This week has been busy as always with the class taking on their final assessment week in Team CB. It has been truly delightful to see how well our children have performed - attacking anything that has been put in front of them and ultimately showing what brilliant learners they have become over the course of this year. I hope each and every member of the team feels proud of themselves for giving their all at all points this year - I know all staff in Team CB certainly are feeling very proud!
Elsewhere in our learning, we have been busy this week exploring capacity. We have taken our learning outdoors and created our own human scales of 1, 2 and 5 to help us understand how we can count and calculate smaller intervals on a scale. The class thoroughly enjoyed this and it really supported their visual learning back in class when asked to read and interpret scales. We have worked hard on finding missing values and also adding and subtracting volumes. Over the coming weeks, we will begin to look at shape in more detail for our Maths learning. 
In our writing we have been working towards writing a letter to Boris Johnson to demand change and prevent plastic pollution in our seas. This is something that the children have shown a huge passion for within their writing and they are just in the process of constructing their letters which I am sure will make a fantastically compelling read when they are completed. 
We have also been busy in our Science this week, we have been looking closely at classification and how we can classify things in different ways. This week we have spent time classifying sea creatures using a classification key and understanding the way these work. Our physical observations helped us decide what was a marine mammal, fish, shark, mollusc or crustacean. We have also investigated herbivores, omnivores and carnivores and what each of these animals consumes as part of it's diet. 
Check back for more updates in the coming weeks!
​

What an amazing start to the second half of Summer term we have had! As always, Team CB have been incredibly busy with all that we have been working hard on in our learning. Here is just a brief summary of some of the magical moments during our first week back. 
In Maths, we have started a new unit focussed on measurement. Over this week, we have been looking specifically at mass. We discussed what mass is, how we measure it and how we can compare it. We explored this practically using balance scales to see which objects were heavier/lighter. We then made comparisons using < and >. From this, we looked at different types of weighing scales, including digital and traditional weighing scales. The class looked at how we can identify the small intervals a scale moves up in and how to read measures accurately in g and kg. 
In our reading, we have continued our work on the Chocoplot, learning what happened to Jelly next and using our understanding of the text so far to make simple, plausible inferences. From this, we further refined and developed our justification for these views by using "because" to explain our thoughts. 
On Monday, as a class we spent time using drama techniques to retell the story of Boudicca's rebellion, which draws our history topic to a close. We used scripts to act out a scene following the King's death and Boudicca's decision to fight. We used imaginative acting to recreate the Battle of Colchester. The class were great at using the music to support their understanding of how it would have felt to be fighting for their freedom at that moment. 
On Tuesday, as a class, we visited The Deep alongside Team AC as a hook into our Science topic. I must say the class' behaviour was absolutely impeccable and they had so much fun over the day. The class were particularly excited to see a sawfish and catfish all in the same tank! They were enthusiastic from the get go, absorbing all the learning opportunities that came their way, including becoming a coral reef expert in the workshop they did!
Later in the week, the class enjoyed building their Roman chariots. We used carboard to make the structure, which we designed, cut and secured in place, before paper-maching.  Wheels and axles will be attached early next week before the class paint and decorate their fully functioning chariots and evaluate their work.
As you can see, its always full steam ahead! Check back soon to see what else we have been up to!

It will come as no surprise to hear just how incredibly hard the Team has been working this past fortnight. In their Maths they have been showing a fantastic understanding towards finding unit and non-unit fractions of an amount. Here they have had to apply multiple skills as they have had to use division skills to find the unit fraction, before using multiplication to find the non-unit fraction. This week, we have also been investigating equivalent fractions. The class have looked at equivalents pictorially and practically. We have then explored these on a fraction wall. After some time, the class began to recognise rules for calculating an equivalent fraction. They realised "whatever you do to the numerator, you must also do to the denominator" to get an equivalent fraction. Next week, we will round off our work on fractions as we compare and order fractions of the same denominator and unit fractions. 

In our Literacy we have been working hard and completed our fact file on our newly discovered sea creatures. The class have really loved this piece of writing and have shown a fantastic attitude towards it. We are really proud of the high quality pieces they have produced and these will look fantastic on our sea display this coming term. In our reading, we have been hooked on our termly reader "The Great Chocoplot". The class have worked hard to develop their explanation skills and begin to use the text as a source of evidence. They can now use quote marks with accuracy and have a good understanding of the importance of justifying their thoughts. 

In Science, we have been exploring world habitats. The class were split into teams and given a world habitat to research. They needed to consider what the conditions of this habitat was, what creatures lived there and how they have adapted. 

