Year 4

Welcome to the Cyan and Magenta Class page!

2022-23

French - w/b 22.08.23

In French, we have been introduced to the names of animals. We reviewed the phrases that we knew already (le poisson, le coucou) and the cognates (le lion, le kangourou, l’éléphant), insisting on correct pronunciation. We then learned new phrases and practised them with our partners.

Oracy - w/b 15.05.23

We’ve taken our oracy skills out and about onto the streets of London this week!  We had a fantastic trip into the City of London to do a sketching skyscrapers walking tour.  We used our oracy skills to talk about what we could see, how it linked to our art project from the last half term and our opinions about the  amazing architecture and history all around us.  We even wrote a poem inspired by the Lloyds of London building and gave an impromptu performance of it!  If you would like to do the tour like us, or another one especially for families, you can get the free map here: https://www.cityoflondon.gov.uk/things-to-do/walks-and-itineraries/self-guided-walks-and-trails/childrens-trail

Coronation Celebrations - w/b 08.05.23

We  had a wonderful day commemorating the historical event of King Charles III coronation.

We started the day off by making face masks of the royal family, then we created flags adorned with decorations linked to the monarchy and finally we worked in teams to fill a silhouette of the King with images and words which we thought were ‘royal’.  In the afternoon we had a lovely tea party and used our vocabulary skills to have a coronation themed session of Countdown! We had to find the longest word that we could and then explain how it linked to King Charles or the monarchy generally.

Climate Week - w/b 01.05.23

We have had a spectacular Climate Week! We have taken part in exciting experiments, learnt interesting facts about pollution and watched a phenomenal show about climate change inside a humongous dome! After learning some fascinating but also shocking facts about the lack of recycling that occurs in Newham, we wrote a persuasive letter to the Newham Council to help improve the way we recycle. In science, we learned some interesting facts about the impact of climate change and how we as homosapians contribute to this. One of our experiments was learning how to make recycled paper out of shredded paper. The process was memorable and we now have acquired some basic knowledge of how we can help our world. 

RE Day - w/b 24.04.23

We had a great day working in teams of 3 to create our own books all about the way in which marriage is valued and celebrated in different religions.  We looked at the clothing, ceremonies and traditions associated with different faiths and their wedding ceremonies and even came up with some of our own symbols to depict the stages of a Hindu wedding celebration and created a free verse shape poem that shows our understanding of marriage.

English - w/b 17.04.23

We’ve started delving into our new book for this term, ‘Fly, Eagle, Fly!’ It’s a traditional tale which originates from west Africa but the version we are reading has been translated into English.  We’ve been looking into the plot of the story on a surface level but then discussing the way in which it has a hidden meaning and the moral that the tale is trying to teach us, that we should spread our wings and soar!

Art - w/b 27.03.23

This week in Art we have moved on from sketching our iconic London landmark to painting it.  We have been inspired by the work of renowned French artist, George Seurat, who was a pioneer of the Pointillist movement- a style of painting which uses dots to create a sense of colour, light and shade.  We’re looking forward to seeing how our masterpieces turn out and then comparing them to the real landmarks which we will go and visit when the weather gets better and have a walking tour around the City of London.  Have you seen any of our landmarks before?

Mathematics - w/b 20.03.23

This term in mathematics, we have been focusing on multiplication and division. This week, we have learned various methods to help us solve complex multiplication problems. We have learned efficient methods that have taught us how to partition multiplicands into tens and ones, allowing us to multiply the numbers mentally.  We have also learned how to use counters to help us recognise that multiplication is repeated addition. 

Computing - w/b 13.03.23

In computing, we have been learning about HTML codes and how the HTML codes create web pages. We have learned how to form the correct tags (markup language) and use them on an index page. We are now very confident at inputting the HTML codes which can produce: titles, line breaks, images as well as underlining important or significant phrases.

