sub-headings and focused on using a range of subordinate conjunctions within their writing. Below you can see a sample of one child's work in our class.

Now the children are working on their very own narrative based upon 'Escape from Pompeii'. They have worked hard on using pathetic fallacy within their writing to really engage their reader and create an intense setting. 

Maths

In Maths this term we are starting off strong by looking at interpreting data and representing it using tally, pictograms and bar charts. Using these, children will be able to gain an understanding of how we can using visual aids to compare a wide range of data. Further into the term, we shall be exploring measurements. This will include how to add and subtract measurements, compare lengths and calculate the perimeter of rectilinear shapes.

History

History this half term is looking closer to home as we investigate and discover the history of Romans in Britain! We shall be looking at how Roman innovations have influenced British living, even to this day! Looking at the life (and death) of the last Iceni King and how this impacted Roman rule over the British tribes and also the Battle of Wattling street!

Art

In Art we have been exploring various techniques we can apply to sketching to make our art look realistic. We began by exploring how we identify shapes in images, to use these as a starting point to get the proportions of their sketches accurate, then we explored different types of shading and how to present shadow on objects. The children then applied everything they learnt to draw a pencil pot.

Here is a sample of ELM's work from this unit.

Our new topic is DT and the children will finish the unit by creating their very own seasonal tart!

 

There are lots of exciting topics and events yet to be covered before Easter, so make sure to return in a month's time to see our next post!

Kind Regards,

Miss Finlay

 

 

16th January 2024

Welcome to our first blog post of 2024!

It has been fantastic to see ELM class return to school this January so focused and ready to learn. We have lots of exciting topics and trips planned for this year and you can find out more about our Spring term by watching the video below.

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Kind Regards,

Miss Finlay

23rd December 2023

English

After finishing their Non-chronological reports inspired by characters Stig and Barney in 'Stig of the Dump', the children moved onto their final unit of the term 'Spoken Word'. All children learnt what makes an effective speech, wrote their own and then practiced and performed their speech. 

DT

In DT the children finished and then evaluated their castles. They all did great using recycled materials to bring their castle designs to life, building secure castles that could withstand some wind and pressure. 

 

 

Christmas

We had a wonderful Carol Concert at St Johns Church, where Year 3 joyfully sung their song 'Jingle Bells' and the whole school songs of 'All I want for Christmas is you' and 'Driving home for Christmas'. 

A few members of our class also took part in the Christmas Concert in the Hall in the Ensemble and Choir, where they performed in their groups in front of a large audience! Well done to those individuals!

 

Have a wonderful winter break and I look forward to welcoming the class back in January for our exciting Spring Term!

24th November 2023

Maths

We have had a very successful (and mathematical) month this November as we moved away from addition and subtraction. In this new block, pupils have been exploring multiplication and division in greater depth. We have been using arrays, number tracks and number lines to improve our understanding of multiplication and utilising many resources to experiment with division through sharing and grouping. Helpful supporting materials can be found on your child’s MyMaths account as we regularly update tasks based around the activities we encounter throughout the week.

DT

We've been learning all about castles in our DT classes. We've learnt about their key features, what made the structures stable and how they were built to withstand attacks. Two weeks ago the children used all this knowledge to design their own and now they are following their castle plans to build their own out of cardboard.

Thank you to everyone that has sent in cardboard so far to be used in our DT lessons.

If you have more cardboard at home for your child to use to continue building their castle, please send them in with it on Monday.

We look forward to updating you on their castles in our next blog post.

History Trip
Yesterday we visited Stonehenge on our school trip. We explored the museum which had a 360 video of Stonehenge that showed how it had changed over time and then looked at the Stone Age tools, bones, fossils and models of Stonehenge. We also saw a skeleton of a human found near Stonehenge. Then, we walked around Stonehenge. It was huge! We thought about how it was built all the way back in the Stone Age and why it was built. Was it built as a burial ground or as a clock or as a place of worship for Druids? Ask your child what they think. Finally, we explored the Stone Age houses from the Neolithic period. Inside were wooden beds, fire pits and clay pots. The walls were made from chalk, wattle and daub with thatched roofs. We had a great time. Ask your child what their favourite part of the trip was. 

 

17th October 2023

Welcome back to our class blog.

We have had such an exciting month and have so much to share with you!

Maths

In Maths we have moved from Place Value to Addition and Subtraction. The children have been adding and subtracting 1 and 2 digit numbers from 3 digit numbers. We have explored crossing into the 10s and the 100s columns using both place value counters and column method. 

Science

In Science we have been learning all about igneous, sedimentary and metamorphic rocks. To show our understanding of how these rocks are formed, we used chocolate to create chocolate rocks.

For igneous rock, we placed chunks of chocolate into a bag, sealed the bag and then placed it into hot water. This melted the chocolate and it then hardened into one piece of ‘rock’.

Sedimentary Rock required us to layer gratings of white, milk and dark chocolate and then press down to push it together, just like the sediments dropping to the floor of the ocean and pushing down on each other to form rocks.

Sedimentary Rock Creation

To make metamorphic rock, we had to use our sedimentary and igneous rock. We placed the rocks together and applied heat from our hands to merge them and shape into a ball.

Here are our sedimentary rocks.

Here are our metamorphic rocks.

History and Science School Trip

 On Wednesday 11th October, we visited the Natural History Museum to support our learning about the Stone Age and Rocks. We thoroughly explored the red zone, examining and touching lots of different rocks, learning more about how rocks are formed and how they are shaped by the elements. The children also experienced an earthquake and viewed precious gemstones. For history, we explored the human evolution section, seeing a range of skulls and models of humans, from Neanderthals to Homo-sapiens.

Pictures of our school trip will be presented at our class assembly.

Class Assembly

On Wednesday 18th October we will be presenting our class assembly on rocks. More information will be posted about this in the future.

 

Kind Regards,

Miss Finlay 

19th September 2023

Welcome to our monthly class blog update.

The children in 3 ELM have had a wonderful first few weeks in Key Stage 2 and we would like to share with you some of our highlights.

English

The children have writing a narrative about The Boy's adventure in 'Stone Age Boy'. The class have excellently described the actions and feelings of the main character as he goes on his journey, writing in past tense and using personification. Ask your child to explain The Boy's journey to you using our plot point map below!


Next week, the class will begin to write their own narrative, inspired by this story!

Science

In Science, the class have learnt that there are three types of rock - Igneous, Sedimentary and Metamorphic. Within our lessons, the children have been holding rocks, identifying what type of rock they are and grouping them into categories. 

Art

Exploring cave paintings has been our focus so far in art. Looking at the texture, content and colour within them. This week, the class created their very own paints, following the techniques that stone age people would have used. With a range of natural resources, the class squeezed and crushed pigment out of berries, leaves and vegetables, mixing with water and flour to create a paste. These paints were then tested in art books and you can see an example of this below.

 

Thank you for reading our class blog for this month. I look forward to updating you next month on our highlights, which will include pictures from our upcoming school trip to the natural history museum - more information will be revealed next week.

Kind Regards,

Miss Finlay

5th September 2023

Welcome to the first blog post for 3 ELM!

With the first day of school approaching, the video attached below will give you all the information that you need regarding your child’s curriculum in Autumn 1, PE Dates, Homework and more.

I am looking forward to teaching Elm class tomorrow and the fabulous year that we are going to have!

If you have any questions, you may contact me at year3@birkbeck.bexley.sch.uk

Kind Regards,

Miss Finlay 

/i/video/Year3Welcome.mov