In History, we have continued our learning on the Roman Empire. We have learned about what Britain was like before the Roman invasion and how this lifestyle may have contribute to the success of the Roman's in conquering Britain. We will be moving on to looking at how the Roman's invaded next week and Boudicca. 

This week we have also been working hard in Spanish learning different colours. In Music, we have been practicing our new song Bringing us together which is a disco tune. Finally, in computing we have concluded our unit of work on making music digitally. The children have absolutely loved the creative nature of this piece of computing and should be so very proud of their efforts! Well done on another fantastic fortnight of learning Team CB!

Welcome back, I hope you all managed a decent rest over the half term holidays. In the last two weeks, the class have thrown themselves back into learning and have started Summer with a fantastic attitude. 
With a new term starting, we are also beginning a new topic focus. This term's focus is Science based and is linked to children exploring what lies below the ocean. This science topic will allow the children to learn about animals and plants beneath the sea, how living things survive in this habitat and the layers of the ocean.
In keeping with the theme of "Under the Sea" our literacy unit over the coming weeks is centered around creating our own sea creature. The class have explored key texts including "The Big Book of the Blue" and "Smart about Sharks" to explore fact file writing. As a class, we will work towards creating our own fact file for our hybrid sea creature that has recently been discovered! Team CB have shown such fantastic enthusiasm for this topic and are so eager to get to work on their designs! I cannot wait to share the end product with you all soon!
In Maths, we have been continuing our work on fractions. We have specifically looked at adding and subtracting fractions and started to explore tenths as a fraction and decimal in more detail. The practical nature of our lessons have really supported the children in understanding that a fraction is a part of 1 whole. Over the coming weeks we will explore fractions of an amount further where we will aim to calculate unit and non-unit fractions of an amount, making links to our division. 
In History, we have been exploring the reason that the Roman Army were so successful in growing the Roman empire. We have researched how they had to be the strongest, have regular gruelling training, use appropriate equipment, create defensive formations and more! Did you know they were the first paid army?
In Music, we have started a new focus this half term. We are working on music with a theme of "Bringing us together". The class have enjoyed learning and rehearsing the tune, warming up their vocals and performing as  a class. Well done Team CB!
Be sure to pop back for more updates as we continue our fantastic learning journey!

As another fortnight has been and gone, the class have been working tirelessly on their new Maths focus. We have been looking at fractions this week and the children have done fantastically well at recapping prior knowledge of halves, quarters and thirds. They have shown good understanding that a fraction of an amount or shape must be equal and they can recognise the different fractions in varied ways. Our focus next week will move to look more specifically at unit and non-unit fractions as well as being able to count in fractions across a range of denominations. 
In Literacy, we have started a new unit this week on instructions. To kickstart the topic, children followed a series of verbal instructions in order to create their own Roman Soldier mosaic image. This will feature as part of our class display. After completing their work, the class have spent time exploring the features of instruction writing and how audience and purpose can vary dependent upon the text. We have then looked closely at imperative verbs and fronted adverbials to incorporate into our writing. 
In our Science, we have been busy creating our own games to showcase what we have learned linked to magnetism. The class worked in small groups to design and create their own game to show in our class science fair. They have thought carefully about what they want to teach others about magnetic forces and then created a concept from this. They have created some fantastic games, include fishing games with attached magnets, boat and car races - all which only operated through the use of magnets as the main acting force. What a truly clever bunch Team CB is!
In our History topic, we have drawn to a close our learning on the Stone Age, Bronze Age and Iron Age this week. As such, an exciting new chapter begins, where the class will be learning all about the Romans and Boudicca especially. We can't wait to share some of our exciting new learning with you next half term!

