Performance Poetry!
Year 4 have been reading a poem recently called ‘Sky In The Pie’ by Roger McGough.
We picked out the tricky vocabulary and discussed the meanings…
- delicate hues – soft colours
- Tate – art gallery in London
- heaped – piled on
- cosmos – the universe or outer space
We spent some time preparing and performing the poem! What makes a good performance?
- using expression
- adding actions
- intonation & pace
- eye contact and body language
- voice projection
Help at home: by performing this different poem by Roger McGough (https://www.moortown.leeds.sch.uk/wp-content/uploads/2024/07/Sound-collector-poem.pdf)
Poetry Basket: Five little peas
This week’s poem is called Five little peas.
We’ve been focussing on the words pea pod (part of the pea) and pressed (pushed).
Science: an EGGcellent experiment
In Science, Y4 have been looking at teeth. It’s really important that we look after our teeth because if we don’t, they can decay.
Sugar creates a sticky substance, called plaque, which can build on your teeth and become a home for bacteria. This bacteria can lead to tooth decay. The protective layer of the teeth (the enamel) can wear away.
Certain food or drinks that are high in sugar or acid can damage our teeth and we must have them in moderation. To explore the effects of different liquids on our teeth, we conducted an EGGciting experiment.
We used the following drinks in our experiment:
Coke, vinegar, orange juice and water.
We conducted an observation over time to see the effects of these drinks on our teeth. However, instead of using real teeth for this experiment, we used eggs! An egg shell contains calcium – the same mineral that is found in our enamel (the protective layer on our teeth).
After leaving our eggs for 2 days, we removed them from their liquid and observed the changes.
The effects of these drinks were clear to see!
- The coke stained the eggshell brown.
- The orange juice decayed the outer layer of the egg shell.
- The vinegar caused the egg to grow in size and become bouncy and translucent.
- The water had no effect.
What we can take away from this learning is that sugary or acidic food and drink can be harmful to our enamel. We should always brush our teeth twice a day, visit the dentist regularly and cut down on the amount of sugar we have to protect our teeth.
Help at home: try this experiment again at home but use different liquids to see their effect!
Wanted: Photos
As the end of this school year is approaching, the children have asked to include their baby photos in their leavers’ assembly. Please can you email in a baby photo of your child ASAP, if they wish to join in.
Sports day 2026
We had a great sports day this week with Year 2 helping in the morning and competing in the afternoon. Everyone tried so hard and encouraged each other. We are very proud of all the children’s efforts.
I fell over when I did my race but I got back up.
Red team didn’t win. It’s fine. Maybe we will win next year.
I enjoyed it because we did fun races with our friends.
In the relay race, everyone was determined because they wanted to win.
What I liked about sports day was that I had fun for the whole day!
Living and Learning: body image
As part of our Living and Learning curriculum, we use a focus on self-esteem to promote a positive body image with a strong emphasis on appreciating and celebrating everyone’s unique qualities, talents and abilities.
We want the children to feel proud and confident about who they are and to value their own and each other’s individuality.
Firstly, we talked about what makes us special. This could be something physical or personal.
I’m special as I going to be a good big brother.
I’m special because I am good at maths.
I’m special because I can swim.
I’m special because I’m good at helping others.
Next, we discussed why we have names and what if everyone was nameless?
We have names because we are unique and special.
We need names as we wouldn’t know who people are.
Then, we considered why we like different activities.
We like different activities because we are different people.
Not everyone likes the same thing because we are all different.
It would be boring if everyone liked the same things.
Finally, we thought about why we look different and what things we can change and what things we can’t change about ourselves.
It’s always great to hear the children discussing and sharing ideas in our Living and Learning sessions and circle times.
Help at home: We read the text, Your Body is Awesome. Ask your child what is brilliant about their body?
DT – Hand Puppets
Today our wonderful Year 1s have been working on their hand puppets, they have finished the first step of their design process’. Completing the design part of the process.
Today they learnt how to thread a needle and tie a knot. They also, chose their coloured felt for their hand puppets. Next DT lesson they will be starting the second stage of the design process, starting to sew them together.
Well done Year 1!
Transition morning
Yesterday, Reception had a wonderful time in their new Year 1 classroom. They were excited to meet their new class teacher, explore their new learning environment and experience what life in Year 1 will be like.
I even managed to capture a sneaky class photo of everyone doing such an amazing job listening carefully! I’m so proud of them all and can’t wait to see them continue to flourish in Year 1.
Design and Technology: pouches
This week, we’ve been sewing together our two pieces of fabric to create our pouch.
One piece is longer than the other so that there is a closing flap for a button, press stud or piece of velcro.
We’ve been very resilient and great at supporting one another. Lots of us having been helping our friends to tie the knots in their thread and thread their needles.
Here’s just a handful of the amazing results!
Help at home: Discuss your child’s pouch with them. What are they proud of? What would they do differently if they did it again? Is it a successful pouch?
Living and Learning: body image
In our L&L sessions in Year 3, we’ve been learning about body image and the media.
I know that people I see in the media don’t always reflect real life.
We talked about how media and advertising can make us think that beauty is to look one way or another.
However, some of these images may have been edited or changed to look a certain way. So, it is important that we do not compare ourselves to the images that we see online. Not everything we see online is real! We looked at two images and identified the edits that had been made between them.
We then thought about ourselves and how we are all beautiful in our own ways.
Help at home: watch this video (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wpM499XhMJQ ) and have a discussion about it. Reinforce the idea that not everything we see online is real.