4B are still keeping busy! (16.6.20)

Thank you to everyone who has continued to send emails and photos to let me know what you've been up to. It was lovely to chat to so many of you and your parents on the phone last week. If you haven't had a call yet, you will be getting one this week and then I will be making fortnightly calls to check in and see how you are getting on at home. Of course you can still email and send photos in too! 

Celebrating VE Day and lots more! (15.5.20)

Hello 4B! I hope you are all keeping well and safe at home. 

I have been sent some great pictures this week of you celebrating VE day by baking, creating flags, bunting and other decorations. Lots of you have been keeping busy like Alice with her Science Kit, Layton making cakes and a gingerbread house and Max painting his garden fence! I had some lovely photos of Emily learning how to make tie dye T-shirts and Clara and Annabelle looking very proud of their home learning work! It's lovely to see you keeping busy and smiling! Keep sending the photos and I'll add them to the blog!

Remember to email (year4@brdmedoj.bham.sch.uk) if you have any questions, need any support with home learning or just want to say hello - we're always happy to hear from you 

Keeping busy at home! (5.5.20)

Hello to all of 4B! I was in school last week on Thursday and Friday and again on Monday and while I was in, I popped down to our classroom to check everything was OK and it felt very strange and empty to be there without any children. Like all of you, I really miss being in school with 4B so it's always lovely to get photos from you at home to see what you've been up to and I'm sure you enjoy seeing photos of your classmates too.

It certainly looks like you have all been keeping very busy again. It has been great to get photos of you learning new skills such as cooking and sewing and to see you out keeping active. There were lots of food photos with Oscar's freshly squeezed orange juice, Tayla's brownies, and Raphael's birthday cake for his mum. Gracie has made her own skirt, Sophie has been investigating the life cycle of a butterfly after finding some caterpillars and Aleena has been keeping active in her local park.  Annabelle made the most of last week's rainy days by snuggling under her blanket and reading whilst enjoying a lovely looking snack!

Please get in touch if you have any questions or problems with any of the home learning activities. Keep sending photos when you can, take care, Mrs Bendle 

Busy 4Bs!

WOW 4B, I am so impressed by all the amazing things you have been doing at home. Not only are lots of you completing home learning activities but you are also doing so many fantastic things that are keeping you active, happy and smiling. I really miss seeing you all at school so it's lovely to get emails and photos showing me what you have been up to. I know that you will really enjoy seeing you classmates too. Can I say a really big thank you to 4B parents too - you are doing a great job of supporting your children with their home learning, whether it's work from the website, reading, baking, painting or other activities that are keeping the children busy and most importantly happy! Do keeping the emails and photos coming - we love to see them! 

A strange start to the summer term!

Yesterday was the first day of the Summer Term but instead of welcoming 4B back to school after the Easter holidays, we are all still at home and school remains closed to most pupils. It feels very strange to not be in school with you all but I hope you are all safe and well at home. It has been lovely to receive some photos of what you have been up to over the Easter holidays. The new Year 4 home learning grid is on the website, new work has been added to Education City and I have set certain times tables for you to practise on TTRockstars. I hope as many of you as possible will be able to complete some home learning each day at home and don't forget to keep reading - try and read for at least 20 minutes every day.  It would be lovely if you could send any photos to show what you have been doing each week and I will continue to update the blog so you can all keep seeing each other!

Have a good week and don't forget to use the Year 4 email address if you need to get in touch: year4@brdmedoj.bham.sch.uk

Take care, Mrs Bendle 

The 4B Rainbow Challenge! (3.4.20)

Earlier today, I sent 4B an email, asking them to send me a photo of themselves with a rainbow picture. Thank you to everyone who has sent one in so far. It's really made my day to see photos of children from 4B looking so happy! If you haven't done one yet it's not too late - just send your photo to the year 4 email address and I can add it to the blog.  If you haven't made a rainbow picture, you can just send a photo of yourself showing us what you've been up to! 

Take care, stay safe,

Love from Mrs Bendle 

A very strange week (27.3.20)

It feels very strange to write a blog at the end of the week and have no pictures or news of 4B to share with you. I hope you are all safe and well at home - remember that we will all be missing our friends and classmates at the moment and of course, I really miss seeing you at school too! If you ever feel sad, you can look back at the blog posts from earlier in the school year and remind yourself of all the great things we have done together. 

Remember that you can get in touch using the Year 4 email address: year4@brdmedoj.bham.sch.uk

Bye for now,

Love from Mrs Bendle

Amazing cushion creations!

