Swifts Class

Year 3/4

Summer Term

Welcome back to the Summer Term, please see the link below for our newsletter.

Spring Term

Welcome back and happy new year! Please see the link below for our class newsletter and what’s happening in the Swifts class this half term.

Autumn Term 2

Welcome back, I hope that you had a lovely half term break and are ready for a busy and exciting term. PE will take place on a Tuesday and Mrs Tansey will be teaching us on a Wednesday morning. Please take a look at our Long Term Curriculum Map for the topics that we will be covering this half term and watch our webpage for updates of what we have been up to in class.
Miss Lambert and Mrs Joyce

Year 4 Multiplication Tests GOV Information - Have you been practicing?

Year 4 Recommended Reading List- How many have you read?

Roman Pottery - 28/06/23

Having studied the Ancient Romans and discussing why they invaded Britain, we have been finding out about how they lived and the things they invented that we still use today. Here is some of the pottery that we made using the style that the Romans used.

Imagine a Story Book Launch

Year 4 were asked to take part in the ‘Imagine a Story’ book workshop, in which allowed them to become published authors at the end of it. Working with schools across the country we collaboratively created a story. This year the story was called ‘Rewilding Dream’ in which a future world is experiencing a climate crisis. Two characters had to take on horrid Faceless Guzzles with the support of their true, true birds.

The children said:

When we were writing this chapter in our classroom, we found it very exciting to know that our names were going to be published in a book. We wanted to represent our school and be proud of what we achieved together. It was a fun challenge, piecing together all of our ideas and coming to a creative ending. 

When we were reading the story, we didn't want to stop, there is nothing better than having a book that grips you and keeps us on the edge of our seats. During the writing, process we had fun role playing the characters and seeing how they look after one another and creating our own true, true birds. 

We enjoyed going to the Kendal Brewery to listen to our story come to life and even had the opportunity to draw along with the illustrator, then ask some questions. We have no received our copy of the book and were excited to find our names!

Catepillars - 24/05/23

We have also had some class pets arrive into class: Over the weeks the caterpillars have doubled in size and have formed cocoons and when they hatch they will be….BUTTERFLIES! As they develop we will be learning about why this change occurs and why this is an interesting life cycle. We will then be releasing them into our lovely grounds to do their important job of pollinating flowers.

Small Steps Art Sessions - 22/05/23

Thank you to Nicki and Esther who came to work in year 4 to do Monoprinting of our fingerprints, we made unique artworks just like our unique selves. This involved us painting on the tables, luckily for Mrs Burrow it cleaned well!

Sports Day - 18/05/23

All the children had a fantastic day today, every single one of them took part and had fun. Year 4 showed great sportsmanship in cheering on other children and congratulating themselves on trying their best. Well done!

Using Satellite Images to learn about a place - 09/05/23

In our Geography lesson, we had the opportunity to explore Whitby using satellite images on Google Earth and Maps. We looked at how the land was being used, e.g. Industrial, Housing, Retail, Agriculture or Leisure and coloured in our maps accordingly. It was an interesting lesson!

The Coronation - 05/06/23

Year 4 enjoyed prepping and organising for our party to celebrate the coronation of King Charles III. Having traditional British treats including Scones and strawberries, party food and playing games. We were even joined by one of our favourite teddies to celebrate the occasion. We also took time to imagine ‘If I were King or Queen for the day I would….’ delivering their speech to their class, there were some brilliant suggestions. We drew drawings of King Charles and accurately drew the British Flag.

Habitat Homework - 04/05/23

A big thank you to all the children who worked hard creating their habitats for a chosen organism. Each child thought about what the creature would need from their surroundings inc. food, water, shelter and protection. There were some brilliant ideas and explanations, well done!

Organism Hunt - 25/04/23

We enjoyed exploring our school grounds, hunting for organisms in all the different habitats we have. We then grouped the organisms we had found into different categories using a variety of diagrams.

St Georges Day - 23/04/23

This week we have been learning about our national Saint, Saint George whose feast day is on Sunday 23rd April. We found out that he had been killed because he refused to deny his religion. We have discussed the story of St George vs. the Dragon. We made shields thinking about the qualities of St George inc. Courage and Bravery. Then wrote down what we had learnt.

Summer Term in Year 4

Welcome back for our final term in Year 4! Throughout the coming weeks we will have lots of new and exciting learning to do! Below is a rundown of the topics we are studying this half term:

Literacy- Why the Whales Came, The Pea and The Princess, Persuasive Devices and Writing Techniques, Fairy tales, Shape and Traditional Poetry.

