Week 1 - A fabulous trip to York Chocolate Story.

The Aslans have had a great start to the Summer term! Today we visited the York Chocolate Story. We found out about the history of chocolate making in York and about the origins of Chocolate from the Ancient Maya civilisation. We were taught how to taste chocolate properly and about how it is made. We got to make our own very tasty white chocolate lolly. We also made our very own traditional Mayan hot chocolate. 

We all had a fantastic day and the behaviour of the Aslan children was exceptional - we were very proud of our class today and they were a true credit to Walkley. Well done Aslans, I hope you all enjoyed your lollies!

Week 2 - Amazing Acrostics

Aslans have been busy writing rainforest acrostics poems in literacy. After drafting and editing their work, they have enjoyed rehearsing and performing their own work to the class. 

Terrific Textiles

This week, we have made a start to our whole-class textiles project. We have been using templates of tropical leaves to design our own stitched leaf to create a rainforest wall hanging. Watch this space for the final piece!

Week 3 - Made to measure!

As part of our maths unit on measure, we have been learning how to read measurements from a tape measure accurately using cm and mm. We have also been comparing these measurements. We then looked at the claims Leonardo Da Vinci made about the Vitruvian Man in which he stated that different measurements of the body were equal. We tried to see if we could prove his statements. The statements are in one of the photos - are the statements true for you?

Week 3 - There's a Rang-tan in our Classroom...

This week, Year 3 have started their next literacy unit based on the Greenpeace advert 'Rang-tan'. We have watched the advert and discussed our opinions about the issues surrounding the use of palm oil and ways in which we can make a difference. You can watch it for yourself below. We have taken on the role of the girl and the little orangutan and have been practising performing the poem from the advert before taking to the stage to share our performances with the rest of the class.

The Bridge Riddle

Year 3 have put their teamwork and problem-solving skills to good use this week as they took on the challenge of solving the bridge riddle. At first, it seemed impossible but our determined Aslans perservered and solved the riddle! 

Compliment Challenge

To brighten up a fairly damp and grey week, Year 3 have been putting their energy into giving compliments to each other to spread a little extra positivity around our classroom. We found that kind words really can change someone's day.

SWFC Pass on plastics

Yesterday, we visited the SWFC ground with a group of 30 children including 10 year 3s. It was part of a community initiative by SWFC to promote the idea of recycling plastics and reducing the use of single-use plastics. The children took part in a series of workshops involving being creative with single use plastics and making bubbles. Children (and staff!) were also lucky enough to have a tour of the stadium and run around on the pitch!

All the children were a credit to the school and represented Walkley at its very best.

Week 4 - Wonderful Weaving

As part of our textiles unit, Year 3 have been learning about Peruvian weaving. We have learnt how natural products are used to create dyes in order to create different coloured wool and how a loom is made for weaving. We are now practising our weaving skills as we make our own Peruvian-inspired wall hangings.

Power of Persuasion

Week 5 - Terrific Toucans

In art, Year 3 have been looking at the work of French artist Henri Rousseau, who is well-known for his jungle-inspired paintings. We particularly liked the bright colours and noticed a similarity in the tropical backgrounds between his work and that of Mexican artist Frida Kahlo. We used an online video to help us sketch the outline of our toucans before using oil pastels to add colour to our artwork.  

Week 6 - Writing to Perform

Having written our persuasive letters to companies reminding them of the promise they made to stop using 'dirty' palm oil, we have been busy planning and producing our own videos using iMovie on the iPads. We have learnt how to search and save images as well as taking our own using the camera. We have then practised inserting these into our project before adding narration using the voice record feature.