Here are some pictures from the last week of school before we had to close on Friday (20th).  We were able to finally finish our amazing Antarctic themed cushions and we also studied and created some art work based on the artist Nerys Levy. The cushions were amazing and everyone who saw them commented on how amazing they looked! Well done 4B!

We've got it sorted!

We had a great science lesson on Thursday where we investigated the question - How can animals be grouped? We discussed a set of 16 different animals and thought about how we could sort them and put them into different groups. I think every pair came up with a different way to sort the animals! We found out that this is also called classifying and we then learn a new scientific skill - how to create a classification key. Great work 4B!

World Book Day 2020! (5.3.20)

We had a great day on Thursday, celebrating World Book Day. We all came into school, dressed as book characters and then we went on a visit to Kings Norton Library to hear a story and discover what wonderful books they have there. The Librarian told us how to become a member of the library so that we can visit and borrow books - library forms will be coming home on Monday. 

Habitat Scavenger Hunt (2.3.20)

On Monday, we went out into the school grounds on a hunt to find different living things in  our 'local environment'. We were mainly looking for different trees, plants and flowers but we kept an eye out for animals too. Even though Spring is only just arriving, we found lots of flowering and non-flowering plants and we identified as many trees as we could too. Back in the classroom, we sorted all the living things into different groups.

Super sewing!

This week we continued with our Design and Technology (D&T) projects. We have all designed a penguin cushion and after some sewing practise on Monday, we started sewing the final product on Thursday.  So far, we have begun to sew the different parts of the body together and some of our penguins have eyes now too! I was really impressed with everyone's patience and determination - sewing is not an easy skill to master and it was lovely to see so many of you smiling as your penguin designs started to come together! More photos to follow next week!

OUTSTANDING HOMEWORK!

Once again, I have been truly amazed by all the wonderful homework tasks that 4B have completed this half term. The children have put in such a huge effort and produced poems, fact-files, posters, artworks and more! Isabella and Emily were this term's homework starts but it was incredibly difficult to chose! Other highlights included Shannon's sequin penguin, Saphira's model penguin, Clara's beautiful artwork and Sophie and Annabelle's antarctic outfits! I will be bringing in a little prize for everyone who completed homework after half term!

I hope you all have a lovely half term - see you on Monday 24th February! 

What an amazing week!

Thank you to everyone who was able to join us for our class assembly on Thursday. The children worked so hard and I was so impressed of every single member of 4B! They were only given scripts on Monday but they worked so hard to learn their words, songs and stage directions - I thought you were all brilliant and the class have made me one very proud teacher! As well as practising, we have been planning writing, working on our time telling skills and designing our antarctic themed cushions. Thursday was also 'Time to talk' day so that meant no pens and we spend the day working in groups to solve maths time puzzles and make potato people (sadly no pictures - but they were great!).

There's just one week to go until half term, which means we are almost half way through Year 4!  Keep bringing in the homework, we've had some great work so far! 

Reading Inspire Workshop

I'd like to say a big thank you to everyone who attended our Inspire Workshop on Thursday morning. It was lovely to see so many children chatting away about the books we are reading or have read so far this year. At Broadmeadow, we are passionate about developing a love of reading and Thursday was the perfect opportunity for us to share that with parents and carers and get everyone talking abut books. I have included some links below to lists of recommended or suggested books that are suitable for children in Year 4 which parents may find useful!

Don't forget our class assembly is next Thursday!

The Spring term is whizzing by and I can't believe we're already half way through! This week we've been busy learning about length and perimeter in Maths, writing persuasively in English, researching Antarctic animals and what they eat in Science AND improving our swimming skills! We have a busy couple of weeks coming up so here are a couple of dates for your diaries:

Thursday 30th January is our Year 4 English Inspire Workshop

Thursday  6th February is our 4B Class Assembly

Have a great weekend! 

Starting our journey with Shackleton

This week, we have continued reading Shackleton's Journey by William Grill which links to this term's Expedition topic. After making predictions based on the book's cover, we starting to learn more about Ernest Shackleton and how he began preparing for his journey to Antarctica. In Guided Reading this week, we have focused on the crew - finding out about who they were, how they were chosen and what their jobs were. We then thought about which member of the crew we would like to be if we took part in an expedition - favourites included the expedition biologist or geologist; the ship's captain and the expedition artist or photographer.

Year 4's EXPEDITION WOW STARTER!

