Autumn Term

To finish our learning in Computing, we have created our own maze game with a partner. We had to work together to programme a sprite to navigate through a maze. After that we had to plan instructions for somebody else to understand how to play our game. We were so pleased with how the children from Bowland and Nicky Nook used our instructions to complete the mazes!

In PE today we completed our Superheroes and Villains dance unit by creating our own dance sequence as a super villain. Our sequence included a turn, movement, jump, gesture and stillness. Take a look at how fantastically frightening our gestures are!

We loved our Computing morning yesterday! We have been becoming experts at using the programming site, Scratch. We learnt how to programme a pen to draw, how to use the blocks to make our sprites navigate a maze and how to use all of the different tools on scratch. 

We were so lucky today to be visited by Sarah from NISCU who taught us a lesson all about light. We spoke about different sources of light in our lives and how they are useful to help us see, keep us safe and guide us. After that, Sarah gave us all some mirrors and we explored different activities that made us use them in different ways. To end our session, we thought about how everything we had learnt connected us to our faith and that Jesus' light is similar to other light sources and guides us, keeps us safe and helps us to see our way in life. 

In Computing, we have been learning about programming. In our lesson today, we used Scratch to make our 'Sprite' move in different directions. We had lots of fun exploring the Scratch website and used lots of resilience to test different commands and actions. 

After Sarah's lesson, we were inspired to think about how we could spread our own light. As a class, we created an advent calendar to use each day to help us spread light to others. Some of our daily challenges include giving somebody a complement, playing with somebody new and asking 5 people how they are.

In Music today, we challenged ourselves to perform the song, 'Mamma Mia' in a pair or individually using our recorders. We have been working so hard to master playing the right notes and following the music's pulse and rhythm. Next week, we will put together our singing and instrumental skills to perform the full song!

We have been learning about the meaning of Christingles. After creating our own, we took part in an assembly for Bowland Class and showed them everything we had learnt. 

We have created learning maps to showcase our learning from the Autumn term. As a class, we shared the things we could remember from each subject and discussed the lessons that we thought stood out as the 'stickiest'. After that, we created maps to showcase everything we could remember. 

In PE, we have been continuing our dances around the theme of Superheroes. This week, we created a sequence of movements with a partner that included a starting position, travelling, a jump, turn, gesture and ending position.

In Music we have been learning to sing and play Mamma Mia by Abba on the recorders. Today, we performed the chorus on recorders as a class. We were working on playing in unison with one another to make sure we kept up with the rhythm of the song. 

A tessellated design is a pattern of repeated shapes, that fit together closely without gaps. Today in part, we created our own designs and then thought about the art that we could see all around us in the form of tessellated patterns. We realised that jigsaws, bridges and even buildings could be art work!

In RE, we have been thinking about stories in the Bible that show Jesus as being the light of the world. In groups, we learnt, rehearsed and performed some Bible stories for the class and then reflected on the way that Jesus showed all those around him - and now us - that he is the light of the world.

Our Year 4s were teachers today and taught their Year 3 partners how to divide using repeated subtraction. They acted as our learning experts and supported the Year 3s with some brand new learning!

In PE this week, we continued our topic of Superheroes and begun to create our own routines in the role of a hero. We worked together to create a sequence of movements that incorporated our whole bodies. Can you recognise any classic superhero moves in the pictures?

We have been retelling the story of 'Gulliver's Travels' from the point of view of a citizen of Lilliput. This week, we have created, innovated and retold the story. In our lesson today, we read a section of the new story and retold it, imagining we were the author who was reliving his memories of Gulliver. We thought about our expression, tone, fluency and emphasis when reading and gathered some brilliant vocabulary in the process!

In History we found out about the different areas inside an Anglo-Saxon settlement and created our own map to remember each area. We found out that settlements were surrounded with a large fence called a palisade and all settlements were close to rivers so villagers had access to fresh water (even if it was too unclean to drink).

After that, we learnt the word 'hierarchy' and roleplayed as different classes of people in Anglo-Saxon Britain. We were excellent at getting into character and deciding what our 'day in the life' would be. Can you spot the Thegn, ceorl, peasant and slave on the photographs? 

Today in Art, we continued our exploring patterns unit and followed then created a set of rules to create a pattern. The first pattern we created had three rules: only draw circles, join circles with zig-zags, shade in 3 circles. After that, we created our own set of rules to follow. We were surprised with the patterns we could create whilst only following 3 rules!

In Science, we explored the question 'How does melting change the state of something?' We used a water bath and butter to monitor the time it took for the butter to melt. We found out that the particles begin to move when the butter is heated, changing the state from solid to liquid.

In Maths, we have learnt a new song that will help us to remember what a question is asking us to do. After learning the lyrics, we had a go at solving some questions that used each of the new words. 

In Art, we have been exploring sensory patterns. We thought about our senses and created different patterns that incorporated each sense. Our favourite sense to explore was 'taste' because we tasted sweet and salty flavours and responded to them in our sketch books. 