In the last two weeks our wonderful Year 3s have been working their socks off and the results of their efforts are definitely showing! Over the last fortnight we have been completing various Maths and Literacy assessments in line with our school calendar. Our children have shown such commitment and dedication to their learning, working exceptionally hard to give their best in all subjects. It is therefore so lovely to say how well each and every one of our pupils have done in making their own personal progress and they should be so proud of their achievements!
In Literacy, we have continued with our recent discovery of a Bronze Age settlement, in preparation for writing our own newspaper. The class have been busy exploring different features of newspapers, their functions and beginning to develop and secure their understanding of the 5 W's. In our SPAG focus we have looked at using speech punctuation to record quotes and recapped the use of subordinate conjunctions to add detail.
Last week we celebrated International Women's Day. The class began by being asked to draw illustrations of different occupations e.g. firefighter etc. We found on reflection that the majority of the job roles were drawn as male but during our whole class discussion, we realised that anyone can do these job roles. As such we discussed what the purpose of International Women's Day was and why it was so important to celebrate the equality of men and women. 
This week, nationally schools have been celebrating Science and Technology week. This has been no different in Team CB. This year, we worked on the theme "Growth". To capture the theme, our class looked more specifically at their own personal growth as a result of COVID-19. We discussed the ways we have grown - becoming braver, more independent, resilient, able to manage change etc. As well as celebrating personal growth skills such as being able to use the toaster, learning to horse ride, fastening shoelaces. To capture all of our amazing personal growth, we created our own posters which are to be entered into a Science competition by Miss Fury. Continuing with this theme, we then completed our own science investigation into optical illusions and how our growing brain can use rules to make guesses about the way things look rather than the true experience. The class loved exploring different illusions and even created their own optical illusion from 2 10cm lines!
In Technology, the class have started to use the Design, Make, Evaluate process to document their project of creating a roman chariot; with a focus on wheels and axles. The class showed brilliant teamwork skills when designing their chariot, thinking carefully about the materials used and how their work could be constructed. Well done Team CB!
So as I'm sure this post reflects, another wonderfully busy, brilliant week for all in Team CB!
Keep it up superstars!
​

What an exceptionally brilliant start we have had after the half term! Team CB never fail to amaze me at the fantastic accomplishments they achieve. Since returning from the holidays, the class have worked tirelessly in all aspects of their learning and we are certainly very proud of each and every one of them. 
In our Maths this week, we have been busy investigating division using the formal written method (bus stop). The class have shown brilliant skill at seeing this method for the first time, practicing it and applying it to their own problems. What absolute superstars you are! They have been busy solving problems involving sharing without carries, and beginning to look at carrying over in some division problems too. Next week, we will be exploring what happens when a number does not divide exactly. 
Our Literacy this week has been a SPAG focus on prepositions. The class have been creating their own prepositional phrases linked to images, recognising the different prepositions they can use. We have worked hard to apply this into our writing too which has had a World Book Day focus.
As you may be aware, on Thursday we celebrated World Book Day. What a treat it was to see our children dressed up as their favourite book characters. To celebrate the day, we took part in lots of exciting activities, including creating our own Supervillain and escaping the Library through solving SPAG and Maths based problems. The class even went on to have an exceptionally arty afternoon linked to our acclaimed author Roald Dahl. The class created mirror image portraits of Roald Dahl and they are absolutely outstanding! They are so good in fact that Mrs Fitchett it submitting some to an art exhibition. What an achievement Team CB!
Elsewhere, this week we have also had a Spanish food tasting afternoon. We tried lots of traditional Spanish delicacies including Tapas, Gazpacho, Churros, Paella and Spanish omelette. The children were so passionate about this session and committed well to trying almost everything. The winners of the day were Churros and Paella although the same could not be said for the Gazpacho. 
We have also completed some more of our Music syllabus where we have been practicing the Dragon Song. We are working on singing lead and second vocals for the chorus currently, as well as using the glockenspiels to accompany the chorus. 
In our computing, we have completed our coding work this week and created our own interactive scenes. The children have done an astonishing job at this and have included alert commands, timers, repeat commands and collision detections to name but a few elements of code. 
Like I say, it has been an incredibly busy week back and I cannot wait to see all the fantastic things we achieve in the coming few weeks of Spring 2.

What a fantastic fortnight we have had in Team CB! In Literacy, the class have completed their final drafts of their Stone Age Boy substitute story, as well as working hard to develop key SPAG based skills this week. We are excited to take some time next week to pop into Team EO and share the brilliant stories with our younger school children. I know Team EO are really excited to share in this!
Meanwhile, in our Maths we have been reasoning and problem solving linked to multiplication. We have considered word problems, missing digits and posed a range of Always, Sometimes, Never statements for the children to investigate and form their own conclusions on. I am so very proud of the perseverance shown to tackling some of our more challenging problem solving tasks, especially missing digits, but by the end of this week all our children have found themselves happily and independently solving these - well done Team CB! We are excited to begin to move on to division next week, where we hope to have budding mathematicians solving all kinds of problems using the bus stop method.
In our wider curriculum, the class have been thoroughly engaged in their PE topics. Our focus for this half term has been Football and Dance (more specifically Cheerleading). It has been so lovely to witness the engagement in both sessions by all. The class have shown fantastic understanding of the skills involved in both sports and have give it 100%. I have loved seeing them become familiar with their different arm positions and stances for cheerleading!
Last week, the whole school celebrated interfaith week. This also coincided perfectly with Chinese New Year celebrations. The class were tasked with carrying out a meaningful act of kindness for our local community - and of course we rose to the challenge! Team CB decided to bake dragon biscuits to celebrate the Chinese New Year. We baked double the amount needed so that half could be taken to our local care home. When I dropped these off, the care home were so appreciative of this gesture. My heart could burst for how thoughtful our team had been! We also used Interfaith week to look more closely at comparisons between our two focus faiths this year - Christianity and Judaism. The class have shown fantastic awareness of why commandments and rules are so similar in both faiths as a result of Christianity being an offshoot of Judaism.
In our History, we have looked closely at the three time periods within the Stone Age; the Palaeolithic, Mesolithic and Neolithic eras. The class understand the varying durations of these time periods as well as that a Tsunami and the melting of the Ice Caps sparked the end of the Stone Age. We have specifically explored the tools used within the time and created our own adverts to persuade early humans to purchase these. Did you know that the bow and arrow was invented by Stone Age humans? The class are developing a really thorough understanding of these time periods and we can’t wait to explore further as we look at the Bronze and Iron Age.
In our Spanish, we have worked hard to learn how to form basic greetings over the last few weeks. We can now say hello and goodbye, ask how someone is and introduce ourselves. We have also looked at numbers 1-10 and will be exploring colours next week, 
Make sure you check back soon!

