Sand Paintings & Young Photographer Of The Year!

This week 4T experimented with coloured sand to create some paintings in the style of native people in 

America. Everyone enjoyed creating the images and their was also a photography competition too. Ms Van Anh, Mr Mike and Jeanette all took photos and the whole class chose the photos below to go on the blog. Of the photos below Mr Mike shot two, Ms Van Anh shot three and Jeanette shot the rest. I guess that makes her 4T's young photographer of the year!

   

 You can download the photos here.

Cave Paintings

As part of our Habitat IPC topic 4T looked at cave paintings from the past. They then attempted to create their own using cartridge paper, pastels and paint. Come and visit the cave in the MP2 corridor to see the results. Download the photos here.

 

Mud Houses

4T enjoyed creating their own Vietnamese houses. These houses were inspired from the traditional houses found in the center of Vietnam. They are known for their mud, straw and bamboo construction as well as their low ceilings to keep the house cool in hot weather. 

Mot Thoang Vietnam

Mot Thoang Vietnam is cultural centre where people can learn all about the crafts and houses from the different regions in Vietnam. The children were interested to learn about the many different houses and were great at asking questions to our tour guide to find out more. The trip was a success and soon the children will be using their notes from the trip to create some information pages during their English and IPC lessons.

Messy but imaginative!

We have just started our new IPC topic of Habitats. A large portion of the topic will focus on different human habitats around the world. For and entry point the children had to work together as a team to create their own habitats in the classroom. As you can see from the photos the classroom was fantastically messy but it was great to see 4T working so well together and being creative.

Where In The World?

Our new IPC topic is Habitats. We will be learning all about different human habitats across those world. You will see a map below. Over the next few weeks we will be adding pins and links to our work. You can see that I have added some pins of where I have lived in the world. I would like to add pins for all of you too.

View Where have you lived? in a larger map

Amazing Exit Point

Yesterday all of Year 4 had a great adventure around Ho Chi Minh City. The children had to navigate around District 1 and District 3 until they reached photo location and then move on to finish at Haagen Dazs for an ice-cream. It was a great success and I would like to say a big thank you to all the parent helpers who came. They made the trip more fun and did a great job of helping everyone to stay safe.

Adventure Exit Point Instructions

View Year 4 Adventure Group in a larger map


On Tuesday afternoon Year 4 will be going on an expedition in District One and District  Three. The task of each group will be to navigate from their starting point to the snowflake on the map. Click on the pins to discover which group you are in and where you can earn bonus points for a photo. It might be a good idea to think about the best route you could take from your starting point. The instructions in each pin explain which roads you can not use.

On the day it will be hot so please come to school wearing your PE shorts and your house t-shirt. You will also of course need your water bottle, hat and have sun cream to put on. Each group will have two teachers to make sure that you are all safe when crossing roads. It is going to be the best exit point of the year and I can't wait!

Adventurous Exit

For our exit point Year 4 will be going on an adventure around Ho Chi Minh City. Each group will be given a map and have the task of using it to navigate to a specific location in District 1. All the groups will have a different starting point in either District 3 or 1, and then have to make their way on foot. Ms Alison and I would welcome any help that parents would like to offer. If you are willing to come on the adventure and help the children please let us know. The Exit point adventure will happen on  Tuesday afternoon next week at 12:15. If your mum or dad are willing to help please ask them to contact Mr Mike or Ms Alison so that buses and taxis can be organised. We need to know by the end of the day tomorrow. 

Is exploration a good thing?

For IPC this week we will be deciding if exploration is good thing. You will need to research using Internet sites and books. Although I happy for you to find your own sites, you may want to start by using one of the sites below. 

Hernan Cortes - World History For Kids - By KidsPast.com

Hernan Cortez biography

Explorers for Kids: Hernan Cortes

Aztecs for Kids - Spanish Arrival, Cortez, Conquest of the Aztecs

Margaret Mee Artists

Year 4 spent time yesterday discussing the work of explorer and artist Margaret Mee. She is famous for her love of plants and flowers and her very detailed drawings. We started our art work by making careful observations of different parts of plants and then attempting to sketch them.

Adventure Disaster (A Year 4 Horror Movie)

Today in English I would like you all to watch the horror movie below and turn it into a playscript. Take care to listen to the exact words and remember to the stage directions too.

Our Adventure Begins

Today all of 4T went to X-Rock climbing club for the entry point of our new IPC topic. Lots of children were very nervous to begin with, but after watching a very confident Tyler, many wanted to try. I am proud to report that every member of 4T, including Ms Van Anh and I, tried to climb. As you can see from the photos it was quite scary. Well done to Hannah and Tyler who both managed to get all the way to the top of the 16m wall. 16m doesn't sound like very much but believe me, when you are looking down it does! Feel free to use this as one part of your BISCAT blog. Just type up an entry and add a photo. All of my photos can be downloaded from Picasa.

Can you find an explorer or adventurer?

It is easy to think of lots of male adventurers and explorers, but not so easy to think about some female ones. Later in our IPC topic we will be thinking about why that is, but for now I would like to see if anyone can research to find out the names of some female explorers or adventurers. If you discover any, then write them in the comments below.

Earthquake Experts

As all of you know, last week both the Year 4 classes created their own presentations to educate the Year 1-6 classes what to do in the event of an earthquake. All of 4T were great and I was very impressed with your presentations. Ms Sue and the office staff were impressed too! This was all for the build up to our exit point for the Active Planet IPC unit.

As you can see, 6T were indeed well educated and ready just in case their may be an earthquake. Year 4 will be watching all of the videos from around the school deciding which class was the most prepared. I'll update this post when we have done so!

Mr Ian managed to film some of the other classes. Check his blog out here if you want to see more.

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. 

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.

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.

Dormant, Extinct & Active - Can you find them?

Did you know there are three types of volcano? If you didn't, research using one of our favourite volcano sites and find out the difference. Once you understand the difference, can you locate each type of volcano on three different continents? When you have, post your answer in a comment below. 

Erupting

Wow, what a great day we have had today.  We all followed the instructions carefully to make our own volcanoes explode! First we added two cups of water to our jug. Followed by 3 level scoops of bicarbonate of soda, a few drops of red food colouring and a squirt of washing up liquid. We mixed it all together and poured it into our volcanoes.  After taking great care to carry our volcanoes downstairs, we took turns to add one cup of vinegar. This made a chemical reaction and it looked as if molten lava was pouring out of the main vent of our volcanoes! Now watch the exciting video of Bach and Chi Nhan's volcanoes exploding, and look at the slideshow of pictures from this morning.