Spring Summer Autumn Winter

Hello to all 3W readers. Have a look at http://mrwinter.edublogs.org for my latest blog...still very early days and I'm trying out edublogs for a change.

I hope you are all well. Keep in touch with your news.

Mr Ben

How were the holidays?

If there are any ex 3W readers out there, then let me know, by commenting, how your holidays went.

I'm still on holiday and am busy settling into my new/old home...the same oneI left when I came to work in Bangkok.

I've been busy cutting the weeds down in the garden, buying bikes and helping the girls get used to the British roads. We have also been making plans to make our home bigger.

Bea is growing well and has learned to smile, gurgle and hold things in her hands. She is very good at sleeping and filling her nappy!

Please send a comment on your holidays!

Mr Ben

500 Marble Reward tomorrow

Wow! The year has rushed by and we are in the final week.

We said goodbye to Samuel on Tuesday and will be saying goodbye to everyone else on Friday.

Tomorrow afternoon, Thursday 24th, we will have our final 500 marble reward for Y3. Come in your own clothes.

Party food will be provided by school.

Also please remember to bring a large plastic bag to school to put artwork, record of achievement and Egyptian books.

Homework

This week's homework is to design and make a poster to advertise your busking day act (busking day will be on Tuesday 22nd June and Y3 will performing from 10:00 - 10:30).

Please spell all of these words correctly if you use them in your poster:

busking,
performance,
donation,
charity,
location,
audience,
listening.

Please make sure you tell the poster reader about where and when you will be performing.

It might be a good idea to draw a map of the walkway and the hardcourt to show exactly where you will be.

400 marble reward

Well done to 3W for reaching 400 marbles!
Each child received a marble for their reading during book week and this pushed the total past 400.

We will be having a classpartyDVDcombination reward from 1:30 - 2:30 on Thursday 17th June.

We will spend some of the hour watching a DVD and some of the hour playing games and eating nice snacks...but we will need children in 3W to bring the snacks.

You can also wear your own clothes for the day, to celebrate reaching 400 marbles.

Egyptian skyline

Here are some of our Egyptian sklyine pictures.

Hope you like them:

Reading week

Great photos from today's event and also from this week's reading week.

Don't forget to bring in your reading minutes sheets on Monday so that we can add the last few days' information.

Have a look for the "Where's Wally?" photo.

Reading minutes challenge - Day 1

Our reading minutes challenge started yesterday and today we have collected in the minutes.


Well done to Bubblegush group (what an amazing group name too!) for reading the magnificent total of 208 minutes yesterday. All 4 members (Melanie, Toby, Joe and Annabel) of the group:

• read
• wrote down their reading minutes
• brought their sheet to school

Not far behind is The Beast Children with 175 minutes.

Ahead so far in the individual challenge is Seb on the page turning total of 101 minutes!

Have a look here for the scores.

How many minutes did 3W read altogether on Monday?

Parents, please remind your child to bring in the reading minutes sheet every day this week, with minutes written down and a signature from you (if possible) to "certify" the minutes.

Thanks.

Mymaths - coordinates homework

Tonight's homework for maths is the Mymaths coordinates activity. It should be completed by next Monday, 14th June.

Reading minutes

I gave out the reading minutes record sheets today and will start to add the information to the class spreadsheet tomorrow.

Remember:

You must record your reading on the record sheet.
You must bring the record sheet to class every day so that reading minutes can be added to the class spreadsheet.
When reading at home, try to get an adult to sign for the minutes you read.

You will need to have a reading book in class - either a school book or a home book - so that you can Drop Everything And Read.

Today was great, with lovely, silent, enjoyable reading going on in class.

Keep it up at home!

Sharing books with K2T

During book week we will be having

• Character Day on Friday 11th June (come dressed up if possible and bring 100 Baht for the Y3 charity)
• DEAR time in class (Drop Everything And Read) - so bring a favourite book to keep on your desk so that you can read it whenever you hear the signal...
• Book sharing with K2T (Miss Tracey) on Thursday at 10:10 in our Library time
• Story read by Mr Tilke on Thursday afternoon from 1:10 - 1:30
• Reading Minutes challenge for Homework - who will be the winning team and winning individual reader for the week?

