Today we were given some objects on our tables and we asked what we noticed. We had time to explore them all and talk about them with our partners. We then had to group these objects in different ways. We found ways such as size, colour, bulbs or seeds.
Our partner talk allowed us to share all our knowledge about the different types of seeds we saw. We were able to ask and answer questions too because we found strange protrusions and tunics around bulbs.
We enjoyed learning the skills of being a scientist. 
Apple Class enjoyed the glorious weather at Occombe Farm today. We learned all about how to make pizza and the plants used to make it. We even got to pick our own fresh toppings from the garden. While it was cooking, we went to visit the animals. After lunch, we planted some seeds and headed off into the nature trail to learn more about the plants on the farm.
Year 2 have been learning key skills in gymnastics. We have learned how to use the equipment safely; jump whilst making different shapes; make jumps which include a turn and change direction whilst travelling.
Take a look at some of our moves. 
We really enjoyed World Book Day today and all the activities we have been doing this week. Yesterday, we learned from illustrator Rob Biddulph about how to draw characters from some of his books (we even found some of his books in our Book Buzz area). Today we put those drawing skills to use when making some reading bunting for the library.
Year Two enjoyed their first day back after half term today. Not only was it the the start of book week but also the start of our new learning journey.
We had great fun dressing as kings a queens. We also got to sculpt kings and queens out of clay.
In the afternoon we manipulated our cardboard boxes to build castles and used them to role play. It was fabulous to see not only the different parts of the outside of castle such as the keep and drawbridge but also there was lots of thinking about the inside too. Where would prisoners go? Where is best to keep valuable? Would the princess need a dressing table? How will we keep safe from our enemies?
In Apple Class today we kicked off Children’s Mental Health Week by looking at ‘Self Care’. We learned that just as we look after our physical health, it’s important to look after our mental health. Self-care is all about what you can do to help yourself feel better or to keep yourself feeling good. It’s a way that we can look after our own mental health and wellbeing. It can help your body and mind to relax, drift away, or be more energised.
We then spent some time practising self care. Some of us chose to draw, listen to music, play music and read. Some of use had a mindful moment by completing the activity below.
In Year 2, we have been immersed into music. We have learned to use our voices expressively by listening to opera, Native American chanting and listening to Inuit throat singing (which was our favourite).
We have been learning all about the pulse of music and dancing and clapping in time to different songs with varying pulses.
Happily, we have also explored how different instruments work so we can apply this to making our own later in the week during our design and technology lessons.
This week we have been busy designing, building and testing boats ready to carry an explorer. We thought carefully about our design criteria and then set about building them with items from around the classroom. We had to keep evaluating our designs as we built them. This helped us overcome any problems and find solutions for them.
Year 2 have been learning about the coordinating conjunctions ‘when’ and ‘as’.
We have learned that we can move the subordinate clause (the clause with the conjunction) to a different place in the sentence.
This week is anti-bullying week and we have been learning about the ripple effect of kindness.
To represent this, we started with one kind word on a bit of paper and then joined it to another and another until the kindness had caught everyone.
What kind act could you do at home?
To kick start our new learning journey ‘Movers and Shakers’ we discussed our own future aspirations. Then we invited some inspirational people into our classroom to come and meet us.
Today, Apple Class began a science investigation to answer the question ‘Where do snails go?’ We rounded up, measured, identified and marked different snails before putting them all in one spot. Later in the week, will predict what we think the snails will do, before hunting them down again and marking their movements on a map.
This week in Year Two, we have been learning to count in 2s, 5s and 10s using efficient methods. We discovered we didn’t always need to start from zero everytime. If there were already two groups of ten children on a bus and then children getting on in pairs. we could start at 20 and count on in twos. Can you find anytimes you count in 2s, 5s and 10s at home?
This week in P.E, we were lucky enough to have a visitor to help us with practising dribbling a ball. We then applied our skills into some team games.
Today, we also focused on our catching and being able to stop a ball by putting our foot on the top of it.
Today, Year Two headed outside to write down the key names of human and physical features in the area they completed their bug hunts. We noted down words such as field, woods, houses and After that, we headed back to class and began to draw our sketch maps. We also included keys on our maps. Can you remember what a key is?
What a fantastic start to Year Two Apple Class had.
We spent a large portion of the day hunting for minibeasts high and low. We found them when we shook trees, we found them under logs and we even found them in the pond.
Can you remember the names of any of the creatures you found?
Can you remember the names given to the equipment we were using and how to use it?
Goodbye Year 3. You have been fabulous. Good luck in Year 4. Have an amazing summer!
Year 3 have been busy learning all about their favourite creatures since our first trip to Paignton Zoo. In school today, we finished writing up our leaflets which we are sending to Matt at the Zoo. Other visitors from the Zoo can then learn more about these fascinating creatures like we have been.
@Paigntonzoo
We have had a busy and exciting start to our predator topic so far.
Over the last few weeks, we have been carrying out a science investigation to test the conditions that plants need to grow. We have looked at no air, no water, no light and no soil. From the photos below which plant has continued to grow the best? Why do you think that is?
