Pizza Design in DT

Badgers have been taste testing and researching various ingredients to help them to design a pizza.  They also carried out some market research, ready to design their own pizzas later this week.

Computing-using Power Point to create food chains

The badgers have been developing that presentation skills in computing using Power Point. They have begun to create their own food chains linked to our work in science and used animation and transition skills to represent the arrows and process.

Second Trip to the Bakery

Wow! What an epic couple of days at The Orange Bakery! The children are now expert bread makers and will be teaching all their families how to do it...we look forward to trying the results!

They also learnt lots about sustainability and how making small changes in our own lives and have a BIG impact on our future.

After the second group have completed their visits, we will be putting our learning into practice in the classroom designing our own recipes. Yummy!

Trip to The Orange Bakery

Our first visit to The Orange Bakery was a great success and lots of fun! Kitty and Al very kindly invited us to learn about all things baking as well as food sustainability.  We made bread hedgehogs, bialys, focaccia, a mini loaf and flat breads.  Delicious!  We also found out about how flour is made and the food miles of some of the ingredients.  Tonight we are going to make our own dough so that tomorrow we can design and make a bread product of our choice - we can't wait!

Science: Food chains and webs

We have studied a range of food chains this week, thinking carefully about the meaning of the arrow (eaten by). The children have created their own food chains using animals from a range of habitats.

English: Non-Chronological Reports on climate change

This week the children have learnt part of our report on climate change, using actions to really consolidate the structure and vocabulary. This will help them when they come to structure their own writing.

Cricket

Badgers had some fantastic coaching sessions in cricket last term and we have a couple more weeks of putting their skills into practice in term 6. They have developed some accurate throwing skills in the field! We have been playing diamond cricket to consolidate all their skills. The England Test team would be impressed Badgers!

Jubilee Celebrations!

Well Done Badgers! Your Ed Sheeran performance was a great celebration of the 2020s. We have had a great day of celebrating this momentous occasion. We have helped to make bunting that will be displayed in the local community next weekend and created 'open the flap' fact sheets about the Queen's reign.

Prove it Maths!

We have been having a focus on how to PROVE our mathematical understanding this week.

We have used 'always, sometimes, never' statements about different areas of maths. The children needed to decide if the statement is always true, sometimes true or never true and prove their decision using their mathematical knowledge.

We have also used our mathematical knowledge to explain patterns and chosen strategies.

We used this nrich problem to help us explain our reasoning for a given strategy.

https://nrich.maths.org/6863

Oral Story Telling

Linked to our topic on Unexpected Journeys, we have been studying oral story telling and how stories have been passed down through generations and around the world. Badgers have written their own Anansi stories (Trickster spider stories from Ghana) and learnt to tell them as an oral story. They then had the opportunity to tell their stories to the Hedgehogs class. What fantastic story tellers they are! Their performances were filled with actions, voices, eye contact and animation and the Hedgehogs were a great audience, joining in and learning the stories too! Well done Badgers.

We love Reading!

Badgers are avid readers and enjoy reading a range of books. The children regularly change their books in the school library and are encouraged to experiment with different genres and texts.

The children record their reading at the back of their home learning book and share their favourite reads and recommendations with each other every week.

We also enjoy listening to a class reader in Badgers. At the moment we are enjoying a book called When Stars are Scattered by Victoria Jamieson and Omar Mohamed. This book is  laid out like a comic strip and is the true story of two brothers living in a refuge camp in Kenyan. This story is helping Badgers to understand the experiences of children in different parts of the world who become refuges.

Science-Understanding the digestive system

This term we are studying animals and humans in science. Badgers played a board game to consolidate their knowledge and understanding of the digestive system. They needed to collect ENZYMES and answer questions to enable them to reach the end of the digestive system.

The children can now explain the following parts:

-The mouth

-The oesophagus

-The stomach

-The small intestine

-The large intestine

-The rectum and anus

Oral Story Telling: Anansi and Turtle

We have started this term by listening to the Ghanaian traditional tale "Anansi and Turtle". Anansi is a spider character, often known better as a trickster. There are many stories about him and they often teach a lesson or a moral too.

The Badgers are beginning to be able to tell the story orally too-can you ask them to tell you the tale? Maybe it could be a bedtime story for you or a sibling!

Term 3 and 4 Gallery of Home Learning

We want to share a gallery of home learning for the Badgers Class because there has been some wonderful pieces this term-filled with creativity and hard work. We will keep adding to this gallery each week so have a look out for your own pieces. Well done Badgers!

DT and Art Project

Wow! Badgers have had a fantastic week applying all their skills from their topic this term to a design and technology project. 

They carefully planned and designed a miniature puppet theatre inspired by Midsummer Night's Dream and also our focus artist this week, William Morris. They also applied their learning from science to build their own parallel circuits to light their stage. What perseverance and fantastic results!

Maths

Today in maths we have started a week of studying area of shapes.

