Summer 2, Week 6 – 10/07/25
What an amazing way to end the term! This week, Year 4 were all dressed up as Anglo-Saxons to spend their experience day at Forest School.
The children participated in a range of Anglo-Saxon-themed activities throughout the day. Helped by a team of parents who, without, we could not have run the day at all. So, please can we say a massive thank you to those kind mums who made the day so special.
The children created Anglo-Saxon terracotta pots
They used the Anglo-Saxons’ ‘Bald’s Leechbook’ to create potions and remedies.
The children mended the thatch on our Anglo-Saxon hut and recreated the wattle walls by weaving willow.
They made clay medallions with Anglo-Saxon designs.
The children chopped and prepared all the vegetables to make Anglo-Saxon pottage.
After lunch, we lit the campfire and cooked up our pottage. Whilst waiting, the children told each other stories, just like the Anglo-Saxons would have done around the hearth fire in their great halls and did some fabric weaving.
Summer 2, Week 3 – 20/06/25
This week, the children conducted their follow-on experiments from the previous ones we had done throughout the year. One group wanted to know if adding more components to electrical circuits made the bulb produce less light; they used a data logger in a dark cupboard to test this. Two groups followed on from our tooth decay investigation and wanted to know which fruit juice/fizzy drink was worst for teeth; they used litmus paper to test the pH of each drink. (So sorry – I lost one of the photos) The next group wanted to know if different cooking spices in warm water would make ice melt more quickly; they used thermometers to check temperatures were the same to ensure it was a fair test. The final group wanted to see how the number of layers of different materials would affect soundproofing; they used a data logger and Mr Reeves’ nice quiet office to conduct theirs.
Summer 2, Week 2 – 13/06/25
What a wonderful and busy first two weeks we have had back at school. The children have started our new book ‘She Wolf’ in blended reading, have almost completed the publishing of their Anglo-Saxon Myths in English and completed a whole unit on Time.
They have planned their science experiments for this term, following on from experiments we have done this year and are ready to start their investigations next week.
The children had their first Forest School sessions with Miss Reid, where they drew maps of the forest school site, discussed the potential hazards and created warning signs.
The highlight, though, was of course, the trip to Warwick Castle. What an amazing day we all had!
Summer 1, Week 4 – 16/05/25
Year 4 have been learning all about the Anglo-Saxons, their settlements and houses. Last week they wrote
their names in Anglo-Saxon runes. They had great fun in their art lesson carving the first letter of their name
in runes into their soaps to create sculptures. The floor was rather messy by the end! This week they
finished drawing their Anglo-Saxon settlements and learnt how the country was split into different
kingdoms.
In Maths we have been learning all about money, writing them as decimals, converting them from pounds
to pence and comparing amounts. The weekend would be a good chance to test their skills if you go to the
shops.
In our religious education lessons, we have been learning about Hindu values and beliefs and their Gods.
The children have worked hard comparing Hindu values to Christian ones.
On Wednesday, they had a fun science circuits day. The children fixed incomplete circuits, did an
experiment into what materials were conductors and insulators and made their own working switches.
The children have been working hard in their swimming lessons. Well done to Henrietta, Liliana and Noah
for gaining their 25 metres award in swimming this week.
Summer 1, Week 2 – 02/05/25
What an amazing start to the term we have had! The children completed, published and shared their character description through speech with Year 3. They are now very excited about starting their innovated Anglo-Saxon myth. Pictures below show some of the fantastic ideas the children have planned.
In Maths, we are continuing our work on decimals, looking at converting fractions to decimals, making wholes with tenths and hundreds, and adding three decimals. The children have also been working really hard on their times tables facts ready for their multiplication check in June.
The children began their new Science topic this week. They learned how mains and battery power works, identified many electrical appliances and could say whether they were battery or mains powered and discussed being safe around electricity.
However, the highlight was definitely working with a buddy to construct simple series circuits using real components. They were able to draw and label diagrams to show what they had made. Some of the children even managed more complex circuits including lamps, motors, buzzers and some switches.
The children have also been working incredibly hard on their Maypole and Colour dances and can’t wait to perform for the parents at our May Day celebration.
Spring 2, Week 6 – 04/04/25
In English we have been working on our character descriptions of the Wind in the Willows characters.
In DT we finished making our puppets of the Wind in the Willows characters – Mole, Ratty, Badger or Toad. The children worked hard on their sewing, each included a fastening of either a button or popper and the end results were fantastic.
Last week, we got to have a photography session with Jodie to try out her Shutterbug club. We went out onto the field and everyone loved using the different cameras, getting into different poses and taking photos of each other.
Spring 2, Week 5 – 28/03/25
On Monday, the children had a fantastic time on their trip to The Living Rainforest in Newbury. The children learned lots more from the knowledgable staff about climate change and got to show off all they already knew about conservation. It was wonderful to see their learning brought to life. They thoroughly enjoyed it.
What an amazing performance the children gave for their showcase on Wednesday! I can’t believe we pulled it off in just three practices. We did record the ‘dress rehearsal’; however, the camera chopped off the children on the edges, and the main finale was so much better that it would be a shame to spoil it with an inferior version. Below is the PowerPoint that we shared during the assembly. All the children wrote their own lines about the slides they were presenting.
