Learning  »  Class Pages  »  Archive 2017/18  »  Year 4

Welcome to Year 4. Please visit our page for updates about our learning and the activities and fun that we have been having!
Year 4’s Trip to Bagshaw Museum

We had an excellent day consolidating our learning about Ancient Egyptians. The children enjoyed the fantastic exhibition, excavating for artefacts, preparing a body for the afterlife and mummifying Oliver.
 
Excavating for artefacts. Preparing the body.
Placing the organs in canopic jars. Mummifying Oliver.
 
Year 4 Skipping Competition 2018

On Wednesday, Year 4 took part in a Skipping Competition, which included teams from Bardsey, Wetherby St James, Harewood, Scholes and Lady Hastings. We had spent several weeks practising our skipping skills in our PE lessons, at playtimes and at home. We tried out for the events we wanted to participate in: some of us took part in individual events such as speed bounce and crossover; there were pairs events such as face to face and butterfly; and there were two long rope team events.

 


We had great fun and everybody tried their best. Although we didn’t win the overall event, we won lots of Gold, Silver and Bronze certificates for our scores. Congratulations to everyone in Year 4!

Here are some quotes from the children:
“You didn’t just sit and watch, you got to do lots of skipping.” – Sam D
“I was really proud when I got a bronze certificate.” – Imogen
“I really liked watching all my friends do well.” – Wilson
“We might not have won, but we had fun.” - Harry
World Book Day!
Year 4 Class Assembly

Well done to everyone for another fantastic class assembly. You showcased all of your learning in a fun, and creative way and it was a pleasure to watch you shine!

Year 4 Visit Tropical World

After “The Beast from the East” postponed our planned visit to Tropical World on 2nd March, we finally managed to get there last Friday.
As part of our “rainforest” topic, we went to see the wide range of animals and plants housed there and experience some of the hot, humid conditions that are recreated inside Tropical World.
Whilst we walked through the various sections, there was a huge amount of learning to be had. Armed with our activity packs and a camera in each group, we discovered fascinating facts about the rainforest and the creatures that can be found there. We saw Poison Dart Frogs, a Morelet crocodile, bright blue butterflies and enormous Koi carp all in the first 10 minutes!
Next, we entered the aquarium section and were absolutely amazed by the size of some of the fish! They were bigger than our heads! We also found Nemo and friends, along with coming face to face with some mean-looking piranhas. To our surprise, whilst we were in the aquarium section, a very large bird joined us! We discovered that it was a Victorian Crested Pigeon and it certainly took a shine to us! It followed us everywhere and made a very loud noise – which sounded like a drum – and kept bowing in front of us.
Tropical World has a number of birds that we were able to see, alongside Tamarin Monkeys, various reptiles and a colony of Harvester Ants (which we were absolutely fascinated by).
The highlight of our visit was to see the resident Meerkats. They were very funny and interesting to watch. Some were sleeping whilst others took their turn keeping watch (mostly watching the Victorian Crested Pigeon who was still very interested in us!)
Finally we entered the nocturnal area and were able to see a very cute Slow Loris which had the biggest and widest eyes we had ever seen, and lots of fruit bats – luckily though they were behind glass as some of us were a little unsure of them!
We had such a lovely day out and are really glad that, despite the snow, we did get to go to Tropical World in the end.
Keely – “I really enjoyed the desert area because I liked seeing the Meerkats.”
Cian – “I really enjoyed the Pacu fish because they were very big but interestingly didn’t eat the smaller fish.”
Charlotte – “It was really fun and all of the animals were very amusing to watch.”
Sam D – “I learnt that Milk Frogs produce a really bad tasting mucus that scares their predators away.”
Dominic H – “I learnt that crocodiles have to stay very still in the water so that their prey doesn’t see them.”

An update on our learning in Spring 1!
We have been thoroughly enjoying our topic "Rainforests" and have been working really hard in all subjects.

For DT, we designed and made "rainforest biscuits" which we had to make using ingredients that could be found in the rainforest. We had to choose the flavouring for the biscuit using only smell! The choices turned out to be either cinnamon or ginger. After the biscuits were cooked, we decorated a fraction of them with melted chocolate. Finally, we evaluated the whole process, including the taste! Delicious!

In English, we have been reading The Great Kapok Tree. This story is about a wonderful tree in the Amazon rainforest where many interesting and magnificent creatures live. Unfortunately, two men come to chop it down! The story is about the animals trying to persuade the men not to chop down their home. We have used this to help us with our writing and have focused on persuasion and have written some letters from the animals to the man using different techniques. Learning about the Kapok Tree and the Amazon rainforest has also helped us with our descriptive writing and we are getting really good at choosing interesting adjectives and adding extra detail to sentences to make them better.

We have also had lots of discussion in Geography linked to the book, where we have talked about the reasons for deforestation and whether it is a good thing or a bad thing. Our overwhelming opinion in Year 4 is that deforestation is a bad thing because it affects animals homes and the beauty of the world.

In Maths, we have improved our multiplication skills and have spent time further practising division. We have now started to look at fractions and hope that Miss Deighton will demonstrate fraction learning to us using cake! Or Pizza! So far, we have been learning about equivalent fractions and how to find them. 

Our learning in PE has been varied and enjoyable in both rugby and dance. Miss Deighton made a playlist of our chosen songs to then use to help us explore music, rhythm and movement in a more fun way and without embarrassment. We have enjoyed working in partners and small groups to develop choreography and movement.

We are ready for half term and excited to deepen and extend our learning through our topic in Spring 2. We will have our trip to Tropical World and our class assembly (22nd March) to share our learning with you then!
IMPORTANT DATE CHANGE - OUR CLASS ASSEMBLY WILL NOW BE HELD ON THURSDAY 30TH NOVEMBER AT 3PM. WE HOPE THAT YOU CAN JOIN US FOR THIS OCCASION! 
Skipping Festival

On Friday 13th October 2017, Year 4 took part in the whole school skipping festival. It was an enjoyable day and we all learnt new skills. It was tricky to get the hang of some skills, but with perseverance and a smile, we improved greatly! Some children were able to perform their new skills in a celebration assembly at the end of day. This has whetted our appetite for the Year 4 skip dance and competition in early 2018!

Gymnastics!

Have a look at some of our pictures from our gymnastics lessons. We are really enjoying learning (and inventing our own) gymnastic skills! We know how to perform sequences that include pike, tuck, straddle, straight, stag and wolf shapes. We have also been adding in flight elements and turns. Our balancing is improving and our sequences are getting better each week!

Boston Spa Topic Walk

On Friday 29th September, Y4 went on a walk around Boston Spa. We looked out for the features of Georgian architecture that we had been learning about in class. We found many examples of crowning pediments, sash windows and pilasters. One of the places we found most interesting was The Crown Hotel where we noticed that the original door had been blocked up. Later in the day we went to look at the River Wharfe and the pathway to the Old Bath House. Unfortunately, as there had been lots of rain the previous night we weren’t able to walk up to the Bath House. We also took turns in carefully walking across the narrow bridge to observe the weir.
“I thought that it was really fun because we got to learn new things” Zara Quyn.
“I didn’t know that the first Boston Spa house was so big” Sam Alker.
“I found out where the sign to the village baths was” Henry Elliott.
“I didn’t know that the cricketer Geoffrey Boycott lived in Boston Spa until I saw the blue plaque” Safina Batty.
“I enjoyed finding out where the old door in Costcutter was “Ethan Hennessey.

Here are some of our pictures from the walk:

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