Beach School - Final Session

Year 4 had a fantastic time at the beach on Tuesday and the weather certainly helped to make our last trip to beach school this academic year a memorable one.

The children started off by using compasses to find North, and then used this as a starting point to make a compass in the sand.

Once the children had drawn all the compass points in the sand, we learnt how we could tell the time using the compass. We learnt that North is 12 and plotted the rest of the numbers from there. We were then able to make our clock show different times by moving the small and big hands.

We finished up with a game of running quickly to each compass point that the adults shouted out!

Finally, the children enjoyed building sandcastles using shells, stones, beach glass and seaweed to decorate them.

We have thoroughly enjoyed beach school this year and can’t wait until next time!

For more photos click here for the Year 4 class gallery

 

Beach School - Second Session

It was a cool and blustery visit to the beach this week for Year 4! As soon as we arrived, Mrs Gardner challenged the children to think of something to do with the beach, ocean or sea life that began with the first letter of their first name. The children had lots of excellent ideas, ranging from clouds to rocks, whale to crab and sea horse to shark. The children then used items that they could find on the beach to create a sand art picture of the animal or part of the ocean that they had selected.

The children also made rafts using plastic containers and corks and practised tying fish on the dish knots to securely fasten the raft together. Some of our children enjoyed racing their rafts in the rock pools.

For more photos click here for the Year 4 class gallery

Beach School - First Session

Year 4 had the perfect weather for their first outing to Beach School this half term. The children’s first challenge was to flip the piece of Tarpaulin that they were standing on the other way around without stepping off of it! The pictures show who the “last men standing” were.

Next, Mrs Gardner taught us all about Tide Times and shared a Timetable so that we knew we were at the beach at a safe time and we would not get into any danger as a result of the tide coming in.

We then had a go at making shelters to protect us from the wind, which picked up while we were there from a Moderate Breeze to a Strong Breeze! Mrs Gardner showed one group how to make a very effective, quick and easy shelter from the elements just by using the tarpaulin.

Finally, we were able to enjoy a paddle in the sea and spotted some crabs whilst we were there!

Year 4 had a wonderful time and can’t wait for our next visit next week.

For more photos click here for the Year 4 class gallery

Year 4 and 5 visit to Petty Pool Outdoor Centre

Year 4 and 5 children visited Petty Pool Outdoor Centre in Cheshire at the end of Summer 1 to take part in an action packed activity day!  It was a fantastic experience with all the children taking part in

• Climbing
• Zipwire
• Crate stack
• Leap of Faith
• High Ropes
• Archery

The children showed courage, resilience, teamwork and above all, a fantastic sense of adventure and they had a fantastic time with their instructors. See more photos here

https://www.avalon-school.co.uk/gallery/?pid=3&gcatid=1&albumid=858

Mental Health Awareness Week - Move our Bodies!

We have been discussing the kinds of activities we can get involved in to 'move' our bodies to help support our mental wellbeing during Mental Health Awareness Week. Year 4 took part in a relaxing yoga session during which they learned how to use breathwork to calm themselves down and practised moving in and out of various yoga poses, including cat and cow, happy baby, child pose, sphinx and seal. They all agreed that they felt very relaxed afterwards!

For more photos click here for the Year 4 class gallery.

Trip to Eureka

Year 4 had an amazing time when they visited Eureka! Science and Discovery Centre today.

Our trip began in the Bodies Area, where the children enjoyed a whole host of activities learning about their bodies, including cycling as fast as they could to learn about our muscles and to making the journey from food to going to the toilet.

We were treated to a live show called From Chew To Poo, where they children explored the journey a Peanut Butter and Banana sandwich makes as it is digested through the body. Mrs Cody was so proud of the children as they remembered lots of the different processes and organs from their science lessons!

After lunch, the children explored the Home Section. Activities we enjoyed here including singing in the shower, making our own flavoured toothpaste, playing games to solve engineering problems using and being made into toast!

We finished off by visiting the Nature Area, where the children had a great time playing in the Tree Climbing Frame, and then relaxing in the Nest Zen Den, watching videos of wildlife.

The children’s behaviour was absolutely excellent and they were very proud ambassadors of Avalon School the whole time they were on their visit. Well done Year 4!

For more photos click here for the Year 4 class gallery.

