Welcome to Zebra Class! We currently have 34 wonderful ‘Zebras’ made up of Year 3 and 4 children. Our teacher is Mr Murray and we are helped by Melinda, our lovely Teaching Assistant.
So far this year we have studied the Roman Empire, Mountains and Rivers, and the Anglo-Saxons and Vikings as part of our Curriculum Maestro topics.
The children have had a great time this year exploring the history of the Roman Empire, and how their invasion impacted Britain. We visited Truro Museum, where we took part in workshops, and even made our own clay Roman lamps!
In our English, our learning this year has been based around the books: ‘Escape from Pompeii’, by Christina Balit, where we have written newspaper articles about the eruption of Mount Vesuvius, and ‘The Merrymaid of Zennor’, where we have created information leaflets about the village of Zennor and places that feature in the story. We have also studied ‘Treasure Island’, creating diary entries that retell the story from Jim Hawkins’ perspective, had great fun exploring Lewis Carroll’s nonsense poem, ‘The Jabberwocky’ and ‘Odd & the Frost Giants’ by Neil Gaiman.
Our topics have also afforded us myriad opportunities to develop our art skills. So far we have enjoyed creating our own mosaics and working with clay during our trip to Truro Museum, as well creating amazing watercolour scenes of the the Sycamore Gap on Hadrian’s Wall. More recently we have created our imaginings of characters from ‘The Jabberwocky’ and decorated the classroom with illuminated letters as part of our studies of the Anglo Saxons.
In Science, we have explored a number of different subjects including Forces and Magnets, Sounding and Grouping & Classifying. The children have enjoyed learning about contact forces, and loved exploring the school for different surfaces to test friction on. From the sandpit in Giraffes, to the gravel on the bike track, we searched high and low for the highest and lowest fricitional surface. We have also investigated which type of shoes have the greatest amount of friction, and how magnets behave in various orientations. We have also enjoyed investigating how far sound can travel outside, and also how we can affect sounds’ pitches and dynamics.
In Maths we have been focusing on Place Value, learning about rounding numbers to the nearest 10, 100 and 1000, estimating numbers on number lines, and putting our new-found Roman knowledge to the test when learning some Roman numerals! We have also completed units on Addition and Subtraction, becoming more familiar with column addition and subtraction methods, as well as Multiplication and Division, setting some valuable groundwork for the Year 4 Multiplication Check later in the academic year.
In PE we have been developing our football skills – trying to dribble and pass more accurately, as well as enjoying a beautifully sunny week on the bike track. We have also benefitted from having Neil from the Cornish Pirates in this recent half term where we have been focusing on ball-hand skills and teamwork.
In the Emperors and Empires project, we have learned about the growth and decline of the Roman Republic and the Roman Empire. We discovered the absolute power of the Roman emperors and study the hierarchies of Roman society and the Roman army. We have studied the first invasions of Britain in 55 and 54 BC and the Roman conquest of Britain in AD 43. We have also learned about Boudicca’s rebellion, Hadrian’s Wall and the Romanisation of Britain, including how Christianity came to Britain and investigated the legacy of Roman Britain in our local area.
In the Misty Mountain, Winding River project, we learned about the characteristics and physical processes of rivers, including how they shape the landscape over time, their significance around the world and the impact of flooding. We have also studied how to use the eight points of a compass, four and six-figure grid references, symbols and a key to locate and plot geographical places and features on a map, as well as how contour lines are used to show the topography of an area. They had the opportunity to learn about the stages of the water cycle and about mountains and their different formations, and studied mountain ranges in the United Kingdom and around the world.
In the Invasion project, we have explored the effects of the Roman withdrawal and the chronology and geography of subsequent invasions. We have studied the Anglo-Saxons and Vikings in detail, examining their reasons for invading, their settlements and their everyday life. We have also explored monasteries and the Anglo-Saxon legacy.
| Innovate challenge | Historical reports |
| History | Chronology; Everyday life in ancient Rome; Founding of Rome; Power and rule; Roman Empire; Significant emperors; Social hierarchy; Roman army; Roman invasion of Britain; Significant people – Boudicca; Everyday life in Roman Britain; Romanisation of Britain; Roman withdrawal; Roman legacy |
| Maths | Place Value, Addition & Subtraction, Multiplication and Division and Area |
| D&T | Making it Move |
| Science | Forces & Magnets |
| PSHE | Online Safety, Circle Time, Gratitude Journals |
| English | We will be basing our English work around the story of ‘Escape From Pompeii’ by Christina Balit, with our end goal of writing our own newspaper article. |
| PE | Football, Roman Dance, Swimming & Bike Track |
| Art | Roman Mosaics |
| RE | Hinduism – Janmashtami & Buddism – Kathina |
Camp:
Each year we go on a class residential for 3 days and 2 nights to a local camp and undertake a wide range of activities. It’s a wonderful opportunity for the children to extend their independence and tackle some wonderful challenges. Most recently we went to Porthpean, where we went kayaking and paddlyboarding, had a caving experience and played laser tag! Previously, Zebras have been to BF Adventure near Penryn, and enjoyed canoeing, climbing, bushcraft actvities, archery – as well as Mr Murray’s favourite – the slip and slide!
