English: Love of Reading – Charlie & The Chocolate Factory
A Delicious Term of Writing Inspired by Charlie and the Chocolate Factory
Year 3 love this book almost as much as we love chocolate! Charlie and the Chocolate Factory has had us just as excited and passionate as an Oompa Loompa in mid-song!
This wonderful story inspired us to write our own narratives, using expanded noun phrases to describe the magical setting and its brilliant, quirky characters. We even wrote our own prequels, imagining how Mr. Willy Wonka first discovered the Oompa Loompas on a mysterious and exotic island called Loompa Land. But beware — it’s crawling with vicious Snozzwangers and Hornswogglers!
After crafting our amazing stories, we moved on to poetry. We focused on Clerihew poems, each one based on a character from the story. They were clever, funny, and full of imagination — and we absolutely loved performing them in front of our class!
Finally, we turned our attention to non-chronological reports. After visiting the Cadbury factory and seeing how a real chocolate factory works, we created reports all about Willy Wonka’s factory. We described the crazy things that happen in each room — from the Nut Room full of squirrels checking the nuts, to the Invention Room where Oompa Loompas conduct wild experiments, and of course the famous Chocolate Room, where everything around you is edible (including the delicious chocolate river!).
You really should read our brilliant writing from this term — it’s imaginative, exciting, and as sweet as a Wonka Bar!
Maths – Measurement & Fractions
Fraction Fun and Marvellous Measurements in Year 3!
This term, Year 3 have dived headfirst into the fraction pool — and what an exciting splash they’ve made!
We kicked off our learning with a tricky challenge: three pieces of toast and four hungry people. How could they share the toast so everyone got an equal amount? Year 3 rose to the challenge, cutting the toast into equal parts and, without even realising it, began exploring halves and quarters through hands-on learning.
Once the toast was fairly shared, we moved on to comparing different sizes of fractions. This led to another challenge — this time, an allotment plan! With cucumbers taking up half the space, tomatoes a quarter, and peppers an eighth, the children had to rearrange the layout to fit the most variety of vegetables. Through this, they deepened their understanding of fraction sizes and equivalence.
Now, our Year 3s are fraction mad! They can confidently add, subtract, and even find fractions of numbers. Their confidence and skills have grown tremendously.
But fractions weren’t our only focus — we also dipped into measurement! We explored units like centimetres, millilitres, and grams, and learned how to add and subtract different measurements.
A standout moment was our giant measuring cylinder challenge. With 1000ml marked on the cylinder and a set of instructions to follow, pupils had to pour in specific amounts of liquid and see who could get closest to the target total. It was messy, fun, and a brilliant way to apply their learning in a practical way.
It’s safe to say: Year 3 are becoming truly astounding mathematicians!
Science – Why are shadows always dark and why does it follow me around?
Lights On! Exploring Light in Year 3
Year 3 have had a bright and exciting term in Science, learning all about light!
We began by exploring different types of light sources — both natural and man-made. We discovered that natural light sources include the sun, fire, and even lightning, while man-made sources include phones, torches, and light bulbs.
After learning that the sun is our biggest and most powerful light source, we also discussed how it can be dangerous. To protect our eyes from harmful UV rays, we decided to design and test our own sunglasses! Before choosing materials, we learned new vocabulary such as transparent, translucent, and opaque. Through testing, we found that translucent materials worked best — they dimmed the light but still allowed us to see clearly.
Still focusing on the sun, we also created our own sundials! Using a compass, we found North and aligned 12 o’clock in that direction. We were then able to use the position of the sun to tell the time — just like people did before clocks were invented!
Finally, we set out to answer our composite question: Why are shadows always dark and why does it follow me around? To investigate, we created a clever experiment using a hula hoop marked with times, a torch to represent the sun, and a piece of paper underneath to trace the shadows. Our results showed that the longest shadows appeared early in the morning and late in the evening, when the sun is low in the sky. At midday, when the sun is directly overhead, our shadows were at their shortest.
What a brilliant term of learning, experimenting, and discovering the science of light!
Geography – What is the Climate like in our World?
What is the Climate Like in Our World?
We kicked off our Geography topic by exploring which climate zone Stoke-on-Trent is in. From there, our curiosity took us on a global journey to discover all the different climate zones around the world. We explored fascinating environments such as arid deserts, temperate forests, cold mountainous regions, tropical jungles, and the freezing polar zones.
As part of our learning, we also compared a tropical climate to a temperate climate in a creative and hands-on way. We represented each season using bottles filled with different plants and materials that reflected the unique features of those climates. This helped us clearly see how plant life and weather conditions change across the seasons in temperate zones — and how tropical climates stay warm and lush all year round!
After learning about these diverse climates, we zoomed in on a place with a very familiar name — Stoke! But this Stoke is all the way across the globe in Nelson, New Zealand. We compared Stoke-on-Trent with Stoke in New Zealand and were surprised to find that both places share a temperate climate, with similar temperatures throughout the year. However, we discovered one major difference: our seasons are completely opposite! When we’re enjoying a warm summer in England, New Zealand is experiencing its cold, wet winter.
Once we had a solid understanding of climate zones, we turned our attention to something more serious — climate change. We were shocked to learn how quickly our climate is changing, but Year 3 rose to the challenge with a brilliant solution.
Using our imaginations and environmental awareness, we planned to transform a piece of brown belt land — the abandoned Twyford factory in Festival Park — into a green, eco-friendly space. Our designs included trees, rivers, and even wind turbines to help improve the environment and protect our planet.
We’re proud of our efforts and can’t wait to see how future Year 3 students continue our mission to make the world a better place!
Art – Why is detail important?
Inspired by Van Gogh: Bringing Sunflowers and Cypress Trees to Life
Vincent Van Gogh has been our focus, inspiration, and muse throughout this art unit. We began by admiring his stunning collection of work — especially his iconic sunflower pieces, which captured our imaginations with their vibrant colours and expressive brushwork.
Inspired by these masterpieces, we created our own sunflower artwork — with a twist! Using just a toilet roll, some paints, and a lot of creativity, we brought our sunflowers to life in 3D using mixed media. The result was an outstanding display of colour, texture, and imagination.
As we explored Van Gogh’s work further, we were particularly drawn to his bold use of colour and the unique pattern of his brush strokes. This led us to investigate his technique more closely, and we discovered the impasto method — a style where thick paint is applied to the canvas to create texture and movement.
To try out this technique ourselves, we turned to one of Van Gogh’s famous subjects: his Cypress trees. Using thick layers of paint and expressive strokes, we experimented with the impasto technique and brought a little piece of Van Gogh’s magic into our classroom!
Educational Visit – Cadburys World
A Sweet Adventure at the Cadbury Factory!
We have absolutely adored reading Charlie and the Chocolate Factory during our reading sessions this term, so you can imagine our excitement when we had the chance to visit a real chocolate factory!
Our adventure took us to the Cadbury Museum, where we followed the fascinating journey of the cacao bean — from its origins in Aztec times to modern-day Birmingham, where it is now used to make some of the most delicious chocolate bars in the world.
During our tour, we enjoyed a special Bean to Bar talk from a factory worker, who shared an incredible amount of information about how chocolate is made on such a large scale. One of the highlights was getting to taste some mouth-watering chocolate — and even writing our own names in chocolate!
We also discovered the specific climate conditions needed for cacao trees to grow, linking perfectly with our current Geography topic on biomes. It was a day full of learning, laughter, and lots of chocolate — an unforgettable experience for everyone!
