Welcome to our Year 4 blog.

Come here for weekly updates.

17.3.23

What a week!

We have loved every moment of Science Week :-)

Here are some photos of the Science Fair...

3.3.2023

What an amazing world book week!

To kick of world book week,we had an intro assembly led by Mr Mansell.In this assembly he announced that a special visitor called Terry that is a famous poet who had  come in on Wednesday morning,he even wrote the opening song for the Olympic Games in 2012 and even has his own book called IT WASN’T ME MISS!

 In this assembly Terry was very FUNNY and kept telling us about his eggshell blonde hairstyle he made all  of us laugh and smile.He also gave us lots of great advice and tips for are class poem and our own. Terry even showed us his ideas book!

On Thursday we got to dress up as are favourite book character,and most of us came as Harry Potter characters.On that same day we had a book swap where you got to exchange the book you had brought in from home for another book. We even had a teacher swap,where we had a different teacher come into our class room and read us a story!We had a a book called THE WIZARD IN MY SHED read to us in 4CK! We had lots of fun on world book week!

By Lola and Paloma

16.2.23

What a long half term!

The children have worked so hard over the last seven weeks, and we are very proud of all of them! This week we have been working with the Dogs Trust for two days. We had an assembly with Years 1, 3 and 4, where the children were taught about what the Dogs Trust is, what they do and how they help dogs across the country. The day after, we had a workshop as a class to learn about how to behave around unfamiliar dogs. This helped improve children's confidence when we have Bessie come to visit us! In English, we published our diary entries from the perspective of Ernest Shackleton. The children's presentation and attention to detail was outstanding. They are now on display in the Year 4 corridor!

Finally, have a wonderful, restful half term and we cannot wait to see you on Monday 27th February!

10.2.23

Week 6 has been an extremely busy week in Year 4. It has been Children’s mental health week, and the children in Year 4 were lucky enough to have three different visitors during the week. We had a visit from Jeremy Rampling, who is a consultant psychiatrist; a talk from Kayla Daniels regarding nutrition and the best foods for the brain; our final workshop was with Kirsty Lister who discussed different strategies and techniques about how the children can create calm in their minds. Finally, as it was Safer Internet day on Tuesday, the children took part in an assembly that was hosted by our Year 6 digital leaders. The children learnt about what fake news is, what it looks like and how to avoid it.

3.2.23

Happy February!

Another incredibly busy week in Year 4, and the children have been working as hard as ever. Our class text for this half term is Shackleton's Journey. This is a book which follows the explorer, Ernest Shackleton as he attempts to cross the Antarctic. In English, we have started on our new unit, which will ultimately lead to the children writing a diary entry from the perspective of Ernest and different points in his journey. In maths, we have been continuing our work on fractions and decimals. This week, we had a focus on decimals, and the children did brilliantly to see the relationships between the two and then moved on to comparing and ordering decimals. We have been so impressed with the understanding and the attitude to learning of all of Year 4. Finally, we conducted a chocolatey experiment in science, as the children needed to help Mr Grana decide which type of chocolate would be the best option for taking to the beach on a summers day. After testing three different types, the children concluded that dark chocolate would be best due to its high cocoa level.

27.1.23

4 weeks down! The children in Year 4 have been channelling their inner David Attenborough by creating a documentary script that could be played over a video of penguins in the Antarctic. This was a culmination of two weeks work, which included the children learning about possessive apostrophes, using complex and compound sentences and using a thesaurus to find synonyms that made their work more interesting. The final pieces were outstanding and clearly showed that all children could confidently use the key skills that they had been taught.

It was time for another science experiment this week! This week's big question: How does the surface area of water affect its rate of evaporation. For this experiment, the children selected 4 different containers, with differing diameters. We then poured 100ml of water into each one and placed all 4 containers next to the window. Over the next week, we will be making daily observations about the amount of water in each container and plot our findings onto a graph. 

Finally, the children had a fantastic singing lesson with our incredibly talented singing teacher, Mrs Purser. She has begun teaching the children a variety of songs that are linked to our Big Freeze topic. Even after one lesson, the improvement was incredible. During Spring 2, we will be performing these songs to all of our adults - look out for more information soon! :-)

20.1.23

Another busy week in Year 4! This week, we welcomed adults into school for our Spring Come and Learn event. The theme of this was maths. This was a fantastic event and allowed the adults to see just how well the children are doing in all areas of maths this year. There was even a children vs adults times tables competition, which was a resounding win for the pupils of Coten End! In other areas of our curriculum, we have been having a wonderful time during computing lessons. Our focus for this half term is to create a presentation using Google Slides. In pairs, the children have chosen an Antarctic animal of their choice, researched it and have begun putting a slide show together to share with the rest of the class - watch this space! Finally, in Science, we presented the children with their big question for the week: Where does the ice in my drink go when it disappears? The children observed a block of ice in cups and made observations every 5 minutes. They were then able to apply their knowledge of states of matter, and how these can change, to deduce that the ice changes state from a solid to a liquid - through evaporation - but the process could be reversed by freezing the water afterwards.

