Squirrels
Autumn Term
Welcome to Squirrels Class.
This term our Key Question is What does a hero look like?
Science
We are learning about forces. We thought about the different ways we could move balls.
In PE we are learning to play hockey.
Summer Term
Our Key Line of Enquiry: What is a world without internet?
Egyptian Day
We have been learning about why and how the Egyptians built their pyramids. We have talked about their different Gods and what they believed about the afterlife. We then mummified some tomatoes so that we understood a little about the processes of mummifying!
DT - Structures
We are thinking about how structures are made.
Art
We have been doing some continuous line drawings using pen. We took it in turns to pose for others to draw us.
Geography
We are learning about rivers in Geography. We have found rivers in the UK and around the world on maps. We have thought about where rivers start and where they go to. We have made our own water cycles in plastic bags so that we can watch each stage of the process.
Mini marathon
Some of us took part in the mini marathon held at Laverstock. We all did our best and enjoyed representing our school at the event.
The Coronation of King Charles III and Queen Camilla
To celebrate the historic occasion on 6th May 2023 we learnt more about the descent of the Crown. We ordered the Kings and Queens from 1066 to the present day. The year 4s used column subtraction to work out how many years between the reigns of two monarchs of their choice. The year 3s made bar charts of the monarch's names to see which one has been the most popular.
We learnt that a coronation is when a crown is placed on the monarch for the first time. We looked at how the coronation happens and what symbols are used and why. We researched St. Edward's chair, the Stone of Scone, St. Edward's crown, the orb and sceptre.
We designed our own tiles as a memory to take home, made clay crowns and collaboratively painted a picture of the King.
We are making a memory book with all our research, copies of letters we wrote to the King and photos of how we celebrated over the weekend to keep for future children to look at to see how we all celebrated.
We enjoyed our Coronation lunch party and Coronation disco too!
English
We have been learning about endangered animals from the UK and abroad. We used the internet to research some of these animals and make an infographic. We understand that without the internet this would have been harder for us to do.
Spring Term
Our line of Enquiry: What if your dinner ran away?
Music Collaboration
We were excited to join our Amesbury Cluster schools in a song writing collaboration. We had to think about what instruments could be used and the type of sounds we wanted.
R.E.
We split into groups and made posters answering the questions:
Why is Palm Sunday so important to Christians?
Why do Christians call the day Jesus died Good Friday?
What do Christians believed happened on Easter Sunday?
DT - Adapting a recipe
Frist we had to follow a recipe to make some plain biscuits. After tasting shop bought biscuits we had to adapt our basic recipe to make our own flavours. Each group then chose their favourite from their table to make and box up. To decide how much of each ingredient to put in we had to cost out how much it would cost - we had a budget to stick to! Everyone made a small container before choosing the one to go with the biscuits. We could then discover how much profit we would make if we were to sell our biscuits. The winners were the team with the best overall packaging and biscuit taste.
World Book Day
We based our morning around the book The Day the Crayons Quit. Children came dressed to school as a colour. Then they were given different ideas that they could try. Some children researched: What colour is the sun? What is colour blindness? What are secondary and tertiary colours? Some children chose to write a story about a crayon. In the afternoon we completed one or our World Book day challenges - to make an egg box character from a book.
Roman Day with Historic Workshop
Children's Mental Health Week.
The theme for this year is Let's Connect. Connection can mean different things to different people and we can connect with people in different ways. We talked about using eye contact, smiles, gestures and touch and about what to do if we felt disconnected - who would we talk to? We also asked whether being lonely was the same as being alone. We looked at young people who have connected to change the world. Then we made a paperchain showing some of the ways we are connected with others.
Art
We have been exploring how artists combine art and craft using painting and sewing to make art. We looked at the work of Alice Kettle and Hannah Rae. Then we painted on cloth before using sewing to add textural marks onto the painting.
Music
Using the Chinese New Year as a stimulus we have played and created pentatonic melodies. After composing our melodies we performed them to the rest of the class.
Safer Internet Day
Squirrels discussed how confident they felt about dealing with different things on line. We watched videos and talked through how to become more confident and that it is important to always trust their insincts and if ever in doubt always tell a trusted adult.
Number Day
We took part in the NSPCC Number Day by dressing in numbers and playing number games. We played snakes and ladders, shut the box and times table games.
Design & Technology
We are usng coding skills to programme microbits in order to create a timer .
Chinese New Year
This year is the Year of the Rabbit. We looked at patterns on Chinese materials and used these to decorate our own rabbit picture. We tried some chinese letter and number writing. We even tried Chinese multiplication!
PE - Circuit training
Reading for pleasure.
We all enjoy our reading for pleasure session on a Friday afternoon.
African drumming and dance.
We all enjoyed our African drumming and dance workshop.
RE - Trinity
We have been thinking about The Trinity and made our own art work.
Autumn Term
Key line of enquiry - How can I make a difference?
DT - Textiles: Fastenings
We designed and made our own book covers. First, we looked at different fastenings around the school. Next we designed our own covers before making our pattern template which we pinned onto fabric and cut out. Next we sewed on our motifs before sewing the sides together. Finally we added our fastening.
Christmas cards.
We learnt some origami to design the front of our cards. We then made our own pop-out inserts for the inside.
Christmas plates and calendars.
Art
In art we have been experimenting with chalk, charcoal and rubbers.
Jesus is the Light of the World.
The Bridge came to help understand that Jesus is the Light of the World. We discovered that a flame on a match has no shadow! We decided that this was like Jesus and God always being there but we couldn't always see them. We thought about all the different types of light there are from bioluminescence, the sun, lights and torches to love. Love is like a light because it can brighten someone's day.
Science
We are learning about Light this term. We have been experimenting to find reflective materials.
Air ambulance training.
We had training from the air ambulance. We learnt how to give instructions so that people could find us using "What 3 words". We also learnt how to do CPR and use a defibrillator.
Children in Need
We all raised money for Children in Need by taking part in our Bake-off and wearing spotty clothes. Our teddies also came to school with us.
Stonehenge
We visited Stonehenge to start our learning about the changes in Britain from the Stone Age to the Iron Age. We thought about how the people from thousands of years ago found and made things to make a difference to their lives.
Queen Elizabeth II.We started this term with reflecting on how Queen Elizabeth II made a difference to our lives: through service and love.
We celebrated the amazing life of Queen Elizabeth II and her achievements over the past 70 years.
Young Writers
In 2022, three of our Year 4 children received certificates from the Rotary Club for their entries into the Young Writer competition last year. Congratulations to them!
Harvest
We made a Harvest Sheaf loaf for our service in the church. How do farmers make a difference in the world?
We also wrote prayers for our Harvest service.
Dear God,
Thank for our world.
Thank you for the fields, trees and rivers, that are part of our world that allow us to grow our fruit and vegetables. Thank you for trees that give us apples and pears, for bushes that provide blackberries and raspberries and for fields that provide wheat.
Thank for the sunshine and the rain to grow the crops.
Thank you for our wonderful world,
Amen
Dear God,
Thank you for our farmers who look after animals and grow our crops.
Thank you for people, machines and animals who harvest our crops.
Thank you for people who look after the machinery.
Thank you for fishermen who catch our sea food.
Thank you for sailors who deliver the food to all different parts of our world.
Amen