To kick start our new Literacy writing unit, Year Four were visited by a furry four-legged friend named Timmy. We explored the different sounds, scents, emotions that a dog would experience from a dog's eye view. We are extremely excited to begin writing our story based in the Disney animation "Feast".
Year Four were fortunate enough to be visited my members of North Hertfordshire College this week to gain an insight into the wide world of recycling and have their awareness raised on their own decisions. The children split off into a carousel of activities where they had participated in various eco-friendly tasks. Some of these wonderful tasks included: creating flower Earth bombs to grow in the garden, sorting materials into their correct recycling groups and making pledges on how they will save the environment.
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.
Year Four stepped into the workings of the famous artist Paula Rego this week titled 'The Dance'. We focused on asking questions about the painting, created predictions for why the people gathered together and finally undertook a small drama freeze-framing activity which involved plenty of on-the-spot thinking. The children enjoyed the freedom that came with this activity and making a picture have a story that was unique.
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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!
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Year 4 put their investigative hats on this week as we started our new Geography topic "The River Nile". To guess our new topic, we began with a puzzle that tested our continent knowledge. We explored the 11 countries that The River Nile flowed through as well as finding interesting facts about the purpose of the river and the affects it has on the surrounding land. .
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!
Year four have been reading a new book called Aladdin and the Enchanted Lamp by Philip Pullman. We have been using this for our chunking but this week have also taken part in some drama activities.
We got into role as ‘Aladdin’ after he was betrayed by his ‘so-called Uncle’ and was left abandoned and vulnerable inside the cave. Being alone in the dark, the children imagined and brainstormed what might be lurking in the depths of the cave.
We went under our tables to try to get into character and feel what it would be like to be in a small space. We became Aladdin in the centre of the lonely cave and thought tracked the central character by focusing on the elements form our FANTASTICS – Feeling, Asking, Noticing, Touching, Action, Smelling, Tasting, Imagining or Checking.
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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!
This week we had a fantastic start to our new Science topic – Living things and their habitats. Safari Stu brought in a wide range of both vertebrates and invertebrates. We had the opportunity to see and hold lots of animals which belong in different groups based on specific features. We discussed how all animals can be grouped into either vertebrates or invertebrates depending on whether they have a backbone and were even shown and held a hissing cockroach which has an exoskeleton.
In addition, Stu told us how the different creatures have adapted to live in their habitat. For example, the chuckwalla has a sand-coloured tail but a darker body. It hides under the sand but keeps its tail on top of the surface. This means that if an eagle tries to capture it, it can use the strong muscles in its tail to swipe at the eagle and hopefully escape the predator.
We were very impressed with how brave Year 4 were. Both the children (and adults!) held a wide variety of creatures including snakes, a chameleon, a tarantula, a lesser tenrec, and common tenrec. The session was very informative and has given us a great start to our unit which we are looking forward to delving into.
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!
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Year 4 have been delving into history this week and learning about the Ancient Greeks. We started off the topic by finding out about where the Ancient Greeks lived and used the Chrome books to complete our own research. Our learning moved on and we found out about the gods that the Ancient Greeks believed in. Using this information, we made top trump cards and we are looking forward to playing the game later in the week. Next, we found out everyday life. It was interesting to compare their toys, pets, food, homes, clothing and games with our lives today. We found some similarities and lots of differences. Some interesting facts were that children went to bed with snakes, and they ate locusts and black soup which had pig's blood in it! We also enjoyed finding out about the life of a Spartan solider which was very tough. We can’t wait for our Greek day to find out even more about this interesting time.
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