This week started with our Stunning Start for our topic, Egypt. We took part in a range of activities to introduce this topic. These included:

• A session with Ian from KIC theatre in which we learned about and acted out Howard Carter's discovery of Tutankhamun's tomb.
• A session in which we then drew sketch maps of Tutankhamun's tomb. We learned about the purpose of tombs and the significance of finding Tutankhamun's tomb in particular. The children were particularly amazed at the young age in which Tutankhamun became a pharaoh and weren't sure if they would like to become a pharaoh at their age!
• We learned about hieroglyphs - what these are and how we have become able to decipher these; looking at the Rosetta Stone. The children then created their own versions of the Rosetta Stone. They each had 3 stones. On one stone they wrote their name in English, on another they wrote their name in hieroglyphs and on the final stone, they wrote their name in Mandarin (the language the children learn at Upton). The children loved seeing their names in the three different ways and putting their learning from other aspects of school life into practise elsewhere by incorporating their Mandarin into our topic.
• Finally, the children learned about the beliefs of Ancient Egyptians, including the reasons behind mummification, linking to the afterlife. The children learnt the process of mummification and acted this out in groups, including wrapping their 'mummies' in toilet paper for one of the steps! Year 3 were shocked at the steps taken to mummify someone!

This was such an exciting way to introduce our new topic and get everyone excited and hooked into learning more.

 

In Maths this week, the children in Miss Watmough and Mrs Watling's groups have been learning about pictograms, bar charts, tables and tallies. We have drawn our own bar charts to show our favourite crayon colours.

Miss Sinstadt, Miss Watkins and Miss Vary's groups have been learning about measurement and how to convert measures.

 

In English, the children have been writing a letter as Howard Carter to tell Lord Carnarvon about the discovery of Tutankhamun's tomb. On World Book Day, we wrote our own version of the text, replying to each crayon. We called this 'The Day the Crayons Were Happy'. 

 

In topic this week, we have been learning about where Egypt is, the topographical features of Egypt and have compared aspects of Egypt with the UK. 

 

Next week:

In Maths, Miss Watmough and Mrs Watlings' groups will be learning to convert measures (cm and mm, m and cm).

Miss Sinstadt, Miss Watkins and Miss Vary's groups will be measuring and calculating perimeters. They will then move on to fractions, looking at equal parts.

 

In English, we will be writing a setting description of the sphinx in our text, 'Marcy and the Riddle of the Sphinx'. We will describe both the inside and the outside.

 

In topic, we will be learning about the River Nile in Ancient and Modern Egypt. We will then begin designing our own Shaduf. 

 

Key reminders:

Homework - each Friday, the children are set MyMaths and Spelling Shed homework, due in for the following Friday. These can be found here: https://mymaths.co.uk/ and spellingshed.com/en-gb/

The children should also be reading and completing TTRS at least 3 times a week.

If you have forgotten any of your log ins, please contact your child's class teacher.

 

Please also remember to send your child in with a yoghurt pot as we will be using these as part of our Shadufs.

 

Have a lovely weekend!
The Year 3 Team