Summer term

Week Beginning 05/06/23

It has been another great learning week for the Year 4 children. In Maths the children have been looking at money. For example, how to add amounts, how to find change and converting from pounds to pence. The photos below show how they made little shops and priced items up.

During English they have been looking at different sentence types, how to improve a sentence starter, using speech punctuation and looking at different word classes. Some of the children worked in groups and made posters about verbs, adjectives and conjunctions etc. 

In Science this week, we began our topic on Electricity and in History this half term, year 4 will be studying the Ancient Romans.

In R.E., we will be looking at Identity and Belonging and in Art, we are studying the artist Michael Craig Martin and will producing pictures in his style of art - watch this space!

Week Beginning 22/5/23

This week has been a wonderful week, as the whole school have celebrated all of the differences across our school with "Diversity Week." Year 4 really enjoyed all of the activities. We wrote Acrostic poems and produced some outstanding work. It really made the children think about the meaning of diversity. Here are a few of the finished poems:

We tried some amazing Bulgarian food made by one of our very generous parents (Nikol's mum):

Another parent (Taras' mum) came in to tell us all about the Ukraine, its customs and what it was like to live there as a child. She also left some delicious Ukrainian goodies:

We also ate Sicilian sausage sent in by Joe's mum who is part Sicilian and a wonderful selection of Romanian food from Paula's parents:

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Manny brought in his parents National costumes from Nigeria and also a Nigerian Talking Drum and Paula and Taras wore their national costumes.

Romanian National costume

The children who have two languages taught the others how to say "Hello" in their first language or the language of a family member and we heard a vast array: Romanian, Spanish, Welsh, Nigerian, Brazilian Portuguese, Bulgarian and Ukrainian.

In English this week the children continued to look at poems. They understand what verses are, where some words rhyme and how to put rhythm into their own poems by counting syllables. They made their own sound poems based on someone coming into White Bridge and stealing all the sounds! Then in groups they put their ideas together and wrote on poster paper their shared sound poem. Following this, they then had a chance to perform their poems to the class.

Week Beginning 15/05/23

This week the children have been looking at poetry in class. They have been finding out how similes and metaphors add strong imagery to the descriptions of a beach scene. They had a go themselves at writing their own poems and came up with lovely descriptions for the sea, sky, sand and sea creatures. For their homework they were able to choose their own favourite poem, write it out and bring it in. We look forward to reading these.

Here are some examples of the poems that the children wrote at school:

In science this week we have continued making discoveries about sound. The children carried out an investigation on the school field using a trundle wheel (to measure metres) and a drum. They discovered that the further away the sound is produced the quieter it becomes. They also made the interesting discovery that, at a great distance they saw the drum get hit before they heard the sound. After a big discussion about this discovery, they found out that light travels quicker than sound.

In Geography, we continued looking at Our Local Area and the children had to create a poster of where they lived to advertise it to others. They had to think about what services were available and what would encourage others to visit:

In French, we continued learning about classroom objects; the children know 12 now! They drew them all in "un sac a dos!"

Week Beginning 08/05/23

Another short week following the excitement of the Coronation over the weekend. The children have been working hard in Maths, recognising tenths as decimals. In English they finally finished their own versions of Neil Gaiman's 'The Wolves in the Walls.' These have now been written into best and displayed on our class writing walls. In Geography they are continuing their work on Local Area and have been identifying services we rely on such as doctors, post offices and fire stations.

Once again we have been overwhelmed by the fabulous display of posters coming in from home! The children have excelled themselves and we are enjoying reading all the interesting facts and information about our local area.

In Geography, we continued with Our Local Area topic and the children designed their own perfect towns. They had to include all of the services that people would need and create a pleasant environment for people to live in. Here are a few examples:

Week Beginning 1.5.23

It was a really short week this week, however the children still managed to continue with their writing of their own versions of The Wolves in the Walls.

In Maths, we continued with our work on fractions and are now moving on to decimals. Year 4 have grasped fractions brilliantly.

It was Lime class's turn to go to Pizza Express and Miss Holland reported that it was a really successful trip with impeccable behaviour. Well done Lime class!

Week Beginning 24.4.23

This week, Year 4 looked at the Art work of Ben Kwok for a school art project. We practised our designs first and then used these on a piece of lion's mane that will be used in a whole school display. Here are some of their amazing designs:

Whitebeam class took part in their field trip to Pizza Express, looking at various places of interest on the way, such as Loughton Station and the old station on the High Road. The children had a great time and behaved impeccably and as well as that made some delicious pizzas. Lime Class have their turn on Tuesday.

Week Beginning 17/04/23

In Maths this week the children continued working with fractions. They have been finding fraction equivalents and they have started adding them together. However, their homework this week has been times tables practice using the websites they have been given. This practice will speed up their recall skills up to 12x12.

In English this term, we will be looking at the book "The Wolves in the Walls" by Neil Gaiman. The children are getting to know the story and will then write their own version over the next few weeks.

The children are studying Buddhism for this part of Summer Term RE. This week they have been finding out interesting facts around Buddhist beliefs. In groups they made posters and arranged their facts under six main headings.

The children started their new topic of Sound this week for Science. They had a fun session of investigating how sound causes small particles (molecules) to vibrate. On one table children were hitting tuning forks and placing the end of them in water. They saw that this made the water splash out.  Another table were busy twanging rulers on the edge of a table and hearing and seeing this effect. While another table were banging drums and seeing the pasta dance across them! Finally, another table were putting elastic bands around pots, plucking the bands and hearing the sound they made. 

In Geography, our topic is the Local Area and this week we looked at maps of the local area. The children had to find the school, the local shops, the train stations and their own homes. They did really well and had fun as well. This topic will continue with our trips to Pizza Express on the following two Tuesdays. Whitebeam class go on Tuesday 25th April and Lime class on Tuesday 2nd May.

In Art, we will be studying the work of Georges Seurat and Pointillism. We will use this technique to create artwork of London landmarks. Hopefully, we will be able to share some of these with you soon.