13.1.23

       This week Year 4 have been working extremely hard to complete mid-year assessments. The children completed three maths papers and a reading test. We were all incredibly proud of how well they worked and the scores that they were able to achieve. As part of our latest learning journey in English, the children have been consolidating their knowledge of plural possession. We are building up to writing a news report about Antarctic penguins. The children learned the difference between singular and plural nouns, and were able to apply this understanding into their writing. This included rewriting a short passage, which they had to locate the errors and add apostrophes into the correct place in the sentence to show plural possession. 

        In RE and PSHE, we have been discussing dreams and ambitions. The children had to think about some short and long term goals, and how they would achieve them. In their books, they drew a ladder and included - at each rung - what they would need to do and how they would do it. It was great to hear so many wonderful dreams for the future, and we look forward to seeing the changemakers of tomorrow!

6.1.23

         Happy New Year! Although we were only back in school for three days, the children in Year 4 have been incredibly busy. In PE, the children are now doing gymnastics. Every week they will be completing a personal best challenge at the start of the lesson, which they will hopefully see an improvement in every lesson. This half term's personal best is to hold a balance for 60 seconds - our children found the balance extremely challenging. See if you can get your adults at home to have a go!

          In Maths, we started learning about fractions. We learned about what they are, how to calculate a fraction of an amount and understanding about equivalent fractions. The children used a mixture of concrete and pictorial resources to give them a more clear representation of fractions being an equal part of a whole.

          Excitingly, we started our new Theme topic (The Big Freeze). This particular topic has a geographical focus, and the children spent the first week learning about biomes. Biomes are a large region of Earth that have a certain climate and certain types of living things living there. The children learned about the major biomes: tundra, rainforest, deserts, savanna and taiga forest. They then placed the biomes correctly on a world map, and were even able to consider the animals that live there and how they are adapted to the particular conditions.

16^th December 2022

This week in year 4, we have enjoyed lots of festive activities!

We enjoyed eating our Christmas dinners all together in the hall, listening to Christmas songs and pulling crackers! We all got into the festive spirit watching the Nativity at the Rep theatre in Birmingham! We all had an amazing time and enjoyed the songs. Also, year 4 had a fabulous time at their Christmas party, playing party games, dancing and enjoying party food too!

In Maths, we continued learning about area and worked out the area of rectilinear shapes by counting squares. We applied our understanding to reasoning and problem solving too.

In Science and History, we did some assessments to see how much we had learned in our topics.

In Art we painted our Greek pots in a gold background and we painted geometric patterns really carefully onto them in black paint. Afterwards we evaluated our pots, considering the parts that we made well and which parts could be improved.

We hope you have a lovely festive break! Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

9^th December 2022

This week in in year 4, we have done lots of exciting activities.

In History, we had an amazing day for our Greek Workshop! We had a visitor into school who taught us lots of interesting information about the Ancient Greeks. We learned about Greek life and stories through drama, we played an Ancient Greek board game, we solved Greek mathematical puzzles, we participated in a Greek quiz in groups and we re-enacted the Olympics. We even saw some weapons that the Ancient Greeks used in battle! We had lots of fun and learned lots of facts.

In English, we learned about the features of instructions and identified these in a variety of instructions, such as imperative verbs, present tense, second person and numbered points in a sequence. We have improved our vocabulary in reading a non-fiction text about the Trojan Horse and practised our retrieval skills too.

In Maths, we started learning about area, firstly understanding the definition of area and rectilinear shapes and then working out the area of shapes. We applied our understanding to reasoning and problem solving too.

In Science, we did a really exciting experiment! To learn about the process of digestion, we created a model of how the digestive system works, using tights as the small and large intestines, a plastic bag as the stomach, orange juice as stomach acid and banana and biscuits as the food! It was really enjoyable!

In Design and Technology, we tasted lots of different sorts of Greek foods to find out which ones we liked. In groups we designed our Greek filo pastries and then we made them in groups. We practised and learned new skills, such as cutting, shredding, estimating amounts, brushing oil onto the pastry and impressively how to fold the filo pastry into triangles! Afterwards, we tasted them and lots of us thought that they were delicious! We evaluated how they tasted, looked and the process of making them.

