Friday 4th April
STEMmaville
What an exciting week we have had in school this week! Every afternoon this week, we have been learning about STEM and doing lots of activities that link to STEM. Every day this week, we have been learning about different STEM careers, one for each letter of the alphabet. We have also been exploring a new zoom in, zoom out picture, looking at different objects and using our reasoning skills to figure out what the picture was.
On Monday afternoon, we had an exciting challenge. With our partners, we were given some spaghetti and some marshmallows. We were tasked with using these to make a tower! We created some very interesting and unique designs, creating different shapes and structures. When some did not work, we would take it apart and try it again a different way, using our problem solving skills.
On Tuesday, we put on our coding hats. With our partners, we got the iPads out and coded some Minecraft games! We had three different games to choose from, all to do with Minecraft. We had to work together with our partner and figure out what worked, what didn’t work, and how to fix it so the characters could flow through the sequence.
On Wednesday, we had a very special surprise. Some people came in from Kielder Observatory and set up a portable observatory in the hall. We went in and sat in a circle on the inside, and all around us we could see outside the observatory. Then, it changed to night time and we could see lots of the stars in space! We learned about some constellations and what they are called, how they got their names and what they are supposed to look like. After all of this excitement, when we got back to the classroom, we drew some of the constellations we saw.
On Thursday, we learned about some different scientists and what they do in their careers. We then had some more special visitors from Newcastle University, who came in to conduct some experiments in the hall for us to watch and learn all about how the Earth was formed!
Finally, on Friday, we were given a challenge where we were given an egg and had to find out a way to drop it without the egg breaking. We were given lots of different materials to help us complete this challenge and worked in groups of 4. This took a lot of trial and error, but it was a very fun time for everyone!
What an interesting and exciting STEM week it has been!
Friday 28th March
DT - Drawbridge with a Winding Mechanism
This half term in DT we have been learning about winding mechanisms. Today we finished making a drawbridge to defend against a Viking invasion. I was so impressed with the children’s problem-solving skills and the resilience they built up while trying to make their drawbridges. It was also lovely to see how they shared resources with each other and supported their classmates when they were stuck. You can see the children’s proud faces when had their photo taken with their finished drawbridge. For some the challenge had seemed huge at the start, but they did it! Well done everyone! You all deserve a pat on the back for your efforts!
21st March
Fitness Festival at Thorp Academy
Today, we were lucky enough to be invited up to Thorp Academy for a fitness festival! After having lunch in our classroom, we walked up and were shown into the hall, where there was a carousel of activities set up for us. These were led by some of the fantastic Year 7s at Thorp (including some old Emmavillians!). In each activity, we competed against our partners. We would have 30 seconds to do an exercise as many times as possible. Then, our partner would have 30 seconds to try to beat our score! The exercises were:
After all of this exercise we had some tired legs…but we were not finished yet! Then, we went out onto the field and got into teams. In these teams, we completed some relay races where we had to move in different ways, including running, skipping and side steps. Then, the winners went into a final against the Year 7s from Thorp, and a team from Emmaville won! A great afternoon was had by all!
6th March 2025
World Book Day
To celebrate World Book Day, we came to school dressed in our pyjamas or as one of our favourite book characters. In the morning, we had our friends from Nursery come down to our classroom, where we were able to read some books together. Then, we participated in a BBC Live lesson, all about different genres of books and choosing our favourites.
The book we focused on was ‘A Child of Books’ by Oliver Jeffers and Sam Winston. After reading this book, we circled some of the words that we found interesting. From these, we all created our own poems!
In the afternoon, we took part in a Footy and Booky quiz from The National Literacy Trust and Premier League Primary Stars. We got to see lots of different footballers and authors, who asked us questions relating to football and some of their favourite books. Finally, we thought about what reading means to us. We created a piece of art using words to answer this question in the style of the book ‘Orphan’ by Sam Winston.
What a lovely day we have all had!
Friday 14th February
Viking Workshop with Adam Bushnell
On Tuesday 11th February we were very lucky to have author and poet Adam Bushnell come in to teach us about the Vikings. He arrived with a bag brimming with Viking objects. Firstly, we looked at some Viking clothing, such as tunics, chainmail and a nasal helm, which we all got to wear (take a look at the photos below)! Next, we examined some Viking weaponry, including swords, daggers and goose feather arrows. It was great fun to explore and handle all of these replica objects.
Then, we used our knowledge of Viking clothing and weaponry to design our own Viking! After drawing our Viking, we labelled the clothes that they were wearing. Then, we learned about kennings and how Vikings would have called their weapons and armoury strange names, using a noun then a verb, and came up with our own! Some kennings included ‘arm-smasher’, ‘leg-chopper’ and ‘head-protector’.
Adam taught us that Vikings were renowned boasters to intimidate their enemies and prove that they were the strongest warriors. We then came up with our own boasts about fantastic feats that our Viking had achieved, such as ‘I swam through lava,’ ‘I held the entire Earth in my hand,’ and ‘I scared a bear out of its skin!’
To end our session, we drew our own frost giants and serpent monsters. We had lots of ideas for these creatures, for example, only having one eye or having blue scales all over. Then, Adam took our ideas and brought them to life using ChatGPT to create the image of what our monster might look like! We found this really interesting and enjoyed seeing our creations.
We are looking forward to doing some further writing about our Vikings!
Well I couldn't resist putting Art on again this week as I thought the sculptures were amazing!
Last week we worked outdoors to create sculptures in pairs. Today, we worked indoors. We were inspired by the work of land artist Andy Goldsworthy. We used natural materials that we had found to create our own sculpture, developing our technique. Not only were these amazing, but the children were so focused and really enjoyed creating them! Well done everyone!
Friday 17th January 2025
Year 3 Anglo-Saxon Artefacts History Lesson
We had a very exciting History lesson on Monday, where we got the chance to explore Anglo-Saxon artefacts from the Discovery Museum. On each table we had different artefacts displayed, with all the artefacts on one table linking together. For example, Anglo-Saxon grave finds, Lindisfarne artefacts and Anglo-Saxon life. We looked at artefacts such as a spearhead, tunics that men and women would have worn and a replica board game with counters and dice. We had the opportunity to discuss with our table what each artefact was and how they may have been used in Anglo-Saxon Britain. Once we had observed all of the artefacts, we then learned their real purpose and any interesting facts about them. One fact that we found particularly interesting is that the Lindisfarne Gospels were written on animal skin and estimates are that 150 calf skins (vellum) were used to make the book! It suggests the book was also written with a pen made from a bird’s feather. To make the pictures in the book, Eadfrith would draw the shapes, then colour them in using paint held in an oyster shell dish. Real gold flakes were added to some of the pages!
Friday 10th January
Personal Growth - Job roles visitor
Happy New Year to everyone! It has been lovely to have you all back in class and ready to learn.
This week we were treated to a very special visitor Helen Doyle who is the head pastry chef at 21 in Newcastle. She also happens to be Alfie’s mum!
Helen told us all about her training, how her work has allowed her to travel all over the world and her role entails.
We got to ask lots of questions about her work and some of the famous people she has served and worked with!
Some of us got to dress up in chef’s whites with aprons and gave out cookies that Helen’s team made for all of us in year 3. They were delicious! Thank you Helen for coming in, for sharing all about your job and for the amazing cookies. Some of us have decided we would now like to become chefs.
After the visit, Mr Robinson received a lovely message from Helen saying how impressed she was with the children’s curiosity and the questions that they asked.