Welcome to Pine 4!
2024 - 2025
Mrs Atkins/Mrs Hill - Class Teachers
Mrs Crosby/Mrs Finch/Mrs Williams - Teaching Assistants
Summer 2
Living Things and their Habitats
It was certainly a hot one! From sprints to sack races, the energy and enthusiasm were incredible! Your determination, teamwork, and resilience made us so proud. It was fantastic to see everyone supporting each other and having so much fun along the way. Well done Year 4!
Year 4 have enjoyed making pizzas this week. First we tasted a range of pizzas to find our favourite toppings. Then we designed our own pizza before making our own, using pitta bread as a base for a cheaper and easier option. Finally we evaluated them ...... our conclusion? They were rather tasty!
Year 4 Rocks Out at Times Tables Rock Stars HQ!
A fortunate group of Year 4 pupils embarked on an unforgettable adventure to Bedford, home of the Times Tables Rock Stars headquarters!
From the moment they crossed the threshold, the excitement was electric. Greeted like rock royalty by the incredible team at Maths Circle, the children were whisked away on an exclusive, behind-the-scenes tour. They met the brilliant minds who engineer this dynamic resource and even had the thrilling opportunity to collaborate on designing their very own rock star characters!
It was a phenomenal chance for the pupils to witness first-hand how a digital product they use daily at school is transformed from concept to reality. They met the dedicated individuals who make maths not just fun and engaging, but genuinely cool. Highlights of their day included an interactive character design workshop, exploring the office's epic, inspiring artwork, and gaining insight into how the Times Tables Rock Stars website is continuously developed and refined.
The children's conduct was exemplary; they represented Birchwood with immense pride and, most importantly, had an absolute blast. As one pupil enthusiastically declared: 'That was the best school trip ever!'
We have been looking at creating a moving mechanism in DT, using levers, pivots and linkages. We have combined our English and computing to make a detailed leaflet about Sea Pollution, which formed part of our moving poster. We are proud of our results!
We had a lot of fun making our micro-bit guitars with Mr Bailey. Once we had programmed our micro-bits, and decorated our guitars…we were ready to test them out!
Pine 4 have enjoyed practicing their French weather vocabulary by using their weather fortune tellers and playing a weather ‘snakes and ladders’ game. This will help us to create our own French weather forecasts! Quel temps fait-il?
Summer 1
Vikings
Summer 1 might have been a very short half term but it has been packed full of winners! Well done to Sid for being our overall Dojo winner and a well-earned well done for Archie, Daisy and Sophie, winners of this year’s Birchwood sponsored run. As a reward, they all got to choose one of the brilliant books from our Birchwood Vending machine.
Pine 4 enjoyed finishing their topic on Viking Britain by taking part in another Now Press Play immersive audio experience. During their experience, they heard tales of other Vikings travelling to England to start a new life. Led by the village headman Grim, some of their companions were more intent on pillaging rather than settling alongside their Anglo-Saxon neighbours. When their sister was captured by King Alfred, they were pulled into the fray and had to decide whether war or peace would prevail.
In our PE lessons, we have been enjoying learning street dance moves and then choreographing our own group dances using those moves.
During this half term in Maths, we have been learning all about the perimeter and area of rectangles.
Spring 2
Anglo-Saxons
Pine have really enjoyed their two forest school sessions this half term. They have learned how to use a bow saw, trim bushes with secateurs and have revisited their fire lighting skills. They have loved using the forest school area, including the mud kitchen, the swing and the reading chair.
To support their understanding of Anglo Saxon and Viking life within our local area, Year 4 visited Tamworth Castle. During their trip, they met an archaeologist and learned about archaeological practices and object handling. They investigated what Saxons left behind for us to find, which helps us to understand how they lived. They even had a chance to try out their skills as a trainee archaeologist by retrieving and cataloguing finds from sample boxes. They also compared the differences and similarities between Saxon and Viking soldiers by learning about the differing tactics used by each side. They even had an opportunity to role play being Saxons or Vikings by practicing their battle cries in the shield wall. During a tour of the castle grounds, they were lucky enough to view some actual pieces discovered from the Staffordshire Hoard.
To begin their new science topic about ‘Animals Including Humans’, Redwood 4 had some fun learning about their teeth. They looked at the different types of teeth they had, while exploring their functions. They then looked at the causes of tooth decay and how they can look after their teeth effectively before setting up a scientific ‘eggsperiment’ to investigate what can damage our teeth.
Pine 4 had a fantastic Forest School session where we learned how to safely carry large branches in pairs. We also learned how to use a bow saw in order to cut up branches to create smaller pieces of wood. As well as that, we learned how to safely light a fire. Our final part of the session was to explore the Forest Schools area using all of the safety skills we had acquired.
Pine 4 really enjoyed visiting Polesworth library, where they explored the many books displayed, asked some interesting questions, took part in some story time and wrote an acrostic poem about the library.
Pine 4 really enjoyed taking part in ‘The Biggest Football Event’ where they took part in a variety of football inspired activities and learned lots of new skills. This was a brilliant opportunity for both established footballers and those new to the sport.
To celebrate World Book Day, we dressed up as our favourite book characters. We took part in ‘The Great Big World Book Day Footy and Booky Quiz 2025’, an online event by ‘Football School’ authors Ben Lyttleton and Alex Bellos. We also enjoyed taking part in some ‘Buddy Reading’ with Year 2, where we shared some of our own adventure stories that we had written and recited our poem ‘There was an Old Man with a Beard’ by Edward Lear. Finally, we loved experiencing some DEAR time (Drop Everything and Read) which gave us lots of opportunities to read for pleasure.
