Starting Summer Strong! 
 

In Gorillas, we have started our Summer learning strong!

Our new topic is the Exciting Egyptians. We’ve already studied Pharaoh Tutankhamun, looked at Ancient Egyptian beliefs and have looked at the black land and red land in geography. We spent the day as Egyptians, creating our own cartouche using hieroglyphs. Then we completed our royal look by artistically fabricated Egyptian collars. In the afternoon, we made use of our outdoor learning space to build our own shaduf to move water from our pond, like Egyptian farmers would have when gathering water from the River Nile. 

Science has brought us a new topic. We have been creating shadows and understanding that a shadow is made by light hitting an opaque object. We’ve also explored transparent and translucent objects and experiments with reflective objects in different levels of light. In great detail, we can explain dark is the absence of light!

The children used soil and sand to plot the fertile Black lands along the banks of the River Nile and the barren Red lands in the deserts that surrounded and protected the Egyptians from neighbouring civilisations. They discussed how the flooding of the Nile brought nutrient rich silt to the land that meant crops would grow allowing the Egyptians to thrive. 

Stepping into the Iron Age

We were lucky enough to be able to witness the skills of a local blacksmith as part of our history project. He explained all about the history of his trade and how, in the Iron Age, the furnace would burn at all hours of the day. Someone would even live in the forge to make sure it stayed lit! 
We tried our hand at building round houses using Iron Age building technics of daub and a straw roof with no windows and a single door. 
Our blacksmiths then took us outside to show us how they used fire to soften and shape hard iron into tools, nails and fancy items like broaches and torques. 
Did you know that in the Iron Age, the village blacksmith would also be your dentist and might even officiate your wedding! 

British Science Week 2021!
In class, we have been celebrating science and industry by taking part in British Science Week. 
We started the week experimenting with magnets. We expanded our vocabulary first, learning about north and south poles. We explored how magnets attract and repel each other before exploring how magnets can help direct us be creating magnet slings to show us magnetic north. 
We carried on exploring during our enrichment afternoon where we became engineers. We took our learning outside after experimenting building catapults in class using rulers and water bottles. Outside, we used sticks and stones as our base and arm. We tested our catapults before making changes to see if we could launch our scrunched up paper projectile further. We finished the week as mechanical engineers, designing paper aeroplanes. We looked at the four forces of flight and how they will affect our aeroplanes flight. 

An exciting win today on our Christmas raffle! He said he will be kindly sharing his prize at home with his siblings. 

It might be nearly the end of term, but the hard work never stops in Gorillas! More fantastic awards for Big Work, TTRockStars, quizshed, P.E. abs Reading plus.

So proud!

Wonderful hard work still continuing in Gorilla class with our P.E. superstars, Times Tables Rock Stars, Quiz winner and Big Work children. We’re so very proud of you! 

We’ve been blown away today with this project homework! A 3D printed brain, skull and section of spine! This fantastic technology is helping medical professionals all around the world and we’re so excited to be able to showcase this around school. A great big thank you to Jude and his family for this amazing opportunity! 

The children have been learning about animals, including humans, in Science. They have been studying skeletons and for their homework they have built creative natural skeletons and labelled them with the bones we have been learning about.

To link with this topic, Project Homework was on the human body. We’ve had lots of different types of work! From a PowerPoint to a board game and some wonderful life sized skeletons.

Fantastic work today with Donna for our Scoot Safe session. The children have worked very hard learning about the L check, how to fit their helmet properly, some fun ways to ride their scooter safely and also how to cross the road from the safety of our arena.

Today, on #RemembranceDay , we honour our fallen heroes, who have served and sacrificed for the freedom of our country. The Gorilla class took part in a two minute silence held at 11am on the playground of Woodlea Junior School #LestWeForget 

Armistice Day!

“The living owe it to those who no longer speak to tell their story for them.” 

A great big thank you to Jude for bringing his Great Grandfather’s amazing medals and scrapbook from his time fighting in The Battle of Normandy in 1944. We really appreciated getting to see such a fantastic piece of our countries history. What a great way to discuss Remembrance Sunday and the soldiers that have fought for the country. 
Thank you
Mrs Younis

Welcome to Year 3

Hello and welcome to Year 3 everyone. Mrs Younis is the Gorilla class teacher, supported and assisted by Mrs Grose and Miss Wilson, who are the teaching assistants. We are really looking forward to teaching your children and have got some great lessons planned. You will be able to access some of the children's exciting work and photographs on the website. 

In English, we will be learning about 'A Bear called Paddington'. All of our English sessions for the first half term will be based around this story. In Maths, we will be focusing on number and place value, following the new 'Maths No Problem' scheme. This Singaporean approach to teaching mathematics develops pupils' mathematical skills and confidence. It also makes mathematics more engaging and interesting.
 

We will be studying what life was like during the Stone Age and will hold our very own Stone Age day on the 25th November 2020. Your children will have the opportunity to gain a full insight to what life was like during this era and how the hunter gatherers survived. 
 

Children should be reading consistently everyday, they are expected to read at least 4 times per week. Reading books will be handed out on a Monday and should be returned the following Friday.

P.E kits must be in school at all times and should stay in school until half term. Our P.E sessions will take place on a Monday and Tuesday with Mr Henderson. An outdoor P.E kit is required and should be sent into school as soon as possible because the children will be taking part in sports activities held outside. 
 

Follow Gorillas on Twitter: @gorilla_class

If you have any questions or you are uncertain about anything, please do not hesitate to contact Mrs Younis via the school office.

Thank you for your support.

Mrs Younis 

3G started their rock unit within their own school grounds, participating in a rock detective walk to begin to recognise the different types of rocks, their physical properties and their uses. They began to describe the rocks and grow their vocabulary to do so. We walked all around our school to find things that are made from rocks. Here is what we spotted!