At the end of last week, we had an exciting Rivers and Lakes Discovery Day in the beautiful Lee Valley Park. The sun was shining, and the weather couldn’t have been better for our outdoor learning adventure. The children enjoyed a peaceful walk around the country park, where we observed a range of wildlife including coots diving and feeding their chicks, geese with fluffy goslings, as well as gulls, ducks and elegant swans. As part of our geography learning, we looked at different features of a river, completed detailed field sketches and explored the Discovery Centre. A highlight was using binoculars in the birdwatching tower – a fantastic way to spot and identify birds in their natural habitats. Of course, nothing quite beats the excitement of travelling together on the coach and enjoying a picnic outdoors with friends!
Back in the classroom this week, the children have been hard at work across all subjects. In English, we’ve been expertly turning stories into exciting playscripts – a great way to develop our understanding of dialogue and stage directions. We also wrote letters to our Greek pen pals, practising our formal writing and learning how to share interesting facts about our lives and school.
In spelling, we focused on adding the prefixes inter- and sub- to root words – exploring how these small additions can change a word’s meaning. In maths, we’ve been working on multiplying and dividing two-digit numbers. The children used partitioning and part-whole models to build their understanding. Our Year 4 learners progressed further, using more formal written methods and tackling problems involving exchanges and remainders – a big challenge they took on brilliantly!
Our PSHE lessons this week were all about caring for the environment. The children explored the “Seven R’s”: reduce, reuse, recycle, repair, rethink, rot, and refuse. They created colourful and informative posters that will soon be displayed around the school to encourage everyone to make more eco-friendly choices.
In RE, Year 3 pupils learned about Hinduism, focusing on the Trimurti (Brahma, Vishnu and Shiva) and the fascinating story of Ganesha. Meanwhile, Year 4 explored the theme of commitment – thinking deeply about what we choose to commit to in our lives and why those commitments matter.
Science has been hands-on and full of discovery! Year 3 children learned about plant reproduction by dissecting flowers and creating large, labelled diagrams to show the different parts involved. Year 4 launched their own tooth decay investigation. Using eggshells to represent enamel, they placed them in various liquids, made thoughtful predictions, and will observe the results over the next week. We can’t wait to see what they discover!
In Art, we’ve been inspired by the work of British sculptor Henry Moore. The children loved creating their own abstract sculptures using paper and plasticine. This week, they chose photos of Moore’s real sculptures and used their observational drawing skills (honed in the autumn term) to produce some fantastic pencil sketches. It’s been wonderful to see how much their confidence and accuracy have grown.
Finally, in Geography, we built on what we saw during our field trip and followed the River Thames using Google Earth. Along the way, we stopped to learn about both human and physical features, from famous bridges and historical landmarks to natural bends and tributaries. Next week, the children will use their notes and sketches to create informative posters and leaflets about what they’ve learned.
Of course we couldn’t let the half term go by without mentioning the fabulous time we had sharing the books we made in DT last term with Beech class, also the fact that we are in charge of looking after Cookie and Snowy at the moment which means extra cuddles for us!
What an action-packed fortnight of learning and discovery! We’re so proud of everything the children have achieved and are excited for what’s still to come this term.
