Year 4: Blog items
Date: 28th Mar 2025 @ 10:30am
Today we held our second Spelling Bee of the school year. 4 children were chosen from each group to represent their house and were given 3 spellings each. They have been learning these words over the last few weeks and we could all tell. The children did brilliantly and did themselves (and their house) proud. We are already looking forward to the final Spelling Bee in the Summer term.
Date: 27th Mar 2025 @ 9:17am
This week in science, we looked at pitch. We learned that it is how high or low a sound is. Pitch is determined by the frequency of the sound waves. Higher frequency sound waves produce a higher pitch, while lower frequency waves produce a lower pitch.
We compared two straws—one short and one long. We noticed a difference in pitch when we blew through them.
The short straw produces a higher-pitched sound because the air vibrates faster inside it, creating sound waves with a higher frequency.
The long straw produces a lower-pitched sound because the air vibrates more slowly, creating sound waves with a lower frequency.
We also looked at what happens when a bolt is placed into a balloon. The children predicted what would happen and why. When a bolt is placed inside a balloon and the balloon is shaken or spun quickly, the bolt moves around and creates a vibrating sound. When the bolt moves faster, the vibrations happen more frequently, producing a higher pitch.
Year 4 - Egyptian dance sequence
Date: 27th Mar 2025 @ 8:50am
This week, we used all our learning so far to start to put together a dance sequence. We thought about gods/goddesses, hieroglyphics, making the pyramids and what all those things mean. We created a mind map of ideas on the board, then started putting our sequences together.
Year 4 - Science and Geography Day
Date: 20th Mar 2025 @ 5:04pm
In the morning, we completed a map starter. We had to spot places and routes on a map. Then we had a very special visit from Thomas, the Gorilla, and some of his rainforest friends. We started the day meeting Thomas and learning all about his habitat in the rainforest. We were shocked to hear about the impact human behaviour has on our world and Thomas’ home.
After, we looked at climate change - how it is caused and the implications it has for humans and animals.
In the afternoon, we made videos using a green screen! They had bananas thrown at then by some very cheeky gorilllas and some were even chased by elephants!
Year 4 - Who built the pyramids?
Date: 19th Mar 2025 @ 10:59am
This week, we looked at the questions "Who built the pyramids?" There's a lot of opinions and films which depict them being built by slaves, however, we looked at some other evidence which historians have discovered and decided for ourselves...
Date: 13th Mar 2025 @ 9:12am
This half term, Year 4 have been focusing on dance in PE. We have explored and created characters and narratives in response to a range of stimuli. We have used body movements to represent Egyptian Gods and Goddesses, composed short sequences with partners and used unison and mirror techniques.
The children have been interested to further develop their knowledge of the Egyptians in PE incorporating two of their favourite subjects!
Date: 10th Mar 2025 @ 8:33pm
This week, we looked at what happens to sounds the further away they get. We used the school hall and measured (using a sound meter) the sound (in decibels) of four different sources. We used a whistle, a drum, a whispered sentence and crumpling paper. Using a trundle wheel, we measured 5m, 10m, 15m and 18m. We found that the further away the sound got, the more quiet it became. This is because the sound energy starts to run out - this is called dissipation.
Date: 6th Mar 2025 @ 5:22pm
Year 4 celebrated World Book Day by talking part in a BBC Live Lesson. During the live lesson, children from around the UK were reading at the same time! The childremn discussed their favourite genres and places to read.
The class then read an information text about the benefits of reading and created an acrostic poem using the information gathered.
Date: 3rd Mar 2025 @ 3:13pm
This week, we had a visit from Lydia who owns and teaches at Euphoria Dance and Therapy. It was great having Lydia in telling us all about how she became not only a dance teacher but now owns and runs her own dance business. The children listened intently and asked some great questions. Each half term now we are going to have visitors as we explore lots of different careers.
Date: 27th Feb 2025 @ 10:04am
In Oracy, we played a game of ‘Taboo’ to start. We had to use appropriate vocabulary to describe things on a card but we were not allowed to use some common words! Next, we practised how we would say a sentence in different ways. Finally, our main task was focusing on reasoning. We had to decide what we would do if we ruled the world and give a reason why. Other children in class then had to disagree with the statement and explain their challenge.
