The Year 4 teachers are so proud of how well the children have settled back into school life and the ease with which they have adapted to our rules and routines. It has been a very busy first half term and we can’t quite believe we are at the end of it already.

Don’t Lose Your Head

The Year 4 topic for the Autumn Term is ‘Don’t Lose Your Head’ which covers the Tudor and Stuart periods in History. During this half term, our Y4 super sleuths travelled back in time to the Tudor era where they enjoyed learning about some of the Kings and Queens of that time; as well as the types of food they ate and the houses they lived in. Digging into the lives of the Tudor monarchs, we unearthed some of their quirky and cruel traits. The children were amazed to discover that Henry VIII was one of the most famous kings in British History, most notably because he had six wives and beheaded two of them. The children uncovered lots of interesting facts about Henry VIII through their research and created an informative word cloud using Mentimeter. The children have loved watching some Horrible Histories video clips.

 

How Our Body Works

Year 4 have been learning all about how their bodies work for our STEM topic. In this half-term, they have investigated the organs of the human body. They enjoyed drawing life-sized bodies, adding illustrations of the main organs. The children wrote detailed reports describing the function and location of their organs. They discovered some really interesting facts during their research, such as the heart is about the size of a fist and the human brain weighs around 3 lbs. They created collaborative slide presentations on the 5 senses as well.  The children are looking forward to learning more amazing facts about our body next half term.

Literacy

The children have worked so hard in Literacy this term, and have focused on developing their creative writing skills. They used a range of exciting hooks, such as The Dreamgiver video and The Tin Forest text, to develop adventurous vocabulary. The children have also used their Literacy skills in many other areas of the curriculum. They wrote detailed reports about human organs in Science and worked collaboratively during group and partner discussions on a range of subjects. They used Google Classroom to record their research from written historical sources about the Tudors. 

Harvest Festival

It was so lovely to sing and participate in our whole school Harvest Festival. This time of year is not just about celebrating the food we have but is also about being mindful of others who may not have enough to eat. The children brought in very generous donations of tinned and packet food for the Raven House Trust, which they were grateful to receive. 

Other Activities

We have taken full advantage of the Technology and Cookery Suites this half term. On our immersion day, the children made Tudor-style bread and biscuits to enjoy as part of a Tudor-style feast. They had a brilliant time! They also had the opportunity to learn a simple Tudor tune on the piano in the keyboard workshops with Mr Peter Banks and have composed their own music on Chromemusiclab in class. In Forest Schools, the children designed and created houses out of natural resources by working closely in small groups.