RE Drop Down – Buddhism
This morning, Year 3 were learning all about Buddhism. We began by looking at all religions and we created a timeline for their times of origin. The children really impressed me with their memory skills and presentation in books.
Next, we focussed primarily on Buddhism and looked into the founder, the place of origin and number of world and UK followers. Here’s what we found:
- The founder of Buddhism was a man named Siddartha Gautama (Buddha).
- Buddhism originated in India.
- Number of worldwide followers: over 520 million – it is the fourth-largest world religion.
- Number of UK followers: Roughly 290,000 (as of 2021 UK census).
Finally, we looked into the life of Buddha and how he achieved enlightenment. Siddartha Gautama was a prince that lived a life of luxury. When he saw other people suffering, he decided to leave his palace and life among holy men in search for truth. His search took him six years, but he became enlightened by meditating under a fig tree. From then on, he was respected as a role model and teacher – his teachings spread far and wide, particularly across Asia.
Help at home:
Buddhism is a way of life that teaches people to be kind, calm, and wise so they can be happy and help others be happy too. Talk to your child about their learning on this and how this links to our school vision (St James is a happy and healthy place to achieve and believe). Do we share some of the same values as Buddhists?
Spooky Settings!
In writing, Year 3 are tasked with a spooky setting description. The purpose of this is to use skills, such as expanded noun phrases and rich vocabulary, for descriptive purposes. So far this week, we (the reader) have put ourselves in the shoes of an illustrator. To begin, our canvas is blank. When reading a good example of a setting description, our canvas begins to fill with everything the writer wants us to see, hear, feel, touch, smell and so on. By the end of the paragraph, we have a full idea of what the setting would be like.
Next, we had a go at writing a short class setting based on the picture below. Here’s the fantastic piece the children came up with!
In the middle of nowhere, an eerie, abandoned house stood silently like a solitary statue. The grass seemed to have a blanket of ash resting on top. Cautiously stepping closer, I heard creaky floorboards. An army of goosebumps invaded my arms.
Help at home:
Explore your child’s current reading book with them and pick out some rich vocabulary that may suit a spooky setting description! We will share these ideas in our lessons and add them to our word wall.
Brownlee Triathlon!
This week, KS2 took part in the Brownlee Foundation Triathlon event! All of the children represented St James well and completed the whole course with huge smiles on their faces! The children had to swim, cycle and run their way to the finish line, working together and spurring each other on. We even got to meet Jonny Brownlee, who very kindly took a photo with our school! Thanks to all parents and adults who helped organise the event. Here are some fantastic photos from our day:
Living and Learning: I know the importance of 5 a day
For our living and learning session this week, Year 3 looked into the importance of healthy eating. We discussed as a class how many fruit/veg a day we are currently managing to eat, and set ourselves some goals to further improve.
We also looked into influences and healthy choices when deciding what to eat and drink. Year 3 discussed the importance of a healthy, balanced diet and used their learning about different foods groups from earlier this year to help.
After the session the children felt confident talking about the following statements:
Help at home:
Discuss these statements in more detail at home so your child understands the importance of healthy choices when eating and drinking.
Local History
In topic, Year 3 have been learning about local history, with carnival being a key stimulus. We began by exploring carnivals around the world and what they might look, sound and feel like. So far, we’ve looked at: Rio Carnival (Brazil); Venice Carnival (Italy); and the Leeds West Indian Carnival. The children are able to discuss similarities and differences between these carnivals and understand the reason behind these fantastic events.
Looking at the Leeds Carnival in more detail, our attention turned to Arthur France. Arthur is the founder of the Leeds West Indies Carnival and came to Britain as part of the Windrush Generation. This was after WWII when Britain needed help to rebuild from the war, and Britain invited people to immigrate.
Here’s some of our learning about Arthur France – we used a timeline to sequence key parts of his life in chronological order.
Help at home:
Talk to your child about the carnivals we’ve learnt about so far. Ask them questions on the similarities and differences between them. We’ve also talked a lot about staying safe at a carnival – perhaps explore this conversation in more detail at home.
A visit from Leeds Rhinos!
St James had a very exciting visitor from the Leeds Rhinos in today during our Collective Worship. Ian came in to talk to the children about teamwork and inclusivity – two key skills that help us to be happy and healthy in our school. We got the opportunity to learn about the different teams that Leeds Rhinos have, such as: men’s and women’s rugby; netball; a wheelchair rugby team and many more. The children responded really well when discussing the importance of inclusivity, teamwork and stereotyping, particularly in sport.
Ian also reminded us of the fantastic offer from Leeds Rhinos for pupils to go and see one of their matches! If you/your child is interested in this, discounted tickets can be purchased through school. Here are the details of the match:
Leeds Rhinos vs Hull FC
Friday 16th May
Kick off: 20:00
Planting New Life for Reception
Year 3 headed down to Reception this week to help plant some new flowers for their outdoor area. The children were split into small groups and had one area to attend to each. The pupils showed teamwork, good organisation and weren’t afraid to get stuck in. The reception area now has even more colour and life than before, and the children were really proud of their contributions. Year 3 received a class positive peers certificate from Reception, which the children were really pleased with.
Living and Learning: I know the importance of personal hygiene, including handwashing.
Today, Year 3 have been learning about allergies and how these may tie in with personal hygiene. An allergy happens when a person comes into contact with something, such as a food, that their body thinks might be harmful. We discussed some different types of potential allergens, both foods and non-foods. Here are some responses:
Pollen is an allergen because I have hay fever.
People can be allergic to peanuts and have a reaction.
I’m not allergic to anything, but I think I have an intolerance to milk and dairy.
Some medicines make your body have a reaction, but they are meant to make you feel better!
We then learnt about ways to avoid allergens and how to deal with potential reactions. We discussed how washing our hands and keeping our personal hygiene levels high is important when tackling allergies, e.g. washing our hands to avoid spreading allergens that we might’ve handled. It’s really important to wash our hands at lunch times, especially with so many different foods in our packed lunches!
Help at home:
Discuss potential allergens and signs to look out for with allergic reactions. Check some food packaging on your next shopping trip – you should find the most common allergies are in bold!
A Happy and Healthy School
On Friday, Year 3 took time to organise and clean up our school grounds. We had noticed that lots of equipment was missing, and that there was a significant amount of rubbish around the edges of our school field. So, we took matters into our own hands and got to work! The children were absolutely fantastic and showed good teamwork and perseverance. Here are the results from their hard work – we now have lots of equipment to keep us happy and healthy during break and lunch times!
Visit to the see The Knitted Bible
We had a great time on our trip to St James’ Church to see the bible stories represented in knitted scenes.
We recognised the scenes from Holy Week as well as the story of Zaccheus which is one of the stories associated with our Christian Values.
We were also gifted a crochet decoration to take home to remind us of our wonderful morning.
The Knitted Bible display will continue to be open to the public until Sunday 6th April. Further details can be found here: https://www.dioceseofleeds.org.uk/event/the-knitted-bible-comes-to-wetherby/