After the past successes of ‘Oliver’ and ‘Joseph and his Technicoloured Dreamcoat' the Musical Theatre club is back, bigger and better than ever and preparing for this year’s performance of 'Annie'.

The cast are rehearsing in lunchtimes at school and after school each Thursday which involves singing and dancing whilst in character. After Christmas we will be involving both the textiles and art clubs to desgin, make and paint props and costumes for the production. The cast will be ready to perform their production in June 2012.

Here is a short synopsis of the musical 'Annie'.

Set in New York in the 30's, Annie lives in an ophanange run by Miss Hannigan who is a sleazy, fairly unpleasant character. Annie was left as a baby with a letter saying her parents would return for her one day, and the thought of this keeps her going! One day after escaping for a while, and finding a dog, she is returned by a policeman and is about to be punished by Miss Hannigan when Grace Farrell arrives. She is the secretary to Mr. Warbucks the millionaire. He wishes to give an orphan a holiday in his grand home for Christmas, and Grace chooses Annie. Annie is immediately loved by everyone, including Warbucks, who asks her if she would like to be adopted by him. Although Annie tells him she would love to stay she is waiting to be reunited with her real mother and father. Warbucks then tries to help Annie find her parents by offering a reward for them to come forward. When Miss Hannigan hears of this she hatches a plan with her brother Rooster, who is a rogue, and he, along with his girlfriend Lily, pretend to be Annie's long lost parents.......

You will have to wait until our show to find out whether it will be a happy ending for Annie......

Topic

Over the year in 3CWH we will be looking in more depth at a range of cross curricular topics. The first term of the year was spent looking at the story ‘Around the world in 80 days’. We learnt about some of the countries that Phileas Fogg visited, looking at their diverse range of cultures and traditions as well as cooking and sampling some of their local delights! After Christmas we will ventured back in time to World War 2 where we thought about what it would have been like to be a child in the war. This term we are looking at Earth and Space. We will be carrying out lots of scientific experiements.

Language and Investigations

Over the year the children have the opportunity to carry out a range of scientific and design investigations to answer a range of questions. These could range from “What is electricity?” which may include creating their own circuits to light up to “Girls can throw further than boys” where they investigate lengths using different children from around the school.

The children will have the opportunity to be involved in a range of mathematical investigations including doubling investigations and problem solving activities.

In year 3 we carry out a number of debates on both topical and more abstract statements. The children are encouraged to think about the ways in which people may make assumptions and may have thoughts that differ to their own.

We will also be learning how language can be effective in posters, speeches and debates and how it can be used to convey an important message or meaning.

ICT

This year we will be talking about Interent Safety and watching videos endorsed by the CEOP in order for the children to understand the dangers and risks that could be posed from being on the internet.

All of the class are involved in recording TV programmes for our school BTV channel. They are able to film each other both in the class and in the studio and will begin to edit their videos this year using Pinnacle Studio.

Reading

As the year progresses the children all relish having the opportunity to read a story in front of the class and then record this on BTV. They really enjoy practising their chosen story with clarity and expression. All of the class are very support of their peers which helps all to build up their confidence when speaking in front of their friends.

Violins and Swimming

Year 3 children are given the opportunity to swim at Middlemoor swimming pool every Wednesday. During these lessons, the children are led by trained lifeguards and swimming instructors to learn and develop key skills including basic lifesaving.

Harvest Festival

Year 3 and 4 are responsible for the school’s harvest festival performed in front of parents and the rest of the school during the autumn term. They all work hard to learn a range of songs and each class gave a presentation of the work that they have been involved with. We are enjoying learning about different foods from around the world and will begin to write instructions for how to make these. We will be dressing up as traditional people from a range of countries and present some of their Harvest traditions using a large map.