We hope you have a lovely weekend!

2^nd December 2022

We have learned lots of knowledge this week for the Groovy Greeks and developed new skills!

In English, we wrote really impressive myths based on the structure of Theseus and the Minotaur. In our writing, we used lots of fronted adverbials, used speech punctuation and powerful vocabulary.

In Maths, we have learned how to multiply and divide by 10 and 100 and applied our understanding to reasoning and problem solving.

In Science, we learned about the different parts of the digestive system and the functions each part. We learned lots of scientific vocabulary!

In History, we learned about Alexander the Great, the countries he conquered and his empire. We considered whether we thought that he was a villain or a hero!

In PE, we continued practising the three different netball passes and practised how to pivot. We learned how to shoot the ball into the net and then we used the netball passes we have learned and pivot skills to pass towards the net and shoot. We showed excellent co-operation skills.

We all had an amazing time at the Christmas Fair! We played lots of different sorts of games and we won lots of prizes! We enjoyed choosing a gift for someone in our family and wrapped it up too.

In Art, we used the modelling techniques we have been learning about to make our Greek pots. We had lots of fun making them and they look amazing already.

We hope you have a lovely weekend!

25th November 2022

We have learned information and developed new skills for our Learning Theme - The Groovy Greeks!

In English, we read a variety of myths and we identified the key features, conventions and themes in Greek myths. We looked up synonyms of words to plan exciting vocabulary to use in our own myth. We have been planning our myth based on the structure of Theseus and the Minotaur, by changing the creature, setting and some of us have changed the objects used too.

In Maths, we have learned how to multiply three single digits, choosing the most efficient method. We have continued practising written methods of multiplication with exchanges, written division with remainders and applied our knowledge to reasoning and problem solving.

In Science, we looked at the results of our teeth (egg) experiment where we were investigating which drinks are best for our teeth. Each day we carefully observed the eggs and recorded our observations. We discovered that the worst liquids for our teeth were the squash and the vinegar! We then considered how we can look after our teeth and we created posters giving advice to people on how to care for their teeth.

In History, we learned about the battle of Marathon, a battle between the Ancient Greeks and the Persians. We ordered the key events in the battle and discussed the cause and consequence of key events. We considered the most important factors in the Ancient Greeks winning the battle.

In PE, we continued practising the three different netball passes and practised how to pivot. Then we used the netball passes we have learned and pivot skills to play a mini-game of netball. We showed excellent team-work skills.

In PSHE, for our unit ‘Celebrating Differences’, we learned about how we can be influenced to make assumptions about the way people look. We considered the different factors that can influence people’s assumptions.

In Art, we designed the shape for our Greek vases and planned which clay modelling technique we will use to create it. We designed our own geometric patterns for Greek vases too.

We hope you have a lovely weekend!

18h November 2022

We have learned lots of facts and skills for our Learning Theme - The Groovy Greeks!

In English, we have been learning key skills of writing using correct speech punctuation and how to set out dialogue correctly. We have been writing speech for Greek gods using all the speech rules and exciting words for ‘said.’ We have learned about fronted adverbials and we have practised writing our own sentences using different types of fronted adverbials, by describing how Theseus was trying to catch a Greek creature.

In Maths, we have practised our times tables and division facts and applied our knowledge to reasoning and problem solving. We have learned how to do written multiplication with exchanges and written division with remainders and applied this to reasoning and problem solving.

In Science, we set up an interesting experiment, investigating which drinks are best for our teeth, by putting eggs in different liquids. Each day we have been carefully observing the eggs and recording our observations. We are really excited to find out the results! 4CK had some visitors into class from Warwick School who taught us how to make rockets and we learned all about forces. We even launched them and saw them fly far into the air!

In History, we learned about daily life in the city states of Sparta and Athens. We went on a fact hunt, we recorded facts and wrote notes about life in both places. We considered facts for Sparta and Athens and sorted them into a Venn diagram. We discussed which state we would rather live in and gave historical evidence for our reasons. It was a difficult decision to make which state to live in!  

In PE, we learned how to pivot in netball so we could pass the ball to players in our team. Then we used the netball passes we have learned and pivot skills to play a mini-game of netball. We showed excellent co-operation skills!

In PSHE, it was Anti-bullying week and we read a story about a character who was bullied. We discussed how she was bullied, what the witnesses did to help her and how the bullying was solved. We discussed different scenarios and considered what we would do in different situations. It was also Inter-faith week and we were lucky to have a visitor into school to teach us all about Christianity, her beliefs how she practises her faith.

