4ZB

Term 6

Challenge

To answer our enquiry question this term, our challenge was to create an eBook full of information about Athenians, Spartans and the Peloponnesian war. Have a look at the eBooks we made and you will find out who were more powerful!

Wooftie Day

To raise money for our chosen charity we had a day dedicated to our pets. As part of this day, we had to complete an obstacle course. We also watched a dog show and judged whose dog was the best trained. Dougie was the proud winner of 'dog that looks most like its owner' rosette. 

Olympic week

To celebrate the upcoming Olympic, we are spending this week learning all about the Olympics.

So far, we have focused on Uganda in Africa, researching the medals they have won and some background information on their sporting history. We have also created some traditional Ugandan artwork and  fact-files on this country. Check back to see the other learning we are doing!

In P.E, we have been learning about the different Paralympic sports. We got a chance to try some of the sports out. We have also been practicing our running skills !

Computer programming 

Our computing challenge this term was to use our understanding of HTML to re-code a website temporarily using X-Ray Goggles.

Allotment

4ZB now have an allotment to care for. We are growing lettuces, courgettes, dwarf beans, tomatoes and cabbages. Check back for updated on how well our crops are growing!

Mud faces

In preparation for a writing lesson later in the week, we gave the trees in our school faces. We will use these faces to help us see what the trees have seen through their eyes!

Enquiry- Who were more powerful: Athenians or Spartans?

Ancient Greek WOW

To introduce our new enquiry topic this term, we had spent the day learning ( and living) like Ancient Greeks! We learnt all about the different types of food they used to eat and sampled some of them too! After learning about the Ancient Greek Olympics, we then had a go at competing in our own mini-olympics, but girls could join in!

Challenge

To complete out enquiry this term, our challenge was to create a circuit that would make our 3D Varjak Paw models eyes glow. We all managed to create 3D Varjak faces, complete with glowing eyes !

Makey Makey Pianos

In computing this term, 4ZB have been learning how to create circuits using Makey Makeys. We designed and made our own pianos using a variety of different conducting materials .

What are Conductors?

To assess our prior knowledge of conductors, we got to explore lots of different circuit components and had a go at making our own!

The Grange Athletics

4ZB took part in an athletics morning run by The Grange. There were 6 different stations that we got to compete at and the overall winner of each station was recorded ! We had great fun and we are sure that there are some future athletes in our class !

Regular and irregular polygons 

4ZB have been exploring the properties of regular and irregular polygons. We went outside and sorted different polygons into different sections .

Freeze frames

We acted out part of the Vajak Paw book. Have a look at our freeze frames and see if you can work out which character is which !

Varjak Paw WOW

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?

Stomp performance

During this term, year 4 have been learning all about how sounds are made. As part of this topic, we explored how we could recycle materials to make musical instruments. To finish the enquiry, we had a visit from a Stomp performer. They showed us how to make a performance using instruments made purely from junk! We got the chance to use our own instruments in this performance too!

Pitch

As part of our enquiry this term, we have been exploring what the pitch of sound is and how this can be altered. To explore this further, we made our own musical instruments with different length straws to see the impact that the length of the straw had on the pitch of the sound created.

Dragonology and fancy dress

To celebrate world book day, St Stephens Juniors had a dragon day. We all dressed up as a variety of fantastic book characters, fantasy characters and a couple of famous faces made an appearance too! Also, as part of this day, we spent some time with a dragon whisperer. She told us some amazing stories from her dragon whispering travels. She also told us how to care for dragon eggs and dragon hatchlings. We then made a care guide to tell future dragon whisperers how to care for hatchlings and eggs successfully. 

World Book Week Visitor

To celebrate World Book Day on Thurday , 4ZB took part in a story telling workshop . As part of this workshop, we got to go on a story telling adventure to a haunted house! Once we had finished our workshop, we then created our own setting descriptions and wrote some haunted haiku poems . We really enjoyed it!

