Year 4 – Bowie Class

Welcome to Bowie Class 2023-2024

Term 5

We hope you've had a great holiday, eaten loads of chocolate and are ready to be wowed by the Ancient Egyptians as that is this terms History topic in Bowie Class ! We know that you'll find them really interesting ...so interesting that you'll want to do a Home Learning Project all about them this term ! Details to follow !

Science Day

Today we took part in a whole school Science challenge . We were put into teams and had to plan, make and test a marble run. The winning run was the one that made the marble run to the bottom in the slowest time. We worked really well in our teams and put a lot of effort into our marble runs. We all successfully made a working marble run with the resources we were given and enjoyed timing how long our marble took to get to the bottom of our runs!

World Book Day

Today we celebrated World Book Day by dressing up as our favourite book characters. We had a special assembly where we could see everyone's costumes. We all agreed everyone's costumes were brilliant ! We also took part in a Book Swap and were really pleased with our new books. In the afternoon we were invited to a WBD Tea Party where we played lots of fun book related games !

Visit to the Hindu Temple

After our studying the religion of Hinduism last term it was wonderful to make a Class visit to the Hindu Temple in St George. A Priest showed us round the Temple and was very welcoming. We were able to ask lots of questions and it was fantastic to see in person some of the facts and ideas we had learnt in our RE lessons in the classroom.

Term 4

Welcome to Term 4 ! This term we have a very busy timetable ! Our topic work will be geography based and we have a brand new topic called Settlements to study. We will be finding all about why people settle where they do from the past to the present. In Literacy , we have a new Class book called Big Blue Whale by Nicola Davies and we will be writing non- chronological reports about ....Blue Whales of course !

In Science and DT we will be looking at all things to do with Electricity...sound electrifying !!

We also have this term Literacy Week including Bedtime Stories, Spelling Bee, World Book Day and a trip to Henbury Library ! We are also having a whole school Marble Run competition and celebrating International Day too. Plus, we will be holding Parent's Evenings ! 

Before we know it Easter will be upon us !

Mental Health Day

On Wednesday it was Children's Mental Health Day and to celebrate this fact the Key Stage 2 Classes mixed up into 4 new groups of children for the afternoon. In each Classroom were different activities run by the Teachers. These included mindfulness, art and craft, physical exercise and meditation/ calming activities. We really enjoyed working with our friends from the other year groups and really loved making dream catchers !

String Telephones

As part of our Science topic of Sound we made string telephones. We used 2 paper cups and 20 metres of string ! Some of us were successful in making our voices vibrate down the string and our friends at the other end were able to hear our very faint voices ! We had to pull the string tightly and keep it off the ground. Fun as it was we don't think we will be swapping our mobile phones for the string ones any time soon !!!

I Rock Concert

Anneke, Sydney, Abby and Blake have been taking part in I Rock lessons over the last few weeks and were involved in a whole School performance on Friday.

They certainly looked like rock stars with Anneke and Sydney on drums and Blake and Abby strumming their guitars. It was a great performance and we think you'll agree they have definitely started their journey to stardom. We look forward to hearing them on Radio One soon !

Term 3

HAPPY NEW YEAR !

We hope you have all had a fantastic holiday and are ready for our new term. We have lots of exciting activities planned to get us through January! This term we have a History topic called 'Riotous Royalty' and we will be finding out about some famous Royals including William the Conqueror, Henry the 8th and Queen Victoria. Sounds like a riot !

This term's Monday PE lesson will be Yoga with our fantastic yoga teacher, Vicky. Get ready to Sausage Roll !

In Art, we will be studying Insects which will lead to us making some insect sculptures. We will find out more about Hinduism in RE and learn about Sound in Science. Our new Class book is called 'I was a Rat!' by Phillip Pullman. It's a great story ...we know you will love it !

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It's Christmas Time!

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas in Bowie Class this week ! We have been busy making Christmas cards and Christmas decorations...a lot of glitter has been sprinkled ! We have taken part in Carols by Candlelight and entertained our audience with songs and readings. Dressed in our Christmas jumpers, we have enjoyed a delicious Christmas dinner. Finally, we had a special treat on Thursday afternoon and played laser tag with Coach Roach and Coach Ollie. We had loads of fun running around. One more day of Christmas fun and then we will be ready for our holidays. 

Merry Christmas Everyone !

See you in 2024 !

A Trip to the Hippodrome !

Last Tuesday we went on an amazing trip to the Bristol Hippodrome to watch the Panto ! It was fantastic to be in the beautiful theatre and watch a performance on the stage. It was the story of Peter Pan and we all really enjoyed it !

Our 'All Around the World' Projects

During Term 2 we have been studying a topic called 'All Around the World' in Geography. As part of these studies we took part in a home learning project. We could either make a model of the World or research a country and give a presentation about it. Mrs Collins and Mrs Roberts were really impressed with the variety of different projects that we brought into School

Drumming

Over the past ten weeks Bowie Class have been lucky enough to have 10 weeks of lessons in Djembe Drumming. Silas, our drumming teacher, was fantastic at teaching us how to play these drums as well as teaching us about where in Africa these drums are played, teaching us African songs and playing some of his own African instruments to us. After 10 weeks of lessons we felt confident enough to perform to an audience !

The Hindu Festival of Diwali

As part of our RE lessons this term we have been studying the festival of Diwali. We read the Hindu story of Rama and Sita and saw how good overcame evil and how light overcame darkness. We learnt about the goddess Lakshmi, the goddess of wealth and success and learnt how Hindus celebrate Diwali. We made Diva Lamps to bring light into our own homes.

Literacy

The Wolf's Footprint by Susan Price

We read Chapter one of our new Class book - The Wolf's Footprint -. We met the four main characters; Mother, Father, Daw and Elka. We took on the roles of those characters and thought about how they were feeling during the events of Chapter One. We made Freeze Frames and then unfroze and explained how we were feeling.

Spooktacular Event !

To kick off Term 2 we had great fun dressing up in our spooky clothes ready for our Spooktacular Event later in the evening. Everyone looked amazing and very scary !

Forest Schools

To end Term 1 it was our turn to go to Forest Schools. We had a wonderful time searching for plants, animals and anything else we could find in the Wild Area. We were able to find lots and have fun in the fresh air before the heavy rain started at the end of our session ! 

Swimming

Bowie Class have just finished three weeks of daily 45 minute swimming lessons and wow what progress they have made ! Everyone has managed to learn new skills. It was a fantastic opportunity and so wonderful to have our very own pool right on our doorstep...well, on our very own playground ! We were even interviewed about it all by ITV News !

A big thank you to Mrs Jack for organising it all, to Georgie our swimming teacher for teaching us so patiently and to Katie our lifeguard for keeping us all safe. Bowie Class absolutely loved it !

National Poetry Day

As part of National Poetry Day we learnt a poem to perform as a class. We learnt a kenning poem. A kenning is a two word phrase that describes a noun. Kennings originate from Anglo Saxon times. After learning a kenning about The Sun by James Carter we wrote some of our own kennings.

Anglo Saxon Shields

This week we were introduced to our new History topic - Anglo Saxons and Vikings ! We then had a fun lesson making our own Anglo Saxon shield and then decorating it by weaving wool around it. The Anglo Saxons made their cloth by weaving and then made the cloth into clothes. It was quite tricky and we are relieved that we today are able to go to the shops to buy our clothes ready made! We will continue with our shields next week.

Welcome to Year 4 ! 

We hope you all had a fantastic holiday and have lots of news to tell us !

We are really looking forward to working with you this year. We have lots of exciting activities planned and we know that you will be a brilliant Bowie Class. One of the first activities ,of course ,will be finding out more about David Bowie, the colourful musician, who our Class is named after.

Our first main topic will be a History one and we will be learning all about the Anglo-Saxons and Vikings.It's going to be exciting!

Mrs Roberts will be teaching Year 4 on  Mondays and Tuesdays.

Mrs Collins will be teaching Year 4 on Thursdays and Fridays.

We will share Wednesdays!

Don't forget to bring a water bottle and a healthy snack. Learning is thirsty work.

