Air Resistance Investigating

4t used up all their energy in the playground whilst investigating friction and air resistance. Everyone predicted that the largest piece of card would be most difficult to run with, but explaining why was more difficult. Using the vocabulary of surface area was eventually considered and explained in books. Well done 4T!

Performing Poetry

This week we started our poetry unit. The children did a great job of using actions and expressions to help create a picture of the poem in the imaginations of the listener and reader.

Buddy Up & Help

To end the amazing international week that Year 4 have had, 4T and 4X spent time with our buddies in F2. The children were wonderful when helping each other. I was amazed to see how mature and caring Year 4 can be.

The Best Performance Ever!

Ms Alison and I were both so very proud of Year 4 today. After watching the whole show we both agreed and disagreed. We agreed that Year 4 were the best performers of the whole show, and we disagreed about the girls and boys. I thought that the boys were the best and she thought that the girls were the best. What did you think?

What can you find out about the world?

As it is International Week this week I have decided to make the tricky question a country question. Can you answer the following questions?

Which country in the world has the smallest population?

Which country in the world has the largest population?

Which country in the world has the largest land area?

Which country in the world has the smallest land area?

Sound Foundations

4T started the Design Technology part of our IPC topic this week by creating a some earthquake proof structures. There were many designs that were tried. The most successful designs showed to have many cross-supports and a strong geometric shape. 

Friction Found

Friction is the force that keeps us on our feet. It can be found when any two surfaces rub together. 4T had the task to investigate which surface produced the greatest friction. The difficulty was controlling the variables to make sure that it was a fair test so that only one variable was changed and the others kept the same. There were different results but most conclusions showed that carpet produced the greatest force of friction. 

 

Do you know what to measure?

This week saw 4T revising their measuring skills. Although of course measuring accurately is important, before you can do that you must know what unit to measure with. This week 4T had to choose the correct unit of measure when trying to measure length, capacity and weight.

Devastating Magnitude

Last week I asked you to find any earthquake that has hit in the last 50 years. This week I wonder if you can find out where and when the largest earthquake hit. Try to answer the following questions;

• Where did the earthquake hit?
• What magnitude was the earthquake?
• How many people were killed due to the earthquake?
• How much was the estimated cost of clearing up after the earthquake? 

Are you living on the edge?

Now that our volcano work is complete, Year 4 has started to learn about earthquakes. To show how they are created 4T researched the locations of cities near the edge of tectonic plates and built them as a plasticine model on top of two polystyrene tectonic plates. When rubbed together some of the models weren't quite as earthquake proof as we thought they would be.

What do you know about forces?

4T have just started a new Science topic. Over the next half term we will be learning all about forces in general but also focussing on Friction. We kicked off the unit by learning about how to measure a force using a Newton metre.

Experts Visited

Sometimes remembering how to write can be difficult - especially with so many things to remember! This week 4T were lucky to have three experts (all named Professor Pyro coincidentally!) to help explain how volcanoes work and help us all remember a volcano explanation text.