This half term year 3 has been super busy! In English we have read the book ‘The Bluest of Blues’, which is a beautiful picture book biography of the botanist and photographer Anna Atkins. Anna was fascinated with the plant life around her, and recorded her findings in detailed engravings and illustrations until she invented cyanotype photography in 1842. Inspired by Anna we’ve had a go at pressing and preserving flowers, writing diary entries and poems, carrying out research and recording our findings about beetles and writing persuasive letters to the Royal Botanist Society.  

In RE we have been learning about Buddhism, and what the Buddha taught his followers about life. We have enjoyed finding out about Siddhartha’s journey to reach enlightenment, and discussing what we believe the most important things anyone can achieve in their lifetime is. 

During our PSHE lessons we have been discussing ‘relationships’, those we have with our families, friends and as part of wider society. We have had a go at solving friendship problems, taken turns at being good listeners and come up with strategies to keep us safe online. During our lessons about global citizens, we looked at how the actions and work of people around the word help and influence our lives, and had to identify where products from our everyday lives come from.  

As part of STEAM week we completed lots of practical activities. We had a go at using lemon juice as invisible heat and revealed our messages using different heat sources. Due to oxidation, the hidden message appeared dark brown as the acid from the lemon juice was heated. During another lesson we carried out a practical action activity, where we had to create houses out of recycled material that would withstand flooding. It was fun making the houses and then testing to see which held up against the flood waters.  

We had a great trip to Barnet Environmental Centre, where we got to look at different types of rocks and fossils, went minibeast hunting and investigated different plants and wildlife. This helped us to prepare for our science unit, where we have been learning all about plants. We don’t want to share too much of what we have done with you, but we’ve learnt about the lifecycle of the flowering plant, what plants need to survive and have had a go at drawing and labelling the parts of a plant. You’ll have to come along to our class assembly, which just so happens to be all about plants, to find out what else we’ve been up to! 

This half term in Year 3 we've done lots of exciting things. In English, we've been reading a book called The King Who Banned the Dark, by Emily Haworth-Booth. It’s about a little boy who grows up to be king, he decides to use his power to tackle his fear of the dark by banning it. His advisors persuade him that the best way to do this is by convincing the people that it was what they wanted anyway. They even plan a celebration of the dark ban with a grand fireworks display but maybe the people are not as susceptible as the king and his advisors believe. We enjoyed doing lots of writing activities surrounding this book, including newspaper articles, poems and narratives.  

In Geography, we've been learning all about volcanoes, and why people live near volcanoes. We’ve discussed how the earth is made up of different layers and can name and order them from the centre of the earth to the surface.  

In science, our topic this half term has been forces and magnets. We’ve observed how magnets attract or repel each other, and attract some materials and not others. During an investigation, we compared and had a go at grouping together a variety of everyday materials on the basis of whether they were attracted to a magnet, and identify some magnetic materials. We used our knowledge to predict whether two magnets will attract or repel each other, depending on which poles are facing.  

Finally, we had a great time during International week learning all about Japan. We learnt all about Japan’s geography, made origami crabs and swans and had a go at writing our names in Katakana, which is one component of the Japanese writing system. We are looking forward to a much needed break after a very busy half term!