Apart from that all we ask of you is that you come to School every day ready to learn , to have fun and to try your best !

2022-2023

Year 4 Camp to Magdalene Farm

What a brilliant way to end our time in Year 4. We spent three days at the beautiful Magdalene Farm. We packed so much into our stay; orienteering,making camp fires,exploring the farm,playing on the outdoor equipment, eating new foods, exploring the allotments, feeding the animals, holding the chickens and collecting their eggs,making arts and crafts from nature, pizza and smoothie making, making our own potions from herbs and flowers and having lots and lots of fun !

A big thank you to Mr Clarke, Mrs Jack, Mrs Vallis-Ridler and Mrs Thomas for coming on our trip with us. Also a big thank you to our parents for paying for us to go and making sure we had everything that we needed. We can't wait for the Camps in Year 5 and 6 now !

Happy Holidays everyone !

Sports Day

We had a great day at Sports Day. In the morning we worked with other children from different classes in our colour teams. We took part in 7 different team games and earned points for our team. In the afternoon we did the track races : sprint, relay,obstacle course and egg and spoon. Although some of us felt a bit nervous about taking part we all did what we could and tried our best. We were all proud of what we achieved and all got a sticker for taking part.

Forest Schools

Today we had a wonderful time at Forest Schools. Not only did we toast marshmallows on the fire and drink hot chocolate but we learnt how to finger knit !! It was quite difficult and tricky to begin with but we persevered and kept trying until we were successful. We used the knitted wool to make a necklace. We added a wooden disc to our wool which we decorated. We used a hand drill to drill a hole in the disc to thread the wool through. It was great to be learning outside !

Monica's Trip to Israel

Monica, our reading volunteer, went on holiday to Israel so we asked her if she would come and share her adventures. Thank you Monica for showing us your photos and telling us more about this really interesting country. Thank you too Monica and all our reading volunteers who give up their time to come and listen to us read and talk about the stories we have read.

Term 6

Wow ! It's Term 6 already ! We can't believe how quickly the year has gone ! But don't worry there's still lots of fun to be had ! In fact we have got lots of amazing activities lined up during our last term as Bowie Class. Our topic is Art based again and this time we will be studying Insects and the works of Louise Bourgeois and Jennifer Angus to inspire our artworks.

We also have Forest Schools, Sports Day, Our Year 4 Camp to Magdalen Farm, Brentry's Got Talent, a whole school trip to Noah's Ark Farm and our Brentry Fest Summer Fayre !! It's going to be a busy one !

End of Term Treat

Bowie Class have been working so hard this term that they have managed to get all their marbles in the Class jar! This ,of course, means a treat. They chose to watch a film in their PJ's but with the weather so warm we just had to go outside and enjoy an ice cream too !

Reading Outside

The weather this week has been beautiful so we took our reading books outside today. We found a comfy spot and lost ourselves in some great stories !

Art 

As part of our European Artists topic this term we studied the surrealist artist Salvador Dali. We found out that he wasn't just famous for his art work but for the way he dressed and his flamboyant moustache !

We drew our own self portraits and designed a Dali style moustache to add to them ! Here is our work:

Coronation Party

We celebrated the King's Coronation by making crowns which we wore on Friday at our Coronation picnic ! We came dressed in red, white and blue.The whole school had a picnic on the field followed by games organised by Coach Jake and S4K. We had lots of fun with our friends and brothers and sisters. 

Term 5

We hope you all had a great Easter Holiday and are ready for the Summer Term ! Hopefully, the sun will shine this term and we will be able to spend more time learning outside.

During Terms 5 and 6 our topic will be art and design based so get those paintbrushes out ! We will start off by studying the works of European Artists and Designers including Kiefer, Michelangelo, Le Corbusier, Rembrandt, Chanel and Dali. We can't wait to see your own masterpieces !

We will continue learning about Fractions and Decimals in Maths along with topics about Money and Time as well of course continuing practising our times tables ( all of them!).

In Literacy, we will be writing instructions and our class book will be 'The Iron Man' by Ted Hughes. We know you'll enjoy this classic novel !

In Science, we will be learning about our digestive systems,teeth and food chains in our topic about Animals including Humans.

A reminder that Spelling Tests are back to Wednesdays and PE days are now Mondays and Wednesdays 

We'll also have time to celebrate the King's Coronation! Hurray !!

Poetry Slam

Today, we performed a class poem to our friends in Years 3,5 and 6 as part of the Brentry Poetry Slam.

We learnt the poem off by heart and thought carefully about how to perform it to our audience using expression in our voices and faces, body language and actions to enhance our performance.The feedback from the audience was great and we were proud of our performance. Here are a few photos of us practising our performance and the art work that some of us made after reading the poem.

All Around the World

Well done to everyone who completed a project for our 'All Around the World' topic in geography! We have seen some wonderful globe constructions, creative fact files as well as fascinating presentations. Everyone has worked so hard.

Our Visit From Longleat

Today, we were very lucky to have some visitors in from Longleat! They brought one or two friends with them... Take a look at the children meeting some of the residents of Longleat Safari Park.

_{International Day}

As part of International Day, we sampled foods from around the World. We gave the foods taste scores out of 5 and tried to guess which countries they originated from. When we had tried all the foods we looked at their packaging to find out if we were correct. The foods were from, India, Spain, France, Netherlands, Korea, Mexico, Poland and Greece. We think you can tell from our expressions whether we liked the taste or not !

We also came to School dressed as a country. We enjoyed sharing where in the World our costumes came from.

Electricity

Our science unit this term has been 'Electricity'. All term we have been investigating electrical circuits and today the children had a go at making their own switches using just a piece of card, two split pins and a paper clip.

World Book Day

Bowie Class looked like they had just stepped out the pages of their favourite books on World Book Day! They all looked fantastic. Thank you to all that helped them with their amazing costumes. We really enjoyed sharing with each other our favourite characters and books and talking about our costumes. We did lots of fun activities about books including playing book charades and having to act or describe book characters for our friends to guess ! Mr Lawrence ( Robin Hood) came to read us a story during the teacher's story swap and we really enjoyed seeing the whole school's costumes during Mrs Stinson's World Book Day Assembly. See if you can guess who we dressed up as...

Big Blue Whale

Over the next few weeks in literacy, we will be learning about, and then writing, reports on blue whales. Today, we read the non-fiction book 'Big Blue Whale' and then used practical resources to explore some of the facts that we learnt. We went outside and measure the length of baby blue whales when they're born (7m) and adult blue whales (30m!). This also tied in nicely with our maths lesson which was all about measuring distance.

Term 4

This term our topic is again Geography based. It is called 'All Around the World' and we will travelling around the World finding out about different regions and climates and understanding terms like equator, prime meridian, hemisphere and longitude and latitude. We can't wait to go exploring !

We have a wonderful new class book to read called 'Big Blue Whale'. This will lead us to writing non chronological reports about ...yes you've guessed it ...Whales !!

Science is going to be electrifying this term as we are going to be finding out about Electricity !

We will be Swimming every Tuesday during Term 4 too so don't forget your kit !

Don't forget during Term 4 our Spelling Test will take place on a Tuesday so you will need to bring in your Homework Books every Tuesday.

Hope you all have a great holiday !

Tsunamis and Tornadoes

To end our topic of Extreme Earth we tried to create a model tsunami and tornado in our class room. The experiments weren't that successful but they were messy and great fun !

Our volcano art in the style of Margaret Godfrey

We used coloured tissue paper to make volcano pictures in the style of the artist Margaret Godfrey. They took a while to make but we persevered and we think they look quite effective!

Erupting Volcanoes !

Today we made our own erupting volcanoes. We used some household ingredients ( washing up liquid, vinegar and bicarbonate of soda). The vinegar ( acid) and the bicarbonate of soda ( alkali) when mixed together caused a chemical reaction. This reaction produced a gas called carbon dioxide which made the mixture bubble up. The bubbling liquid looked just like lava coming out of the crater of our cone shaped volcanoes. It was great fun too!

WOW it's Geography !

