Thursday 21st May – Home Learning
I hoped you all enjoyed the beautiful sunshine yesterday. My goodness it was hot! It’s Thursday….With the weather being so glorious outside, why not do your home learning whilst basking in the sun? C’mon you can do it! I believe in you.
Just a quick reminder…if you could send me a picture of your child with a piece of their home learning at some point this week to t.prior@southill.dorset.sch.uk then I will make sure that it makes an appearance in the ‘end of the week’ class video. It would be great if we could see as many Year Three faces as possible!
In addition, remember it is essential to ‘check-in’ during the week so please email me to let me know that you are ok. See it as us simply taking the register.
Apart from that, have an amazing day and I hope you enjoy all of the activities.
Mr. Prior ?
Spellings
Here are this week’s spellings to learn for Friday.
decide
describe
different
difficult
disappear
Challenge- find out what the spellings mean using a dictionary and try to use the words in your own brilliant sentence.
Reading
Please ensure your children reads daily for at least fifteen minutes. A combination of them reading independently, out loud to an adult and letting them listen to the story being told by the adult is advisable. Simply record any reading in your child’s reading record book. Remember to also quiz your books.
IMPORTANT REMINDER- we are still monitoring book quizzes on Star Reader so please ensure your child is still doing them. Children are more likely to do well on quizzes if they are able to quiz the book straight after reading it. Parents- you are also more than welcome to read the question out loud for your child if it helps them.
Challenge- As you have already written a film review, why not have a go at a book review as well? Think about how you are going to introduce your review and how you are going to structure it using subtitles.
Writing Task- The POWER of description!
There are three great ways to automatically improve a piece of writing- impressive adjectives, similes and personification. Using the image above, I would like you to have a go at writing a paragraph describing what you see. I want you to imagine that you are the person in the picture and you’ve just discovered a woolly mammoth! Here’s one that I prepared earlier.
You’ll notice that all that happens in my story is that Victor sees a mammoth and then runs away, however through powerful description, I have turned this into a gripping story which leaves the reader wanting to find out more.
Sometimes, story writing becomes rushed and the action moves on too quickly so today you are simply writing a detailed paragraph (two at a push). Imagine the reader cannot see the picture. You will need to describe…
- The setting
- The character’s thoughts and feelings
- The mammoth
Take your time and if you can also include a range of punctuation, short sentences to build tension and even fronted adverbials then I would be majorly impressed!
You have two days to complete this task so really take your time, proof-read your writing regularly and produce something to be proud of. If you finish early, I would start practising reading it aloud with intonation and volume. On Friday, it would be great if we could have a few children videoing themselves reading out their stories.
Have fun!
Arithmetic – Rounding to the nearest 10
Today, we will be recapping how we round numbers to the nearest 10…Remember the rhyme…
‘1 and 2 and 3 and 4, round down to the 10 before. 5 and 6 and 7, 8, 9 round up to the 10 on the number line’
For example, if I had the number 86, I would round it up to 90. If I had the number 83 I would round down to 80. You look at the digit in the ones column and decide whether you round up to the next ten or down to the previous ten.
Have a go at rounding the following numbers to the nearest 10.
a) 54
b) 67
c) 45
d) 21
e) 92
f) 98
g) 153
h) 531
i) 678
j) 985
Challenge- How would we round numbers to the nearest 100?
Maths No Problem Task- Describing Two-Dimensional Shapes
First of all, here are the answers to the questions from yesterday (pages 165-168).
Note- we have skipped the activity on ‘identifying horizontal and vertical lines’. You are more than welcome to still do this activity if you wish.
In focus (page 225)- To begin the lesson, cover up the Let’s Learn and take a look at the shape. What can the children tell you about it? They may say things like:
It has two right angles
It has 2 perpendicular lines (because it has two right angles)
It has 1 acute angle
It has 1 obtuse angle
It has 4 sides
It has 4 corners (vertices)
It has 1 set of parallel lines
It has two horizontal lines, one vertical line and one diagonal line
Let’s Learn (pages 225-227)- What do we call this shape if it has 4 sides? A lot of people at this point will either say a square or a rectangle. It’s important that they understand that we call 4-sided shapes quadrilaterals. I like to think of it as quad- means 4 (as there’s 4 wheels on a quad-bike).
