A mystery suitcase turned up in the Year 1 classrooms at the start of this half term. We tried to work out who it might belong to. It turned out it belonged to Christopher Columbus. He visited our classrooms the next day. We thought about what a question is and then asked him some of these to find out who he was and what he did. We found out he was an explorer who lived a very long time ago. He sailed ships and discovered new places.
In RSHE, year 4 have been learning about marriage. We discussed that marriage is a legal commitment that people make to each other to be in a loving and respectful relationship. We also discussed the difference between arranged and forced marriage. In class, we staged a wedding between two teddies to understand the vows that are made between people who get married. The children made a wanted poster of their ideal partner, when they grow up. We discussed all the things that make a good partner. Then, we asked them to think how they would feel if they did not have the choice to pick their partner. This highlighted the meaning of forced marriage.
In Science this week, year 4 have been learning about teeth and their basic functions. We used mirrors to look at the shapes and sizes of our own teeth. Then we ate apples and considered the functions of our teeth. Finally, we wrote about the functions of different teeth and labelled them.
In year 4, we are going to be writing a recount about the events that took place when Mount Vesuvius erupted in 79 AD. To kick start our writing, we reenacted a volcanic eruption and watched a reconstructed animation of Mount Vesuvius erupting over Pompeii. The children were really engaged and took notes about what happened at each stage of the eruption to inform their writing.
You can watch the video here.
After our successful Roman day, we started our learning about the Romans with a research lesson. The children worked in groups and used books and iPads to research the question ‘Why did Emperor Claudius invade Britain?’.
Then the children presented their findings to the class.
In Year 4, we started Week 3 with a Roman day, to introduce our new topic. The children and adults came to school dressed as Romans. We had Roman themed lessons all day, including making Roman shields, Roman numerals, gladiator top trumps cards and our own chariot race!
Here are the children using their handmade Roman Shields to create the ‘tortoise’ formation, used by the Romans in battle. We even learned the Latin commands.
In Week 2, Year 4 investigated measurement. In order to understand how many metres are in a kilometer, we took a walk around the estate. We recorded each time we had walked 100m and discovered 1,000m = 1 km.
We also investigated how many mls in 1 litre. We started by finding out that 10 lots of 10mls made 100ml, using a syringe. Then we found that 10 lots of 100ml made 1l.
In Year 4, we kicked off the new half term with a trip! We went to West Stow, a reconstruction of an Anglo-Saxon village. We thoroughly enjoyed the day and learnt lots from experts in the field. When we returned to school, we used our experience to write a recount of the day.
In Year 4 this week, we have had an Art day. We have been making printing blocks from cardboard and Styrofoam. We experimented with shapes and patterns, as well as different surfaces such as paper and fabric. We finished the day by creating collographs, which we are excited to use when they’re dry. Here is some of our work.
This week in Year 4, we have learned about safety. We learned about internet safety, road safety and fire safety. Then, this afternoon, we learned about how we stay safe when undergoing science experiments.