To start our Geography topic , Extreme Earth, we invited Wicked Weather Watch to come and do a workshop with us about the Arctic and Antarctica. Rhianna from Wicked Weather Watch taught us about the landscape, wildlife and climate of these areas and the differences that can be found in these extreme parts of the World.We took part in lots of fun activities and then learnt about Climate Change and ways that we can reduce our own Carbon Footprint. We came away with lots of ideas to help save energy.

In the afternoon, we learnt more about the Arctic and Antarctica when Hazel ( one of our supply T.A's ) came and gave us and Year 2 a talk about her amazing expeditions to the North and South Pole. It was fascinating to hear from first hand experience about the wildlife, weather and environment here and the extreme conditions that Hazel endured when exploring. Hazel experienced - 55 degree centigrade temperatures and suffered from frostbite on her nose. Not surprisingly, she didn't change her clothes during her whole 17 day stay at the South Pole!

Happy New Year !

We hope you all had a wonderful holiday and wish you all a very happy 2023!

We are off to an exciting start in Term 3 with a new topic called 'Extreme Earth'. It's a geography based topic and we will be finding out about volcanoes, earthquakes, tsunamis and tornadoes! Sounds like we are going to be blown away by this topic ! 

We are looking forward to hearing all your holiday news when we return to School on Wednesday 4th January.

Mrs Collins and Mrs Holland

Christmas Jumper Day

We raised over £40 today by wearing our Christmas jumpers to School. The money will go to the charity Save the Children to help children in the UK and around the World who may be having a difficult time. We had lots of fun as well as raising money for a good cause !

Virtual Museum

Check out the Virtual Museum tab at the top of this page to see photos of all our fantastic pyramid projects! 

Light in the Nativity story

To round off our RE unit on Diwali - the festival of light - we looked at how light appears in the Christmas story as well as comparing the festivals of Diwali and Christmas. The pupils used art as a medium to reflect light in the Christmas story. Take a look at their creative work below:

Ancient Egyptian Projects

Thank you so much for all the brilliant Egyptian Projects we have received this week. The time , effort , care and creativity that we have seen has been amazing.  Bowie Class are currently presenting their projects to the rest of the Class. When everyone has had a turn doing this we will put the photos of the projects in our Virtual Museum at the top of this page so you can be wowed too !

Drumming

As part of our Music lessons we had 10 lessons of drumming. Silas,our drumming teacher,worked us hard so that we would be the best drummers we possibly could be at the end of the sessions. We found it really hard to begin with and some of us wanted to give up but we persevered and in the end we became so good that we did a performance in front of the Parents and Year 3 and Year 5. We were brilliant and were proud of what we had managed to achieve ! 

Diya Lamps

In RE this term, we have been learning about the Hindu festival of Diwali: the festival of light. During Diwali, Hindus light special oil lamps called 'diyas'. In Year 4 we made our own diya lamps, which you can see below.

Firework Spooktacular Fancy Dress

We all looked slightly different today before the Firework Spooktacular evening! 

Ancient Egypt Projects

The project options for this term were sent home today and can also be found under the 'Homework' tab above. We look forward to seeing all your creative ideas!

Term 2

We hope you've all had a great half term holiday and are refreshed and ready for an exciting Term 2 and the lead up to Christmas !

This term we are travelling even further back into History and our main topic of the term will be the 'Ancient Egyptians'. This is a really interesting period of history and we are sure you will really enjoy finding out about how the Ancient Egyptians lived. 

In Numeracy,we will continue with our work on addition and subtraction before moving on to length, perimeter and multiplication and division. Keep practising those times tables too!

We start our Literacy work on Fairy Stories by studying the books of Anthony Browne and link this to writing our own diary entries. We will then read 'The Wolf's Footprint' by Susan Price and prepare to write our own stories!

We continue with Drumming in Music and have PE on a Wednesday and Thursday.In Science, our new topic is States of Matter.

Towards the end of term there will be lots of Christmas activities to look forward to as well!

Looking forward to seeing you all tomorrow ( Remember the photographer will be in so practise those smiles !)

Mrs Holland and Mrs Collins

Cinquain Poetry Performances

This week we have been writing poetry. We have been writing Cinquain Poems. This type of poem has 5 lines. The first line has one word.The second line has two words and the third line has three words. The fourth line has four words and the final line has one word. We wrote a Class poem about a Thunderstorm and then in groups created a performance of the poem. We practised, gave each other feedback, reviewed and improved our performances until we finally performed them in front of the rest of the Class. Joseph, Thomas and Finlay's group were lucky enough to perform their poem in front of Miss Ransom, Dave and Tully ! Here is our poem and some photos of our performances !

Thunderstorm

Furious, mysterious,

Demolishing,exploding,flickering,

Hurricane swirling and spinning,

Terrifying!

Invertebrate Hunt

After our wonderful bee talk we went into our local environment to search for our own invertebrates ! We walked up to the Wildlife Area and searched for specimens ! The Bug Hotel, that Oscar's Mum helped us to build last year, was a great place to look ! We recorded what we found and then brought back a few specimens to have a closer look at in the Classroom. We closely observed our animals, did a detailed drawing and recorded information about them. We found earwigs,ants,bees,worms,spiders,earwigs and Joseph even found a Devil's Coach Horse Beetle that curled it's abdomen up like a scorpion when it felt threatened.We,of course , returned our new 'friends' back to the wild as soon as we had finished our Science lesson.

Bee Talk

As part of our Science Topic on Living Things and Habitats Monica, our Reading Volunteer came into Class to tell us all about her bees. It was fascinating learning about these invertebrates and we really enjoyed Monica's slide show and talk. We were able to try on some bee keeping hats and look at some equipment Monica uses to look after her 40,000 bees !! Thank you Monica !

Djembe Drumming

We started to learn to play the djembe drums today in Music. We are having a ten week course with our Music Teacher, Silas. We will be drumming every Thursday afternoon. We really enjoyed our first lesson and have started to learn some basic rhythms ( Tea,Tea,Coffee,Coffee,Cake!).By the end we hope to be expert drummers ...we may even ask for a set of drums for Christmas !!

Anglo-Saxon Shields

The Anglo-Saxons and Vikings were often at war with each other. Year 4 had a go at making their own Anglo-Saxon shields and we also had a go at some weaving which was a technique used back then to make clothes etc.

Look at those fearsome warrior faces! 

Back to School Meeting

It was great to meet some of you at the Year 4 Back-to-School meeting last week. The PPT used can be found below. Do feel free to come and see us if you have any further questions.

Welcome

We hope you have had a brilliant Summer Holiday and have lots of news to share with us this week !

We are really looking forward to seeing you all again and are excited about all the new learning, adventures and activities we have in store for you this year.

We are, of course, now Bowie Class so we will be finding out a bit more about this colourful musician we are named after during the first week back. Our History topic in Term 1 is all about the Anglo-Saxons and Vikings. We know you will find them fascinating !  Can you find any  facts about these groups of people to WOW us with ?

We have an Inservice Day on Monday so Mrs Holland is looking forward to seeing you on Tuesday ! Mrs Collins will be teaching you on Wednesday, Thursday and Friday this week. Our PE days will be on Wednesdays and Thursdays in Term 1. We will start PE this week so you can come to school on Wednesday and Thursday in your kits !

Don't forget to bring a healthy snack and a water bottle each day as learning is thirsty work !

Enjoy your last day of the holidays and we'll see you at 8:55 am in the playground on Tuesday !

Mrs Collins and Mrs Holland

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PE: Dance
Our topic theme in Art and PE, this term, has been insects. We have studied insects, their shapes and their movements, to inspire our choreography. Check out our performance of Rocks, Worms, Dirt  inspired by a bug hunt!

Literacy: Modern Folk Tale Oracy Project
This term, Year 4 have studied folk tales from different cultures. We then created modern (and local!) versions of the traditional English tale, The Pedlar of Swaffham. Click the link below to find spectacular video performances from the class: not to be missed!

T4 Class Reward: Class Picnic
We have reached the end of term once more! Following a democratic vote - keeping those British Values in mind, as ever - the class agreed upon a picnic. Some dashed about the field in a daring Nerf battle, while our skilled chefs prepared their classmates a feast of pizza, cookies and fruit salad. Later, an 'island of blankets' was set out for us to enjoy a talent show from our brave and talented volunteers.

