The Big Science Event is an annual competition organized by Science Oxford that encourages primary school students in Oxfordshire and Buckinghamshire to design and present their own scientific investigations. In 2024, nearly 12,000 children from 77 schools participated, with finalists presenting projects on topics such as "Which food do animals like the best?" and "What foods are insulators and which are conductors?"

Our investigations include: 

Do people with longer arms through further than people with shorter arms?

Do people with longer legs run faster than people with shorter legs?

Do people with bigger feet kick a football further than people with smaller feet? 

Do people with bigger feet run faster than people with smaller feet? 

On Wednesday, 26th March, Year 3 visited the Living Rainforest in Newbury, where we had an exciting and educational day exploring a rainforest in real life. We saw a wide variety of animals, including vibrant toucans, playful monkeys, colourful frogs, and slithering snakes. The tropical plants and animals we encountered helped us understand the incredible biodiversity of the Amazon Rainforest.

We also experienced the high humidity of the rainforest, which made it feel just like the Amazon! The warmth and moisture in the air helped us understand how the rainforest’s unique environment supports such a wide range of plants and animals.

The visit directly linked to our topic on the Amazon Rainforest, as we learned about the importance of rainforests to the planet and the animals that live there. We observed how animals adapt to their environment and discussed the unique features of the rainforest that help them survive. The trip provided us with a deeper understanding of the incredible diversity of life in the Amazon and the need to protect these vital ecosystems.

In RE, the children have been exploring the enquiry question, 'What is 'good' about Good Friday?' So far, they have been recapping the Easter story and its significance in Christianity. In particular, they have been exploring why Jesus' death might be important to Christians, especially in relation to what happened at the Last Supper. The children have also been revisiting the events of Palm Sunday and Maundy Thursday through role play, hot seating, and creating a storyboard to illustrate the Easter Story. Through these activities, they have discussed why Christians refer to the day of Jesus' death as "Good Friday." One reason is that, for many Christians, Jesus' death represents the depth of his love and offers the hope of starting anew. Some Christians believe that Jesus' death and resurrection symbolise salvation, showing how people can be forgiven and saved from their wrongdoings. This discussion has helped deepen the children’s understanding of why Jesus’ death is important to Christians and what is ‘good’ about Good Friday.

In this unit, the children learned about the cultural and spiritual significance of the River Ganges in Hinduism. They explored the belief that visiting this sacred river can purify a person and bring blessings. The children examined the question of whether simply visiting the Ganges makes someone a better Sanatani.

They studied the role of the Ganges in Hinduism, the concept of pilgrimage, and how it shapes someone's spiritual journey. 

Hummingbirds had a fantastic time celebrating World Book Day this year! It’s a special occasion to share the love of books and stories. As part of the celebration, the children had Bookie Breakfast, where the class gathered to enjoy a delicious breakfast while listening to stories. They also spent time with the younger children at the school during a Buddy Reading activity. The Signets especially loved listening to the Hummingbirds read to them. The children’s creative costumes truly brought their favourite characters to life, adding an extra touch of magic to the day!

We are excited to announce that several students from the Hummingbirds class have earned their pen licenses! These children have demonstrated exceptional cursive writing skills, including proper letter formation and sizing. Earning a pen license is a significant milestone, and we are incredibly proud of their achievements!

This week in Hummingbirds class has been full of exciting learning experiences!

Here's a quick summary of some of what we've been up to:

In English, we’ve been working on drafting a letter to help stop deforestation in the Amazon Rainforest. As part of our research, we’ve gathered statistics about the impact of deforestation. We’ve also learned how to use subordinate clauses to express our opinions and how to strengthen our arguments by combining evidence with our views. Additionally, we’ve focused on using powerful and emotive language to capture the reader's attention.

In Science, we’ve been learning how to classify animals based on their skeletons. The children discovered that humans are vertebrates and studied all the bones in the human body. They also classified various other animals according to whether they have an endoskeleton, exoskeleton, or hydrostatic skeleton.

As part of international day, children in year 3 and 4 have been learning about the country Taiwan. Throughout the day children have been immersed in the language, food, landscape and culture of Taiwan. They have learnt a traditional tale ‘the salty sea’, explored the country on a map and studied its landscape, learnt to write their name in Mandarin and sampled some traditional food, including bubble tea (boba tea) a popular drink from Taiwan. 

