​This week in Year 3 we have been learning how to stay safe at home and outside. We went on a Road Safety walk on the streets around our school. We learnt how to cross a road safely with and without a crossing. Even when we are walking along a pavement we learnt that we need to be careful of driveways, especially when they are hidden by hedges.  

We had a firefighter in to talk about preventing fire and staying secure in our homes. We were instructed to go home and check we had working smoke alarms and make an action plan for if we ever had a fire at home. We were surprised to learn that the fire service will come out to anyone’s house in Essex completely free to fit a smoke alarm on each floor.  

We also learnt about railway safety, so now know why it is important that we only cross a railway track at a crossing and still look and listen for trains. We found out that some railway tracks have 25,000 volts of electricity running through them at all times of the day and night but also the electricity can jump three metres! 

On Friday our parents and carers joined us for a fun Maths afternoon. They helped us play lots of different games and solve problems. We were able to show them how we learn in lessons and teach them some of the strategies we use to solve problems. 

 This half term so far has been an exciting one for 3CB! Last week we got to practice a number of different skills such as juicing, chopping and straining while making our very own fruit smoothie. We had a selection of fruit to choose from and in our group chose the fruit we all liked best. It was very messy but we created a lot of juice (from some fruits more than others) and got to try it at the end of the lesson.  

This week we also made our own salt dough, there was flour everywhere! We spent a long time kneading our dough to ensure it was the right consistency as we were using to it to make a model. We were modelling a coastline which we have been learning all about. We were discussing how erosion effects our coastline and using this knowledge to create an arch, a headland, a stack, a stump and a beach. 

In 3DL’s English lessons this week we have been writing informal letters using the features we learnt about last week. As our class book this term is The Iron Man, we have been writing letters between the main characters; The Iron Man and Hogarth. We needed to imagine we were the character so needed to think about how they would feel and what they would say to their friend. 

In Science we have been learning about different food groups. We used the Eatwell Plate to plan a balanced diet for one day. We found it quite tricky sorting some of the food into one group because many foods can fit into more than one group.  

We made a fruit smoothie in DT, which was fun because we didn’t use a blender. Instead we pureed the fruit through a sieve after cutting it up using the bridge technique. We enjoyed tasting our finished product but found it was hard work for not a lot of smoothie! 
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In RE we have been comparing religious stories from Christianity and Judaism. In groups we acted out the story of Passover. We looked at how the stories relate to the festivals of Christmas, Easter and Pesach. In addition, we thought about how these festivals are celebrated by their followers. ​

Last week in Computing we created a light painting using iPad software. We used slow motion camera techniques including choosing the shutter speed, the light sensitivity and zoom. To create effective pictures, we had to go into a dark room so we could see the lights being used. We used finger lights to make our painting, in a range of colours. Everyone enjoyed the lesson and learnt new skills using the software as this was a new experience.  ​

This week in Maths we started a new unit on Shape. We have been learning about the differences between the three different types of angle (right angle, acute angle and obtuse angles). We made our own right angle checker by folding a circle into quarters and using two edges as the checker. We found lots of right angles in our classroom and named the different angles in 2D shapes. Some of us sorted shapes into Venn diagrams and others solved different problems by investigating the questions. For example, how many angles are there in the letters of your name?

We have really been enjoying our topic about photography this term, especially as we have started using computer software to produce our own ‘Squash and Stretch’ animation. We planned our video by drawing a storyboard with at least six different frames to show a ball bouncing. This week we used iMotion on the iPads to take the photos. It was really hard because sometimes the iPad didn’t stay still and sometimes the Play-doh fell off the stand. However, it was really fun and most of us were happy with our final video.

In English we have been writing diaries. As our class book is The Iron Man, we have been using him to gather ideas. In Reading Skills we have been looking at classic texts. We have read extracts of Wind in the Willows and Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland. We used clues in the text to work out what the characters were feeling and thinking.

We were lucky to be able to use the sunny weather this week in science because we have been learning about what makes a good shadow. We went outside and found different shadows before making our own using our hands.