Blackfell Primary School

Holiday Homework

We have been sharing our learning on the Ancient Egyptians from our holiday homework. We all worked very hard to find our some amazing faces. We presented our homework in a variety of ways. Some of us made made a video, power points, posters, information leaflets, arts and crafts and even an Egyptian game! We enjoyed sharing and listening to our learning on the Egyptians.

Shhhhhhhh!

We had our first visit to the library in school this week. We enjoyed spending time with our friends, looking at the book and deciding which one we would like to take home. After we finish our book we will be writing a book review of what we thought about our book. We enjoyed our first of many visits to our library.

Folktales

It is the start of our new literacy topic and we have been looking at the features of different folktales. We worked in pairs and identified the heroes, magic, power of three along with many other features in well know folktales. We are excited to write our own.

Pitch

As part of our science topic looking into sound we have been exploring the features of pitch and how characteristics of an instrument can affect the pitch. If it is small and light it is usually high pitched. If the instrument is bit and dense it is usually low pitched. We enjoyed exploring pitch in our science lesson

Christianity

In our RE learning we have been looking at what Christians believe and comparing them to our own beliefs. We then used our learning and created acrostic poems about their beliefs. We shared our poems to the class. It was lovely to hear our friends poems.

Abba History

In our music lessons we have been learning about the 70's band Abba. We have been doing some research into the bands history and listening to different songs they have made. We will be listening and appraising their songs each week. The majority of us like the song Mamma Mia.

Literacy Daily Life Research

As part of our literacy unit looking at diaries we have been doing some research into what it would be like to be an Ancient Egyptian child in preparation to write our own. We have been looking into what jobs they had to do, what games they would play and other interesting facts. Did you know most children would have to look after their Grandparents at the age of 11!

Disco

We had a great time at the Autumn Disco playing games, dancing and having some snacks. It was great fun to spend time with our friends after school.

Friendship Tokens

In PSHE we have been handing out friendship tokens to each other. We spoke about what each token meant and when we gave it to our friend we said why we were giving that person that token. We all enjoyed the experience and talked about how it made us feel.

Anti-Bullying Week 2019

Relationships and Friendships 

Today we were joined by Nicola from Northumbria Police. She came and talked to us about what is a friendship and what is a relationship. We reflected on both and named people in our lives who were friends and we had a relationship with. We then read some statements and in small groups discussed the statement to say if it was a good heart, sad heart or a mixture of both. Some of the statements included “being made to do something you don’t want to do.” We thought of different situations that could relate to the statement.  We   enjoyed our discussions about relationships and friendships.

Jar of Change

We made pledges to everybody about how we are going to change to help all around us. These ranged from thinking about our tone of voice, giving a compliment a day, moving away from a situation before it escalates or helping other when we they are in need.

Friendship Friday

On Friday we celebrated “Friendships Friday”. We read the story of Elmer’s Walk and talked about the different places and people we appreciate. Some of us like fields, parks, ponds, the beach and even our own room. We created our own appreciated Elmer to display in class and give us all little reminders to      appreciate the world around us.

Christmas Through the Eras

Year 3 and 4 enjoyed performing to family and friends at Oxclose Church for their Christmas Celebrations. We took our audience through the eras of music, learnt about the history and sang some Christmas favourites. We had a fun time!

Christmas Party

Year 3 and 4 had a fantastic time at their Christmas Party. They enjoyed dancing, games and a festive snack. By the end of the party they were all danced out!

Our Class Charter

We have been very busy in our first week in our new class. We started our day by thinking about the rules in our school and thinking of different rules for our classroom. We worked together and have created our promises to help keep us all safe and happy! We are so excited about our year in Year 4!

Emotions

As part of our PHSE learning we have been talking about reading peoples facial expression about how they are feeling. We talked to our friends about how they would be feeling and how we could help to make them feel happy. We have promised to each other that we will be good friends and do all we can to make sure everybody is happy in Year 4.

Ancient and Modern Egypt

To begin our history learning about Ancient Egypt we have been looking at where Egypt is located in comparison to us. We have then been investigating modern and Ancient Egypt, looking at similarities and differences.

Rolls

In PE this week we have been developing our skills in gymnastics. We have been focusing on three different rolls. We began with the pencil roll, moving on to the teddy bear roll and the forward roll. We worked well together to support each other and have enjoyed our lesson on rolls.

Soundproofing

As part of our learning in science, about sound, we have been investigating what materials are best to muffle sounds. We looked at a variety of materials and in groups tested them by listening to music and turning up the volumn. It turned out it was a close call between the wooden blocks and pillows.They are the best materials if you want to muffle sound.

The Rosetta Stone and More!

In History we have been researching into the Rosetta stone and its history. We learnt that it has three different inscriptions on it of different languages and dates back to the ancient Egyptians. It was discovered by the French in 1799! We then decided to look at other artefacts and use the ipads to help us research information of who would have had them and why.

Harvest Assembly

As part of our learning into Christian beliefs about harvest we came together as a school and celebrated Harvest. We donated food for Washington  Food Bank. We shared our learning in assembly about how harvest is celebrated around the world and sang a song to the school and Cannon Hopper about thanking God for the food that has grown.