The reason why it isn’t a square is because all the sides on a square have to be the same and it also has 4 right angles. It isn’t a rectangle because it needs to have two sets of parallel lines (and 4 right angles).
Look at let’s learn two where it identifies the perpendicular and parallel lines. Ensure children remember what these are. Then look at Let’s Learn 3 on page 227. Ask them to measure the sides of the shape using a ruler. How many centimetres are each of the sides? Guide them to use their rulers to measure accurately.
Guided Practice (page 227) – Children simply need to describe the shapes. What are they called? How many vertices does it have? What angles does it have? Are there any perpendicular or parallel lines? Can they measure the sides? etc.
Workbook (pages 171-173)- Children to have a go at the activities in their workbook. If children are still finding angles difficult, that’s ok. Teachers are the biggest resource in the classroom so do not feel like they are failing if they need support. In fact, children learn best when it is modelled to them and they can discuss the answer with somebody.
2a and 2b are particularly difficult on this task. Always remember that perpendicular lines meet at a right angle and parallel lines are like train tracks. They will run along side-by-side forever and never meet.
I will post the answers to these problems on Friday. Good luck!
Topic-based task – Google Earth and Mini-Fact Files
Have you heard of Google Earth? Well, if you haven’t it’s amazing! It allows you to look at any part of the world from the comfort of your own home. You can even find your own house! How cool is that!?
Well, to round off our topic, I thought it would be fun to find famous Stone Age monuments on Google Earth and either sketch them (or print them off). Then, using the powers of the internet, you could find some short, sharp facts about each one in order to produce mini-fact files. Interestingly, Stonehenge isn’t the only monument that has lasted the test of time…these have too:
-Men-an-tol or the Devil’s Eye
-Skara Brae
-Cheddar Gorge
-Newgrange
-The Rollright Stones
-The Devil’s Arrows
-West Kennet Longbarrow
– Lanyon Quoit
You will need to use Google Chrome for this to work. To use Google Earth, follow this link or copy and paste it into the search bar on Google Chrome: https://earth.google.com/web/search/united+kingdom/@54.55127985,-4.4737716,4.92662568a,2761249.88611428d,35y,0h,0t,0r/data=CigiJgokCZfXhXtdm0lAEd2__2B3hklAGTKWTah0tPi_IaUhV_sWsADA
Then, when you have a page that looks like this…
-
- Here we see the United Kingdom. Can you find your house?
Click on the magnifying glass on the left hand side and search where you would like to go. Then, you can press the plus button in the bottom right hand corner to get a better video.
That’s not all!! It even gives you links to the Wikipedia page where it will give you fascinating facts about this place.
Have a go at finding the various Stone Age monuments on Google Earth and write a little fact file about each of them. I have prepared one for you to look at below:
How many mini-fact files can you create? Remember, we are looking for quality! High-expectations on presentation and enjoy! You may even wish to create this on the computer using PowerPoint, Word or Publisher.
You have all week for this activity so take your time and produce something to be proud of.
Other Fun Ideas and Activities
Keen to do more? Not ready to call it a day? Then why not give some of the activities below a go (who knows, you might enjoy it)…
Science Experiments- Rummage around in the cupboards and you may like to have a go at some of these wicked science experiments! Make a massive marshmallow, create a bouncing egg, make pepper swim (link to the importance of washing hands) create a tornado in a glass, create dragon eggs, make your own slime, make a hovercraft balloon or even a skittles rainbow.
Get the children making predictions as to what may happen, draw labelled diagrams and then carry out the experiment. What did you learn from the experiment? Write a little conclusion to show what you have found out.
Want to know how to do these experiments? Visit some of the websites listed below…
https://www.dayoutwiththekids.co.uk/blog/easy-cool-science-experiments-for-kids
https://sciencekids.co.nz/experiments.html
https://mashable.com/article/science-experiments-for-kids/?europe=true
D&T- The Eggstremely Fun Egg Drop
Using only- a carrier bag, 4 pieces of string, a yoghurt pot, 4 pieces of Sellotape, 1 small blob of Blu-tak and a 2 pieces of paper, can you create a parachute for Eggward III?? Once you have designed and created your parachute, supervised by an adult, drop the parachute with Eggward inside and see if he survives! Teaching tip- Let children see the resources first, then get them to draw a labelled diagram of their parachute before building.