Maths- Decimals, Measurements, Angles, Shape and Symmetry, Position and Direction, Statistics and continual recap of Multipication and Division Facts in preparation for the Multiplication Check w/c: 12.06.23

Science- Living Things and Their Habitats, Animals inc. Humans

Geography- What’s it like in Whitby?

History- Why did the Romans Invade Britain?

RE- The Mission of the Church and Belonging to the Church

Computing- Online Safety: Managing information online, Copyright and Ownership and Health, Wellbeing and Lifestyle

PE- Athletics and Key Skills

Art and DT- Seasonal Food and Food and Vegetables

PSHE- Created to Love Others

Stations of the Cross - 27/03/23

Today we went to the hall where we got to visit the stations of the cross made by each class. It was an opportunity to walk in Jesus’ final footsteps and consider how it must have felt and the significance of each part. Our station was number 14- Jesus was laid in a Tomb. We made some brilliant artwork showing the lovely sunset behind the tomb signifying the hope that Jesus’ death brought. We also wrote prayers to Jesus, thanking him for his sacrifice and for being our Messiah.

Easter Egg Hunt - 24/03/23

We thoroughly enjoyed taking part in the PTFAs Easter egg hunt today, we used the map around the school to solve the secret message…. HAPPY EASTER everyone!

If you were an engineer what would you do? for British Science Week - 09/03/23

We have been celebrating British Science Week with a focus on Engineering. Kicking off with a visit from Adam Thicket, an engineer from Siemens Energy we learned what an engineer is and what types of things they create. We got to to ask him questions about his career choice. Then in class, we were asked- If you were an engineer what would you do? We brainstormed different problems around the world and it was our job to design a solution to them. After drawing out our idea, we wrote a rationale explaining what we have designed and why it is important to us. We have sent off our entries and look forward to seeing how we do.

World Book Day - 02/03/23

On Thursday, we took part in World book day. The children dressed up as their favourite book characters and we enjoyed a day of celebrating reading. We spent the day reading a new book by Shaun Tan called ‘The Lost Thing’. This was a powerful story, we looked at the morals about the importance of helping those who are in need and that if you feel lost, you will always find your way back on track. Then we made Lost posters for the ‘Lost thing’ focussing on description. We spent a lovely afternoon reading with children from Reception and sharing stories that we love.

International Book Giving Day - 14/02/23

Today we celebrated International Book Giving Day, some of us had gifted our lightly used books that we had finished to give to another child to enjoy! This was a really enjoyable thing that we all took part in…

Children’s Mental Health Week ‘Let’s Connect’ - 09/02/23

This week is children’s mental health week and the theme is ‘Let’s Connect’, we talked about the different connections we had with people around us and how we can build on them. We talked about what qualities make for good connections with people: listening, talking, empathy, kindness, trust, consideration and sharing. We thought about what we get out of good connections and how they help our mental health. We offered advice to others in difficult situations on how to make connections to get help. We then wrote a poem and spent some mindfulness time on some drawing.

Investigating Conductors and Insulators - 02/02/23

Today we planned and carried out an experiment to see ‘Which items are electrical conductors?’ to spot any patterns in their materials. We talked about our hypothesis (our predictions) and discussed how we were going to keep the test fair - by using the same wires, bulb, batteries and only changing the item (independent variable). After creating a working circuit, we inserted different materials into the gap to test whether the bulb would light or not. This was lots of fun! We found out that mainly materials made of metal would light the circuit.

Class Mass - 02/02/23

Father Hugh came into school to celebrate mass with us on Thursday, we listened to readings focusing on the Beatitudes and talked about the importance of being humble. The children listened very well and those who were doing readings and prayers were very clear.

Online Reputation - 27/01/23

This week we Year 4 have learned how to stay safe online and how to use the internet properly. We have looked at what things are and aren’t appropriate to share, whilst also discussing what to do in a tricky situation.

Some important pieces of advice are:

●We advise you never to share personal information online, it could cause you harm.

●Make it private.

●unless you trust someone. Only contact people you know.

●Don’t send inappropriate messages to others.

●Think before you type.

Our key Learning message is:

Rewilding Dream- Spring Term

We have been asked to take part in the ‘Imagine a Story’ book workshop, in which we will become published authors at the end of it. Working with schools across the country we collaboratively create a story. This year the story is called ‘Rewilding Dream’ in which a future world is experiencing a climate crisis. Two characters take on horrid Faceless Guzzles with the support of their true, true birds. This writing process was very interesting, bringing all the children’s ideas together into one piece of work. We can’t wait to read the book when it is published! Here are some of our true, true birds and ideas…

Welcome Back to our Spring Term - 04/02/23

I hope you have all had a lovely Christmas and a Happy New Year. We look forward to starting lots of our new learning this term Here are our topics:

Maths- Multiplication and Division, Measurement

English- Rewilding Dream, The Girl who Stole an Elephant

Science- Can you make a circuit out of playdough?

