Week Ending 17/04/17

Another week and another busy time in Year Three with lots done.

This week we have been doing two tests. We started with a Maths test which covered everything that we have been learning about this year.

Later, in English, we did a Russian/English language test. We have not done many tests before, but we are getting better at them!

This week in Maths we have been looking once more at coordinates. We have wanted to push ourselves this week and so have been making our grids smaller so that we can make our details more precise. We have also been learning about cardinal directions and the Compass Rose. The Compass Rose is a compass which is more detailed and nuanced than a regular compass which simply has the directions North, East, West and South. The Compass Rose is a sixteen point compass which breaks down directions to make them less vague when we are conveying on our maps where someone would need to go to get from one destination to another. We want the information on our maps, and the answers to any questions that arise, to be extremely accurate when writing about where certain locations are. This distinction of directions is also helpful to us outside of the classroom when we are looking at maps. We are learning that we can not simply give a vague direction, but that to convey our knowledge we have to be accurate.

In Topic this week we have started an investigation which looks at air resistance in more detail. Unsatisfied with just learning the theory of it, we wanted to practise our ideas. We solved this by performing a test which uses paper helicopters. Specifically, with relation to air resistance, we wanted to investigate the paper helicopter's wingspan and its effect on the speed of its descent. We done this by making not one but several paper helicopters with differing sizes of wingspan. We had ideas of what differences we would need to make the descent slower (and faster) by using different lengths and widths of wingspans but we would not know until we carried out our investigation.

The first successful helicopter was designed by Igor Sikorsky based on designs from the renaissance painter Leonardo da Vinci. Not having the tools in Year Three to build our own helicopters, we chose paper as the next best thing.

In our test we have become scientists. We have recorded the materials we have used, the method which we used to have our helicopters in flight, we listed the constants and variables of our experiment and we have wrote our prediction. 

Here are some videos of our tests:

If you would like to make your own paper helicopter, please see this video below (or, ask us!):

Leonardo da Vinci's sketch of a helicopter:

And finally, here are two videos about falling and gravity:

On Friday, as part of the Easter celebrations, we brought in decorated eggs as part of a competition. Here are some of our favourites:

Next week we will be looking at plays (such as those performed on the stage). As a taster, here is how plays are formatted:

MR IEUAN and MR CHRIS are about to sit down for some marking. Mr Ieuan turns to Mr Chris.

MR IEUAN:   Do you think it's funny how plays are written?

MR CHRIS:   (laughs) No. Why do you?

MR IEUAN:   Yes. I think it's silly how the words have to be italicised when I'm moving around the stage.

Mr Ieuan stands up and walks around the room.

Do you see? And what happened to my name? Why has that disappeared?

MR CHRIS:   It's because you are still talking.

Mr Ieuan walks out of the room.

Where are you going?

MR IEUAN:   (off-stage) This is just too silly!