French - w/b 06.03.23

This half term we’ve started to look at pocket money and what we can buy with it.  We’ve been focusing on our pronunciation and accent.  We’ve also had a flashback to recap our learning from last half term as we performed the song Sur Le Pont D’Avignon in our sharing assembly this week!  Do you remember learning this song when you were at school?

RE Day - w/b 27.02.23

This term in RE, we have learned about Easter and how Christians celebrate it around the world. We looked at verses within the Bible which show different versions of the last supper and Palm Sunday. We looked at special objects for this time of year and how they play a part in the celebration of Easter around the world. To summarise our learning, we wrote a poem about Easter and why it is still significant to Christians today.

Oracy - w/b 20.02.23

Every time we speak and listen we’re using our oracy skills.  However during this week the lessons where we have particularly focussed on certain styles of speaking have been in English where we debated whether the monarchy should be abolished, in PSHCE where we discussed people who were special to us and in this, our reading lessons, where we stood up and presented our answers using point, evidence and explanation.

PHSCE - w/b 06.02.23

This week in year four, we have been learning about the importance of looking after our wellbeing in order to improve our mental health. In PSHCE, we reviewed our learning about affirmations and why affirmations are a great tool to help us regulate our emotions as well as elevate our self confidence. Throughout the week, we have been writing affirmations and doing mindfulness activities in support of Children’s Mental Health Week.

Mathematics - w/b 30.01.23

In mathematics, we have moved onto our new topic: multiplication and division. Using place value charts, we have explored the meaning of multiplying by ten and now understand that the number becomes ten times bigger and moves one column to the left. We used place value charts and dice to help us with understanding this concept.

History - w/b 23.01.23

We have come to the end of our history topic of the Vikings and Anglo-Saxons, finishing off with a bang by creating a poem in rhyming couplets about King Alfred the Great and debating whether the Vikings were history’s greatest invaders!  Which side of the argument would you have debated in favour of and why?

Reading - w/b 16.01.23

We’ve been making great use of our Butterfly Lion themed book corner, enjoying each other’s company, sharing our love of the books that we’re reading for  pleasure and discussing between us the book that we’re reading at the moment in English - Ted Hughes’, The Iron Man.  We’ve also been finding out more about animals and their quirky features in our guided reading sessions and this week have been looking at the way in which animals communicate with each other and with humans.  We summarised our learning through the writing of a haiku, a form of poetry which originates from Japan and has three lines of 5, 7 and 5 syllables.  Some of us even rose to the challenge of creating a shield designed with an illustration to depict our poem!

English - w/b 09.01.23

We have started to delve into Ted Hughes’ The Iron Man and looked at the variety of front covers different editions have, what happens in the first chapter and analysed the text to give us the description of the title character to make models of him!

See whether you can work out which materials we used to make our iron men and estimate how tall you think they are!

Science - w/b 05.12.22

In science, we have been learning about all living things. At the beginning of term, we learned about Carl Linnaeus, who created the classification system which is known as Taxonomy.  Then we learned how to classify animals using Venn diagrams. Using our prior knowledge of animal groups, we chose to classify a group of animals according to their physical features. The key words that we used to describe these animals were: reptiles, mammals, amphibians, fish, birds, vertebrates and invertebrates.

Computing - w/b 28.11.22

This term in computing, our unit has been ‘We are Musicians’. We have become familiar with a software called 'Isle of Tune' and have attempted to create a piece of music. The car plays the notes or beats as it passes the street furniture, some sounds vary in pitch, and repeating loops occur as the car travels round roads that loop back on themselves. We have learned how to create our own island by dragging and dropping elements onto the interface and independently experimenting with the tools.

Design Technology - w/b 21.11.22

We’ve just started our new project in design and technology which is all about moving monsters.  So far we’ve learned who we’re making our design for, the purpose it needs to serve and come up with some preliminary ideas about what we would make to solve the problem.  The challenge that we were set was to create something which would scare away monsters under a bed!  Ask us over the coming weeks how we’ve developed our designs, tested them and evaluated how well they’ve worked compared to the design brief we were given.

