Year 3/4R
Our Autumn Term topic is: The Blue Abyss.
We will be learning about all of the creatures under the sea and how they are adapted to life there. We will be discovering how humans have depended on the ocean for thousands of years: from fisherman and pirates, to marine biologists and conservationists. We will be identifying our own impact on the oceans and how we can make a difference.
Take a look at our knowledge organiser to see more about what we will be learning:
Bristol Aquarium
To kick start our 'Blue Abyss' topic we went on a school trip to Bristol Aquarium. We learned all about different sea creatures on our aquarium tour, fed the sting rays and used our sketching skills to draw realistic portraits of our favourite creatures!
Classifying Shells
We used our observational skills to identify similarities and differences between shells. We created branching diagrams with our partners to sort them and then using a key to identify each shell's name.
The Great Wave Off Kanagawa - Our Intepretations
Non-Chronological Report Hot Writes: We have been working hard to develop our report writing skills. We have written non-chronological reports to help Leo from our class story, Leo and the Octopus!
Pirate Immersion Day
3/4R had a fantastic 'Marvellous Middle' to our topic, learning all about the infamous Welsh pirate Black Bart! We discovered that he was not always a pirate but a deckhand in the merchant navy. When his ship was captured by another Welsh pirate, Howell Davis, Black Bart turned to piracy to avoid execution. He went on the be the most successful pirate of the age, capturing over 400 ships. His life was very exciting and he showed us how to fight with a pistol and a rapier. He also told us that being a pirate isn't all good though - who knew that the reason ships had a plank was because it was actually the toilet!
(Disclaimer: no children were harmed in the process of this immersion day!).
Diwrnod Shwmae 2021
The 15th October every year is Diwrnod Shwmae (Shwmae Day). We celebrated in 3/4R by wearing the colours of the Welsh flag (gwyrdd, coch a gwyn), singing and dancing to Sosban Fach, following Welsh instructions to complete a dwdl and of course, using our Welsh language skills to have conversations with our friends.
We had fun following Welsh instructions to draw an 'Octopws':
The Day 3/4R Went to Sea
3/4R have baked ships biscuits using lots of important maths skills. First, we had to double the recipe so that we had enough for the whole crew. Then, we used our measuring skills to weigh the ingredients and our knowledge of time to make sure they were cooked correctly. Finally, we divided the biscuits equally in our groups so everybody had their fair share! Da iawn pawb!
3/4R out the 'I' in 'kind' for Anti-Bullying Week 2021 #onekindword
Kung Fu Punctuation!
3/4R have been learning Kung Fu Punctuation to help us to remember to use our capital letters, full stops and other punctuation marks in our writing.
Food Chains
3/4R have been learning about oceanic food chains. We have learnt what the words 'consumer', 'producer', 'predator' and 'prey' mean. The children used their creative skills to make model food chains. The producer is the seaweed, the first consumer is a shrimp, one of the prey animals is a fish and the shark is the apex predator.
Our Spring Term topic is: Ancient Civilisations
We will be becoming historians and archaeologists as we discover what life was like in three ancient civilisations: Ancient Egypt, Ancient Sumer and the Indus Valley. We will be examining historical artefacts and learning about what life was like in these ancient civilisations. We will be learning about their geography, religion, architecture, writing, art and food. Design and innovation skills will be put to the test as we become tomb builders and develop mechanisms to help us create structures.
Take a look at our knowledge organiser to see more about what we will be learning:
3/4R enjoyed their visit to The Egypt Centre in Swansea to kick off our Ancient Civilisations topic. We had lots of fun exploring the museum's artefacts, role playing as different Egyptian Gods, learning about mummification and playing the ancient game of Senet.
Mummifying Tomatoes!
3/4R were inspired by their guided reading to plan and undertake an experiment to see how mummification works!
We removed the tomato's "organs" (seeds) and made our own natron from salt and bicarbonate of soda to dry them out. We will monitor them for 40 days, just like the Ancient Egyptians observed their mummies, to see what happens.
In maths we have been learning all about money. We have explored different strategies for finding change from £10.
Ancient Egyptian Shadufs
Did you know that the Ancient Egyptians invented a mechanism called a shaduf to move water from the River Nile? We have used our TASC skills to explore different mechanisms, materials and structures to come up with our own prototype shadufs with our friends in the other Year 3/4 classes.
Storm Eunice
Storm Eunice meant that we all had to stay home from school so that we were safe. Miss Rowley and the boys and the girls in 3/4R decided to all join together to curl up with a book and stay nice and cosy at home!
The Great Welsh Edwardsville Bake Off!
Lent
We explored the Christian tradition of lent in our R.E. lessons. We learnt that Christians make pancakes on Shrove Tuesday to use up all of the indulgent ingredients in their cupboards. From Ash Wednesday, Christians fast or sacrifice certain foods in honour of the sacrifices Jesus made during his 40 days and nights in the desert. We made our own pancakes in school to celebrate! 
3/4R Winners of the Red Nose Race and Design and Red Nose Competition
GET WRITING: Travel Vlogs
In Spring Two, we have developed our persuasive language skills in our GET WRITING lessons. We have used our skills to write playscripts for travel vlogs. We then performed, produced and edited them using the green screen.
Riley and Logan's fantastic Travel Vlog
Harper and Lacey's awesome Travel Vlog
Ethan and Ocea's brilliant Travel Vlog
Our Summer Term topic is: Misty Mountain, Winding River
We will be learning all about our local landscape as we explore the winding rivers of Wales: the Taff, the Wye, the Ystwyth and the Severn. We will learn all about the features of these rivers, their geography and how they support local wildlife and people. We will be debating whether beavers should be reintroduced to Wales and use out TASC skills to build an otter holt.
We will then turn our eyes to the mountains of Wales: the Brecon Beacons and Snowdonia. What are the five different types of mountains? How are they formed? We will speak to a real life explorer about their climb up Mount Everest and plan for a mountaineering expedition.
We will explore the water cycle and conduct science experiments about evaporation, condensation and states of matter. It may be our last term of the year but there is still so much to learn and explore!
Misty Mountains, Winding Rivers: Knowledge Organiser
3/4R have enjoyed learning about the Hindu deity Ganesha in RE. We have role played as Ganesha to give advice to Kubera and created our own board games to consider how Ganesha helps Hindus overcome obstacles.
The children in years 3 and 4 have been designing a new home for Owain the otter for our Holts Under The Hammer TASC project. Owain is very impressed with all of the children’s efforts and enjoyed trying them out for size.
3/4R had a fabulous Friday afternoon making origami boats with Sam from 5/6! Diolch Sam for your patience and fantastic instructions!
3/4R have been using DataMaps to learn all about our local river and develop our digital mapping skills.
We learnt all about the water cycle, conserving water and how much water we use when we brush our teeth with Louise from Dwr Cymru!
Queen's Platinum Jubilee
We were so busy celebrating the Queen's platinum jubilee that there wasn't time to take many photos. We did, however, think our buffet lunch was blasus iawn!
We had lots of fun building resilience, teamwork and having fun with ex-Queen’s guard Kieran from Forces Fitness! We played the floor is lava, did a tyre race and learnt about life in the military. But our favourite activity was... TUG OF WAR!
