Year 4 use maths skills to classify minibeasts

This week the Year 4 children have enjoyed classifying minibeasts, using Venn and Carroll diagrams. This cross curricular activity linked well with the habitat and minibeast searches that we carried out on our trip to Holly Green Farm, as well as developing key mathematical data handling skills. The children learnt that a Venn diagram shows the relationship between a group of different things (a set) in a visual way. This allows data to be sorted into two or three circles which overlap in the middle. Each circle follows a certain rule, so any objects placed in the overlapping part (the intersection) must follow both rules. We then created our own Venn diagrams and tried to use scientific language to sort the creatures, using vocabulary such as vertebrate, invertebrate, insect, arachnid and mollusc. If you would like to try a mathematical Venn diagram activity at home, we recommend the following interactive websites.
https://nrich.maths.org/6290
http://www.topmarks.co.uk/Search.aspx?q=venn+diagrams

This week the children will be bringing home a rainforest themed poem to begin learning for the House Poetry competition, which will be held after half term. The Year 4 teachers would be most grateful if parents and carers could help their children to begin learning these.

Finally, thank you for all the generous donations for our harvest festival last week. The Year 4 class hampers looked wonderful!