RE - w/b 14.11.22

During RE Day, we learned about Christianity and the importance of the Bible to Christians. In groups, we learned how the Bible beliefs are expressed through stories, laws, proverbs and sayings. We used our reasoning robot powers by demonstrating great oracy skills, and made links between the sayings of different religious groups and discussed how they are similar and different.

French - w/b 07.11.22

We've had great fun practising our French pronunciation of different types of weather and the clothes we need to wear with them, this week. To capture the new vocabulary we learned, we drew the articles of clothing and added a sentence to match them.

PHSCE - w/b 31.10.22

In PHSCE we have learned about the importance of affirmations and how they can help build our self-esteem. We learned that an affirmation is a positive statement that you can read or say to yourself out loud every day or when you’re feeling down. We made our own affirmations in our lesson to help us have a positive mindset going forward with our learning.

Black History Month - w/b 17.10.22

We’ve had an amazing time focussing our learning on Black History this week- we’ve looked at the lyrics of Bob Marley, the ideas surrounding equality and human rights, created wordles to capture the names of people and places as well as words and phrases that we associate with Black History, debated whether Black History Month should be needed in the UK and looked at the history behind sub Saharan African masks, using what we’d learned to design and create our own interpretation of them.  Have a look at some of the things that we’ve created this week and ask us about the poets and people that we’ve learned about during the whole of this term: some of them have played a part in Black History, too.

RE - w/b 10.10.22

For RE Day, year four was learning about Hinduism. At the start of the day, we were given artefacts to explore the Hindu faith. During the day, we learned how the beliefs and teachings of the Hindu Dharmic Tradition are similar and different to our own. We also learned how to use the right religious words to describe Hindu rituals, and to describe some of the different ways in which Hindus show their beliefs. Finally, we reflected on some of the things that influence us with those that influence Hindu. To enrich our learning, we will be visiting the Sri Murugan Temple next week!

Science - w/b 03.10.22

In science, we have been learning about sound and how sound travels. This week, we learned that sound travels through vibrations. To explore this further, we conducted an enquiry using a drum, rice and a beater. The rice allowed us to see the vibrations made from the drum whenever we tapped it with the beater. We noticed that when we use more force, the sound becomes louder. We also identified that when we beat the drum more softly, the sound becomes quieter. We have learnt that sound travels through the air into our ears.

Reading = w/b 26.09.22

We’ve been having a great time delving into more poetry from other cultures.  This week we’ve been reading a poem by Moniza Alvi whose family originally comes from Pakistan.  In it, she uses the colours and smells of her mother’s Indian cookery to remember the culture of her family.  We used our own poetry skills to summarise our understanding in the form of a haiku, a Japanese poetry form which uses 3 lines of 5, 7 and 5 syllables.

Mathematics - w/b 19.09.22

In mathematics this week, we had our first investigation lesson! Using manipulatives, we explored the pattern and link between adding three consecutive numbers. We noticed that when you add three consecutive numbers together, it is the same as multiplying the second number by 3. For example: 4+5+6 = 15 and that is the same as 5 x 3 = 15. We had a lot of fun exploring this concept and recorded our ideas in our maths journals by using pictorial representations.

English - w/b 12.09.22

We’ve been having great fun with our first English topic of the year- poetry.  We're looking at the work of John Lyons, who originally comes from Trinidad in the Caribbean, and focusing on a great poem called ‘Granny’s Sugarcake’ which you can hear him reading here: John Lyons - Granny's Sugarcake

We’ve performed it in groups, as a class and now we’re using it as inspiration to create our own poetry about food!

Welcome Back! - w/b 05.09.22

We’ve had a brilliant start to the year and really enjoyed seeing each other again after the summer holidays.  We kicked off our History learning with a ‘Now Press Play’ session, started to create our ‘Butterfly Lion’ inspired book corner, which we will also be reading in DEAR time and got stuck into French, poetry and P.E.

