After returning to school following the weekend, something bizarre had happened in year 4! In groups, the children investigated a disaster which had occurred in 4S for our new topic stimulus. They had to gather evidence and clues to try and determine which natural disaster could have caused destruction like this. We came to the conclusion that it could have been a hurricane because the strong winds could have blown objects in the classroom to unusual places and caused the devastation.
Now Press Play – Natural Disasters
Wow! What a great morning 4DF had testing out some potential new equipment for our school. We all were provided with a headset and from this listened to a story where we were the main character. Our story was all about a school trip, ending up in Pompeii, experiencing the eruption of Mount Vesuvius, trying to keep people safe, travelling back to present day and helping people through an earthquake. Everyone acted out parts of the story with confidence and at the end were able to answer lots of questions about what they’d learnt and what had happened. ‘I really enjoyed this.’ ‘It was good fun!’ ‘I felt like I was really able to see everything we were being told in the story.’ ‘We should have this in our school and I’m looking forward to having another go.’ Year 4 are learning about Christmas around the world. As part of our topic, we visited Waterstones to learn how Christmas is celebrated in many different countries. We found out many interesting facts about different countries and learnt how to say Merry Christmas in 8 different languages!
Do you know Christmas dinner in Jamaica is barbecued goat, in Mexico children go knocking on doors for treats and presents and in Kenya Santa delivers presents in a red Land Rover! Mrs Finlay also read us a fabulous Christmas story called The Smelly Sprout. This is a story about a sprout nobody wanted to eat! When the mum and dad were making Christmas dinner, the smelly sprout fell out of the vegetable basket and mum threw it out of the window. He felt lonely until a mouse found him. The two friends were attacked by the fox. The fox tried to eat the mouse but sprout jumped into the fox’s mouth to save his friend. Finally, the fox spit the sprout out as he didn’t like it but the mouse was kind and ate him as he was hungry. A lady from Waterstones also read 4S (the well-known story) The Night before Christmas. Each group also completed a trail around the Cornmill Shopping Centre. We had questions to answer about different objects in the shop windows and we also had lots of maths questions to solve too. We looked at how Christmas is celebrated in Darlington - our town. “The trip was fun and exciting. I enjoyed the Christmas trail because we had to answer questions and we got to explore the Cornmill and look in shop windows for the answers. I love shopping!” Maizey Y4 “I loved the Waterstones part because we got to look at all the books and heard a fabulous story. I was shocked to find out that they also sold toys, bags, glasses cases and lots of Harry Potter things.” Chloe Y4 4S took part in a really interesting workshop based on forensic science at the Head of Steam. We were given a puzzle to solve- The Case of the Missing Suitcase, and had to decide who the case belonged to using the evidence provided. We tested different inks to see which one matched a letter, looked at fingerprints left on the suitcase and even investigated which bugs were found amongst the clothes. Finally, the case was solved by the budding scientists in Year 4.
Today, we had a visit from the school nurse who gave us information about looking after our teeth and why we need to take care of them. We were all amazing at answering questions about the names of our teeth and their jobs within the mouth. We learnt a rhyme to help us think about cleaning our teeth which is ‘outside, inside, bumpy and flick’. Next, we looked at different products and had to predict how much sugar, in teaspoons, was in each of these. Lucozade = 12 teaspoons Mars Bar = 8 ½ teaspoons Coke 7 ½ teaspoons Packet of Polos = 7 ½ teaspoons A tin of baked beans = 5 teaspoons One tablespoon of tomato sauce = 1 ½ teaspoons Wow! We were amazed by some of these results. I wonder if anyone can remember the recommendation of how many teaspoons of added sugar children our age should have per day? Finally, we finished the afternoon making toothpaste in our Science lesson. We talked about the necessary properties to include and then made our toothpaste in groups. We then tested different types of toothpastes to decide which was the most effective.
As it is Recycling Week, we decided to make a recyclable robot. We had a fantastic time working in pairs to design and create a robot out of recyclable materials. The children helped one another and made some excellent robots in the literacy lesson. We also described the features of our robots and explained to the class how our robots work. To follow on from this, we will be writing instructions to explain how we made our robot.
Have a look at some of our marvellous robots: To launch our new topic about the Ancient Greeks we competed in our own Olympic ceremony and events. The children learnt that the first games took place in 780 BC and were designed to keep Greek men fit for the intensity of war. Only men who spoke Greek were allowed to take part in the races. We also discovered that Men ran the races without any clothes on!