In Art, we designed the shape for our Greek vases and planned which clay modelling technique we will use to create it. We designed our own geometric patterns for Greek vases too. 4CC really enjoyed an Art workshop creating colour palettes for photos around Warwick.

We hope you have a lovely weekend!

11th November 2022

We have enjoyed continuing with our Learning Theme - The Groovy Greeks!

In English, we identified and learned the text features of a ‘Wanted’ poster. We then created our own Greek monster and thought of imaginative expanded noun phrases to describe its appearance, sounds it could make and its smell. We created creatures which sounded really scary! We used these to write our own ‘Wanted’ posters for the Greek monster, who was dangerous and needed to be captured.  We enjoyed having parents into our classes for our ‘Come and Learn’ sessions, where they did some grammar work with us and some writing with us using lots of key skills.

In Maths, we been continuing learning about multiplication and division and have focused on learning times table facts and how to recognise multiples of certain times tables. Some classes have started learning how to do written multiplication and division too.

In Science, we researched animals’ teeth and learned how animals’ teeth differ according to their type of diet, such as herbivores, omnivores and carnivores. We found out lots of facts about animals’ teeth! We thought of reasons why animals with different diets need to have different teeth. 4BS had some visitors into class from Warwick School who taught us how to make rockets and we learned all about forces. We even launched them and saw them fly far into the air!

In History, we investigated Ancient Greek artefacts such as Ancient Greek pots, lamps, pins and vases. We were able to handle these Ancient Greek artefacts and we used them to learn about life in Ancient Greece! We identified sources of historical evidence as primary sources of evidence or secondary sources of evidence.

In PE, we continued practising the three different netball passes: chest pass, bounce pass and shoulder pass. We then used these in an activity of ‘piggy in the middle’ so we could practise the skills needed in a netball game. We worked really well in a team.

In Art, we learned about Ancient Greek vases and we learned how to model with clay to create our pots. We created our own design of an Ancient Greek vase too.

We hope you have a lovely weekend!

4^th November 2022

This was our first week of our new Learning Theme - The Groovy Greeks! We have learned lots already this week.

In English, we learned how to use possessive apostrophe correctly for singular and plural nouns. Also, we identified when apostrophes were needed for contractions and when they were needed for possession.  

In Maths, we been learning about multiplication and division and have focused on learning times table facts and how to recognise multiples of certain times tables.

In Science, we started out new Science topic – Animals including humans and we learned how to identify the different types of teeth in humans. We learned about the functions of each type of tooth and how this helps us to eat. Also, 4CC had some visitors into our class from Warwick School who taught us how to make rockets and we learned all about forces.

In History, we revised our history knowledge from different periods of history that we have already learned about and we created our class graffiti walls. Then we learned about chronology and ordered key events and periods in history on a timeline. We focused on the Ancient Greeks and we ordered different periods of history within the Ancient Greek era.

In PE, we are now doing netball and we learned about the three different types of passes: chest pass, bounce pass and shoulder pass. We practised doing these different types of passes and learned when we should use each pass in a netball game.

In Art, we looked at pictures of Greek vases and designed our own Greek vase, using patterns and pictures of things from Ancient Greece. We then used our design to create our lovely topic book covers for our exciting Learning Theme – The Groovy Greeks!

We hope you have a lovely weekend!

20th October 2022

This was our final week of our topic, The Variety of Life, and we have learned lots more knowledge and developed moreeskills for our Learning Theme.

In English, we created impressive expanded noun phrases and prepositional phrases to describe the hotel in our class story, The Mountain View Hotel. Then we used these ideas to plan our adverts for the Mountain View Hotel. We wrote really persuasive adverts for the hotel, making the reader want to book a relaxing stay at the luxurious hotel!

In Maths, we learned how to estimate calculations addition and subtraction calculations using our knowledge of rounding and we learned how to check calculations using the inverse operation. We have enjoyed practising our times tables on TT Rockstars!

In Science, we learned about food chains and identified the prey, predators, primary consumers and secondary consumers in food chains. We considered different real- life scenarios in which one organism is removed in a food chain and its effect on the rest of the food chain and the food web.

In Geography, we learned about Ordnance Survey (OS) map symbols and identified their locations using our knowledge of 4-figure grid references. We even drew a map following clues using OS survey symbols and 4-figure grid references!

In PE, we applied our throwing skills, passing skills and chasing skills to play mini matches of tag rugby. We all worked well as a team and showed great co-operation skills.

In PSHE, we completed the Taking Care Project, where we reinforced the message that we all have the right to feel safe all the time and we can talk to someone about something, even if it is small or awful. We learned about safe and unsafe secrets and sorted secrets in safe and unsafe secrets. Importantly, we learned what to do if we feel unsafe and created a network of trusted adults that we could speak to who can help us.

