Year 4 Blogger – Page 2 – West Earlham Junior School

Lewis Chessmen carved and sculpted

Year 4 have made their own unique artworks this week inspired by the Lewis Chessmen. The children studied the 2000 year old chess pieces by making observational drawings, handling replicas and researching the artefacts. The class then carved their own Lewis Chessmen design into soap which involved careful consideration and the use of a template they had prepared. In the next Art lesson the children sculpted their pieces out of airdry clay and learnt techniques such as joining clay, rolling, pinching using a variety of clay tools. The results look fantastic!

Forest Garden Project – Tree planting

We have been really busy with our Forest Garden Project where we planted 200 saplings at the top of the school field. We hope to increase the number of trees and plants there to help to tackle climate change and also create an environment that encourages a variety of wildlife.

Spring Term Inquiry

Year 4 have been exploring what happened when the Romans left Britannia. On a giant map the class drew the aftermath of the Romans leaving. They drew the different tribes at war (the celts, picts and scots) and the Anglo-saxon tribes travelling across the north sea to make raids.

Gymnastics and teambuilding exercises

Year 4 have been developing their balance, strength and control during gymnastics this term. They have also been able to develop their own floor work sequence and share their skills in front of the class. They have also been learning how to work best as a team through good communication and collaboration.

Memory cubes

Year 4 made ‘memory cubes’ to recap what we have learnt about the Romans. The children picked their 6 favourite facts and drew them onto each face of a cube net. The cubes were then assembled. The idea is to throw the cube and use the drawing as a stimulus for conversation and fact sharing.

Antoni Gaudi Art project

We have been continuing our Art project inspired by Antoni Gaudi in year 4. After printing our mosaic tiles we began to focus of Gaudi’s spires and looked at how his buildings have influenced the Barcelona skyline. We used clay to create our own spires but, squeezing, rolling, pinching and carving the clay. We then used small craft pieces to create a decorative pattern into the clay. Once the clay spires were dry we tested out how they may look amongst Gaudi’s work. In small groups the children photographed their work against a Gaudi background. The results look great, well done all!

Gaudi Prints

Year 4 have been experimenting with mono printing techniques to create artworks inspired by Architect Antoni Gaudi. After studying Gaudi’s work we created mosaic tiles from a polystyrene sheet. These were inked up using printing ink and rollers and pressed against coloured card. The children made careful artistic choices about which colour background would be suit the ink they had chosen.

Philosophy

In Philosophy we have been discussing some really tricky questions. The children have to think, justify, commit and then reflect on their arguments. We have looked at which group of people should rule a society. The outcome of that discussion was for the most honest people within a society should rule because they could be trusted to rule in everyone’s best interests.

We also looked at when there are many people who are in need in a society how do we decide who to help first. This was a very tricky problem which the children discussed with maturity and sensitivity. We emphasise the importance of speaking in full sentences and also giving reasons for what they think.

Forest Gardens Project 2022

Yesterday we started the our Forest Gardens project where we will be learning about ways to fight against climate change on a local level. We will be working with the John Innes Centre, Gressenhall Museum and the SAW (Science, Art and Writing) project. We have been learning about our local biome and the plants and trees that are in our school field. We are learning to propagate trees and also will be planting seeds to improve the woodland on the school field. We have learnt how to identify different species and the different layers of a forest.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/gardening/basics/techniques/propagation_hardwood1.shtml#:~:text=Using%20sharp%20secateurs%2C%20cut%20just,%2D3in)%20for%20smaller%20specimens.