by Sofia and Rof

This week in Year 4 we have been lucky enough to be continuing with our swimming lessons at Pentwyn leisure centre. We have learnt to do lots of different things in the swimming pool like breath stroke, front crawl and we have also learnt how to do the help position.

On Wednesday and Thursday we are doing lifesaving, we will learn the skills we will need to help people if they are in trouble in the water and how we can also stay safe in a situation like this.

 All of year 4 have been trying to move up to the next level of swimming and to develop their independence skills in the changing rooms by getting changed by themselves. It was very fun to go swimming and it will be sad for the 2 weeks to end but it was a nice 2 weeks and all of year 4 will remember.

We always try our best at swimming, we use the habit of mind persisting when we are learning the new strokes. The coaches were helpful and helped us to improve and develop learning. They have always tried their best, we have also learned how to be safe at swimming, and they have learned the SAFE Rules S Stands for SPOT the danger, A stands for ADVICE, F stands for FAMILY and FRIENDS, E is for EMERGENCY. They have helped us throughout the swimming lessons. It was a Really fun thing to do at swimming, We have enjoyed learning in swimming (beginner, Wave 4, Wave 5, Wave 6 and Deep end).In swimming we have improve and develop our listening it’s because people are allowed to speak and be respectful. In Swimming the whole Year 4 really Enjoyed swimming, they are always active and really excited, Year 4 are sad of the swimming it’s because it’s the last day of swimming tomorrow.

This week in Year 4 we have started our new context for learning ‘Fame, Fire and Fortune’.  We used thought about the big question for our topic, and read a book about life at Llancaiach Fawr manor house in Nelson, Caerphilly.

What was life like in Stuart Wales?’

We looked at the different jobs that people had around the house during the Stuart period, with many of us even identifying the year in which the Stuart period began in Wales (around 1605).  We also learned the names of many important people from Llancaich Fawr, including Colonel Pritchard and his family, the servants and King Charles I, who came to visit the manor in

1645.

Our first task was to think about the features of the house, in particular the garden in front of the manor.  We learned that this was called a knot garden, and noticed an interesting pattern which it formed.  We used our mathematical knowledge to identify the symmetrical pattern created by the knot garden, and had to use the habit of mind ‘striving for accuracy’ to complete our own symmetrical knot garden using different lines of symmetry.

Next, we used our thinking journals to complete a collaborative task using our habit of mind, accessing prior knowledge.  In groups, we revised the information we had learned about life at Llancaiach Fawr during the Stuart period, and recorded our facts using the white thinking hat in our journals.  We also accessed some of the resources in our historical artefact area to support our learning throughout the lessons.

Scientific investigation - How do smells get up your nose?

This week in year 4 we have been developing our scientific knowledge and skills, as we look to answer our big question “How do smells get up your nose?”  To start this investigation we used the habit of mind accessing prior knowledge to revise our understanding of the 3 states of matter.  We learnt that everything in our universe is made of matter, and one way of classifying items around us is by using the terms, solid, liquid and gas.  Our first task was to discuss in our groups which items might go into each group, explaining our reasons for this choice.

Next, we researched further into how these items are classified based upon the way their particles behave.  We noticed that we cannot see the particles with our eyes, and thought about the scientific equipment that might be needed to see them.  Using our white thinking hat, we then worked collaboratively to share facts about different states of matter in our thinking journals.  We even created our own solid, liquid and gas using our bodies as the particles inside each state of matter.

Our final task was to draw our own scientific diagrams to show the properties of solids, liquids and gases, and sort and classify a variety of items into the correct groups using a tree map or circle map.  Once we had completed the research task, we began planning our investigation as we investigated the length of time it took for the scent/gas from a lit candle to travel 1, 2, and 3m.  We made a prediction on how we thought the results would look based upon our knowledge and understanding of the properties of gas particles.