Suckley School
Happy, Aspirational and Ready for Life
Autumn
Working as journalists
This week, Woodpeckers started writing their newspaper accounts of the Mount Vesuvius eruption. We transported ourselves back in time to August 25th, 79 CE (AD), and had a go at interviewing 'survivors' from the eruption, as though it were the day after. We then used this to write direct quotes for our newspaper articles using correct speech punctuation. From there, Woodpeckers had a go at writing a factual introductory paragraph using the 5 W's - who, when, what, where, why. We then reviewed the key details about the eruption and started writing the main body of text, making sure we are writing using past tense, factual information, including speech punctuation and recalling information in chronological order. Great start Woodpeckers!
Year 3 - Grouping and sharing (multiplication and division)
Year 3 have been working on grouping and sharing this week in conjunction with thinking about multiplication and division. The children investigated that multiplication and division are linked and that one is the inverse of the other. They also learnt a new word - 'commutative' - ask you Woodpecker to show you what it means!
Volcano creation - Phase 3 - ERUPTION!
Today was the day the Woodpeckers had been waiting for! Now that the volcanoes were dry, we could 'erupt' them! We combined baking soda and vinegar (alkali and acid) to create a chemical reaction - we added food colouring to make it look like lava! While of course this particular reaction does not occur in a volcano, carbon dioxide, the product of our reaction (the bubbles the children could see), is a gas in volcanic eruptions. The reaction allowed the children to visualise the concept of the lava (molten magma) erupting from within the 'magma chamber', out of the 'caldera', and flowing down the mountain side under gravity to the lower areas of ground, such as the towns and the sea. In addition, we learnt about pyroclastic flows, which are a liquidised mixture of solid and part-solid fragments and hot, expanding gases. They look like a snow avalanche but are extremely hot and contain poisonous gases. They move at the speed of a hurricane. The eruption which destroyed the ancient city of Pompeii was as a result of a pyroclastic cloud.
The children loved this opportunity to bring their current English topic alive!
Volcano creation - Phase 2
Phase two of volcano creation was very exciting, providing many opportunities for cross-curricular learning with discussions of human and physical geography as well as geology, plus great opportunities for team work, collaboration and cooperation. Especially interesting were the discussions which precipitated from the simple question 'what colour/s do you think you could paint your volcano?' as we learnt that volcanic regions are particularly fertile, good for farming and therefore human growth and development - eek, volcanoes are dangerous places to live! Several groups even painted the Bay of Naples and the city of Pompeii at the base of their volcanoes! Now, they can't wait to erupt them!
Art & Design to create our own VOLCANOES! Phase 1
Using our design skills, Woodpeckers starting making their volcanoes. Placing an empty plastic bottle at the centre to act as our magma chamber, we used scrunched newspaper to create the volume needed for the volcanic structure/ dome shape. Then, there was sheer delight at using paper mache to complete the structure helping to bury the 'magma chamber' into the 'igneous rocks'. This provided ample opportunity to discuss volcanoes, how they are formed, and why they can be so dangerous.
Working as Geologists
Rocks, ROCK!!!
Woodpeckers loved working with our loaned rock collection from the Lapworth Museum (University of Birmingham). We learnt about how geologist study rocks by first of all making observations about them. We looked at the visible features of the rocks and organised them into categories according to features such as their colour, whether the samples had layers/ banding, whether there will any grains or crystals or whether there were fossils. We named the rocks and also the types of rock- sedimentary, igneous or metamorphic. We discussed what each of these rock types are and how some of these rocks formed. We were especially interested in the various igneous rocks since we are investigating Mount. Vesuvius at the moment; they couldn't believe the weight of the lava bomb!
Working as Authors
Working at Mathematicians
We have really got back into the swing of learning after enjoying a half term break. We have been very busy learning about Pompeii and Mount Vesuvius in both English and topic, busy writing persuasive letters to our main characters Tranio and Livia convincing them to leave Pompeii. We currently have a loaned rock collection from the Lapworth Musuem (University of Birmingham) and the children have really engaged in learning about the three main rock types like geologists. In Maths, we have been busy working on our addition and subtraction skills, (year 3) and multiplication skills (year 4).
Thank you Parents for joining us!
Thank you to all parents and carers who were able to join Woodpeckers at school on Thursday afternoon. We had a lovely time make autumn wreaths, writing autumnal poems and creating our 'thankfulness tree'. We hope you enjoyed it too!
PE - hockey on the all-weather pitch
We are very grateful to have access to the all-weather pitch at the end of the lane. The children loved playing an actual game of hockey on the pitch this week, putting together the skills they have been working on over the past weeks. Well done Woodpeckers!
Harvest Week!
At the start of Harvest Week, we went down the lane to see Mr Roper's tractor (which he kindly brought to school for us, thank you!). We were surprised to find that the back tires are all larger than the Woodpeckers! We used this experience to talk about Harvest, what it means, why its important and how we celebrate it, leading into some Harvest writing in English.
