Year 4 - Beech & Elm
Welcome to Year 4!
31st January 2025
Our World
We were lucky to spend an afternoon practising our French with students from Hockerill. They had organised some fun activities and games to help us learn the names of fruits and vegetables in French. The children have been learning to say whether they like/dislike/love/hate the different food items. Their favourite word has been the one for grapefruit – J’aime le pamplemousse!
Delving deeper into our big topic question ‘How did the Ancient Greeks change the world?’, the children turned history detectives. One of the ways that people today know about the Greek gods is through the drawings or sculptures that have survived since Ancient Greek times. Each god or goddess is usually recognisable because they carry their own symbol or special object. The children firstly found six gods and goddesses on the Ancient Greek objects hidden around our classrooms. In pairs, they then located all twelve of the Greek Olympian gods and goddesses hidden around the room and discovered key information about them, before drawing and labelling large-scale versions of one of the twelve. Some of the gods were associated with weather, so let’s hope that Apollo (Greek god of sun and light) favours us all over the coming weeks!
Before moving onto our new book, we continued to delve deeper into different poetry types and forms during English lessons, based upon the poetry collection Stars with Flaming Tails by Valerie Bloom. Becoming familiar with limericks and riddles, the children enjoyed writing their own. It was lovely to listen to the children perform their own poems and guess the answer to their riddles. They have also been finding out about forms of poetry called elfje and cinquain and writing some winter-inspired versions of their own. We finished with the children writing their own poem inspired by the ‘Our World’ section of the anthology.
In our SCARF Life Space session, we learnt about how ‘It’s Great to be Me!’ We found out about our vital organs and how to keep ourselves safe and healthy. We also thought carefully about how we are all unique but how we can compromise in order to have fun with our friends. We discussed how important it is to connect, be active, get creative, be mindful and give to others.
In art lessons, we have continued our unit on storytelling through drawing. The children experimented with charcoal, and then used it to draw a simple scene with their own plastic animals. Using the techniques they had practised, the children then chose a line from the poem ‘My Menagerie’ by Tom Wilde to illustrate. The results were impressive!







17th January 2025
Maps, Poems, Storytelling and Sounds
In topic lessons this term, we will be considering the question, ‘How did the Ancient Greeks change the world?’ We began by investigating the ‘who, when and where’ of the Ancient Greek civilisation, looking at maps and timelines to place Ancient Greece in context and then zooming in to find out more about key events from the five distinct time periods associated with the Ancient Greek civilisation.
In English, we have begun to explore a range of poems from Stars with Flaming Tails by Valerie Bloom. When studying the poems, the children are exploring what they like about a particular poem; asking questions about it; looking for connections within the poem or between this poem and others they know; and commenting on the themes or use of language. They have also been listening to Valerie Bloom’s advice for performing poetry to help develop their own performances. The children have been enthralled when listening to poetry performances by some other inspiring poets such as Matt Goodfellow and A. F. Harrold.
In art lessons, we have begun an exciting unit on storytelling through drawing. The children were introduced to two artists who tell stories through imagery: Laura Carlin and Shaun Tan. After exploring some of the beautiful work of these artists, the children made visual notes in their art books which will help to inspire their future work.
Our new science topic is sound and our first lesson was investigating vibrations produced on some of our school instruments. This unit ties in well with our violin lessons because this week the children found out that placing a finger on the string shortens it and makes a higher pitched sound. Next week will be our last violin lesson and we are very proud of the progress that all the children have made.
We have planned two parent presentations for the Summer term, instead of one each in spring and summer, as we have a lot to share with you in the summer term – an exciting trip and a very important topic…