We have also looked at seed dispersal. Can you tell how the seeds in the photo below disperse?
In computing, we had to create programmes for our cars to avoid the predators. If we made a mistake we had to adjust our programme and try again.
The most smelly learning so far came from investigating owl pellets. We had to use our careful observation skills to identify the animals that the owls had been eating. We were also able to identify some of the different types of bones. Which bones can you see?
At the start of the week, Oak Class set up a trail camera in the forest school area to see if we could capture any predators in our local area.
Take a look at what we captured.
Which of these do you think is a predator? Can see see any after their prey?
Year three spent the day monkeying around at Paignton Zoo. We went in search of the fiercest predators. At crocodile swap, we found out and drew on a map where the different species of crocodiles live in the world. We also used our map skills to locate the different animals enclosures using a 4 figure grid reference. There was time for a little play too.
Oak Class had great fun today enjoying all things sporty. It was great to see such determination, teamwork and smiles. A big well done to everyone!
This afternoon, Oak Class spent some time investigating the predators that could be found in the pond. We had lots of fun! We found many creatures we’d never heard of or seen before. The leaches, newts, frogs and blood worms were some of our favourites. We used identification keys to help us name some of the animals we found. Do you recognise any of the creatures in the pictures below?
Year Three have been having fun with mirrors and exploring their reflective properties.
We had to decipher Mrs Jeffery’s secret message and then created some of our own. We needed a bit of resilience for this task. We used our mirrors go guide us around a path on the playground. It was very hard not to cheat and look at the floor. We also used them to shine light in different places around the room, see things that were on our backs and look what was on the table when we were under it.
In science today, we discussed the importance of sun safety. We talked about why it’s important not to look at the sun and different ways we can keep safe. We then had some special beads that we needed to keep safe from the sun. We would know if the sun’s light energy had reached them because they would change colour.
We thought about different ways of doing this such as:
- suncream
- under sunglasses
- in the shade
- covering them up (in different ways)
- in water
This led us to other questions as well. We wondered if covering them in shiny paper would be better as it might reflect the sun away. We wondered why the suncream didn’t work as well as we expected.
What would you try?
Year 3 had a terrifying time this morning. First it was maths, we were learning our numbers from 1 to 20 in roman numerals. If we made any mistakes there would be harsh punishments!
Next, we set sail to Britannia.
After we arrived, we marched to the Caledonia border and set up camp. From here, we sent spies to learn all they could from the savage’s settlements before we battled them. Obviously we were victorious.
Knowing how great and powerful we were meant we could relax a little in the afternoon and focus on more creative activities. We learned all about mosaics and created some of our own.
Today, Year 3 were using an online thesaurus to find synonyms for words to describe different feelings. We had to make sure that we made appropriate choices to match the context we wanted. For example, when we looked at the word ‘tired’ we decided that ‘fatigued’ would be suitable but ‘tatty’ would not in the context that we were exploring.
As a pair, we then had to order these words from weakest to strongest. If we didn’t agree we had to say phrases such as, ‘Can you justify your opinion?’, ‘ Can you explain why?’ or ‘ I don’t agree because..’.
Here are some of our thoughts:
Year Three will shortly be writing their very own Vindolanda Tablets in the style of a letter home from a Roman soldier based at Vindolanda, a fort alongside Hadrian’s wall.
To get to know some of the jobs and the arduous duties the Roman soldiers had to carry out, we did some role play.
We marched across the empire to invade Britannia, building our campsites, ensuring they had ditches and added spikes for protection. If you were on duty and caught sleeping you faced harsh punishments. As we moved from place to place, we built straight roads to ensure quick travel in the future.
Finally, we practised our fighting and moving as a unit to battle the tribes in Caledonia (Scotland).
Can you tell from the pictures who is worried about the battles to come?
Year Three have been taking it in turns to visit Rome using virtual reality.
So far we have been most impressed with the statues, the roads and The Temple of Caesar.
What would you like to explore?
In today’s P.E lesson, we looked at improving our batting and bowling skills.
To throw the ball we had to remember to grip it using THE CLAW. This helped the ball leave our hands smoothly.
We also worked on our positioning and making sure we stood side
ways to strike and bowl.
In our P.S.H.E lesson today, we discussed lots of ways of keeping safe online and how much we can trust different websites. Mrs Jeffery read us a statement and we had to think about if it was true or false and why we thought that.
What do you think about this statement?
Most 12 – 15 year olds who go online say if they visit a new website they would check it first.
It’s true!
You can do a safe browsing check on a website to see if you can trust it.
Today, Year Three were investigating what causes earthquakes. We investigated, modelled what happens and then set about presenting what we found out. Some of us chose to collaborate and present our learning by creating videos. Others chose to draw diagrams or make models with reflective sentences. Can you remember what causes an earthquake and where they occur most frequently? 
In maths, we have been leaning about perimeter.
We had great fun yesterday designing floor plans for veterinary surgeries, gardens which needed fences and even writing our name in bubble writing and finding the perimeter of each shape the letters made.
How many sides would you need to measure for a square field if you needed to build a fence to keep your animals in? Why?
