We have had a very busy second half of our Autumn Term. Time flies when you are having fun and it has certainly flown by for all of us in Year 4. We have continued with our ‘Don’t Lose Your Head’ theme with our focus being on the Stuart period of time. Our Year 4 super-sleuths used a range of evidence to investigate personalities and events in Stuart times. There was never a dull moment! Researching the lives of Stuart monarchs and leaders, revealed many of their curious qualities. The children were tickled to discover that Charles II was the ‘King of Bling’ and shocked that Oliver Cromwell banned theatres and Christmas! Book Creator was used to produce fact-filled comics with a Horrible Histories slant about the Gunpowder Plot. This led to ‘firework’ poetry using various poetic devices, such as alliteration and onomatopoeia.

The Plague

We briefly looked at The Great Plague and the children were very amused by some of the strange ways they tried to prevent and cure it. We then used lavender to make our own plague bags in class – they were wonderfully fragrant. They later wrote up the instructions for these – you never know when they’ll be needed!

 The Great Fire of London

Samuel Pepys (a Morfo) challenged our resourceful history detectives to investigate The Great Fire of London. They later wrote detailed newspaper reports, which included eyewitness accounts and successfully answered the who, what, when, where, why and how. In the first half term the children made Tudor style houses and after learning about the Great Fire of London we recreated Pudding Lane using the houses we had built. Mr Mansfield then set fire to the houses providing them with the opportunity to see and experience the creation and destruction of their Pudding Lane. Whilst our houses were not real houses we were able to see how quickly the fire spread and empathise with the people of that time who lost their actual homes.

S.T.E.M.

For STEM we have continued learning about how our bodies work. In think groups, we made informative slide presentations on ‘Our Senses’ and took part in a hands-on investigation about what happens to food as it travels through the digestive system. The children found this extremely entertaining. Following on from this, we investigated the sugar content of popular drinks and the effect they have on our teeth.

Christmas

We have spent the latter part of the term making Christmas cards, tree decorations and learning lines and songs for our Christmas Concert ‘Sheik Rattle and Roll’. Whilst it will be a very different kind of performance this year the pupils have embraced it whole hardheartedly and enjoyed every minute. We hope you will enjoy watching it and are as proud of your children as we are.

We wish you all a very happy Christmas and New Year. Enjoy your break and stay safe and well.

Team Year 4