We didn’t follow these rules and we all wore our PE kits and the girls competed too. We took part in a pentathlon which is a special event that consisted of five different sports activities: wrestling, running, the long jump, disc throwing, and spear throwing! We participated in 4 of the events and left the wrestling out. . . There were no medals like the gold, silver and bronze medals we have today. There was only one winner and he was given a wreath of olive leaves as a prize. These olive leaves were plucked from a sacred tree that was located at Olympia behind the temple dedicated to Zeus. We had a great afternoon and had winners for each event. Everyone enjoying trying out the different events. This was a fabulous day and definitely one of the best school trips ever! We went on a train to York to visit an archeological dig and experience how Vikings lived. The train ride was so much better than a bus and after a quick ride and a dash through the shambles we were lucky enough to become archeologists for a day. We dug up artefacts from Roman, Viking and Victorian times. We even dug up part of a Victorian toilet! We were an instant tourist attraction eating our lunch in the middle of York before the main event, a ride around a reconstruction of a Viking village at the Jorvik Centre. The ride was very exciting and really brought to life what a Viking village smelt and looked like. We even saw a real piece of Viking poo! Finally, we were allowed to visit the ‘dreaded’ gift shop and came back on the train tired but happy with our mementoes and memories of a great day.
On the 12th July Year 4 went to an exciting event in Darlington Town Centre. As part of our science focus we were able to get an insight into how science is linked to different careers and businesses in our local area. We took part in making our own video on a blue screen, made windmills from K’nex, and had our fingerprints taken by the police. We also had hands on experience building stable structures and even learnt about the importance of bees in our environment. We managed to get 23 of us in a digger which was one of the funniest events ever. This trip was the final one of what has been an amazing year of experiences and one that we will never forget.
Year 4 children got very creative with the help of local wood artist Jos Thompson. They helped her create a fabulous Viking boat that they will use in their end of year assembly. As you can see a fun, messy time was had by all.
Year 4 spent time thinking about how having a disability might affect their lives. We learned that a disability can be a physical or a mental condition.
A person with a disability can be limited in terms of their movement, senses or activities. Sometimes disabilities are hidden. This means that you might not be able to tell that somebody has a disability just by looking at them. After watching Theo’s story, we all realised that disabled people might look different, act differently or just might not be able to do things as well or as quickly. However, they are still people, just like you and I. We all now know that disabled people want to be treated with the same respect as everybody else and they should be treated with the same respect as everybody else. This time we focussed on visual impairment; this means someone has lost some or all of their sight. Year 4 children took part in an assault course blindfolded (with string) and tried to play cricket using balls with bells inside and again blindfolded. As part of our Natural Disasters topic, Year 4 made model volcanoes out of mod-roc (plaster of Paris). It was great fun creating these and we all worked well as a team. The cleaning up took forever!
After designing, creating, making and painting our mod-roc volcanoes, we headed out onto the KS2 yard for the major eruptions. Using bicarbonate of soda (alkaline) and vinegar (acid) our dormant volcanoes became active! This was because of the scientific, chemical reaction. “It was the best lesson ever!” Jack M said. He loved creating the explosion and watching the lava erupt from the magma chamber and flow down the bumpy volcano. Summer also enjoyed this lesson. She said, “When we saw our volcanoes erupt we all screamed at the top of our voices with excitement. We were pleased it was not real as we all would have been screaming in fear!” Here are some photos of the amazing, volcanic event. On Wednesday 6th March, Year 4 children walked to St Matthew’s and St. Luke’s church to learn about Ash Wednesday and Lent. George thought the trip was really good as he learned lots of information about Lent. Bruce learnt that the purple cloths in the Church meant a time of preparing. I don’t think any of us knew that information.
Reverend Lissa Scott showed us lots of artefacts linked to this time of year in the church. Many of us didn’t know that the ashes that are put on people’s heads on Ash Wednesday were last year’s palm crosses which were burned. Matthew said, “I loved learning lots of information about Ash Wednesday and Lent. Reverend Scott was incredibly knowledgeable.” Olivia Said, “I didn’t realise that some Christians count all the Sunday in Lent and others don’t when they are giving up something.” She also told us the Easter story which many of us already knew. However, we were allowed to asked questions and to explore the church which we all thoroughly enjoyed. We also got juice and biscuits which was a really kind gesture. During RE day, we studied pilgrimage and learned about the Hajj. It is one of the 5 pillars of Islam and every Muslim is expected to make this journey to Mecca in their lifetime. Many famous people including Paul Pogba (Manchester United footballer) have made this journey.
We recreated the 7 stages that are performed during the Hajj. These include:
Year 4 are learning about Christmas around the world. To start the topic we visited Waterstones to learn about how Christmas is celebrated in many different countries. We found out many interesting facts about different countries and learnt how to say Merry Christmas in 8 different languages!
