Acquisition of knowledge and skills
Transporting Water Investigation
Year 3 have been further increasing their understanding of plants by setting up a comparative test to investigate if the temperature of the water makes a difference to how fast the stem transports water around the plant. The children first had to make a prediction as to what they think would happen. The children were able to see the water moving around the plant as they had used food colouring in the water. Many were amazed as the petals on the white carnations soon turned blue and red. After writing down their observations, children then created their findings in their conclusion and compared it to their prediction. Excellent work Year 3!
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Investigating Light
Today, pupils' began to question what light and dark is. We established a variety of different objects that our light sources including the sun to an electronic torch.
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'Darkness is the absence is light, that is why it is dark when the sun goes down.' - Reuben
Identifying, Grouping and Classifying Rocks
Did you know there are three main types of rocks? Well, Year 3 do and they are igneous, metamorphic and sedimentary. Once we identified the 3 different types of rocks, we started to explore the different properties of the rocks we had on display in class. The children then completed venn diagrams based on the properties of rocks for example, permeable and impermeable.
'I chose the subtitles hard and soft for my venn diagram because some rocks like obsidian are very hard to break. Where as, rocks like clay and chalk are much more soft and break much easier that is why we use them in Art.' - Amy
Parts of a Flowering Plant
After researching the work of Jane Colden, Year 3 have today identified and described the basic structure of a common flowering plant. The children discussed the varying functions and jobs that the different parts of a plant complete.
Identifying and describing the functions of a flowering plant
To begin our 'Plants' topic the children were tasked with identifying and labelling the roots, stem, leaves and flower of a plant. Then using their new knowledge and understanding, they wrote a description of the what the functions of these different parts are.
"I find it really interesting that each part of the plant have their own jobs that all keep the plant alive. I learnt some fascinating facts. Did you know that the petals of a flower are brightly coloured so that it attracts insects to spread pollen?" Lily, Class 3
Water Transport
Year 3 have been learning about water transport in plants by making predictions, planning an investigation and making observations about how colouring moves in celery.
"Using the food colouring made it easier for us to see how the water moves up the stem in the little tubes called xylem. You could see that the water travels up the stem and to the leaves by how the stem and leaves changed colour." Lillie, Class 4
Comparing Rocks
After learning about the three main types of rocks and their differing properties, the children used venn diagrams to compare and group the rocks based on titles of their choosing.
"I enjoyed handling the different types of rocks and examining the different properties of each. I chose to group the rocks based on if they had layers or no layers." George, Class 3