RE- Jesus the Teacher and Jesus the Saviour

Geography- How is our world organised?

History- How did the First Railways change British History?

PE- Swimming, Gymnastics

Computing- Online Reputation

Christmas Cards - 19/12/22

We have been working on some Christmas Cards using the Cubism art style and focusing on colour families of warm and cold colours. We are looking forward to giving them to our people at home.

Christmas Stockings - 16/12/22

In our Art and DT lessons, we have been designing our own Christmas stockings. Over the past few weeks we have been sewing away to create our stockings, a big thank you to Mrs Joyce for all of her help with these, they look brilliant!

St John’s Hospice Reindeer Run - 02/12/22

On Friday, we took part in the reindeer dash to raise money and awareness for St John’s Hospice in Lancaster. We did laps of the school and had lots of fun!

Sleeping Beauty Pantomime - 28/11/22

We were lucky to be able to visit the Box to watch a performance of ‘Sleeping Beauty’ run by Kendal College theatre students. It was a great show and a lovely walk to the Box, using the new bridge over the river.

Evacuee Day - 23/11/22

In year 4, we had lots of fun dressing up as evacuees for the day, we were ‘picked’ when we arrived off the train and sent to different family scenarios, we did a role play showing how they would feel in that situation. We made ID labels so people knew things about us. We spent time looking at real WW1 and WW2 artefacts such as: Gas masks, Ration Books, Medals, Soldiers uniform etc.  Then, we decided which items we would have been able to take with us and not in our suitcases.

After lunch, we watched videos about real life evacuees to find out first-hand how they felt and linked our learning to the evacuee characters in Narnia: The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe. Looking at evacuee letters, we also had the chance to write letters home and made them look old. We practiced what we would do if we heard the loud air raid siren. Finally, we created our own Blitz silhouette artwork and ended discussing the positives and negatives of evacuation, it’s been such a fun day!

Trash Free Trials- 15/11/22

A big thank you to the representatives from TRASH FREE TRIALS who came into school to work with our class. We discussed what we spend our time doing in the outdoors and where we enjoy visiting around our local area. Then we thought about how these areas are impacted by the trash we see littered around. Focusing on being responsible members of our community; we talked about what we should do when we see trash in our countryside and how we can educate others on looking after the environment. Venturing outside, we were able to celebrate what we loved about nature in our school grounds, finding something that makes us be thankful for the outdoors and discovering the different types of trees we have around us. We learned some very shocking numbers and facts about the litter we see around!

Parliament Week- 14/11/22- 18/11/22

This week is British Parliament week, we have marked it by voting for our school council members. We talked about the process of voting and democracy in our country. Each child who wanted to be considered prepared a speech or presentation outlining what they would bring to our class and school. Each child then received a ballot paper, casting their two votes anonymously. The votes were counted and congratulations to Cora and Eli who are our new school council reps for this year. Well done to all of the children who put themselves forward to be considered, you did amazing!

Remembrance Day- 11/11/22

Today we payed respect to all of the people who lost their lives during the world wars. We discussed why we wear poppies and thought about why it is important to honour all the people who have done and are still fighting for our country. We made some poppy art; capturing a sunset background as a sign of a new hope and marking the fields where the poppies grew with our own fingerprints.

Black History Month- October 2022

As October is Black History Month, this week we have been looking at what this means and why it is important to celebrate black history, exploring the impact of key figures in the black community. We also spent time learning about the civil rights movement; especially the work of Martin Luther King. We listened to his iconic speech ‘I have a dream ‘ discussing its meaning and significance then exploring what effect it had on us. We then had the opportunity to write our own ‘I have a dream’ speeches and delivered them to the class. Here are some of our ideas.

International Week - 10/10/22-15/10/22

This week we have been exploring some of the different cultures we celebrate in our class including: Poland, India, Philippines, China, Latvia and Portugal.

It has been very interesting learning about different languages, foods, beliefs, weather, animals, transport and so much more…. We were very thankful to all the children and parents who sent things in to look at. It was a week enjoyed by all!

