We are historians!
This half term in topic, we are historians.
In history, we are learning about the Romans and Anglo-Saxons.
This is our vocabulary for this topic:
| chronology | arrangement of events or dates in time order |
| empire | a large group of countries or states ruled by an emperor |
| invasion | when a country or region is invaded by an armed force |
| tax | a payment you must make to a ruler or government |
| to resist | to stand up to or fight back against something |
| innovation | an improvement or replacement for something |
| bias | a viewpoint that may be based more on opinion than fact |
| kingdom | an area of land ruled by a monarch (a king or queen) |
Before we learn about how the Romans came to invade Britain and how the Anglo-Saxons lived after the Romans had left, we needed to learn about what the timeline of British history looks like.
A timeline shows us the chronological order of events.
We have learnt that before the Romans invaded, Britain was living in the Iron Age. The people who lived at this time were called Celts.
The Celts:
- lived in tribes
- were farmers
- lived in wooden, thatched huts
- had no rulers but did have chiefs
- made tools and weapons out of bronze and iron
After the Romans invaded, who had power in Britain changed. During the Iron Age, there were lots of tribes each with their own chief. However, in Roman Britain, there was one emperor who was in charge of the whole Roman Empire.
Help at home by asking how power changed from Iron Age Britain to Roman Britain.
Spring term after-school clubs
*UPDATE*
We do have the following availability for clubs should your child wish to sign up.
The after-school clubs for this term are available for booking. We hope your child/children can get involved with our extra-curricular activities.
Please contact the office if you have any queries about the after-school clubs.
Children’s Heart Surgery Fund
This week, Lauren from Children’s Heart Surgery Fund came to visit.
Children’s Heart Surgery Fund is our new school charity, voted for by the Junior Leadership Team, and we learnt all about their work and how our donations will support the charity over the next year.
Here are some of our Junior Leaders with Lauren.
Our final sculptures
As promised, take a look at some of our final sculptures from this half term’s art learning!
We had so much fun creating these and exhibiting our knowledge of colour and shape.
On behalf of all the Year 4 staff, we hope you have a lovely holiday and a very happy New Year.
See you on the other side!
We are artists!
After many weeks of learning about Kandinsky and Napaltjarri, Year 4 have begun creating their sculptures inspired by them!
First, we cut out the shapes that we had chosen in our designs.
The next step was then to start decorating these shapes using oil pastels and chalk. Some children have chosen warm colours, complementary, cool colours or a mix!
This week will involve using Brusho dye to complete our colour choices and fixing the individual shapes together.
Watch this space for the grand reveal of our final pieces!
Living and learning: mental health
Over the last couple of weeks, Year 4 have been learning about mental health.
During our first session, we talked about feelings. Being able to identify and talk about feelings and emotions is an important part of our mental health. We spent time discussing different feelings and how to manage them. We also talked about how to spot how others are feeling by looking at their body language.
This week, we started to look at self-care. There are lots of different ways that we can practise self care. Some ideas are:
- talking to someone
- reading a book
- having some quiet time
- taking some deep breaths
- hugging our teddies
- doing some exercise
- writing our feelings down
Help at home by talking to your child about what self-care techniques they can do whenever they are feeling ‘big feelings’.
Basketball new year camp
City of Leeds Basketball Club, who run our basketball after-school clubs, are running a new year camp. Details can be found below.
Leeds Schools Sport Association Cross Country
A number of children have recently represented school and competed in the Leeds Schools Sport Association Cross Country races.
The date of the next race is Saturday 02 March 2024 at Woodhouse Grove.
In the meantime, have a look at our physical activity guide to see how to get involved in athletics.
Food Technology: leek and potato soup
On Thursday, Year 4 ventured to the Space to take part in their first food technology lesson this year. We made leek and potato soup – a simple and healthy recipe for the winter months!
The first part of this recipe needed us to chop onions, leeks and potatoes. We talked about how to use a knife safely including keeping the ends of your fingers tucked in and holding the knife and vegetable firmly.
After perfecting our chopping skills, we boiled all the vegetables and potatoes with some stock and then blended it together using a hand blender.
Overall, our soup was a big success! Some children even came back for fourth and fifth servings!
Help at home: by asking your child how they stay safe when chopping using a knife.
Artwork inspired by Kandinsky
This half term, we are artists.
Our two featured artists this half term are Martha Mcdonald Napaltjarri and Wassily Kandinsky.
This week, we looked at Kandinsky’s pieces and discussed his use of colour and shape in his artwork. Then, we practised using pastels to create concentric circles in complementary colours, inspired by Kandinsky.
At the end of the lesson, we placed all our individual artwork together to create one collective piece.
Help at home by asking your child what complementary colours are.