We hope you have a lovely half-term!

14th October 2022

We have developed and deepened our knowledge and skills for our Learning Theme: The Variety of Life. 

In English, we edited our letters to the stick insect, improving them with more expanded noun phrases and conjunctions. Also, we corrected spelling mistakes and punctuation errors too. Then we focused on the key skills of suffixes, punctuating different types of sentences and using expanded noun phrases in our own sentences.

In Maths, we have continued learning about addition and subtraction. We have learned how to do written column subtraction with exchanges and applied this to reasoning and problem solving. We also learned about efficient subtract methods. To help us practise our times tables, we eagerly had a Times Table Rock Stars battle across our classes too!

In Science, we were really excited to see the results of our Science experiment! We collected the bottles containing the bird food and we weighed the quantity of the bird food left in the bottles. In each class we all discovered the birds’ favourite food. In 4CC, the birds’ favourite food was oats! We evaluated the experiment and considered some of the experiment’s limitations. We did a super job of making sure that the experiment was a fair test!

In Geography, we learned how to identify locations on a map using 4-figure grid references and linked this to 8-point compass directions too.

In PE, we applied our throwing skills, passing skills and chasing skills to play mini matches of tag rugby. We all worked well as a team and showed great co-operation skills.

In PSHE, we continued the Taking Care Project, where reinforced the message that we all have the right to feel safe all the time and we can talk to someone about something, even if it is small or awful. We considered the different body sensations or signals we might experience for different emotions. Afterwards we learned about our early warning signs to identify how our body feels when our amygdala is activated.

7th October 2022

We have developed and deepened our knowledge and skills for our Learning Theme: The Variety of Life. 

In English, we read letters, learned about the features of letters and labelled them with their features. We read a letter to a doctor about a stick insect whose brother went missing. We planned our response to this letter as the doctor. Then we used our plans to write a reply to the stick insect’s brother, trying to help him solve his problem and offer him advice. While we wrote our letters, we focussed on the key skills of organising our writing using paragraphs around a theme, using expanded noun phrases, a range of conjunctions and using commas to separate clauses.

In Maths, we have been learning about addition and subtraction. We have learned how to add 1,10,100 and 1000 to a number by using our knowledge of place value. We have learned how to do written addition with exchanges and applied this to reasoning and problem solving.

In Science, we learned about variables in an experiment, learning the terms independent variable, dependent variable and control. We then used this knowledge to plan our own fair test experiment – investigating birds’ favourite food in the wildlife way. We set up our experiment by hanging bottles containing a variety of bird food. We will measure the food next week to see which bird food was their preferred choice.

In Geography, we learned about patterns in land use by looking at urban and rural aerial photographs from different parts of the country. We identified and labelled their features and then described the characteristics of different urban and rural areas. We enjoyed looking at aerial photos of Warwick!

In PE children have developed their chasing skills of trying to get an opponent’s tag and continued to practise their throwing skills in tag rugby, including learning how to throw backwards to their partner and continue running.

In PSHE, we started the Taking Care Project, where we learned that we all have the right to feel safe all the time and we can talk to someone about something, even if it is small or awful. We then learned about consent conversations, focusing on why we ask for consent, how we ask for consent and how we give consent (or not). Afterwards we practised creating and writing our own consent scripts for different scenarios.

30th September 2022

We have been enjoying continuing with our Learning Theme: The Variety of Life. 

In English, we edited and improved our non-chronological report about our own animal species, by adding expanded noun phrases, varied pronouns and apostrophes for possession. Also, we corrected spelling and punctuation errors. We learned about two different types of conjunctions: subordinating and co-ordinating conjunctions. We used these two different types of conjunctions in own sentences about animals.

In Maths, we have been continuing our work on place value, focusing on rounding numbers to the nearest 10, 100 and 1000 and applying this knowledge to reasoning and problem-solving.

In Science, we have learned how to group animals into vertebrates and invertebrates. We used a classification key to classify invertebrates into different groups, such as insects, molluscs, crustaceans and arachnids.

In Geography, we looked at aerial photographs from different parts of the world and identified the climatic zone that each one belonged to and described the characteristics of each climatic zone.

We have been lucky to have some visitors into school this week too. We enjoyed watching and taking part in a Beatbox workshop and we also enjoyed a Signsong workshop.

In PE children have continued to practise their throwing skills in tag rugby, including learning how to throw backwards to their partner and continue running.