Poland- We have looked at the geography, culture, food and drink, education and polish language. Our polish ambassadors taught us how to say the colours in polish. We researched famous ‘Pioneer Poles’ looking at the important things polish people have invented. We created some polish folk art and looked at the symmetry of the pictures. We cut out shapes and patterns to create a symmetrical picture. Rosie brought in some Polish money and made a presentation about Poland too.

India- We have looked at where India is, what the climate is, Indian animals, weather, transport, henna tattoos and so much more. We had the opportunity to try some Indian food including: naan bread, rice and poppadom’s, which we all enjoyed. We looked at the Taj Mahal and created reflected symmetrical pattern, followed by images of painted elephants in the Indian sunset. Alicia brought in a Sari for us all to see and we were amazed at the length of it.

Philippines- We have been learning about the Philippines and Holly brought in a presentation to share all about the amazing islands, we learned about Filipino food, names, weather, language, places to go and how to get there. We looked at the flag and found out the meaning behind the colours and the sun. Holly’s mum also sent in some traditional Filipino food, spring rolls called Lumpia, which we were able to try- they were delicious.

China- We have been learning about China, we have been speaking mandarin in class, saying “Hello, my name is ____, goodbye!” and we have written our names and date of birth in Chinese writing. We looked at the history of the Great wall of China and mapped out where it goes. We got to taste some Chinese noodles, prawn crackers and some of us were brave in trying chow mien sauce. Then tried using chopsticks, it was a challenge picking up the smaller peg. We created Chinese lanterns and dragon masks after looking at the Chinese New Year festival.

Portugal- We are very lucky that we have Mrs Williams who is Portuguese, she has told us all about growing up in Portugal and what life is like. We learned about food, education, famous places and so much more. We even discussed the history of famous footballers and realised Mrs Williams claim to fame! Then we looked at the meaning of the flag and painted them. Thank you Mrs Williams!

Making Iron Monsters - 3/10/22

A huge thank you to all the children of year 4 for the effort and creativity they have put into making their Iron men, this links to our literacy topic book 'The Iron Man' by Ted Hughes. They are amazing! A big thank you to all the people at home who have helped too!

Investigating Changes of State - 22/9/22

Today we planned and carried out an investigation to find out which temperature would melt chocolate the fastest. We timed how long a cube of chocolate took to melt at different temperatures, recorded our results and came to our conclusion. As a treat for our hard work, we had a sneaky piece of chocolate each; it was a great lesson.

Queen Elizabeth II - 15/9/22

In memory of Her Royal Highness Queen Elizabeth II, Year 4 have written a poem to celebrate her life.

Westmorland County Show - 8/9/22

We visited the Westmorland County Show on 8th September 2022 and although it was wet, we had a wonderful time celebrating Cumbrian life and heritage. We had the opportunity to see a range of farm animals, crafts, art, machinery and so much more… Many stalls had things we could interact with and we learned lots. It was “unforgettable”!

Here are some pictures from our day!

WELCOME BACK Sept 2022

I hope everyone has had a lovely summer and are ready to start a new school year, Mrs Williams and I are very excited to see you all on Wednesday 7th Sept. We are going to start as we mean to go on with a trip to the Westmorland County Show on Thursday followed by a fun-filled term. Below are some of the topics we are going to be focussing our learning on this half term, thank you, Mrs Burrow.

Literacy- The Iron Man and The Firework Makers Daughter are our class texts. Descriptive writing, Instructions and Explanations.

Maths- Number and Place Value, Timetables Recap.

Science- States of Matter- Where does water go?

Geography- How and why is my local area changing?

RE- The Bible.

PSHE- Developing Understanding: Me, my body and my health.

Art- European Artists.

PE- Outdoor activities and Swimming.

Computing- Multimedia and Word Processing.

Spanish- A new start.

Music- Mamma Mia and Glockenspiel.

Beamish Trip – 30/06/22

Year 3 and 4 have thoroughly enjoyed a trip to beamish where we had the opportunity to be evacuee children and Victorian children, both in the same day! We experienced what life would be like for Evacuee children being moved to live on a farm and how people would have contributed to the war effort with growing their own food and doing important jobs like the Home Guard. We also had the opportunity to go into an Anderson shelter, which was covered in plants and veggies to camouflage from the aircraft above. We then went to Victorian school; our headmaster was quite “scary” though! We learned to add and subtract wages and practiced our handwriting using a dip pen. Luckily no one got caned. After that, we had a look around the meseum, seeing the 1900s town, the coal mine, an 1800s farm and so much more…. What a great trip!