Do you have any square pants?

For Y3 book day on 11th June, you could come as Spongebob Square Pants...if you have some square pants!



Come dressed as your favourite book character.

If you want to come with a few simple props, then that's fine.

If you want to make a fancy costume, that's fine too.

You could come as Charlie from the books of Roald Dahl...

You could come as Wally and dress in red and white striped clothes.

There will also be an individual and a team reading minutes challenge...details to come soon.

Egyptian Day

Thanks to Rachel for these photos...I was really pleased to see you learning and having fun.

Great costumes...well done for looking very authentic!

What material would the Egyptians have used to make their clothes?

How would they have made it?

Welcome!

As you may know, I have been waiting, usually patiently, for the birth of our third child.

Today at 3:30 am, Beatrice was born, weighing 3.23 kilograms.
Is this closest to 7 pounds, 7 pounds 2 ounces or 7 pounds and 7 ounces?

Thanks for your kind messages. I'm sure Miss Anne will bring her into the class for you to see in the next few weeks.

Friday 21st

Good Morning,

I hope you all had a good day yesterday.
Please let me know what you have been doing at home.

Please check that you have done the activities from previous days.

Thanks to Samuel, Seb, Bua and Punn for responding to the Learning at home questionnaire. Please have a go if you have not done it already. I can see all of your responses when I look at my google docs. We will use some of the information when we get back to school...hopefully on Monday. Keep watching the school blog.

Well done to Joe - for contacting me about his wikispaces password...he now has a new one and can help add to the class wiki.

Richie now has his mymaths login details and so can now do the maths activities from a few days ago.

Today's tasks...

Maths - Answer these two maths activities. First this one, then this one.

If you make a mistake,

• try to work it out correctly on your own.
  
• If you cannot, ask an older brother or sister to try to explain.
  
• If they cannot, ask an adult.
  
• If there is no one who can help, please comment and either I will help or I will do a blog post and ask other classmates to help.

Read for at least 30 minutes. Comment either as a blog post, as a book review on the school library website (if the book is listed there), or in your blue reading record.

Keep adding to your research for your Egyptian book so that we can use the research in class. Adding to the wiki is another great way for you to share what you have found out.
Let me know if you want me to add another page to the wiki.

Please make sure you also do some exercise, eat healthily and help out around the home.

That's all for today.
Hope to see you on Monday, but keep checking the school website for details.

Today's learning from home

A big well done to Samuel, who has been editing the class Ancient Egypt wiki .

Many of you have logins for this wiki which allow you to read, edit and add information to the site. Please have a go, or let me know if you are not yet a member. I will then send you an invite and you will need to make up a name to use so that you can take part.

Here is an Ancient Egyptian quiz, which Miss Caswell kindly said we could use. You need to check whether facts are true or false and may use the internet. If you need to, please check with your parents first.

Please check your email inboxes and take the opportunity to read any old emails, keep the ones you want/need to, and throw the rest in the bin!

Log onto storynory. http://storynory.com/archives/educational-stories/ and learn a few tongue twisters! They are HARD!!

If you find any words that you do not know what they mean please write them in your Blue book. Later you can look up the meaning and write it with the word in your Blue book.

Don't forget to go to mymaths if you haven't done the two units from the last few days.
Here are some other links.

Please comment on the ones you find most helpful.

Maths Number
http://www.mymaths.co.uk/
http://www.mathsisfun.com/numbers/math-trainer-multiply.html
http://www.mathszone.co.uk/
http://www.bbc.co.uk/skillswise/numbers/wholenumbers/
http://www.bigbrainz.com/
If you have lego, bricks, boxes or anything like that try to build a map of the Nile and Egypt (Like the one in our shared area) take a photo for our blog!

Hope to see you soon.

Egyptian Day Postponed

We have decided to postpone tomorrow's Egyptian Day.

That means we will still have Egyptian Day BUT it will be on another day.