On Thursday, Year 4 had a very special visitor, Dr James Bendle, who works in the Earth Sciences Department at the University of Birmingham. James came in to tell us about some the expeditions he has been part of to the Arctic and Antarctica! James told us about the work he does to study the effects of climate change and what it is like to travel on research ships to different parts of the world and even meet polar bears!

Remember that if you are interested in Science, especially rocks, fossils, volcanoes, earthquakes, and even dinosaurs, James suggested visiting the Lapworth Museum of Geology at the University of Birmingham - it's free to visit and I've included a link below if any of you would like to go!

https://www.birmingham.ac.uk/facilities/lapworth-museum/index.aspx

Merry Christmas Everyone!!

4B have had a brilliant last week of term - it was a busy one with card and calendar making, times tables mastermind, lots of special end-of-term assemblies and our class party yesterday! I hope you all have a wonderful holiday and new year. You have all worked so hard this term and I can't wait to start the term with you all in January!

It's Showtime!

This week on Wednesday afternoon and Friday morning, it was finally time to take part in the Broadmeadow Christmas Show performance. Both year 4 classes have worked really hard to learn their lines and practise the songs and actions. You were all amazing in the performance on Wednesday afternoon and I know you will have been brilliant today too! Well done 4B! 

Preparing for the Christmas Fair!

This week we have been busier than elves in Santa's workshop as we designed, made and decorated Christmas tree decorations to be sold on the Year 4 stall at the Christmas Fair. The decorations are amazing and I was so impressed with the finished results! We have also been busy rehearsing for our Christmas performance next week - remember to bring in any props or costumes on Monday.

What a busy week! (28.11.19)

We have certainly packed a lot into Week 4 of this second half term! We spent a busy afternoon on Monday researching facts about Asia and China. On Wednesday afternoon we had a great PE lesson, where we practised creating the perfectly controlled balance. On Thursday we carried out a Science investigation to see which materials were conductors of electricity and which were insulators AND we listened to a traditional Chinese folk song which left us feeling very calm and relaxed. In between all of that, we were fitting in as much practise as possible for our Christmas production. Well done everyone - keep up the hard work! 

Splendid Switches! (19.11.19)

In Science this week, we have continued our work about electricity by investigating the effect of adding a switch to a circuit.

We explored 3 different types of switches and then we made our own using split pins and a paper clip! We also thought about how useful switches are in our everyday lives.

A new addition to our active breaks! (18.11.19)

There was great excitement today when we went out for our active afternoon break because of a new addition to the playground! A new track has been painted on the playground to help us try and achieve our daily mile. We loved taking part to get our bodies active - it's certainly been a big hit with 4B!

Change starts with 4B!

On Wednesday afternoon as part of Anti-Bullying Week, 4B took part in a workshop run by Malachi in which we discussed how we can make sure that the things that we say and do don't cause anyone to be upset or hurt. Ceri and Athusha worked with the children to understand how to be GREEN in the classroom. Being green means always being kind and caring in the things we do, say and how we behave.

For times when we need some help, Ceri  talked about making a helping hand - with 5 people who can help us wherever we are - everyone's will be different. We talked about the negative effects that RED behaviours, words and actions can have on our classmates and everyone finished the workshop by making a pledge to work together to be GREEN!

Remember change starts with 4B!

An illuminating start!

This week we have begin our new topic called 'ILLUMINATE'.

We started off by watching some amazing videos of firework displays on the big screen in the hall and thought about how they illuminate the night sky at this time of year. Then, back in the classroom, we explored how we could make circuits that could light a bulb, spin a motor or sound a buzzer. We had some real WOW moments when we got them working!

Then, after watching some videos of Catherine wheel fireworks, we used paper plates, motors and different components of a circuit to create our own moving fireworks. The results were very impressive!

A Revolting Fab Finish!

We had a wonderfully revolting end to this term's REVOLTING topic on Thursday. In the morning we made (and ate) some revolting pizzas and had our Halloween Hullabaloo disco in the afternoon.  It has been a great half term and we have learned so much about teeth and the digestion system. We are also experts in sound and vibrations after finishing our SOUND mini-topic earlier in the week. Your homework has been wonderful and I can't wait to see what you come up with next half term.

Have a great half term! 

A very important reminder!

We have all been working hard this week, particularly in Science as we continue our Sound mini topic. We have made string telephones to see how sound travels, investigated volume with the help of rice and a very large drum and finally on Thursday, we investigated how to change the pitch of an instrument.

