Another hardworking week for Year 4. We have been busy writing, measuring and insulating ice cubes! Our thoughts are turning to the holidays too so some of our work this week has had a festive feel.

4JP

Our teachers were right when they said we would do forest schools whatever the weather! Our class braved the rain on Wednesday for our last session this term. First of all, we had to build a shelter so that we had somewhere dry to work. Our task this week was to make a winter wreath from twigs and holly. We had to lash the twigs together to make a frame and then tie the greenery around it. It was really tricky but we all helped each other. We also had a treasure hunt to find 33 chocolate baubles hanging from the trees. We found every single one and enjoyed them with a hot chocolate.

We added finishing touches of gold ribbons and bows when we got back to the classroom. Our fingers worked a bit better when they weren't so cold!

We have been busy with our writing too and have almost finished our volcano reports. We thought carefully about how they needed to be organised and what each paragraph should include. We made detailed annotated diagrams which clearly showed the different parts of a volcano and we now just need to add a glossary at the end to explain the technical vocabulary we have used. We are very proud of our reports.

4CW

In 4CW we have been working hard on our clay mosaics.  We spent time drawing our designs in our sketch books and then used these drawings for our practical session at the end of the week.  We realised that the best idea was to keep the design as simple as possible as it is surprisingly fiddly.  They are still not fully completed as they need a little coating of varnish once they have dried.  They will be with you soon!

4JD

We have now completed our science work for this half term on solids, liquids and gases. This week we carried out our ice-cube challenge. We picked materials that we thought would work well to insulate an ice-cube and keep it frozen solid, for the longest time.

We found that the polstyrene was the most effective, so now understand why our homes are kept warm with this type of material. Fish is kept fresh and burgers stay warm in polystyrene containers.

In our religion lesson we continued our learning about pilgrimages. This week we followed on from our work on the five pillars to learn about the fifth pillar (Hajj). It was fascinating to learn about what happens when Muslims make this special holy journey. We took some fabulous notes about what we learnt. You could ask us what we remember!

Finally we completed our mosaic clay work. We have been working on mosaics as part of our Romans work this term. This week we learnt about modern mosaic artists and the work of Antoni Gaudi. We admired his superb architecture and designs. We were then inspired by the modern artist, Andrew Logan when we created our own abstract shapes and letters out of clay. We used tesserae to decorate our mosaics in attractive designs. 

On Tuesday, 4JP also had the important job of decorating the school Christmas tree. It's the biggest tree we have ever seen!

And finally, a huge thank you to everyone who donated food bank items. We have watched the collection grow over the week. Your generosity is very much appreciated.