All the teachers are very sorry, but don’t worry we will still do it.

Another day at home!

We are at home again! Bangkok is not safe for school buses to travel through so make the most of being at home.

Please check through the activities I have given for Friday, and Monday and do these if you have not done so.

Keep learning by:

Reading for 30 minutes...please read with an adult if possible...this might mean reading aloud, or it might mean the adult asking you about your reading. Please record you reading or thoughts about your book in your blue reading record.

Maths: enter data into this googleform. I will then ask you to interpret the data on another day.




Literacy and Humanities: carry on researching your chosen topic for you Ancient Egypt booklet. Don't forget to use the bloglinks here.

Please email me with your news or send a comments on the blog. I would really like to know what you are getting up to.

I hope to see you all soon.

Is water a mineral?

During our learning about rocks and minerals, Seb came up with the question

Is water a mineral?

We weren't sure of the answer so looked in books and encyclopedias. There weren't any convincing answers.

We looked on the internet. This site, which is a site you can add your own answers to, gave the answer of NO.

However, you have to be careful what you read on the internet...Last year I was playing around with a site callled wikianswers, with my daughters. We thought it would be fun to ask the question...Who is the best in 4M?...as you can see, it is quite easy to put information onto the internet which may be an opinion or may not be true.

Anyway, Seb went away and thought and decided that he NEEDED TO ASK AN EXPERT.

Luckily for Seb, he has a relative who is a scientist.

I asked Seb

"Can I publish his explanation to the blog?" and "Are you happy with his explanation or do you need another expert to back up his answer? "

He said :
It is ok for you to put it on the blog and I kinda want another scientist to back it up to see if they have the same idea.

So here's the reply Seb got to his email:

Dear Seb
It's GREAT to get a message from you.
I am not an expert on minerals but it seems to me that ice fulfills all the requirements of minerals that I learned in school. I looked to see if the requirements have changed since then, that is, whether there is a new definition of mineral.
It looks like in 1995 some mineral experts added a new requirement, which is that the crystal be formed by geologic processes. If you follow that definition, ice
would not be a mineral because it's formed rapidly and reversibly. However,
by the standard definition, I believe that ice should be considered a mineral.

So, if there are any science teachers out there or experts in minerals, who could add to our discussion, please comment.

Egyptian Day 20th May...hopefully

Year 3’s Egyptian Day is scheduled for this Thursday 20th May. At present we are still expecting this event to happen, however the current political situation could change all of our plans, so please keep an eye on the school website and check your emails for updates.

One of the highlights of Egyptian Day is the Pharaohs’ Feast! In order to satisfy the taste buds of all of our Year 3 Pharaohs we have divided the required food up into the following categories and classes.

Some children are allergic to nuts. Please do not send in any food containing nuts or nut products.

3M & 3P: Savories (these can include duck, chicken, pork and vegetarian dishes).
3C: Sandwiches.
3L: Cake or biscuits.
3R: Crisps/chips/breadsticks
3S: Fruit.
3W: Vegetables and dip or a salad.

What do shapes, pictograms and mummification have in common?

Good Morning 3W!
As you all know, there has been a lot of trouble and disruption in Bangkok and the school has had to close because of possible dangers on the bus routes to school.

So, to keep you busy and help you continue to learn, here are some things for you to be doing:
1.Read a good book for about 30 minutes. Afterwards spend 5 minutes writing your reaction to it...remember to use DETAILS from the story to back up your ideas.
2. There are 2 new activities on Mymaths for you to have a go at:
2D and 3D Shapes
Pictograms and charts.
3. Research Mummification and make notes.
After reading, answer these questions:
What does decompose mean?
What is an embalmer?
Why was the heart left inside the body?
Why was the body covered and stuffed with natron?
Why was the washed body covered in oils?
What does dehydrated mean?
Why was the body stuffed with dry materials?
Which god looked after the lungs?

Now try to get past the challenges of the underworld.

Don't forget to do some exercise, and I hope to see you tomorrow.

Oh...and what do shapes, mummification and pictograms have in common?

