Summer Term

Fun at Kew Gardens!

Spring 1

This half term, pupils have been learning all about the polar regions. In Geography, we have been learning about the Northern and Southern Hemisphere, what life would be like to live in the Arctic or Antarctica and the effect climate change has on humans and animals living in these areas.

In Literacy, we have been learning about the dangerous expeditions of intrepid explorer Ernest Shackelton. We role-played how he must have felt and then wrote our own first-person diary entries from his point of view. We have also enjoyed reading 'The Titanic Detective Agency' by Lindsay Littleson as our class text and have been creating our own fantastic persuasive advertisements, encouraging people in 1912 to set sail in a luxurious first-class suite to New York!

In Science we have been learning all about living things and how they are classified. This has involved looking at plants and animals, exploring the outside areas and classifying our findings using questions such as 'Is it an invertebrate?' We've enjoyed playing lots of games of 20 Questions to help support our understanding of this too! 

Autumn 2

We really enjoyed trying different chocolate bars in DT. We discussed the taste, smell, texture and what they look like before describing them in our books and ordering them in in preference of favourite to least favourite.

We took part in a fantastic workshop with Carl from the Ministry of Chocolate. We learnt all about the origins of chocolate in Maya times, how a cocoa in a cocoa pod becomes a chocolate bar and what FairTrade means for farmers around the world. At the end of the workshop we even got to make some chocolate of our own!

Autumn 1

It's Electric! ✨

Year 4 have had an exciting start to the school year with a focus on all things electricity! We have been learning how to create working circuits in Science, troubleshooting if a circuit does not work and what we can do to fix it in investigations of our own. We have also investigated which materials would make the best conductors and insulators. In Literacy, we have been reading Krindlekrax by Philip Ridley and had our own class debates about who would make the best hero - are you Team Ruskin or Team Elvis? Pupils then wrote their own  arguments using persuasive language. 

In DT, we explored the setting of Lizard Street from our class text and in groups planned, designed and constructed the buildings. We looked at different ways we could join materials together and then added working circuits to our buildings to light up Lizard Street.

In Art we have been studying sculpture and have planned and made our own dragon eyes out of clay.

Investigating circuits 💡

Making Lizard Street ✂

Dragon Eyes 🐲