The Final Product

We have enjoyed our learning and creating our own mini greenhouse in Design Technology. We have enjoyed working together, sharing ideas and supporting each other in the making of our end product. We are now looking forward to growing some seeds to see if we have made a suitable greenhouse.

Our School Building

To begin our art lessons into famous buildings we learn the role of an architect . We looked at a range of famous buildings and discussed the different features they have and what is that features purpose. We then learnt how to use a camera and went around our school environment taking pictures of the different features the architect planned when building our school. We enjoyed taking pictures.

Odd Socks

We celebrate Odd Socks day in stile in year 4. We came in our best odd socks. We then spoke about how we are unique and different from each other but also should be treat the same. We then created our own unique odd sock with a design of all the things we like.

Let's Debate

We have been debating as a class some of the issues around bullying. We gave our own opinion on these statements. Sometimes we agreed and sometimes we didn't but I was good to listen to each others opinion.

What groups do animals belong to?

In science we have been looking at similarities and differences between different animals. We began by looking how we as a class are similar and  different, for example hair colour. We then sorted animal cards according to their properties, like animals with two legs, four legs or no legs. When we created our own group for the animals some of them crossed over. A good example of this was animals with wings and legs.

Vote for Me!

We have been learning all about the General Election and why it is taking place. We know that the winning party needs 326 majority seats to win! We then looked at the different parties manifestos and created our own. We then pretended to be in the House of Commons and voted on the different policies we wanted to change in school.

Team Work is Dream Work

We have enjoyed playing some team games in our PE lesson. In our team we had to follow a sequence of movements to get the ball from one end of the yard to the other. At first we found it tricky but we soon worked our that working together will help us move the ball quicker.

The 5'Rs

As part of our first week we have been thinking about the 5 R animals and how we are like them everyday in school. We decided we are all reflective, resilient, resourceful, risk taking and have good relationships. We gave ourselves targets on how we can improve on our 5R learning.

Balance

In our first gymnastic lesson we have been looking at using a partner to help us balance. we engaged our core muscles. it was great fun and we made some strange shapes.

Plagiarism 

In our computing lesson we have been learning about what plagiarism is. We now know that plagiarism is using somebodies  work and not giving them credit for it.  After our learning we took part in a quiz on purple mash to test our understanding.

How to Calm Down

In our PHSE lesson we have been thinking about how we feel when we are angry. We talked about how our body changes and how this makes us feel. As a class we thought of some strategies to help us when we are angry and then tired some simple exercises to help us. We even tried a few yoga moves. After his we decided to create some posters to share with friends to help them calm down when feeling angry.

How far does sounds travel?

In science this week we took part in a mini investigation into how far sound can travel. We learnt the quieter the sound the less vibration of the sound particles. We took our learning outside. We measured the playground and listened for a sound from the instruments. When we could no longer hear it we recorded how far the sound traveled. The louder the sound the farther away we would go until we could no longer hear it.

Mini Greenhouses

As part of our Design Technology project we have been looking at different greenhouses. We then created our own mini greenhouse in small groups. This week we have been creating our own using a variety of wood, clear plastic, staple gun and hot glue. We worked together to make a sturdy structure and then thought about how we would create the transparent walls. We all created different greenhouses and are looking forward to growing some plants in them.

Can you feel the beat?

As part of our music learning we have been listening to a variety of Abba songs and learning more about the bands history. We have been practising a song ready to perform.  For our warm up we have been practising finding the pulse of a piece of music and using our bodies to mimic the beat. We all took turns and used different movements to identify the pulse.

The Water Cycle

This week in Geography we have been l;earning about the water cycle we have been learning all about the different changes in the for of gas and liquid. We  then worked with a friend to create our own poster about the Water Cycle. It was great fun. Well done to Ava and Mia-Lily who were awarded first prize for their fantastic poster.

Count on Us

Today we have been looking how we would help people around school if they were lonely, sad, we saw some for of bullying, they were sat along, or people were calling we names. We spoke about even a smile can help somebody and change their day. We then began to create posters on how we can make little changes to help all around school

Anti-Bullying Drama

Another activity we have took part in is some drama. Together in groups, we each got a different bullying dilemma. We created a scene that showed the bullying taking place and a scene to show how we would resolve it.

Who is St Lucia?

In RE we have been learning about the Story of St Lucia. She was a girl who believed in Christianity when it was against the law. She convinced her Mother  to follow the Christian faith and they gave their wealth to the poor and needy. When the Governor found out he told Lucia to not follow the Christian faith or she would be punished. She refused and the guards tried to take her away but God made her too heavy to take away. There are many different endings to the story but Lucia was placed in a tomb where her body was healed of all bruises. We broke the story down to small scenes and as a class recreated the story of St Lucia.

Christmas Dinner Day

We enjoyed some festive fun today and wore our Christmas jumpers. Then for lunch we all got together and shared a festive lunch. After lunch we enjoyed a festive film as a reward for the term for filling our pom pom jar through good choices. We have enjoyed our festive fun filled day and are ready for Santa.