20th December 2024
Proud!
Our new topic, Pride, has provided the children with the opportunity to learn how to have hope, pride, love and equality and to respect and celebrate difference. The children made flags to represent themselves and then took part in a parade around the school to celebrate their individuality. It was a really fun experience full of friendship, pride and music!
Our next science step is our investigation lesson. Our enquiry question was, ‘How does the temperature of water affect the time it takes for ice to melt?’ Using stopwatches, thermometers, beakers, water and ice, the children made predictions and discussed what they needed to change, keep the same and measure. They did a great job and let’s hope we don’t have to test out any real life icy conditions over the holidays!
In English we have come to the end of our text, The Bluest of Blues. The children have impressed us with their autobiography writing, in role as Anna Atkins. Did you know that she was considered to have been the first female photographer? The children wrote confidently as Anna, sharing some of the key moments in her life and explaining how she became involved in photography. We were shocked to find out how little women were allowed to do in the time Anna was alive and realised that she was fortunate to have a father who supported her and believed that women should have equal access to education.
The children have also been busy with Christmas preparations such as making their cheeky elf hats for Christmas lunch.
The Year 4 team are very proud of how all of the children have adapted to life in Year 4. We wish you all a lovely holiday and look forward to hearing all about it when we return.







6th December 2024
Museum, Measuring and Merry Music
Our visit to the Bishop’s Stortford Museum provided an excellent opportunity for Elm and Beech Classes to delve deeper into Bishop’s Stortford’s past. Initially we learned about the key events in Bishop’s Stortford’s history, from the pre-historic era to the present day. The children made excellent links with their own local knowledge, recognising many town buildings in the photographs used during their timeline work. The museum has exhibits ranging from Roman skeletons to trade and transport artefacts. The children worked in groups to answer questions about different eras, and then shared their research with the rest of the class. The trail along the river path and through the town brought the photographs to life and our expert guides pointed out many interesting buildings, objects and road names along our route. Maybe next time you are in town, your child will be able to act as your very own tour guide! For your interest, admission to the museum is free and it is open on Saturdays.
In science lessons, we have been using equipment to measure changes in temperature of hot and cold water in preparation for this block’s enquiry question – How does the temperature of water affect the time it takes for ice to melt? Let’s hope we don’t have too many icy mornings ahead of us to test out our predictions!
Preparations for Christmas have begun and we are practising a collection of Christmas songs in our violin lessons. Using the bows, we are learning ‘Jingle Bells’ and the not-so-quiet ‘Silent Night’. Monday afternoons are beginning to have a festive feel to them and it’s been fun playing along to favourite festive tunes together.
On Decoration Day, we created an array of Christmassy creations, including beautiful baubles, sparkling Santas, smiling snowman cards and a creative calendar featuring a tree in all four seasons. All of the teachers were impressed with how carefully the children listened to instructions and how wonderful their creations looked. We’re sure they are already in pride of place in your homes.









15th November 2024
Travail Fantastique!
In science, we have begun to investigate solids, liquids and gases in our new topic, States of Matter. Having explored the properties of these different states, the children grouped materials according to whether they were solids, liquids or gases. Some of the materials, such as sand and flour, were harder to sort, so we closely observed how they behaved when poured from one container to another.
Our violin lessons are progressing well and the children have begun to use the bow! They have now learnt the string notes (G, D, A and E) and we have enjoyed playing our first pieces together. As a magical finale to last week’s lesson, we all enjoyed listening to Mrs Edwardson playing a piece from Harry Potter.
In English, inspired by Anna Atkins in The Bluest of Blues, we have been ‘bonkers about beetles’, undertaking research so that we can produce our own non-fiction books all about beetles. The children were amazed to discover that beetles are one of the oldest animals in the world and have been around for over 250 million years!
On Friday 8th November, we had a fantastic day celebrating French Day. We tried some delicious croissants with jam and practised asking for them in French. We made sure to say s’il vous plait and merci. The children also shared their creative Eiffel Tower models and explained how they had constructed them. In the afternoon, we had a go at creating Eiffel Tower pictures in the style of a famous French artist, Robert Delaunay. The children liked his unusual patchwork style and the vibrant colours used.