Science: Tree Day
Here at Brentry we are passionate about trees. Spearheaded by Mrs Fennel and her band of inspiring Tree Champions, we were lead in a day of activities focusing on the environment and how to conserve it. Volunteers from Tree Bristol and Forestry England taught us how to build insect hotels, as well as how to care for our fledgling grove of trees planted by pupils in 2021. 

Literacy: Big Blue Whale
We have been conducting research to inform our latest Literacy project: non-chronological reports. Inspired by Nicola Davies' book Big Blue Whale, we have been investigating facts related to these enormous mammals.

Music and Science: Glockenspiel Pitch Exploration
In Science, we have been exploring sound: how it travels and how to adjust pitch and amplitude. We put our theories to the test using glockenspiels, concluding the longer/thicker the thing the lower the sound and the shorter/thinner the thing the higher the sound. We controlled amplitude by hitting the chimes harder or more softly.

RE: Who inspires you?
In our RE unit this term, we will be reflecting on who inspires us and what influence this has on our world view. We shared stories of family members, people in our community and celebrities, who have each surprised us and motivated us. Our very own Miss Rose spoke of how she is inspired by the NHS and the assistive technology created by scientists around the world, which meant she could be fitted with a robotic arm. The class agreed that we are in turn inspired by Miss Rose!

Science: National Science Week
We kicked off Science Week with a day of fun-filled experiments. We grew rainbows, repelled colours and created bunches of chromatography carnations! We continued the Science theme all week with this term’s topic: investigating sound. Check out our DIY amplifiers!

Literacy: World Book Day
We celebrated World Book Day by dressing up as some of our favourite characters, swapping stories (and teachers!), spectating at the Year 6 Spelling Bee and even rejoining each other out of school hours for a bedtime story! Can you recognise us from our fabulous costumes?

Science and DT: Battery Operated Torches
In term 3, our Science and DT topics over-lapped culminating in the creation of 30 unique torches, each fit for purpose according to its design criteria. Can you spot which were designed to entertain young children, which were intended to support families in the event of a natural disaster and which were designed for sneakily reading in the dark?

Oracy: Poetry Slam and Gallery Event
This brave bunch hosted a Poetry Slam and Gallery Event. The class's poetry was displayed in the hall and evaluated by those lucky children across KS2 who were fortunate enough to receive a ticket to our exclusive event! Our guests were then treated to a live performance of the class' favourite poems from across our poetry unit. All were agreed on the talent and bravery of our spectacular Year 4s.

Oracy: Class Poetry Recital
Bowie class will be ending this term with a focus on poetry. We kicked off our new project with a class recital. Inspired by Valerie Bloom’s performance of ‘Kisko Pop’, we used dynamics, actions and intonation to bring to life her rap: ‘I Am Not A Kid’.

SMSC: Forest Schools
Bowie Class are so excited to have Forest Schools this term! Each week, we work together to build a fire, toast marshmallows and make stick-flavoured hot chocolate. The outdoor classroom encourages us to act on our own ideas, using creativity and teamwork to build insect habitats, carry logs, make a den or even start a gym!

Merry Christmas from Bowie Class
With the winter break just around the corner, Bowie Class have been enjoying the festivities … and, of course, working hard as always!

PE: Sequencing jumps and balances
In PE this term, we have been exploring jumps and balances. We have learned gymnastic terms – such as tuck, pike and straddle – and even invented some of our own! In our final sessions, we were challenged to sequence and rehearse our group’s jumps and balances to create a routine with smooth transitions.

Science: Changing states of matter
In Science, we have been learning about states of matter and how some materials are able to change state. Here we are pretending to be water particles! We began as solid particles, vibrating on the spot, before melting into loose liquid particles and finally evaporating into free particles of gas.

History: Ancient Symbols Theme Day
Today, we were taught by the most famous Egyptologist of the 1920s, Howard Carter. He explained how to recognise and decode the ancient numeral systems of Egypt and Rome and use this to decipher a recipe for Egyptian flatbread. In the afternoon, we used hieroglyphics and colour theory to create Pharaoh headdresses with personalised cartouches.

Maths: NW24 Maths Bee
This year, Brentry have entered the NW24 Maths Bee. Eight finalists from each class were asked to compete in a mental arithmetic challenge in front of the class. Representing Bowie Class, Fatima, Szymon P, Zaid, Szymon K, Yara, Massi and Emrys, showed HUGE courage and incredible, arithmetical talent! Congratulations to our final three: Yara 3^rd, Szymon K 2^nd and Szymon P, who came first.

SPaG: NW24 Spelling Bee
A huge well done to Bowie Class for taking part in this year’s NW24 Spelling Bee. An additional round of applause to our finalists: Alia 3^rd, Fatima 2^nd and Szymon P, who came first!

PSHE: Anti-Bullying Week
This week we have raised awareness of what bullying is, how to report it and how to work together to stand up against it. This year’s campaign taught us that sometimes this can take as little as One Kind Word. We showed our support for Anti-Bullying week by wearing odd socks and celebrating our differences.

History: Ancient Egypt
This week we have compared primary and secondary sources about life in Ancient Egypt and considered what we can learn from each. Here we are posing questions (as well as posing for the camera)!

Brentry’s Spooktacular Event: Here are Bowie Class’ entries to the frightening fancy dress competition. What a terrifying bunch!

National Poetry Day: We wrote and performed cinquains.

This week, Year 4 have been learning about cinquains invented by the Victorian poet Adelaide Crapsey. Cinquains do not rhyme, but follow a strict syllable pattern: 2, 4, 6, 8, 2. We hope you enjoy our performance and poetry below.

HELLO YELLOW: We celebrated Mental Health Awareness.

Literacy: Summarise the legend of Beowulf

This term, Year 4 have been exploring the story of Beowulf, the Geatish prince who battled Grendel to rescue the kingdom of Denmark. Check out our improvised retellings.

History Theme Day: Anglo-Saxons and Vikings

Year 4 kicked off this term’s History topic with an Anglo-Saxon and Viking theme day. We minted coins, wrote in runes, wove shields and feasted on roasted parsnips, rye bread and mead.

Feeling uncertain about Year 4? Well, as Bowie says, I promise it won't be boring!

If you ever have any questions, please email me at rtrotman@brentryprimaryschool.org.uk

In term 5, Bowie Class enjoyed whipping up some healthy muffins using seasonal ingredients. We adapted recipes for existing products to create our own instructions for tasty treats to share with our families. Here we are baking:

In Bowie Class, we cheer when we see Maths on the timetable and would like to share some of the fun we have been having. Here, we are using Dienes to create Place Value Towers and Geoboards to explore area. Oh, and ask us about commutativity and the Teeny Weeny 'Wounding Bunny Wabbit...

Bowie Class have been studying art involving insects. Like Louise Bourgeois and Jennifer Angus - artists who have inspired us this term - our artwork has been influenced by colours, patterns and textures which appear in nature. A key fact we have learned is that all insects have 6 legs and 3 boy parts: head, thorax and abdomen. Can you spot these features in our models?

Congratulations, Bowie Class, on earning your CREST Superstar Awards!

To kick off our return from remote learning, Bowie Class celebrated British Science Week by attempting to earn our CREST Superstar awards in just one week! We were challenged to complete eight experiments across five days. We created and tested rafts, developed an outdoor gym, recycled our own paper, created a fingerprint database and even investigated a crime using chromatography! Our favourite activity involved making bug hotels (or bird restaurants!) using recycled water bottles and bamboo. We sent our findings to the scientists at CREST and have been awarded our Superstar certificates and badges.

WORLD BOOK DAY COMPETITION TIME!

Can you guess which member of the Brentry staff team is behind each mask?

Fill in the entry form below and email it to Mrs Ochiltree at lochiltree@brentryprimarychool.org.uk by Wednesday 10th March for a chance to win prizes!