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Year 3

2021 - 2022

Design and Technology - w/b 11.07.22

Year 3 have enjoyed making sandwich snacks this week during Design and Technology. We used our exploded diagram and instructions from previous lessons to create our sandwich. We thought carefully about what type of ingredients would be filling and be a part of a healthy balanced diet. 

French - w/b 04.07.22

During French this week we learnt about animal names. We watched an animation to find out what different animals are called. We then matched animals to their names and wrote about them. The French words we learnt were le cheval, la souris and le chien.

Science - w/b 27.06.22

During this week's Science session Year 3 have been exploring different types of skeletons such as endo-skeletons, exo-skeletons and hydro-skeletons. The children identified different animals which have these types of skeletons as well as their features such as added protection for exo-skeletons and less flexibility of muscles for endo-skeletons. The classes had an interesting debate regarding whether a tortoise was considered an endo- or exo-skeleton before coming to a shared agreement that it is in fact both. 

Reading - w/b 20.06.22

This week has been an exciting week for Year 3 as we’ve been to the school reading garden and library during DEAR time. We enjoyed reading our favourite books in a peaceful environment. Also, during Guided Reading we have continued to read the non-fiction book Animals in Danger. From this book, we have learned amazing facts about endangered animals such as the Bearded Titi,  Elephant Bird, Darth Vader Jellyfish and the African Coelacanth. During the week we completed vocabulary tasks, unscrambled key words, answered looking, clue and thinking questions as well as answered comprehension questions.

Mathematics - w/b 13.06.22

Year 3 were consolidating their learning about fractions this week before completing their end of year assessments. They were working together in groups to showcase their understanding of unit and non-unit fractions and comparing fractions by either using manipulatives or drawing bar models to give evidence to their points. Many of the children found the sentence stem of when the numerator is the same then the larger the denominator the smaller the fraction to be very helpful when comparing fractions. We then used their understanding in real world contexts such as if they were to have a slice of pizza or cake, if they wanted a larger slice would they choose 1/7 or 1/5. From this a debate ensued and the children reasoned why they believe their opinions were correct.

English - w/b 06.06.22

During this week, Year 3 have been exploring their new Power of Reading book ‘Edward Tulane’. Part of our exploration has been to delve into the character, generating penetrating questions to ask and use hot seating as the character to place ourselves in the shoes of the china rabbit, Edward. The children posed questions such as, ‘Why do you dislike being referred to as it, even though you are a toy?’, ‘How did it make you feel when your golden pocket watch was sucked up into a vacuum cleaner and you were vigorously cleaned by a maid?’.

From this the children followed out discussion guidelines and gave answers which were true to the character.

The Queen's Platinum Jubilee Celebrations - w/b 23.05.22

This week in Year 3 we have been learning about and celebrating the Queen's Jubilee with a whole host of activities including creating clay silhouettes of the Queen and decorating with gems and jewels, bunting in the form of large stamps with the Queen’s head, using artistic talents to create prints of the Queen with block colours and learning about her coronation. We even made a host of English delicacies such as scones, sandwiches, decorated biscuits and even Eton mess for our very successful tea party, which many parents attended. It truly was a celebration worthy of the Queen and her Platinum Jubilee.

History - w/b 09.05.22

During History this week Year 3 have learnt about the Romans. We found out about the roles of men, women, slaves, patricians and plebeians. It was interesting to learn about the inventions of the  intelligent Romans including: laws, roads, bridges, public baths or toilets and concrete. Our activity was to hot seat as a Roman and ask interesting questions using the information we learnt. We also joined a Live Stream with the Museum of London about the Romans. From this, we learnt more fascinating facts about this incredible era in history!

Art - w/b 02.05.22

This week the children created their final pieces of art which incorporated all of the skills they have learned this half term including monoprinting, collography and the use of oil pastels. The children created their own petals using cardboard the week previously, ensuring there were a variety of textures in order to use when printing. They then used the press to print their images using printing ink before adding oil pastels to add to the vibrancy of the petals. During the lessons the children were critiquing their own and their groups' work identifying what they would keep the same and improve for the next time. Have a look at our wonderful class printed flowers.

