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WaterfootPrimary School
At Waterfoot School, we think for ourselves but feel for others.
Sycamore Class
Welcome to Sycamore Class
We are a wonderful class of 31 year 3 and 4 children.
Teacher:
Miss Priestley
Teaching Assistant:
Mrs Atkin
Classroom Information:
P.E Days:
Monday: Outdoor PE
Tuesday: Indoor PE
Please remember to come to school in full P.E uniform on these days. Please refer to the Uniform Policy if you are unsure.
Homework:
Homework is handed out on a WEDNESDAY and returned on a MONDAY. Weekly homework consists of:
Spelling - this will be completed on Spelling Shed (printed copies available on request)
Mathematics - this will be tasks set on Sumdog.
Reading - 4 x 15 minutes per week.
TimeTables Rockstars
Topic Homework:
Each half term, a grid is sent out within each key stage which links with the topic, their learning and our school value focus for the following half term. Within each key stage the pupils are recommended to complete a number of their chosen activities and each completed activity is rewarded with housepoints. At the end of the half term all classes showcase this homework to share and celebrate the children’s hard work and efforts. These homework grids will be available on our website in the 'Children' section.
Home Readers:
Children are asked to read a minimum of 4 times per week for at least 15 minutes. We ask that the children's reading records are signed and handed in on a daily basis to be stamped and raffle tickets will be given out for a weekly draw.
More about our themed learning:
In English we have been reading the wonderful book ‘The Iron Man’ by Ted Hughes. We have spent time looking at writing descriptive pieces about characters and story settings. Now we are ready to innovate our own story. We have used talk for writing to orally retell the key events of chapter 2. This helps us to remember the story, use our adverbials, conjunctions and structure our own story writing. We then also drew our own story maps consolidate all of this. We did a fantastic job of creating and remembering actions.
Our first outdoor learning session linked to our science unit. We went out onto the school grounds and explored what materials are magnetic and what materials aren’t. It raised lots of questions about why certain metals are magnetic.
Year 3 pupils enjoyed a workshop with Stute theatre, called ‘Cardboard Cosmos’! The workshop involved an intergalactic story full of creativity, charm and cardboard! Year 3 pupils were challenged to help mend their broken spaceship, so the aliens could find their way home! Children used their creative skills whilst also learning an important message about sustainability.
In Sycamore class we have regular brain breaks to help our learning. We love yoga and practising being mindful. Here are some pictures of a yoga session in the classroom.
World book day! What a brilliant day we have had celebrating all of our favourite stories and characters. We loved seeing each other’s wonderful costumes and sharing stories. We were very lucky to have Mrs Buckley come and read us a story in the morning and Mrs Evans read to us in the afternoon.
During our first lesson of Design Technology this term we evaluated existing products of French toast. We focused on tasting a variety of toppings that we may use when we create our own in the upcoming weeks.
In Science we have started learning all about magnets. Today we explored a variety of different magnets to see how they work. We then recorded our observations through drawings and on a table of results. We learnt how magnets have poles and they attract and repel.
In music we began the unit ‘Latin Dance’. We explored salsa rhythms by learning to dance salsa, sing a Latin song and play a clave rhythm. It was lots of fun and Oliver and Seb were salsa dancing superstars!
In PE we have been working in groups to design a ‘tig’ style game. Miss Priestley was very impressed with our creative games but also the team work and coaching skills when delivering our game to the rest of class.
During maths this week we have been doing lots of work on 3D shapes. We have been busy using different resources to build our own 3D shapes.
In our Science lesson we learned about plaque and the importance of cleaning our teeth. We used disclosing tablets to show our plaque then cleaned it away. It highlighted how important it is to brush our teeth twice a day and for longer periods of time.
We have started off our new Geography topic by learning all about the 7 continents of the world. We fist learnt the continents song and then used an atlas to put them in the right place on a world map. We then had a look at a map of Europe. We learnt about some of the countries in Europe and again used an atlas to label the countries.
In art we have been learning about textiles focussing on the art work of Nick Cave. We have been busy designing and making textile food that makes a noise. It was tricky to think about all the different elements to our work Miss Priestley and Mrs Atkin were very impressed with our final products and how hard we all worked.
In science we have been learning all about the digestive system and where our digestive organs are, in our bodies.
Some of Sycamore class went to a sporting event at The Valley Academy. They had a lovely day learning all about how to stay fit and healthy. They did lots of exercising, cooking healthy food and making delicious smoothies.
During art we have been looking at observational drawing using fruit and vegetables. We focused on proportion, shading and shape. We enjoyed experimenting with different media to create our beautiful pictures.
As we prepare to innovate our own version of ‘Wallace and Gromit a Matter of Loaf and Death’ we have been working hard to use our T4W skills to memories the structure and key events. We have also created some lovely story maps to support our writing. Miss Priestley and Mrs Atkin have been very impressed with our creativity and team work.
