Year 4 Science Week

This week has been British Science Week across the country and our theme for this year has been Time.

We have had an amazing week working on all of the STEM lessons and have all learnt so much.

The week started with an amazing assembly from Miss Jackson to introduce our theme of time and what exciting things had been planned for the school.

Our first experiment was linked to our work on the digestive system. We have been studying our teeth and how they help us but there are things we can do to help our teeth or in some cases instances damage our teeth. We set up a time investigation to see the effects that different liquids have on our teeth including; water, milk, coke, coke zero, fresh juice and energy drinks. However we would have to wait 5 days to see the effects. The children used eggs, as their shells are made of a similar material to enamel of our teeth, we then made predictions and were shocked to see the results after 5 days.

After the 5 days the children discovered that putting the eggs in water and milk helped to make the shell stronger. The energy drink and fresh juice had made the outer shell rot away and the energy drink made the shell so soft it broke immediately.

The children had a surprised visit from Professor Price a Silly Scientist. She taught us about energy transference, gravity, air flow and many more scientific discoveries.

What an amazing week we have had we have thought about and had so many discussions about the future including painting our interpretation of the year 2050.

Thank you to Miss Jackson and Mrs Isherwood for arranging all these amazing treats for us.

World Book Day

Today the children were given a surprise from Mrs Isherwood who had arranged for an actor to come and re-tell the classic tale of Roald Dahl’s The BFG.

The children loved the performance and were talking about it afterwards with such fondness.

Year 4 – World Book Day – The Iron Man Performance

Today, Year 4 were given the opportunity to work with West End in Schools to perform the story of The Iron Man.

The children started with a warm up to get our bodies. We then recapped the story of The Iron Man.

The children then danced and role played to the story from the beginning where The Iron Man fell apart, the farmer being angry and digging the hole to trap The Iron Man.
The next part of the story the children then moved to the battle between The Iron Man and the Giant Space Bat Dragon.
The final part depicted the victory of The Iron Man and saving the whole world.

The children wish to send a huge thank you to Mrs Isherwood for arranging our experience and West End in Schools for helping teach us to perform on of our favourite stories.

Celebrations in Year 4

Today we had a surprise visit from Mrs Pearce who announced that in our whole school TTRockstars we have won a number of certificates.
Jeremiah has won 3rd place this week for improvement in accuracy, Annisha was 3rd in the biggest increase in correct answers with Ismail coming in 2nd place for biggest increase in correct answers.

Finally Layla was awarded a certificate for being the fastest rockstar in the school.

A huge congratulations goes out to all of the children, well done.

Year 4 – Chinese New Year

As the children have been learning all about China and this Saturday being Chinese New Year we have enjoyed a small festivity this afternoon and had an artistic style Chinese New Year celebration.

The children have been reading about the origins of the Chinese New Year where the 12 animals of the zodiac had a race to see who would lead which years. We then looked at the celebration for the end of the Year of the Rabbit and welcomed in the Year of the Dragon.

To celebrate the children then created their own Chinese dragons as well as creating a zodiac wheel (we found out some of us are the Year of the Horse and some are the Year of the Ram.

We then created our own good luck charms using our calligraphy skills to create the word ‘luck’ in Chinese.

To finish off we had our usual Friday Celebration and finished with a fortune cookie.

Year 4 Art -Terracotta Army

Year 4 continued into their journey into the past of ancient China by exploring the tomb of the first Emperor of China and his Terracotta Army. After exploring the 8000 soldiers and near 1000 horses and chariots the children then spent some time making their own terracotta soldiers.

We began by practicing the art of manipulating clay to make smaller designs and intricate makings on a smaller piece before creating our soldier.

Once we had practice using different tools and techniques to model and manipulate the clay the children were then given a larger piece of clay which they would use to begin moulding into their terracotta soldier.

Once the children had created and added details to their soldiers they were then ready to be left to dry and become the Year 4 Terracotta Army.

Year 4 – World Religions – Passover Meal

The children have been learning about the festival of Passover which the Jewish community celebrate each year. They sit down and eat from the Seder plate which represents the story of Exodus and the 10 plagues of Egypt.

