Year 4 - All things South American

Our learning of South America is coming to an end and we have really enjoyed immersing ourselves in their culture and finding out new and exciting facts about each country. A highlight of our learning was visiting the Living Rainforest, where we got to experience the heat and the humidity of the Amazon Rainforest habitat and some of the many animals that live there. We can’t wait for next term where we will be jumping on a Longship to the lands of the Danes and Geats.

In English, the children immersed themselves in writing their own South American folktales, setting the scene, introducing their characters and retelling the adventures they went on.

A highlight of the term has been rehearsing for the Easter production ‘The Kapok Tree’. Everyone has worked hard learning their lines and practising the songs and they put on an amazing performance on the day.

The theme of deforestation continued in our English lessons where the children took part in a debate, confidently putting their points forward and justifying their reasons.This led on to the children identifying the features of a persuasive speech before planning and writing their own.

From solving money challenges using coins and notes to budgeting for a birthday party, Year 4 have been applying their decimal knowledge in the context of money using real-life scenarios. The children loved these activities and were enthusiastic to attempt the challenges placed before them. This also allowed them to see the purpose of learning about decimals and money and its importance in everyday life.

In Science, we have been focusing on the Amazon Rainforest including the different layers, biomes, habitats and animals that live there. We have looked in depth at the layers and explored how the climate can change based on the amount of exposure to wind, rain and sun. From this, we found out that the animals that live in each layer have adapted to suit their environment. The children particularly enjoyed creating their own rainforest animal that had adapted to live in a particular layer.

We transported ourselves to South America in our Humanities lessons to delve into the different festivals and explore vibrant cultures from around the continent. We watched snippets of the Rio de Janeiro Carnival and explored the materials that they used to create their vibrant costumes. The children took part in a carousel of activities that enabled them to: create carnival masks using feathers, take part in a carnival dance, create sugar skulls to celebrate La Dia de los Muertos and explore the ancient Incan ritual of worshipping the sun gods.

In Computing our focus has been on communication and the benefits of using technology. We discussed how people communicated before modern-day technology and some of the advantages and disadvantages of this. From this, we explored how communication is now fast, accurate and efficient and can be used for social and professional use. The children have learnt how to send and receive emails ensuring they use the correct language and style of writing including an email subject, and appropriate sign off.