In PSHE, we learned that when we experience difficult feelings, the part of the brain called the amygdala takes over. We learned that when our amygdala is triggered, the thinking part of our brain (prefrontal cortex) does not work properly. This results in unhelpful behaviours. We considered unhelpful behaviours in different scenarios and discussed the thoughts and feelings behind them, their effect on ourselves and on others. Finally we thought of more helpful, alternative behaviour for these situations.

23rd September 2022

We have been enjoying continuing with our Learning Theme: The Variety of Life. 

In English, we have invented our own animal species, planned details about our animal using expanded noun phrases, varied pronouns and scientific words for classification. We used our plans to write non-chronological reports about our invented animal species, making sure they were organised in sections using paragraphs and sub-headings. 

In Maths, we have continued learning about place value for four-digit numbers. We have learned how to compare numbers up to 10,000 and place them on a number line. 

In Science, we have learned how to classify animals using classification keys. We sorted animals and identified them using classification keys. Then we created our own classification keys for animals to sort and identify them, by creating our own questions using the characteristics of the animals.

In PSHE, we have learned about unhelpful thoughts and thinking styles and the different parts of the brain. We sorted scenarios into different unhelpful thinking styles and learned how to re-frame out thoughts into more helpful thinking styles.

16th September 2022

We have had a busy start to the term in Year 4. We have begun the year with our first Learning Theme: The Variety of Life. 

In English, we have been recapping word classes and sentence construction and are looking forward to inventing our very own animal species next week ready to write our non-chronological reports.

Lots of our current learning theme is based around Science. We have started our first unit of Science work which is all about animals and their habitats. We have explored habitats around Coten End and have used classification keys to sort and identify different animal species and their common characteristics. 

We revisited some map skills in Geography this week when we learnt about the significance of different lines of latitude. We collected data about average precipitation and temperature in different countries of the world and then spotted patterns in these countries' climates in relation to which lines of latitude they were closest to. 

In PSHE, we have begun the year learning about the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child. We discussed how our rights are related to our responsibilities and how our responsibilities might change throughout our life. Following on from our discussion about responsibilities, we carried out our elections for house captains and other class representatives at the end of the week. We learnt about how democratic elections work and, after listening to the speeches of the different candidates, used ballot papers to vote.

Year 4 Blog- 23.5.22

Anaya and Mark 4BS

This week we are going to the Young Voices. We have not gone to it yet but we are all looking forward to it. It's happening tomorrow and we have been practising a lot.Because we have been practising so much, we all know all the songs as we are singing so well now.We have this opportunity tomorrow to go to the Young Voices to sing in front of our friends and families.

In DT we have been designing our own toys using cam mechanisms. We all enjoyed it but some of us found it hard to think of ideas to base our toy off then use the right cams to make it like what we are basing it off. We had to make sure that we used good choices for the cams otherwise it would not be how we wanted it to turn out.

In Science we have been learning about electricity and we have made electrical circuits and have experimented to see if they work in different orders. We also have learnt about conductors and insulators. We have experimented to see what some conductors and insulators were. 

It has been very interesting and fun this half term. We enjoyed it all.

8th April 2022

This half term we have been learning about Celts and Conquerors.  We have been writing a description of the erupting mountain in Pompeii where the children try to escape the erupting mountain. They escaped in a boat but some of their family members sadly did not make it but in the end the children arrive at an island and they are safe.

This weekend half of the class went to Blackwell and the other half and the people who were staying did Roman shields and other fun activities. Also we did Lego we Do and the class really enjoyed it.   

By Charlotte, 4CB

During the last week of Celts and Conquers in school we have been making roman shields using card, paint and foil.  Firstly, we painted the card in red then when the painted dried, we used stencils to draw eagle wings and arrows.  Second, we painted them gold and black.  Third, using a whiteboard pen we added detail onto the wings. Last but not least, using the foil we stuck it to the middle of the shield to create a metal centre.

By Elisa, 4CH

 

This half term in year 4 we have been doing our topic, Celts and Conquerors.

We have been writing a Pompeii story where the Gentle Mountain erupts and Felix and Cassia escaped to d”Ischia where Cassia’s family lives.  In Science we have been learning about sound and the parts in are ears that help us to hear.  The ear bones are very important and the ear drum.  We also wrote a speech imagining that we were Boudica, encouraging people  to join her side to fight the Roman army.

By Kaci, 4CB

25th March 2022

We have had another busy week in Year 4 completing lots of different assessments to see how we are progressing this term. 

In History we continued to learn about Roman Britain. This week, we have specifically looked at the lasting impact of the Romans on life in Britain today. We debated as a class which of the Roman influences had had the most significant impact including written language, currency, plumbing and roads. 

We also learnt more about Roman place names and, using an Atlas, plotted some Roman roads that are still important transport links in modern day Britain.

