Welcome to Year 4!

Class Teacher: Mr. White    Class LSA: Mrs. Melvin

Hello and welcome to the Badgers class page! I am Mr. White the class teacher and also the school lead for mathematics and physical education. Below is some information that I hope you find helpful.

PE

Our PE days are currently Tuesday and Friday. This means the children will need to bring their PE kit in on Tuesdays and wear their PE kit into school (all day) on Fridays.

PE kit

Navy shorts or joggers.

White or blue t-shirt.

Plimsols or trainers.

Dark coloured plain tracksuit can be worn during cold weather.

Long hair must be tied back and jewellery must be removed.

Music

Our music lesson will take place on a Friday morning.

Homework

Homework will be set every Wednesday, this will be online learning and will be a mixture of:

• Maths - TT Rock star, times tables practice.
• Spelling/grammar - Tasks to complete on SPAG.com. Spellings will continue to be sent home with the children on Wednesdays and tested the following Monday.
• Reading - Children who read at least 3 times a week at home and bring in their reading diaries on Fridays to prove it will continue to be given a reading reward.

In addition to this, every term we will be setting a project (linked to one of our current topics) for you to complete at home.

We have been reading George's Marvellous Medicine and writing our own stories based on the book. As part of our learning journey, we had lots of fun creating our very own 'perfect potions'. 

We have been learning all about electricity this half term and have been creating our own simple circuits. We have experimented to see which materials are conductors and which are insulators and have learned how switches can open and close circuits.

We combined our DT skills with our recently acquired knowledge of electrical circuits from our science topic to create our very own working lamps. They all looked absolutely amazing!

Year 4 conducted an experiment to see what happens to the food we eat as it goes through the digestive system.  The food (banana and crackers) were in a stomach (plastic bag) we added orange juice to represent the digestive juices and acid in the stomach and then water (the saliva). The children mashed the food with their hands in the (sealed!) bags to show how peristalsis turns the food into smaller pieces, goes through the small, then large intestine, nutrients are absorbed and waste material eliminated.

We visited Stubbington Study Centre for our Anglo Saxon day. We spent time in a long house, exploring and experiencing what life was like in Anglo Saxon times. We had a go at examining Anglo Saxon artefacts, weaving, pottery making, writing using runes, playing games and even building a wattle and daub fence!

We visited Chandler’s Ford Care Home as part of our RE learning, specifically Catholic Social Teaching, in which we have focused on the values of human dignity and solidarity. The children met the residents, sang them some Christmas carols and give them some Christmas cards they had made especially for them.

During Enterprise Week, the children created their own stained glass window Christmas decorations to sell at the School's Christmas Fayre. The children followed the four steps of the process by:

1. Researching their product.

2. Planning their product and practising the skills required to make it. 

3. Making the finished product.

4. Evaluating and reflecting on the process and suitability of their product.

We were visited by a Lecturer in Engineering and Physical Sciences from the University of Southampton, who talked to us about sound and ran some fun interactive works shops for us to help deepen our understanding.