To start our new PE unit of dance, we explored different movements and learnt the vocabulary that we will use for the unit. After getting warmed up, we became superheroes and explored different types of movement in role. 

We have been learning about what life was like in Anglo-Saxon Britain. After finding out about a 'normal' day for an Anglo-Saxon boy and girl, we had a look at the coins they used and created our own versions. 

In English, we have been acting out the opening of Gulliver's Travels in small groups. Can you spot which of us is Gulliver being tied up and which of us are residents of Lilliput after finding him after his boat capsized?

In RE, we have been thinking about why we call Jesus 'the light of the world'. We sat together and reflected on the different things Christians call Jesus and the things we think of when we hear the word 'light'. Some big questions we have are: Why is light such a powerful symbol? What does the light do to the dark? Is light a good metaphor for Jesus?

To start our new History unit, we looked at a photograph of some Anglo-Saxon artefacts. In pairs, we thought about all of the different things we could see, what we thought they were used for and any questions we had about them.

In English, we have started out new topic of adventure narratives and have been exploring the opening chapter of Gulliver's Travels. We started our work by becoming either Gulliver or a resident of the Island of Lilliput and thought about what we could see, what we would be feeling and what questions we might have about the strange events that had happened!

Then we explored the vocabulary in the first chapter; we worked in teams to race against each other to find definitions, synonyms and put our new vocabulary into context. 

In DT, we have been exploring the question: How do we make structures stable? To explore this, we created two structures using cubes. We created one structure with a weak foundation and one with a strong foundation and found out that the structures with strong foundations were more stable. 

Shortly, we will be writing our own action scene for the story 'The Treasure of the Loch Ness Monster'. In our stories, we will create a new monster and setting for the monster to live. Today in English, we explored a range of different water settings and thought of some incredible sentences to describe them.

We have also been thinking about our new underwater mythical creatures. We decided that they all needed to have similar characteristics to amphibians and fish because we wanted them to be able to live under the water. After that, the children decided on their own creature name, design and thought of some adjectives to describe them.

In Art, we watched a film called the 'wish granter'. After discussing what we thought the message of the film was, we created our own wish toolbox like the one the mythical creature had in the video. We discussed the things people considered lucky, our own ideas of magic and how we could show elements of magic in our sketches. 

In English, we have been reading 'The Treasure of the Loch Ness Monster'. As well as LOVING the plot of the story, we have also been discussing our impression of the characters Ishbel and Kenneth. We were interested to see how our impression changed throughout the book and created a a character profile of either Ishbel or Kenneth in our books. 

In DT today, our key question was "How do cylinders support weight?"

We tested our key question by creating cylinders (first one, then two then four) from paper and then used books to test their stability and ability to hold the weight of the books. Some of us found that multiple cylinders were more suited to support weight because the weight was spread between each cylinder.

We celebrated National Poetry Day by exploring the poem The Ballad of Nessie. We spent some time thinking about what happened in the poem, how it made us feel and what the different Scottish slang meant. After that, we rehearsed the poem in small teams and came up with some actions to help us remember. You can listen to our rendition of the poem by clicking play on the audio file above.

In DT, we are exploring the question "What shapes make structures stable?" For our first lesson, we have been learning definitions to some very important words and have explored some unusual structures. We can't wait to investigate more next week!

In Science, we have been learning about classification. Classification is when we sort organisms into different groups using their similarities and differences. We started our lesson thinking about yes and no questions for bears and butterflies then we tested some classification keys using Haribo sweets. We were so tempted by the sweets but all managed to resist until we had classified them!

Today, we worked on our bounce passes. We played different games in teams that tested our accuracy, speed and power.

We have been doing more counting in French! This week, we have been mastering counting beyond 10. We worked in pairs to learn together and challenge each other on the numbers that we are working hard to remember. 

We started our new art topic Storytelling Through Drawing. In our first lesson, we watched a book trailer that had no words and explored the images we saw, what we thought the story would be about and how the trailer made it feel. 

We took it in turns to roll a dice and write the digits in either the thousands, hundreds, tens or ones column. After we had created our 3 or 4-digit numbers, the person with the larger number was the winner. After that, we swapped to find the smallest number. As a plenary, we ordered the numbers we had found in ascending order. Some of us were very competitive!

In Computing, we are learning all about the internet. For our first lesson, we used string to demonstrate how messages can be sent to different networks via switches and routers. 

We have been learning to count from 1-10 in French. Our Year 4s have been mentoring the Year 3s and helping them become experts!

This week, we have been perfecting our chest passes. We worked in pairs and small groups to work on accuracy, power and technique. 

Today in English, we have been revisiting our knowledge of word classes. We worked together to hunt through a text to find all of the nouns, adjectives, verbs and adverbs and then worked in pairs to think of some amazing examples of each word class that we could use in our writing. 

We have started our new topic of Rivers in Geography. Today, we explored some photographs of rivers and thought of how we might describe them. Then, we learnt about the process of a river and thought of some brilliant actions to help us remember each stage!