Spring Geography Project – Layers of the Earth

Due to the effort the children have put into their Remote Learning, the Year 4 Spring Home Learning Project will entirely voluntary. However, as many of our class are enthusiastic Geographers, I wanted to make the opportunity available to research and represent the layers of the Earth in a presentation or model.

In our opening lesson, which can be found in the Geography Remote Learning folder for Term 4 Week 1, we took a virtual school trip to the center of the Earth. We investigated the Earth's crust, before plunging into the heat of the mantle, outer core and inner core. We compared temperatures, habitats and materials as we dove deeper toward our planet's center.

Afterwards, we suggested some creative ways that this learning could be modelled to help next year's Year 4s learn about the layers of the Earth:

• Papier Mache - Using a balloon, newspaper and PVA glue, we could create a model of half the globe. After popping the balloon, we could paint the inside to show the Earth's layers.
• Powerpoint - We could create a powerpoint presentation using pictures and facts found on the internet. We could even research the Earth's layers on Youtube and find a video to share with the class.
• Dough  - We considered using dyed dough to show the concentric rings of the Earth's layers. This could be bread dough, salt dough or play dough!
• Lego - We agreed that a sphere would be difficult to make, but we could use Lego to show the layers of soil on the Earth's surface. We could use post-its to label the layers.
• Cake! - We considered splitting a cake mix into 4 and using food dye or cocoa powder to represent to the different layers of soil or layers of Earth in order to bake a model!
• Gardening - We agreed that some of us may be helping with gardening soon, as Spring has finally sprung! In our garden or a local park, we might collect some grass, some mud, some sand and some rocks to show the layers of soil below the Earth's surface. We could lie these on a piece of paper, annotate them and take a photograph. Alternatively, we could swill out a glass jar and carefully fill the jar with rocks, mud and grass to represent the bedrock, the subsoil, top soil and humus. 
• Paint/Draw - Some of us liked the idea of using paints and colouring pencils to create a diagram that we could bring into school and use to decorate the classroom.
• Pasta - We even imagined how we might use pasta and bolognese to create a model on our plate: a garlic bread-rock, a pasta subsoil, bolognese top soil, and a lettuce-y humus!

Bowie class, this is your chance to get creative ... only if you want to!

There is no deadline, as it is a non-compulsory project, but children are welcome to email their outcomes to me or bring them into school, where they will be quarantined before being shared, over the course of Term 4.

Hi Bowie class,

We are going to be super brave and try a nifty piece of software called Kami. Kami is a essentially a PDF viewer, but it also gives you lots of options for editing PDFs. This will save those of you without access to a printer lots of time copying out information and the headache of looking back and forth between sheets and screens. It will take you - and me - a little time to get used to and there is definitely no obligation. For those of you who have found a comfortable way of working, please continue you as you are. However, if you are feeling whizzy and up to the challenge, Kami could really help to improve your Remote Learning experience.

The links below include my video intro to Kami and a link to the website where you can set up your free account. Please do not pay anything, as your student accounts will run off my teacher license (the details of which I have emailed to you).

Good luck,

Miss Trotman

Hi Bowie Class!

Welcome back to a new term. Though I know we would all rather be in the classroom and learning together, I have no doubt how responsible and brave you are all going to be in trying your best to continue learning remotely. I have begun uploading your lessons, which will be posted to our class web page's 'Home Learning' tab every Friday. Do try to stick to the timetable, because we have lots of lovely topics this term which I wouldn't want you to miss out on. However, if timing goes out the window, if your grown-ups need help with the housework or your siblings need the laptop, that is okay too. The number one rule this term will be to look after yourself and those around you.

Though I have tried my best to make your lessons fun and easy to understand, remote learning is going to be hard at times. Remember that finding things tricky is part of being a great learner - which I know you all are! The only difference with remote learning is that you can't turn to the person next to you or wave your arms theatrically and flag me down for help. If you get stuck, it's okay. Move on to the next task or the next lesson even. Give your friends a call, maybe you could arrange to work with them on Zoom. And never forget I am only an email away. I am still here, still your teacher, if you need a chat then ask your grown up to help you write me an email and I will find a way to help you.  

I am so looking forward to our Zoom catch-up on Thursday. Until then, stay safe, stay healthy and check out our class' Daily Challenges and send me some funny pictures so we can get each other smiling.

Take care lovelies,

Miss Trotman

Autumn Project – Ancient Egyptians

Please find below the details of the Y4 Autumn Project focussing on the Ancient Egyptians. To mark the end of our History project, I am challenging the class to become an expert in an area of the topic which they found particularly interesting. The document attached explains the three types of project that could be submitted: model, presentation or bake. You will only need to choose one option.

I look forward to seeing what you enthusiastic historians have been up to on Monday the 14^th of December. Any questions, please don’t hesitate to ask.

Term 2

So far this term, we have been studying the Ancient Egyptians in our History lessons. We have learned about their buildings, their lifestyle, their languages, their gods and goddesses and even their rituals of mummification.

We had a go at bandaging our classmates and found that it wasn’t as easy as it looked! Here are some photos:

Anglo-Saxon Shields

Last week, we had an introductory lesson to our Anglo-Saxon and Viking topic. This term, we will be investigating how the Anglo-Saxons and Vikings struggled for the kingdom of England.

Take a look at the Anglo-Saxon shields that we made. If you look closely, you will see that we even had a go at weaving.

Hello everybody! Welcome to Bowie Class

I'm really looking forward to the start of term on Monday. At the top of the page you will find two welcome letters: one for pupils, and one for parents. Please have a read as I hope they will answer some of the questions that you might have at this point in the year and just generally put your mind at ease about starting back at school after a strange few months.

Best wishes

Mrs Holland

Goodbye!

Well, I just can't believe that we are in the last week of the school year. And what a funny old year it's been! It feels very strange to have already said goodbye to some children, and also to know that I won't even get an opportunity to say a proper goodbye to others. Although this time of year always raises mixed emotions (and even more so this year given the current situation!), I always looks forward to seeing the children once again in September and, even though I haven't seen some of you for such a while now, I know that we will be able to catch up at the start of the new school year.

I would just like to say what a pleasure it has been teaching you this year Bowie Class, and how very proud I am of you all. Everyone has coped with this bizarre situation very well and you've all shown what strong stuff you're made of! I would like to wish you all a wonderful summer holiday - whatever that might look like. Look after yourselves, and each other, and I look forward to seeing you (all a lot taller no doubt!) when you begin Year 5.

Lots of love,

Mrs Holland xxx

Term 6

Hi everyone! I hope you managed to have a relaxing half term. At least the weather was good for us!

I'm really looking forward to seeing some of you next week as we slowly begin the return to school. I've been in school all of this week and, although things are looking a bit different, I've found I've got used to the changes quite quickly so I'm sure the children will too.

For those of you not returning yet, don't worry. It's a very tricky decision to make and you really must do what is right for you and your family. There will be opportunities to send your child into school every two weeks, depending on how things go.

I will continue with the home learning timetable as normal. If your child is coming into school from next week, don't worry about completing the online tasks for those days. I am planning to deliver the White Rose lesson for maths that they would have done at home so that they don't get out of sequence. I will also read any of the 'Serial Mash' excerpts from that day so that they don't get behind with the story either. Our science unit this term is 'Animals Including Humans'. I will be teaching these lessons in school and will try and link it up with the learning on Purple Mash as well, where possible. (Please do bear in mind that as I will be in school every day, I will have less time to comment on all activities completed but will do my best!).

If anyone is having any problems with home learning, or indeed any questions about the return to school, then please do not hesitate to contact me, which you can do either by email: rholland@brentryprimaryschool.org.uk or by phoning the office at school.

In the meantime, take a look at the presentation that I will be delivering to the pupils on their first morning back, as well as the blockbusting video filmed by Judy Garland and Sienna Miller(ard) both of which are on the school website.

I understand that there will be mixed emotions for all regarding the return to school (anxiety, confusion, joy?!?!?) and I would like to assure you that I am here to support you in any way that I can.

