We're all having a street party! Year Four had a wonderful time celebrating the Queen's Jubilee by having their very own street party in the corridor (typical British weather). The children sang songs, played games and ate brilliant desserts prepared by their classmates. 

IT'S ELECTRIFYING! Year Four have worked very hard recently in designing, building and evaluating their electrical torches. We started by thinking about what sort of design casing would benefit our user. Then, we planned and designed the materials that would be needed. Finally, we built our electrical circuit and attached it to the casing to create a torch that switches on and off. At Roebuck, we are electricians!

.

Year Four have been undertaking scientific enquiries this week for their Science topic of Sound. We began by investigating how well materials can allow sound vibrations to travel through them and ranked these in order from least to most effective. After this, we then tested the idea that sound can travel through other mediums than the air and made our very own cup string phones. Once we had built the phones, we tested them and found that different string lengths allow for different volumes. How exciting that our sound vibrations can travel through string! 

In Year 4 this week, we have started our ‘making a slingshot car’ unit of work.   

We began by looking at the history of cars and how cars have developed and changed through time. Once we explored different car models and discussed why each car was designed in that way, we were ready to begin our own construction.

We used lollipop sticks, dowel rods, straws and wheels to construct the bodywork and working axels. We held our structure together using PVA glue. Next we used lolly sticks, a paperclip, masking tape and an elastic band to create a slingshot launch mechanism. In order to make sure our launch mechanism was secure, we used the glue gun to fix this to the chassis, this meant that the paper clip launcher would be firmly fixed to the car.

Next we needed to create all the panels for our car and apply our chosen graphics to them. We began by drawing around the bottom of our chassis to ensure the side panels would be the correct length. Then, we drew our chosen car shape using this base. Once one side panel was complete, it was important to add tabs to the design before it was cut out to enable it to be assembled. The second panel was made by tracing around the shape of the first.  

Rowan class have also made the top panel for their cars and started to assembly them (Cedar class will start this stage next week). The top panel was made using the width of the chassis and the length needed to follow the shape of the car panels before graphics could be added.

Once they are all constructed, we will be testing our cars out and seeing whose car travels the furthest and fastest!  

Year 4 have been completing a DT unit called ‘All About Structures’. We began by looking at a range of pavilions and discussed their purpose, including exploring the Milan expo! We then used toothpicks and sweets to explore temporary frame structure. We were tasked with making a frame structure which was both strong and stable. Through our exploration we learnt that triangles were very strong shapes and helped to make a stable structure. We also learnt that the taller the structure the more unstable it can become! Having learnt these valuable lessons, we moved onto designing our own pavilions for a class expo.  

Once we had our designs, we got started with the building process. We worked hard to build the frame using lolly pop sticks and glue guns. We also had to make decisions about the base board and where our pavilion would sit on it. Some of us needed to adjust our designs to make it work. Once the structure was complete, it was time to decorate them and make them visually appealing. Some of us had time to add cladding to our pavilions using various paper techniques, including weaving coloured paper, piercing paper to create patterns and concertina folding. We are proud of our finished products! 

.

What a hooting good day! Year Four had the chance to get up close and personal with a wide variety of birds. The children enjoyed their morning and saw different types of owls, a kingfisher and even a blue winged kookaburra. Their visit involved an exciting talk about anatomy of birds, diet, adaptation and how the birds have evolved over time. To make their visit even more special, the children were visited by a furry four-legged friend at the end.