We had a busy Book week. 

Our task was to learn how to properly read a book using a reader's theatre.

We had to think carefully about our intonations, volume and speed in order to tell the story correctly. 

We used the book Black Dog and our performances can be seen on Google Classroom.

In Art, we were looking at the theme of journeys and were analysing the work of Emily Kngwarreye, who was an Australian aboriginal artist. 

We looked at aboriginal symbols and tried to think of our own for things we would see on a journey to and from school. 

These symbols were then placed onto an aboriginal-inspired background created using paint. 

In DT we were thinking about healthy eating. We looked at smoothies and discovered they are a great way to get our 5-a-day!

So we tested some different smoothies, rating them on taste, texture, appearance and smoothness. 

From this, we designed our own smoothie recipe and then got to create them!

We had to think hard about our cutting and chopping skills in order to ensure the fruit and vegetables were small enough for the food processor!

Year 4 have learnt new food vocabulary in order to talk about mealtimes in French – mainly breakfast. They have identified two new verbs ‘manger’ (to eat) and ‘boire’ (to drink) and are starting to understand how to say ‘some’ in French. They are able to ask and answer questions about their opinions about different foods and drinks and have learnt how to use the verb ‘avoir’ to say they are hot, cold, hungry or thirsty. We had lots of fun with mimes!

In addition to our exciting KS2 MFL Day Year 4 have enjoyed completing a class survey about their friends’ breakfast routines. We also watched a video about what French people typically eat for their breakfast. This led to discussions about healthy eating and comparing breakfast habits in different countries. Well done Year 4!

This half term we have been doing lots of hands on Science. 

We have been learning about digestion and teeth. We did an experiment to see the affect that different drinks have on the enamel of our teeth. 

We placed the eggs in 250ml of water, orange squash, orange juice, vinegar, coffee and coke.

They produced some very interesting results! Can you guess which liquid caused the most damage?

In French Year 4 have had much fun this term, learning all about ice-cream! They have learnt how to talk about a variety of flavours and used their knowledge of masculine and feminine nouns to do further ‘flavour research’ with a bilingual dictionary. We have had very heated discussions about our opinions of different flavours. We practised how to order ice-cream in a shop, perfected our dialogues and had the ice-cream shop come to Overton in our last lesson! Through this work, we have looked at and practised several phonic sounds – including ‘a’ (l’abricot), ‘ch’ (le chocolat) and silent consonants at the end of nouns (le citron)

In Gymnastics this half term, we have used the wall bars to work on partner balances. We also practised 3 levels of partner balances on mats as well as creating a sequence of 3 symetrical partner balances on floor equipment. 

In Computing this half term we got to use Minecraft! It blew our minds that we could be using a video game we all knew and played in the classroom! We had 3 challenges to complete. 

Challenge 1 was to build a glass building that was a maximum of 12x12x12. We had to use our maths skills and building skills to achieve this. Some of us even built an interior like this kitchen!

Challenge 2 was to build 3D representations of the number 0-10. 

Challenge 3 was to collaborate and try to build a version of the school. We looked at aerial photos of the school and worked out the size of each classroom, then from this plan began to build and create!

This half term we have been super creative!

We have been continuing with our Art project focusing on Cezanne.

We combined all of the skills we have observed and practised into a final still life piece. 

As well as this, we have continued with our Roman topic.

We have learnt about the Roman Empire's legacy and the innovative things they contributed to the world. 

We were given 1/4 of a map of a Roman Town, then through research had to complete the rest of the maps!

We have been busy in French learning how to tell the time to the hour. We learnt some daily routine phrases and adapted them to cross the curriculum divide into their topic work on ‘Romans’. We spent some time imagining the daily life of a Roman soldier and the emperor and how different they would be. This culminated in a group dialogue which was then performed in front of the class. Lots of fun!

In Science, we have been looking at states of matter. We learnt about solids, liquids and gases and explored the processes of evaporation and condensation. 

As well as this, we had a DT day when we built our own Roman chariots! We had to make sure that they had a working axis and followed the criteria for a Roman chariot.

To finish our Art topic, we linked our learning to RE and used our knowledge of Angels to design and make our own clay angels. 

We have started the year off with our exciting new topic of the Romans. 

We learnt all about the initial invasion by Julius Ceaser and how he left because he didn't like the weather!

Then we learnt about the real invasion years later with Emperor Claudius leading. We became Celtic spies and had to find out information about the Roman Soldiers. We needed to think carefully about their appearance, weapons, strengths and weaknesses. 

In Art we have been studying the work of Paul Cézzane and thinking about tone and shading of sketches. 

We have begun our journey by sketching leaves and will be moving on to fruits and vegetables soon. 

Ufton Court

We had a trip to Ufton Court that related to our Roman topic. We had a great day which involved learning all about the laws and punishments, military skills and how the enjoyed drama shows!

This week we've celebrated National Numeracy day, with a whole week of Maths related fun! In class, we have been incorporated maths actives into all of our week. We joined in with the National Numeracy livestream, taking part in the National Quiz and trying out some super cool dance moves! Each class also researched and presented, in a whole school assembly, a mathematician significant to world changes. We were also lucky enough to have some parents visit us in school to tell us about how they use mathematics within their jobs.

We enjoyed our trip to The Living Rainforest, which gave us an opportunity to see some of the plants and animals we have been learning about this term up close. The guided tour gave us lots of fascinating information about how plants and animals adapt to the rainforest environment. We were even lucky enough to see Cinnamon the sloth, who ventured out from the canopy of leaves!

As part of our Coronation celebrations, despite the British weather, we all celebrated Coronation day with a year group picnic in our classrooms.

During the morning we created red, white and blue table decorations and then at lunchtime we all feasted and danced to celebrate the new king.  

In celebration of the upcoming coronation of King Charles III, we created our own whole year group piece of art, to be displayed at the Coronation Art Exhibition that the OSA had organised. Some of us even had our photograph taken with the mayor!

We worked extremely hard on producing our Easter Performance of 'Easter Praise', that we performed at St. Mary's Church with Year 3. We all learned, our lines, songs and directions brilliantly, and had a fantastic evening performing to our grown ups.

In computing this term we have been looking at simulators and when they might be used.

We built and programmed our own cities using Minecraft. We considered our ordering and steps taken to create our buildings and their features.

In Art we created artwork based on a journey we regularly take. We explored Aboriginal dot-work and dreamtime art, then used similar techniques to create our own. We considered symbols we could use to represent different parts of our journeys.

Our Science focus this term has been Electricity. We studied electricity, circuits, components, conductors and insulators.

We made and experimented with circuits, first ensuring we could make a working circuit. We then moved on to making our own different types of switches and investigating which materials were conductors and which were insulators.

In our Science lessons we have been learning all about sound. We investigated how sound is made, pitch, volume and how sound travels.

We conducted several different investigations to further our understanding.

Linking with our learning in English, 'The Firework Maker's Daughter', we explored the art of Batik, and created our own firework designs, adding embellishments using embroidery and beads.

We are studying The Firework Maker’s Daughter by Philip Pullman this term, which is providing us with lots of exciting reading comprehension, debating and writing opportunities. We took part in creating a ‘Conscience Alley’ to decide whether or not Lila should go on her quest to find the Royal Sulphur.

We’ve started our term off with some fantastic Science Investigations for our study of teeth and the effect different liquids have on them. We carefully planned our fair investigation, considered our constants and variables and wrote our predictions. We then left the eggs ( representing the enamel of our teeth) in the liquids for a week and obsrved the changes!