Next week is the last week of this half term, which will see us celebrating the end of our Revolting topic with some spooky 'revolting' activities on Thursday morning followed by our Halloween Hullabaloo Disco in the afternoon. Please remember come to school dressed up in your Halloween costumes - it's going to be a lot of fun!

What makes sound?

This week we began our Science mini-project about 'sound'. We discovered that all sound is made by vibrations which travel  from the source of the sound to our ears. We can sometimes see objects or instruments vibrating but we can't see the sound waves so we did an investigation to see exactly what vibrations or sound waves can do. With a metal tuning fork, a bowl of water and a cup covered in cling film with some rice on top, we were able to observe the water rippling and splashing up and we all got very excited when the vibrations from the tuning fork made the rice 'explode'  It was a lot of fun to see what happened!

Researching tummy rumbles!

In topic this week, we finished off our work on teeth and digestion by having a iPad research session to find out the answers to a few lingering questions:

Why does our tummy rumble?

What does the liver do?

What and where is our appendix?

We all worked really hard to find and share the answers and then we tested our knowledge of digestion by completing a quiz. I've included a link if you want to impress someone at home with everything you have learned!

Really Revolting Science!

This week, we carried on our topic work by learning about the digestive system. At the start of the week we learned about the different parts, their names and the order that food passes through them. Then to understand more about what each part does we created our own digestive systems using a plastic bag (the stomach) and the leg of a pair of tights (the intestines)!

We began by each eating a cracker so we could understand how digestion starts by food being broken up by our teeth and mixed with saliva before being pushed down our oesophagus by our our tongue. We discovered it takes around 6 seconds to reach our stomach. Then we mixed a banana and some crackers along with orange juice (stomach acid) in a plastic bag which represented the stomach. This really helped us to see how the stomach squeezes, churns and breaks down our food. Next we squeezed this mushy mess through the tights which showed us how the nutrients and water are taken out by our body as they pass through the small and large intestines Finally we pushed what was left through a cup with a hole - and then yes - you've guessed it we had made poo! It was a very revolting lesson but a great, messy way to find out what the digestive system does with the food we eat! Be warned - some of the class are saying they want to try it at home!

Week 3!

On Monday our new representatives for the school council were announced in assembly and I'd like to say a huge well done to Ellie and Isabella - I know they'll do a great job for 4B! Well done to everyone who put themselves forward, especially Rio, Ezickel and Jamie who were all close runners-up!

We have been working very hard in Maths to master the skills of rounding to the nearest 10, 100 and 1000 and its been quite a challenge with up to 4-digit numbers but we all persevered. You can see by the happy smiling faces that everyone was very pleased with themselves and keen to show off the correct answers! Well done 4B!

Learning more about our teeth! (12.9.19)

On Tuesday afternoon, 4B were visited by staff from the Bells Lane Dental Practice.  They explained and presented lots of information to the class which included:

• What is a dentist?
• What happens at the dentist?
• What are teeth for?
• What types of teeth there are?
• What can go wrong with teeth?
• What are safe and unsafe snacks?
• How to prevent decay?
• How do you brush your teeth properly?

It was a really interesting visit, we all learned a lot more about how to look after our teeth and everyone received a good bag to take home!

On Thursday afternoon, we were finally about to take the eggs out of the drinks they have been in all week and inspect the eggs. We were trying to find out how different drinks affect our teeth. We used eggs because eggshell is very similar to tooth enamel. The result really were quite revolting and surprising too! We discovered that orange juice can do a lot of damage because it contains a lot of sugar and acid. The cola, energy drink and diet cola all cause decay too.  So remember water is the best drink for our teeth but if you do drink any of the other liquids, make sure you remember to clean your teeth!

What a great start to Year 4! (5.9.19)

We have had a brilliant start to the year and it has been a pleasure to get to know all the members of our new class. Even though we have only had a few days back at school, we have been working incredibly hard already; learning about place value in 4-digit numbers in Maths and in English, reading and discussing Roald Dahl's Revolting Rhymes version of Cinderella. In Science (as part of our 'Revolting' topic) we have starting learning about teeth and we have set up an investigation to find out which drink can do the most damage to our teeth. We will find out the results next week!

Tomorrow (Friday) new homework grids and spelling sheets will be coming home. I can't wait to see what some of you will be bringing in over the next few weeks. Have a great weekend!

Welcome to the new school year. Mrs Bendle will soon be filling this page with lots of exciting

class news, pictures of things we’ve done and more.

Do you have any ideas for this page? If so, then let Mrs Bendle know!