Last week Year 3 questioned whether rocks can absorb water.  To test our predictions we used the pipettes to carefully place the drops of water onto each rock.

But how did we make this experiment ‘fair’? Well, we placed the same amount of drops onto each rock  – therefore the variable we kept the same was the drops of water, and the variable that we changed was the rock!

We closely observed what happened to the water. Did it sit on top of the rock, run off the rock or did the rock absorb the water? We found some interesting results, and amazingly many of our predictions were correct. Great observations Year 3 and such careful use of the pipettes – well done!

Just like a sponge, porous rocks have the ability to absorb water.  I wonder if they increase in weight and size as they take in water?  How could we measure this?  I also wonder whether they absorb other liquids – perhaps you can explore at home.

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There has been some interesting ‘I wonder’ and ‘I notice’ moments experienced during last week’s Numeracy lessons in Year 3. One of the tasks was to ‘estimate’ how many cubes or lollypop sticks were in a given pile. As the piles became bigger, we soon discovered how much easier it was to begin placing the objects into groups of either 2, 5 or 10, finally counting them using our times-tables knowledge – hurrah!  Our counts became much quicker and far more accurate; we certainly got better and better at both estimating and counting!

The class were also given the Cuisenaire Rods with some problem cards. The cards asked them to find out ‘how many different ways’ they could create the same length. They re-discovered that the numbers could be made using lots of different colour combinations – hence they could be made using different number combinations. After some discussion and sharing of findings, some of the children noticed that these patterns could also be related to the different ways of making even bigger numbers, especially when looking carefully at the value of each digit.

By the end of the week, Year 3 had become ‘estimation’ and ’equivalent’ experts! Good work, Year 3! [Read more…]

As part of our Social Studies topic this term we have been looking at the life and times of the Native Americans. A story that we really enjoyed listening to was a traditional tale that may have been retold around a tipee fire. The story is called ‘The Clever Coyote’.

Listen to how the talented Year 3 re-wrote the tale from story format to a playscript. They had so much fun using their voices (and some of their facial and hand expressions too) to assist in retelling the story, using their newly written scripts. Fabulous team work and such great expression. I hope you enjoy the story as much as we did.

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Shopping at IGA

The past few weeks Year 3 have been extremely busy preparing our brains and developing our Numeracy skills for the yearly class shop to IGA.

We have been learning how to measure liquids using milliliters and liters; estimating and reading weight using grams and kilograms; plus we have been learning how to estimate, add and subtract using a decimal point – tricky, tricky!

We had a fabulous time at IGA, practicing these skills, estimating our shopping bill, paying for it and checking the change – it was a lot of FUN! A big thank you to IGA for hosting us.

We concluded our Math topic by creating an edible gingerbread house. Each ingredient had to be recorded, added up and paid for before we then happily devoured our amazing creations YUM! Well done Year 3.

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In Year 3 we have been realising not only the FUN, but also the importance of working together. Whether it is with one person, a group or the class. When set a task that involves working with others, we realised we had to think about a few things. For instance:

* To listen with open ears to the ideas and points of view of others.

* To share and participate – make sure we do our bit!

* To show respect to other people’s ideas, strengths and weaknesses – we can’t be good at everything!

* To recognise when things are going well or not so well –  do we need a new plan?

* To celebrate the successes of all members of the team.

* To be prepared and recognise that sometimes things don’t work out the first time, that’s ok, we can just try again and even try another way!

Take a look at some of the things we have achieved ‘together’ in Year 3. We used our ‘working together’ skills admirably and even managed to have a little bit of fun too…

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Below are just some of the amazing facts that Year 3 researched into and presented to the class. We learned so much, and had lots of fun finding out new things. How incredibly wonderful and marvelous the world around us is! Thank you Year 3 for sharing your findings with us.

Did you know…

One of the largest snowflakes ever recorded was 40cm long.?

A rose has between 20 – 40 petals, depending on the type of rose?

It takes a whole year for a palm tree to grow 30cm?

Volcano ash can travel as far as the length of Provo which is around 17 miles!

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“Well done”

“Good job”

“Do you think we could…”

“Shall we try again?”

“It looks amazing!”

“We’re not giving up!”

These were just some of the phrases that were shared during our ‘team building tipi’ session this week. Year 3 were given the challenge to build group tipis – very much related to our Native American study of the Sioux tribe this term – Two groups worked with their own ‘build your own tipi’ set, which came with a pack of instructions – that alone was a challenge! And one group were asked to build a tipi using our fabulous new ‘loose parts’ playground equipment.

