Corporation Road, Sunderland, Tyne And Wear SR2 8PL

valleyroadschool@valleyroad.org.uk

0191 5002999

  1. Key Stage 1 & 2
  2. Year 4 Curriculum
  3. Spring 2018

Spring 2018

 

Key information for Spring term.

 

Spellings

Spellings will be handed out on a Friday and there will be a spelling test on the following Friday morning. Please practise these at home.

 

Homework

Reading books will be sent home on a Friday and they should be returned on Monday.

Homework will be set on educational websites for children to complete on computers or tablets. We will be providing logins for each site over the following weeks. We encourage any additional work at home to brought into school to create a class home learning book.

 

PE

PE will be on a Wednesday.

Children must have a shorts, t-shirt and plimsolls.

 

Thank you for your support,

Mr Taylor and Mr Harvey

 

 

 

 

Beamish Visit

Year four visited Beamish on Tuesday 20th March to find out more about pressure and forces. First we designed rockets that could fit onto a pipe launcher. Then we launched them on the yard to test them. Next we used card to improve our designs. We then tested them again before using a larger launcher. Finally, we had some time to see a real steam engine working. Thank you to all of the Beamish learning staff for a brilliant day!

 

 

Paul Cookson Visit

On Monday 19th March we were joined by the poet Paul Cookson. He shared some of his poems and songs with us and then we started to create our own poem. First we shared our knowledge of the Shang Dynasty and made notes of key pieces of information. Next we linked information together and looked for any rhyming words. Then we were able to create a chorus and add some actions to match the words.

Pressure

Susan, who works at Beamish, visited us on 27th February. First we talked about what jobs people did in Sunderland 450 years ago. The main jobs were coal mining, glass works in Southwick, pottery and the salt industry. All of these had one thing in common in that they used pressure.

Atmospheric pressure is all around us. About 20kg of air is pushing down on every inch of us.

We used a Magdeburg hemisphere to see how pressure works. The air was taken out of the hemisphere which meant that it could not be separated when we pulled on either side.

Next we heated up some water in a can to create steam. Then we put the lid on to see how it would react. The can began to implode as there was more pressure outside of the can than there was inside.

Finally, we looked at the Thomas Savery atmospheric steam engine. This used a boiler and valves to pump water out of a mine.

Arts Award

As part of Arts Award we shared a piece of art work that we are really proud of. We took it in turns to share why we had chosen that piece of art, what we liked about it and which techniques and skills we used to create it.

 

Oriental Museum

Year four visited the Oriental Museum as part of our Shang Dynasty topic. First we looked at Shang artefacts and then other objects from ancient China to discover how the Shang influenced craftsmen with their fluted and tripod designs. We then sketched our favourite artefacts paying close attention to the patterns that they used. Next we used these patterns to do some foil embossing to decorate a pot. Finally, we heard the story of how the last Shang emperor came to his gruesome end.

Norman Cornish

Simon, who works for Beamish Learning, visited school on Monday 15th January. He introduced us to a project called the discover arts award. First we looked at some pieces of art that he had brought in with him. This included pottery, glass work, embroidery and engravings. We sketched our favourite pieces and labelled our drawings. Next we found out about an artist. The artist we found out about was Norman Cornish. He was born in Spennymoor and many people consider his artwork a symbol of the North East. We then had the chance to use some art pencils and add shading to some of Norman’s art work. We will continue this project over the following weeks.