Year 3 Newsletter

What a busy fortnight we've had in year 3!  Here are the highlights!

WE FINALLY GOT TO SEE TUTANKHAMEN!

The children were impeccably behaved once again as we visited the Saatchi Gallery for the second time and finally got to see the Tutankhamen exhibition.  It was well worth the wait!

Some of our favourite exhibits were the chair that Tutankhamen sat in when he was made Pharaoh aged 9, his funeral bed with gilded lion's feet and the throwing sticks, very similar to boomerangs, that the Ancient Egyptians used to hunt. 

Investigating Roman aqueducts and how they work

We learnt about the Roman invention of aqueducts, what they were used for and how they improved life in Britain.  We had a go at making aqueducts out of card and tape and tested them with a marble to see if they worked! We think aqueducts are a very clever Roman invention!

A visit from Rev. Sarah from the Holy Trinity Church

As part of our RE unit on Christianity, we invited Rev. Sarah to tell us a story that Jesus told.  She shared the story of The Mustard Seed with us in the immersion room, bringing her special gold story box to help her. The children were captivated by the story and her soothing voice.   Afterwards, the children had the chance to retell the story using the things in the box and also responded to the story in pictures, writing and making.

World Book Day!

We had a fabulous world book day and the children looked AMAZING dressed up as their favourite characters.  We laughed out loud watching Michael Rosen's video of him performing his poem 'Chocolate Cake' and we read some of James Carter's poems.  We then created some art work in response to four of our favourites, using oil pastels, collage and sketching pencils.

Finally... the Poetry Slam!

It was a winning Friday for Year 3 in the key stage two poetry slam!  Klee performed 'The Owl and the Pussy-Cat' and Pollock performed 'Go to the back Rosa Parks'.  Between us we achieved third and first place!  An incredible achievement especially being the youngest children in KS2. 
Miss Wadley and Mrs Smith are so very proud of all the children, especially those who were out of their comfort zones performing on stage.  They were clear, strong, expressive and passionate...and truly AWESOME!

World Book Day at Windhill21

On Thursday, Windhill21 was taken over by a plethora of book characters, ranging from Harry Potter to Willy Wonka! It was a fantastic day and it was great to see so many children (and adults!) celebrating their favourite books.

                        

   

The theme of this year's world book day was to share a story, and our aim was to reach one million reads as part of the reading revolution.

To try and help us to achieve this, the children participated in a number of story sharing activities. 

We began by getting cosy and sharing stories in assembly. EYFS and KS1 enjoyed a fabulous picture book about a brave mouse, Lower KS2 were enthralled by Lao Lao of Dragon Mountain and Upper KS2 were captivated by a spooky ghost story which included lights out and torches!

The Lion Inside was read to EYFS and KS1.

Lower KS2 enjoyed Lao Lao of Dragon Mountain

The Legend of Sleep Hollow was read to Upper KS2

The children also got to enjoy a reading run around, which was where the teachers selected their favourite poetry or story book and read to each class for 5 minutes before a timer went off and they ran to the next class. We really loved sharing our stories and poems and it was exciting to see which teacher and what poem or story we got next! 

The children were also read to by their teachers, TAs and to each other throughout the day and we all discussed our favourite parts of stories.   Lots of us also spent some time listening to, reading, watching, enjoying and responding to poetry.  Some of us created art work based on a poem or illustrated one while others produced drama and wrote their own poems. One thing for sure is, we all loved watching Michael Rosen's videos where he performs his poems.  A massive favourite was 'Chocolate Cake'. 

Year 2 - World Book Day

On Thursday we celebrated World Book Day! During Assembly, we enjoyed hearing the story "The Lion Inside" and learnt about the importance of sharing stories with our families and friends. 

After we shared our favourite stories with the class and wrote about the character we had chosen to dress up as and why. 

We also enjoyed learning how to perform poetry and listened to Michael Rosen's Chocolate Cake poem. It was very funny! 

World Book Day

We had a fantastic World Book Day in nursery with a huge range of costumes from Peter Pan, Mary Poppins, princesses and sharks. Lots of children brought in their favourite book and we played a game guessing which character went with each story. All the children had a photo taken in their beautiful costume and a group one with the teachers as well !

Year 4 - Quentin Blake style

This afternoon, we used watercolours to finish our Quentin Blake inspired artwork as our stimulus for WBD was the revolting rhyme of Little Red Riding Hood and the Wolf. 

Year 5 Highwayman display

A beautiful display showcasing some of the beautiful work created by the children in Banksy class!

Year 3 and 4 WBD assembly

This morning, Year 3 and 4 were invited to join Mrs Smith (dressed as Creature Teacher!) in a reading lounge where some of us even got comfy on the bean bags! Working towards the goal of reading a million stories, we listened intently to Lao Lao of Dragon Mountain by Margaret Bateson-Hill and read along on the screen. It was lovely to share our own favourite class texts and discuss these.

Rousseau World Book Day!

In Rousseau class, we have had lots fun celebrating World Book Day! This morning, we were lucky enough to have lots of different teachers share their favourite poems with us during a 'reading run around'. Miss Wadley, Mrs Smith and Mr Wilson read a selection of poems from lots of different books. Miss Woodcock's poem choices included topics on bogies, ear hair and dads who live in dustbins!!
We then watched the revolting rhyme about Little Red Hiding Hood and the Wolf (it has a very different ending to the traditional tale!!) We drew illustrations to accompany the poem in the style of Quentin Blake's work.

This afternoon, we began practising our poem for next week's poetry slam, Tyger by William Blake.

Check out some of our amazing costumes!

World Book Day in Year 5

The focus of World Book Day in Year 5 was the Highwayman by Alfred Noyes, a narrative poem, as illustrated by Charles Keeping. After reading and understanding poem, we wrote our own poems as a response to the characters and their feelings / actions towards each other. In the afternoon, we completed art work in the style of Keeping using our favourite illustrations. Such a great poem. Such a privilege to study it on world book day.

Year Six celebrate World Book Day

What a wonderful World Book Day was had by all in Year Six! The variety of costumes on show - accompanied by well-loved books - showed a real love of the written word in both classes.
The children enjoyed a teacher ‘poetry run’,  an atmospheric and tension filled retelling of the ghost story ‘Sleepy Hollow’...and we all had a good giggle listening to some of Michael Rosen’s best loved...and hugely entertaining...poems. Here’s to next year!

Year 5 Banksy WBD

We had a fantastic day in Banksy today exploring The Highwayman poem and the children have created some amazing poems inspired by the original. We also had the opportunity to practise our performance poetry and it was the best rehearsal yet, with a bit more practise we will be stage ready! The children also looked fabulous dressed as their favourite book character!

Reception World Book Day 2020

In Reception we really enjoyed our World Book Day 2020!

We started the day with an assembly to talk about Sharing One Million Stories! We talked about how important it is to share stories everyday with our families and loved ones. 

Mrs Watson-Clarke read Miss Lawrence's favourite story: The Lion Inside.

We loved looking at everyone's costumes and comparing different characters! Everyone looked brilliant today! We wrote book reviews of our favourite stories.

At the end of the day we played a 'Name that Story' quiz!

We had a brilliant day!