In Music, we composed our own Roman marching chants using all the skills we have worked on this term. After deciding on the structure of the lyrics, we decided on pitches and other musical elements such as staccato and legato phrases. We will be practising performing our chants with Mrs Purser next week.

In Science, we investigated which material would be best for making a pair of ear defenders. We tried out different materials and observed how effective they were at insulating sound as well as thinking about other properties that made them more or less suitable. 

In Maths, we began learning about how to read and write Roman Numerals this week. Although it was tricky at first, we got there in the end!

Some Year 4 children have been trialling a programme called Times Table Rockstars this week to help us with our times table knowledge. So far, we have been really enjoying it and we are getting very speedy with our times table recall. 

18th March 2022

We have had an excellent start to Spring Term in Year 4 starting our new topic Celts and Conquerors. This week has been very busy including Science Week, a visit from a GB Athlete (Joe Roebuck) and Red Nose Day!

In History we have been learning about Roman Britain. We have been comparing life in Ancient Rome with Iron Age Britain, as well as writing ‘Wanted’ posters for Boudicca.

We are really enjoying our weekly singing lessons with Mrs Purser. Our singing sessions link with our Music lessons, in which we have been listening to and appraising Roman chants. We have also been composing our own songs, thinking about different pitches and tunes.

In Science we have been learning about Sound, including how the ear works, how sound travels and pitch. We have been using different musical instruments and carrying out different experiments to investigate pitch.

In English, we are continuing to develop our understanding of speech punctuation and have been working hard re-telling the story of Pompeii. This piece of work has allowed us to demonstrate lots of our Year 4 Key Skills that we have been learning about this year.

In Maths we are beginning our new unit which is Decimals. This will last until Easter as there is lots to learn in Year 4, including tenths, hundredths and common equivalences.

We are really excited about our upcoming residential to Blackwell in a few weeks!

w/c 10.01.22   Weekly blog written by Emily N and Elisa C 4CH 

Our new learning theme this term is the BIG FREEZE!!!

Monday

On Monday, we learnt some facts about Emperor penguins and wrote them down and here are some of our favourite sentences:

-This creature can survive in some of the coldest water and places since they have lived in Antarctica for their whole life.

Since Penguins are easily recognised by their colouring, they won't be spotted in the water.

In Geography, we also learnt to compare vegetation belts in different areas of the world. 

Tuesday

On Tuesday, we had a Math test to recap our maths learning. We also finished our Penguin write up by writing our facts in a paragraphs including subordinate conjunctions .After lunch in science, we learnt about Solids,Liquids and Gases we also stuck some pictures of these to represent each.

Wednesday 

After break, we had our singing lessons and we had a lot of fun singing with our singing teacher Mrs Purser. In PSHE, we learnt about the theme of disappointment and that this might happen and the things that are in and out of our control. For example, you can not control what other people do and say and also one from in control is trying your best.

Thursday

On Thursday in the afternoon we did Geography and in it we were learning about Global impacts of climate change  this is something we wrote about the impacts of global warming 

-Rising sea levels causing flooding

-Loss of animal habitats and food sources

-extreme and unpredictable weather 

-Forest fires

-Drought difficulty growing crops to create food

-Warming of ocean water affects sea life 

-Impact on food chains because of habitat loss

Friday

On Friday, we learnt how to investigate the change in states of matter.

In it we were doing a science experiment to see if ice weighed the same as a solid matter compared to a liquid form. We were also given a large block of ice (to represent icebergs) and measured the diameter and the about of liquid formed for over an hour. 

Year group blog - w/c .11.21 written by Ashley and Harry (4CH) 29.11.21

Monday

Firstly, we did a spelling test on our words this week. 10.00-10.30 we were swimming at our local pool. When we got back from swimming we went straight to break. After break, we started to complete our narrative version of Theseus & the Minotaur. After lunch, we started our design for our pots and learnt the techniques.

Tuesday

At the start of the day, we had an assembly. After assembly, we finished of our narrative. As soon as we got back from break we had French with Madam-Allison. Finally,  we did some singing for our concert and some computing looking at creating our own Greek myths on storyboardthat.com.

Wednesday

This was our Theme day so we had to dress up as Ancient Greek people or Gods. We started our day by going to the hall to meet a guest to teach us about Ancient Greeks. We did some acting in the hall before going back to our classroom for a tricky quiz with Mrs-Clark-Hammond. The second Greek day activity was a Greek game which is kind of like chess but you don’t have special counters.

