What a wonderful trip we enjoyed to the Martineau Gardens in Edgbaston on Wednesday. During the trip the children recapped their previous knowledge on parts of the plants and their jobs and began exploring the next stages in their learning of germination and pollination.

We explored their forest school, identifying a range of trees, including: Oak, Yew and Elder. We then looked closely at their leaf structure and the bark through doing wax rubbings and playing a blindfold game.

We also looked at other parts of gardens, which allowed us to taste herbs such as: fennel, chive, mint, sorrel and marjoram and vegetables such as beans, lettuce and kale. We saw tomatoes growing, compost in action and a range of fruit trees including apple, pear, damson, fig, mulberry and cherry.

The staff were really knowledgeable and answered all our questions. It was a really fantastic trip, so thank to Hugh Kenrick Days for funding it.

• Looking at the veins in the leaf.
• Seeing the UV light the bees see when looking for pollen.
• Tasting herbs.
• Smelling herbs.
• Trying vegetables.
• Exploring tomatoes.
• Part 1 of the compost process.
• Part 2 of the compost process.
• Part 3 of the compost process.
• Loving Eucalyptus trees.
• Sketching leaves.
• Wax rubbing bark.
• Not all plants grow in soil.
•  

Have a lovely weekend,

Mrs Horton

What a wonderful second week we have had in year 3. The children have really shown their growth mindset this week, working hard to demonstrate their knowledge of year 3 objectives.

In maths we have continued looking at numbers up to 1000. This week the children have ordered and compared them, by understanding the value of each digit. We have also practised counting in 50s, and are looking to move under spotting other number patterns next week.

In English the children have continued to work on adjectives for texture, shape and size and prepositions for time and place. They have used them in a short write and identified them in a piece of writing, to support their understanding of the features. Using a description from Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them, the children painted pictures of the Hungarian Horntail (one of the most dangerous breeds of dragon in the Wizarding World!).

In science the children have looked at the job roles of the flower, stem, roots and leaves. Ask your children what they can remember.

In History, we have began our study of the Stone Age, and the class got an experience of what it was like to be hunter-gatherers in Britain thousands of years ago. We will continue to study how life changed for early Britons between the Stone Age and Iron Age throughout this half term.

We will be keeping an eye on the weather forecast for next Wednesday and our trip to the Martineau Gardens, then we will know what clothing we will need to take.

Have a wonderful weekend.

Mrs Horton and Mr Bennett

Welcome to year 3!

What a wonderful week it has been welcoming our new class. The children have really shown their readiness for year three with their excellent manors and eagerness to learn.

We have begun in maths looking at place value to 1000, starting with hundred. The children have began to create the numbers with physical resources, and write them in words too.

In our English we are looking at description, and how adjectives for shape, size and texture and prepositions for time and place can make description really effective. The children have looked at examples and learnt about the key skills. We looked at an image of one of our focus texts, 'Tell Me A Dragon', and thought of lots and lots of brilliant adjectives! The children then learned about prepositions and started to apply them in sentences.

Plants will be our focus in science. The children began this unit through a range of different plant based activities where the children explored plants, seeds, pictures and words to discuss their prior knowledge and encourage them to ask questions about what they would want to know more about. Our first class trip in less two weeks to the Martineau Gardens will support our learning. In History, we learned about how Historians learn about the past. We studied homes from various times in British history,  and then sequenced them chronologically. The children had to carefully look at the pictures to decide which would be oldest. We then created a class timeline to show how close together in time these different eras were. It turned out the people lived in Stone Age Britain more than 2 million years ago! We will be studying how life in Britain changed between the Stone Age and Iron Age over the next few weeks.

We hope you have a wonderful weekend.

Mrs Horton and Mr Bennett.

What a wonderful year it has been! We can't thank the children enough for their wonderful perseverance and hard work.

Thank you for your kind cards and gifts.

We hope you all have the most amazing summer!

Mrs Horton, Mr Bennett and Mrs Feighoney.

I have really enjoyed getting to know my new class. I hope everybody is just as excited as I am for September now!

The children very much enjoyed reading my previous classes ‘Survival Guides’ at the beginning of the week and finding out a little more about the expectations at the top of the school. The children also read a ‘Mrs Stevens’ and a ‘Mrs Clarkson’ information text to find out more about us and we tried to spot some of the Year 4 skills highlighted. The children used this as a text map for their own information text; I have learned so much about all of the children as a result!

As I’m sure you may have heard, we found some dragon eggs on the field this week! The children designed ‘protectors’ for the eggs and we tested them this afternoon using testers and dropping them from a height on the adventure playground. All of the excitement about dragons fed into our art work this week and we sketched dragon eyes, which looked extremely effective! We have enjoyed lots of times table practice on times table rock stars and have enjoyed the Chris Moyle’s Maths quizzes.

I hope you have a good weekend. I am looking forward to seeing you all on Monday!

What an amazing week it has been. The children have really shown what fantastic sports people they are. 

AIP provided the children with a wonderful smoothie making workshop, with every child having on a go on the bike to help mix the smoothie. There was an interesting range of ingredients included, and hopefully it has inspired them to want to make their own home.

Sports Day was such a fabulous day. The children worked so hard for themselves and for their teammates. Watching them cheer each other on and support each other really does show what mature and caring children they are, and how they are now ready for year 4! The children from Birchensale School were wonderful in supporting the activities. A huge well done to all of Bredon on their triumph this year.

On Wednesday children from Ridgeway School led a session with the class, ready for our visit on Monday. They also completed a Forest School session. The class loved being back in the Forest School site and took part in the den building competition, and built some fantastic dens.