The Three R's

We have been learning all about the Three R's. Once we had collected all of our information about this topic, we had to turn our notes into complex sentences Here are some videos showing how we did this!

How does sound travel?

We have been exploring how sound travels. To do this, we put rice on top a drum and observed what happened when we hit it. We saw the vibrations from the sound waves made the rice bounce around on the surface of the drum. Then we saw what happened when a drum was hit near an open flame.

Exploring length and width

As part of our maths work this week, we have been exploring the different units of measure. We focused on measuring length and width and how you convert between mm, cm, M and KM. We did this by measuring parts of our bodies!

Units of measure ( concrete)

Our focus in maths this week is units of measure. To explore this, we used concrete resources to try out all three types of measure.

WOW

This term, we are exploring how sounds are made, how they travel to our ears and the variety of noises different materials/ instruments make. To begin this enquiry, we watched a 'Stomp' performance ( with popcorn!). Stomp are a group of performers who make music with junk. We have used this as a starting point to help give us some fantastic ideas, ready for when we make our very own musical instruments to perform with at the end of the term.

Term 3

Enquiry: What is Snow?

What is Snow challenge boards

Our challenge this term was to create an A2 display board, showcasing everything we have learnt about snow, states of matter and the water cycle over the term. The outcomes were fantastic!

ProBot programming

In computing this term, 4ZB have been programming and debugging ProBot algorithms. Have a look at the shapes we made!

Aspiring Athletes  

4ZB are very proud of our two fantastic athletes, Marcell and Grace, who came a very close second in a county athletics tournament. They were wearing their fantastic medals with pride when they returned to school after the tournament!

Street Dance

In indoor PE this term, 4ZB have been learning a dance to a very popular song ! Take a look at our fantastic routine !

Chinese Dumplings

In Week 5, our Mandarin teacher, Miss Lee, taught us how to make Chinese Dumplings. After being a bit apprehensive, we were all brave enough to try, and (mostly!) they were thoroughly enjoyed. Thank you Miss Lee for sharing this recipe with us.

Fractions and decimals

In maths this week, year 4 have been exploring how a fraction can be represented as a decimal. We used physical resources to help us see the relationship between fractions and decimals.

Which solid will melt the fastest?

As part of our enquiry which explores states of matter, 4ZB investigated which solid would turn into a liquid quickest. We decided to record the speed chocolate, butter, wax and ice melted. We made predictions and then carried out the experiment. We couldn't believe the results!

How many ways can you make a 1/2?

We have been exploring equivalent fractions, using concrete resources to model all of the different equivalent fractions. 

States of matter

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.

Shackleton's adventure

We have been reading all about Shackleton's adventures in Antarctica. We made predictions about what might happen, we freeze framed his thoughts and acted out a scene from Ice Trap.

Physical fractions

4ZB were set the task of finding as many literal fractions in the classroom as they could. They found lots of different ways to show this!

Ice Trap! Shackleton's Incredible Expedition.

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

Term 2

Christingles

As part of our RE topic, we have been learning all about what Christingles represent and how they are made.

Talk for writing

We have been using talk for writing to plan an explanation text based on Wallace and Gromit and their Snoozatron.

4ZB Nativity

4ZB hosted the Christmas Nativity service at St Stephen's Church on Thursday and Friday of this week. We performed our version of the nativity, telling the story of the Nativity with all of the characters and lots of singing too ! Lots of parents came along to share our celebrations.

Quest WOW

4ZB had a Quest telling afternoon, with a special visitor sharing exciting Quest stories. Once we had listened to the stories we then had a go at mapping out our own Quests. They were fantastic !

Using the CPA approach with division

4ZB have been exploring how to use the CPA approach with division problems .

4ZB cake shop

In 4ZB, we have been using and applying our understanding of multiplication and addition by designing our own cakes. As part of this process, we had to scale up our ingredients and work out the costs of each cake we designed. Now we just want to make them !

