Year 4 Art - Fabric of Nature
Our art this week is inspired by the rainforest. We were looking at the starting points in a design process with a focus on rainforest plants, flowers and animals. We selected images that interested us and then drew our own versions on a 15 x 15cm square. Next we used various media including pastels, chalk, pencil crayon and felt to enhance our designs. The end result was amazing and the children were all super proud of their efforts.
Year 4 - Linking Schools: Curiosity Questions
In Year 4, we are preparing for our first online meeting with our linking class by thinking of curiosity questions. Before we can write good questions for our linking class, we needed to explore curiosity questions with each other. We played human bingo, in which we had to work in pairs to find one person to match each statement on our grid. We asked questions such as, “Are you left-handed?” and “Do you like pizza and chips?”, to get to know a bit more about each other. Then in our next session we will be considering questions for our friends at St Matthew’s.
Year 4 - RE: What is most important in prayer?
Although we pray at least twice a day in class, sometimes it’s worth taking the time to look at why we pray, and our current Year 4 RE unit is giving us the opportunity to explore this. This week, each group was given 18 statements about prayer and the task was initially for the children to remove 5 statements that they considered unimportant to the act of praying. They then had to choose another 5 statements to remove. The final step was for them to read their 8 remaining statements and pick out the 5 statements they considered to be most important. Each group then had to present their final 5, stating why they felt these were the most important aspects of prayer. Most groups agreed that it is important to speak to God through prayer and ask Him for forgiveness.
Year 4 - PE: Acro
The Year 4 children are so lucky to be receiving specialist dance coaching again this half term. This time they will be learning Acro skills. Their first session saw them demonstrate their abilities to perform forward roles, handstands and cartwheels. The coaches taught the children about correct hand placement and body positioning for optimal results. Every pupil had already improved in at least one area by the end of the session.
Collective Worship- Year of Prayer
This morning in our Collective Worship we focused on our prayer for this week of the Year of Prayer from Blackburn Diocese. We discussed and shared our responsibilities in school and at home such as cleaning our rooms, loading the dishwasher, helping look after younger siblings, helping with the cooking and cleaning, counting values points (Heads and Deputies) and planning and leading sports events (Sports Leaders) . We then said together a special prayer for our responsibilities and discussed how God is always with us during those responsibilities and having a smile on face whilst carrying them out benefits others. Mrs Ham then shared the responsibility of selecting songs to sing and choosing children to demonstrate the actions at the front. The children chose to sing 'Life is always better when we share it with each other', 'Waymaker' 'My Lighthouse' and 'Build Up'. Build up is also the theme for our class Year of Prayer this week too. Our WOW group members informed each class of the special build up prayers they would be saying this week.
Foodie Friends club- Puff pastry pizzas
Years 3, 4, 5, and 6 had the best time at Foodie Club today. The chefs got creative making delicious puff pastry pizzas. They chopped tomatoes and pineapples, and some even bravely tried fresh basil for the first time. Everyone loved choosing their toppings, including sweetcorn, pineapple, fresh basil, cheese, tomato paste, and cherry tomatoes sprinkled with oregano. They went down an absolute treat.
Archery and Axe Throwing Taster Session in Year 4
Today we had a special treat having a taster session for both archery and axe throwing. We learnt lots of new skills including how to handle the equipment and keep safe whilst using it. Our two coaches went through how to develop the required skills and we worked in small groups in a carousel. We had a fantastic time taking part in the taster session and look forward to understanding many more opportunities in varied sports.
Year 4 English - Identifying and Discussing Dilemmas
In our English lesson today we looked at identifying and discussing dilemmas. A dilemma is a situation in which a difficult choice has to be made. We watched a clip called ‘French Roast’ where a homeless man asks a rich businessman for help. He declines but then needs a favour back when he is robbed of his wallet by a thief. The children then worked on two poems - I did a bad thing once written by Allan Ahlberg and Please Mrs Butler . Both have hidden dilemmas which the children identified. Finally we developed our voice 21 skills by rehearsing our performance poetry.
Online Safety in Year 4 - Using the Justalk Kids App
As part of our PSHE we looked at online safety both in and outside of school. Today we shared a poster that told us all about an app called Talkids. We looked at all the positive aspects and discussed these in smaller groups. Our main findings that we highlighted were: * specific to our group (13 and under) * a safe space to chat online * parental controls * helps prevent cyber bullying
Worship with Rev. Ben- God is always listening
Rev. Ben's worship began with an engaging activity exploring creative ways to get people's attention. The children enthusiastically shared their ideas, suggesting: making gestures, creating signs, standing up, dancing, doing something funny, shouting names and waving. Rev. Ben then transitioned to discussing how, in Jesus' day, people had various ways of trying to get God's attention. He explained that Jesus told his people that it was very simple to get God to listen. The children watched a short clip that highlighted some of the ways people believed they could gain God's attention. They concluded that God is always listening, no matter what and that Jesus taught there’s no need for special rituals to communicate with God. Instead, Jesus encouraged everyone to talk to God anytime, anywhere and to speak to God like a friend. Following this, the children engaged in a thoughtful discussion. They explored the question, "What did Jesus say we should do when we pray?" and shared their personal responses to the idea, "If you could ask God for one thing, what would it be?" This reflection helped deepen their understanding of prayer and the nature of their relationship with God.
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Year 4 Gymnastics - Mirroring and developing a sequence
In our first gymnastics session, we looked at the theme of meeting and partnering. We developed problem solving skills to try out new ideas with our partner and use different solutions to make a good gymnastic sequence. We then worked on our mirrored shapes, developing how to travel as part of a sequence. We travelled on our feet, hands and jumped. Finally we evaluated our peer performances using our success criteria for a mirrored balance.
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Year 4 - RE: What is Prayer?
New year, new RE topic in Year 4. This half term we will be exploring prayer and what it means to different people of faith. We began our unit with a twist on the silent gallery. There were various questions posted around the classroom and the children had to walk around the room in silence and record their ideas. This activity gives a great baseline assessment of what the children already know and where we can take their learning. We will be using this tool again throughout the unit to help the children’s spiritual exploration.