Year 3

This term, Year 3 have been exploring how the physical environment can affect people’s choices. In particular, we inquired into how volcanoes and earthquakes shape people’s lives in Italy. We started off by taking a virtual trip to Naples as part of our provocation. During this trip, we simulated what it would be like flying on a real aeroplane, with our passports in our hands! We soared over mountains and took in our surroundings as we landed in the stunning city of Naples.

From there, the children delved a little deeper into the Campania region of Italy, finding out all about its physical features, ranging from impressive volcanoes and mountains to vast coastlines. The year 3s were fascinated by how volcanoes and mountains form. Then the children began to explore the reasons why Campania is a popular holiday destination and found out that the food, weather and culture make for a fantastic holiday! As a continuation of our exploration of Italy, we also explored festivals from other parts of the world during our PSHE lessons. We found out that in some places in Italy, people go skiing dressed as Santa at Christmas time! 

The children also learnt about the explosive history of this region of Italy. They used Pliny’s letters to research the eruption of Vesuvius in 79AD. The children particularly enjoyed our exciting class reader, Survivor- Escape from Pompeii. They used this to inspire their own action packed narratives, imagining themselves in the midst of the eruption. In art, the children also created mosaics inspired by Pompeii.

One of the highlights from the term was our Italian Pizza Project. After getting their hands dirty in science, discovering what soil is made from, the children learnt about the foods that can be grown in volcanic soil. Then, they designed and made their own pizza boxes, making these as authentic as possible. They were really pleased with how they turned out and they tasted delicious! 

At the end of term, we turned our attention to the recent earthquakes that have been plaguing the island of Santorini in Greece. The children researched what happened and wrote newspaper articles to raise awareness about it. They then used their Google slides skills to take action and inform children in Greece about what they can do during an earthquake to protect themselves.