Our week in Base 3

This week has been such a lovely week, seeing all our Year 6's in school working so hard in their SATs tests and all of the children in Base 3 have tried to be encouraging to them and quiet in lessons in order to allow them to do their very best.

Topic this week has focused on the burial sites in Ancient Egypt and how they evolved throughout the Old, Middle and New Kingdoms in Ancient Egypt. We first learnt about the most famous and memorable pharaohs of that time, discovering their reigns and ages and entertaining ourselves with interesting facts such as how King Ramesses II was so well-known due to the fact that he had over 200 wives and over 100 children!!! How times have changed! :) We all discussed the impact of such traditions such as multiple wives, from which the children drew some very interesting conclusions- enjoyed by all.
Then we progressed to look at how King Zoser, who had the first pyramid built for his burial, was buried in the famous 'Step Pyramid', which was originally a Mastaba tomb. I'm certain the children can tell you about the significance of why they built it to look like steps up to the sky...ask your children for the answer! We finally did some research on the evolution from 'Prehistoric pit graves' to 'Mastaba Tombs' to more recent pyramid styles that were built to bury very important pharaohs deep within. It has been so enjoyable to hear the enthusiasm from the children when finding out facts about the 'booby' traps in place, treasures found with the mummified pharaohs and the endless passage ways and maze-like galleries that were constructed within such pyramids.

Literacy has been part of our topic work for some lessons, putting together our written facts and questions to entice the reader into out new-found information. We have also done some focused work on word families: how we identify verbs, adjectives and adverbs; how to choose most appropriate vocabulary and the effect to the reader. Literacy homework sent this weekend particularly focuses on adverbs- which remain a working progress for us.

Maths has revolved around applying suitable and appropriate mental skills when adding and subtracting, for example, by using near multiples for the Y4s. Also real life word problems have been well-practised this week to further encourage the children's independent choices of skills and methods needed to solve a problem. The Y3s have also worked hard on doubling and halving of larger numbers.

We had our last swimming lesson this week, so no more swimming kits required on a Thursday! Just a quick reminder...full PE kits are to be in school for when required on Wednesdays and Thursdays. II will be sending these home next week to be refreshed over half term- much needed for some! :)

A massive congratulations to Poppy, Chloe and Carla for rosettes achieved at Marbury Merry Days with their doggies... Also Charlotte for her stage 7 swimming achievements and Jasmine and Heather for their super progress through their ballet examinations. We're all very proud of you all!

Stars of the week this week: Aoife and Matthew for OUTSTANDING writing from Literacy homework last week. It was so lovely to see many children really putting in 100% effort, equally at home and at school, and ensuring they are striving to be their very best. Well done!

Finally, there have been some pens being given out this week- to several children who have proved that they are worthy to use a pen now- consistent neat and joined handwriting with few errors and scribbles...keep it up, you know who you are pen superstars!

Enjoy our last weekend before Summer Half Term everyone...
See you all Monday (only a 4-day week next week remember- Friday INSET)

Miss Carter