The children have learned this important sentence to help them. Can they recite to you at home we wonder?

AREA is the SPACE taken up by a 2d shape or surface.

The children applied their skills of estimation to support their understanding of area. They used post-its to estimate and measure a range of classroom objects. 

Questions asked:

How can we measure area that is not exactly a number of post-its?

How can we measure a much larger surfce area?

RE

This term we have been focussing on Christian places of pilgrimage. This has included studying pilgrimages to Lourdes and Saint Bernadette to help the children understand what they are and why people go on them for religious reasons. There has been lots of excellent discussions and questions about this topic! Well done Badgers!

Drama, English and History

Wow! What budding thespians we have in Badgers!

This week, the children have been using drama skills of freeze frames and improvisation to think about how a character might feel and act in a situation. We focussed on Bottom in Midsummer Night's Dream and how he reacts to events and other characters. The children will use this imaginative drama to bring the story to life in their own writing next week...watch this space for the results!

PE

The Badgers are putting into practice team work skills in PE this term by taking part in a range of outdoor challenges. This week we looked at how to trust each other by completing a 'blind fold course'. One child is blinded folded and another has to use clear instructions to lead them through a simple obstacle course. The children noted the following skills that were really important:

• Directional language
• Heighted use of different senses (touch and hearing)
• Calm, clear voice
• Encouragement
• Over-coming nerves by trusting your friends.

Class Assembly

A huge WELL DONE to all the Badgers on an excellent class assembly! You presented an interesting range of all of your learning to your families in a confident manner. You knowledge and understanding on a range of topics really shone through-great job!

Trip to Oxford

The Badgers had a fantastic day visiting Oxford to round off our local study topic. The morning was spent exploring the Museum of Oxford. The children studied historical artefacts and analysed how these gave them clues about the history of Oxford, particularly thinking about the impact of transport on the city. They loved exploring the OS maps and inventing their own modes of transport for the future of Oxford. 

We also visited Christ Church meadows and put into practice our landscape sketching skills drawing both natural landscapes and buildings too.

World Book Day

Badgers demonstrated a true love of reading and a passion for books! The children loved explaining the characters they came dressed up as and how they had gone through a change in a story. They took on the challenge of creating a pop-up card/book that showed a character going through an exciting change in a story. What creativity and imagination!

We also had a 'Mad Hatter's Tea Party' where all children were able to read extracts from a range of books to inspire them to pick up different genre books.

TERM 3 Useful Documents

Jigsaw-Collaborating as teams to reach a goal

Badgers were fantastic team players today. They were challenged to work collaboratively in small groups to reach a goal-creating potato people that followed a specific brief.

Some of the positive language we heard during the lesson:

"That's a good idea!"

"Please can you help me?"

"Do you need some help?"

"Woo! hoo!"

"Shall we..."

The children used language of team work instinctively today, understanding it was a collaborative not solo task. Well done everyone!

Geography-Using OS Maps accurately

Badgers loved exploring OS maps of Oxfordshire, exploring grid co-ordinates, symbols and keys and using Easting and Northing. 

Geography: Understanding the purpose of locations within a city.

The children spent time researching different important locations in Oxford. They were then able to categorise them according to their purpose and identify their location on a road map of the city.

Maths: dividing numbers by 10 and 100

This week we have taken our understanding of fractions and applied this to decimal representation. We have used a range of ways to represent and support us including place value charts.

Here we are using these in class to support our calculations.

Can you explain how they work to your families?

English and Geography-link to our local study on Oxford

This week has seen the culmination to our unit of work on writing discussion texts. Having explored texts on lots of topics, the children have finally written their own pieces on whether Oxford United should build a new stadium. They wrote some powerful arguments both 'for' and 'against' this topic and experimented with language of comparison and writing in a formal tone to match the genre. The children then carried out peer- assessments to help each other improve their writing, as well as self-evaluation of the pieces against our tool kits. What a mature and evaluative approach all the children took!

Our PSHE lessons-Jigsaw

This week, in our Jigsaw lessons we have been thinking how we continue to reach for our dreams even when things may go wrong. The children had lots of great ideas about where to turn for help and how to keep their self-belief alive (including seeking support and inspiration from family and others who are succeeding). They were also excellent at thinking about the sorts of changes they could make in their own lives to ensure their dreams are still attainable. What wise Badgers!

Science and Music

We are in the middle of our topic on Sound. So far we have explored how sounds are made and how they travel to our ear and brain.

We explored musical instruments to support this-ask the children about the following questions. I'm sure their scientific explanations will be very accurate:

How are sounds produced?

How do different instruments create sound?

How does sound travel to our ears?

Why does sound travel through solids more quickly than gases?

Week 4

Art-Landscapes

This week, Badgers have examined painting landscapes through the techniques used by Monet. They then had a go at it themselves; it was definitely harder than it looked, but the children persevered with some good results.

