4JP

Welcome to our class webpage where you can find out about our amazing learning journey. You will find information about our activities, examples of our work and comments from us! Please visit often to see our learning journey develop.

Term 6

Our challenge: To produce an e-book answering the question 'Who were more powerful: Athenians or Spartans?'

After weeks of learning, we were finally able to answer our enquiry question. But if you want to know the answer, you'll have to read our books to find out!

For our final enquiry, we will be travelling back in time to the Ancient Greek civilisation, thinking about who were more powerful - the democratic Athenians or the battle-ready Spartans. We will focus on a range of areas, including social life, army and the role of women, whilst deciding which state was ultimately the most powerful. Additionally, we will consider the impact of both on the modern world as well as taking an in-depth look at the Peloponnesian War. This should be a great enquiry and we can't wait to get started.

Our Challenge: To produce an e-book, answering the question 'Who were more powerful: Spartans or Athenians?'

Olympic week

During Olympic week, we took part in some paralympic sports such as Botchya and Blindfolded Football. Whilst we had a lot of fun, it also made us think a lot about the challenges faced by some of this years Olympic athletes.

WOW: The Ancient Greeks

To kick start our enquiry, we spent a whole day learning about the Ancient Greeks. We started by learning about the Greek Alphabet, and learned to write our own names. Whilst dressed in our finest Grecian clothing, we tasted a variety of Greek foods, from olives to feta cheese. In the afternoon, we learned about the Ancient Greek Olympics. We were shocked that women were not allowed to compete and the athletes who took part were completely naked! We have already learned so much, and can't wait to learn more about who was the most powerful.

Term 5

Enquiry: What are conductors?

This term, our enquiry will help us to answer the question ‘What are conductors?’ We will be learning about electricity, particularly focusing on how electricity powers a lamp, which materials are conductors, and what happens when you break a circuit. All of this Science will help us with our DT challenge to create a 3D model of Varjak Paw, with eyes that glow! We will update as we go so please visit again to see our learning.

Power of Reading: Varjak Paw

This term, we are reading Varjak Paw by SF Said. The main character, Varjak Paw, is a pure-bred Mesopotamian Blue, who lives with his family in the Contessa's grand house. He is not often allowed outside, and has never been further than the garden wall. Strange things start to happen at the house, making the Elder Paw worried that something is going to happen to the family. He tells Varjak to find help, in the form of a dog. But to do this, he must venture into the outside world.

Will he succeed in his mission to find a dog and save his family?

Wow! The Aristocats

To introduce our new power of reading text, Varjak Paw, Year 4 had a movie afternoon. We watched the Aristocats and we had some popcorn too! We are very excited to start reading this amazing, cat-led adventure!

Term 4

Enquiry: How can we make Music from Junk?

This term, our enquiry will help us to understand how music can be made from junk. We will be experimenting with which recyclable materials make the best sound. As well as this, we will be investigating how the sound travels and how it reaches our own ears! We will finish with our own orchestra of sounds, performing for parents and carers with our home made recyclable instruments.

WOW

To inspire our learning this term, we watched the amazing musical production 'Stomp!'. Stomp is a well-known group of performers, who make music with junk! We couldn't believe how many amazing sounds they could make, with every day items such as brooms and bin lids! We will use some of these ideas when experimenting with our own sounds.

Term 3

Enquiry: What is snow?

Our enquiry this term will allow us to become scientists in order to understand what snow is and how it is formed. We will carry out a range of experiments to help us identify the differences between the three states of matter: solid, liquid and gas.

In week two, we learnt about the three states of matter: solids, liquids and gases. We worked in teams to group and categorise a number of objects. Some were easier than others, but some had us questioning the differences between each state. For example, if you can pour a solid, such as sand, does it make it a liquid? And which group does cream belong to? We will be answering these questions in our science lessons this term.

Ice Trap! Shackleton's Incredible Expedition.

We will begin our enquiry by exploring Sir Ernest Shackleton's amazing exploration of the Antarctic.

Term 2

Enquiry: What is a Quest?

RE Enquiry: What is the most significant part of the Nativity story for Christians?

