This week, we carried out an experiment in our Science lesson. We explored insulators and conductors and used different materials around the classroom in a circuit to test if it was an insulator or a conductor. The children enjoyed moving around the classroom to find items to test and you can see the delight on their faces when they found a conductor!

This week we have completed a range of activities to end off this half term. At the start of this week, we were reminded of the importance of staying active and how this can help our brains. We took part in a workshop about expanding our brains through exercise and considered what we do to help our brains grow. Then, we completed our science topic on sound by putting together everything we had learnt about how sound is created to make our own musical instruments. We had to consider what sound we wanted it to make and how the sound would be made. At the end of the session we performed in our very own class orchestra, using the instruments we had made. Later in the week we completed our sewing projects. The final touches were added to our purses and we put on either a button or a popper to fasten them. Finally, in English we have been using persuasive techniques to write about a dream holiday destination and all the amazing wonders that it might have to offer it's visitors. After all that hard work, we are definitely ready for half term next week - perhaps in one of our dream locations!

This half term, Year 4 have been exploring the skill of sewing in their design and technology lessons. After investigating current purses and wallets, and designing our own, we then began practising stitching techniques. Threading a needle was quite tricky but we helped each other and have been successful in using different stitches. We have learnt about fabrics, fastenings and appliqué. We can't wait to share with you our finished products!

This morning, we came into school to find our classrooms and corridor wrecked! Tables were upside down, chairs moved, and notes written on our white boards. We spent the morning moving around and making notes on what we could see an interview and witnesses to find out more information. We concluded that a poltergeist had visited year 4! We will be creating a newspaper report using our findings.

In Maths, we looked at properties of shape.

We learnt that polygons are shapes with straight, closed sides and began to explore different types of polygons. We started by grouping the shapes together based on shared properties. We then turned them all upside down and had to choose a pair of cards. The aim was to see if we could identify a shared property to win the cards- the person with the most cards wins! 

What an amazing afternoon we have had! Year 4 were treated to an afternoon of food tasting as part of their 'Healthy Me' topic. They learnt about and sampled foods from Ghana, Romania, Sri Lanka, Great Britain, India, Nigeria, North Africa, U.S.A and Jamaica. It was a delectable delight for our taste buds! Thank you so much to all the adults who gave up their time to prepare and share the foods today - we could not have delivered this event without your support.

We had a wonderful morning drawing on the tables!

We were given tape to create as many challenging angles for our friends to measure as possible. We then moved around the room with our protractors labelling the angles as obtuse, acute, right or reflex. Some of us challenged ourselves to record the actual measurement of the angles and we watched a video to teach us exactly how to use a protractor.

Laburnum have had an exciting end to the Spring Term! 

Earlier in the week we invited our adults to join us for a Rise of the Robots activity afternoon. We tried to recreate robot art, construct robotic figures and make a moving vehicle. It was definitely an afternoon where we showed off our skills and continued to practise our growth mindset when the construction was a bit tricky.

Then today, 8 of Laburnum class represented Fairlands in the local year 3 and 4 speed stacking festival. The children took part in individual and relay events with different stacking formations. They demonstrated skill, determination and teamwork, and their efforts paid off with them bringing home fourth overall, 3rd fastest boy, 1st place girls team and the Honesty Award! An amazing achievement!

We had a fantastic World Book Day in Lime class! As well as the usual swimming and maths fun, we took part in a tricky quiz, were introduced to Miss Shields' favourite book and responded through art.

In the book, the character goes on a journey to be independent and find his own way in life, but first, he has to travel through many wild and strange lands. We drew some paths and used our own wild imaginations and the inspiration of Dr Seuss to create four new worlds for us to pass through. Some of our worlds included: furry trees, rainbow mountains, upside-down houses, mythical monsters and collasal statues!

Dream big and surround yourself with those who will help you to achieve. 

That was the message we got from our class book 'Geronimo' today. Geronimo was a penguin whose dream it was to fly and he tried many inventive ways to achieve that dream. We thought about our big dreams and how we might try to achieve them, or what it might be like living in our dreams. We used photos of ourselves in our World Book Day outfits to illustrate our Big Dreams and the joy we would feel 'living the dream'.