French - w/b 25.04.22

This week in our French session the children started to learn all about growing items and stating their preference for produce which can be grown in their gardens. They discussed their likes and dislikes by using j’aime and je n’aime pas as well as learning the words for particular vegetables such as cucumber, lettuce, watercress, tomatoes and green beans. On the carpet the children identified similarities and differences between the French and English words and how to best pronounce them.

Mathematics - w/b 18.04.22

During Mathematics this week, Year 3 has been exploring equal and unequal parts. We explored how to represent equal/ unequal parts in different ways using cubes and counters. In groups, we discussed our findings. Also, we folded paper in different ways to find equal parts. We also learnt about an inspirational mathematician called Maria Gaetana Agneisi who lived in the 1700s. It was inspirational to discover that she was the first female university professor and the first female to write a mathematics textbook.

Science - w/b 28.03.22

During Science this week, Year 3 has been learning about shadows. We learnt how a shadow is formed and used key vocabulary such as, opaque, light source and block to explain this. The scientific question was ‘What happens to a shadow as you move an object away from  the light source?’.  To conduct this investigation, we used a torch and a pen as the opaque object. We drew a table and bar chart to show our findings. We discovered that the closer an object is to the light source, the bigger the shadow will be. 

English - w/b 21.03.22

During the children’s English sessions this week, they have been working on creating a piece based on the changes in Stratford to link with their geography learning this half term. They were pretending to be statues in Stratford which have seen the changes in the area over the last decade in preparation for the Olympics. Within their writing the children have identified the changes in human and physical features and have included key literary techniques such as fronted adverbials and personification. To aid their narrative the children created a story map to showcase the journey of Stratford over time. 

Reading - w/b 14.03.22

During guided reading Year 3 have been reading ‘The Jungle Book’. We have enjoyed this action-packed adventure story about a little boy called Mowgli who accidentally falls into the hands of a pack of wolves who raise him as their own. As part of our learning, we have analysed key vocabulary in the text, had discussions about our favourite parts, used our retrieval skills to draw an important scene and summarised key events using time conjunctions and powerful adjectives. We are excited to continue reading to find out what happens next. As well as this, we have enjoyed sharing our favourite books during DEAR time. DEAR time is one of our favourite times of the day and we look forward to hearing book recommendations from our friends.

RE - w/b 07.03.22

This week in RE Year 3 learnt about the values and beliefs of Hindus. We watched a video about the daily life of a Hindu. It was interesting to find out about how they worship their gods, how they pray, that they are vegetarians, they celebrate Holi and we found out about their three main gods. We then wrote similarities and differences between Hinduism and other religions. 

Art - w/b 28.02.22

Our topic for Art this term is Vincent van Gogh. We have been enjoying our art workshops with Mr Mutter where we have been learning facts about Vincent van Gogh, analysing his art work and trying out different brush strokes using watercolour paints. 

We then looked at different pictures of flowers to create paintings with different brush strokes. Also, we have been using our pencils in different ways to do observational drawings with different shades. We are looking forward to our next art lesson!

Design and Technology - w/b 07.02.22

Our D&T topic this term is “Greetings Cards”. We have been exploring the role of a designer, looking at how they plan, make prototypes, create their product and evaluate their design. We learnt how it is important to identify a clear target audience and have a specific purpose for your design. We have linked our learning to our previous RE lessons, when thinking of what special celebrations people might receive or give cards for. Our project was to design a pop up card. When creating our final product, we looked back at our plan and discussed what techniques we might change by assessing what went wrong with our prototype. It was important to use the skill of resilience to identify previous mistakes so we can learn from them and create a purposeful final design.

Computing - w/b 31.01.22

For Computing, Year 3 has been learning how to be programmers. During this lesson, the children used the program Scratch to create a background drop and two different sprites. They followed instructions, which allowed them to edit the background and sprites to the way they would like it. Once they did this, they started working on the animations by selecting the correct code from the code section. They also had to think about what the sprites would be doing/saying and how they would move.