In our final week, we learned about symbolism in the Nativity story. For example, did you know that the wise men and shepherds also symbolize the fact that Jesus was a gift from God to everyone, rich or poor? There are many more symbols in the Nativity story, have a look at our writing below which explains what we learned. We also held our own mini Christingle service. The Christingle is representative of Christ and the service celebrates that fact that Jesus can be a light in our lives. Have a look at our descriptions below.

Ice Palace: Role Play

To help us understand the story, we take part in drama activities such as freeze-framing, role play, and decision alley. In the photos below, we 'froze' to show the different seasons in Ivan's village. In the summer, the villagers are happy. But in winter, they are scared and apprehensive, as they know that evil Starjik is rounding up his wolves, ready to pay them another visit. 

In decision alley, we take turns to play the role of Ivan, who has a difficult decision to make; stay in the village or venture out into the cold, icy forest, to rescue his younger brother from Starjik the child-snatcher. As we walk down the alley, our 'conscience' whispers thoughts to us, helping us to make our decision.

Verbs and Adverbs

In week one, we recapped verbs and adverbs. We chose a verb (a doing word), and an adverb (a word which tells us how the verb is performed), and acted them out for our class to guess. Looking at the videos below, can you guess what they're doing and how?

Building fires

To introduce our new enquiry topic, our WOW this term was building fires. We explored the techniques needed to make the longest lasting fire which would keep us warmest in a cold climate. We also used different wood-stacking techniques to build the strongest fires.

Term 1 

Enquiry: How can pizzas be healthy?

The Challenge

We spent two weeks learning about healthy balanced diets. The Eatwell Plate taught us about the five different food groups, and how much we should eat from each group. The traffic light system taught us more about Fats, Proteins and Carbohydrates, and how much of each we should eat. We used all of this knew knowledge when preparing for our challenge, which was to make a healthy but tasty pizza. We tried different bases such as wholemeal tortilla and pitta! Check out our pictures below. Trust us, they were tasty!

Enquiry: How are wolves and humans similar?

Enquiry Challenge

Our challenge was to film a wolf documentary, in the style of wildlife reporter, David Attenborough. We filmed our documentaries in sections, then learned how to use iMovie to stitch them all together. Take a look at the examples below, some groups even managed to capture some footage of some actual wolves!

4JP's Harvest Celebration

4JP had the job of leading this year's Harvest Celebration. We wanted to share the fact that many of our foods are actually imported from other countries, thousands of miles away. For example, the ingredients used to make a simple pizza could have travelled a staggering 22,900 miles! We showed artwork which represented foods that can harvested in our own country, there was a huge variety! We also shared some of our poetry, based on the song, Cauliflowers Fluffy. We had a great time preparing for our assembly and learned a lot too.

Bug Hunt

4JP went on a bug hunt, to explore different creatures' habitats around the school. Some preferred dark, damp hideaways, whereas others liked leafy and grassy homes. Now we're starting to think about Wolves' habitats, and what conditions they'd prefer.

PlayPod

Den Building

Following our trip to the Wild Place Project, we started to think about wolves and their habitats. We thought about how their habitats are very different to humans, and whether we would be able to survive in an outdoor environment. We worked in teams, using only a blue sheet, some bamboo sticks and some string, to build shelters in the school grounds. When we had finished, the teachers tested how waterproof they were by pouring water on top of them - with us inside them! We found it very challenging but persevered and worked as a team.

WOW: The Wild Place Project

In week two, Year 4 visited the Wild Place Project to kick-start our enquiry. As well as learning lots of interesting facts about Wolves, we were lucky enough to walk through the Lemur enclosure, see Rams practise their fighting skills, witness Cheetahs prowling their grassland, and watch Meercats scurry around their own sandpit.

But the highlight was definitely the Wolves, who put on a playful display of their fighting skills. We took the mini ipads to document our trip so check out or photos below. Our time in the Barefoot Trail was a particular highlight!

Friendship

In 4JP, we have been thinking about one of our school values - Friendship. We considered how it would feel to have no friends, and thought about how lucky we were to be surrounded by lots of kind and compassionate friends. We talked about friendship circles, and about how we are all connected to one another. We listed the qualities of a good friends and thought about a time when we were a good friend. Have a look through our photos to see examples of friendship posters, and see how we are all connected through our friendship web.

Diplomacy

In week one, we thought about what it meant to be diplomatic and courteous when we have different opinions to others. Have a look at our role play videos which show how it should and shouldn't be done!