Time certainly is flying, I cannot quite believe there is only 1 week to go before we are in to the final half term before the end of the year. Team CB have been working their socks off over the last two weeks. Here is what we have been up to:
In our Reading, we have been looking more closely at related texts to the Firework Maker's daughter, studying both non-fiction texts linked to the Gunpowder Plot and poems about fireworks. We have discussed the contrasting and similar language of the two pieces and the different purposes they were written for. 
In our writing we are now well under way with writing our own version of Razvani's backstory. The class spent time cultivating ideas for their own story before planning this out. When planning, we thought carefully about how we would organise our ideas into appropriate paragraphs, this supported children in not getting too lost within their writing and being able to move events on through the use of fronted adverbials and conjunctions of time. 
In Maths, we have further explored fractions, we have been looking more specifically now at using the fractional notation to describe equal parts of the whole, representing unit fractions in different ways, comparing and ordering unit fractions and using the knowledge of parts and wholes to solve problems linked to this. The class have had a relentless determination to succeed as always and should be very proud of their efforts. Well done Team CB!
In our Computing, we have begun a new unit related to creating media desktop publishing. So far, the children have been looking to recognise how text and images communicate information as well as recognising that text and layout can be edited. These are vital skills that will support our learners massively as they progress through school. Keep up the hard work Team CB! 
In RE we have been busy learning about Hindu weddings and celebrations of light and friendship including Raksha Bandhan. The children have created their own Rakhi bracelets either for their siblings or friends to show the value they place in their friendships. Well done Team CB! Keep it up!

Team CB has really been working hard over the last fortnight in their learning.
In Reading, Team CB have continued to dive into the Firework Maker's Daughter and are thoroughly enjoying the story so far! The class have analysed carefully Chapter 5, where Lila meets Razvani the fire-fiend. We have discussed the language used within here, as well as making sensible predictions about subsequent events from what is stated and what is implied. The class have worked so hard over the year on developing their fluency,  including the use of expression and intonation when they read. It has been lovely to listen to them begin to think critically about their reading from the skills they have acquired. 
In Literacy, last week we concluded writing our limericks about Lila. I must say some of the limericks were absolutely hilarious! Each and every single one was brilliantly constructed with the class thinking carefully about the words they rhymed and the image they created in their head of Lila. Well done Team CB. This week, we have moved on to a new focus for writing. As we are so hooked on the Firework Maker's Daughter, we are now writing a narrative of our own to tell the back story to Razvani becoming the fire-fiend. Be sure to check back for more updates on how we are getting on!
In Maths, we have moved to our new unit focus of fractions. We have been carefully considering the relationships between parts and wholes. From this, we have more closely looked at the term equal and unequal, and what this means. We have investigated whether equal parts must be the same shape or not. Year 3 is vitally important in developing a sound knowledge of fractions and this understanding is essential to underpinning work we will do later in the term on finding fractions of amounts and comparing fractions.
In PHSE our focus at the moment is based on approaching new tasks with confidence. Over the last few Incredible Me sessions, children have been given a range of different tasks to promote this skill. Children have been asked to play new games such as Stop the Bus, Boggle and memory games to help them develop resilience to try new tasks without feeling overwhelmed. They have also applied this skill to problem solving tasks such as the dog, the farmer, the chicken and the rice. Our new focus in future sessions will be managing our own emotions, especially frustration, anger and sadness.
In school today, we have been celebrating ahead of the Kings Coronation this weekend. Team CB spent time learning about what the job of King entails and why he is so important to so many. We hope however you spend it you have a wonderful Bank Holiday.

I can not quite believe that we are already heading into the Summer Term of this academic year. Where has time gone? It has truly been an absolute pleasure to teach Team CB so far this year and their unwavering attitude for soaking up learning has been a true delight to witness. 
Over the last week since our half term break, Team CB have been thrown straight back in to learning. In Maths, we have concluded our learning on multiplication, looking at scaling problems to help us understand the relationship of multiplication. We have then progressed to start to look at the formal written method for subtraction. The class so far have done a terrific job of picking up the method using what they already know about column addition and have made great progress in using this to solve a range of different problems. Well done!
Meanwhile, in our Literacy, we have been busy beginning to explore Limericks linked to our new class text, the Firework Maker's Daughter. The text tells the story of Lila who desperately wants to become a firework maker. We have used the character of Lila as a basis for creating our own limerick poems. The class have unpicked and identified the different aspects of what makes a limerick a limerick. They can now explain that a limerick has 5 lines, lines 1,2 and 5 must rhyme, as must lines 3 and 4. We have then identified character traits of Lila which we will use to form the basis of a rhyming word bank. Next week we will apply our rhyming word banks to help us create our own limerick poems. I am sure they will be fantastic so be sure to pop back and check!
In RE this week we have been looking at the Hindu celebration of Janmashtami. This is the celebration of Krishna's birthday. The class loved finding out about how Janmashtami is celebrated and seeing the way that people create human ladders to reach butter that Krishna so loved. Well done Team CB!
In PE, we have begun our new units. This half term, we are focussing on mindfulness for some of our sessions. In the other sessions, we are looking at creating a dance phrase linked to the theme of the Circus. The class really enjoyed getting into character to be a clown this week and had some fantastic dance phrases to show how carefully they considered the movements and actions of the clown. 

It has been another fabulously busy fortnight in Team CB with the class working tirelessly to continue to develop new skills across the curriculum. Over the last fortnight, in Team CB we have began to engage with our new text driver for the half term, Atlas of Adventures. This is a wonderful book filled with many exciting pages linked to our world as we know it.  The class have loved exploring non-fiction both within their reading sessions and as part of their writing focus. 
To drive our writing focus, we discussed how the book had information organised in different ways about different places and things to do whilst in different continents and countries of the world. This inspired our own writing, where we have decided to write a persuasive piece to our parents about why we should be allowed to visit Brazil which is our current Geography topic, drawing on various landmarks we thought they may love! Over the coming weeks, we will begin to action all the information and ideas we have gathered to write our text. 
In our Maths, we have been looking in closer detail at our times tables. We have paid particularly close attention to the relationship between the 2, 4 and 8 times tables, recognising that these are double or half of one another. We have used this to develop our strength and recall in times tables facts and can confidently solve different problems related to such questions now. 
Elsewhere in the curriculum, in Science we have continued to work hard on our knowledge of Rocks and fossils learning more about how fossils are formed. To help us understand this, we created a fossil sandwich and discussed the way in which fossils were formed. We also have explored the famous palaeontologist Mary Anning and her contributions to Science. 
In Spanish, we have been learning all about Fruits. We have been working hard to learn how to pronounce 10 different fruits in Spanish and I have been blown away at how amazing the children have done with this. Keep it up Team CB you are becoming super Spanish language experts!