During ICT this half term we have been looking at keeping safe online. We have spent time discussing the importance of having passwords and keeping these private and also the many positive ways we can use the internet to help us communicate effectively.
Our school value for this term has been kindness. Miss Priestley and Mrs Atkin have seen everyone be kind one way or another and are really proud of the hard work everyone has made to spread kindness in our class. Here are some of the children who worked extra hard and were spotted being kind to someone in the class. Well done!
We have worked very hard in DT over the past few weeks creating moving Christmas cards. We had to practice making moving mechanisms then decide which one we would like to use to create our Christmas cards. They have turned out fantastic and we can’t wait to give them to our loved ones.
Outdoor learning – Today we joined Hawthorn class for our outdoor learning session. We went orienteering around the school. We learnt how to use a map and to give directions to our team. At the end of the very cold session we got to enjoy a delicious hot chocolate and marshmellows.
In science we have been learning all about food and nutrients. Today we looked at food packaging to decide which food would be the better choice. We looked at the traffic light colours on the front and why they advertise things in certain ways.
We had lots of fun today playing dodgeball. We had two teams, Coach Dan v Miss Priestley. It was very close but, in the end, it was 3-3! We all worked very hard and showed great sportsman ship. Iris blew everyone away with her dodging skills!
Today we took our science outside. We got into teams and had a bag full of different kinds of food. We then had a rely race to put the food into the correct food group. We had lots of discussion and debate with our team figure out where it all belonged.
We had a lovely afternoon putting up our Christmas tree and making our very own Christmas elves. Our classroom looks lovely and we can’t wait for the festive fun!
This week we went out for our outdoor learning session with Mrs Eastwood. Our focus was on team work and collaborative learning. Miss Priestley was very impressed with us all, especially Elkie who solved all the problems quickly and directed her team.
Monday 14th November 2022 Odd Socks Day – Today we all wore odd socks to school to celebrate being different and unique.
Friday 11th November – Today we celebrated Remembrance Day. We remembered those who were lost by holding a two-minute silence in class and by wearing a red poppy. We also created some beautiful artwork to pay tribute to the soldiers and took them home to display in our windows.
In Design Technology this term we are going to be creating our own moving Christmas cards. We have spent the last few weeks looking at existing products and then practising making moving mechanisms in preparation for our final piece.
On Monday 31st October we had a wonderful Great Plague day. We spent the morning learning key information about the plague and creating our very own plague doctor mask. We also made poise bags full of lavender to keep the plague at bay. We then learnt all about the real reason for the rhyme ‘ring-a-ring-a-rosies’. We went outside and sung along with actions. It was a great day!
Celebration day – Today we had our half term celebration day. We did lots of lovely autumn craft activities and wrote our very own leaf with an achievement from this half term. We also got to share and look at topic homework across KS2. It was amazing to see all the hard work everyone had put in at home!
10th October 2022 – World Mental Health Day Today we have been learning all about the importance of mental health. We have taken part in lots of lovely activities and had lots of discussion about ways in which we can look after our metal wellbeing.
Black History Month - We have been learning about and celebrating Black History Month. We have been celebrating all the achievements of Black people in the past and today. We have discussed why it is important to learn about Black history and had great discussion about Black people not being treated equally to other races. This week we have focussed on Rosa Parks. We have learnt all the great things she did to help change history.
In our English lessons, we have learnt the talk for writing actions for the folk tale 'The Tin Forest’. We have created a whole class story map to map out the main events of the story and then we made story maps of our own. After that we created our own story map plan by innovating the characters and setting. We are excited to write our own
Today we went on a walk around Waterfoot to learn all about the local history. We spotted lots of things from the past like; the old primary school, Trickkets Arcade, the old mills and lots more. It was great fun learning all about where we live and even sharing some facts we already knew with our friends.
Our new history topic is all about Waterfoot in the past. We worked together to analyse old photographs and create a timeline, guessing the date of each photograph. It was very tricky and we had to look closely for clues like building materials, transport etc to figure each on out. Miss Priestley was very impressed with our collaborative learning skills.
Today we conducted a science experiment to test what materials reflect light. We learnt that the shiny materials reflect the light and opaque objects and materials block light and can create shadows.
This term in ICT we have been learning about Word Processing. We have been focusing on using a key board and opening and saving documents. We have really enjoyed developing our computing kills.
We have been learning all about the cubism movement and how Picasso developed the movement. We focussed on Picassos work, especially his portraits, and interpreted his work into our sketch books. We concentrated on using bold colours, shape and proportion.
Curriculum Map:
Below you will find more details about our learning this Autumn 1 term 22-23.