Swallows in action!
Swallows class 2021-2022
Week beginning 5th January 2022
New Term- New Topic! From now until Easter we shall we embarking on an epic exploratory journey of South America. This week we got our feet under the table and our brains in gear with some warm up lessons ready to hit the ground running with our new topic next week!
We made a start on our new maths unit- multiplication, and tried our hand at making equal groups…
We set ourselves writing success criteria based on what we could remember from last term and had a go at applying them to our own writing…
We got very bendy in gymnastics…
and not forgetting our super singers in choir this week!
Week beginning 13th December 2021
End of the Autumn Term! This week has been a bit of a whirlwind of celebrations and we have had a lovely time taking part in the Christingle, Christmas lunch, Christmas party and school Carol service. Well done for completing a fab first term in Year3 3 Swallows, we wish you a very Merry Christmas and look forward to seeing you in the New Year!
Week beginning 6th December 2021
As we draw nearer to the end of term and closer to Christmas, we have had our theology hats on this week and been thinking about where Christian beliefs come from. We started by looking at the Old Testament in the Bible and the story of Moses which wrapped up our Archaeology topic nicely as the children were able to link all their learning about the Ancient Egyptians to the story. We looked at the Ten Commandments and discussed their relevance and importance in our own lives before writing our own. Finally, we finished the week by looking at the New Testament and the parables Jesus told his followers. We thought about what makes a good storyteller and why the parables from the New Testament are still popular thousands of years after they were first written in the Bible. The children then had a go at retelling ‘The Good Samaritan’.
Following on from our unit on rocks and fossils last week the children also had a go at making fossils of the future. We talked about all the everyday objects we use and how they will define the mark we leave on the planet!
A round of applause for our super singers in choir this week!
Finally, Christmas is certainly coming to Alpington. From the Christmas Fayre, to Santa in his Grotto, to carols on the playground- we hope you are beginning to feel as festive as we are!
Week beginning 29th November 2021
This week we have turned our hands to paleontology and have been learning all about rock, soil and fossil formation! The children have been really looking forward to this unit so they could bring in and share their very impressive rock and fossil collections from home. We hope they have been coming home with lots of knew facts about where their rocks may have come from and how they were formed!
The children had a fab map making session in outdoor learning!
Our super singers in choir this week…
Week beginning 22nd November 2021
We have become Ancient Egyptian theologians this week and have been discussing all things to do with Ancient Egyptian religion- namely gods and goddesses! We have spent a lot of time researching interesting facts about the different gods and all the things Ancient Egyptians believed they controlled. We then finished the week by presenting our findings clearly and effectively in the style of a poster!
We also had a great time enjoying the outdoors with Mrs Godbold in Forest School on Monday. This week we were measuring tree trunks and learning what the size of a tree can tell us about its history!
Week beginning 15th November 2021
This week we have been learning all about the River Nile and the role it played in the success of the Ancient Egyptians as a civilisation. We transported ourselves back in time 5000 years and boarded an Ancient Egyptian barge which took us on a journey past vast pyramids and snapping crocodiles, we created models of the Nile and used these as a stimulus to explain all the ways in which the Nile was used to support daily life as an Ancient Egyptian and we finished the week by writing shape poems and composing our own Nile inspired pieces of music which we performed for our classmates. To see the performances, please log on to Tapestry!
Week beginning 8th November 2021 – Environment Week!
We have enjoyed a jam packed week this week, talking all things climate change! In Swallows, we focussed on the issue of deforestation and all the ways that it is not only contributing to climate change, but also endangering all kinds of species across the globe.
The week culminated in our Alpington Eco Summit where each class proposed changes we can make as a school and a play ground protest to inform parents of what we have learned this week!
We also has lot’s of fun building dens in our forest school session…
A very big well done to this weeks star singers in choir practise too!
Week beginning 1st November 2021
Well done on completing a fab first week back in the classroom after half term Swallows! The children started the week with some outdoor learning where they spent the afternoon searching the school grounds for natural objects which they then made crowns with.
