Fantastic Forest Schools 

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This week, year 4 embarked on their first week of Forest Schools. Whilst they participated in this exciting experience last year, they spent time outdoors during a completely different season. This time around, the children were wrapped up warm, armed in their waterproof wellies, ready to learn and explore. The children enjoyed painting with mud, identifying different plants and trees as well as going on a bug hunt. The children greatly enjoyed learning in this more free flow manner and shared all of what they had learned at the end of the session around the fire circle. They are all looking forward to their next session immensely. 

Violent Volcanoes 

This half term's geography topic has been based around volcanoes. The children have spent time learning about how volcanoes are formed, how they erupt, key vocabulary as well as active, dormant and extinct volcanoes. The children have enjoyed learning about tectonic plates and their locations as well as different volcanic formations. They have spent time researching different volcanoes and writing factual, non-chronological reports using their research. The children enjoyed labelling the different parts of a volcano and creating art around this task using crepe paper. Overall, the children have learned a great deal about the subject and are able to make links between their knowledge. 

Marvellous Maths 

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Over the past few weeks, Year 4 have been recapping and learning different mental addition strategies. Some of the strategies include; 'think 10,'  'think 100' and 'think 1000,' They have also been exploring complements, near tens and finding equal sums. The children have been applying the strategies in various concepts and using their reasoning skills to decide when which strategy would be most appropriate. The children will be moving on to mental subtraction strategies before tackling formal, written methods. 

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Eggcellent Eggsperiments 

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During this half term, year 4 have been exploring teeth, eating and digestion within their science unit. Most recently, they completed an experiment to explore the impact of sugar and acid upon eggs. This was conducted in order to help children make links to how the same substances might impact their teeth over time. The children placed eggs in various sugar based and acidic substances such as vinegar, Coke and lemonade and compared this with an egg placed in milk. The children made predictions about what might happen to which eggs and why. They then observed the impact each substance had upon the eggs and recorded their findings. It was an eggstremely enjoyable activity for all involved. The children also really enjoyed making various egg related jokes. 

Malevolent Myths 

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Over the past few weeks, year 4 have taken a deep dive into the world of ancient Greek myths. The children have spent time reading and comparing various myths such as Theseus and the Minotaur as well as identifying common features within a myth. They have explored character description and greatly developed their knowledge of vocabulary. Finally, the class have planned, written, edited and redrafted their own version of a myth. I have been overwhelmingly impressed with the language, sentence structure and general understanding of this unit. The children have been incredibly enthusiastic and their efforts are evident in what they have produced. Everone should be really proud of their final drafts. Well done! 

Welcome Back 

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Welcome back Year 4 to what has already been a fantastic start. Everyone has returned refreshed and keen to learn. Over the past few weeks we have been learning about myths and legends as part of our English unit. 

In maths, we have reviewed some key learning from Year 3 as well as begun to explore place value within four digit numbers. The children have enjoyed learning about our new, geography unit on volcanoes as well as their new science unit based around animals including humans.