Summer 2023

Wow! Summer Term already!  How fast has that caught up with us?!  You know what they say, 'Time flies when you're having fun!'  How true!  Welcome back for the first half of the Summer Term Year 4. 

This half term we will be studying the Tudors as our topic.  Everyone will learn and begin to understand Tudor life, from the physical and human geography of the times compared to today, to Tudor fashion, crime and punishment and illness and disease!  

In Science, we will look at changes in states of matter and will have the chance to discover chemistry further with a visit to the Life Centre in Newcastle next half term.

In RE, we will be looking at different places of worship.  Are all Churches the same?  What makes it a Church?  Children may be surprised as we uncover the answers to their questions.  

We will begin the half term with The Queen's Token for our text.  Our reading and writing lesson will conincide with reading this too.

Lots to get on with and learn - we can't wait!!

 

Science

This half term we are learning about states of matter and we started this week by identifying and classifying solids and liquids.  It sparked lots of interesting discussion in class and some good group work too.

Earth Day 
Year 4 participated in a Live Earth Day Assembly.  How can technology help to shape the future of our world? Every year, April 22 is celebrated as Earth Day, an annual event where people take time out to demonstrate their support for protecting the planet and its environment.

RE 
In RE, we discussed what we already know about places of Worship.  Children used laptops to make factsheets about different places of worship including Synagogue, Temple, Mosque, Gurdwara and Church.  They were surprised by the number of similarities. 

Kidsafe 
Children in Year 4 started Full Programme 1 of Kidsafe today.  They were thrilled to see KS back in their classroom and look forward to helping him over the next few weeks.  

English 
Using The Queen's Token, children develop a piece of dialogue between two main characters.  Hal was reprimanded by the guard and taken to see King Henry.  Children captured feelings and emotions through speech. 

Design Technology
Year 4 children aim to design and make Tudor-inspired biscuits this half term.  As a starting point, we spent Tuesday afternoon tasting and evaluating some of our favourite biscuits.  The custard creams were a big hit! 
 

English 
We continued with our work on The Queen's Token.  Using a picture from the story, we answered VIPERS questions to tune in to Hal's thoughts as he arrived at the palace gates. 

History 
In History, we looked at the Tudor Family Tree from Henry VI to Queen Elizabeth. 
In Music, we are learning a fantastic song to recall the Kings and Queens of the Tudor House. 
"Tudor Kings, Tudor Queens,
Henry VII, Henry VIII
then Edward, Mary, Elizabeth
The Kings and Queens of the Tudor House
But Queen Elizabeth had no spouse
The line ran out!"

Our Class Assembly 
Year 4's class assembly focussed on the Tudors.  They were absolutely fantastic and had a wonderful audience to share their learning with. 
Well done Year 4!  We are very proud of you all.

Design Technology
Children contributed to our baking session as they made plain Tudor biscuits. 
They tasted delicious but some children weren't keen on the orange zest flavour.  We are now busy designing how we can make these biscuits more suited to modern day. 

English 

We have started to read Boy by Roald Dahl this week and have used the text for our writing and reading lessons.  In one lesson, we thought about actions and consequences of Dahl and his friends in different situations,  We gathered ideas together for new actions and consequences and then turned them into a mini piece of drama for the class to enjoy.  A lot of fun was had by all!

Back to it for the last half term!  We've almost made it!

RSE

We are thinking about Growing up and changing this half term in our RSE lessons - today being our first lesson.  More specifically, we considered how we grow and change throughout the human cycle. We shared fond memories of what it was like to be a small child, and then began to think about what males and females could do at four different life stages - School aged child, teenager, adult and elder.  It sparked some really interesting discussions in groups and then sharing with the rest of the class.  We concluded that as we grow, our bodies, minds and circumstances change - allowing us to change what we do.

 

Design Technology
Last half term, we made and tasted traditional Tudor biscuits.  Most children were unimpressed with the flavour so we designed our own biscuits and children finally got to make them!  We used chocolate buttons and smarties- very popular choices! 

RE
In Religious Education, we are continuing to focus on Courageous Advocacy-  What can we do to change the world? 
Children developed their own BIG QUESTIONS before using Powerpoint to try and write their own responses.  Children began by looking at key, influential figures who have already made a huge difference in our world. 

Art
In Art, we continued our work with pattern.  We were introduced to repeating patterns using rotation and symmetry.  Children were provided with a range of circles with they could segment and rearrange to make their own repeating patterns.  

Geography 
In Geography, children looked at early settlements in the United Kingdom.  It was wonderful to see the children locate key areas where they have visited in the past.  They used key vocabulary to describe location- North, East, South, West of ... and could identify why early invaders settled in particular locations.  
To extend their children, children looked at Land Use in the UK-  Where could we find National Parks/ built-up areas/ areas of natural beauty?  They used a key to show these areas on their map before discussing Conservation.  

English 
In English, we have tried very hard to write Sonnets about our local area of Rockcliffe. (Linked to our Geography Topic of Land Use) 
Each line should have ten syllables and follow a specific rhyme scheme-  ABAB  CDCD  EFEF  GG 

We have also been working on playscripts.  We used the script from Alice in Wonderland to identify key features and acted out a scene in groups.

Science

In line with our learning of last term, we went to the Life Centre in Newcastle on our school trip.  It was amazing and all of us had such a fantastic time.  We took part in a Discovering Chemistry workshop - which helped apply the learning we did in our states of matter unit last half term.  We also had chance to look around the museum and tale part in some great learning too!  The Glroious and Gross me theatre show opened our eyes to our bodies and the wonderful and disgusting things they do!!  The planetarium showed us some constellations in the North Eastern sky.  The Space Zone showed us an insight into the life of an astronaut on the International Space Station and the WOW Zone did just that!!

Maths 

Coming to the end of our unit on Shape, we have been exploring symmetry - lines of and completing shapes.  We had a nice investigative day completing different activities to apply the skills we had learned the day prior!

Sports for Schools Challenge 
Children had so much fun and the assembly was really inspiring and motivational.  Our session was with former GB Paralympian footballer and team captain Jack Rutter who the children were completely in awe of.   Thank you to parents and carers who sponsored the children for this event.