Welcome to Year 4.
Our Teachers are Mrs Humbles and Mr Hartington and our Teaching Assistants are Mrs Sedef and Miss Felgueiras.
Mar 142025
Going berserk!!
It has been another busy week this week. We have been busy preparing and planning for our Viking adventure story, trying to make really good choices with our vocabulary and thinking about whether it is an adjective we would usually use or could it be upleveled to another.
In Maths we have completed our unit on symmetry and started our new work on decimals. We have been exploring decimal place value of tenths and hundredths and regrouping when we have 10 or more in any column.
In science we made observations of our water worlds, which we created last week. We noticed that there was lots of condensation on the sides of each cup as well as what had gathered on the underside of the cling film over the top. We discussed how the water managed to go from the soil to the cling film through the processes of evaporation as water vapour and condensation when the gas cooled down, turning it back into a liquid. We were able to even witness precipitation as some of the water droplets collected were so large, that when moved fell as rain would also do naturally. Added to this, the seeds we planted had also grown!
This week in history, we looked at why the Vikings were so strong when they reached Britain, which enabled them to conquer some parts of the country, including York, Northumbria and East Anglia. We looked at how well the Vikings were equipped for battle and what made them so fearsome. Did you know that we get the word ‘berserk’ from the Vikings? The berserkers would go into battle wearing bear skins (which is the literal translation of the word) but would be fearless, as they wouldn’t mind if they died, as they believed they would end up in Valhalla. This made them so fearsome to the Anglo Saxons as they were wild and out of control, which is where the modern meaning of the word berserk comes from.
In Art, Gold class have been busy making their pizza slices using card, newspaper and modroc to give it texture and structure. They look like they will be delicious! Saffron have been researching where our different foods may come from and locating those places on the world map.
In music, we have been learning new chords on the ukulele. We now know the chords of C, F, Am and G7. It will mean that we could start to play a few songs soon!
Our FeelIT emotion this week continues to be shocked. We have discussed how you can get over the feeling of being shocked in a bad way.
We hope you have a great weekend,
Year 4 Team
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Feb 282025
The Vikings are coming…
Welcome back to a new half term!
We have had a busy start to the term. Please be aware that the PE sessions have reverted back to their original time slots – Saffron – Wednesday and Friday, Gold – Monday and Wednesday.
We have had a busy start to the term, starting a number of new topics. In English, we are now preparing to write a Viking adventure story. We have watched a short film as our stimulus and are building up ideas for description. Eventually, we will write the story as well as what happens next. We don’t know how the film ended as we stopped it on a cliffhanger. Hopefully we will end up with some exciting conclusions.
In maths we have been exploring lines and shape, using lots of vocabulary to describe shapes and in particular, quadrilaterals. We have grouped quadrilaterals according to different criteria and practised forming them on a computer geoboard. Can you work out which criteria we have sorted these quadrilaterals?
In science, we have begun to learn about the water cycle, linking it back to our work on different states of matter back in the autumn term. We have started to create our own diagrams of the water cycle to help explain the processes at different points.
We have now moved on to our new history project of the Vikings. We have begun to discuss the first Viking raids and how the Vikings travelled to Britain. We really enjoyed drawing a Viking long boat and learning about how useful they were for quick lightning attacks on monasteries around the coast.
This half term, Saffron class will be doing our DT project of making omelettes. They started off this week by considering how to stay safe in the kitchen and creating posters.
Gold class will be embarking on their art project alongside St Albans School, and started today by working with black biro pens and different shading techniques to make detailed and textured burgers.
It is important to note that in a few weeks they will be using acrylic paint, which does not come out of clothing easily and will therefore need an apron or old, large shirt to protect themselves.
Our FeelIT emotion for this week continues to be generous.
We hope you enjoy the weekend,
Year 4 team
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Feb 142025
Ice-Scream for the Year 4 Geniuses!
Well done to Gold class this morning for a fantastic assembly, we all had a great time seeing who could get their questions right in ‘Year 4 Genius’, everyone was so proud!
Saffron class have finally finished their ice creams today and they look very tasty! The finishing touches have involved colourful ‘sprinkles’, which really look amazing!
We have been working hard to finish our instructions about how to look after a zoo animal. We have used command sentences, time adverbials and our research to instruct the zoo keepers on how to care for a pride of lions or a colony of penguins properly.
