24/03/23
It has been a very practical two weeks in Year 4. In science, we have been conducting different experiments. The first linked with our unit of work on States of Matter where we explored melting and freezing in a comparative test by seeing the effects of heat and cold when making butter icing. Turns out it is a lot easier to make it when the butter has a heat source. In a special experiment for UK Science Week, we are carrying out a test over time to see which is better: hard soap, liquid soap or not washing our hands at all. We are using bread as a surface on which to grow bacteria in controlled conditions to find out. Stay tuned for the results.
Meanwhile in DT, after testing out slingshot car chassis, the children are now in the process of making the body of the car. This requires careful measuring and construction in order to maintain the balance and speed of the car.
In maths, we have made a strong start to our work on fractions by understanding the concept of a “whole”, a “part” and how we construct a fraction.
During reading, we finished Varjak Paw – which caused much devastation – but, luckily, we had the sequel ready for Storytime! We have also begun reading The Legend of Podkin One-Ear, which promises to be another thrilling read and there are lots of sequels ready to be picked up should the children enjoy this one too.
10/03/23
World Book Day was absolutely fantastic! It was lovely seeing the range of characters and how excited the children were about their costumes and the books that inspired them. We spent some time enjoying our school library sharing these books (as well as an obligatory photoshoot) and wrote short stories about what it might be like if our books came to life! In addition, we explored some poetry by the award-winning children’s poet Joseph Coelho and performed his poem “School Tomorrow – excuses for Mum”, which was highly entertaining for the children really showed off their performance skills and expressive voices.
In other subjects, the children have been particularly excited by our new Geography unit on tectonic plates, volcanoes and earthquakes as well as learning to talk about the ancient history of Great Britain in French! We also have an exciting Science unit this half term looking at solids, liquids and gasses so there are lots of fun experiments to come as well as making a slingshot car in Design Technology.
17/02/23
Over the last two weeks, we have not only finished our excellent newspaper articles but we have also started to create monologues based on The Man Who Walked Between the Towers – a true story about tightrope walker Philippe Petit. Meanwhile in maths, we are beginning to apply our knowledge of times tables with what we found out about multiplying and dividing by 10 and 100.
For Children’s Mental Health Week, the theme was about connecting with people and opening up about our likes, dislikes and feelings. Everyone picked out a name and had to give a compliment to that person. The smiles and positive vibes afterwards were amazing! By playing a rather different game of “Bingo”, everyone found out something new about one another too – what a lovely way to connect. It was also fantastic seeing everyone express themselves on “Dress to Express” day.
In art, we developed a range of different skills using print to create patterns and even made our own stamps. Then, we used the illustrations from our reading book (Varjak Paw) to create reflected drawings.
03/02/23
It’s been full steam ahead over in Year 4 this half term and you won’t believe how much learning we’ve done!
In English, we took inspiration from the poet William Blake and wrote our own rhyming animal poems. Currently, we’re becoming journalists and writing newspaper reports on Arthur and the Golden Rope. If you ever want to know the features of a newspaper report, just ask! We have a dance that we’re extremely good at, which explains all you need to know.
In maths, we have been exploring our 3, 6 and 9 times tables and learning how to use this knowledge to make links and find other facts. This has not been just learning the numbers in the times table but rather what multiplication means, looking at commutativity and how to manipulate the times tables to help us.
In history, we’ve been exploring the Romans and how they expanded their empire. Some of us even to on some roles to represent being a dictator or a republic.
Science has been rather gruesome as we have been investigating the digestive system and represented it using some everyday objects (tights as intestines for example)! We also conducted an experiment over time to see what would happen to our teeth if we didn’t look after them properly. We used eggshells to represent our teeth and put them in vinegar, coca cola, milk and water for a week to see what happened. Let’s just say we’re definitely keeping our teeth even cleaner from now on!