Over the course of the last two weeks Team CB have been further investigating magnets as a force. The class have investigated different types of magnets and the varying degree of strength that they can have. Using a range of different magnets, the class saw how magnets were able to move an object from a distance and this was reflective of its strength. We have also been generating our own lines of enquiry linked to magnets. The class devised their own questions that they'd like to find the answer to and will spend the next session exploring this further and creating their own scientific enquiry. 
In our Maths, we have been looking at the written method for multiplication after securing our knowledge of the 4 and 8 times tables. The class have thought carefully about the procedure involved and working to develop their rapid recall of their times tables facts. We have began to apply this learning to solving word problems, and missing digit problems. 
In our Literacy we have been writing up our own version of the Stone Age Boy. Our children have thought carefully about the elements that they have changed whilst still keeping the broad plot of the story. One of the changes made involved the animal they encounter in the cave. Did you know Stone Age animals include Glyptodons, Andrewsarchus and Woolly Rhinos. 
In History, we have explored the concept of timelines in depth. The class have now got a sound understanding of the terms BC and AD and what they mean. They are able to discuss the Stone Age, Bronze Age and Iron Age in chronological order as well as why each age started. This week we looked more closely at the Stone Age and were able to identify the three time periods within this; Palaeolithic, Mesolithic an Neolithic and their durations. 
In Music this week the class have been using their listening and appraising skills to explore our new song, The Dragon Song. The class demonstrated excellent understanding of the instruments within the piece and worked well to sing the chorus with a lead and second vocal.

lFirstly, welcome back! After what has been a thoroughly well-earned break for our dedicated children in Team CB, we are so glad to have them back full rested and recharged! Over the last fortnight our children have certainly not forgotten what hard work and focus looks like. They have returned to start Spring Term in the right way! 
With a new term comes new learning challenges. Our work over the last fortnight in Maths has centred heavily on multiplication. We have explored the concept of multiplication and what this actually means as well as how we can show this. The children have demonstrated fantastic understanding of arrays and the commutative law of multiplication as we have spent time focussing on multiplying and dividing by 3. We have explored closely the relationship between the times tables to support us in making accurate multiplication and division statements using our knowledge of inverse. 
In Literacy, we have been busy exploring a new text, Stone Age Boy. The class received this as  a special delivery from someone named Alexander, who after much debate, we believe may be the little boy in the story. We used our prediction skills from reading to make informed predictions about what may happen at various points of the story as we read along. The class then spent time exploring the features of an adventure story before retelling the story orally using a picture story plan to support them. Later in our writing, we used the plan to make changes to the narrative so that we could write our own substitute story over the coming week. 
In Reading, Team CB have begun working on a new text for this half term, the Iron Man. We have explored the vocabulary of the text closely, using dual coding to support our understanding. We have also developed our fluency through regular practice of our echo read skills.
In Science we have started to investigate Forces and Magnets. The class have shown fantastic understanding of what a force is and have used every day apparatus to model different forces that can be applied to an object. We have the worked to categorise these into pushes and pulls. 
Our focus for the Spring Term is History. Over the course of the term Team CB will be looking at the Stone Age to Iron Age as well as Roman invasions. The book we have been reading in Literacy has supported us in already knowing a few key aspects of Stone Age life. We hope to build on this understanding over the course of the coming term. 
As always, I could not be more proud of the fantastic attitude to learning that our children have! Keep it up Team CB!