Year 4

Welcome to the Year 4 Spring term blog!

Year 4 took part in an electricity workshop last week. They had to create circuits with bulbs and then include a switch. They also carried out an investigation into a range of materials to see which were conductors and which were insulators. We also discussed renewable and non renewable resources for electricity and the children were able to create a circuit with a motor and a propeller and a solar panel. 

This half term our focus in art is to develop our skills using watercolours. We are drawing inspiration from the work of Charles Rennie Mackintosh. We started by experimenting with the water colours and finding out about the artist- we then learned how to create a wash. We developed our water colour use further in the next lesson and experimented with changing tone like Mackintosh does in his watercolour flowers. We did this by adding more water/using a dryer brush, and trying to mix colours with white or black to see what effect that had. We also annotated our work with what we did and how we felt about it. 

Click here to see more photos of our artwork in our gallery. 

This is an example of the final piece which shows a culmination of using watercolour, making different tones using white/black/more water/less water and colour mixing. 

Welcome to the summer term!

Year 4 have been busy recently!

In Art the children have been learning about Indian art and have designed their own patterns to use in printing. They carved their design into a polystyrene tile and rolled printing ink onto it to create a repeated pattern with their tiles. This will lead into a final project piece next week.

Have a look at some of the finished pieces!

In Science  the children have been learning about evaporation and condensation and had a go at using ice and hot water to see these processes happening. 

Here are some pictures of our recent DT pop up book topic. We made a selection of mechanisms to feature on each page and themed the book around a topic of our own interest.

Welcome to our Summer 2024 blog.

This half term we have been very busy.

On our Eco Day we had a recycling workshop where the children built their own notebook out of recycled materials. Year 4 also had the opportunity to look at recycled items such as purses made from recycled crisp wrappers. 

In Science we have been looking at animals and their habitats. We went for a walk around the school grounds to identify any habitats where animals live. The children found ants and woodlice under the bins, bird nests in the trees and snails buy the bush outside the classroom.

In Art we have been focusing on an artist called Charles Rennie Mackintosh who was famous for being an architect, designer and painting water colour flowers. The children have developed their skills on mixing water colour paints to match flower pictures. They have then painted their choice of flower thinking about colour matches and details of petals.

In PSHE, we have been discussing all about friendships and how friendships can change over time. We also enjoyed our Mental Health Day where we shared ways of coping with our emotions and what things keep us happy. 

In English we have been looking at a book called Shakelton's Journey. We each took on a role of the member of the crew and wrote telegrams, diary entries and dialogue between different characters. Towards the end of this topic we became newspaper reporters and wrote an article about the epic adventure.

This half term we visited the Natural History Museum in Ting where the children had the chance to learn new scientific knowledge and explore a range of different animals. During our workshop, the children were able to observe different types of skulls and focused on the types of teeth they have. They then guessed which animal they thought the skull belonged to. 

Year 4 loved exploring all the different animals and classifying them. We found:

• Mammals
• Birds
• Reptiles
• Amphibians 
• Insects
• Fish

In Geography year 4 have completed their local walk around the school area. They enjoyed the weather whilst carrying out their fieldwork which involved stopping at points to observe the human and physical features of the environment. They used their map reading skills to mark out our route and then compared this to Brazil.

This half term has been an exciting one for Year 4.

This is an example of some of the brilliant homework’s which we have received this half term.

English

In English we started with becoming bakers by the sea and making hot coconut buns. We practiced our baking skills including sieving, stirring, weighing and cracking. Using the ‘Baker by the sea’ book as a starting point, the children have created a letter and their own brochure to advertise the beautiful village in Suffolk from the book.

Science

The children have engaged in some wonderful conversations in science where we have been learning about the digestive system. The children collated recycling materials and collaboratively built a model of the digestive system focusing on each organ. Year 4 have also focused on teeth and how to look after them. We even held out our own experiment to find out what liquid impacted the eggshell the most.

PE

In PE, our topics are Netball and Gymnastics. We have learnt how to create a bridge using excellent gymnastic skills. Using the apparatus we have worked in pairs to create a sequence where one child is in a bridge position and the other either moves under or over.

Art

In art we have learnt all about Antoni Gaudi who is a famous architect. He is also famous for his mosaic work. We used his skills and techniques to create our own mosaic piece. Collaboratively as a group, the children designed a street and then used their knowledge of mosaic art to create a flowing street.

Library trip

We enjoyed our library trip where the children were able to learn a range of information about what they can do there. The children were read to and then had the opportunity to explore the children’s reading area. During this time children were able to take a book out which they were interested in. They really enjoyed their time at the library.

We are all excited to see what lies ahead!

We have had a very busy first week back! We showed respect to Remembrance Day by having a two minutes silent and discussing what it is about and why it is important to remember those who have fought for our country. We then wrote 'thank you' poems and coloured in wreaths to create a window display. 

We have also been thinking about anti-bullying week and we wrote poems with our friends to show how we should show respect and be kind to each other. We will not tolerate bullying and understand how important it is to use kind words and actions to our friends. We had fun wearing our odd socks too!

We finished our busy week by thinking of others and supporting Children in Need, we recognise how being kind should be to everyone, not just to our classmates.