Year 4 - Introduction to Ancient Egypt
Date: 25th Feb 2025 @ 3:35pm
Information we found on our information run:
- The people that ruled are called Pharaohs
- The ancient Egyptians used a form of picture of writing called hieroglyphics
- The pharaohs stopped ruling when Romans took control about 2000 years ago
- Pyramid contained the dead pharaoh who was buried with jewels and objects that were often robbed
- The ancient Egyptians lived in mud houses with flat roofs
- Most of Egypt is a desert of sand and rocks
- The river Nile floods every year. As the water goes down after the flood it leaves behind very rich soil
- The boy king Tutankhamun is the most famous pharaoh
- The ancient Egypt had lots of gold
- The people were ruled by a king called a pharaoh
- There were people living in Egypt about 5,000 years ago
- The ancient Egyptians used a form of picture writing called hieroglyphics
- The most important crops to the ancient Egyptians were wheat and barley from which they made bread and beer
In the smart task we found these things which were incorrect:
- Measuring tape
- Our alphabet
- Tractor
- Dome shaped buildings
- Watering hose
- Books
- Flask
- Fishing rod
Date: 12th Feb 2025 @ 2:39pm
This week we started our maths with an assembly based on the book 'How mahy jelly beans?' by Andrea Menotti.
Year 4 then took part in a 'jelly bean' based maths lesson recapping their statistics skills. The children used a tally chart to collect data. The children found which jelly bean flavour was most popular and created a bar chart graph to show. Finally, the children analysed the graph to answer questions based on the data collected.
Year 4 - Safer Internet Day 2025
Date: 11th Feb 2025 @ 11:48am
This year's theme: Too good to be true? Protecting yourself and others from scams online.
We started the day with an assembly, then back in class we watched a live lesson which had lots of tips about how to remain safe online and not be drawn in by scammers and phishers. We learned how to spot scams and how to make sure our passwords online were strong.
Date: 10th Feb 2025 @ 9:19am
Last Monday some of our KS2 children wowed audiences in The Winter Gardens for Schools Alive. The children have worked incredibly hard since September to create a piece called ‘We are all in this together!’. They should be very proud of all they achieved, well done!
Date: 4th Feb 2025 @ 3:59pm
This week is RSE week. Our theme for RSE in Year 4 is puberty. We split into a class of girls and a class of boys so that everyone felt comfortable talking about their own puberty journey. Both classes learnt about both male and female puberty. We started the lesson by looking at the lifecycle and deciding where in the lifecycle we think puberty happens. Then we looked at how female and male bodies change on the outside as well as on the inside.
Date: 4th Feb 2025 @ 3:56pm
This week, we had a go at composing our own music using Charanga for the song we have been learning 'Bringing Us Together'.
Date: 30th Jan 2025 @ 1:04pm
Year 4 took part in their first Forest School of the year today.
The children built dens, an musical theatre, played in the mud kitchen and spotted creatures. The children really enjoyed their time outdoors despite the mud!
Date: 28th Jan 2025 @ 3:40pm
This week in our Science we practised our oracy skills. We were given a concept cartoon and 'Challenge' stem sentences. First we practised our responses in a Nest then we did Pair work.
Date: 22nd Jan 2025 @ 5:30pm
This week, we listened to the song, ‘Bringing us together’, again. We recapped the features of the song and then started to listen to the first part using the notes GAC so we could learn how to play it on the glockenspiels. We first started with a slower tempo (90bpm) and gradually increased the tempo to matching the song (112bpm). We performed the song to the class and the were fantastic. They were all in time and it sounded like the song!
Year 4 - What journeys do rivers make?
Date: 22nd Jan 2025 @ 2:38pm
This week, we looked at the journey of a river from the source to the mouth. We started the lesson by matching 20 definitions and parts of rivers and then we used the information we learned to complete a glossary game and label some features on a river diagram. We also looked at how the land around a river changes from the upper course to the middle course and lower course.
Date: 17th Jan 2025 @ 5:20pm
In Year 4, we have been reading a poem about the winter season.
We have been practising our fluency as a whole class. Many children wanted to stand up and read in front of others! The children read very well as they read at the correct pace and were reading with intonation.
Date: 16th Jan 2025 @ 9:34am
On Wednesday the children in Schools Alive got the opportunity to professionally record the sound for their upcoming performance. The children loved singing into the microphones and worked hard to sing in unison. Some children even had solos and all did a fantastic job!
Date: 16th Jan 2025 @ 8:40am
This wee, we started our Science unit about Electricity. We spoke about what it is and we looked at appliances which use mains and battery.
Date: 9th Jan 2025 @ 8:06pm
This week, Year 4 have been looking at news reports. The class have analysed several different reports such as the Lionesses winning the Euros in 2022, the recent weather in the UK and recent wildfires in LA, California.
The children have found that there are many different features including direct and reported speech!
Next week, the class will be looking at how they will be gaining the skills to write their own news report.
Year 4 - What is a river and where are famous ones around the world?
Date: 9th Jan 2025 @ 8:45am
We started our rivers unit by recapping the names of the UK countries, cities and seas/oceans. Then we moved around the room to look at information to find out what a river actually is. Once we discovered this we used atlas' to find famous rivers around the world.
