Beech - Year 4
Welcome to Beech Class
2021-2022
In Beech Class you will find....
Mrs Smith (Mon - Wed) Mrs Stevenson (Thurs - Fri) Mrs Saxton - LSA (Mon-Fri)
In English, we will be reading How to Train Your Dragon by Cressida Cowell. It follows the story of Hiccup the Viking, who is learning to train his dragon. It fits in really well with our Quest, which for this half term, is Anglo Saxons and Vikings. (Because in year 3, the children learned about Anglo Saxons, we will be focusing more on the Vikings during this Quest)
During our Quest, we will be finding out about the raids and invasions by Vikings in Anglo-Saxon Britain. The children will learn who the Vikings were as well as when and where they raided and settled. They will learn about significant events from the period and order these chronologically on a timeline. The children will find out about the Anglo-Saxon kings who ruled during the 'Viking Age' and examine their influence and significance in British history. The children will also have the opportunity to learn about different aspects of everyday Viking life. They will explore the types of houses that the Vikings lived in, what clothes they wore and even what types of food they ate
In Maths, we will be looking at decimals, money, time and statistics. We will be using TT Rockstars to practice our times tables and also Numbots to work on number facts. Next term, the children will have the stautory Year 4 Multiplication Tables Check, so we will be doing lots of practise on rapid recall of multiplication facts in order that we know them inside out and back to front!
In Science, we are looking at States of Matter and learning about the differences between solids, liquids and gases, classifying objects and identifying their properties. The children will work scientifically and collaboratively to investigate the weight of a gas. Furthermore, they will have chance to find the ideal temperature to melt chocolate
Please take a look at the knowledge organiser below to see an overview of this term.
PE sessions will take place on a Tuesday and Friday. You can wear your PE kit to school, instead of getting changed. Alternate Fridays will be Outdoor Learning with Ash Class. When the weather gets a little warmer, we will also be swimming.
If you have any questions then please feel free to contact us on our class email beech@eastsomersetfederation.co.uk or through the school office.
Thank you,
Mrs Smith and Mrs Stevenson
Knowledge Organiser - Summer 1 - Anglo Saxons and Vikings
Knowledge Organiser - Water, Water Everywhere - Spring 2
Today we read Chapter 4 of Kensuke's Kingdom. This is the part of the story where Michael gets washed up on the island. We have used the text to understand the layout of the island and have drawn our own maps. They are fantastic and full of detail!
Knowledge Organiser - Spring Term - 1st Half
Knowledge Organiser - Autumn Term
We had a wonderful school trip to Hauser and Wirth today. The children were amazing and enjoyed learning about the work of Thomas J Price and Eduardo Chillida. We looked at the exhibits and talked about how each artist created their work, then we had a go at sketching our own versions. We also designed and created our own sculptures that were inspired by Chillida's work. A fantastic day had by all. Thank you Hauser and Wirth :)
Our Egg-Speriment! We conducted an experiment to see what the effects of different liquids would be on our 'teeth'. Egg Shell has very similar properties to the enamel on our teeth, so we placed a hard boiled egg in 6 liquids (water, milk, orange juice, vinegar, Coca Cola and energy drink) and left it for a week to see what happened. It was gross!! Please see the results below!
Making poo!! In Science we have been learning about the functions of the digestive system. We started with adding Weetabix, Cream Crackers and sweetcorn in to a bag (stomach) and then we put in some water (saliva), some orange juice (stomach acid) and we squashed and squeezed it, to replicate the work the muscles do. Once is was mushed up, we poured the mixture in the tights and moved it along them, showing peristalsis. As the mixture moved along, the liquids came out through the tights, which shows what happens when nutrients are absorbed through the walls of the small and large intestine. Once most of the liquid had been removed, the mixture got to the end of its journey and came out of the end of the tights as poo. We had a lot of fun with this experiment, even if it was a little gross!
Pointilism in progress! We have been looking at the artwork of French pointilist painter Georges Seurat. He created beautiful landscape artwork using dots of paint. He layered the paints to create mixes of colour rather than mixing his paints in a palette. We have started to draw our own landscape using the school grounds as inspiration, next we will add colour!
In Maths, we have been busy measuring and learning about different units of measurement. We carried out some investigations in order to prove or disprove some statements about parts of our body. What do you think? The length of your nose is equivalent to length of your index finger. Or... Your feet are the same length as your handspan. True or False?
In English, we are looking at Instructions and Explanations. Today we turned in to feature detectives, to identify the features of instructions! We learnt about the importance of imperative verbs and how good it is to be bossy when writing instructions.
In Art, we have taken one of the French paintings that we looked at in Quest and used sketching pencils and pastels to draw our own. We were looking at adding colour, texture and detail...keep an eye out for our finished masterpieces!
This week in our Quest topic of Europe, we have focused in on France. We have been looking at French Art of landscapes from around the Country. We looked at different painting and sorted them in to 4 different climatic regions - Continental, Mediterranean, Alpine and Atlantic.
01.10.21 - In English, we have been learning about the features of persuasive writing. We took part in a debate about whether James should get to stay in New York. We had some very convincing arguments!
20.09.21 - We looked at the features of a playscript and put our acting skills to the test with a play!
08.09.21 - We have been Exploring Europe in Quest. Today we put a map of Europe together like a jigsaw! It was exciting to see where all the countries were and there were some we had never heard of before!