English-Discussion Texts

After a couple of weeks of exploring and understanding discussion texts, the Badgers have been posed a real life question to debate and discuss:

Should Oxford United build a new stadium on a new site?

We explored the topic today and the children came up with a really comprehensive list of FOR and AGAINST reasons which will help to shape their own discussion texts. We hope you are looking forward to hearing some of them in our class assembly on 11th February...be ready to cast your own vote on the subject too!

Art-Landscapes Week 2

This week we have focussed on one-point perspective in our landscape drawing and the children wanted to share their great work on recreating this skill in their own work, well done Badgers!

Art-Landscapes

We have started our learning on landscapes this term by exploring artists famous for different styles of landscape. We are developing different skills each week and have begun by looking at how to ensure a landscape has accurate composition. We studied and replicated a landscape picture of Oxford using squares to split up the picture. Great focus from all the Badgers produced some great results.

TERM 2

Ho! Ho! Ho!

Santa completed a 'flying' visit to school yesterday...just checking all the children are being 'good' before his deliveries on Christmas Eve the Badgers thought. I think he was very impressed!

English-Read All About it!

The Badgers have been busy becoming journalists over the last few weeks. They have written news reports about the Roman volcano disaster in Pompeii. They imagined eye-witnesses to interview, used journalistic language and thought about the chronology of events. Enjoy having a look at some of our first pages of the reports. 

WE LOVE TO READ

Badgers love nothing more than snuggling in our book corner with a good book! We would love to hear your recommendations for our next read Badgers, so please let the class know if you have read a cracking story recently. Miss Sharman recommends the Badgers checking out some of the stories by Maz Evans...The "Who let the Gods out series" and "Vi Spy".

Division Gurus!

The Badgers are swiftly becoming experts in division. We have focussed on the chunking method this week, using our rapid recall of multiplication facts for accuracy! Great job Badgers...short division method next... 

Science Experiment Results

***NEWS FLASH***

Badgers have completed their experiment into proving the existence of evaporation and without any doubt, the Badgers have conclusive proof that it DOES EXIST!

Their observations and accurate measurements over the past week concluded with drawing line graphs of their results and writing scientific explanations. Excellent job Badgers-the Water Cycle does exist!

Science investigation into evaporation

The children have set up an investigation to prove the existence of EVAPORATION. They will spend the next week using their observation and measuring skills to record change to water level in two different containers-one with a covering and one open. Which one will have a greater volume of water by the end of next week? Watch this space for our results!

Open afternoon

It was wonderful to welcome families into school last week. The children were so excited to share their learning and show parents the classroom. Thank you to everyone who made this a lovely afternoon. The children enjoyed creating firework and silhouette houses of parliament pictures to celebrate Bonfire Night.

Egg Drop Challenge

The Badgers faced the cooperation "Egg Drop Challenge" with positivity this week! This was the culmination of work on cooperation in Jigsaw lessons. They were challenged to build a protective case for an egg to prevent it breaking when dropped from a height. They had to work colloboratively in teams to succeed. They rose to the challenge and demonstrated egg-celent understanding of how to listen to each other and compromise-great job Badgers!

Outdoor Learning Day

We are really proud of the Badgers; they embraced our outdoor learning day and learned new skills during the following activities:

• Practising spelling and times table facts using nature
• Creating clay models of a roman soldier helmet using nature
• Preparing our allotment for winter
• Experiencing cooking on an open fire and team work skills in forest school.

Well done Badgers-a great day of outdoor learning!

Badgers School Council Representatives

Huge congratulations to our new Badger Class School Councillors. They have already got to work by creating a folder in class for all the Badgers to ask questions and make suggestions for the School Council. We looked at what makes a democracy in our Jigsaw lesson last week and the UN Rights of The Child. Having a voice that is listened to is one of the articles we looked at; our school council helps all the children to understand this and see the impact of sharing ideas and opinions.

The Badgers have been working really hard on creating some Roman dance sequences. They performed for each other today and these are a few of the pictures we took. 

Marvellous Multiplication!

Badgers worked really hard on methods for rapid recall of multiplication facts. They practised the "buy one get three free" concept that knowing one multiplication fact leads to recall of three other facts (one multiplication and two divisions). Challenge them to explain this at home. We also looked at the meaning of the words FACTOR and MULTIPLE. Can they explain the difference to you?

Home Learning Documents

Here are the home learning grids and spelling sheets for year 4 this year. These will also be sent home in the home learning books which will go home this Friday and need to come back into school next Wednesday. Do ask or email if you have any further queries.

Welcome to Badgers 2021-22!

The Badgers 'Clan' (the official name for a family of Badgers!) have had a fantastic start to year 4; a busy first few days of term with lots of fun. On Friday the Badgers enjoyed getting creative and merging their own faces with a badger face using their sketching skills - have a look at their results below. Today we began our exciting new topic 'The Romans'.

Below we have attached the Newsletter for this term and our new Topic web. Please check the website for regular updates.

Mrs Flynn and Miss Sharman