On Thursday, the fun run was a huge success, with many children having an extra go at the end of the day too! We finished the day off with some zumba and pilates, which was a very different type of activity many children in the class are used to!

Finally on Friday, we had a fantastic time horse riding, learning some skipping tricks and having a fun session at swimming. It has been such a wonderful week, and I'm sure the children will sleep well over the weekend! From Tuesday next week, we will begin transition week, so the class will get a taste of Year 4 ready for next year. 

Well done year 3 for shining so brightly this week.

Have wonderful weekends!

Mrs Horton and Mr Bennett

This week in maths we have continued our work on fractions. We looked at comparing fractions, and if they are greater than > or less than <. Children have looked at representations of fractions, for example: drawn in equal size bars, to support this understanding, especially when looking at fractions with different denominators. We have also started learning about angles, and that an angle is made when two straight lines meet.

In English the children have planned and written their information texts on British Wildlife. The children have thought carefully about the focus features of using headings and sub-headings and possessive apostrophes, particularly for plurals. 

On Wednesday children had the opportunity to perform their talents, for our classroom version of ‘Britain’s Got Talent’, it was wonderful array of music, dance, origami, martial arts, comedy and history. It was an absolute pleasure to watch the skills they work so hard on at home brought to life in the classroom. Well done year 3!

We had a brilliant trip on Thursday to Bewdley museum. The evacuees were well turned out on the morning, along with the adults, and we all learned a lot about what life was like for people during the Second World War. One of the highlights was going into a real air raid shelter; it was quite scary but must have been terrifying for the people who used it int he past. The fantastic weather made the trip all the more brilliant, and we all enjoyed having a picnic in the sunshine too.

Next week is activity week! Here is some useful information to help you for the week!

- Children are to come to school wearing PE sportwear.

- On Thursday afterschool there will be an opportunity for your children to have another go on the inflatable fun run on the field. We will be running this as a school fundraiser activity and therefore asking for a small payment per go (bring your change!)

- On Friday the children will be given the opportunity to buy a skipping rope after their Jump rope session. Details of cost will be on the newsletter.

Timetable for the week:

- Monday: Tardebigge Trek in the PM. Parents/carers are invited to join us at 1.15pm.

- Tuesday: Sports Day. In the morning the children will be engaging in house activities. There will be a picnic lunch on the field at 11.30 and the track events will be in the afternoon. Children to wear a t-shirt of their house colour.

- Bredon- blue
- Clent- green
- Lickey- yellow
- Malvern- red

Parents/grandparents are welcome to join us for part/all of the day.

- Wednesday: Forest School session (bring waterproofs!)
- Thursday: Inflatable fun run on the field
- Friday: Horse riding and Jump rope session

If you have any queries regarding Activity week then please just ask!

Have a lovely weekend,

Mrs Horton and Mr Bennett

This week we have continued our work in maths on fractions and looking at equivalent fractions. The children have been using paper, and folding and colouring it in to support the understanding of equivalent means equal. They have also explored how multiplying the numerator and denominator by the same number will give them an equivalent fraction.

In English the children have begun to research British Wildlife, ready to write their own information text next week.

On Tuesday the children enjoyed a wonderful performance of ‘The Jungle Book’ and then were treated to a workshop afterwards, where they could look at the production behind the scenes. The children all enjoyed it.

In science we have explored skeletons this week, and what skeletons different animals have. Ask your children to explain the difference between an exoskeleton and endoskeleton.

Have a wonderful (hopefully sunny) weekend,

Mrs Horton

This week we have begun work on fractions in maths. The children have looked at adding to make 1 whole, and adding and subtracting fractions with the same denominator. We then moved on to equivalent fractions, and the children worked really hard to spot fractions that had an equivalent value.

In English we are continuing our work on information texts. We have revisited the skill of possessive apostrophes for plurals to help the children further understand it. We then designed our very animal, after thinking about different key features different animals have. We then practised using the skills we have been learning by writing an information text on the newly designed animals. There were some very interesting creations indeed!

In science we have begun a unit on animals and humans, through looking at nutrition. The children have looked at food groups and nutrients and what the purposes of these nutrients are. The children went on to predict the amount of each nutrient that humans need and then compared these to the answers, the children were really surprised! 

In History, the children looked at more sources evidence from World War Two. The artefacts were all objects that would affect children who lived in this era, and the class had to work out what they were used for. The objects included an air raid shelter, a wireless, a gas mask and a ration book. The thought of sweets being rationed was very shocking for many of the children! In swimming, all groups had a go at swimming lengths instead of widths. This was great for building stamina and tired everyone out at the end of another busy week! 

Have a wonderful weekend,

Mrs Horton and Mr Bennett

It’s officially the final half term of the year, and for the class, the final half term of Year 3! 

In English this week, we have started learning about information texts. We have studied a variety of non-fiction texts and looked at the features in preparation to write our own, which will be about British Wildlife!

In Maths, we have learned about picture graphs and bar charts. The children have had a go at drawing their own, as well as learning to interpret the data shown on both types of graph.

As part of our topic this week, we thought about ‘What makes Tardebigge great?’ and discussed all the special places around school. We then used iPads to photograph many of the different sites. As we have been learning about different techniques with pastels, we then created a pastel picture from the photographs taken earlier. The results were very effective!

On Friday, we celebrated our readathon. Thank you to all the family members who could make it on Friday morning, and for all parents and carers who have supported the children’s reading throughout the year! The class really enjoyed coming to school in their pyjamas too, despite a few confused looks at swimming later in the afternoon!

Next week, we will be back to normal routine with Mrs Horton teaching Monday to Wednesday. 

Thank you for a great week Year 3, have a good weekend!

Mr Bennett