Year 3

We have had an exciting week this week. It has been a fun filled week with lots of science skills on show during our STEM week experiments. We had a visit from the Royal Institute where they showed the children various experiments. We looked at chromatology using skittles, water and filter paper. The children would love to show you this experiment at home. During English, we tasted a variety of teas and used our senses to describe what we could smell, see and taste. This is linked to our new English topic book, Cloud Tea Monkeys. The tasting continued into our DT lesson where the children made and baked their own bread with the help of Sara, our bread expert. They were able to create different styles of breads in many different patterns. We hope the children saved you some to try. In maths this week, we have been looking at vertical and horizontal lines along with lines of symmetry. We have also looked at magic squares as part of our STEM week. The children will be able to tell you all about them. This week, was also had our strings' performance. We all hope you had as much fun in the performance as we have had learning the different instruments. Next week, the children will be making their sandwiches. We will send home a list of their ingredients. We do ask that any food that requires cooking (bacon) be cooked before bringing it to school as they will have nowhere for it to be cooked. We will provide the butter/spread to save on the various tubs of butter that will be brought in.

Key Messages

• Key vocab: kneading, chromatography, hieroglyphics 

• KIRFs: Telling time to the nearest minute

• Spellings: word ending 'ian' e.g. magician

Year 4

What a thrilling STEM week we have had in Year 4 this week! We started off the week learning about Maryam Mirzakhani and her journey from being a maths-hating student to a Fields Medal winner. We explored how maths plays a big part in all of our most-loved activities and used mathematical concepts to create stunning pieces of art. Our science focus this week has been the digestive system and how our bodies break down food. You might’ve heard the screams of “yuk!” and “disgusting!” from the bottom of Richmond Hill, as we used a plastic bag and stocking to show how churned up food pashes through the oesophagus, the stomach and intestines. We were lucky enough to welcome a special guest from the Royal Institute of Science who have us a disgusting yet brilliant demonstration. In English, we have started looking at a new poem and exploring how personification can be used to describe an inanimate object. Can you think of any ways a house or a car might behave like a person? In History, we have been learning about the lifestyle of Ancient Egyptians. We specifically looked at homes, jobs, agriculture, religion and clothing. The children loved investigating how Ancient Egyptians engaged in everyday life. Did you know they sometimes kneaded bread dough with their feet?

Key Messages

• It’s continuing to be very warm, please make sure your child brings a water bottle and hat every day

• Spelling focus - ‘-sure’

• KIRFS focus - Equivalent fractions and decimals

• Key vocab - saliva, stomach, intestines, lifestyle, agriculture, religion, menstruation, menstrual flow, sanitary towel