“…all at once I saw a crowd,
A host, of golden daffodils;
Beside the lake, beneath the trees,
Fluttering and dancing in the breeze.”

                                                                             William Wordsworth

History

During the first half of the Spring term, Year 3’s history topic is ‘Rock and Roll’, which is all about the Stone Age to the Iron Age (about what life was like in prehistoric times and how this changed over time). We are planning to make torcs, stewed fruit and even climb up Bredon Hill to see the remains of an Iron Age Hill Fort!

Science

In science we have been learning about the life cycle of flowering plants and how they are pollinated and produce seeds. The children worked together to research the process, wrote a script for a short film, explaining what happens, then made short films to show what happens.

Before Christmas the children investigated what plants need to grow and were surprised to find that their cress even grew in the dark, although it was yellow, rather than green, and was tall and spindly!

They then investigated how plants transport water via their stems. They put celery sticks into water to which they had added food colouring, and a few days later they cut the celery to see what had happened. They were amazed to see where the coloured water had gone and made comparisons between the plants’ phloem vessels and arteries in mammals. 

Rocks

In mid January the class started their new science topic-Rocks. They spent some time investigating the vocabulary they would need for this topic, finding out the meaning of words/phrases like permeable, high density, low density and durable.

The children were then given a range of rocks to investigate. They worked together to come up with ideas for how they could test these rocks to determine their properties. They decided that they could test each rock for durability by scratching it with a split pin, or rubbing it with sandpaper, and observing what happened. They decided to test the density of the rocks by dropping them into water and seeing if they floated or not (making great links to their previous science learning on floating and sinking).

To test how permeable the rocks were, the children poured water onto them and used their science observation skills to see if the rock changed colour, whether the water pooled on the top, of if any came through underneath. They talked about how they rocks would weigh more if they absorbed water too.

DT

In DT Year 3 began their DT topic on pneumatic systems by spending some time learning the vocabulary for the topic and exploring the power of moving air, using a ball pump, syringes and tubing, balloons and straws & table tennis balls. They then carried out a focussed practical task to see if they could make a sealed pneumatic system using a small box, a balloon and some tubing-providing the air force themselves.

The children really enjoyed the lesson and are looking forward to exploring further ways of creating simple pneumatic systems next week. Later in the half term they will use and apply what they have learnt to designing and making a mascot, incorporating a pneumatic system.

Thank you to McDonald’s, Evesham, for donating the boxes!

History

As part of their History topic Stone Age to Iron Age, Year 3 climbed Bredon Hill to meet with the Local Authority archaeologist, who talked to them about the iron age hill fort. She brought the past to life for them and explained that, what initially looked like just part of the summit, is actually what is left of an Iron Age hillfort that dates back to well before the 1st century A.D.  It appears that it was also the site of a great battle after which it was abandoned.  In 2011 the largest hoard of roman silver coins ever found in Worcestershire was discovered near to the hill fort!

The children made a visual timeline to represent events in history, from present day back to the Iron Age. They also learnt about how the Iron Age people lived together, protected themselves from invasions and used animals for food and clothing. The children had a great time and did a brilliant job walking to the top of Bredon Hill and back.