Each of the food represents different parts of the story of Exodus:
Egg – New birth and new start for the Hebrews future.
Charoset – The bricks and mortar which the Hebrews had to build for Pharaoh.
Bitter Herbs – Represent the tears of the slaves.
Lamb Shank Bone – The blood put above the doors to save the first born.
Horseradish – The suffering and the pain of the Hebrews.
Unleavened bread – The bread cooked under the heat of the sun as the Jews escaped Egypt.

The children were given their own Seder plate to try the different foods in our own Passover festival.

Year 4 Art – Neolithic Dragons

Last week Year 4 studied and examined the 7 different styles of art of the Shang Dynasty.

This week the children examined the techniques of Neolithic art. During the time of the Shang the artisans would have used clay and other stone based materials to construct their pieces. However, our class made their designs using salt dough which they were able to mood and manipulate into their chosen shapes. The children were asked which animals held a special place to the Shang and still to this day in modern China and they were able to discuss and examine the noble and mystical dragon. Combining the two the children then began to create their Neolithic Salt dough dragons.

KS2 go to the panto

The children in Key Stage 2 went to the Buxton Opera House to see their production of Cinderella.

They all had a laugh they all joined in and had an amazing time… Oh yes they did.

Thank you to the staff who took the children and to Mrs Isherwood for arranging such an amazing Christmas treat.

Marlfields Dodge the Ball

This evening some members of year 5 and year 6 went to compete in a dodgeball competition at CHS. All I can say wow what a team. The children played as such a wonderful team ducking, diving and dodging. After playing five games and only loosing one, we won third place. Miss Trussler and Mr Price were incredibly impressed with their teamwork and sportsmanship, well done team Marlfields.

Year 4 Design Technology – Bread

On Monday the children in Year 4 had a Design and Technology day where after looking at what bread is, where it comes, what kinds there are and tasting different samples of bread it was time to make our own bread.

The children were given bread flour and a small amount of water which they had to form into a dough. From here they had to let it prove, add any extra ingredients and then shape our dough.

It was then off to the kitchen for cooking by our amazing school chef, to whom we say a huge thank you.

After a short while our bread was cooked and ready to taste and evaluate. All of the children enjoyed their bread and many of the children have asked where they can get their own bread mix to experiment at home further.

Year 4 World Religions – Communities

Over the past few weeks the children in Year 4 have been looking at the understanding of community and how we are all part of separate communities. We then looked at religious communities and what it means to be part of these particular communities.

This week we were lucky enough to have two volunteers explain to us all about the Islamic community and what it means to them to be Muslim, what they do within their community and how to show that they are part of their community. The children and myself learnt so much about the Islamic faith and were even introduced to some religious items.

Year 4 wish to say a big thank you to our two volunteers and their amazing knowledge of their religion, sharing with us and teaching us all about their community.

Remembrance at Marlfields

Today the children at Marlfields met for a very special reason, our Remembrance Assembly.
Year 6 led our assembly by introducing us to why we use the eleventh hour of the eleventh day of the eleventh month each year and why the poppy is a national symbol of Remembrance. After teaching us facts which we never knew, showed us amazing poems which they created as well as their stunning art work we then paid our respect with our two minutes of silence to remember and respect those who gave their lives for future generations.

Year 6 then led the children through the school to our memorial in the front entrance where everyone lay their poppies created in the class.

Remembrance is a special time for all and the respect that the children have shown has been incredible during this special time.
Thank you Marlfields.

Year 4 Science – Solids and Liquids

Today Year 4 have started their new topic of ‘States of Matter’.
We began by asking ourselves how can organise different items.

The children were given a tray with a variety of different objects including: flour, salt, oil, food colouring, playdough, etc. The children then had a number of discussions about how they could organise their objects. Some groups decided to sort them by colour, some by the thickness of the items, some by if the items were edible or not. After further discussions about the different objects the children then decided that they could be categorised by solids and liquids.

The children then debated which of the items they were given were in which state, solid or liquid. The end of our lesson the children then formed themselves into solid particles, showing how they can keep their shape and into liquid particles which have the ability to move and take the shape of their container.