Spring Term Learning
In Jay class we have lots of children who are keen historians! To reflect this, our 'Journeys' topic this term will focus on 'The Making of Britain', where we will learn all about the different people who have made Britain their home over the past few thousand years, and how they have helped shape the Britain we know today!
The Digestion System
We have continued science week today (Thursday 19th March) with a demonstration of the digestive system! Using food, a potato masher, a bowl, a couple of bags, tights and a tea towel, we watched how food passes through our body in the digestion system. Some of the class were a little squeamish!
IN MARCH..
On Tuesday 17th March one of our amazing year 4 Jays - Eva - ran an assembly about one of her passions: The Environment! You can download her presentation here.
Monday 16th March was an exciting day of science, with Gavin from the Science Boffins running a forensics workshop with us!
We then set up our own experiment, to find out the impact of different liquids on teeth (we used eggs to replace teeth!) 20th February update: The orange juice dissolved the egg shell, as did the vinegar! The egg in vinegar turned into a bouncy ball! Amazing!
This week we've been focussing on converting, comparing and ordering measurements in maths. We have also been testing our understanding of time: reading clocks, converting between 12 and 24-hour clocks, and finding the duration of events.
In English we have been watching 'Ride of Passage' - a video about a tribe who live in a village in a dense forest. The men must complete their rite of passage... which involves the most impressive headdress! We are retelling the events using expanded noun phrases, prepositions and relative clauses!
On Friday 13th we discovered the work of sculptor Antonio Giacometti. We looked at the proportions and shapes created in his pieces, and linked this to our learning about the human body in Science. We will go on to make our own sculptures next week...
World Book Day - 5th March was a brilliant day! We had some fantastic costumes in Jay class, explained the inspiration behind them, and shared our favourite stories. We used our creative skills to create origami bookmarks, fortune teller book recommendations, and our own short story books/ 3D stories. See more photos of World Book Day here.
We've enjoyed a busy first week back in Jay class. Our maths this half term is all about measurement: time, volume, perimeter, area, converting units of measurement (e.g. cm to m).
In English, we have kick-started the half term by using The Present as inspiration for our writing. We have been thinking about how the main character changes throughout the video, as well as how the dog and boy's perceptions of the event might be different. We will be thinking about how we could use our school values, to offer the boy some advice and to rewrite the story.
Our Making of Britain topic is continuing... last term we learned all about the Stone, Copper, Bronze and Iron Age, and this term we will continue with what happened to the Celts when the Romans invaded.
IN FEBRUARY...
14th February was spent being creative in Jay class, and we continued this creativity on our trip to the Wishing Wood in the afternoon! We made dream catchers, and learned the story of their origin. We also made worry dolls based on the Maya! Check out more photos here.
Headphones arrived at Brooke on Thursday 13th February. Our brave Jays tried them out and were taken back in time to live a day in the life of a Stone Age child! Some brilliant drama and amazing imaginations!
On 13th February we made some musical instruments from recycled materials. Earlier this term, we researched instruments through the ages (back to the earliest Neolithic flute) and we created our own modern versions to try and recreate the sounds!
On 12th February Jays went back in time to learn about how Britain has changed throughout history based on the people who settled here. We had great fun, and you can find lots of photos here.
We've been using our amazing set of Chromebooks on 7th February to research Skara Brae, and answer our learning question: What is Skara Brae and why is it important? We learned that it was built in the Neolithic period, by a group of people known as The Grooved Ware.
We also went to the wishing wood during the afternoon, and used natural objects to create patterns and artwork.
In maths on 3rd February we revisited rounding to the nearest 10, 100 and 1000. We challenged ourselves to round decimals too!
IN JANUARY...
On 31st January we visited The Theatre Royal in Norwich (thank you to our amazing parent volunteer and work experience student for your help!) and had an acting workshop, where we learned lots of acting skills, to create a short play which included silent freeze frames and flocking. We used our school values of togetherness, resilience and kindness to support each other and be confident in trying new things. See some photos and videos of our experience here.
28th January
When thinking about good settlements, we need to investigate what materials were used to build them - have they lasted a long time? Did they withstand attacks from invaders? Why? To start thinking about this, we conducted some tests in science to classify rocks and understand their different properties. We weighed them, looked at their density, texture and colour, put them in vinegar to see if they dissolved, and checked their strength. Each rock was a slightly different size though, so our next step will be to work out a fair way to test the weight.
27th January
In geography and history, we've used maps to investigate names of places in the local area, and what they can tell us about who settled here! We learned that 'ton' is an Anglo-Saxon word for town or village, and 'chester' meant castle in Roman times.
22nd January
As part of our topic, we have been thinking about what settlers need, and what would make a good settlement. We've learned that all settlements have limitations though.
In maths we're learning about fractions, and this week we will be looking at how different fractions link to decimals.
We've been using our bodies to make different percussion sounds! Here are one of our 'tribes' rehearsing their 'haka-style' rhythmic performance! We thought about what we wanted to communicate with other 'tribes'... we are strong, we are brave, we are welcoming...! What do you think this group is saying?
9th January
We've started to delve into a book called The Island - it's a fantastic book about a man who is discovered on a strange island, where fates and ocean currents have washed his raft ashore. The people of the island realise he's not like them… so they are less than welcoming.
We've had some incredible writing from this so far, which I will share soon!
In maths we've been tackling fractions. We've looked at what a fraction is, whole numbers and parts, and equivalent fractions.
We've started our topic by learning about the geography of Europe and Britain... and will soon move on to the history of Britain's settlers!
Rock has also been on the agenda this week! Igneous, sedimentary and metamorphic to be exact... See what your children can remember (we've just started to learn about this!) or find out!
Half of our class took part in a local athletics tournament and won! An amazing effort by all means they are through to the next round! Have a look at some photos of the event here.
We had an exciting trip to the Wishing Wood on 17th January, imagining that we had been stranded on an island and had to build shelter, fire, collect food and source fresh water. Each tribe had their own settlement, which they soon found they had to defend from other tribes who tried to steal their food! We didn't take too many photos because a) it poured with rain and b) we were just having too much fun!
We kick started Spring term with a trip to The Sainsbury Centre of Visual Arts on 8th January, which introduced the concept of human journeys through an artist-supported tour and workshop, in which we drew objects from the collection and presented them in pop-up books we made.