On Tuesday, we had the Great Suckley School Pumpkin Soup Cook-off, where each class made a pumpkin soup. We are eagerly awaiting the results, but surely ours was the best!! The children LOVES the preparation of this soup, from peeling and chopping, to dicing and seasoning We used this experience to create our own pumpkin soup recipes in literacy.
The History Man - THE ROMANS!
WOW! What an absolutely fantastic day we have all day with The History Man! We have zoomed back in time over 2000 years to spend the day with the ANCIENT ROMANS! We have learnt about how the Romans defeated the Greeks and how Julius Caesar came to Britain in 55 BC finding a relatively primitive land. We learnt how the Romans conquered Britain and brought with them their ways of life, culture, army, architecture... and many more things! We got to hold some real Roman coins (not replicas!) and feel a part of that ancient life! We dressed up as Roman soldiers with their various different helmets, shields and armour; the children pretended that they were the Britons fighting the Roman army! We dressed up as ladies as though we were going to the market. We had a go at wearing a Toga. We talked about how cities were built and organised, the Roman Baths, the market places, the food the Romans ate, the games that children and adults played. All in all, it has been a fabulous day, and has really ignited our curiosity and interest in the Ancient Romans, their influence over Britain and their impact across the West. A big thank you to The History Man!
Hockey Tournament at The Chase High School
VERY WELL DONE TO OUR WOODPECKERS HOCKEY TEAM!!
On Friday 7th October, we went to The Chase High School to compete in an inter-school hockey tournament with multiple schools from the Malvern area. Despite only limited hockey experience (we have only started learning about hockey this term), in one of our games we scored a fantastic FIVE goals! The children (plus staff and parents!) had a superb time; it was wonderful to be able to take part in extra-curricular sporting events once again! Well done Team Woodpeckers!
Year 3 explore number lines, working up to number lines to 1000
Our classroom Roman artifacts
Thanks to a loan collection from Hartlebury Castle, we have some Roman artifacts in our classroom which allow the children to apply their developing historical inquiry skills. Most of the items are replicas but the coins are REAL! The children will astonished that they could see coins that are 2000 years old!
Our class text - Escape from Pompeii by Christina Balit
We used role play to act out the first scene of the story, where the main character, Tranio, observes the city of Pompeii from his window. These images are the 'freeze frames' from this first page, which will help us to write about our Roman city scene.
Freeze frames from Escape from Pompeii
Computing
To make sure we all know how to access our weekly spelling online, we practiced using the laptops and signing into our Spelling Shed accounts.
States of Matter Investigations
We investigated states of matter, and changes of states of matter, from solid to liquid.
Topic web - The Romans
WELCOME!
Dear Parents/ carers,
A very warm welcome back to school after the summer holidays! The children have settled back to school and into Woodpeckers incredibly well; they are happy and eager to learn which is fantastic. We have already been very busy in Woodpeckers! Using the whole-school book, ‘The Day the Crayons Quit’, we have learnt about our feelings and emotions, communicating our needs, and how we can be a good friend. New skills have been fostered this week with the children sewing their own felt crayon which will form part of a whole school display!
The children have been eagerly awaiting the launch of our new termly topic which will be…The Romans! We are excited to announce that the History Man will be coming to spend the day with us on October 10th which will be an amazing opportunity for the children to be immersed in Ancient Roman life and culture. For more information about our topic, please see the attached topic web. Carpe Diem!
Reading
Please ensure that children have their reading books and reading logs in school daily. All children have a banded book that is determined by their reading ability. We hear readers weekly using these banded books to ensure each child is making progress in reading. Reading books are changed once a child completes a book and their comprehension of the text has been assessed. Reading records are checked every Monday; if they have read four times and this has been signed off by an adult, they will earn a raffle ticket for our half-termly raffle draw! In addition, in order to promote love of reading, we have daily DEAR (Drop Everything And Read) time where children can read a book of their choice, either from home or from our Suckley library.
Spellings
Please ensure spelling books come to school daily. New spellings will be set each Monday according to their ability – these can be found in the children's spelling books and online at https://www.spellingshed.com/en-gb/. The login information for Spelling Shed is on the front page of the children's spelling books; we have practiced logging in and all children know how to do this. When your child uses the internet at home, we would encourage you to take the appropriate measures to keep them safe online.
P.E. and Forest School
We have already begun weekly P.E. lessons on a Tuesday afternoon. Please ensure children have full P.E. kit (including appropriate footwear) in school for a Tuesday. Forest School is on Wednesday afternoons. Please can children wear long sleeves and trousers (non-uniform) for Forest School days, and ensure that children have wellington boots at school. Children will be provided with waterproof trousers and jackets.
We aim to have an open communication channel with parents/ carers. Should you have any questions or concerns, please do not hesitate to contact us via the school office for an appointment.
We are excited for this fun and busy term!
The Woodpeckers Team,
Mrs Seward (Class Teacher, Monday - Thursday)
Mrs Butler (Teaching Assistant, Monday - Thursday)
Miss Rogers (Class Teacher, Friday)
Mr Hughes (Teaching Assistant, Friday)