Amber Class
Hi! Our names are Miss Redpath and Miss Routledge.
We will be your child's teachers!
Please see below for an overview of what your child will be learning this term.
Friday 11th April
Today we were able to make and taste the healthy soup we had designed in DT. It was important to consider the healthy elements to the soup as well as thinking of how we can add carbohydrates for energy and protein to support muscle growth.
They used the following:
carrots
potatoes
noodles
chicken
broccoli
garlic
chicken/vegetable stock.
They enjoyed it with with crusty bread to dip in!
Almost all of the children had second helpings!
Tuesday 8th April
The children were given the opportunity to take part in a dance workshop today! They were absolutely amazing - we have some future 'hip-shakers' amongst the class!
Tuesday 1st April
We have recently been trying really hard to write a piece of speech which is correctly punctuated using inverted commas! The children have tried so hard to perfect this and I think their hard work is paying off! We can't wait to read their final piece of writing at the end of this unit!
Thursday 20th March
In Science, we carried out a fair test to investigate how different materials and heat sources affect the speed at which ice melts. We tested warm water, a hairdryer, salt, and a metal spoon to see which melted ice the quickest. Using stopwatches and recording our observations every minute, we discovered that the hairdryer was the most effective, melting the ice in just three minutes due to its direct heat. Surprisingly, salt was the slowest, even though we expected it to work faster. We presented our results in a block diagram and learned that the more heat a method provided, the quicker the ice melted. This experiment helped us understand how heat affects materials and the importance of keeping tests fair by controlling variables.
Friday 14th March
This week we have begun our new DT topic based around healthy eating and having a balanced diet. Today the children explored a variety of healthy foods ranging from radishes and celery to mango and avocado! The children were fantastic with how keen they were to try a range of foods (many of them they had not tried before!). They then used descriptive vocabulary to describe the foods in relation to their appearance, smell, texture and taste.
Well done Year 4!
Thursday 13th March
In our PSHCE lesson, we explored how people take on different roles within a group, such as leaders or followers. We looked at a scenario where peer pressure led to some unkind behaviour at a sleepover and discussed how the situation could have been handled more positively. Working in groups, the children created and acted out their own role play videos showing better choices and kinder outcomes, making sure no one ended up getting hurt, upset, or into trouble.
Thursday 6th March
🌍📚 Happy World Book Day! 📚🌍
Today, we had a great time celebrating World Book Day! Our theme was to dress as a word, and the children looked fantastic in outfits that were sporty, comfy, gothic, and colourful. Everyone also brought in their favourite books to share.
This morning, we took part in an online book and football quiz and even saw some famous footballers on screen! In the afternoon, we shared our favourite stories and talked about why we love them.
It was a fun-filled day, celebrating our love of books and reading!
WB 03.03.2025
We have kickstarted our new learning with a new text for English - "The Matchbox Diary"
The children were fascinated by our hook of matchboxes with special items inside to think about what could have happened to the focus character. Their ideas were fabulous! Here are some examples...
"Could the pasta be a part of a special family recipe?" - Lucy
"Is there a pip because he used to have a farm?" - Ava
"Could the pen nib be from the first pen he was ever given?" - Sarah
"Could the photograph be someone from his family?" - Keean
WC 10.02.25
This week the children have started working on dividing a 2 digit number by a 1 digit number and even moved on to looking at calculations that have remainders. This has been a really tricky method for the children to grasp however they have worked hard. Some children used cubes to support their understanding so that they could visually understood the remainding quantity.
Friday 7th February
The children took part in NSPCC number day today! They got physically active when calling times tables using BBC resources that were shared with schools. We then used the numbers that we all wore to school to create 3 digit numbers that could be multiplied by a 1 digit number using the method we have been practising!
Tuesday 4th February
Today the children have been to the library to exchange their library books. We aim to exchange books each fortnight. Please remember to return the library books once they have been read as they will not be able to get a new one until they have done so. Library time is a great time for the children to explore a range of different texts and read these quietly with their peers.
WB 03.02.2025
This week is Children's Mental Health Week. To mark this, the children were asked to come into school wearing something Inside Out. This coincides with the release of Inside Out 2 which uses characters to talk about emotions. The children will take part in various activities and competitions this week.
Friday 31st January
Today the children have been thinking about their focus text as a whole and looking closely at the journey the main characters have made. The key characters from The Firework Maker's Daughter that we looked at were Chulak and Lila. The children worked in pairs to create story journeys that the characters went on - challenges they may have faced as well as how they have changed as people throughout the story.
Thursday 23rd January
Within Science, the children have created their own water cycle in a jar. They have used ice and hot water - looking closely to identify precipitation and condensation.
Well done Year 4!
Tuesday 14th January
The children have began a new dance topic within their PE lessons this term. They have been required to think of steps they will use in 'canon' (like a domino effect then returning back to the beginning of their sequence. They are creating a dance in the style of 'The Greatest Showman'; some of their ideas are really quite something! I was very impressed! Ask your children to show you some of their dance moves in the style of the ringmaster!
