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History- This half term we have been learning about the life of Henry VIII and his 6 wives! We also be looking at the life of a 'poor' tudor.
Art/Design- We have been looking at different styles of CHAIRS! There are lots of weird and wonderful types of chairs and we are going to design our own. Each chair will be designed for a particular 'character'. There is a good selection of characters chosen from Homer Simpson to Kelly the Irish dancing teacher!
Science- We have been learning about temperature and how to keep things 'hot' or 'cold'. Is it an insulator? Is it a conductor?
Literacy- Our literacy topic is all about 'The features of a newspaper report/article'. The children have enjoyed getting into the swing of things by becoming reporters and creating a news article on the school closure a couple of weeks ago, due to the snow!

Year 4 had a great time at Eden camp on Monday 5th October. The sun was shining and the children discovered a whole different world during the first and second world war. They sat inside an air raid shelter and walked along a London street during the blitz!

Year 4 have settled in well this term and have been working very hard.
We have been transported back to the second World War in our History topic. We have been looking at it through the eyes of an evacuee. The children have enjoyed bringing artefacts from their great grandparents, making the topic very real. Our trip to Eden Camp on Monday will enable the children to experience the sights and smells of the 1940s. Watch out for the photographs in a couple of weeks!
Bones, bones, bones! We have been learning about vertebrates and invertebrates and the functions of the skeleton.

On Tuesday 23rd June, Year 4 visited the National Glass Centre at Sunderland. We spent an exciting morning creating glass mosaics, looking at the Space-Time exhibition and watching a demonstration of glass blowing.

Some of us were scared standing on the glass roof!

Constellations represented in glass

Designing mosaics in the studio

On 12th June Year 4 performed their class assembly - one of the most looked forward to events in the school year! Through dance, song and drama, they took the audience back in time to World War 2. Mrs Latham would like to congratulate Year 4 for working so well together to make the event such a spectacle.

Teacher with evacuees

Year 4 spent an afternoon at the Laing Art Gallery where we visited the Journeys and Quests exhibition. In groups we studied a painting featuring a journey and then in the workshop we represented the journey as a map using symbols and pictures.

This painting by Ralph Hedley is called Last in Market (1885) and shows a local boy, sitting exhausted on a cart in the Bigg Market after his journey from the countryside to sell food from the market.

Inspired by our visit to the Shipley Art Gallery, we have been designing and constructing model chairs for favourite celebrities and characters. Can you identify who each chair was made for?

As part of our Art and Design topic on Chairs, Year 4 visited the Shipley Art Gallery. For our first activity we took part in the Gallery's Tetris Bench Challenge which is about creating furniture in an environmentally friendly way. We wrote our own wishes for the planet on a piece of discarded cardboard box which will be added to the growing Tetris bench in the Gallery.

Writing our wishes

A chair made from discarded cardboard boxes

Year 4 are fascinated by our History topic, World War 2. At the moment we have some WW2 artefacts on loan from the Discovery Museum which you can see in the photographs below. How different are our lifestyles today compared with those of children growing up in the war years!
If you would like to learn more about life during World War 2 take a look at this website:
www.bbc.co.uk/history/ww2children

Year 4 have been learning about a charity called Dogstrust which is the largest dog welfare charity in the UK. Louise Close who works for Dogstrust, told us that Dogstrust as well as rehoming unwanted dogs, also tries to reduce the problem of unwanted dogs by educating people about being responsible dog owners. She introduced us to Bailey, who she rehomed and who now accompanies her when she visits schools. He was very friendly!

You can learn more by visiting the children's section of the Dogstrust website at:
www.learnwithdogs.co.uk

On Wednesday 15th October Year 4 visited Durham Cathedral as part of our learning about St Cuthbert and places of pilgrimage. It is not hard to see why Durham Cathedral has been the destination of pilgrims for hundreds of years. The craftsmanship that went into its creation is awesome! We had a guided tour around the Cathedral which ended with a moment of stillness at St Cuthbert's tomb.