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Did you know –  flamingoes’ legs can sometimes be longer than their entire body? Flamingoes can also live up to 30 years old, and sometimes even 50 if they live in a protected place away from predators. To attract a female flamingo, the male flamingoes perform a synchronized dance whereby they stand together stretching their necks upwards, uttering calls while waving their heads and flapping their wings? We all had fun trying to imitate this dance in Year 3. We wondered if the flamingoes laughed and had as much fun as we did…what beautiful happy birds they are!

Each year, we dedicate a week to learn in-depth about the local wildlife in our environment here in the Turks and Caicos. This year we are exploring the world of Flamingoes. In previous years we have studied ospreys, sharks and turtles.  These are all extra special to us here at Provo Primary as our classes are named after these local animals.  Each year, we invite local experts in to talk to us and share their knowledge of the animals, their habitats here in the TCI and about why it is important for us to protect them.

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During MindUp this term one of the things we have been talking about in Year 3 is the word ‘Gratitude’. We had lots of fun making our Gratitude Post Box, plus thinking, talking, discussing and role playing what the word actually meant! After much deliberation, we came to the conclusion that to us it meant being ‘truly truly thankful’ for all good things, however big or small that passes our way.

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When we had finished reading the story of Little Red Riding Hood, we began to wonder how the poor old wolf felt. He always seems to be portrayed as the wicked, mean and nasty character in the story. But was he really so mean?

During our earlier MindUp/P.S.H.C.E session we had just been talking about the importance of having an ‘open mind’ and the value of being able to sometimes take on a different perspective, especially during problem solving. We talked about how ‘perspective’ allows us to consider more than one way of understanding a behaviour, event or situation.

So how did the wolf really feel to make him act in such a way?

We decided to think of other words that could describe other feelings the wolf may have had.  Thesaurus’ were used to find alternative words to describe these feelings. Eventually we got to the really FUN part. In our ‘feelings’ groups, using our body language, tone of voice and our facial expressions we acted out the story. But this time from the possible wolf’s perspective!

Looking at the photos below, can you guess which ‘feeling’ is being conveyed by each facial expression?

Maybe the wolf really wasn’t that bad after all?

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What an exciting half term it has been for all of us. We have been discovering all sorts of wonderful and exciting things about the place we call home. We have learned about the different industries, explorers, neighbouring countries, plants, foods and customs of the T.C.I.

Our journey first began when we were invited by Mr Vasco to visit the Enclave. Here we were able to see the prominence of limestone rock on the island – which enabled people in the past to dig wells easily due to the softness of the stone. The construction of the Enclave also highlighted the importance of the growing ‘tourist’ industry in the T.C.I.

We were then invited to visit the Amanyara where Miss Jackie took us on a walk in the area and highlighted the many special plants that grow on the T.C.I., explaining the importance and uniqueness of particular plants on the island.

We were also very fortunate to have Miss Mary and Mr Jonathan from the National Trust come in to share their skills and knowledge about the importance of weaving in the T.C.I., both in the past and now in the present. We even managed to have a go at weaving ourselves and are now in the process of weaving our own mats to sit on in the garden – let’s hope they turn out!

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It all began with a melon! During our Science discussion when discovering facts about what the world is made of, we discovered some similarities between the world and a melon… and they were quite tasty!

From a slice of melon came a multitude of questions and journeys to research. Everyone in Year 3 chose an area related to our topics of either Rocks or Weather and went away and completed their own project to present to the class.

WOW! How impressed we all were. We had volcano’s erupting, hurricane and tsunami facts that blew us all away, fossil facts galore and some very exciting PowerPoint presentations with those extra special effects; board games and even a few dances that illustrated all the new facts we were sharing.

Thank you Year 3 for making learning fun!

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For the past few weeks, Year 3 have been identifying the continents and the changes in climate around the world. We have been looking at the special words used to describe the different types of weather and have been recording the temperature, wind factor and rainfall each day.

Today we were quite excited to have recorded some rainfall and a drop in the temperature. An extra plus, is that we are all feeling very fortunate having had Hurricane Matthew pass us by.

Check out our video to learn more of what we have been learning about. Double plus – can you tell which of our ‘Collage Paintings’ are HOT or COLD?