Do you know Christmas dinner in Jamaica is barbecued goat, in Mexico children go knocking on doors for treats and presents and in Holland children leave clogs outside their homes to be filled with presents? Steve (from Waterstones) also read us a fabulous Christmas story called Mince Spies. We all felt sorry for the brussel sprouts as they believed they were no-ones favourite Christmas food. However, it turned out that Santa Claus loves brussel sprouts. We also completed a trial around the Cornmill shopping centre we had questions to answer about different objects in the shop windows for sale and we had lots of maths questions to solve too. The year 3 and 4 tag rugby team travelled to Mowden Park on Thursday 25th October to compete in a tag rugby festival. The day involved friendly matches against schools such as Rydal Academy, Harrowgate Hill and Mowden as well as skill based sessions. The children thoroughly enjoyed the day. Their behaviour was excellent and they demonstrated a positive attitude throughout the whole event.
Lily, who has been to this event for the last two years, said: “I really enjoyed the event this year because we got to play matches and scored some tries. I’m looking forward to trying to get in the girls tag rugby team for next year.” On Wednesday 3rd October 2018, we visited the Head of Steam Museum in Darlington. We all went as a year group, 4D and 4S, Mrs Stephenson, Miss Dunn, Mrs Davison and Mrs Rimmer. The purpose of our visit was to view our fabulous art work that was displayed in the museum for a celebration event of the 193rd anniversary of the railway. We met Sarah at the entrance of the museum and then we sat down in front of the famous Locomotion No.1 train and she talked to us about George Stephenson and the Locomotion. We also visited because our topic is all about Inventions and we wanted to learn more about George Stephenson and his influence on Darlington. The teachers gave out paper and pencils and we all set off and drew a famous invention from the museum, took them back to school and researched each invention. We had so much fun! Year 4 spent an afternoon finding out all about how to grow crystals!
Working in groups, the children planned their own investigations, including what they wanted to find out and what equipment they needed to use in their experiments. After making predictions about the outcome, the children set up their investigations and used the next week to carefully observe any changes and results. After a week, Year 4 visited the children in Year 1 to tell them all about what they had found out from their investigations – including whether crystals grow on bananas and whether Irn Bru can change the colour of a crystal! It was a really interesting session - we were very impressed with how well the Year 4 children explained their results and evaluated how effective their test had been, including what they might do differently next time. On Tuesday 19th June, Year 4 visited the Head of Steam museum to complete a workshop based on structures. As this was the first time anyone had trialled the activity, Sarah had asked for the children to evaluate the strengths and provide suggestions of ways to improve it. During the session, the children enjoyed exploring the museum for diagonal structures and looked at the three bridges within the museum. The highlight of the session was creating their own bridge using K-nex. This developed their team work, problem solving skills and understanding of engineering. At the end of the workshop, children gave their ideas of how to improve and adapt the activity for themselves and different year groups. The children were very much engaged and enjoyed the sessions as it had a real purpose.
On Friday 11th May, we performed our class assembly to family, friends and KS2 children. The teachers were very proud of us all and they enjoyed our singing, dancing and acting. We learnt lots of interesting facts about Natural Disasters while we were rehearsing our assembly and enjoyed sharing these with everyone. After the assembly, our teachers shared with us the lovely comments that the audience had written for us and listening to these made us feel proud.
“Brilliant! Well done, year 4. Loved the singing and dancing. See you all on the stage one day.” “Well done to all of year 4 for a brilliant assembly. You should all be proud of yourselves.” “Fab assembly year 4. Loved it and learnt something new. Thank you. Well done.” In small groups, the children worked together to make medieval gingerbread. They had to cut the crusts off the slices of bread, crumble the slices, add spices, warm honey and then stir this all together. Then, they pressed the mixture into a tray gently before putting it into the fridge. Some of the children helped with the washing up, serving the food and also cutting and preparing pears for the children to taste.
The children explored how the Tudors dressed. We looked at outfits for the rich and the poor and discussed their similarities and differences. We then looked at the clothes that we had to decide if they were for a man or a woman.
Today, we found out about the charity Islamic Relief UK. We read about the charity and discussed the key aspects of their work. We discussed their event: Give Water, Save Lives - say no to #DryDays every Friday. Then, using research, created posters to show how people can save water. We also discussed the religious practice of Islam and the Five Pillars of Islam. We created our own pillars using Islamic patterns and calligraphy.
This week, the children worked with a nurse to learn important skills to help them if they ever needed to carry out any first aid. They learnt about ‘DR ABC’, choking, burns and dealing with cuts and blood.
Year 4 had a fantastic time visiting the Life Centre for our school trip. All of the children enjoyed exploring the Dino Jaws exhibition and learning in the different zones available throughout the day.
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