This week in Hummingbirds class has been full of exciting learning experiences! Here's a quick summary of what we've been up to:

English: The children have been drafting their own versions of the story The Great Kapok Tree by Lynne Cherry. They were challenged to add a new character to the story and incorporate writing techniques like expanded noun phrases, adverbs (including front adverbials), similes, prepositions, and direct speech with correct punctuation. Next week, we’ll be publishing our work, and we can't wait for you to read it! 😊

Topic: We've been exploring the location of the Amazon Rainforest on a map and identifying the countries it spans across. We learned that 60% of the rainforest is in Brazil, but it also stretches into 8 other countries!

Maths: We're focusing on multiplication, specifically the 3, 4, and 8 times tables.

Science: We've been learning about a balanced diet and classifying different foods into their appropriate food groups.

Computing: The children have been coding on Scratch, where they were tasked with putting together code to control their Sprite's movements.

It’s been a great week of learning, and we’re looking forward to more next week!

This week has been another exciting week of learning in Hummingbirds class.

Here’s a quick overview of some of the learning we've been doing:

In PSHE, we began our "Dreams and Goals" unit. We kicked off by discussing our Key Concept Vocabulary (KCV) questions and sharing ideas as a class. We then had a lesson focused on facing challenges and how we can overcome them. The children created amazing story maps to outline the steps to overcoming obstacles.
 

In RE, we’ve been learning about Sanatana Dharma (Hinduism) and the significance of water. The children discovered that water is considered the source of life. In our next lesson, we focused on Brahman, the God in Sanatana Dharma, and the belief that Brahman is everywhere. The children created drawings to represent this idea.
 

In Science, our topic is "Animals, including Humans." We’ve been learning about nutrition and how animals (including humans) get the nutrients they need from food. The children analysed nutritional labels from various food products to understand their nutritional content.
 

In English, we are working on a narrative based on the story The Great Kapok Tree. One of our lessons focused on writing descriptive passages using a variety of sentence structures.
 

In Topic, we have been learning about the world’s Tropics, Hemispheres and Circles. We identified these on a  world map.  

On Wednesday 15th January, Children in Year 3 and 4 had an exciting opportunity to attend a dance festival at Bartholomew School hosted by Step 2 Dance Company, specialists in street dance, breakdance, and hip hop styles. The event was a celebration of movement and creativity, with the teachers showcasing their skills in these energetic and dynamic styles. The children had the chance to watch inspiring performances, learn new choreography, and participate in a large scale dance performance. It was a morning filled with energy, teamwork, and a sense of achievement as they embraced the joy of dance and developed a deeper appreciation for these urban dance forms.  

Wednesday 4^th December

This week, the Year 3 students embarked on an exciting educational adventure, visiting the Natural History and Pitt Rivers Museums in Oxford as part of our Stone Age to Iron Age topic.

Our day began with a self-guided exploration of the Natural History Museum, where the children eagerly went on a discovery trail to find different parts of history. As they ventured through the exhibits, they uncovered a fascinating range of historical treasures, from ancient fossils and bones to intriguing rocks, all of which tied into the concepts we’ve also been studying in our science lessons too. Their natural curiosity shone through as they asked thoughtful questions, showing an impressive eagerness to learn and engage with the material.

After lunch, we made our way to the Pitt Rivers Museum, where we were immersed in a captivating talk about the evolution of tools and materials through the ages. From the Mesolithic to Neolithic periods, and through the Bronze and Iron Ages, the children gained valuable insights into how early humans adapted their tools to meet the challenges of their time. They had the opportunity to handle a variety of fascinating artefacts, including animal skins, spearheads, and cooking pots, carefully considering and debating which era each object belonged to, based on their knowledge.

To round off the day, we ventured to the top floor of the museum, where we delved deeper into the history of weapons and farming tools crafted from materials such as bone, bronze and iron. Our gallery hunt included looking for a bronze axe head, slingshots, a leaf shaped arrow head, a bronze sword, a bird trap, a metal spearhead and an Iron sword. The children’s enthusiasm and engagement were truly inspiring.

It was a wonderful and enriching day out, with the children demonstrating exemplary behaviour and being fantastic representatives of our school.

26.11 -DT Eating Seasonally - Lesson 3 - Cutting and Peeling skills

Today, the children focused on developing their cutting and peeling skills. They have previously learned how to use a table knife, and today they were introduced to a vegetable knife. This new knife is sharper than a table knife, making it better suited for cutting through tougher foods.

We practised two grips to cut the vegetables - a bridge hold and a claw hold.