Have a lovely weekend everyone xx

Mastery

Hi everyone. I've added a 'Mastery' subpage in the maths resources section where the weekly timetable is. These resources might be useful for pupils who feel that they have 'mastered' the concepts in the White Rose material and need an additional challenge. Don't feel worried if that is not the case - as I must keep stressing, it is important to work at the level that feels right for you at the moment. For some pupils, it may be more beneficial to look back at the previous year group's resources, which I've also put alongside the Year 4 maths resources. Do what works best for you.

It's been lovely hearing from some of you on Purple Mash.  Even if you are not using those resources at the moment, please feel free to pop on and say 'hello'. It's really nice to hear how you are all getting on.

White Rose Worksheets

Hi everyone,

Just to say that our subscription to White Rose maths is now set up so we can access the worksheets again. I've saved them underneath the weekly timetable and have included the Year 3 resources as well in case you've decided to go back and revise the Y3 material instead. A lot of the sheets don't need printing - you could just write the answers on paper.

Spelling/ Maths

Hi everyone! Just a quick update to say I've altered the settings on Purple Mash so you should be able to access the spelling quiz everyday now.

Also, I thought it might be worth suggesting having a look at the resources from previous year groups on White Rose for maths if your child is finding the Year 4 material tricky. It is always beneficial to go back and consolidate previous learning rather than get in a fluster about something new. Remember, you don't have to complete the work that I set - if you are doing your own thing, that's great too.

Purple Mash

It's great to see that some of you have had a go at using Purple Mash.  Remember, you don't necessarily have to do the work that I've set you, but there are lots of games on Purple Mash too and I've set up a blog so that you can chat to me and let me know how you're getting on. If you have any problems or questions, you can let me know on there too. Alternatively, parents can contact me via my email: rholland@brentryprimaryschool.org.uk.

Home Learning

Ahoy there me hearties!

I hope you've all had splendid Easter. Haven't we been lucky with that lovely sunshine eh?

So then, I've made a timetable with some activities you could do next week which is saved under the School Closure Home Learning tab at the top of this page. You do not have to complete the activities but having a bit of structure in the day can be quite good for us, and it's important to keep our brains and bodies active. If you are doing other things at home instead, or as well, that's great - and you can always let me know about them via the blog on Purple Mash.

Now, I'm going to have to ask you to bear with me and be a bit patient as this is all very new to me as well and I'm getting used to this new way of working just like you! I've had a little go at writing a blog on Purple Mash (I've never done a blog before!) and I hope it's worked... You should also be able to comment on the blog and I will be able to see things you've written. If you have any questions or just want to say 'hi', then that's the place to head. Hopefully it will be nice and simple but this first week might be a bit of an experiment for us all!

On the timetable, I've suggested that you start the day with some online live / pre-recorded learning. You should be able to just click on the link and get taken straight to the relevant website (fingers crossed). After that, your English lesson for the day will be a task on Purple Mash. For maths, click on the links on the timetable to take you to the White Rose website where we will be starting with Summer Week 1. This week is about decimals which we had started to learn about before school finished. In the afternoon, there are some topic activities for you to complete on Purple Mash and then it might be a good idea to do some reading, spelling and times table practice. I will let you know the weekly spelling pattern on the timetable and you can use the examples on Purple Mash to practise as well as looking for your own examples that follow that spelling pattern.

Like I have said, these are suggested activities, which I really hope will be of use and will help to provide some structure to your days. Really, the most important thing is that you stay safe and happy so please do not get yourselves in a pickle about any of this and feel free to dip in and out of activities as you like. It would be lovely to have some comments from you on the Purple Mash blog so that I know you are keeping well.

Take care of yourselves my little lovelies and I will be in touch soon. xxx

Check-in

Hey guys!

Mrs Holland here just checking in with you all. I hope you are all safe and well and behaving yourselves at home...  I am missing you all and have been thinking of you lots. Hopefully you've been getting on OK with the home learning packs I sent out and have been managing to keep your reading and times table practice ticking along. Don't forget to check out the web links by clicking on the rainbow at the top of this page for extra games etc. Has anyone managed to complete any cool art projects at home? You could sketch some signs of spring or even design some Easter eggs perhaps... yum .

Don't panic everyone... You will be very pleased to hear that I will be providing lots more work for you to do after the 'Easter holidays', so you can all breathe a sigh of relief- you lucky, lucky things.

For now, continue with the work and games I've already given to you. Keep that reading and times table practice up(!!) and enjoy spending time with your families, getting creative and being active where you can. I know lots of you were learning to tie your shoe laces with Mrs F before we broke up... Well you should have plenty of time to nail that now. And talking of time... wouldn't it be brilliant to learn how to tell the time properly before you come back to school?! (Keep pestering adults to help you with that one.)

Don't forget our relaxation techniques when you need to switch off and chill out.
 

I will continue to think of you all and will be working hard on more activities for you.

Lots of love,

Mrs H xxx

Big Blue Whale

We are learning to write non-chronological reports in English this term. We have been using the book 'Big Blue Whale' by Nicola Davis to help us collect lots of facts about blue whales, which is what our reports will be based on. 

Did you know that blue whales can grow up to 30m long?! We went outside to find out just how big that is...

Toothpaste!

Today in science, we were learning about the invention of toothpaste. We had a go at making our own toothpaste and designing a new brand for our product. It was quite messy.... but lots of fun!

Happy New Year!

I hope you all had an enjoyable Christmas break and are not finding it too tricky getting back into the swing of it in the new year.

This term Bowie Class will be going swimming on a Monday afternoon. Letters have gone out about this but please see me if you need any further details.

Today, we began reading our new novel, 'I Was a Rat' by Philip Pullman. We had loads of interesting discussions about whether Roger, the main character in the story, really did used to be a rat, which is what he claims. At the end of the unit, the children will be writing a prologue to the story.

In maths we are continuing with multiplication and division for the next few weeks. This term we progress to learning about short division to help us answer tricky questions such as 235 x 4.

We are learning about scientists and inventors in science and our new geography topic is all about settlements. We will be considering what attracted invaders to Britain in the past and what makes an ideal settlement.

As always, don't hesitate to come and see me if there's anything I can help with.

Mummies!

We have been learning about the ancient Egyptian ritual of mummification this week. For our starter activity, we had a competition to see who could make the best mummy.... using one of the pupils!

Our Trip to Bristol Museum

We had a great time at the museum last week! We spent time in groups looking round the whole museum, which has a whole room dedicated to ancient Egypt, then we took part in a workshop where we got to handle artefacts and try to work out what they were used for.

Term 2

Welcome back to school after the half term break! I hope everybody had a lovely week . Parents' Evening is the second week back so I look forward to catching up with you all properly then. Also, don't forget our school trip to Bristol Museum, where we will get the chance to see the Ancient Egypt exhibition and join in with a workshop, is on Wed 13th November.

Our Invertebrate Hunt

Thankfully the weather was much better this afternoon and we were able to get out on our invertebrate hunt in the Outdoor Classroom. The children made some excellent observations and had a go at using a key to identify different invertebrates. 

Rapturous About Reading!

We've had a good old revamp of our reading system in Bowie Class over the last couple of weeks. All of our books have been organised into different colours: green, blue and orange and the pupils have been guided towards the colour best suited to them. Each table group also takes it in turns to sit in the Book Corner each day and read from a selection of 'free time' books and comics as a way of generating enthusiasm and promoting a love of reading.

It is great to see from children's Reading Records that lots of them are reading regularly at home and are getting the chance to move up on our reading reward system - giving them the chance to earn certificates and prizes. Reading at home with your child really is so important and helps to develop their written and verbal communication skills as well as helping them with their fluency and comprehension. Attached to their Reading Records are examples of questions you could use to check their understanding of a text, which link to our reading VIPERS. Please do see me if you would like any more support with this.

Our Anglo-Saxon Day

Here are some pictures from our Anglo-Saxon day where the children learnt about weaving, coins and brooches.

Welcome back to the new school year and the vamped up 'new' school! I hope you all had a wonderful time in the summer holidays and are excited about the year ahead. Back to School meetings for Year 4 will be held next Wednesday (11th) at 6pm and I really look forward to meeting some of you then, but do feel free to come over and say hello beforehand.