Great fun for all the family!
JOKE BOOK- Did you enjoy video from a few weeks ago? If you haven’t seen Jester Prior delivering his all-time favourite jokes yet, then visit the Year 3 news page. Why not create your very own joke book? You could create a title page and note down some of the funniest jokes you can think of. I’m sure your parents could do with a laugh! ?
Audible- a great app which you can download and contains many free books (great to listen to before bedtime).
Prior’s Top Audible Picks – Kid Normal by Radio DJ Greg James (and Chris Smith).
-Diary of a Wimpy Kid – Wrecking Ball by Jeff Kinney
-Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets by JK Rowling
-The Gift of Dark Hollow (the sequel to Podkin One-Ear) by Kieran Larwood
– Slime by David Walliams
Alternatively, if you’re a real keen Walliams fan, he is currently releasing a lot of chapters of his books for free! This includes an audio story from The World’s Worst Children every day for the next 30 days! Check out this link- https://www.worldofdavidwalliams.com/elevenses-catch-up/
Sumdog- Online maths and literacy questions delivered through entertaining games. Simply create a login totally free of charge, create an avatar and let your children explore and play. Mr Prior’s favourite game…JUNK PILE! It’s addictive- be warned. Parents- you can also set certain questions on there for your children to focus on. Any questions, please email me.
Maths Factor- KEEN FOR EVEN MORE MATHS? Carol Vordeman has made her website free during this strange time…feel free to login and check out some of the activities- https://www.themathsfactor.com/
ICT- Fancy becoming quicker at typing and brushing up on your fine motor skills? Why not have a go at BBC Dance Mat Typing…Dancing for your fingertips…you know the drill…follow the link- https://www.bbc.co.uk/bitesize/topics/zf2f9j6/articles/z3c6tfr
French- Why not have a go at learning ‘Heads, shoulders, knees and toes in French?
Once you think you’ve mastered it, get your parents to test you on the various parts of the body.
Lexia- If you have a Lexia account, please feel free to login and try to do it for at least 15 minutes.
Story Writing- Enjoy writing stories? Fancy becoming an author like JK Rowling, David Walliams or Francesca Simon? Well, practice makes perfect! Why not use one of these story starters and get writing!
Story Starters…
a) Icy fingers gripped my arm in the darkness.
b) The eyes in the painting follow him down the corridor.
c) Icy wind slashed at his face and the rain danced its evil dance upon his head as he tried to get his bearings on the isolated beach.
d) Footsteps slowly creaked on every step of the stairs. The bedroom door handle turned slowly.
e) My hair stood on end, a shiver raced down my spine and a lump came to my throat.
f) The gravestones stood silently, row upon row like soldiers long forgotten, a scream shattered the silence…
g) Three of us. We were the only ones left, the only ones to make it to the island.
h) Everything stopped, people were stood like statues all around me, people in cars, men on bicycles, babies in prams all lifeless, frozen in time.
i) Wrapped up warm against the icy fingers of dusk, the caretaker closed the cemetery gates, who was that watching him?
j) Hundreds of eyes peered at me through the darkness in the alley. How many cats where there? Why were they all here together?
k) Cold and wet, tired and exhausted she made her way along the path through the forest.
l) Everything stopped, everything a statue all around me. Frozen in time.
m) My next door neighbours, The Johnsons, were all asleep in their coffins when I climbed the fence to get the ball.
n) I hadn’t seen the door before. It wasn’t there last night. Cautiously, I turned the handle.
o) It was a bright, frosty morning. The pavement glistened like a carpet of crushed diamonds in the early morning sunshine.
p) I pushed open the old creaky door and looked inside. What a sight met my eyes!
q) It was spring 2018 when I first realised I could breathe under water.
The Daily Mile- If you have a garden big enough (or a quiet field nearby) why not head out for the Daily Mile? 15 minutes…how many laps can you do?
PE- I’m ready for the next FOSS disco…are you!?