Last Thursday, we enjoyed a lovely day out to the National Portrait Gallery located by Trafalgar Square. As we’ve been learning all about the Tudors in history, this was a perfect opportunity to have a closer look at some of the significant individuals from this period.
We have especially enjoyed getting to know more about King Henry VIII. We took some time to study one of his portraits by Hans Holbein the Younger, a German artist. We studied Henry VIII’s pose in the portrait. He stood with his feet wide apart and planted firmly on the ground. This was a powerful pose to reflect his status as the king. His clothing also reflected his wealth as did many portraits commissioned in the past.
Here we are taking a learning walk through the gallery, reading the information by the portraits, sketching the portrait of Henry VIII and extending our knowledge of the Tudor period in Britain.
We would like to thank the wonderful parents who came along to support us on this trip. It was a pleasure having you joining our learning for the day.
Here are some of the sketches of Henry VIII we drew at the gallery. We aimed to capture his pose and posture, as well as his clothes.
As part of art this term, we focused on portraits. This was linked to our history as we studied portraits of famous Tudor monarchs. We looked closely at elements of portraits such as objects, expression, clothing and pose, and then explored how the portraits communicate mood, feelings and ideas.
Following our class trip to the National Portrait Gallery, we had a go at drawing self portraits in different poses. Have a look as some of our portraits here:
Welcome back to spring term 2. We have some exciting events to look forward to this half term and the children are really excited about them. We are we are particularly excited in year 3 because we have started to learn to play the ukelele. All children in year 3 will have weekly lessons for ten weeks.
Topic
This half term we will be focusing on the Tudors as our history topic. So far, the children have learned about how the Tudor period began, through learning about the War of the Roses and the impact they have on our lives today. As part of this topic, we will be visiting the National Portrait Gallery to look at portraits of the Tudor Monarchs. Look out for the pictures next week.
Writing
In writing, children will learn write letters using the Tudor period as a context and a recount of the British Navy’s battle with the Spanish Armada .
Maths
We will be learning about fractions and measurement. Much of the learning for the spring term closely links to your child’s knowledge and understanding of their multiplication and division facts, so it is important that you ensure that your child practices his or her times table at home.
P.E.
P.E. will now take place every Wednesday this half term. Please ensure that your child has their full P.E. kit on that day.
Science
For science this half term, we will be learning about the function of the human skeleton and muscles. They will also learn about the function of plants and the different ways they disperse their seeds. Maybe you could support your child by asking them how the acronym SPaM is used to help them remember the function of the skeleton.
Reading
Finally, I would like to remind you about reading. Children’s books are changed every Tuesday and Friday. Please could you ensure that your child reads every day and that their reading records are signed. Thank you to all of you who have chosen to do this regularly.
All the children have settled in incredibly well and we have had a great few weeks back. We have some exciting topics this half term and the children are really excited about them.
Topic
We will be learning about the physical and some of the human features of Asia. Over the weeks, the children have practised using atlases to locating some of Asia’s more well known physical features and learning incredible facts about them. Why not test your child on what they have learnt so far.
Writing
In writing, children will be writing traditional tales which have been told in Asia and a persuasive brochure about Asia. Look out for some of the finished brochures in our blog later this term. Hopefully after reading them they may persuade you to visit this incredible continent.
Maths
We will be learning about multiplication and division fact and using them to help them multiply and divide two digit number by one digit numbers beyond 12. It is very important that you continue to encourage your children to practise their addition and subtraction fact to 20 as well as their 5, 10, 2 in addition to their new learning.
P.E.
P.E. will now take place every Tuesday. Please ensure that your child has their full P.E. kit on that day.
Science
For science this half term, we have been learning about the importance of light, how shadows are formed and the importance of sun safety. As part of this unit we will be investigating patterns related to the size and shape of shadows.
Reading
Finally, a quick reminder about reading. Children’s books are changed every Tuesday and Friday. Please could you ensure that your child reads every day and that their reading records are signed.
Year 3 have been very busy this week with assessments, but in between assessments we have been learning about two different types of words groups, adverbs and subordinating conjunctions.
We have learned that adverbs can modify (change) a verb by describing how it is or was performed, and when or where it took place. We also learned that they can also be used at the beginning of a sentence to modify (change) the whole sentence. When this happens we call them fronted adverbials. To help us remember the job of the adverbs we watched a great video about adverbs (see link below).
When we learned about subordinating conjunctions, we found out that subordinating conjunctions join dependent (subordinating) clauses to independent clauses. We also discovered that independent (subordinating) clauses do not make sense on their own, so they always needs an independent clause to support them. The video link below is a song about the different subordinating conjunctions that can be used in their writing.
Next week year 3 will be putting all this learning together to write narratives so watch this space.
Our science topic this term is ‘Forces and Magnets‘.
We have learnt that a force can be a push or a pull. We investigated the effects of friction on different surfaces. A force meter was used to measure the amount of force required to drag an object across different surfaces.
This week, we explored magnetic force. What fun we had exploring the properties of magnets and learning that magnetism doesn’t need contact in order for the force to be applied!
We were able to see that the same two sides of a magnet repel but the opposite sides of a magnet attract. Did you know that a magnetic field is created between the two poles of a magnet? When the different poles (north and south) of two magnets face each other, the magnetic lines of force are going in the same direction, and so the different poles attract each other. When the poles are facing each other the magnetic lines of force are going in different directions, so they push each other apart.
