In Geography this term, we have been looking at latitude and longitude.  Today, we estimated where important lines of latitude were on a laminated map, and drew them on!  These important lines included the Equator, 90 degrees North and South, the Tropic of Cancer and the Tropic of Capricorn.  This was intended to give the children the knowledge to answer the following question:

Rishma says that the lower the figure for a line of latitude, the colder the climate.

We learned that Rishma was incorrect!  0 degrees latitude includes countries such as Kenya, Uganda and Somalia – definitely not cold climates!  Meanwhile, 60 degrees latitude is very close to the Arctic and Antarctic circles making their temperatures much colder.

We really enjoyed learning about how lines of latitude can give clues to the climate and weather in a place!

On February 5th, Year 4 had a fantastic trip to West Stow as part of their studies in History on Anglo-Saxons!  The children were introduced to the village by Stephanie, who told us all about the different buildings.  We visited each one and investigated them thoroughly!  Our guide also showed us her log boat she was carving with traditional tools such as axes.

Then, we ate lunch together before heading into the Anglo-Saxon Museum!  Inside, there were artefacts and information as well as a secret chest of treasures.  We sat in small groups and brought out different objects which the children had to guess the use of.  There were lots of interesting guesses but the children were quite surprised by some of the answers!

All in all, the Year 4’s really enjoyed their day!  We had fantastic weather, brilliant volunteer helpers and a wonderful experience!

This term, Year 4 has the exciting opportunity to learn the violin!  Today was our first lesson with our teacher, Mrs Buckland.  We learned what the different parts of the violin were called and what they were made of.  We learned what the strings were called and a method of playing called pizzicato where we plucked the strings.  In the picture, you can see some of the children holding their bows! The children all had an amazing time and were very well-behaved.  We cannot wait until our lesson next week!

In our Real PE session today, we were looking at challenging ourselves with an activity called ‘Exchange Objects’!  In this lesson, each pair of children had two hoops, one of which contained 4 objects (2 cones, a ball and a ring).  One at a time the children needed to try to move the objects from one ring to the other repeatedly using only their feet!  They would have 30 seconds to see how many times they could move an object!  There were three levels to this task: Level 1 allowed the children to put 2 hands down behind them as they lifted up their legs and used their feet to pick up the objects.  Level 2 asked them to have only 1 hand on the floor and the other arm held over their tummies.  Level 3 asked the children to have no hands down at all and try to remain balanced as they worked on their task!  It was extremely tricky in places but each child chose a level of challenge they could cope with and gave it their best!  Well done, Year 4!

Today, Year 4, 5 and 6 were lucky enough to have the author C.S. Clifford come to work with us!  He talked with all of the children in the hall and answered lots of their questions.  He also showed them his books and discussed some of the characters and plot points.  Once he had spoken, he gave Year 4 a writing challenge!  He wanted us to write 3 paragraphs starting with a location he uses in his own books: a waterfall that acts like a portal, transporting the children to a strange place.  Then, they needed to describe the place they ended up!  It was very much like the English countryside but also very odd!  He suggested to the children maybe the trees might be strange colours or textures; maybe they might grow sideways or downwards! Then, they would spot a trail and follow it until they met a large mythical creature!  The children were told to make their mythical creature by mixing and matching parts of creatures that already existed!  Their final challenge was describing how they would communicate with this creature, who was very friendly and lonely but didn’t speak English!

The author then visited the children in the classroom after break and discussed their ideas and taught them some really good tips for making their writing as good as it can be!  Big thanks go out to C.S Clifford for visiting us and making writing so much fun!

We have been learning about primary, secondary and tertiary colours. We experimented with these colours in our painting. When it was dry, we used the ‘overpainting’ technique to add patterns to our piece.

Today, the children were very lucky to receive a workshop led by John, a professional dancer.  Through dance, they told the story of Rama and Sita, a tale which is celebrated each year at Diwali.  Diwali is the annual Hindu Festival of Light.  The story of Rama and Sita is about Rama rescuing Sita from a demon King Ravana with the help of Hanuman and his monkey army.  The children had a wonderful time representing the characters and were so well-behaved!  Well done, Year 4!