School Closed on Monday due to Bangkok Disturbances

School will be closed on Monday 17th May.



Learning will be from home on this day.



Check the blog in the morning for Monday's work.

Amazing optical illusion

Building in 3D...sort of!

If you like making models using lego or other construction materials, then you will love this site.

You build in 2D and a computer 3D model is built. Have a go.

What can you build?

Have a look here.



Here is an example from Jessie and Annabel, which they very cleverly took a photo of as a screenshot (Shift+prt Scrn) and then saved as a word document and THEN emailed as an attachment:



If you know that you need to have some practice naming 3D shapes and giving their properties (faces, edges and vertices (or corners)) then this site is the one for you. We used it in class. Click on the STARTER ACTIVITY button. Follow the link here.

Do you want to help wrap up some parcels? You need to know which net is the right one for the diffeerent shaped parcels. Follow this link.

Own Clothes day AND extra break time tomorrow!

3W have done really well by reaching 200 marbles!

The rewards are

• to wear your own clothes tomorrow, Wednesday 12th May, (some people brought them in today and so they will have this reward today)
• 10 minutes extra playtime toworrow, Wednesday 12th May.

Tonight's homework is 3D!

Make a shape from the net you were given today.

Remember to :

• Cut the shape out carefully and accurately
• Crease the dotted fold lines between the shapes faces and the flaps
• Decorate the blank side of the net (you could make the shape look like a real Egyptian pyramid, or you could use hieroglyphics to decorate a border)
• Cut a small hole in the shape for the string if you want to be able to hang up the shape
• Glue the shape together
• While it is drying, have a good chat with someone near you, sing a song or learn to recite the alphabet backwards...it's up to you, but it will help you pass the time as the glue dries.

Forgot your net? DON'T panic! Have a look here for some printable nets.

Have fun...in 3D!

Would you like to go to school on a boat?

That's what these children in Varanasi in India are doing.

Why do you think the school is on a boat?

Who organised the school?

Would you prefer to go to school on a boat? Why?

What do you think are the problems with going to school on a boat?

What kind of net do you not use to go fishing?

When you open up a 3D shape, you have a net.

If you open up a cube, you have a net with 6 square faces...but how many different nets could you make from a cube?

Try this site to have a go.
Solid shapes and their nets - cube

Egyptian Day - 20th May - get your costume ready!

Costume ideas will be coming out in a newsletter soon.

If you have any friends in Year 4 they might have a costume which you could borrow from last year.

How hard is rock?

Seb and Joe found out that a man called Mr Moh invented a scale of hardness, which we call the Moh scale.
Samuel reminded us that diamond is the hardest rock.
Seb and Joe also discovered that talc is the softest rock.

Due to the different properties of rocks and minerals, we use different rocks for different purposes.

Would you make a floor tile out of chalk? Why?
Would you make a roof tile out of diamond? Why?
Would you use granite for a wind screen (windshield)? Why

We use rocks for different purposes, because of their properties.

Here are some other interesting rock facts and questions which really make you think about how often we use rocks and minerals.

Here is a great site which shows how rocks and minerals are used around the home.

Monday 26th Cake Homework

Your homework will involve making biscuits (cookies) using the recipe below. If you cannot do this sometime this week, then try to calculate double the quantities, for your maths homework.

Why?

1. Because we are learning about metamorphic rocks and cooking is very much like the process of making metamorphic rocks...there is pressure (mixing) and there is heat (from the oven) and the result is that the ingredients change their structure and how they look.
2. Also, you may decide to DOUBLE the ingredients because you want to bring some in to school...This is great for your maths practice.
3. Measuring will be really helpful for those of you who need some practice at accurately taking measurements.
4. Oh, it's also because they are tasty .

The recipe for Metamorphic Munchables is shown below...they will be lavaly.

WARNING FROM SEB:

The cakes were very runny with the recipe's amount of flour...you may need to add some more flour.

Ingredients:

125g caster sugar, one egg, 75g chocolate chips, 150g self raising flour, 75g soft butter, 1/2 tsp vanilla essence.