In maths we have been completing our perimeter unit by discovering different ways to calculate the perimeter of rectangles. We started by using lolly sticks to help us before progressing on to rectangles of different scales. We have then been solving problems, for example finding the length of the missing sides.
We have completed our Geography unit about Malham by comparing visitors to Malham with visitors to St Albans. Some of us went on a mini field trip into the city centre to ask questions to a visitor to St Albans. We have then used our results to analyse the difference between reasons why people visit St Albans in comparison to Malham.
We hope everyone enjoys their well earned half term break.
Year 4 team
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Feb 072025
Pitch Perfect!
Congratulations to Saffron Class for a brilliant assembly this morning based on our geography learning – a field trip to Malham in North Yorkshire. All the children spoke brilliantly and sang a fantastic rendition of ‘On Ilkley Moor Baht ‘at. ‘(On Ilkley Moor without a hat). They also shared their learning in science, art and English. Well done Saffron!
This week we have taken part in activities for Children’s Mental Health Week. It has been all about Know Yourself, Grow Yourself. Saffron discussed what their islands of personality would look like and discovered who would have similar islands to them or different ones. We realised we are all unique. Gold worked on some How Will You Grow plants, making plans for things they want to work and improve on in the future.
Gold class has been very busy this week making Omelettes. They used skills such as whisking, chopping and frying. They all made eggcellent omelettes with different toppings.
In Science we have been exploring pitch and how the features of an instrument can affect the sound it makes. All of Y4 had the chance to make pan pipes from straws and saw how the length of the straw affected the sound it made when you blew across it.
Our FeelIt emotion for the next couple of weeks is generous.
Enjoy your weekend,
Year 4 Team
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Jan 312025
Hair-raising electrical fun!
This week’s highlight was a visit from Mr Crick who brought in a Van de Graaff generator to show us how electricity works. We learnt that protons and electrons don’t like each other and repel away. We were able to watch lightning as electrons try to escape to earth as quickly as possible! We also saw how this same phenomenon can charge foil trays and make them ‘lift off’, as well as flying packing peanuts and it was all completely hair raising!! We would like to thank Mr Crick for his fascinating demonstration.
In maths we have been looking at how data can be presented in different ways in the form of pictograms, bar charts and line graphs. We looked at their similarities and differences and practised interpreting them. We have also collected some of our own data to present in a bar graph or line graph.
In English we have been working on different techniques to write an instructional text. We were sent an email from the Head of the Zoo who failed to look after the animals in our poems. We are going to write a set of instructions on how to care for the animals properly.
In Geography this week, we have continued on our virtual field trip to Malham, North Yorkshire. This week we learnt about Janet’s Foss, a waterfall and Gordale Scar, which is an impressive steep ‘scar’ in the earth, carved out by the glacier in the last ice age and made deeper by the meltwater. We were looking to appreciate how the landscape can affect our emotions and wrote poems inspired by the views and scenery.
In art today, Saffron class worked with acrylic paints to bring their ice cream cones to life. They painted the cone colour before sponging some detail to add texture to their artisanal cones before choosing their ice cream flavour. Next week they will add decorations such as sprinkles, flakes and sauce. They’ll look good enough to eat!
We hope you have an enjoyable weekend,
Year 4 team
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Jan 242025
Zoo Poetry, Malham Cove and Sound Insulation
This week we have finished our emotive poems in English. Year 4 have worked really hard to try and choose the best vocabulary to show emotion as well as using figurative language such as personification, similes and metaphors to show the plight of the animals in the zoo. Some people have added other poetic devices such as repetition and alliteration to add extra depth to their work. Well done Year 4!
In maths we have continued to add and subtract time, finishing off our measures unit. We are coming on to thinking about different types of graphs and interpreting them.
Our science this week was choosing the best materials to insulate a sound. We found out that sound travels quicker through solids and slowest through gases. We therefore chose sponge as the best sound insulator as it has air pockets, slowing the sound down. Tin foil was the worst insulator as the sound could travel quicker through it.
In geography, we have continued our virtual field trip to Malham, exploring Malham Cove, which was formed because it was a huge waterfall at the end of the last ice age. Meltwater would flow over it and it has left leaving a limestone pavement behind.
Gold class have been designing their omelettes ready to make them next week. Saffron class have formed their ice cream cones using papier mache in our 3D art project.