17th-24th November - Road Safety Week

As part of road safety week, Year 3 children looked at what was meant by 'road safety' and discussed what they knew. Year 4 created road safety posters, which provided all the information you need to cross the road safely, and Year 3 then used the posters to cross the road carefully around Eynsham.

20.11 DT - Eating Seasonally 

In this DT unit, the children are learning about seasonal foods and will be creating a seasonal food tart to fit their design brief. 

Design brief: 

My name is Charlie, and I run The Four Seasons Restaurant. It is a popular spot because we celebrate the seasons. We pride ourselves on creating delicious dishes that not only taste wonderful but also support local farmers and our environment by using foods that are in season.

One of our most popular items is our seasonal food tart – a delicious pastry filled with the best of what the seasons has to offer.

This year, we are looking for some new and exciting ideas for our seasonal food tart and that is where we need your help! We heard that you are learning about cooking and nutrition, and we thought you would be the perfect team to help us design a new tart for our menu.

Your task will be to create a seasonal food tart using ingredients that are fresh in the UK during October and November. To do this, you will first need to explore, taste and understand the various foods in season during these months.

As you begin your journey of discovery, remember that the best designs will not only taste amazing, but also showcase the beautiful colours, textures and flavours of our seasonal produce.

We cannot wait to see your creations.

Lesson 1:

 The children learned that the different climates of the world mean that different countries can grow different foods. They used an atlas to locate countries where the foods are grown.

We discussed:

• Which country does the map show _____ coming from?

• What climate zone is it in?
• What is the climate like where this food grows? (Polar; temperate; dry; tropical; Mediterranean.)
• How does that climate impact the type of food that is grown?

In this unit the children are learning 10 common instruments and will be introduced to the 1^st person singular high frequency verb ‘I play’ in Spanish.

By the end of the unit the children will be able to recognise, recall, and spell up to 10 instruments with their definite articles/determiners.

This is one of the first sentence building units where pupils will have the knowledge and skills to create short phrases with the verb ‘I play’ plus the instrument nouns and articles/determiners.

12.11 - Science, Rocks

This week in Year 3, we started our new Science unit - Rocks. 

We looked at sedimentary and metamorphic rocks in our first lesson. The children had lots of fun recreating these rocks using layers of white and milk chocolate to see how sedimentary rocks are formed. We then morphed the sedimentary rocks into metamorphic rocks by applying pressure and heat from their hands. 

5.11 - English Hook Lesson - Introducing Newspaper Reports

To introduce our new text, Iron Man by Ted Hughes, the children explored various news reports and scripted a clear, concise and correct news report about the first chapter. In the first chapter, Iron Man was spotted at the top of a cliff, scanning the ocean with his eyes. He then toppled over the edge, breaking into hundreds of pieces. Using this information, the children pretended that they were a reporter, telling the audience about the potential spotting of the Iron Man, as well as speaking to an eye witness. 

Today in English we had our Hook lesson to introduce the children to our new writing unit, job descriptions. We identified lots of different jobs and skills people need to do them. After, we went to the marsh and became archaeologists. We discussed what the job was, what they do, and what skills people need to become one. 

In the drama, the children dug up and excavated lots of Stone Age items. They showed us that they needed to be curious, determined, careful, persistent, and have attention to detail. In the next few lessons, we will be exploring how to write a job description for an archaeologist. 

Stone Age Day

On Wednesday 25^th September, Year 3 had a fantastic Stone Age Day! It was an opportunity for the children to dress up and share some of the experiences of these pre-historic hunter gatherers. We learnt about the three eras in the Stone Age, the Palaeolithic Era, Mesolithic Era, and Neolithic Era in more detail, practised some Stone Age weaving, and created our own cave paintings.

Have a look at some of our photos from the day.

English 

Our first writing focus is to add a new adventure to a story using our class text, Stone Age Boy. The children have enjoyed learning the events in the story, drawing a story map and discussing the Stone Age references throughout. We have explored a model text and found examples of key grammatical features, including similes and expanded noun phrases. The children were then taught how to use these features in their writing. See below some examples of their work.

In the next few lessons, we will be planning and writing a new adventure for Luke and Om. We look forward to sharing some of our adventures with you.

Watch this space  😊

Similes are a figure of speech involving the comparison of one thing with another thing of a different kind, used to make a description more impactful.

An expanded noun phrase is a descriptive phrase made up of a noun (naming word: person, place or thing) and at least one adjective (describing word). When more than one adjective has been used a comma is used to separate them.