Utensils:

scales, a large bowl, a wooden spoon, a teaspoon, a dessert spoon, a greased baking sheet, a wire cooling rack, an oven and oven gloves.

What you do:

Ask an adult to turn on the oven to 190 C (375 F or Gas 5)

Cream the butter and sugar together until the mixture is light and fluffy.

Beat in the egg and vanilla essence.

Mix in the flour.

Stir in the chocolate chips.

Use a dessert spoon to drop spoonfuls of the mixture onto the greased baking sheet. Leave space for the mounds to spread as they cook.

Ask an adult to put the cookies in the oven. Bake for 10 - 15 minutes or until they are golden brown. When they are ready, ask an adult to take them out of the oven and lift them on to a wire rack to cool and harden.

Enjoy your Metamorphic Munchables.

King Tut in New York

Great pictures here from an exhibition of artefacts connected with King Tutankhamen.

Another volcano link

Animated explanation of Earth's mantle and crust

The blog looks different doesn't it!

I had a few problems yesterday, but I hope it's now back to normal.

Please let me know if:

• there are any problems,
• if any links do't work
• if you can't find something on the blog.

Thanks for reading and commenting.

What is in soil?

Choose the right words from the list below in the right sentence:
rock, four, magnifying glasses, sieves, microscope, three, organic, separated.



1. We used _________ to separate out the rocks and soil.

2. Soil is made up of _________ material (it used to be alive), as well as fragments of ________

3. We used _________ sieves and __________ the soil into _________ different piles of material.

4. Afterwards, we used __________ and a ___________ to look at the particles.

Video Book reviews

Have a look at these video book reviews.

I think you can vote on your favourite...I haven't voted yet, but if you find out how to do it please let me know.

Some of them take quite a while to load so...be patient.

Please let me know which ones you really like and we can then look at them in class together.

How can we make sand for our model of Ancient Egypt?

We are learning about Ancient Egypt and want to make a large model for the shared area. We are making it from 8 squares of corraflute (60cm x 60cm) but we need to make it more desert like.

























We have some buckets of earth, soil, and rocks.










How could we separate the sand from the soil sample?

Please send your ideas in as comments.

Volcano update

Animated map of ash fallout.

Video of helicopter flying near plume of volcanic smoke - lightning and debris are visible. See below:



These sites are from Lazzy Ferlazzo's blog.

38 is the answer...what is the question?

For your homework this week, I'd like you to make 10 facts with answers of 38!

• Aim for 10 facts.
• Try to include at least 1 question which uses each of the four operations (+ - x and divide).
• Try to have at least one fraction question.
• Try to have at least one money question.

If the calculation is complicated, show your workings (use grid method, a numberline or a compact vertical method).

This homework is due in on Monday, 26th April.

Spot the difference!

Can you find a difference between these two copies of the same page from different versions of the same book?



Maybe we should write to the publishers!

Well done to Tinn and Samuel for noticing the differences while they were researching.

The cycle of life

No...not the bicycle of life!

Today our garden monitor came into class with this!

We have successfully grown rice in our Year 3 garden!

As you can see there is not enough to make a meal but we have gone from seed to plant to seed...a complete cycle of life.



We were talking about the rock cycle earlier on as well as the water cycle.

Are there any other cycles which you can think of? (apart from the ones with wheels!)

Cool lava!...no really, it is actually cool enough to touch!

We are really lucky to have a recent visitor to Iceland in our class, who returned to Bangkok hours after the volcanic activity started.

Here are some pictures.

To be esafe, we have not included the visitors name. Remember not to include names in your comments or else they will not be passed.

Do you have any questions for our visitor?

If so, post a comment and we'll post a follow up article with some answers.

BlogThis!

Ancient Egypt Vocabulary Graphic Organiser

We used this graphic organiser to help become more familiar with words connected with Ancient Egypt.

We worked in groups and this meant that we had to listen, talk, think, cooperate, and help each other learn to say and start to understand these words.

Here is a link to the googledoc that we used in class.

You can use the hyperlinks on the document to research.

Look at some of the pictures of us working together in groups.