Another busy week in Year 3 this week, and October has well and truly arrived bringing the autumnal weather with it.

At the end of last week, we saw one of the butterflies emerge from its chrysalis – very exciting! Over the weekend, the other four emerged and we fed them some soft, juicy fruit to build up their strength after their transformation. We spent Monday and Tuesday watching them stretch out their wings and flutter about, and so on Tuesday we decided to see if they were ready to be released. From the video – you can see that they weren’t quite there yet (it falls back in!), so we gave them another couple of days and some more fruit to keep them going – leaving them in a nice warm spot in the classroom.

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After another couple of days (and after the rain on Wednesday had passed), we thought the butterflies were looking a bit more energetic, fluttering around the habitat, so we tried again. This time, they were ready to fly! Two set off into the sky, and the last two decided the strawberry plant outside our classroom was a lovely spot to sit and warm their wings in the sunshine before heading off – we were so excited to see them all fly away after raising them from tiny caterpillars – how exciting!

In other news, Year 3 and 4 boys had a great – if muddy – time playing tag rugby against Sedbergh Junior School this week. A full report to follow from Mrs Thomas!

In English, we have finished writing our Rainforest Dilemma stories, which we have been working on for the past few weeks. Some will be on display in the classroom next week.

In Maths, we have started learning column addition. All of the children have been working really hard at remembering the maths laws! Hopefully, they will be showing off their new skills with their homework this week!

The Week Ahead

Monday – NO indoor PE. Mrs Thomas is in today (Mrs Gates for the rest of the week).

Wednesday – Knowsley trip – Children need: school uniform but with comfortable shoes; coat (waterproof if possible); packed lunch with plenty to drink and snacks for later; money for gift shop (max. £5); NO phones or cameras please. Children need to be at school for 8.40 to depart on time at 8.45.

Thursday – Spellings due today (as away Wednesday) so please ensure children have their planners (as always) and their blue spelling books.

– Yellow homework books also due today so they can be marked before sending new homework out.

– Outdoor PE kits. It’s getting cold now so long trousers and long sleeve tops are recommended.

Friday – Indoor PE (instead of on Monday).

Dates for the diary:

Wednesday 18th October – ‘How we do Maths’ – Parents’ afternoon – School hall – 3.30pm-4.30pm.

Thursday 19th October – Cross Country at Casterton school – letters to follow

Friday 20th October – PTA Film night – PRE-BOOKING IS ESSENTIAL. Please ensure forms are returned to school as soon as possible.

Hope you all have a lovely weekend!

Mrs Gates 🙂

In Nursery last week we harvested the apples on the tree in the garden, then we peeled them, next we chopped them and put them in the pan ready to cook. After that we rolled the pastry, added it to the top of the pie and cooked it in the oven. Finally we tasted the pie, the children said it was delicious!

Year 4 are once again taking part in the Comic Art Festival in Kendal. We have produced a display of Moomins for Oxfam. If you’re in Kendal please take a tour around all the displays…..and then vote for St Mary’s!

What a busy time we’ve been having in Year 3!

It was project day on Monday 25th, and what a fantastic amount of hard work and effort went into them! Thank you so much everyone for your fantastic projects!

Also, Tuesday was European Languages Day, and Year 3 were learning about Italy. In the morning we did a food tasting and pizza making at Plato’s – a huge “THANK YOU!!!!!” to Fiona (Lizzie’s mum) for letting us go and take over part of their restaurant and kitchen, and to chef Kath for helping the children to make their pizzas! It was an absolutely fantastic morning, and we all got to try foods we hadn’t tried before – WOW!

Finally, our caterpillars have formed their chrysalises! They are now in their habitat, and will hopefully be emerging in the next week or so – we can’t wait to see what kind of fruit they like to eat whilst they gather their strength before begin released! They are feeling right at home in the rain forest area, now that the children have created some layers of plants and painted some other animals to live there!

Mrs Gates and Mrs Thomas

Please watch our new video developed in the first week of term in Year 6 to welcome you to our school. The children have put together a video using images of our school to enable us to share our special school with you.

In Year 4 we have been studying the Maya of Central America. They lived approximately a thousand years ago. For our home projects we explored the invention of chocolate; their number system and the construction of their amazing temples. These were often splattered with blood from their human sacrifices! Some children made Power Point Presentations containing lots of facts and Anna-Belle even wrote a book. The temples made from chocolate were very popular!

Year 4 studied Sweden. We looked at the history of Sweden and studied the Vikings. Some of our Vikings went on a rampage! We baked ginger biscuits; listened to the music of Abba and created a dance; we made small rooms inspired by IKEA and made detailed drawings of Viking long boats. We had a very exciting and varied day!

We explored the outside area at school to search for Autumn leaves, we discovered these amazing, bright red leaves. Next week we are going to print with the leaves ready to make a display for the Church Harvest Festival.

Year 4 are really enjoying our rugby training with Danny. We are practising throwing and catching and we know when we’re off-side!

It does seem to rain every time we go out though!

For the first time in many years, the weather has been perfect for the county show. The school stand in the Learning For Life tent looked fantastic, the mini beast theme was a huge success. Year 4 and 5 have had a great day, enjoying all there was to offer. We have even been in the company of royalty, with Prince Charles in attendance. Some of the children were lucky enough to have  a conversation with our future King! These opportunities and memories will be ones for life. Thank you to all the parents that came to help, we hope you enjoyed the day as much as us.