Class trip to Maeshowe, Skara Brae and Ring of Brodgar

We went a class trip to Maeshowe, Skara Brae and Ring of Brodgar to find out how people in the Stone Age lived.

We learnt lots of interesting facts and had lots of fun exploring the different places. We also developed our skills in reasoning and enquiry.

Kaylen got to go down into the houses at Skara Brae.

We really enjoyed listening to stories about how the stones came to be at the Ring of Brodgar and playing games there. We also learnt a big new word – Neolithic.

Despite being a cold day, we all had lots of fun and learned lots about Neolithic people in Orkney.

Becoming Archaeologists

In primary 3 we have been learning how to closely examine objects and artefacts. 

We have looked at the different tools archaeologists use when carrying out a dig, and how these are used. 

We have also been developing our skills in piecing together evidence to give us clues about how people in the past might have lived. 

Rainforest Topic

Last week we finished our Rainforest topic. We found out lots about the different animals and plants that were found in the rainforest. 

We worked in groups to research different plants and animals using the internet and information books. To show how much we had learnt we were given the task of creating a display. We all worked very hard and created a very impressive display!

To find out more about the different things we get from the rainforest we had a visit from Lindsay Taylor from the RSPB. We were very shocked to find out how many everyday products came from the rainforest. We didn’t know medicine, wheel tyres, perfume, shampoo and conditioner, chewing gum and chocolate came from the rainforest. We did lots of activities which helped us to realise the importance of the rainforest. We then looked at deforestation of the rainforest and what we could do to help.

Global Warming experiment

Yesterday we carried out an experiment on melting ice to help us better understand the concept of global warming. Each group had a different place to put their ice – the classroom, next the heater or in the cold cupboard! We then had to record the water temperature and level every two minutes. We had to be very careful when recording the results, looking very closely at the lines on the thermometer and on the measuring cylinder. 

We found the ice next to the heater melted the most and had the highest level of water rise after 8 minutes. We identified things that worked well with our experiment and things that could be improved next time we carry out an experiment. 

Storybird

This term we have starting using Storybird to write stories. This is an online tool where we are able to pick pictures to add to an online book and write a story to go with the pictures. We really enjoy using Storybird and some of us have even started writing stories at home to share with the class. 

We have just started using this and will be doing some more work on writing stories using this.