A curriculum map was sent out yesterday (a copy of which can be found on this website) detailing all of the things we will be learning this year. We begin the year delving into the world of the Anglo-Saxons, finding out where they came from and why and how they helped to shape Britain today.

Spellings will be sent out next Friday for a test the following week with more information to follow in a letter. Spellings can also be found on the school website.

In the meantime, if there is anything I can do to help, or if you would just like to come and say hi, please feel free to grab me at the end of the day or make an appointment with the office.

Mrs Holland

2018-19

Nepal Update

Yesterday afternoon, we were very lucky to have a visit from Evan's grandparents following their recent visit to Nepal. You may remember that, back in March, we had a 'wear yellow to school day' in order to raise money for some of the people affected by the 2015 earthquake. Evan's grandparents took our donations, along with the letters written by Mandela Class, to the children in the Kodari village, Nepal. We received letters back, saw pictures of the children and each received our own copy of the local newsletter mentioning our involvement! A massive thank you to Evan's grandparents for their continued support in Nepal and coming to share their fascinating experiences with us. Well done to Brentry too! 

Hand Art

Mandela Class are teaming up with the residents of Katherine House Residential Home to create a exciting art display. The children and the residents of the home have all drawn around their hands and decorated them. Members of the public are invited to visit Katherine House to view the work, meet the residents and have a tour of the home on 28th June 11am-4pm. Everyone is very welcome!

The Pedlar of Swaffham

We have been reading the traditional tale 'The Pedlar of Swaffham' in Literacy this week. Here are some photos of the children acting out the story.

Forest Schools

We had a fantastic time on Thursday with our visit from Forest Schools, where we got to build dens, whittle sticks to roast marshmallows and look for all the hidden nature gems in our very own school grounds. Who knew we how so many different species of plants and animals on our own doorstep? It made us all super excited about Year 4 camp!

Our Eggshell Eggs-periment

These four strange jars are sat in our classroom at the moment. Believe it or not, they are part of our Science lesson on teeth! We have left four eggs in four different liquids to see what, if any, effect the liquids will have on the eggshells after a week. The hard shell on an egg acts a bit like the enamel on our teeth, working to protect what is inside.

Getting Some Perspective

Our last few Art lessons have been focused on using perspective to make our drawings look realistic. Take a look at some of our finished pieces below:

Picture Perfect

Our Art topic this term is Realism. In our first lesson we learnt how to use sizing and proportion to draw realistic portraits (very different to our Spanish matador portraits in the style of Picasso in Term 3!). Take a look at some examples below:

Term 5 Overview

It may only be a short term this time but we've still got lots going on in Mandela Class!

We've started reading The Iron Man by Ted Hughes and even have our own Iron Man in the classroom. We will be looking closely at the fantastic language that Ted Hughes uses  and eventually writing similar stories of our own.

In Maths, we will be finishing off our work on decimals before moving on to units on money and time. Our Science unit is on Animals Including Humans and we will be learning all about teeth and digestion.

Coral Reef Projects

The children have all worked so hard at home this term on their fantastic coral reef projects! We've all learnt some fascinating facts from the presentations and reports and seen some stunning, creative and colourful coral reef constructions.

Visit to the Main School Site

Today we went over to the main school site to see how the refurbishments were coming along! It looks very different without all our furniture in there... Can't wait to see it when it's finished!

Go Bananas!

Today, we all wore something yellow to school in order to help raise money for The Banana Project. The project helps to ensure that children at Shree Singha Devi School in Kodari, Nepal, have access to tasty, nutritious bananas, following the devastating effects of the 2015 earthquake. We also wrote letters to the children and learnt about Fair Trade.

Big Blue Whale

This term, our Geography topic is Oceans, Seas and Rivers and for Literacy we are learning to write a non-chronological report about blue whales. Today, we read to wonderful non-fiction book 'Big Blue Whale' by Nicola Davies and explored some of the dimensions of a blue whale. An adult blue whale can grow up to a whopping 30m! That's nearly as long as our playground!

International Day

We had great fun today tasting food from around the world and dressing up in some traditional outfits.

Around the World Day

What a fun day we've had travelling around the world! The children visited four different countries throughout the course of the day - Russia, China, Iran and Ghana - finding out about the geography of each country, learning some new languages and taking part in craft activities.

Pulse Rate Experiment

In Science today, we were investigating the effect of exercise on our pulse rate. It turned out that running and jumping jacks got our hearts racing the most!

Our Matador Paintings

This week, we have been learning about the Spanish tradition of bullfighting and had a go at creating paintings of matadors in the style of Spanish artist, Pablo Picasso.

Happy New Year!

Welcome back after the Christmas break - I hope yule had a great time...(terrible!)

It might be cold and dark outside but we've got lots of exciting learning going on this term to warm our spirits

We have started reading the Philip Pullman book, 'I was a Rat' in Literacy and will be doing lots of grammar work around it before using it as inspiration for our own writing.

In Maths, we will progress from mental multiplication and division to using written methods and will take a look at area before the end of the term.

Our Science unit this term is all about practical investigations and in RE we will continue to consider how people decide what is right and wrong.

Our Topic work this term has a Geography focus and we will be learning all about Spectacular Spain! Ole!

Nativity!

On Friday, we had a visit from the Community Church who taught us all about the nativity story by getting us to dress up and act it out ourselves...

Conscience Alley

Today, we used the technique 'conscience alley' to help us consider a character's dilemma.

Still Images

We created still images to help us explore the characters in our Literacy book, 'The Wolf's Footprint'.

States of Matter

In Science this term, we are learning about different states of matter. Today, we learnt about how the particles in solids, liquids and gases are arranged and the children even had a go at being particles themselves!

Readers' Theatre

This morning, we used the 'Readers' Theatre' technique to help us learn our Literacy book 'Into the Forest'. Next week, we will be using the text to write diary entries.

Remembrance Art

Take a look at the art we have been doing this week to commemorate 100 years since the end of WW1...

Term 2

Welcome back to school after what was, hopefully, a nice relaxing half term.

This term, our topic will be Ancient Egypt - a project for which was sent home this week.

In Literacy, we begin the term by looking at a range of Anthony Browne books, with particular focus on 'Into the Forest', followed by a unit on the captivating story 'The Wolf's Footprint' by Susan Price.

In Maths, we begin by learning about perimeter and will spend the rest of the term on multiplication and division facts.

Our Science unit is on 'States of Matter'.

Don't forget to sign up for Parents' Evening next week (I will be seeing parents on Tuesday and Wednesday).

Organism Hunt

As part of our Science topic on Living Things and Habitats, we went on an organism hunt around the school grounds to see what kinds of living things we could find and what kinds of habitats they lived in.

Digital Literacy

This afternoon, we were thinking about how to use technology responsibly. Pupils were given certain scenarios, such as 'using your mobile phone in class', and were asked to move to the sign that reflected their opinion. It led to some very interesting discussions and helped us to think about how to stay safe online.

Anglo-Saxon Shields

Today, we found out that the Anglo-Saxons were excellent warriors. They travelled across the North Sea in big ships to invade Britain. Within a few centuries, the land they settled in was named England, after the Angles. We designed and pained our own Anglo-Saxon shields.

Class Charter

Today the pupils worked together to come up with a list of Rights and Responsibilities for our Class Charter.

Welcome Back!

I hope you all had a fantastic summer holiday! It's very exciting to be back and in our temporary accommodation, which is starting to feel more like home now.

A few reminders and some information about what we will be getting up to this term:

• PE days are Mondays and Thursdays (please ensure full kit is in on these days, including warm clothes as we start to approach Autumn...)
• Back to School meetings for KS2 are Thursday 14th straight after school - but do feel free to say hello any evening after school :-)
• Spellings will be sent home on a Friday (starting next week) and tested the following Friday. Please encourage your child to read and practise their times tables daily as well as their spellings as part of their homework routine.
• Our topic work has a history focus this term and we will be finding out who the Anglo Saxons were. Our literacy unit will link in with this and we will be working towards writing newspaper reports using the text 'Beowulf' as a stimulus
• Maths work this term will focus on deepening pupils' understanding of place value as well as mental addition and subtraction
•  Our Science unit is on Living Things and Habitats

I hope to see you all on Thursday for the Back to School meeting, if not before!