Our FEELiT this week for the next couple of weeks is ‘exhausted’.
Have a relaxing weekend,
Year 4 team.
Jan 172025
Good vibrations!
This week we have been experimenting with sound… by making lots of it! We learnt that sound is a vibration and this was made visible by tapping a tuning fork and placing it in water, so we could see the vibrations. We noticed how sounds are made on drums, using rainsticks, chime bars and triangles and considered how we could change or manipulate the sound – making it louder or quieter and what the sound needed to travel through. There was a cacophony of sound but we had lots of fun!
We have been working on time in maths this week. We have been practising telling the time using analogue clocks, converting between hours and minutes and adding periods of time. If you could help with this at home by practising telling the time on an analogue clock and asking questions such as what time will it be in a number of minutes, or hours or asking how long until something, we would be very grateful. We shall put a couple of links on Google Classroom to help.
In English, we have been practising writing figurative language and sentences to help us with our emotive poems. We have used similes, metaphors and personification. We have also rearranged a free verse poem to see if it could be just as effective written in a different order. Some edits had to be made in places to make it work and flow but we realised there are no rules to free verse poetry, which makes writing one much easier!
We hope you enjoy your weekend
Year 4 Team
Jan 102025
Welcome Back!
Welcome Back and Happy New Year!
We have a busy term planned ahead with lots of exciting new topics.
We have started this week with our new sounds topic in Science, thinking about what sounds are around us all the time and how they are created through vibrations. We listened to sounds inside and outside and really considered what was making them and how they travelled to our ears.
We have started a fabulous new unit in English on emotive poetry using the book Zoo by Anthony Browne as a stimulus. We explored the book and how the animals are kept and have considered their feelings and emotions.
Saffron have started a new art project this week from our new curriculum, led by a teacher from St Alban’s School. It is entitled Festival Feasts and focussing on the work of Claes Oldenburg, who creates sculptures. Today, we practised our shading techniques to create different tones in order to complete a picture of a burger. We will be using paper mache and acrylic paints to create a sculpture of an ice cream in the coming weeks… lots to look forward to.
Gold class have made a start on their DT project, thinking about kitchen safety in preparation for making omelettes later on this term.
Our new Geography project is a virtual fieldwork unit that focuses on the contrasting locality of Malham in the Yorkshire Dales. This week we have located Malham in North Yorkshire and observed the locality by drawing some field sketches and noticing the features and discussing the differences between the landscape there and here.
A busy first week back.
Enjoy the weekend,
Year 4 team
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Dec 132024
Lights, Goblins… ACTION!
This week started off with a DT extravaganza. We were knee deep in cardboard, cellophane, double sided sticky tape and electrical components but the children worked really hard and all of them managed to make a working light. We had lots of different designs including flowers, footballs and shells as well as lights for different purposes such as camping and reading. Well done, Year 4!
We have also been busy writing a character description for our foul goblins. We have been careful to use noun phrases, expanded noun phrases and a variety of adverbs to bring our characters to life.
In RE, we have been carrying out our own research about how Christmas is celebrated in other parts of the world. We are working in twos to research and present the information about special food and customs on an A3 poster. Next week we shall present our facts and knowledge to the rest of the class so we can see just how different other people’s cultures and traditions are but also how similar some of them may be too.
We hope you all have a wonderful weekend,
Year 4 team
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Dec 062024
Gruesome Goblins!
This week we have been working on creating a character description for a goblin, who we met through the poem ‘Overheard on a Saltmarsh’ by Harold Monro. He is a particularly gruesome, putrid character with fetid breath and blood-shot eyes! These are some of the words we have been using to describe this vile creature. Let’s hope we don’t happen to meet him in the future!
We have been building problems using manipulatives this week in maths and then representing these in diagrams or bar models in order to help us understand different parts of the problem. It helps if we can recognise whether the start of the problem, change in the problem or the result is missing from the information, which helps us to know how to solve it.
In science we have been using circuit symbols to draw circuit diagrams and then asking our classmates to build the circuits to see if they would work. We had to work out where the problems were and how they could be fixed to make a complete circuit.
In music over the next couple of weeks the children have been invited to showcase their musical instrument prowess at the end of term class concerts. They have already signed up to slots for the next two lessons and so any rehearsing they can do at home will certainly be beneficial.We can’t wait to see them play!
Have a great weekend,
Year 4 team
