St Mary's Church of England Academy
Here at St. Mary's we provide the highest possible quality of education, underpinned by our Christian ethos and values however we pride ourselves in the fact that we are mixed faith with a rising number of multi faiths through our school
Year 3
Church Visit - The Days After Easter
Mummifying Tomatoes
As part of our Ancient Egyptian learning, we have set up an experiment to try our hand at mummification. We have used tomatoes! We scooped out the insides and used a combination of salt and bicarbonate of soda to fill the shell. This should help dry out the tomato and draw out the moisture. We then wrapped it in bandages and will keep checking on to see how the process progresses. Watch this space!
School Games: Year 3/4 Sportshall Athletics Festival
Friction Investigation
In science we have been learning about forces, especially friction. We have been investigating things that affect friction and discussing helpful/ unhelpful outcomes of friction.
Snakes and Ladders
In Beliefs and Values, we have been learning all about the Hindu belief of Karma. We have been exploring this through playing snakes and ladders, it has really helped the children understand the idea of good karma (ladders) and bad karma (snakes), which has then fed into our discussion about rebirth and the cycle of Samsara.
Angels & Stars Trail
Edible Soil
To finish off our Science learning about Rocks and Soil, we made edible soil! The bedrock layer was an Oreo, the parent rock was made of chocolate chips, the sub soil was Angel Delight with a top soil of crushed chocolate biscuit. And it would not have been complete without a gummy worm to live in the top soil. The children really enjoyed this lesson and I am sure they will enjoy eating their creations.
Jack and the Beanstalk Panto
3VB Stonehenge Art
Recorders 3VB
We have really enjoyed recorders so far this half term and are pleased to hear Mrs Bowe can teach us again up until Christmas. So far, we have learnt the notes B, A & G.
Mental Health Day
The 10th October was Mental Health Day, we spent our PE lesson completing a Stone Age themed yoga session through Yoga Bugs. We learn different Stone Age themed poses such as the crocodile, the mammoth, the rock and the mountain.
Visions Day
Our new approach to times tables is a 'Maths Challenge' approach.
- Is a systematic, whole class approach to learning the times tables.
- Aims to break down the learning of the times tables into manageable chunks learning a times table at a time
- Teaches the importance of the commutative law and the relationship with division facts.
- Rote learning in which children learn the number facts AND a sound pattern (this is important).
- Little and often - A two minute times table test, twice a day.
- 40 questions in each test. The children have two minutes to complete the test. An average of 3 seconds per question.
As you can see, we are going right back to 2x tables and progression from there has been carefully mapped up to follow the children up the end of year 4, by which time they will have covered all necessary times tables facts.
Autumn 2nd Focus Facts:
2 x 2 = 4
3 x 2 = 6
4 x 2 = 8
5 x 2 = 10
6 x 2 = 12
7 x 2 = 14
8 x 2 = 16
9 x 2 = 18