24-25 Showcase
Spring 2, Week 4 – 21/03/25
It’s been another busy two weeks in Year 4. In week 3, the children conducted a science experiment about whether sugary and acidic drinks cause tooth decay. The children used hard-boiled eggs to represent the teeth and tested the impact coke, black coffee with 2 sugars, orange juice, orange squash and water had on the shell (tooth enamel). Images below. They wrote up their experiment beautifully, drawing their own bar graphs to show their data and composed a conclusion and evaluation from it.
In Maths we have continued our work on fractions, looking at equivalent fractions as well as adding and subtracting two or more fractions.
In English, the children completed publishing their British animal fact files and should be very proud of how they turned out, as we are. To begin our next learning journey the children had fun highlighting clues in the text that inferred something about the character’s personality; cutting them out and writing sticks for the big posters on our working wall. Images below.
On Wednesday this week, we learned about our digestive systems with a hands on model. The children took turns to move the food through the ‘body parts’. It was disgusting but super exciting too. Images below.
On top of all of this, we have also completed all our assessments, planned our Year 4 showcase to perform for parents on Wednesday 26th March at 1:30pm and begun practising our maypole dance.
Spring 2, Week 2 – 07/03/25
The first two weeks of this term have been lovely. The weather has improved, bringing some sun and joy. We have begun reading our new English book, The Wind in the Willows. The children have written and are ready to proofread, edit, and publish a fact file about one of the animal characters in the story. They have included information about its habitats, looks, behaviours, and special skills. The children have been working on their inference skills in Blended Reading ready for their next writing learning journey to compose a character description.
In Maths, the children have begun a unit on fractions. They have learned to understand, identify, compare, order and convert mixed numbers and improper fractions.
The children have started their new Science topic called ‘Animals including Humans’ during this unit they will cover food chains and the digestive system. So far we have completed food chains and have begun an experiment to see how acidic and sugary drinks affect our teeth. Images below.
World Book Day was brilliant! The children really impressed me with their performances of a poem for the poetry competition. We had to have a second class round to narrow it down to three children as it was such a hard decision for me. Congratulations to Hannah, Iris and Aneirin who got through to the Lower Key Stage 2 round. Well done Aneirin, who was picked from this to compete in the whole school round. Books and Breakfast went down a treat on Thursday morning too. Image below.
Spring 1, Week 6 – 14/02/25
Year 4 have had a very productive past two weeks. The children completed the publishing of their emotional responses and impressed Year 5 when they shared their work with them. Images below.
They then composed, edited and published cinquain poems about endangered animals following on from the topic and science work the children have been doing on conservation. Sketching beautiful drawings of their animals behind their poems to illustrate them before sharing with Year 2. Images below.
The children have had some amazing forest school sessions this term. We are so lucky to have this facility at our school. They spent some time using their senses to be at one with nature and learning mindfulness techniques, along with den building, imaginative play, problem-solving, exploring natural resources, as well as the social learning that occurs when children are able to choose activities and teams. Photos can be seen in the Gallery section of the website. https://cropredyprimary.co.uk/parents-info/galleries/
We also had the joy of welcoming some Year 1 children in to share what they had done for their Internet Safety Day learning. In Year 4, we discussed scams and phishing. The children were very knowledgeable and remembered a lot from our Online Safety unit earlier this year. They were able to identify whether a number of examples were trustworthy or scams. Images below.
Spring 1, Week 4 – 31/01/25
Over the past two weeks Year 4 have been completing their emotional response writing about Chang, a young Vietnamese conservationist, who helps release Sorya the sun bear into the wild. The children have included exciting sentence structures whilst describing the emotions.
In Maths, the children have been multiplying and dividing 2-digit and 3-digit numbers by a 1-digit number, using different methods. They also looked at correspondence problems – finding the number of possibilities by multiplying three 1-digit numbers.
Our new song this term during Music lessons is going very well, this week all the children on their different instruments are coming together as a team and playing in unison. It was a pleasure to listen to it, finally.
We are improving our fitness levels during our PE sessions; it would be fantastic if the children could continue this at home too. The CDC recommends 60 minutes (or more) of moderate to vigorous exercise a day for children, so getting them as active as possible will help them develop good habits for the future.
The children have also been working hard on our integrated Science/English/ICT unit on Conservation. They have been researching natural and human causes for environmental changes and looking at how these impact the habitats and lives of living things. The children studied different endangered species and composed ‘If…, if…, if…, then… sentences about different animals. Images below.
Following their colour mixing session, the children put these skills into practise by using tone and shades to make their drawings of 3D objects look real. Examples below.
Spring 1, Week 2 – 24/01/25
What a chilly first couple of weeks we have had. The children have been keeping busy and warm in class though. We have begun our new topic on conservation.
In English, the children have begun reading our new book ‘Saving Sorya’ and have written an exciting emotional response about Chang discovering a bear farm using ‘verb, person’ sentences that start their writing right in the action.
In Science, the children have researched different human and natural causes for changes to habitats. They have typed up their notes onto Google Docs ready to copy and paste into a Google Slides presentation.
In Maths the children were introduced to factors and factor pairs. They have also been multiplying and dividing by 10 and 100.
In Art, the children have been learning how to mix primary paint colours with black and white to create tints and shades of colours. We started to think about how we can use these colours to paint 3-dimensional objects.