On Wednesday 8th October Year 4 went to the Gateshead CLC for an afternoon of space adventures. We took part in a variety of activities including making and launching rockets, programming robots, composing planet music and we got a feel of what it is like in space on the Wow Space Bus. We had a fabulous time!

Getting ready to launch the rocket!

On Tuesday 8th July Year 4 visited the National Glass Centre at Sunderland. We had a fantastic time in this spectacular contemporary glass and steel building. During our visit we made glass mosaics, we looked at sea creatures made out of glass and we watched artists create a vase from molten glass. They made it look so easy!

On 23rd May four girls and four boys from Year 4 enjoyed the morning representing school in the Tyne and Wear area qualifier of the Tony Blair Challenge Cup, school tennis competition. It took place at Northumberland County Ground, Jesmond on the indoor courts. The children came second out of four schools. They did extremely well considering they were up against tough competition. Their attitude and behaviour were excellent.

On Wednesday 7th May Mr John Smith from Action Aid visited Year 4 to teach us about India and the village of Chembakolli which we are studying in Geography. We learnt that Action Aid is helping the Adivasi (the people who live in Chembakolli) to assert their right to the land and organise themselves to improve the facilities and living standards in the village. We also found out about the work, houses, schools, food, clothing and customs of the Adivasi people.

An ice-cream seller visits the village on a bicycle.

On 29th April Year 4 visited the Mosque at Newcastle University. We learnt many interesting things about Muslims and how they pray. We watched people praying and we were shown around the Prayer Hall with its patterned carpet designed to help people pray in neat rows and the Mihrab arch which shows the direction of Mecca.

On Wednesday 5th March Year 4 visited Segedunum where we met an Ancient Egyptian farmer and a high priestess who told us all about the fascinating lives and deaths of the Ancient Egyptians. After our encounter with the time travelling Egyptians we spent time looking at Egyptian artefacts in the Land of the Pharaohs gallery.

On Monday and Tuesday of this week Years 3, 4, 5 and 6 hosted the children's author Adam Bushnell. Each class spent 2 sessions with Adam and what an inspiration he was! With Year 4 he told captivating stories and encouraged the children to think of their own ideas, helping them create their very own stories. Some children had the chance to sit on his storytelling chair! We hope he can come back sometime.

Last week Year 4 spent a morning at the Gateshead CLC. We worked in pairs using the program Photostory to create a presentation about World War 2. We learnt lots of different skills including how to record sound. We had a fantastic morning and can't wait to go again!

Last week Mr Gardner visited Year 4 to talk about his experiences as a child in World War 2, a topic which Year 4 have been learning about in their history lessons this term. Mr Gardner told us how he was evacuated to a cousin's house in Norfolk but that there were so many airfields in the Norfolk countryside that it became too dangerous for him to stay there, so he was sent back home to Whickham. He told us that some schools were closed or amalgamated due to a shortage of teachers - many went to fight in the war. we could not believe that bananas were never seen in the shops during World War 2!

Year 4 have been making fantastic calendars! Inspired by their learning about Japan in World Week, earlier this term, Year 4 children have been reproducing paintings by Hiroshige to create the centrepiece for their calendars. Hiroshige was a Japanese artist who lived from 1797 to 1858 and he is well known for his paintings of Japanese landscapes.

As part of our RE work on Pilgimage we visited Durham Cathedral. We learnt about why Durham Cathedral has and continues to be a place of pilgrimage. A World Heritage Site, it houses the relics of St Cuthbert and the Venerable Bede. We thought it was a majestic building with a very special atmosphere.

Mrs Williamson teaches Class Four.
She is the Special Educational Needs and Mathematics co-ordinator.

In History, the children will be looking at different aspects of World War 2, including what it was like for children during the Second World War, the blitz and rationing. They will also look at the treatment of Jewish people during the war by learning about the experiences of Anne Frank.