The second to last activity was a fun game of Archimedes’ puzzle where we made a square using wooden puzzle pieces that all looked the same but shaped different. Then we went into the hall, and learned about armour and weapons with our guest before doing a mini Olympics against the other Y4 classes pretending to be Athens & Sparta. Finally, it was home time.

Thursday

In the morning, we tasted some foods for our delicious Greek food before going to break and then lunch. In the afternoon we started making our Greek vases out of clay.

Year group blog - w/c 15.11.21 written by Marnie and Charlie (4CH) 

Monday

On Monday, we focused on maths key skill 15- To order and compare numbers beyond 1000 .After that, we went swimming for 30 minutes. Next, we did English and we started off testing what we remembered  about speech punctuation from year 3. Soon, we did our spelling test and we practised the spellings starting with dis and ending of ation. In the afternoon, we started our egg  experiment  and  we  used  different types of liquids such as water, vinegar, coca cola, squash and juice. Our eggs represented the enamel on our teeth and we were testing to see which liquid would effect our teeth the most. 

We have been making observations on our eggs every day this week. 

Tuesday

On Tuesday,  we started focusing on how to calculate and measure perimeter in Maths. After that, we read through the Greek myth about Theseus and the Minotaur- we then created our own story illustrated maps retelling the key events.

Wednesday

We did a mini quiz and started creating a description of our very own monster in French. We continued to learn about the key rules when punctuating speech in English. 

Thursday

 On Thursday, we had our final dance workshop with Motionhouse to go with the songs we have been learning to sing like the Olympians and It's all Greek to me. As it was inter-faith week we learnt about some of the different religions from all over the world. 

Friday

Friday was an excellent day we did a lot of English and more Maths about perimeter. In the afternoon, we did PSHE about anti-bullying and we made our own Cyber bullying poster.

Dictionaries !

Year 4 were presented with their very own illustrated dictionary today - A big thank you to The Rotary Club of Warwick for providing them. 

Autumn 2 - w/c 08.11.21

4CH- weekly blog written by Louis and Sienna 

Monday

On Monday, we learnt about converting mm and cm when multiplying and dividing by ten.

In PSHE, we learnt about internet safety and the importance of when putting something on the internet it does not disappear. Later on in the day, we did a class council about playground equipment.

Tuesday

On Tuesday, we welcomed our parents into our class for a grammar 'Come and Learn' session. We did a grammar test and also  completed an interesting piece of work about the Hydra . 

In the afternoon, we did maths all about converting from kilograms to meters . 

Wednesday

Before lunch time, we wrote a  WANTED poster about our made up mythical animals and we worked hard on out key skills . 

(Capital letters and fullstops, questions , singular possessions and pronouns).

In science, we did some research using the iPads about herbivores and carnivores teeth and how there are so different. 

Thursday 

On Thursday we did a dance workshop with Motion House where we made our own Greek themed dances in groups of four.

In maths we were converting cm, mm, m, km .

Our history lesson was about significant figures and what they were well known for during the Ancient Greek period (Archimedes, Hippocrates and King Alexander). We had to work in groups to persuade the rest of the class why our chosen one was the most significant (important). 

Friday

On Friday, the other half of the class did come and learn session . In our maths we started our perimeter work using 2D shapes to measure and calculate the perimeter of a shape. 

Autumn 1 in Year 4

We have had a fantastic first half term in Year 4 during our 'Variety of Life' Learning Theme. This topic has been all about different animals and we have done lots of fantastic Science and Geography.

We began our Learning Theme by creating our animal print topic book covers using oil pastels. Texture and colour were our main skill focuses during this work and we produced some fantastic results.

In Science, we have been learning about classifying animals according to their characteristics and we also conducted our own experiment to see which type of bird food was most popular. Using bird feeders we made from milk bottles, we placed a variety of foods out in 'Wildlife Way' and observed which food type was the most popular with the birds (and squirrels!).

Our Geography has been focused on map work. We revised locating different continents and countries on a world map as well as labelling key features such as the equator, poles and tropics. 

Later in the half term, we began to look at land use in the UK by comparing rural and urban areas on maps. We even compared how land use has changed over time in Warwick by comparing maps from 2021 and 1834.

In English, we have been working on lots of different grammar skills including conjunctions, adverbials, pronouns and expanded noun phrases. Lots of our writing has been based around our class text 'When The Mountains Roared' which we have been really enjoying reading. We have completed some fantastic pieces of writing including:

Non-fiction texts about an invented species

Letters from Dr K Fisher giving advice to a stick insect who had lost his brother

An advert for 'The Mountain View Hotel' (from our book)

Next half term, our Learning Theme is 'Groovy Greeks' so we will be taking part in lots of History and Art topics and even designing our own Greek-inspired dish in Cookery.