Maths Open Morning

Thanks to all the parents who came to help out at our Maths Open Morning! The children loved working with you and showing off their mathematical skills.

Blooming lovely

In literacy at the moment, we are reading poetry by Valerie Bloom. Today, the class learnt and performed different sections of the fabulous, 'I Asked the River', which is a powerful and moving poem about looking after our environment.

Building Bridges

Thanks for sending in all of your recycling! The children had great fun designing and building their bridges, and worked brilliantly as a team, showing loads of creativity.

Our Eggshell Experiment

It's been a bit of a pongy afternoon in Mandela Class! Last week, we put four eggs into jars containing different liquids and today we got them out to see the effect the liquids had had on the shells. This was linked to our science work on teeth because the shell on an egg acts a bit like the enamel on our teeth, It turned out that milk and water damaged the egg shells the least (but week-old milk smells pretty gross!) and orange juice and cola damaged the shells the most. Time to get drinking more water!!

Still Life

Well, it seems that spring may finally have sprung! It certainly felt like it this afternoon in Mandela Class, where we were drawing daffodils as part of our Realism art topic.

Welcome to Term 5

I hope everyone had an egg-cellent Easter (the oldies are the best!). We've got lots on in Term 5 to keep everyone busy - here's a quick summary:

In maths, we will be spending the term learning about fractions and decimals and how they are related to each other.

We start the term in English by reading the fantastic story 'The Iron Man' by Ted Hughes and by the end of the unit will be writing our own stories in a similar style.

For science, we will be learning all about animals and humans, including topics such as digestion and tooth decay (the pupils are about to learn some shocking things about some of their favourite drinks!).

Our topic work this term has an art focus, where we will be learning about realism. Take a look below at some of the portraits the pupils drew this afternoon, where they have learnt to use accurate proportions to make their work look more realistic.

Coral Reef Projects

Well done to everyone who completed this term's coral reef project. Everyone came up with such creative, colourful designs as well as providing us with some really interesting, and thought provoking, information about coral reefs.

Science: Electricity

Sparks have been flying in science this term, as we have been learning all about circuits. This week, the pupils had a go at making their own switches out of a piece of card, a paper clip and two butterfly pins.

English Week

Friday

A little later than planned due to the snow but it was lovely to finally get a chance to see all of your super costumes!

Monday

This afternoon, we went to visit Henbury Library, where we learnt all about how the library system works and got chance to have a look at some of the lovely books there. If you would like to become a member of the library, I have some application forms I can give you - alternatively, pop in to the library at some point and have a look for yourself!

Big Blue Whale

This morning, we read the non-fiction book 'Big Blue Whale' by Nicola Davies. The book is beautifully illustrated and includes some incredible facts about blue whales - did you know they can grow up to 30m long and even babies are 7m long?! To help us try to understand some of these dimensions, we went outside and measured the length of a blue whale. It was as big as our playground! We investigated lots of other interesting facts too.

Welcome back - term 4!

Welcome back after the half term break! We've got a short, but busy, term ahead of us with lots of fun things planned, including English Week in the second week back (more details to follow).

Our new topic this term is 'Rivers, Oceans and Seas', where we will be learning about all things aquatic. We started off the topic today by thinking about all the places, both on a local and global scale, where we can find water. This afternoon, I sent the children home with their new homework project relating to this, a copy of which can be found under the Homework section on this page.

Our literacy unit over the next few weeks will also link to this topic, where we will be finding out all about blue whales and eventually writing non-chronological reports (or fact files) on them.

In maths this term we will start off by focusing on division followed by a unit on time and measures. Our science unit is all about electricity and our focus in RE is Christianity.

60 Years of Brentry

On Thursday, we were really lucky to receive a visit from Carol Pullin, who came to this school as a little girl when it opened 60 years ago. We were all fascinated to hear her tales of what life was like back then and how different the school used to be. Some children were shocked to find out that there were no computers back then!

International Week

We have been speaking a different language each day this week and have done some research on The Philippines, where Paulo's family come from.

Yesterday, the pupils all got a chance to do some cooking with Mr Clarke. They made a delicious Spanish stew called Albondigas.

Today, everyone came in dressed as a different nationality and in the afternoon, we sampled more food from around the world. Thank you so much to the children and parents who brought in things from home. It was fabulous to try some of your local delicacies. I don't think I'll be need dinner tonight!

The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe

This has been our book just for pleasure this term - a personal favourite of mine and the pupils have absolutely loved it too! We ate Turkish Delight whilst watching the final episode of the 1988 TV series this today and then the pupils made these lovely paper wardrobes...

'Rings of Responsibility'

This week, we have been learning about Internet safety. During the activity below, pupils listened to a series of statements, such as 'always accepting anyone who asks to be your friend of a social network' and then moved to a different area of the classroom to show their opinion. The activity provided lots of interesting discussion. We then created a Conscience Alley to consider both points of view and provide each other with advice. 

Virtual Museum

Thanks to all the parents and carers who came in to see our Virtual Museum last Friday. The pupils loved having the chance to show off all of their fantastic history work done over the last two terms.

Ancient Egypt Projects

Well done to everyone who completed the Ancient Egypt homework project! We saw some absolutely fantastic pyramids- which showed a huge amount of creativity and skill - as well as wonderful PowerPoint presentations and newspaper reports. What a talented bunch! 

The Wolf's Footprint

Our new text in literacy is The Wolf's Footprint by Susan Price. Over the last couple of days, we have been using different strategies to help explore a character's dilemma in the story. Take a look at our Still Images and Conscience Alleys:

What a state!

Our science topic this term is 'States of Matter'. Today, the children grouped different materials into solids and liquids, which created some really interesting discussion. Then they had a go at being the particles in solids, liquids and gases.

Ancient Egypt

Take a look at our paintings of Ancient Egyptian gods and goddesses...! The class also had a go at writing their names in hieroglyphics - the Ancient Egyptian equivalent of our alphabet.

Welcome back everyone - I hope you enjoyed the half term break! I look forward to seeing you all at Parents' Evening next week, but in the meantime, here's what we will be getting up to this term:

In maths, we begin the term looking at written addition and subtraction methods before moving on to geometry. Our literacy work at the moment is centred around the wonderful picture book 'Into the Forest' by Anthony Browne and will be followed up by a short novel called 'The Wolf's Footprint' by Susan Price. In science, we will be learning about states of matter (solids, liquids and gases); and our new history topic is all about the ancient Egyptians! A project linked to this topic will be set on Friday.

Crocodile Rockin'!

A fantastic time yesterday had by all! A massive well done to Mandela Class, who performed their version of the Elton John classic 'Crocodile Rock' with great energy and enthusiasm. It's been wonderful to hear how much they've enjoyed our 1970s topic. They've worked so hard and this was a great finale.

Keep listening out for more competitions and events throughout the year linked to our 60th birthday!

Hot off the Press!

On  the shelves today: Mandela Class's 1970s magazines! The pupils have been working mega hard all term to bring you all the hottest information on music, fashion, entertainment and what life was really like in the groovy seventies. You don't want to miss these totally radical editions. Can YOU dig it...?!

Science: Organism Hunt

Our science topic this term is 'Living Things and Habitats'. This afternoon, we went on an 'organism hunt', looking for different plants and animals that live on the school ground, and we discussed the conditions of their habitats, e.g. dark and damp or light and airy.

Hi everyone! We've had a couple of weeks to settle in now and the children have been working really hard in Mandela Class.

In maths, we have been revising and extending on the pupils' understanding of place value (including rounding, ordering and comparing 4-digit numbers) and in literacy we have been working on developing basic skills and recognising different types of sentences. Next week, we will begin a new literacy unit based on the book 'The Chocolate Touch' by Patrick Skene Catling.

We've been having lots of fun getting immersed in our history topic about the 1970s! Thanks to everyone who has sent things in for us to look at or to go in our 70s memorabilia box. Any photos etc. that you have from the era would be great to see! (We saw some lovely photos of a certain headteacher yesterday - with a lot more hair on his head than he has now!)