25th October 2024
Hello and Welcome to Summercroft News!
Firstly, we would like to congratulate all of the children for their excellent presentation about the Amazing Amazon Rainforest last week. With great enthusiasm and confidence, they showcased their topic work and we were very proud of their animal eye art, hard-hitting poems and storming soundscape performances. The hall was teeming with squawking and whistling birds, croaking frogs, chirping insects and loud howler monkeys as we were transported to the deepest layers of the rainforest. The children hope that they have inspired you to make changes in your everyday lives to help save the rainforests.
In news closer to home, throughout this week’s Arts Week we have immersed ourselves in all things blue. We began by exploring shades (darker) and tints (lighter) of blue by adding white or black to blue paint and discovered that there are many words to describe the huge variety of blues around us! The children further developed their understanding of tonal shading by using sketching pencils to make their drawing of an object appear 3D. Their still life observational drawings of blue objects were very impressive! We have also been working hard to develop our poetry performances for the whole-school Poetry Slam.
Our English lessons have also had a bit of a blue theme recently as we have been inspired by a beautiful picture book, The Bluest of Blues: Anna Atkins and the First Book of Photographs, which tells the story of botanist and photographer Anna Atkins. Before writing a diary entry in role, the children ventured outside to be treasure hunters, just like Anna, and chose flowers to be arranged and pressed back in the classroom. They thought carefully about how they wanted to lay their flowers out and why they chose their particular flowers. We look forward to revealing our pressed flowers in the coming weeks.






11th October 2024
What Do You Think Counts?
On National Poetry Day, we joined thousands of children across the country to take part in an attempt to break the GUINNESS WORLD RECORDS™ title for Largest Poetry Lesson! The lesson was led by children’s poet Laura Mucha and we helped to create a poem that has been published on the Children’s Poetry Archive and will be published across the UK (including on radio and in newspapers and magazines). The children were excited to vote for different ideas as we edited the poem during the live lesson. The poem is called ‘What Do You Think Counts?’ and is all about encouraging others to pause and reflect on what’s really important in life. It can be found here: https://childrens.poetryarchive.org/poem/what-counts/ We are excited to find out if we have helped to break the record!
We have continued to develop our knowledge of the Amazon Rainforest and we have started to think about how we will share this in our presentation. We are hoping to encourage our families to make some small changes in order to help save the rainforests. We have also begun to recreate the sounds of the rainforest using body percussion and are looking forward to adding some animals into our soundscape.
So far, in science lessons, the children have sorted vertebrates and invertebrates into groups and been introduced to classification keys. These are sets of questions that help people to classify living things. In this step, the children used simple keys to sort animals and plants correctly and created closed questions that can be answered with either ‘yes’ or ‘no’. We look forward to revisiting classification keys later in the year.
Monday afternoons are packed full of hands on learning opportunities in Year 4. Whilst Mr Eaton has been teaching coding in computing lessons, Mrs Ede enjoys singing through her repertoire of ABBA songs. We are coming to the end of our first music unit and, mamma mia, the children’s musicality has been impressive! Moving to the pulse, repeating rhythms and singing sweetly is certainly a lively way to start our week. Whole class violin lessons have just begun and the children have made a fabulous start, plucking their way enthusiastically through their first tune, Kangaroo.


20 September 2024
Mamma Mia! Here We Go Again…
The children have made an excellent start to the new school year – they have settled back into school life quickly and we have enjoyed getting to know them all.
Year 4 have been exploring the sights and sounds of the Amazon Rainforest as our new topic was introduced. The children listened to sounds of the jungle and investigated a range of creatures as they discovered that we would be studying the tropical rainforests of the world, specifically the Amazon. We began a close study of animal eyes, practising our sketching and watercolour skills in preparation for our first piece of art work. The children have also been learning all about the different layers of the rainforest – the emergent layer, the canopy, the understory and the forest floor – and what creatures might be found in each one. Their challenge is to become experts on the Amazon and prepare a presentation all about this vital rainforest and how we can protect it.
We have continued the theme of the natural environment by finding out about living things and their habitats in our science lessons. The children started by looking at the characteristics of animals and then grouped examples of vertebrates according to their features.
In English, we have ventured into a magical circus visited by a young boy called Leon. We have performed parts of the text, experimenting with how we can use our voices and actions to tell the story. The children have described daring trapeze artists, breath-taking aerial silk acts and magnificent magicians. We can’t wait to see how Leon might be swept up into the magic …
Music lessons have been joyous and we began our topic, Mamma Mia, by listening to and appraising this popular song. Finding the pulse, the children found their own way to tap along and we look forward to accompanying the song with instruments.