Year 4
Burps, Bottoms and Bile
During our first half term back at school, we have had a lot of fun finding out about our digestive system.
We started by looking at our mouths – making accurate drawings of what our mouths look like and discovering facts about our teeth; what they are called, where they are in the mouth and the job that they do. We even did an experiment to find out how well we clean our teeth – with scary results!
We designed and ran some tests using eggs (as the shell is a bit like the enamel on our teeth) to see what effect liquids can have on our teeth. It turns out that anything with a lot of sugar or a lot of acid can be very bad for your teeth and that tea/ cola can turn your teeth quite brown!
Finally, we followed the journey that food takes as it travels through our digestive system. We even wrote our own rap to help us remember what happens – ask nicely and we might perform it for you!
Potions
During this half term year 4 have been enjoying a topic on Potions. They have been exploring the classic story of ‘Alice in Wonderland’. The children enjoyed creating a Mad Hatter Tea party role play.
The children also enjoyed taking part in a ‘Foam Workshop’ delivered by Katie (who works in marketing) and Sarah (a scientist) from the company Croda. The children spent an afternoon exploring ‘Foam’ through scientific experiments.
For homework the children were encouraged to create their own ‘Potion’.
I am a Warrior
In Year 4 we have been investigating, the Roman invasion of Britain. We learned about the great female Warrior Boudicca. She was a Celt who tried to defend her home and family from the Romans. The children enjoyed this research and some created their own Celtic homes as part of a homework project. They also created a Roman market role play for the children to explore Roman life. They made Roman coins and pottery using clay.
During this half term the children also enjoyed creating a flying bacteria dragon has part of Super Learning week. It was used to as part of the whole school carnival.
Burps, Bottoms and Bile !
We have been exploring our ‘Teeth’ and how to look after them, what the different teeth are and their jobs. We explored how plaque and bacteria hides on your teeth. The children enjoyed chewing disclosing tablets to investigate if they had any on their teeth.
We are currently exploring how different liquids affect our teeth. (We are investigating using eggs).
So far we have discovered that Coffee and Cola are staining the eggs. The Orange Juice has made the egg disintegrate and the white vinegar is making the shell disappear!
The next part of our project is to explore ‘The Digestive System’. We are creating child size pictures of the digestive system and labelling them. We will also be learning a poem through ‘Talk for Writing’ which sequences the process of digestion. It is called ‘The Digestive Question’.
We also have a role play area in the classroom. Our Role play has become a ‘Hospital Investigation Department’ for teeth and eating research. The children are enjoying using it on a weekly rota.