Decision alley 

We have been putting ourselves into the shoes of some of the characters from Ice Palace. We had to make some difficult decisions based on what the characters have to do in the story .

Mandarin with Miss Lee

4ZB had their first Mandarin lesson with Miss Lee . They got to act out what school is like using Mandarin to explain what they were doing.

Remembrance assembly

4ZB researched about WW2 and Remembrance Day. We performed a class assembly to tell the whole school and parents about what we had made to help us remember those who lost their lives in all wars.

Outstanding celebrations

After receiving such fantastic news on our new Ofsted Outstanding status, the children ( and staff) all celebrated with a classic Mr Whippy and a 99 flake too!

Using the CPA approach with multiplication

We have been using the CPA approach to help us with multiplication problems. We have been using our classroom tables to show all of our workings out in our Real Story as well as the completed grid in our Maths Story.

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

Can pizzas be healthy?

This term our enquiry will help us answer the question; 'Can pizzas be healthy?' We will be exploring and researching a number of areas, from the eat well plate to the meaning of traffic light systems on food packaging. We will be updating as we go so please visit again to see what we've found out .

Making healthy pizzas 

To end our pizza investigation, 4ZB made healthy pizzas using ingredients that were more nutritionally balanced than our original recipes.

Subtraction using the bar method

4ZB have been using the bar method to solve subtraction word  problems.

Addition using the bar method

4ZB have been using the bar method to solve addition word problems. 

Making pizzas WOW

As part of our new enquiry topic we have been making pizzas. We got to choose from a variety of toppings and evaluated how nice they looked and tasted. We will be making pizzas again at the end of the topic to see if we can improve the nutritional content to make them healthier.

Haka

4ZB have been using facial expression, body language and movement in a Haka-style dance. We are looking forward to performing our class Haka to the rugby coaches during our last tag rubgy session.

How are wolves and humans similar?

David Attenborough style wolf documentaries

4ZB have been filming documentaries about wolves in the style of David Attenborough. Have a look at what we have learnt about wolves and presenting!

Non-chronological report on wolves

We have taken all of the notes and information that we have collected about wolves and published our own non-chronological report. They included information on diet, teeth, digestive system, habitat, location and  social behaviour.

Food Chains

We have been building our own food chains exploring different producers, consumers, predators and prey.

Bug hunt

4ZB explored the insects and animals living in the school environment, producing frequency charts and bar graphs with the data collected.

Tag Rugby

4ZB are taking part in Tag Rugby training sessions led by Bristol Rugby Club during outdoor P.E this term. The children had their first session today and they thought it was fantastic!

Den Building

4ZB have been learning how wolves survive in the wild. We explored how wolves might use different resources to build dens to shelter themselves, creating our own dens in the school grounds.

Wild Place Project WOW day

As a way of introducing the new enquiry this term, Year 4 spent the day at the Wild Place Project. We visited lots of different animals during the day, including wolves, which we are focusing on during this enquiry. We also got to walk through lots of different enclosures and interact with rams, chickens and lemurs! We all had a fantastic day and can't wait to explore our enquiry back in the classroom.

Prior knowledge of wolves

We have been using Padlet to record our prior knowledge of wolves in class.

Playpod

We have been exploring the materials in our new school Playpod. There are lots of different things to keep the children entertained at playtime and lunchtime.

Purple Learning

4ZB have been considering how they can make sure they are purple learners for the duration of the school year. We discussed movers, blockers, helpful and unhelpful talk and displayed our ideas on our Purple Learners' display.

Friendship

4ZB worked in collaboration with 4JP to explore the value of friendship at St Stephen's. We discussed the key components of a good friend, the importance of a circle of friends and how to make your friendship last a lifetime. We made posters to show what we had learnt. We also made a 'circle of friends' using hand prints from all children across the two classes.

Friendship Prayer

We produced a class prayer which we felt contained all of the important aspects that friendship is built upon, allowing us to pray for all children in St Stephen's for happy and supportive friendships.