Year 4
WB: 22/04/24
This week, the Year 4 students delved into the fascinating realm of the digestive system! They embarked on an engaging scientific exploration, putting their newfound knowledge to the test. With a concoction of tights, crackers, bananas, and orange juice, they simulated the digestive process in an exciting experiment.
The children enthusiastically crushed the food, mimicking the initial breakdown in the mouth, before transferring it into a "stomach" filled with orange juice to simulate gastric acid. Next, they simulated the absorption of nutrients by passing the mixture through tights, acting as intestines, and squeezing out all the vital vitamins.
Working collaboratively, the students witnessed firsthand the intricate workings of the digestive system. It was a hands-on experience that left them all informed and inspired!
WB: 25/03/24
As the spring 2 term in Year 4 draws to a close, it's time to reflect on the incredible learning journey we've embarked on together! From exploring the intricate web of global trade with Thames Explorer in geography to delving into a variety of religious celebrations in RE, we've broadened our horizons and gained a deeper understanding of the world around us. In science, we've unravelled the mysteries of the water cycle, witnessing the fascinating journey of water from sky to earth and back again and were shocked to find out that the very water we use today was the same water that dinosaurs drank 165 million years ago! Our creative juices flowed in Art as we crafted vibrant totem pole masks, where we drew inspiration from various abstract portrait artists. Although, using the modroc did prove challenging as many balloons popped in the process, causing lots of screams and laughter and leaving us all splattered with modroc residue (sorry parents and carers for the washing)! Meanwhile, in computing, we mastered the art of Excel, crunching numbers and organizing data, giving us tools we’ll need later on in life! In PSHE, we took charge of our financial future, learning the value of money and responsible spending, and the importance of saving, budgeting and making wise money decisions. With captivating reads like "Christophe's Story" and "The Iron Man" in guided reading, we embarked on thrilling literary adventures that inspired us in our writing too! We created a heartwarming tale in English, capturing the resilience and hope of a Rwandan refugee through our emotive storytelling, drawing inspiration from Christophe’s Story, as well as our persuasive letter in our Iron Man topic. Last but not least, in maths, we sharpened our skills in measurement, fractions, shape, and data handling, equipping ourselves with the tools to conquer mathematical challenges with confidence. Not only did we get stuck into our learning each day, but we also had some great celebrations this half term, such as World Book Day and Careers Day where so much fun was had! Finally, we ended the term by celebrating Easter with our fantastic Easter bonnet parade where so many of our family members came out in the rain to support us, which we thank you all for. Year 4 should be really proud of the learning journey this half term; a lot of children have really grown in confidence with their learning which is amazing for us teachers to see. We’re really proud of you all and look forward to a fun summer term ahead with some outdoor learning as the weather (hopefully) improves!
WB: 05/02/24
In Year 4 this week, we have really enjoyed celebrating Children’s Mental Health Week. Each day, we have completed a different mental health related activity, such as using conversation starters to open up discussions about our mental health, writing about our proud moments and writing gratitude letters to people we’re thankful for. Finally, on Friday, we celebrated the this year’s Children’s Mental Health Week theme of ‘My Voice Matters’ by taking part in ‘Express Yourself Day’; we all dressed up in a way that expresses who we are and took part in activities such as show and tell, making double page spreads about ourselves and self-portraits 😊 Please ask your children about what they did this week and encourage them to use the conversation starters at home so that we can celebrate our mental health at home too!
WB: 22/01/24
This week in Year 4, we planned and carried out our own scientific enquiries about melting ice. In groups, we used our observation skills to investigate changes in states, testing what factors impact how fast ice melts. When planning, we ensured our tests were fair by choosing one independent variable (the variable that we were changing), and that all the other variables were controlled; this way, we were certain that it could only be the independent variable impacting the dependent variable that we were observing (the ice). We then set up our experiments and tested how the size and shape affects melting, whether applying salt, submerging in liquid or applying heat affects melting. Finally, we analysed our results and drew our conclusions to share with the class!
WB: 08/01/24
This week, Year 4 became historians and looked at a range of primary and secondary sources to learn about the Ancient Greeks! During this lesson, the children had a range of different artefacts from the Ancient Greek times (such as pottery, coins, statues, jewellery and armour) and had to infer what the artefacts might tell us about how the Ancient Greeks lived.
WB: 10/12/23
Last Friday, Year 4 delved deeper into our geography topic by taking part in our Spanish Enrichment Day! The children’s outfits were incredible and we really felt like we’d stepped into sunny Spain as we listened to traditional Spanish music throughout the day. We researched famous Spanish people and made poster presentations about their lives, learnt some Flamenco dancing and some of the Spanish language. Our favourite part of the day was definitely when we had tapas and tried some traditional Spanish foods such as: paella, olives, chorizo, Spanish omelette, feta stuffed peppers, churros and a child friendly sangria. Afterwards, we interviewed each other in Spanish about our favourite and least favourite foods; the olives were definitely a least favourite for most children – when they tried them, their faces were priceless, haha!
WB: 13/11/23
This week in English, Year 4 have been investigating multiple crimes that have been committed by a malevolent, malicious criminal called Mary-Jane Locket (otherwise known as Goldilocks). First of all, we acted as detectives by investigating different pieces of evidence from the crime scene, such as footprints in the mud, fingerprints on spoons and on half eaten bowls of porridge, a broken chair leg and even some locks of golden hair! Also, we interviewed different witnesses including: police officers, the woodcutter, the Three Little Bears, their terrified neighbour and even Goldilocks herself. Finally, in order to prepare for our newspaper report – which we will be writing next week – we wrote a character profile of Goldilocks; we aimed to warn the public to not be fooled by this reckless delinquent with deceptively innocent looks. Have a read of some of our amazing character profiles!
WB: 31/10/23
Throughout the week in our Year 4 science lessons, we delved into the captivating realm of sound. The students embarked on an enthusiastic journey, exploring the school premises to pinpoint the origins of various sounds and varying sound volumes. In addition, the children harnessed the power of data loggers to quantify the decibel levels produced by different sounds. They were very excited to test different sounds and their levels and discovered that the further away there were to the sound source, the lower the decibels reading on the data logger. The children are excited to learn the reasons behind this next week where we will be exploring soundwaves! Well done Year 4!
WB: 25/09/23
During this term in Year 4, we’ve embarked on an exciting journey into the realm of electricity. This week, our focus has been learning about switches and how they work. To make learning more engaging, we had a hands-on activity where children transformed into the components of a circuit. Some played the role of wires, while others took on the role of a bulb, switch and battery. It was a delightful experience as the pupils enjoying demonstrating the flow of electricity, by shaking themselves to stimulate movement. With the switch in the ‘on’ position, the electric current flowed seamlessly through the ‘human circuit’. However, when the switch was turned ‘off’, the pupils creatively broke the circuit, effectively halting the flow of electricity, making the science of switches come alive in our classrooms.
WB: 11/09/23
Year 4 have thoroughly enjoyed their start to the year and have been extremely enthusiastic about the new topics we’ve been exploring! The topic we’ve all been super excited about is our new DT topic as we are making our very own biscuits! In our first lesson, we got to discuss our favourite biscuits, taste some well-known biscuits and discuss what we liked about them, and then we got to bake our very own ones! After tasting them, we discussed how we can adapt the recipe to make them even taster; now we can’t wait until we bake again to see how our adaptions improve the taste!