Wednesday 8th January
Happy New Year!
We've had a blast stepping back in time in our history lesson today! We chatted about the time of the Aztecs and figured out where they fit on a big timeline of history. We got to talk about what BC/AD and BCE/CE mean and even arranged different events in the order they happened. We also had a great discussion about very important dates and events, and how some of them happened at the same time.
Week 6
We had our last visit to the library until after Christmas so we spent some time perusing for new books and reading with our friends.
Our Christmas dinner was delicious! We ate with our friends and grown-ups as we listened to Christmas music and showed off our Christmas jumpers!
Week 5
We have been furthering our understanding of the 3 and 6 times table this week. We have been using counters to group or share numbers. It has helped us to use counters to see the representations of the numbers and make groups and share the counters equally.
Did you know that a switch is used to break a circuit to prevent an electrical current from flowing? That's something we have learned in science and this week, we had a go at making our own switches! We knew that the switch would need to be made from metal as most conductors of electricity are made from metal. We made our switches with paperclips and pins and it was amazing to see them work.
After we got our switches to work with our initial circuit, we then had a go adding more components to our circuits!
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Week 4
We have been developing our programming skills in computing by learning various commands and putting them into practice. This week we focused on using 'REPEAT' which saves time by not having to write multiple lines of the same code. Some of the shapes we had to make were quite tricky, but we were making our own before long!
Week 3
This week, Amber Class began looking at Area in maths. We began by finding 2D objects around the classroom and drawing around them on paper. We discovered that the shape we had drawn represented the objects area, as it covered the total space taken up by the object. We then explored how to use squares to represent the total space taken up by an object. We used cut out squares to create our own shapes and discussed how the area remained the same, regardless of shape, as we had used the same amount of equal sized squares.
An artist came to visit us on Friday this week and we spent an exciting morning using water colour pencils to create beautiful artwork of British wildlife! We can't wait for our work to be displayed as part of the Eskdene Rise housing project!
Week 1
We had the best time during Outdoor Learning Day! We got busy in mud kitchen, making cupcakes and ice cream, while others went for a very muddy roll down the hill. We played football and built a huge fortress out of wooden pallets and tyres!
Week 7
We visited the library this week to swap our read books for new ones for the next two weeks! Once we have chosen our book, we can still quietly and read with our friends and share what we like about the books we have chosen. We'll be visiting the library again after half term.
Week 6
Year 4 have been practicing painting with different tones and tints this half term. We first created secondary colours before adding white or grey to them to make a tint or a tone. We looked at examples of atmospheric paintings and how the different tints, tones and shades were used to create a mood. We then explored how reflections of objects appear in paintings - we discussed how the details aren't as deined and the paints are blended together. After practicing, we painted our own atmospheric painting with a reflection.
Week 5
We began learning about the digestive system this week and created our own model of how food finds its way through the body. We mashed weetabix and milk in a bowl in the same way the food would be mashed by teeth in the mouth. We then used a food bag with orange juice to act as the stomach and tipped in the weetabix. The next step was to move the mixture from the stomach to the small intestine for which we used tights. As all of the nutrients are removed during this stage of digestion, we squeezed the mixture in the tights so all the 'good stuff' would come out before it is dried out by the large intestine. The final step of our digestion system model was to cut a small hole in the tights to represent the anus so we could squeeze the faeces out.
On Thursday the fire safety team came into school to talk to us about fire safety and about how to stay safe with fire. We look at the consequences of playing with fire and of lighting fires in the community. We also learnt a lot about how to keep us safe in our homes if there was a fire and how to stay safe in school if there was a fire.
Week 4
As we have continued learning about teeth in science, we decided to undergo an experiment to find out what liquids could be the most damaging to our teeth! We used eggs to act as teeth because the texture of their shell is very similar to the enamel on our teeth.
We used 6 eggs and 6 different liquids: water, milk, fresh orange juice, Coca Cola, energy drink and vinegar. First, we made a prediction - which liquid would be most damaging to the 'teeth' and why.
We made sure it was a fair test by changing no variables other than the type of liquid but keeping the volume of liquid the same too!
We left the eggs to soak in their liquids for 24 hours before making our final observation.
As we observed the changes made by each liquid upon the egg, we concluded that vinegar would be most damaging to teeth as the shell had been completely dissolved, we could see through what was left to the yolk inside! We decided this was because of the acidic content of vinegar - this is also why the fresh orange juice damaged the egg's shell a lot.
Week 3
We were archeologists this week! We completed a workshop with Durham University to study ancient Roman artefacts and we even translated an ancient Roman tablet.
Week 2
In science this week, we learned all about how to keep our teeth healthy. We practiced brushing techniques on carrot teeth with white paint.
Week 1
We began our history topic by discussing the terms BC/AD and BCE/CE and what they mean. The children looked at major historical civilisations and events which they then organised chronologically to determine where in time the Ancient Roman civilisation occurred.