Spring 1
Misty Mountains, Winding Rivers
After researching facts about the artist Claude Monet’s life and work, we experimented with some of his painting techniques including hatching, cross hatching, stippling, dabbing, dry brushing and sgraffito (scratching), before creating our own version of his famous artwork ‘The Japanese Footbridge’.
Year 4 enjoyed a remarkable day at Coombe Abbey on Tuesday. In order to enhance their Geography curriculum, we participated in orienteering, in which the children were tasked with reading and following Ordnance Survey maps to locate specific points and clues throughout the park. They excelled in map reading and demonstrated excellent teamwork. Additionally, we engaged in a river study, where we identified various river features, discussed both human and physical characteristics, and measured the river's depth and flow speed. We even had the opportunity to play a game of Pooh sticks! Finally, we went pond dipping to discover which aquatic creatures lived in the freshwater, and we were quite astonished by the size of the great diving beetles.
To celebrate Number Day, we started off by exploring the numbers on our ‘Dress up for Digits’ clothing to create a variety of ‘human’ equations. We also looked at the money we had collected as our contribution towards the NSPCC and explored different ways of counting, grouping and classifying. Our maths learning was then inspired by the story ‘The Rabbit Problem’ by Emily Gravett. We explored the book’s theme of the Fibonacci sequence and investigated where we could see these special numbers within a range of fruit and vegetables. We also completed some real-life mathematical problems involving:
- Reading scales to find temperatures
- Looking at multiplication patterns to create recipes
- Using estimation and time intervals when taking part in some ‘rabbitercise’ activities.
What a mathstastic day of problem solving and number fun we had!
Pine 4 enjoyed applying some of their cookery skills to make a delicious French dish of Ratatouille. They used the claw and bridge technique to slice a range of vegetables, blanched tomatoes and carefully peeled the skin, grated and crushed garlic and then heated the vegetables in oil until soft.
We worked together to come up with ideas for our own shipwreck stories based on the book we are reading - Kensuke’s Kingdom
We put raisins into lemonade to see how the solids, liquids and gases would react. There were some surprising results. We then used a Venn diagram to identify the features of solids, liquids and gases.
We had a really interesting visit from one of our governors Mr Potts. He came to share with us his experience of climbing up Island Peak, a mountain in Nepal, which is close to Mount Everest. At just over 6000m, we heard about the preparation, team work, dangers and safety equipment needed for such an expedition. We had lots of questions to ask too. It really got us thinking, and helped bring our mountain topic to life!
We used the big map and atlases to identify where the longest river and highest mountain in the UK are and where the longest river and the highest mountain in the world are.
Autumn 2
Take One Author - Michael Morpurgo
There was lots of excitement this afternoon in Redwood class as they were presented with their Winter Book Gifts. A huge thank you to Team Birchwood who work hard to make this possible through their many fundraising events.
In dance, we have been learning Gumboot dancing. Once we had learned the steps, we created our own Gumboot dance, making sure we were working in unison.
We have really enjoyed completing our science topic about ‘Sound’. We have explored making sounds, investigated how sound travels, experimented with making a soundproofed studio, investigated how sound changes with distance and explored patterns between volume and pitch.
Years 3 and 4 delivered a very festive performance of A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens.
We had lots of fun creating and decorating gingerbread to sell at our school Christmas Fair. We used our weighing, mixing, rolling and cutting skills to create them. Finally, we got to eat them and they were delicious!
For our Design and Technology project, we used Micro:bits to design and make a Christmas decoration. We used the Micro:bit app to program the Micro:bit so that it displayed a Christmas message as well as a flashing Christmas design. We had great fun making these and they have made our classroom look very Christmassy.
Year 4 really enjoyed working with Mr Bailey during his visit to Birchwood. They looked at using Microbits to design and create an LED system which could be used as a piece of wearable technology to support their road safety.
Year 4 took us on an advent adventure as part of their wonderful class assembly based on ‘Christmas in Numbers’. We went on a journey learning about lots of Christmas themed numerical facts while also meeting Aussie Santa, Ebenezer Scrooge, Oliver Cromwell and grumpy Mr Grumble.
Autumn 1
Roman Britain
Pine 4 showed off their artistic skills by creating these amazing coil design clay pots, inspired by the Romans and ceramic artist Elizabeth Fritsch.
In PE, we have been developing our hockey skills including, dribbling, passing, and defending. Great work, Pine 4!
When Artist Darryl Wakelam visited school, Year 4 had a wonderful time creating a ‘we love to read display.’ The children used a range of techniques to bring the artwork to life.
Super home learning! Well done Pine 4!
After receiving a letter from Julius Caesar, Pine 4 set out to prove that they were the bravest, fiercest and most intelligent of warriors in order to earn their place in the proudest and most professional army in the world. They took part in long-distance running, marching distances, spear throwing and chariot racing during our 'Roman Bootcamp' experience. They later became soldiers for the afternoon and practiced getting into different formations ready for battle. Finally, they visited Birchwood’s Roman Museum where they were able to explore a range of real ancient Roman artefacts. These included fragments of various ancient pots, Roman coins, an oil lamp, bronze brooch and an iron stylus.