 

Fractions & Decimals

The Year 4 children enjoyed playing a match-up game to find equivalence between decimals and fractions. They used strategies they already knew from working with equivalent fractions to find the relationships between tenths and hundredths, and then they could turn this into a decimal.

Very well done Year 4!

For more photos click here for the Year 4 class gallery.

Decimals

Year 4 have risen to the challenge with their new topic of Decimals in Maths. The children have been working hard to understand the place value of decimal numbers and relate this to what they already know about fractions and wholes.

The children started this week by learning how to add and subtract 0.1 and 1.0 to decimal numbers. To apply their knowledge, they enjoyed playing a game where they rolled dice to create numbers and operations, and used counters to cover the different numbers on their decimals squares. The winner of the game was the person with the most coverage on the board. Well done Year 4!

For more photos click here for the Year 4 class gallery.

Environmental Scientists!

Continuing with our STEAM week investigations, Year 4 took a trip to nearby Caldy Woods, this time taking on the role of ecologists and environmental scientists. Thankfully the weather stayed dry for us and armed with our wellies, we took on the muddy terrain!

The children had a wonderful time exploring and looking for living things, and we were able to see a wide range of plants and minibeasts while we were there. The children were also able to make comparisons between our school grounds and the woods as two different habitats in our local environment. They came up with some excellent enquiry questions to investigate!

Year 4’s behaviour was absolutely exemplary and Mrs Cody and Mrs McGregor are so proud of how well they immersed themselves in this super learning experience.

For more photos click here for the Year 4 class gallery.

STEAM Week

Year 4 have started off their STEAM week learning by taking on the role of biologists and exploring the school grounds to identify living things. As part of our enquiry into “What will nature be like in the future?”, the children made observations of the plants and minibeasts that are found around our school grounds and asked careful questions such as thinking about why it is a good thing to have a variety of living things in our local habitat.

The children were then able to analyse the results of what they found by producing a table, a tally chart, a pictogram and a bar chart! We also discussed which was the most reliable and informative way to display our findings out of these different representations.

For more photos click here for the Year 4 class gallery.

Enterprise Week

Year 4 has been transformed into Santa's Workshop this week with their preparations for Enterprise Week. The children decided to design and create sweet treats to sell, including making reindeer out of candy canes.

They have also created Christmas frosted jars and will be putting home made fudge into them to sell.

There have been lots of opportunities for cross curricular links, including using maths to measure all the ingredients for the fudge and work out our budget and expected profits; and art, to design posters to advertise and decorate our stall where we sell the goodies. 

Year 4 have shown lots of excellent team work and have been really creative and enthusiastic during all their hard work this week. 

For more photos click here for the Year 4 class gallery.

Simple Circuits

Year 4 have really enjoyed investigating electricity during their science topic this half term. They have created simple circuits using components like bulbs, buzzers and motors, and have made observations of what happens when the circuit is connected. The children are able to make connections as to why a bulb is brighter when there are two batteries in the circuit, or what the impact of having two bulbs in a circuit instead of one will be on the brightness.

The children have finished up this topic by identifying materials which are good conductors of electricity and which are insulators. They really enjoyed searching the science room for materials and tested everything from a hole punch to a lab stool, and a pencil sharpener to the metal coat hangers.

Miss Robertson has been really impressed by the children's working scientifically skills!

For more photos click here for the Year 4 class gallery.

African Inspired Artwork

Year 4 had a lovely afternoon on Friday creating artwork inspired by traditional African patterns. The children began by using pencil to sketch out their ideas and then went over their finished pattern in black pen. They now have the task of using earthy colours like orange, brown and yellow to finish off their pieces. 

For more photos click here for the Year 4 class gallery.

European Day of Languages

Year 4 had a great day on Monday travelling around school and visiting each classroom, which turned into a different European country for the day. They made sure to get their passport stamped at each country/classroom they went to visit.

Their first stop on their Avalon Airways journey was to Croatia, where they learned about features of the landscape and architecture that Croatia is famous for.

The children then enjoyed looking at the works of Croatian artist Ivan Rabuzi, who has created artwork to reflect the beautiful Croatian countryside and distinctive red roofed buildings. They had a go at creating their own artwork in the style of Rabuzi, using sketching techniques.

For more photos click here for the Year 4 class gallery.

Welcome back to school Year 4