The Open Farm Day - 28/06/22

We had a lovely day at Heaves Farm Open Day learning all about the inner workings of a farm. We had the opportunity to see a working dairy, learn about how cows are cared for, see sheep being shorn, watch a sheepdog work to round up sheep into a pen, learn about farm machinery (we even got stored into a cattle trailer) and so much more…. We were very lucky to see a 6 hour old calf. Thank you to Andrew from Muller for showing us around.

Corpus Christi Prayer and Liturgy - 24/06/22

We enjoyed doing our prayer and liturgy in our new prayer garden. As mentioned by one of our children, “In our prayer garden it is really peaceful and quiet so I really like it, we enjoyed time listening to the birds singing as we reflected on the reading from the gospel.”

The Sacraments - 23/06/22

In today’s lesson we split into groups to learn more about the seven sacraments and discover how they each bring us ‘Good News’. Each group prepared a short presentation about their given sacrament and told their classmates about it.

Islam Week- 20/06/22

On Monday, had a brilliant time working with our Islamic visitor Razwan Ul-Haq, he explained what it was like to be a Muslim including; The five pillars (Faith, Prayer, Charity, Fasting and Pilgrimage), he showed us how he prays, taught us some of the Arabic language and answered all of our questions. We found lots of similarities between Islam and Christianity. We then had the opportunity to do some Islamic art using Razwan’s home carved bamboo pens which was great fun. Thank you Razwan!

Cricket- Every Wednesday

We have been enjoying our Cricket sessions with John from the Cumbrian Cricket Association. The weather has luckily been on our side.

Summer Term 2022

Welcome back for our final half term, Year 4 would like to say a HUGE thank you and good luck to Miss Brownsord who has sadly left us upon the return of Mrs Burrow after maternity leave.

This is going to be a fun-filled final few weeks with lots to look forward to; including trips to the farm and Beamish!

Our topics are:

• English- Escape from Pompeii & Myths and Legends

• Maths- Money, Time, Shapes and Angles, Position and Direction, and lots of Timestables in preparation for our Multiplication Check (w/c 20/06/22)

• Science- Electricity

• RE- Belonging to the Church

• PE- Cricket

• History- Why did the Romans invade Britain?

• Spanish- Animals and Food

• Art- Pottery and Mosaics

• Music- Charanga

THE BIG SING - 26/05/22

What an amazing afternoon we had at Big Sing yesterday with Cumbria Music Hub! We had been practising and learning our songs for a few weeks and all of our hard work paid off. I am so proud of their bravery to perform in front of an audience.

Dentist Visit - 25/05/22

A big thank you to dentist, Jack Waterhouse, who kindly came in to speak to Year 4. He talked all about Teeth and how we should care for them. We all learned lots of interesting facts and were surprised to see how much sugar is in our favourite drinks!

Brass Music Concert - 09/03/2022

Year 4 had the opportunity today to go and watch a brass band, Elysium Brass, at the Town Hall. They explained each of their instruments as well as playing some pieces. Year 4 were amazing ambassadors for Dean Gibson and made me very proud!

Wheelchair Basketball - 27/01/2022

What an amazing morning we had taking part in wheelchair basketball. The children had a great time figuring out how to manoeuvre the wheelchairs and playing a game against each other. A big thank you to world champion wheelchair basketball player Nat Pattinson for coming in and providing all of the wheelchairs. This was a great way to raise awareness of disability in sport.

Welcome Back Year 4!

Welcome back and a Happy New Year from Miss Brownsord and Mrs Wilkinson. We have lots of learning to cover this term. Our topics include:

English- How to Train Your Dragon

Maths- Multiplication and Division

Science- Animals including humans

RE- Jesus, the Teacher

PE- Gymnastics and Swimming

Geography- Why do so many people in the world live in megacities?

Spanish- Months of the Year

Art- Bodies

Music- Charanga

Christmas crafts

Year 4 created some amazing Christmas stockings by sewing felt. They persevered when it started to get tricky and created some amazing pieces. Well done Year 4!

Evacuee Day - 30/11/2021

We had a great Evacuee Day today! The children looked amazing in their outfits. Throughout the day we wrote evacuee letters, worked together to decipher Morse code messages, and draw propaganda posters. We also practiced, many times, diving under our table when we heard an air-raid siren.

Art - European artists

W/C 20/09/21 This week in our European Artists topic we have been learning about Michelangelo and his work on the Sistene Chapel.

We had a go ourselves at ‘painting on the ceiling.’

Y4 VISIT TO HOLY TRINITY & ST GEORGE

W/C 20/09/21This week Year 4 have been to see Father Hugh at church. He told us all about the different things you might find in a church and their purposes as well as the different people you might meet and their roles.

A big thank you to Father Hugh.