“The magic of autumn has seized the countryside…”
Elizabeth Coatsworth
Geography Field Trip: Knapp and Papermill Reserve
We learned lots of new things about the physical features of rivers and made field sketches of a meander.
After lunch, we used kick sampling to see what we could find living in the brook to help us to determine whether the water is clean or polluted. We found lots of mayfly lymph, which told us that the water in the brook was very clean. One group found a large dragon fly larva and two groups managed to catch a fish in their nets!!
Beeline Story Telling Festival
On 16th October, Year 4 went to Worcester University for the Beeline Story Telling Festival. We took part in a workshop led by the famous author, Abi Elphinstone, where we learnt all about finding inspiration for exciting stories.
After the workshop, we had the opportunity to have our books signed by Abi herself.
Leaf by Sandra Dieckmann
This half-term we have been using the book Leaf, by Sandra Dieckmann, as our inspiration for writing our own narratives about a polar bear called Leaf arriving in the Wild Woods.
We used our inference skills to see if we could work out what the story would be about, just using the front cover of the book. We then investigated the book through writing diary entries and setting and character descriptions.
We have also written non-chronological reports about polar bears.
We have also been using our favourite fairy tale to write formal letters and newspaper reports.
Mountains
Our topic this half term has been mountains. We have learnt about the features of mountains and the formation of five types of mountains: fault block, fold, dome, plateau and volcanic.
Our unhomework project was based on mountains and we all worked very hard on our projects.
During Design and Technology sessions, we designed, made and evaluated educational models of a mountain or mountain range.
Year 4 are Electric!
Our first science topic of the year has been Electricity. We have been thinking about which appliances need to plugged into the mains electricity and which work on batteries. Very importantly, we have also been thinking about how to be safe around electricity.
Having taken apart 3-pin plugs, played with some electronic games and investigated electrical conductors and insulators, we put our knowledge to the test by making our buzz-wire games. Demonstrating an understanding of how electrical circuits work, requiring the circuit to be complete for the buzzer to sound.