Today in class we revisited the Zones of Regulation. (You can learn more about them here: https://www.zonesofregulation.com/learn-more-about-the-zones.html).
After talking about the different emotions that people feel and the zones that those emotions belong in, we talked about how to recognise those emotions. We then watched Shoo Rayner draw the different expressions and had a go ourselves. Can you guess the emotion from the picture?
Year 3 had a wonderful start back. We enjoyed a range of activities but particularly enjoyed kicking off our science week.
We discussed a Zoom Out activity to develop our thinking and reasoning and completed an innovation challenge. We chose a goal and thought about how a different insects could help us solve different problem.
What do you think this is? Why? What clues are there?
Year 3! What a journey we have been on. We are all incredibly proud of you. It was so wonderful to see so many of you all together on Zoom today. I hope you remembered to go and give your adults a big hug and a thank you for helping you along the way.
Below are some images of key things you might want to remember.
We can’t wait to see you!!!!!
Year 3 have been learning about what makes up the earth and the different layers.
Can you spot the different layers in these photos?
Look how many different ways we found to show the same thing (there were even more ways shown over zoom). Aren’t we a creative bunch!
Year Three continue to blow us away with their ever creative ways of presenting their learning about the prehistoric times. Can you spot the diary entry or the drawing of the chief? What do you think the jewellery has been made form ?
Some of our fabulous Year Three children have missed having the working wall to refer back to their learning. They’ve realised just how often they use it and how it supports them with their learning. As such, they have been ever so resourceful and created their own with key information on.
We have been having fun with spelling in Year Three.
Have a look at the table below and the photos of us. Can you find and object and say what the rules for that object is if it becomes plural?
One of our delightful Year 3 children has completed a marathon through January. She ran a total of 26.2 miles with her Dad (and younger sister for the last mile) in aid of Prostate cancer U.K. She managed to raise an incredible £420.
What an achievement that is!
Here are some videos and images of scenes that the children in Year 3 have made. They are reenacting elements of life in the Bronze Age, in particular the Beaker People who travelled from Europe to the UK. What can you learn about their lives from these videos?
Here are just some of the things our young historians at home have been up to.
They have been finding out how tools and weapons changed during the Stone Age. Some people, carefully with the help of an adult, then had a go at making some of these.
They have been asking their own questions about historical findings and not only trying to answer their own questions but also decide if the evidence is trustworthy.
Lots of people have also been very creative when replicating Stone Age monuments. We’ve had different monuments from around the county made from cake, brownies, Jenga blocks, stones, clay, lego and more. I do love seeing all your creative ideas.
Year Three are impressing with their willingness to reflect and make progress with their writing.
Over our Zoom meetings, we have been working together to mark some of our learning. We then used this the next day to make improvements to our writing. Can you see the learning we marked together in Green and Pink. Then you can see how we changed sections in purple or added parts to improve the next day.
Some of you have even missed BIG writing so much you’ve been putting on calm music. Everyone is really impressed by your wonderful efforts with your diary writing. They have been a joy to read.
In Year Three, we have been sharing some of the resources we have been using to help us with our a maths learning from home. What a resourceful bunch you are! We have seen cars, lego, cereal, coins and some of you have even made your own base ten. These resources have then been used to represent different numbers. For example one car could represent 10. That would mean ten cars are worth 100.
Mrs Jeffery also asks us to explain our learning during our zooms. We’ve been trying hard to explain over the chat facility at times.
Here are some of the creative and wonderful things Year 3 have been up to this week?
Do you recognise this famous Stone Age Monument?
What would you use this Stone Age tool for?
Here’s a timeline of different period of the Stone Age and someone else has been comparing them.
Here is some of our literacy from this week. We looked at informal writing and have been using lots of different word classes in our sentences.
How do you help others know your learning? Have a look at this sign someone made for their door.
Year 3 what an incredible start to your homeschool learning. Miss Halloway and I (Mrs Jeffery) have been blown away by your incredible response and enthusiasm. It has been amazing to see so many of your smiling faces on Zoom. I’m really proud of those of you already growing in confidence and asking questions and sharing ideas. Next week should give even more of you the chance to share as we will be breaking off into our smaller groups.
Below is just a small glimpse at just a few of the wonderful thing you have shared. Don’t forget to look back at some of your leaning as I am writing some comments on their for you. Feel free to have it ready to share and talk about in our Zoom sessions too.
Keep up the excellent work.
Have a wonderful weekend. You can tick Friday off on your calendars now.
Bonjour
Today, we have been using our knowledge of French numbers,
shapes and colours to create a Christmas picture.
How high can you count?
un deux trois quatre cinq
We have learned an incredible amount during our computing lessons this week.
We used the Chromebooks to create tables to record the data from our science investigations in. Later, we used Google Slides to create a presentation about everything we have learned during this topic. We can now insert images, change the back ground, add extra slides, change the font and more. Most importantly, we can now share our work with Mrs Jeffery and our friends.
Some of us chose to create our won slides all about Christmas during SOLE.
Today we had to create bells for Santa / a wind chime. We had to carefully selected our chosen metal objects for how they sounded whilst also considering how they would be attached together.
