Class Three

Exploring the work of Henri Rousseau

 in Art / Class Three by

Class 3 have been enjoying experimenting with colour, shape and pattern through the incredible work of French artist Henri Rousseau.  His work reminds us of the Amazon landscape (a link to our geography studies during this term) although the places that he painted do not actually exist.  Each of his compositions – many of which look like tropical jungles – are actually imaginary places conjured up from the studies he did of plants and animals observed in zoos and gardens in and around Paris.

We have been using a range of media, including watercolour, ink pens and pencil crayons to create our own studies and details of foliage.

We then developed our learning further by exploring Rousseau’s use of colour, line, pattern and texture in details of his inspirational work.

Scrawlers!

 in Class Four / Class Three / Design and Technology by

What can you make if you have a cup, some sellotape, felt-tip pens, a motor, a rubber, a battery and some crocodile clips? That’s exactly the question which was posed to class 4 last week! It wasn’t much to go on, but then they were given a prototype of a “Scrawler”

A Scrawler is an automatic drawing robot! A motor on top of the robot spins with an offset weight, causing it to vibrate. As it vibrates, the pens making up the “legs” of the robot wobble across the page and draw patterns as they go.

Class 4 wasted no time in taking the prototype to pieces to discover how it worked. With no further instructions, just some reverse-engineering, small teams got to work building a Scrawler of their very own!

Once we had perfected and tested our own versions, we took them apart for a further challenge. Was it possible to teach Class 3 how to make one of their own, without using our hands? That meant no pointing or touching, and no getting frustrated when somebody else was doing the wrong thing! With only 20 minutes to complete the project time was not on our side, but I think the gallery below proves our success!

Electric Posters in DT

 in Class Three / Design and Technology by

Class 3 have been bringing together this year’s history and science knowledge in producing a special electric poster for a museum display to inform visitors about the Romans. They considered where to place a light bulb to draw people’s attention to an aspect of their poster – some are on the titles, others incorporated into their illustrations and others by their facts. It was great to see pupils helping each other to problem solve when circuits didn’t work as expected – this is certainly an important aspect of the job of a designer and engineer.

 

Musical Extravaganza

 in Class Four / Class One / Class Three / Class Two / Music by

After missing performing for two years, we were delighted to be entertained on Friday morning by our marvellous pianists  and violinists. We enjoyed solos, duets as well as small group performances introduced and supported by our first class instrumental teachers Mrs Rainbow and Mrs Hurley.

All year 2 pupils have learned to play the violin this year and the group who have been keen to continue presented a selection of pieces showing many different ways to produce sound on the violin including pizzicato (plucking the string) and arco (bowing). Our year 3 violinists showed their beautiful smooth bowing action that produced a lovely mellow tone.

The pianists all played different tunes, solos and duets that really got our feet tapping and produced smiles all around the appreciative audience. Well done to all performers and those who have supported and encouraged them this year – the fruits of that labour were clear to see thi

 

 

Super Sporting Morning

 in Class Four / Class One / Class Three / Class Two / PE by

What a fantastic morning we had on Thursday! Our sport’s day this year started with a race for nursery and their teddies. Then the rest of school were split into four teams to complete a carousel of activities, for which they could win points for their team. During the second half of the morning, the children participated in more traditional events such as balancing races and running. Throughout the whole event, they supported and encouraged their team mates wonderfully. The morning concluded with the always entertaing Year 6 novelty race, adult races and not forgetting particiption from the youngest members of the audience in their race. It was a brilliant morning full of fun and exercise, made even better by the support and encouragement of parents, friends and the Levens community.

Heaves Farm Visit

 in Class Three / Science by

Wow, what an amazing day we have had at the Westmorland County Agricultural Society Farm Open Day at Heaves Farm. We were complimented often on our good answers and questions and we listened carefully and showed excellent manners throughout the whole day.

Here is what some of the children had to say on our return…

I loved it when a calf came and licked my hand. It felt slobbery! AB

Did you know cows have 4 stomachs? ER

My favourite thing was seeing the piglets and the lambs. GH

I liked seeing the sheep dogs as they are my favourite animals. They are well trained, MAB

I liked to see how the dogs rounded up the sheep . He showed us which whistles meant left, right, walk and lie down. CH

I really liked the baby animals – the chicks, the piglets and the sheep. CR

I enjoyed listening to Storm the dog’s heart beat using a stethoscope at the vets. FH

I enjoyed pretending to help the sheep give birth. PH

I enjoyed the little sheep. They were very calm when you touched them. All the animals were well trained. HR

Thank you so much to all the farmers and helpers who made the day a really memorable one for us all.

All Things Electric

 in Class Three / Science by

Class 3 have had a wonderful day, learning more about Electricity by visiting Heysham Power Station Visitor Centre. The staff there were super impressed with Class 3’s great thinking skills, their understanding of electricity and the way they approached the activities. The sessions we did were perfectly pitched to embed their existing learning in school and make links with other areas of science, engineering and maths to deepen our understanding and curiosity about the world.

We learnt how Michael Faraday found that electricity could be made by spinning magnets in a circle of copper wire using turbines and steam and this is still what happens today inside the power station. In a safe and controlled way, we learned why water and electricity are such a dangerous mix – because water is a good conductor of electricity. We had great fun making different circuits using special kits and even made human power stations! We learnt which appliances in our homes are the greatest guzzlers of electricity per hour of use – very useful information at a time when we all wanting to save electricity too. Do ask some of Year 3 and 4 for their advice if you’d like to know more!

The Best of Days at YMCA

 in Class Three / PE / SCARF / Whole School by

Class 3 have just returned from an AMAZING day at YMCA – what a way to begin our half term. There were many notable personal triumphs today with children showing resilience, huge courage and a willingness to try something new.  Their support for each other was also very strong so that everyone had a day filled with good memories.

With the weather on our side, we enjoyed a giant obstacle course which ended in a very muddy boggy area which we had to literally walk the planks over. We learned to fire arrows with a bow – not something that is easy by any means. We also sailed out into the middle of Windermere in one large boat, working together to propel it along, singing at the tops of our voices and playing all sorts of fun games. The instructors Amber and Andrew were wonderful and they really enjoyed their day with such keen, eager and polite pupils who were a credit to Levens School! A big thank you to all who helped us raise the funds for these special YMCA days through our marathon challenge last year – this was a very worthwhile and wonderful experience.

 

 

Money Money Money

 in Class Three / Maths by

Class 3 have been learning all about money in maths recently. Here they are totaling up how much money they have and using different strategies to do this efficiently. They are getting quick and accurate at doing this in partners and independently. We have also been looking closely at our British coins – they make up a shield shape if you have one of each!

Platinum Jubilee

 in Art / Class Four / Class One / Class Three / Class Two / SCARF by

On Wednesday, we enjoyed a wonderful day of celebration for the Queen’s Jubilee.

The day started with an assembly giving thanks for our Queen and designing and making clay plaques to commemorate the occasion.

During the afternoon we enjoyed traditional games in our playground including What’s the time Mr Wolf, Fire on the Mountain and Hopscotch.  It was lovely to see the children from all across our school playing together happily.

Next we moved into our brightly decorated hall to watch snippets of the Coronation, eat delicious refreshments and sing the National Anthem at our indoor street-party.

After all the restrictions of Covid over the last two years, this was an amazing way to end this half term!