In writing, we have started a new unit based on the story ‘The Egyptian Cinderella’. This week the children have been comparing the story to the version of Cinderella they are familiar with and have practised plotting other traditional tales on story mountains in preparation for writing their own Ancient Egyptian inspired tale next week.
We have also had lots to celebrate in class this week and spent Thursday afternoon learning about Diwali and enjoyed making Rangoli. Finally, we wrapped up the week with an afternoon of bonfire night themed art work. We hope you enjoy the fireworks this weekend Swallows and will see you back in the classroom on Monday!
Week beginning 18th October 2021
What a fab week to wrap up the half term! From canopic jars to cartouches and archaeologists to Ancient Egyptian fashion designers it feels like we have covered it all.
After all the amazing clay work that has been happening in Swallows this week we are now the proud curators of our very own selection of Ancient Egyptian artefacts.
Throw in the work we have been doing analysing primary and secondary sources, and the children could without doubt give Howard Carter himself a run for his money with their incredible questioning skills.
We hope you enjoy a well earned break Swallows. We look forward to seeing you back in the class room after half term!
Week beginning 11th October 2021
This week, Swallows class have enjoyed not 1 but 2 trips! Our first trip was to Norwich Castle Museum where we were able to get up close and personal with real Ancient Egyptian artefacts and also show off all our knew knowledge! We looked at the mummification process, Egyptian clothes and jewelry, Egyptian farming and Egyptian food.
Our second trip was to Norwich Cathedral to see Dippy the dinosaur. We had a lovely morning sketching in the cloisters before our Dippy tour began. When it was our turn to head in to the exhibition, we learned a lot about Dippy and the things paleontologists have discovered about how the diplodocus would have lived just by looking at the dinosaur’s skeleton. Once again, Swallows class were little fonts of knowledge and keen to share their own facts as well as listen and learn to the new ones being shared with them.
Other projects we have started in class this week include: making our own canopic jars and creating PowerPoint presentations of all our favourite bits of our topic so far!
Week beginning 4th October 2021
Another wonderful week in Swallows class! In English this week the children have been empathetic and thoughtful writers by writing a diary entry as if they were Tadeo Jones, an explorer who discovers an ancient Egyptian tomb. The children had to think about using informal language and including all the features of a diary. Later on in the week, they had a go at writing the instructions of how to mummify a body.
In maths we have begun our work on addition and subtraction. At the beginning of the week we focused on adding and subtracting multiples of 100 and then began to think about using column addition to add and subtract ones to a three digit number.
In topic we have been learning about the Rosetta Stone and its significance. From this the children were able to learn all about hieroglyphs and wrote messages to one another on the playground. We have also been continuing on our work on mummification and have been designing our own canopic jars.
Week beginning 27th September 2021
Lots of ‘Archeaology’ themed learning happening in Swallows class this week. The children have set up an archaeology dig for themselves by burying a selection of objects and predicting what might happen to them whilst they are underground, tried their hand at mummification by practicing their skills on tomatoes and had a go at piecing together the story of the pharaohs by using their questioning skills to analyse Ancient Egyptian artefacts.
We also got to enjoy a lovely Harvest Festival celebration at the church!
Week beginning 20th September 2021
Another busy week in Swallows! We have enjoyed lots of exciting Ancient Egyptian themed learning opportunities including: bread making, exploring King Tut’s tomb and making our own Ancient Egyptian headdresses. We will be using all these great practical experiences to really inspire our writing next week!
Week beginning 13th September 2021
It’s been all systems go this week. We have covered lots of topic work and found out where Egypt is, thought about who the Ancient Egyptians really were and practiced our excavation techniques; we have learned new writing techniques in English which include similes, expanded noun phrases, personification and fronted adverbials; and continued with our place value work and building our confidence when working with 3-digit numbers in Maths. Well done Swallows!
Week beginning 6th September 2021
The new Swallows class have settled back into school life with enthusiasm. We have had a busy first week getting used to our new routines and getting stuck into this term’s topic- Archaeology!
