Saxon Workshop

This week was very special for Courtesy as we yet again travelled back in time to the Anglo-Saxon era where we met two lovely peasants who taught us all about Anglo-Saxon life!

Unfortunately, our time machine broke and we thought we would never be able to get back home to 2021. The children had to start using their knowledge to survive in the Anglo-Saxon time they found themselves in. This included making medicines to heal ourselves, grinding our own flour on a grinding wheel to make bread for food and the children even had to start weaving their own clothes!

Luckily, just as the children were settling into their new Anglo-Saxon lives, Mrs Walker-Smith managed to fix our time machine and we travelled back to the present. As a parting gift, our visitors kindly showed us how to be true Anglo-Saxon warriors with sword drills and techniques. If the Vikings ever invade Priory Fields, they better not mess with Courtesy class!

Saxon Amulets + Purse Making

Linking in with our Anglo-Saxon day, Courtesy have also been working hard creating their very own Anglo-Saxon fashion accessories.

Carrying around all of the gold and jewels Courtesy class have plundered and looted over the years is getting rather tricky. That is, until this week where the children have been creating their very own Anglo-Saxon purses! Following the ‘Plan, Make, Evaluate’ DT model, Courtesy have been planning the first prototypes for their purses, making the purses out of cheap, easy to use materials, and evaluating how well their designs have worked. This means the children have practised, learnt from their mistakes and feel confident to create their final, leather purse next week!

However, what is the point of a purse without a beautiful amulet to go along with it? Using the same DT method and frame of mind as the creation of their purses, Courtesy have also been hard at work making personal amulets for themselves. Starting with some elbow grease, the children first had to sand down their amulet to smooth down those pointy corners. Next, Courtesy spent a long time planning what they were going to etch on their amulet, with only one piece of metal, the children had to be very careful and prepared for the next step. Finally, it was time to etch the patterns onto the amulets. From swords, runes to names and initials, the designs and etchings were beautiful. The children worked really hard to stick to their designs and were so careful with their etching. The amulets came out fantastically!

While working with all of this Anglo-Saxon fashion, Courtesy class have decided to abandon their school uniforms and start to dress as if they were living in 800AD!

History

We learned all about the conversion of Anglo-Saxons from Paganism to Christianity, all thanks to the efforts of Monk Augustine. Fun fact, the first person Monk Augustine christened was King Ethelbert of Kent who then went on to build the magnificent Canterbury Cathedral!

After putting these events on our timelines, Courtesy then moved onto the Anglo-Saxons constant battles with the Vikings and how these lead to the exhausted King Harold and his tired army having to march along the whole country to fight the invading Normans in 1066.

After King Harold got an arrow in the eye and his army fled, the Anglo-Saxons were no more. Bring on the Normans!

PE

This week in PE we have been perfecting our gymnastics routine so we can compete in the next Olympics!

Last week, the children focused on performing the same routine together and in sync with the music. This week, we have moved onto the second stage of our routine which is improvised. Each child was able to use all the knowledge they have learned in gymnastics this term to perform their own special and unique gymnastics routine. From forward rolls to balances and cartwheels it was very exciting to watch the creativity of all the children.

Paris 2024 here we come!

French Bingo

In French this week, Courtesy Class has been learning their numbers from 11 to 20.  We played Bingo to practise our new vocabulary. The competitive atmosphere was palpable!

Newspaper Reports

Courtesy children were busy discovering features of newspaper reports this week.  Our mini-teacher was able to remind everyone of the new terminology. 

PSHE

During PSHE, children identified rules and routines that keep them safe. 

They used their Language through Colour knowledge to record their answers. 

Anglo-Saxons

Year 3 Courtesy have had a wonderful week of being Adventurous Aardvarks and Collaborative Cats!

In Topic we used our research and mapping skills to identify and label the 7 Anglo-Saxon Kingdoms.  We were using our understanding of collaboration to help each other and our perseverance to find all 7 kingdoms! We learned that we CAN rock our own learning independently!

Clever links were made between our Topic and Maths learning.

Children were exploring perimeter using Anglo-Saxon objects.  By the end of the lesson they definitely understood perimeter is the distance around an object!

RE

In RE we developed our vocabulary and our skills of discussion by sorting objects that we think are sacred and those that are not.  We had to also justify our decisions.  It made for some interesting debates!

Please remember to ask your child what sacred means!

French

This week in Courtesy Class the children have been perfecting their French skills.

Once Courtesy Class had learned various colours in French, they split into two teams and began a game of splat. While each match was always very close, Team A managed to come out on top with a 7-2 lead. Courtesy Class then consolidated their amazing learning individually with spectacular results!

Can you figure out all the colours on our board?

Maths

This week in Courtesy Class’ maths lessons we have been working on a different kind of ruling from King Arthur, we have been measuring!

The children started by measuring objects all around the classroom with both a 30cm ruler and a metre stick. We then built on this knowledge and these skills and started to learn how to estimate the sizes of different objects. The children then measured these objects to see how accurate their estimates were. By the end of the week, Courtesy Class was able to accurately predict measurements using the different units of metres, centimetres and millimetres.

What do you think the lengths of some of the objects in th pictures are?

Assembly

Courtesy Class held their Class assembly on 5th November.  Our focus was Bonfire night but we specifically studied the reason why we have Bonfire Night.  We were so excited to see so many of our parents and loved ones attend! 

We loved our masks and barrel costumes.  We also enjoyed getting creative when making our firework paintings.  It all added to the spectacular performance!

Sword in the Stone

In Courtesy Class we have been learning the story of The Sword in the Stone.

Children have been retelling the story to their mini-teacher partner.  They had to be able to recall the main parts of the story and in the correct order.  One mini-teacher said she loved doing it because she was able to help her partner.  Another mini-teacher said they enjoyed it because it made them feel more confident!

To further help us learn and remember the story, we created actions as we were retelling it. 

Here we are practising our actions for the opening. Can you make up the words?